RENT'S DUE RENT'S DUE RENT'S DUE
PLOT
When a young couple find themselves a day late and a dollar short on rent, they must resort to drastic measures to avoid eviction. Will they scratch by for another month, or does fate have another idea in mind? Discover what happens (in this action packed, wacky, and whimsical comedic short film) when “RENT’S DUE”.
THE JOURNEY
BIG.
"RENT'S DUE" was created by me, Gage Cady! After going to college at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point with a degree in media studies, I quickly realized that I couldn't walk onto a film set and land a directing gig. Surprising, I know! I went to Madison College to try and compliment my previous education and realised that if I wanted to get a job anywhere, I'd need to create something
... A short film! Yes, that will work perfectly! I set out to write, direct, produce, and edit a project that would showcase the ultimate extent of my abilities. I started my journey by coming up with a script and a shotlist.
The whole idea for "RENT'S DUE" was generated from a single shot idea; I wanted a backwards dolly shot similar to Scout Master Ward's long dolly from "Moonrise Kingdom", or the low angle group dolly shot of the animals in "Fantastic Mr. Fox" getting ready to make their last stand. I thought a shot like that would work perfectly to introduce a heist! I came up with my characters and their motivations and the script practically wrote itself from there!
Once I had my script written (and revised), I hit a pretty heavy roadblock; I can't do EVERYTHING on set. I needed help. Luckily, I had classmates that were eager to assist and seemed as passionate about this project as I was. This brings us to...
THE CREW
Cory Peterson
Cinematographer
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Casey Grosse
Best Boy
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Xander Uselmann
Audio Extraordinaire
Cory works at Shopbop as a photographer and was taking a class at Madison College with me to help himself grow as a videographer. I needed somebody who was a wiz with cameras and lighting, so I was very thankful when he approached me about joining the project. I also got two of my other peers involved: Casey and Xander. They had approached me after class one day as I was working on a pre-pro book and asked what I was up to. I hadn't really talked to either of them much prior to this encounter but was very appreciative of their interest! I showed them all of my rescources and they seemed impressed with my organization and drive to create this short. They decided to join the project! I don't know what I would have done without them. Casey helped me with just about anything I could think of. He worked on set design and carpentry, ran slate, manned an audio recorder, helped location scout, and even helped with fixing up my PC so that it could handle such a large project. Xander was a big help too! He made sure that our audio was sounding perfect, and would meet outside of shoot days to help prep for what was to come! With my crew gathered, I had to start filling some roles!
SOCIALS
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Fun little tidbit: Originally, this short was supposed to have more political undertones on top of being a fast paced action-comedy. The film was supposed to have a message about a certain company that was closing down brick and mortar locations and attributing these losses to "increased crime" and "roaming street gangs". This, of course, is not the truth and their rhetoric had a negative impact on communities with underprivileged populations.
Supporting
THE INCREDIBLE CAST
Daisy Clementine
Sophie plays one of the leads, Daisy Clementine. WOW IS SHE GOOD! This girl can ACT! To be honest, when I first found her on backstage, I was a bit skeptical. Surely there was no way that a person THIS talented who's from SAN DIEGO would fly herself over just to volunteer and be in our movie. She did though! Not only did she pull through, but she went above and beyond and gave an incredible performance. I'm telling you, she's going to go on to do great things; I just know it. You guys better watch this thing and make her famous so she can make some of the airfare money back! Please and thank you.
Sophie Martinez
Theo Johnson
James plays the other lead, Theo Johnson. We found this Chicago actor on Backstage as well! He added some much needed goofiness into the role of Theo. I'm really proud of what he was able to do with the character! I also loved his methodology for playing his role. I remember offering to pick out his wardrobe from the local Saint Vinnies, but he took on himself to find his own outfit, stating that picking it out on his own helped him get into character more and think through the personality of the role (which he nailed in the end).
James Michael Pruitt
Tommy Floorblue
Christian Felland
Last but not least (as far as principle roles go) we have Christian as Tommy Floorblue, the main antagonist of the film. I found Christian through our cinematographer, Cory (who I swear knows half of the people living in Madison). Who would have expected that a full time chainsaw artist could perform so well as a money grubbing villain! His community theater background definitely served him well in this role and his commitment was astounding as well! He chopped off a ton of hair to fit the role better and look the part. He brought a really special touch to this crazed crotchety capitalist and I am super thankful!
Giovonni Aveni as Dustin
Tim Knutsen as Officer Smiley
Bradford Foote as Reporter
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Quick side note about money:
While working on this project, I was laid off from my job at a local factory. That being said, I really couldn't afford to spend almost ANYTHING on this project. Luckily, I was able to rely on the kindness and generosity of strangers, as well as some simple problem solving to help save money.
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We rented our gear for free from Cory's work and Madison College. We got a bunch of paintings and set pieces from friends/collaborators.
All of our actors were volunteers. All of our crew were volunteers. Every location we filmed in graciously opened their doors for us. It really was a magical and heartwarming thing.
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Honestly, the only thing I spent money on was food for the crew, minimal wardrobe, and some basic set pieces that I fully intended to return. By the end of it all, I probably spent a little less than $750 on this whole thing.
LOCATION
LOCATION
LOCATION
Now that my actors were lined up, I had a new issue on my hands: Where are we gonna film this thing? Believe it or not, when my cinematographer and I were running around looking for spaces to shoot, the massive chain business we wanted to film in wasn't too keen about letting us through their doors. I had to change my plans and find a new place to film in.
There was a day that I walked down Willy St in Madison and went into every single business with an open sign, asking for the opportunity to shoot in their store. Needless to say, there was a lot of hesitancy but I did find a diamond in the rough. After hedging some connections, I had scored the dream location of all dream locations...
HUGE shoutout to Dave Farrar and Meep Meepleton's World of Fun. Without them, we wouldn't have had such a fun and vibrant place to shoot our film. They allowed us to come in on a day they were closed, payed one of their workers to help out if we needed
MEEP MEEPLETON'S WORLD OF FUN
SHOOT DAY
anything, and were genuinely amazing to work with! Please check out Meeps if you're ever in the area! They have some amazing vintage toys that brought back feelings of nostalgia for most of our cast and crew.
SHOOT DAY
T
THE
D
I
We shot for four days across two weekends. The first day was every scene that took place in their apartment. Six pages of stuff... What could go wrong?
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Well...
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With this being my first shoot day as a producer/director, I may have miscalculated how long things actually take to record. I had alloted around nine or so hours to film and in actuallity we filmed for FOURTEEN. To be quite frank, I was surprised our actors actually came back for day two. I'm happy they did though because we definitely started hitting our stride the second time around!
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We did all of our interior stuff on a weekend in March, and then filmed our exterior stuff in April, hoping it would be a bit nicer out. I was woefully wrong. Wisconsin has such unpredictable weather. It almost snowed on our shoot day! San Diego's Sophie may have not been completely acclimated to the climate but she stuck it out and delivered some really spectacular performances!
Hey you! Yeah, you! Are you a journalist who's looking to get the scoop on a big story? Feel free to reach out to me anytime for more information about the project! I'd be happy to do an interview and offer a fresh young perspective on the big wide world of making a short film like this! I'm sure I could also get you in contact with some of my actors and crew members as well if you're looking for their two cents.
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Click on the button below to get in touch with me and we'll make some top of the line stuff that will have your viewers/readers hungry for more!
THE HUBBUB
The edit was crazy! I started editing right after we finished filming and had a rough draft prepared overnight so I could try and get some ADR from Sophie before her flight back in the afternoon. I polished the edit for a little bit and then COMPLETELY SCRAPPED IT AND REMADE THE WHOLE THING IN A SEPERATE PROGRAM. Why did I do that? I don't know! Maybe I'm not the brightest tool on the Christmas tree. It took OVER A YEAR AND A HALF to finish. Color grading alone took me almost a year to finalize. You see, I would color grade the short from start to end and then look back at the beginning when I was done and go "Wow! This looks terrible!" and start the process all over again. I did that at least four times. I've been working on this thing in general for so long that it has come with me through
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Getting laid off from a factory
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Graduating from Madison College
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Getting ENGAGED
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Being unemployed and starting a YouTube channel
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An unfortunately long Minecraft phase
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Getting a job at a daycare
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Leaving the job at the daycare to work at Discover Wisconsin
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Finishing my contract and becoming unemployed again​​
How eventful!
MARKETING
This brings us to today! Over the course of its production, this project has taught me more than I could ever imagine and allowed me to expand my knowledge on several different aspects of filmmaking. I already had at least a slight grasp on all of these concepts prior to making this project except for one key step: Marketing and distribution. I'm telling ya, these social media managers and promotions people live in a scary world of engagement, clicks, and attention. Eek! Luckily, I was able to bend the ears of some of my old coworkers at Discover Wisconsin to see what tactics would work best. If you're reading this right now, I guess that means I must've done something right! Everything about this project has taken more time than originally anticipated which has ultimately led to me having ONE MONTH before I need to submit to Wisconsin Film Festival. My marketing needs to be spectacular if I want a chance at having this play on the big screen, so hopefully my efforts will turn that dream into a reality!
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So stay tuned! Follow one of my many marketing platforms to stay informed! Watch this at a local film festival and help me work towards my goal of making projects like these to pay my own rent. Hopefully I'll have an easier go at it than my characters when "RENT'S DUE"