Jan 12, 2014
Artist Development
In the latest edition of Off the Page, the San Francisco Film Society’s script workshop series organized by its Filmmaker360 program, writer-director Gillian Robespierre was given the invaluable opportunity to develop her script for Obvious Child–a subversive romantic comedy about a standup comic having the best worst Valentine’s Day of her life-with actors Gaby Hoffmann, Gabe Liedman and Jenny Slate. During the workshop, which took place December 17 at the Film Society’s offices at the San Francisco Film Centre, Robespierre and producer Elisabeth Holm delved deeply into their screenplay and pushed it to the next level with the help of professional actors.
In its inaugural year, Off the Page has strengthened the partnership between the San Francisco Film Society and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Select writer/directors who have received an SFFS / KRF Filmmaking Grant and have completed at least one draft of their screenplay or filmmakers who are interested in applying for the grant may be invited to take part in Off the Page script workshopping at the Film Society’s offices in San Francisco’s Presidio. With the assistance of Filmmaker360, the participating filmmakers are given the opportunity to work with actors who are interested in or being considered for their film.
About Obvious Child: An emerging stand-up comic, Donna is unapologetically herself on and off stage-silly, frank and lewd. After her boyfriend reveals he’s sleeping with her friend and her boss announces that the bookstore where she works is closing, has a one-night stand with Max, a young professional not remotely her type. The encounter eventually results in a surprise: Donna’s pregnant! Emotionally, intellectually and financially unprepared, Donna ponders motherhood and struggles to reconcile her body, goals, and principles with her heart. She pushes Max away until he finally leaves, but Donna realizes if he is-or was-the one, she has to learn to trust again. There’s only one place Donna can be vulnerable, fearless, and honest: on stage. Whatever Max and the world think, the most important truth is that Donna’s going to be okay. And maybe Max will still be her Valentine, even at Planned Parenthood.
“Off the Page was a magical experience for team Obvious Child,” said Robespierre. “Filmmaking is a collaborative process and the San Francisco Film Society really gets that. Having an entire day to work with the actors was a dream; the Film Society created a space for us that was safe and comfortable to just go for it, and that’s exactly what we did! In one day we managed to read through the entire script, workshop, improvise key scenes and discuss character development. It was a truly a wonderful and challenging day and invaluable to the project.”
Holm agreed: “Off the Page was a truly unique opportunity for us; an intimate, energizing, challenging, and inspiring experience that provided the resources, time, and space to not only get all our bicoastal actors together for our first table read, but to dig into our rehearsal process, workshop key scenes, improvise freely, ask hard questions, hash out complex answers, and strengthen the bonds of our core team (far beyond twenty-minute conference calls and mile-long email chains). A critical step in our process, Off the Page provided the rewarding chance to experiment, envision, and grow.”
Actor Gabe Liedman appreciated the collaborative element, adding “I think this is such a cool program; you don’t get this opportunity, as an actor, to sit with a writer and bang out scenes and give notes and work on the script. It’s unique, and I can’t believe that this program exists. The Film Society also made it so nice for us, professional and pleasant. The pressure was off and we got to sit and just be really creative.”
Writer-director Gillian Robespierre was born and raised in New York City and graduated from the School of Visual Arts’ Film & Video Program. Her thesis film,Chunk, follows an awkward and overweight teenage girl forced to spend her summer at “fat camp.” It screened at many venues in NYC and the Black Bear Film Festival. In 2009 she co-wrote and directed the short film Obvious Child, which screened at Rooftop Films, the Big Apple Film Festival and Portland Women’s Film Festival and was praised by Jezebel, Slate, Bust, and Bitch Magazine among numerous outlets. The feature-length script for Obvious Child was also selected for the 2011 IFP Emerging Narrative and Emerging Visions labs and received the 2011 Rooftop Films Eastern Effects Equipment Grant. Gillian currently works in the office of the Assistant Executive Director of the Directors Guild of America.
Producer Elisabeth Holm is Kickstarter’s Film Program Director, overseeing Kickstarter film curation, editorial, events, outreach, and education. She was the associate producer of Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s Oscar-nominated Paradise Lost 3 and produced Keith Miller’s Welcome to Pine Hill, which won awards at Slamdance 2012, Seattle (FIPRESCI Prize), and Atlanta (Grand Jury Prize). In addition to Obvious Child, Holm is producing Olivia Wyatt’s Sea Gypsies, an experimental ethnographic documentary for Sublime Frequencies.
A longtime fixture on the downtown and Brooklyn alt-comedy scenes, Jenny Slate is a durable standup, with long stands at UCB, Rififi, Comix, Piano’s and the P.I.T. In 2009, Jenny presented her one-lady show, Jenny Slate: Dead Millionaire, to sold-out audiences in New York and Los Angeles, and revived it at UCB in 2010. Last season Jenny joined the Saturday Night Live cast as featured performer and created such memorable characters as “Tina Tina” the doorbell saleslady. Before joining SNL, Jenny was cast in the HBO comedy series Bored to Death, as Stella, the stoner girlfriend to Jason Schwartzman’s character. Most recently Slate shot a supporting role in This Means War for McG and Fox and a leading role in Alvin and the Chipmunks 3: Chipwrecked, also for Fox.
Gaby Hoffmann is a NYC native who began acting at 5 years old. She has appeared in over 25 films including Field of Dreams, Uncle Buck, Everyone Says I Love You, Now and Then and You Can Count on Me. Her stage credits include Third (Lincoln Center), The Sugar Syndrome (Williamstown Theater Festival) and Suburbia (Second Stage). She recently appeared on the season premiere of Louie. She has a BA from Bard College.
Gabe Liedman is a standup comedian and writer, and is one half of the comedy duo Gabe & Jenny (with Jenny Slate). He appears frequently on VH1, Comedy Central, the Onion News Network, NPR, and the animated series Bob’s Burgers. His debut comedy album Hiyeeee!! (aspecialthing Records) was released in the fall of 2012.
Other recent Off the Page sessions have included Mark Elijah Rosenberg’s Ad Inexplorata with actors Scott Shepherd and Christopher Upham, Mario de La Vega’sThe Undeniable Charm of Sloppy Unruh with actors Kyle Chandler, John Hawkes and Amy Ryan; Carlton Evans and Matthew Lessner’s Ross with actors Blake Bashoff, Alia Shawkat and Matt L. Jones; and Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale with lead actors Michael B. Jordan and Melonie Diaz.
Off the Page workshops will be scheduled several times a year. Participation is by invitation only. Some sessions will include filmmakers who are early in their writing process and are interested in workshopping specific scenes from their script in a closed environment. Other sessions will be for writer/directors who are close to a final draft and ready to present their work publicly through a traditional table read. Invited audiences may include producers, industry professionals and filmmaker peers as well as potential collaborators and funders.