Artist’s Statement:

​

"Happy Birthday!," she exclaimed, handing me the title page of a screenplay. 

Written by Rosie Angelo 

(this was pre decision to go by Rosie Grace professionally) 

and 

Directed by Nate Hapke

were written under the title Good Grief.

"Do you want to make a movie with me?," she asked with a hopeful smile.

 

The year was 2018. We already shared a mutual respect for each other and what we wanted to do professionally, and Rosie made the first move to what we thought might be our first collaboration, since an ill-fated group project during our sophomore year of college (shoutout to Barbara Jones).

 

We ended up writing the story for the feature film together, and then Rosie churned out a fun, heartbreaking, and life-affirming feature screenplay. We invited friends to attend a table read, began the formal casting process (at least for the lead), and started putting feelers out there for investors. 

 

Meanwhile, what was actually our first collaboration (Rosie serving as writer, me as director) 2019's She & Her proved to be the very beginning of what has been a limitless and fruitful creative partnership. 

 

After S&H came the production of 2019's To the Moon and Back (I served as writer/director, while Rosie stepped into the producing role for the first time).  Both of these projects were of a higher profile for us because of their respective leads, both hailing from my "day job" at General Hospital. 

 

Once we got through TTMaB production in the early spring of 2019, in my never ending search for "what's next," we soon realized that our production calendar for the fall of 2019 was wide open. Without sufficient funding secured for Good Grief the feature, we decided to explore the idea of making a proof of concept/standalone version of the film with the plan to make that our production for the season. 

 

Rosie quickly developed a short version of the screenplay, distilling it down into a few scenes (some lifted directly from the feature, and others completely new that highlighted the central conflict between our two main characters). After a few budgets were prepared for the project however, we realized that we didn't have $30,000 for a short film. And if we were going to spend that kind of money on a project, we should be making our first feature film. 

 

The point is, either way, we didn't have the money. So we once again put Good Grief back on the "shelf."

 

What did we have at the time?  Enough to shoot a contained short in a day. And Rosie had the perfect idea for what ended up being our most screened/selected project to date, the romantic comedy short Ride Share. 

 

When 2020 came around, we were determined to finally make Good Grief. We put together our largest producing team to date, locked in a lead actress, began the formal scouting and planning processes, and started a prospectus for investors to review. 

 

Then came March 13th, 2020 and we once again put Good Grief back on the "shelf."

 

With all of the time to be at home during the pandemic, we wrote, and wrote, and wrote some more. Collectively, the two of us wrote 3 short films, 6 feature films (including our first co-written  feature screenplay, which ended up being our debut feature film which we shot in the summer of 2021). 

 

We ended up using the resources we had at the time to produce those 3 short films (Empiricism, Scene Study, and What's Yours is Mine) in the pre-vaccine fall of 2020, all with different genres but with a few very important details in common: all required one location, all could be shot in one day, all featured truly contained narratives, and had casts at 4 or fewer actors.

 

These short films ended up being amazing training ground for us as we embarked on the production for our first feature film at the top of a mountain, in the middle of a heat wave and global pandemic. Like those shorts, and unlike Good Grief, Two Dash One One was one location (two when you include the location for the flashback sequences) and two actors. It's a feature we could make at the time with what we had, and ultimately ended up being a much more appropriate first feature for us as up and coming filmmakers due to its size and scope. 

 

Did I mention those flashbacks sequences for Two Dash One One? Because we had gear rented for what was three shots on a Saturday, I ended up writing another contained short film (His, Ours, A) that we could shoot on Sunday for only the cost of an additional day rate for our crew members. That film is done, and has already begun screening at film festivals.

 

That fall, as we got Two Dash One One finished in post, we learned about a grant through CNY Arts for $40,000 and decided to submit Good Grief the short for consideration.

 

Meanwhile we figured out what we could make in 2022, another contained feature (one location) but this time with a large ensemble cast and a return to the genre we so enjoyed on 2020's Ride Share. 

 

We reached out to actors to see if they'd be interested in working together with  us on this adventure. Mercifully, they all said yes, and we got to writing. A few months later, a table read confirmed that we had something very special with out script and cast. We were fortunate enough to receive partial funding for the budget for what ended up being our second feature film shortly after our first feature film got  a sales agent (who later helped negotiate our distribution deal) and we got the grant. Talk about stars aligning.

 

So 2022 ended up being the production of our second feature film Surprise! and the standalone/proof of concept version of Good Grief. With both projects in post as we move towards 2023 (and with Two Dash One One set to begin its distribution on 12/27), we feel confident that 2023 or 2024 might finally bring with it the right circumstances to finally make what would now be our third feature film. 

 

So, to answer your question: do I want to make a movie with you? 

 

No. 

 

I want to make a lot of movies with you. And that's what we've done, and what we'll continue to do. And whenever we make Good Grief, it will be the strongest version of that original idea possible as it will benefit from all of the production experience(s) that comes before it.