"Do you want to get that thing from the end?"
"Do you want her to read for CEO?"
"Oh, by the way, we got some more funding from..."
"Well, that time I produced 'Braveheart'..."
Questions and jokes flew back and forth across the casting table Saturday at Thoughtfly Studios in Butchertown on January 10,2015. Thoughtfly Films is underway with their second feature length film "Loss Prevention," and they've already had an eager response. They are now moving into production after watching over 70 auditions in person or via video.
Thoughtfly writers and directors Matt Niehoff and Brian Cunningham are joined by Lexingtonian Nic Brown for the writing of this film, although he will not be co-directing with them. According to Niehoff, the whole idea for the film began with a simple meeting. Brown hired Niehoff and Cunningham for a project in Lexington where they met actress Abisha Uhl and thought, "Man, it would be really cool to see her and Al Snow argue." This seed grew into the full movie plot: "When an old school bar owner and his unruly daughter get caught up in a cat-and-mouse game of corporate espionage, it will take brains, brawn and help from the lesser of two evils to make it out alive. Loss Prevention: It's all about the bottom line."
The writers had their first official meeting about it just before Christmas, 2012. They outlined the entire movie in one meeting and have been picking away and shaping it over the last two years. The final version of the script was also completed in one meeting.
"One of us will write something, " said Cunningham, "Then it goes to the next person, and they will rewrite 90% of it. Then, it goes on to the third, and they rewrite about 90% of it. It's a completely different movie than when we started."
"We ran out of revision colors; we made so many changes," said Brown. "Yeah! We would have one word in four different colors on the script because of all the changes," added Cunningham.
Thoughtfly's first film, "Overtime" found national distribution and is available in many retail outlets; it's also available through online favorites like Netflix, Amazon and iTunes. The 90-minute action comedy starred WWE wrestler Al Snow and actor John Wells, both of whom will return for completely different characters in "Loss Prevention." Snow and Uhl will be playing the father and daughter, while Wells will be playing a "very geeky villain." Most of the "Overtime" production crew will be returning as well. The two films are completely unrelated in story, but the team plans to have a similar positive experience.
"Overtime was a lot of fun to make," said Cunningham. "We want this to be the same."
"There will be stress," added Niehoff, "but we want it to be happy fun stress."
"I'm going to have a happy ulcer," chimed in Nic. "You can quote me on that."
This film will have more exterior shots in downtown Louisville than their first film and feature local talent, so it's definitely something to keep an eye on. The final product is going to be spectacular. At least, that's what the people who wrote it said. They laughingly say that they were even backed up in the sentiment by their moms; so, it must be true.
Louisville.com will be following up as the film production progresses and more information is released. You can stay up to date until then by following their Facebook page.
Photography by Bill Spangler. Header Image (from left) Brian Cunningham, Taylor Lee , Joe Laughrey and Matt Niehoff peruse the prop artillery for the film. Top: Director of Wardrobe Genna Yussman shares her wardrobe concept boards with the team. Right: Nic Brown joins Thoughtfly Films as a writer. Bottom: Niehoff and Cunningham review script changes.
