Synopsis
Undercover operative Zia Vega, eager to prove herself in her cutthroat private intelligence firm, gets sidelined by her estranged half-sister’s sudden appearance. The sister pleads for Zia’s help in a dangerous situation, forcing Zia to choose between her loyalty to the firm and the family bond she never knew she craved.
Project Inception
In April 2016, Writer/Director, Dylan Rogers and DP, Chris Magdalenski brainstormed on a list of resources that might contribute toward the making of a short film: Locations, props, actors that they knew, etc. Chris had announced that he was moving to Atlanta, so they wanted to get a short film shot before his departure. (Side-note: Chris and Dylan had already worked together for over a year as graphic designers). Dylan Returned four weeks later with the first draft of a script, written for Rocío Mendez, his sister-in-law, who is also a very capable fight choreographer.
Pre-Production
Just as the first draft of the script was being finished, Dylan took a weekend-long workshop “Producing Low/No Budget Films” led by Ela Thier. It was in this workshop that Dylan met two cast members of this project: Lowell Byers and Nicholas Chase Applegate. Also among the attendees of the workshop were two people who would join the crew: Michael Rosch and Sabrina Asciutto. Upon completion of the first draft and the workshop, Dylan held a meeting with a more experienced filmmaker than himself, and fellow IFS lab member, Laura Durkay. She gave her feedback on the first draft from a producing aspect. Dylan hired her for the shoot as the Assistant Director which really helped what was to be an extremely ambitious two-day shooting schedule run smoothly and completely.
Dylan asked his wife, Dora Mendez to be his producing partner, because of her love of movies and her talent for very pragmatic, logistical planning. Even though this was her first time producing, she really proved to be valuable in keeping the preproduction process moving forward and handling logistical and budget matters during the shoot.
Day 1 of principal photography in Harlem, NY.