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Kittredge's 'second act' produces film career |
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Scott Kittredge (left) is seen on the set of "Melancholy Fantastic" with director A.D. Calvo.
Reminder Publications submitted photo
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Feb. 27, 2012
By G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.com
LONGMEADOW — Scott Kittredge proves there are certainly second acts in a person's career. The Longmeadow resident is pursuing his long-time dream of working in film production full time.
Kittredge is a long-time movie fan who has received recognition for his short films "Love Delivered," "Terminal Conversation" and "Snacks." When he was laid off from his position as senior graphic designer at Hasbro Games in East Longmeadow last May, Kittredge and his wife made the decision that he would become a full-time filmmaker.
The effort has paid off as Kittredge has finished working on his first film as a full-time filmmaker, "House of Dust."
"And it felt great," he told Reminder Publications.
When he isn't working on a set, Kittredge is a stay-at-home dad.
He is associated with A.D. Calvo, a Connecticut-based filmmaker, whom Kittredge met several years ago at the Rhode Island International Film festival where both men had short films being shown.
Calvo said that Kittredge is "one of the people I trust creatively."
Kittredge first worked with Calvo on the feature "The Other Side of the Tracks," as a production assistant. He took time off from his day job to work on the film.
He did the same with the next film for Calvo, "Melancholy Fantastic," which was made in 2009, but will be released on Comcast as a movie on-demand selection, followed by other cable operators in April.
On that film, Kittredge was the first assistant director, which means he "ran the set." He explained he was in charge of scheduling and organizing the various departments.
Next came "House of Dust," which was shot in locations in Willimantic, Conn., and around the University of Connecticut.
On this horror film, Kittredge was now the co-producer, which meant that he worked with Calvo on the script.
"I upped the ante on the death scenes," he explained. "For a horror film it's important to have interesting ways for people to die."
As a producer, he said, ultimately his job was to help insure the "director's vision got onto film." He was on the set every day of the 24-day shoot last summer.
He also helped scout for locations and worked as a second unit director. Second unit footage frequently doesn't involve the lead actors, but instead are atmospheric and transitional scenes, Kittredge explained.
He is now working with Calvo on "Midnight Game," which is scheduled to begin shooting in mid-April.
Although Kittredge clearly loves the creative side of moviemaking, he is very much aware of what happens after the film is ready to be seen by an audience.
"People forget that it's show business," he said.
All of these films, despite their thriller or horror status, would be rated PG-13, he said as the rating "creates a much bigger window of opportunity for distribution."
Calvo is working to see theatrical distribution of "House of Dust." Kittredge said, "You always want to get that theatrical release."
Today, a film can be seen in a theater, followed by sales to home video, cable television channels and on-demand.
"There are little increments of opportunity," he said. "There are more opportunities to get your movie seen."
He noted that Calvo's "The Wrong Side of the Tracks" has been sold to Showtime for two years of broadcasts.
Stories that fit within an established genre sell easier to on-demand venues as does a film that runs no more than 90 minutes, he added. Movie-on-demand is an "impulse buy," Kittredge said.
Although he declined to speak about the budgets of these films, he described them as "contained films," which he defined as movies that have a limited number of locations and actors.
Kittredge added that just because a film is "contained" doesn't mean it doesn't have the elements it needs to be a success. The new movie, "Midnight Game," is centered on one location, a house, but will feature professional stunts and action as well as an impressive creature effects.
Naturally, Kittredge would like to helm his own production and he has a script of his own he would like to rewrite and produce. "The Pharaoh's Secret Key" has adventure, action and comedy, he said.
"It's a sensible piece if we had a million dollars — that would be perfect," he said.
He has also written an outline for a "very contained thriller," a movie driven by dialogue.
He said the story was "inspired by the power outage [caused by the Oct. 29, 2011 snow storm] . trapping two characters who don't want to be with each other."
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