Something Remote

Something Remote is a 2009 American independent comedy film written and directed by Alex Laferriere, and produced by Nick Allain and Steve DiTullio. Starring C/J Haley, Rick Desilets, and John Selig, it follows three overeducated, TV-addicted roommates trying to stay together as an ex-girlfriend tries to tear them apart. "Something Remote" was the first feature-length film by Broken Wall Films.
Filmed in Laferriere's actual apartment on a $150 budget, "Something Remote" was awarded "Best Feature" and "Funniest Flick" at the Silk City Flick Fest in 2009. "Something Remote" was also shown at Gen Con Indy 2010 and the 2010 Wanderings Film Festival.
Cast.
The cast also includes Sammi Lappin as "Abby", a random passerby hired to pretend to be Neil's new girlfriend; Hunter Giles as Homeless Al, a hobo hired to do the same thing for Lisa; and Jeffrey Desautels as Bruce, one of Lisa's coworkers. Director Alex Laferriere and producer Nick Allain have a brief cameo as Neil's boss and boss's underling, respectively. Assistant producer Steve DiTullio also appears in the film as Nelsin, a passerby with the ability to turn his surroundings into a kung fu movie.
Production.
In December 2007, Worcester Polytechnic Institute's sketch comedy troupe Kilroy Sketch Comedy put on a show called "Sofa King Kilroy". The show's "omniscript", written by Kilroy member Caleb Wrobel with edits and continuity added by Alex Laferriere, focused on roommates Neil, Mat, and Erik as they dealt with Neil's ex-girlfriend Lisa trying to break into the apartment. The show became a 17-minute stageplay broken up by television sketches, in a similar manner to that of the film. Several Kilroy members would eventually work on "Something Remote".
Auditions were held on June 3, 2008, bringing in several dozen local actors trying out for the film. At the first readthrough, the original cast saw George Aldrich as Neil, Rick Desilets reprising the role of Mat, John Selig as Erik, Rebecca Davis as Lisa, Sarah Neslusan as Shannon, Matt Heron Duranti as Skott, Sean Cusick as Homeless Al, and Jeffrey Desautels as Bruce. At the time, no one had been cast as "Abby". Due to unknown conflict, Aldrich dropped out of the project, and was replaced on the first day of filming by Chris "C/J" Haley. Sean Cusick also dropped out, and was replaced by Hunter Giles, and "Abby" was soon given to Sammi Lappin.
Filming began on July 1, 2008 in Laferriere's actual apartment in Worcester, Massachusetts. Laferriere and his roommates Neal Humphrey, Matt Lowe, and Eric Kolodziecjzak (the namesakes and inspirations for the characters of Neil, Mat, and Erik) had to live with a fully equipped set in their living room for 40 days while the movie was shot. The portion of the script involving Skott and Shannon (nearly one sixth of the full script) was filmed entirely on one day.
Because of Worcester's inconsistent weather, and to allow for late shoots, posters were used to cover the windows. This was later said to be a nod to the movie "Clerks", which was a major inspiration for "Something Remote". Additionally, to maintain continuity on-set, all of the on-table props were fixed in place with strips of Velcro. While much of the apartment's geography is used accurately in the film, the door used to leave the apartment in the film actually leads to the side of the apartment building, whereas the front door to the building leads to a door near the television.
Filming on-set wrapped on August 10, 2008, ending with the "pie shot" used as a stinger after the film's credits. External shots and sketch filming continued as late as October 26, 2008, the day before several film festival submission deadlines. The final film length came to 92 minutes. While the film failed to be accepted into thirteen film festivals, Broken Wall Films held a premiere screening event at the Elm Draught House Cinema on January 9, 2009, primarily to friends and family of the cast and crew.
Laferriere and Selig have recently re-edited the film, fixing color and audio issues, as well as trimming the fat on the film itself. This "Plus Edit" clocked in at 86 minutes.
Reception.
Initial reactions to the film were mixed. While local newspapers had positive reviews, over a dozen film festivals rejected "Something Remote". In the summer of 2009, Broken Wall Films began "touring" "Something Remote" to various colleges, gaining momentum and favorable responses. After entering into the Silk City Flick Fest and competing against films with budgets over 1000 times as large, "Something Remote" was awarded "Best Feature" and "Funniest Flick".
"Something Remote: Plus Edit" is currently being prepared to make a second run through various film festivals, including being shown at Gen Con Indy 2010.
On the 10 year anniversary of the film, the original actors, Rick Desilets, John Selig, and C/J Haley, re-released the film on their YouTube channel (both commentated and uncommentated), alongside a blooper reel and a review of the film.
DVD release.
The "Something Remote" film DVD was officially released on September 14, 2009. It also became available via IndieFlix on February 10, 2010.
Web series.
In an effort to advertise the film's DVD release, Broken Wall Films produced Something Remote, a weekly web television series of the same name as the feature-length film. The first episode was webcast on June 28, 2009, on "Something Remote"'s official site via Viddler, as well as the following day on a dozen online video sharing websites, with new webisodes scheduled every Sunday. The show followed roommates Neil Trembley, Mat Highland, and Erik Goulding as they struggled to live together in peace after their television―the one thing they had in common―was stuck on the Spanish Home Shopping Network.
The series was written and directed by Alex Laferriere and produced by Nick Allain and Steve DiTullio through Broken Wall Films. The "Something Remote" website also featured an RSS feed for video podcasting purposes. "Something Remote: The Complete First Season" was released on September 21, 2009.
The web series served as a prequel to the feature-length film, following Neil, Mat, and Erik as their remote is broken, leaving them stuck on the Spanish Home Shopping Network. While all this is going on, Neil encounters friction, both with his friends Mat and Erik, and with his girlfriend Lisa. The conflict inevitably leads to Neil and Lisa breaking up (on ambiguous terms) and Neil stealing her oversized remote, leading into the plot of the film.
The series featured C/J Haley, Rick Desilets, John Selig, Matt Heron Duranti, and Sarah Neslusan continuing in their roles as Neil, Mat, Erik, Skott, and Shannon. It also featured Broken Wall Films veteran Dustin Deren as the oafish Officer Red, Steve Harwick as Steev (a caricature of himself), and Jim Perry (the owner and operator of the Elm Draught House Cinema) as himself.
In the pilot episode, "Something Broken", Erik challenges Mat and Neil to a blogging competition: the blog with the most views after one year receives $50 from each of the losers. They all accept and begin blogging to win the hundred dollars. In "Something Popping", Erik mentions that someone on his blog claimed that "corn in the microwave is a no-no idea". In "Something Lost in Time", Mat attempts to convince Erik that he has over 50,000 views on his blog, while in actuality it had received less than 3,500 on the episode's release. Neil's girlfriend Lisa had begun posting replies on Neil's blog, interacting with Mat and other posters. These interactive blogs are accessible through "Something Remote"'s official website. Unregistered users can view videos and posts but must create an account to make comments, which are currently moderated.
"Something Remote" ran again on EarthsMightiest.com with new content organized and produced by Rick Desilets. Along with the original webisodes, interviews with Laferriere, Allain, DiTullio, Haley, Selig, Duranti, and Neslusan were released, as well as a short titled "Mantequilla Magica" and the theatrical trailer for "Command & Conquer 3: The Forgotten". A sneak peek at the feature-length film was released the week after series finale.