5 Questions with Mary Dauterman

1) What have you been up to since we last spoke in Oct. of last year?

I made a few shorts for Adult Swim and a branded short for Hulu, all in the comedy/weird/horror genre. I also directed a commercial for pancakes somewhere in there.

2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?

Jenny Donhesier (my cowriter) and I were working on a pretty heavy/complicated idea and this dumb half-thought of a male stripper unknowingly stripping for ghosts just really cracked us up. We pretty much abandoned the other idea and dove headfirst into this. When our producer friends Leah and Sarah Donnenberg were into it too we knew it was worth pursuing, and we worked on building in the mystery and shaping the script more. Casting Sam Taggart made it feel real (he is perfect), and working with choreographer with Ani Taj to build a zombie-but-also-business dance sequence was a dream. Leah and Sarah brought on stylist Phil Gomez, who is an authority on 80s fashion (he has an archive in his basement). It just kept building and building and we’re so proud of our team and how it turned out.

3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And the easiest part?

Location scouting was daunting, but we found a motel that wasn’t too actually haunted to stay in. Also we were fully rained out and lost a night, so our final night was a marathon (ending in a producer driving straight to JFK from the Catskills to make a 6am flight).

The easiest part was casting-- the women are Jenny, Arielle Siegel, Meagan Kensil, and Nicole Spiezio, all friends (and incredible actors). Then Sam said “yeah sure!” surprisingly fast. I feel so lucky because everyone was so consistently funny and interesting, they made my job easy.

4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?

I just re-watched Brazil for the first time since a cool older cousin showed it to me in high school. I was really taken with how much comedy is achieved through camera and had a lot of fun watching specific sequences over and over.

5) What’s next for you?

I think like most writer/directors I’m spending a lot of 2020 writing, just trying to get into practice and figuring out a bunch of half ideas I have been storing up and want to explore now that I am stuck at home (and desp for some kind of creative outlet). Jenny started a writer’s group with a few other friends and it’s been so great meeting regularly on Zoom, cheering each other on/figuring stuff out. I’ve written a feature, one of our friends is working on a serialized podcast, and Jenny and I are figuring out a mystery series based on Unfinished Business we’re excited about. I’m cautiously optimistic about making more work with friends in 2021.

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marydauterman.com | IG: @whatsfordunch