Sundance 2020 Special Part 2: Location, Location, Location

These two very different movies both had striking locations that set the tone for the films.

The Night House director David Bruckner and writers Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski enjoy working in the horror genre, and wanted to explore making a film that doesn't make you “feel safe” with many dense layers. The film deals with the horror of grief, loss and loneliness faced by the main character, Beth, played by Rebecca Hall. The Night House was shot mostly at night in a lake house in upstate New York.

The Night House was one of the first deals to close out of Sundance this year. It sold for $12 million to Disney-owned Searchlight.

Find David Bruckner: @davidbruckner

Twitter: @bruckmachina

Luke Piotrowski: @luke_piotrowski

Ben Collins: @bdaviscollins

The Night House: @thenighthouse

Black Bear takes place in a large lake house estate, and director/writer Lawrence Michael Levine wrote the script with a specific location in mind. Unfortunately, the original location fell through, and Levine had to find another spot, which turned out to be quite remote but amazingly striking on film. The movie stars Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon, whose characters and performances script-flip midway through the film, but we are never meant to know what the characters actually think. The movie wittily explores issues of gender and feminism, and later, has a funny take on indie filmmaking.

As of this date, Black Bear has yet to find distribution.

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Close Focus: Illya and Ben discuss mobile filmmaking. Illya posits that using your phone instead of a professional camera may not be what you want, and it might be disingenuous to market it as a professional movie making tool real filmmakers would actually use to shoot a movie. Apple is marketing its new iPhone 11 Pro with professional Hollywood filmmakers endorsing them. “Snowbrawl”

"Snowbrawl” behind the scenes

“Daughter” behind the scenes with Lawrence Sher

Illya's short end: Peerspace, an app for finding a location for your next film or video project.

Ben's short end: The podcast WeCrash: The Rise and Fall of WeWork, on Wondery.

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Twitter: @ShortEndz

Podcast Credits:

Editor in Chief:  Illya Friedman
@hotrodcameras instagram
@illyafriedman instagram

Ben Rock:  @neptunesalad twitter
@bejamin_rock instagram

Producer: Alana Kode

Editor: Ben Katz
Composer: Kays Alatractchi
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