FILMMAKER MAGAZINE | Spring 1997: PRODUCTION UPDATE

PRODUCTION UPDATE

Three college freshmen pledging an elite fraternity find their friendship tested when the racist frat president targets the tightly knit trio's black member in the hazing drama Followers. First-time director Jonathan Flicker's cautionary tale stars Lone Star discovery Eddie T. Robinson as Steve, whose privileged Manhattan upbringing ignites Tyler's redneck politics, and Sam Trammel (Childhood's End) as the best friend who waits too long to take a stand. Flicker says he based Followers on news reports of a racial hazing incident at Rider College in 1993. "As Edmund Burke said, �The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,'" says Flicker. "Tyler is dangerous because he's a natural leader. John turns his back on what he knows is wrong and he pays a price."

Flicker, 25, grew up in Manhattan with an insider's knowledge of t.v. production through his uncle, Theodore Flicker, who created "Barney Miller" and directed shows like "Andy Griffith." Flicker raised the lean five-figure sum needed to get Followers in the can by soliciting investments from regulars at New York's Museum Cafe, where he was a waiter. And days before cameras rolled he solved a gap financing crisis by selling his car to cover the shoot's insurance. The Cafe wait staff provided two neophyte producers; Flicker found cinematographer William T. Miller (Student Academy-Award nominee Last Call) through a sign at NYU and a script supervisor and costume designer by publicizing Followers' shoot on the Internet news group rec.arts.movies. production.

The 16mm Followers shot 24 days last March but budget limitations forced Flicker to omit several key scenes; he used a trailer screened in the '96 IFFM's works-in-progress section to raise additional financing. At press time Flicker was negotiating for the final $100,000 he needs to complete postproduction; all rights are available.

Cast: Sam Trammell, Eddie T. Robinson, Gerald J. Laurino, Jessica Prunell, Mark Dobies, Willie T. Carpenter, Teja Frank. Crew: Producer/Screen-writer/Director, Jonathan M. Flicker; Co-Producer, Dennis Gossett, Jr.; Associate Producer, Naeim Mohammed; Cinematographer, William M. Miller; Casting, Adrienne Stern. Contact: Jonathan M. Flicker, Wildgoose Productions, 219 West 81st Street, PHC, New York, NY 10024. Tel/Fax: (212) 873-8106.