David Wendell is sure to make a splash with Smut, a convention-defying love story set in a Midwest adult bookstore. Marty (Bandwagon lead Lee Holmes) is headed cross country in search of his destiny when his bike breaks down in dead end New Prairie, Indiana. To raise funds to fix his bike he takes a job at Max’s Adult Emporium. Though Max (Mark Boone Jr.) is a capitalist curmudgeon, there’s more to his establishment than meets the eye, and Marty is quickly charmed by an elderly half-blind junkie philosopher (Melvin Van Peebles) who frequents the back room peep shows. He has less luck with the resident stripper, Mary Jane (Jeanette Goldstein), whose sex appeal relies on elaborate costumes instead of skin. While waiting for Mary Jane’s veneer to crack, Marty finds a video camera in the storeroom and recruits a slacker tattoo artist, Bav, (Meredith Scott Lynn) to help shoot arty documentary shorts featuring the colorful locals. The resulting films turn Marty into a media sensation.

Wendell grew up in Indiana and spent his college years in Chicago where he graduated from Northwestern with a film degree in 1992. He then headed for L.A. where he worked as an agent, story editor and development scout while writing screenplays. A stint as director Allan Moyle’s assistant on Empire Records (1995) hooked him on directing and he shot his first short, the 28-minute Elevator Man, the following year. By the time producer Sean Cooley (Montana) met Wendell last June most of the film’s low six-figure budget was in place through private investments, but no one on board had any on-set production experience. Cooley, who’d had $4 million to make Montana, his own debut project, rolled up his sleeves and jumped in. "[Smut] has a freedom-of-speech subtext I found compelling, and I loved the idea of finding a fairy tale love story set in such a bizarre environment," he says.

The 35mm Smut was shot in Tujunga, the L.A. suburb seen in E.T., over three weeks in October with leading studio gaffer Jim Grce as cinematographer. Van Peebles is writing an original score and Smut should be done by Easter. All rights are available.

Cast: Lee Holmes, Jenette Goldstein, Melvin Van Peebles, Meredith Scott Lynn, Mark Boone Jr., Maxwell Caulfield. Crew: Producers, Andrea Buchanan, Sean Cooley, Chris Larsen; Screenwriter/Director, David Wendell; Cinematographer, Jim Grce; Production Designer, Chuck Voelter; Costumes, Carol Nathan; Contact: Sean Cooley, Boy Meets Girl Productions, 4024 Prospect Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Tel/Fax: (323) 661-5229.

Cement - Adrian Pasdar
Daughter of Suicide - Dempsey Rice
The Dream Catcher - Ed Radtke
The Five Senses - Jeremy Podeswa
Harlem Aria - William Jennings
Jump - Justin McCarthy
The Opportunists - Tim Perell
Smut - David Wendell
Why Love Doesn’t Work - Julie Davis