Three weeks before the Sundance Midnight Madness premiere of her zombie dramedy Didn’t Die, director Meera Menon (whose credits appositely include episodes of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead) and her partner Paul Gleason (who co-wrote and shot the film) lost their home in the Eaton fire that devastated Altadena, Los Angeles. Not only that, the film’s producer Erica Fishman and her partner Geoff Boothby, who edited the film, also lost their home in the fire. The irony is that Didn’t Die centers on a group of five in the zombie apocalypse, trying desperately to hang on to their […]
by Ritesh Mehta on Jan 29, 2025Films are made over many days, but some days are more memorable, and important, than others. Imagine yourself in ten years looking back on this production. What day from your film’s development, production or post do you think you’ll view as the most significant and why? The most significant day on this film’s journey was our shoot in Joshua Tree. It was 115 degrees at its peak, and Paul, the cinematographer, nearly collapsed from heat stroke with the weight of the camera rig, which was apt for a film about survival. We were really out of money at this point […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2025In every film, there is the story that you knew you were telling, the story the audience perceives. But there is always some other story, a secret story. It might be the result of your hidden motivations for making the film, or, instead, the result of themes that only became clear to you after you made the movie. It might be something very personal, or it might be a story you didn’t even know you were telling. What is your film’s secret story? With Equity, we were seeking to tell a story about the strength and drive of female ambition […]
by Soheil Rezayazdi on Jan 31, 2016