Working Overtime

Megan Griffiths Balances Story, Marketability, and Social Consciousness in The Off Hours

By T Jones

"Have you ever worked with a female director before?" The question stumps producer Mischa Jakupcak as she searches her memory for an answer. Director Megan Griffiths interjects, "It’s good to be in the ranks of female directors."

Megan Griffiths

Griffiths, who has been active on the local Seattle film scene in various roles, begins shooting The Off Hours , her feature directing debut, this coming January.

Women directors are rare in an industry primarily dominated by men. Of the 13,400 members of the Directors Guild of America, only about 7% are women.

But if female directors are rare, the team of four women Griffiths has assembled to produce the film is even less common. Griffiths met Jakupcak, as well as Joy Saez and Lacey Leavitt (Blood On the Flat Track , see article this issue) on the locally made 2007 film Cthulhu . The group clicked-but they downplay the idea that they are breaking any kind of paradigm.

Mischa Jakupcak

"I like the fact that we’re all women, but I didn’t set out to make a team of all women," Griffiths says. "First and foremost it’s about the script and the story."

She departs from the subject of gender, her face lighting up as she launches into a description of her film. Griffiths describes The Off Hours as a "non-judgmental presentation of people, a character-driven drama." Set in a diner, the film explores the lives of three residents of a small, truck stop town-a young, promiscuous waitress, an alcoholic diner owner, and a Serbian mail order bride turned prostitute-trying to find inspiration in their nightly routine.

Griffiths is no stranger herself to the nine-to-five. She worked a day job for two and a half years while writing the script, before she eventually made the leap to freelance film work. But working long production hours, sometimes with night shoots, made it difficult to keep things moving on her own project. As she gained momentum with her script, she decided to focus exclusively on getting The Off Hours produced.

Lacey Leavitt

She found her stride in meeting Jakupcak, Leavitt and Saez. "It was easy to want to get behind a project Megan was doing," says Jakupcak. Griffiths’ ability to write dialogue and character, her experience editing feature films, and her strong visual sense and understanding of lighting and setups from her experience as a cinematographer, Jakupcak says, drew the group to her. "To have that combination of well balance is really uncommon."

Griffiths’ credits on the Seattle indie film scene range from co-producing Zoo ( 2007), to work as a first assistant director on Cthulhu, True Adolescents (2008), and The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (2008). Her thesis film from the Ohio University School of Film, not Waving but Drowning, garnered her a nomination for the 2001 Student Academy Awards as well as two Nell Shipman Awards.

"One of our goals is to have a really quality film and script, but one that has some staying power." For Griffiths, this means balancing marketability of the film while preserving its underlying artistic vision.

"There is a history of one time filmmakers who rally to get enough money to make a film, with a good script and acting," Jakupcak says. "But [they] find it challenging when they go to get their money back on distribution." With more films being made on video, the sheer volume of films made every year makes it difficult to stand out. The group quickly concluded that creating a strong business plan was a necessity.

Joy Saez

A key part of their strategy to compete is having a recognizable name actor. While they intend to cast some roles locally, Jakupcak says, "The reality of the independent film world is that it’s important to have name actors in your roles."

With the potential Screen Actors Guild strike looming next spring, their fall casting sessions in Los Angeles were tense. Production companies are frontloading their slates, causing actors to fill their schedules fast. But with the offer of a strong script and a chance to act in a character driven story, the project is garnering strong interest despite the scheduling crunch. Aidan Quinn is now attached to star, and the team is in discussions with other name actors whose names cannot yet be released.

Amidst this whirlwind of creating a packaging strategy and ramping up for production, the team is remarkably committed to making The Off Hours an environmentally sustainable production.

"It’s always been incredibly depressing to see the waste that goes into filmmaking," Griffiths says. She stresses the importance of putting enough time and thought into planning a green set before production. "Once you’re in it, there’s no time, you do what’s easy."

Their plan includes reducing garbage, using reusable water bottles, and enforcing recycling. For production design, the group plans to focus on renting. They formed a unique partnership with Goodwill to let them borrow things for the duration of production. When purchases are necessary, they will turn to salvage yards and reuse stores. For transportation, they are getting in touch with hybrid car manufacturers to see how they can transport crew and cast economically and reduce the issue of transportation vans running throughout the day.

"We aren’t the first film set to try to go green," Griffiths concedes. But where most will pay at the end of production to plant trees to level out their carbon footprint, Griffiths feels like it makes more sense to reduce the impact on set at the source.

"It’s weird to work on this community, collaborative, artistic thing, and reconcile that with heaps of garbage," Jakupcak agrees. The group’s plans also include purchasing locally produced, organic food to reduce shipping pollution and promote a healthier crew.

Bringing better food to the set might be a small detail to some, but it does not go unnoticed by the crew members who rally around this team of women filmmakers. Griffiths has built extensive contacts on the local film scene, saying, "Everyone has been very supportive so far and expressed their desire to work on the film."

The Off Hours will be almost entirely crewed up locally, and Griffiths says she is quick to show she prefers to work with people who have a good attitude and who care about the project, versus those who are motivated by a paycheck. "I’d love to find the people who would work for free, and then pay them well," she says.

It’s comments like these that characterize Griffiths’ positive outlook and optimism going into her shoot. But is this attitude generated by Griffiths, or is it the combination of these four women working together?

"When you work fourteen to sixteen hours a day, six days a week, you get to know people incredibly well" says Jakupcak. "There is a level of trust and understanding of each other’s strengths. We feed off each other’s enthusiasm and ideas."

The group synergy has little to do with gender, the team insists, saying "we aren’t going to have an all female team." As Griffiths jokes, "Eventually we’ll have guys involved."

CREW BOX: The Off Hours

The Off Hours (shooting in 2008)
Megan Griffiths – Writer/Director
Mischa Jakupcak – Producer
Lacey Leavitt – Producer
Joy Saez – Producer
Joy Andrews – Production Designer
Van Riker – Music Supervisor
Lina Todd – Casting Director
David Nugent – Location Manager
Rebecca Luke – Wardrobe Supervisor

www.theoffhoursfilm.com