Hollyshorts Filmmaker Interview: VIRGIN WANTED

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Here at FilmRadar we are all about supporting short films! The Hollyshorts Film Festival kicks off in Hollywood and runs August 7th - 10th. We managed to get interviews with some of the featured filmmakers.... An Interview with Casey Geisen, director of Virgin Wanted What is your short film about? Virgin Wanted is about a 26 year-old girl who enlists her older brother to help her find another virgin to lose her virginity to.  They decide to put an ad up on Craigslist and it’s obviously all downhill from there. How did you get the idea? I used to work with this lonely woman in her mid-forties who was obsessed with reality TV.  She was raving about this show called Who Wants To Marry My Dad?  The premise sounded so absurd—three sisters auctioning off their dad—that it got me to thinking about someone auctioning off their sister’s virginity.  The virginity thing was probably inspired by the woman I worked with—I always assumed that she was a virgin because she was so wide-eyed and never talked about a boyfriend.  I know that sounds a little presumptuous, but if you met her you’d probably get the same vibe. What are some of the films and filmmakers that inspire you? The biggest influence on this particular film, stylistically, would be the Christopher Guests mockumentaries.  I’m a big fan of the fusion of documentary and narrative film structure.  Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, Little Children, In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors are also very inspiring to me.  I’m drawn to filmmakers, like Todd Solondz and Neil LaBute, who have the guts to tackle dark subject matter and do so in a comical way.  And Woody Allen is amazing for his sheer work ethic alone.  The guy has written and directed a movie a year since the mid-70’s and most of them are brilliant.  He really makes me feel lazy. What made you originally want to get into film? I think this is probably the stock answer for anyone my age, but when I was a kid, the first movie I remember seeing in the theatre was Star Wars and since then I’ve been hooked.  I also remember seeing Kramer vs. Kramer around that time, but I don’t think that movie had a profound impact on me at the age of three.  I was the most annoying kid to go see a movie with because on the car ride home I’d recount the entire film scene by scene.  What was the most challenging thing about making your short? The biggest hurdle in this film was a severe lack of time.  I had a 27 page script and only had access to three of my principal actors for one day.  Luckily, we shot documentary-style, using mostly natural lighting, otherwise it wouldn’t have been physically possible to get all of the footage we needed.  The film ended up being 22 minutes long and I’m happy with most of it, so I can’t really complain. How did you go about selecting your cast? Each role was written specifically for the actors in the film—who are all friends of mine that I met when I was at Second City. What do you hope your short film achieves? It’s a comedy so I hope people laugh.  It’s also a little on the dark side, so hopefully people take it with a grain of salt. What is your next project? Right now I’m working on turning my short into a feature-length film.  I’ve just finished the script.  The feature will not be a mockumentary, it’s been retooled a bit, but I think it still has the same feel. VIRGIN WANTED screens on Saturday, August 9th as part of Show Program #3 which starts at 4:35. Order tickets at hollyshorts.com  Special weekend pass is available for $40 or day passes for $20. Use promo code:  hsffESFPZ http://www.filmradar.com/articles/item/hollyshorts_filmmaker_interview_virgin_wanted/