The short film ‘Dead-End Dreams’ follows two estranged friends who come back together when one of them needs a favor from the other and finally have to address the things that drove them apart in the first place.
After a successful festival run, in which the film picked up Best Film from the Manhattanhenge International Film Festival and Best Film/Best Cinematography from the Bloomington Indiana Film Festival, Fort Wayne-native writer-director Malakai Tyne Bisel is ready to premiere the film locally.
'Dead-End Dreams' will be premiering at JK O’Donnel’s at 7 PM on April 9 and on YouTube the following week.
So, let's get right into the film, 'Dead End Dreams.' It's a story about two estranged friends who reconnect when one needs a favor from the other. Tell me about the inspiration for this story.
Malakai Tyne Bisel: During the pandemic, I kind of fell into what I've called 'My Great Depression', you know, because I couldn't make anything anymore, and it was like, who am I? But I, like, just started writing, just coming up with stuff, just as an exercise. And I was wrote this, this little scene for my adult nephew and my brother-in-law. One of them's trying to shoot a reel for the other.
Toward the end of the pandemic, I was, like, going through my old projects, and I found that, and I was like, oh, this, this actually it's got some good stuff in it. And I had realized after, like, going to therapy and taking a look at myself, that I had written these two characters of, one being like a realist, one being a dreamer, kind of two parts of myself. And then so I really dove deep into that and used it as an exercise. That's kind of the inspiration is putting out these arguments I have with myself into these two characters.
Sev and Fenner have quite an adversarial relationship in the film. It feels like while they work through some things that's never totally resolved in the end, what made you want to explore that relationship?
MTB: I think that's more realistic. I think in movies, a lot of times it ends with a bow on the end and everyone's happy. But I don't think that's how it really goes. In the end, they have a final phone call and it's like, oh yeah, well, we'll keep in touch. But in my mind, they never call each other again, because I think that's that's how real life is.
So, the film itself never establishes a location. But it's hard to hide Fort Wayne from people who live here, right?
MTB: We shot here in Fort Wayne because that's where I'm from. We didn't really try to hide anything of being Fort Wayne, obviously, what you want to do is make it more cinematic.
The big one is we shot in the Canterbury green apartments, a friend of mine at the time, like, he let us just like, have free reign of the apartment. Like he basically, like, moved out for like, two days while we shot there, which is great. I was like, okay, well, we'll just like, move a couple things and be fine and Corey Shearer, the head of head of the art team, was like, no, I brought a U-Haul of things to put in here. And he transformed this apartment into, like the most beautiful but realistic apartment. He literally brought a ladder. There was like a painted ladder in the background in one scene, and like plants everywhere, pictures.
It's kind of a balance, not trying to hide the fact that it's Fort Wayne, but make it more cinematic and more visually appealing.
You have a really incredible cast in this with Angel Ray and Ricky Cortez. How did you go about casting?
MTB: Yeah, so, casting was one of the harder parts. Like I said before, all my previous films that kind of just kind of haphazardly put them together, you know? Like when I first started out, it was like, my brother-in-law and my nephew and my partner, like, hey, will you guys do this? And they're like, Yeah, sure, you know. And I was so grateful and thankful for that, you know. But acting is not their passion. Like it was just kind of like to get to get this thing made, and they did a great job. But then with this one, I brought in Victoria Britton, like I said, and she's like, no, we're not doing that. Like I know people, we can do this. And so we used a service called Backstage. It's just like any actors would know about it. And so we just put out, like a casting description, you know, like Sev, you know, 25-35, you know, any race, you know any you know, whatever and kind of described the character. And we had, like, maybe 50, maybe 40, auditions for the character of Fenner.
You know, Ricky we found as soon as we saw his audition, because he just had that rage, like he was, like, going crazy in this audition. We actually kind of rewrote, or I rewrote a little bit around him to bring that anger out a little bit, and he was great. So we, we cast him. And he also, it really resonated with him, because, like, he's a creative, he's an actor, but also has a full time job, and he like relates to this character, and that aggression of not like, of giving up on your dreams, basically.
And then Angel, that one was a hard one to find. We had a lot of auditions, and it kind of got to a point. Where, you know, I was kind of jaded, and I was like, This guy's fine, you know, let's just hire, let's just hire this guy. He's fine. You know, whatever. And Victoria's like, just hold on. Just hold out, you know, like, just be patient, because we're getting closer and closer. I'm like, just, okay, that guy's fine. Just hold on, man. Like, hold on. You know, because, like, I have final say, I could just cast him, but she's there to be, like, cool your jets.
And she had sent me, like, the reel of Angel, like she just found him, like on Instagram or something. And I was like, Oh, this guy's pretty good, you know. And then we reached out to him on backstage and asked him to audition, and his performance was really cool, too. It was much more understated than a lot of the other ones. A lot of people are like, hamming it up because it is a comedy, but it's also a drama. And it's like, not slap-sticky, like there could be silly moments, but it's still a grounded, real character. And Angel really brought, he brought the oomph with that.
And then, you know, similar, it goes down the line, you know, for Griffin, who was played by Katarena Burke that was actually written as a boy. And we had a lot of lot of auditions. There's this one kid who was, like, he was like, nine years old, and like, the scene is cursing in and this kid's like, you know, curse, you know, eff this, eff that you know, you're, you know, I hate you brother. And I was like, I think you're a little too young. But keep it up, man. You got this, you know, and we opened up the casting to all genders, and we found Katarena Burke, and just goes down the line from there. You just, you dig through a lot of stuff, and the people, you find the diamonds in the rough.
I'm also curious about wardrobing, especially, specifically for Sev. There are just so many, like, interesting accessory choices happening throughout this film for him, and I think it plays really well into that, like, idealist, aspiring actor, like he's not meant to be here vibe.
MTB: Yeah, so, I wanted a wardrobe person. I wanted, like, a makeup person. But, you know, those are some of the things that go first in a lot of indies. So luckily, everyone, you know, all the actors in this were, like, already actors, like, they're acting in other things. So they, like, have the little makeup kit, you know, Ricky and Angel, like, 'Hey, man, can I have your foundation? You know, just put this on.' You know, 'hey, Katarina, do you have some of that, like, concealer stuff?' And so that was great. Didn't have to worry about that. And the costuming stuff, I took on, and, like, I love every part of the, you know, I would do it all if I could. So, like, I enjoyed it, but it's also takes away from, you know, the directing and the creative, so.
But the way I did it was like, 'hey, Ricky, don't buy anything yet. You know, if you don't want to, because, like, I can't pay you that much anyway, don't buy anything. Just send me, like, you know, 15 different outfit combinations, different jeans, different shirts, different whatever accessories.' And like, he just sent me a bunch of shots. Like, if you looked at my phone it's just these weird shots of all these guys in weird clothes. And like, Angel actually, like, he sent me, like a base, he's like, 'here's me just in my underwear. And then, like, here's with a shirt,' like, so I could, like, it's like, making a character in, like, a video game or something.
And then what I would do is, like, I'm pretty good in Photoshop, so I would be like, okay, gonna cut these pants, put that on here. This shirt actually, you have this, like, (Ricky) had a hairband on his on his wrist, that he would use to, like, snap himself. You know, it's kinda like a therapeutic thing. I was like, make that red, because that's like the character of Griffin, that's her color, and it's like, maybe it's hers or whatever.
And so, like, I would Photoshop that together and be like, Hey, this is day one, this is day two, this is day three. And make a little like slide show and share that with them, and also share it with like, Victoria and Joe. Just so we could all be like, for this scene, we're on the right day, right? Like everybody- because you don't want someone's outfit to suddenly change throughout the day. And then with Angel, he did the same thing with the stuff he had. But also he was like, I'm gonna go buy stuff. He was like, he is all in, you know, and luckily, he's like, a pediatric dentist, like, by day. And so he's like, oh, man, I could spend a little bit of money on this, like, I'm doing it. And so he'd go to like, thrift shops and send me, like, dude, check out this like, pearl necklace. Maybe we could do something with that. Like, a couple people have been like, that's too weird. I was like, No, that's like, the point.
And so he sent me, like, a ton of different outfit combinations, and again, Photoshop them together. And one of the inspiration, like, I had inspirations for his character where it's like, flamboyant and like, he thinks he's, like, super stylish, but he's kind of like, kind of not, but he kind of pulls it up. But kind of not. So like, Nick Cage in, like, the modern era is like a good reference point, because he, like, Nick Cage is walking around with this like, Pink Diamond jacket. Or, LaKeith Stanfield, he's always got like, a big, like, flamboyant outfit on. One of my one of my favorite ones is the pearl necklace, because I just think he pulls it off. Like, I think it, I think it works for him. It's unique. And, you know, maybe it turns some people off, but, like, I think it can be, speak for the character, and be eye-catching.
There's the one other part where it's a really intense, like, it's not a super intense, I don't want to say really intense, because it's not like, one of the most intense scenes in the film, but Sev and Fenner are having that conversation outside of Sev's apartment after, like, really struggling with the reel and he comes out, and the pants that he's wearing are just the most obnoxious pants.
MTB: Yeah, he's got, like, leather- it's probably pleather. Like, shiny pleather pants and cowboy boots and that pink corduroy thing on. And, like, I think it's still in the film. I don't know if I cut it out or not. Like, you know, I've gone through so many iterations of the project. But, like, he's on the phone and he's just making stuff up, and he's like, 'No, it's real leather, man, it's real leather.' Is that still in there? And that was just made up on the spot, it was funny.
Which is great, because it actually pulled my attention to the pants, like, him saying that made me go, oh my God, look at those pants.
MTB: Yeah, he's got, like, a leather pants guy on call.
So, you are doing the premiere at JK O'Donnell's. First of all, why JK O'Donnell's?
MTB: Yeah, that's a really weird place, isn't it? With JK O'Donnell's, I think someone, I reached out to a friend of mine. I think it was Zach Vessels and McKayla Nevers. They're like, local, you know, filmmakers.
They had suggested JK O'Donnell's because they in the back, they have this, like, that's like, a nice big backyard, maybe, like, half acre or something like that. And they have a little projector, and they've got like, couches and seating, and it's like, open to the alley, and they've got like, overhead cover and a projector and speakers. And I was like, oh, this, this is pretty cool, you know, we could do this.
And they're like, oh yeah, we'll serve custom drinks for you. Like, you will pay for the drink and the food, of course. But they're like, we will totally host this. And then it comes with bathrooms, of course, you know, it comes with parking around. Our whole goal with doing this premiere was to kind of create some like, FOMO. You know, it's like, limited. It's exclusive. Like, you know, you can only come if you come at night. I know you gotta go work the next day, but you want to see it right? So, just kind of randomly worked out that way, and I'm really excited for it.
