"Fluff" Production Notes

One day a couple of years ago as Steve Hutton was working on a computer manual, he thought "I bet I can write something funnier than this." At the same moment, his nephew Gregory Duke was using his university education in drama to trim celery at a no-frills grocery store. So Steve said to Greg, "I can write, you can direct, we have lots of friends who can act, why don't we make a movie?"

Greg had no answer - which is sort of the point with a rhetorical question - so off they went. They decided to make a movie about a writer, a director, and their friends who decide to make a movie. Steve could write a script about a hack writer whose modernization of the classics turns into a sex film, Greg could direct a film about a theatre director who convinces himself that he can direct films, and their friends could play a bunch of theatre actors and miscellaneous riffraff.

When it came time to cast their film, Greg and Steve discovered they didn't have quite as many friends as they thought but they eventually assembled a cast of friends, friends-of-friends, ex-spouses-of-friends, co-workers, financial advisers, and local mini-celebrities who are overly susceptible to flattery. They also assembled a crew of struggling professionals including Christofer Boehnisch (award-winning cinematographer), Sebastian Cluer (sound), Robb Gorman (makeup), and J. Marshall Freeman (score).

Although there were many disappointments and challenges (like actors who just decided not to show up), Greg and Steve would rather remember the many people who far exceeded their expectations. Like Kate Beynon, who convinced more than a dozen artists to let their work appear in the film. Like J. Marshall Freeman and Robb Gorman, who decided a love theme was needed so they went out and created one. Like Jonathan C. Dietrich and Jordi L. Mendoza, who produced some breathtaking props (particularly Jonathan's Gay Sex for Imbeciles book cover and Jordi's pornographic stick figures). Like Angela Chambers, who clothed 53 people as football players, eagles, feminist valkyries, and mimes.

Producing an ultra-low-budget movie is a bit like faith healing. The producer and director tell a story that's spectacularly unlikely to be true ("this film will be shot, and edited, and submitted to film festivals, and accepted, and...") but if enough people believe them the story turns out to have been true all along.

For more information, see The Making of Fluff.