Beneath, Between, Behind the Scenes: It Makes Sense
M. Francis Enright is a filmmaker. His first short film, LIFE, was accepted into zero of the 23 festivals to which it was submitted. His second short film, The Comic, was nominated for Best Dark Comedy at the Georgia Comedy Film Festival. His third short film, Say Your Name, won Best Drama and Best Director at the Top Shorts Films Festival and was selected for the 2024 Boston International Film Festival.
We were shooting a scene for my last short, Scene 22, at a seedy motel in Yonkers, NY. It’s the type of place where people live and sex workers work out of. We could see them sitting in the doorways of the rooms on their phones and men would show up and the girls would put on a big fake smile and they would go into the room.
We all gotta do what we gotta do in this world.
We shot in one of rooms which smelled like a musty toilet. Two male actors are sitting on the bed, one, Tim, in the foreground, the other, Steve leaning against the headboard behind him. Steve is telling Tim that he is moving to Seattle. Tim is being left behind.
INT. MOTEL ROOM-DAY/NIGHT
Steve and Tim are on a bed. They both have their shirts off. Tim sits in the foreground with his back to Steve. Steve leans forward and puts his hand on Tim’s shoulder.
Tim is emotional, on the verge of tears.
STEVE
So, I’m thinking that the job is a great opportunity.
TIM
It’s in Seattle.
STEVE
I know.
TIM
How are you just going to up and move to Seattle?
STEVE
People move to Seattle all the time. I work in tech so…it just makes sense…
I am not a trained director. I feel my way through scenes and try to figure out what works emotionally and for the story. I wish I had a more scientific approach. Mine is an academic background, so saying “I feel my way” sounds wishy washy to me. I want a sound, rational basis for decisions.
But there is no sound, rational basis for the emotions people feel or the decisions they make. That’s what makes the world so endlessly fascinating.
After a few takes I told the actor playing Tim that I felt the key emotional note was “makes sense” . When Steve says that, he should let his shoulders sag. Because it makes sense, but love doesn’t make sense.
This is not actually happening. This is a scene in a short film being directed by a guy named Toby. His friend and creative partner (and maybe more in Toby’s mind) Jacob, is moving to LA to pursue his film career and he will also be getting married to his fiancee out there. Toby is being left behind professionally and otherwise.
I liked the moment with the actor playing Tim. It was one of the few times I felt like I knew what I was talking about and I was able to give meaningful direction based on a substantive reason other than “it feels right”.
That is not the way life generally works, but in a film you can make it work that way.
