OVERDUE, 15min., USA
Directed by Melissa Skirboll
A romantic dramedy.
Maureen and Jason are each having a very bad night. Their chance encounter gives both a glimmer of hope as they discover a shared past and a connection that brings light to the darkness in their lives.

http://melissaskirboll.com/
https://www.facebook.com/OverdueShortFilm
https://twitter.com/MSkirboll
https://www.instagram.com/melissadirectherfilm/

Get to know director Melissa Skirboll & screenwriter Penny Jackson

1. What motivated you to make this film?

Melissa: This is the third film I've worked on with playwright and screenwriter Penny Jackson. Because OVERDUE was originally a short play she had written, I'm including her answers as well as my own. When Penny approached me with the play, I fell in love with this complicated, messy adult woman and the down on his luck actor ready to hang it all up and get a day job. (I can identify with both those roles way more than I'd like to admit!) I was more than thrilled to help bring them to the screen.

Penny: I wanted to write a film about two people who feel they are at the end of their life plans and are about to give up. Serendipity allows them to meet, and that meeting is a catalyst for hope and change. This screenplay, adapted from a play, was written during Covid, a time when I believed people really needed hope in their lives.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you
to make this film?

Mellisa: I think it took about 9 months from the time Penny first showed me the play and we started to write the screenplay together to the final cut. Once we decided to work on it, it went pretty quickly!

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?

Melissa: Complex and funny

Penny: Connection. Hope.

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

Melissa: We ran into some post production delays but nothing that we couldn't overcome. The rest of it felt almost too easy!

Penny: Biggest obstacle to me was Covid. Dealing with the regulations and making sure people tested. The screenplay was easier than I thought because my co-writer, Melissa, knew exactly how to adapt it from a play to a screenplay. Casting is always a challenge but we were lucky in finding our two amazing leads.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking
about your film in the feedback video?

Melissa: So thrilled - it's such a gift to get this type of unfiltered feedback and to hear how your work touched others. And so interesting to hear the different takeaways: what one person finds funny or poignant, another might find disturbing or thought provoking and all valid responses.

Penny: Joy, connections with all these strangers, overwhelmed with the intelligence and true understand of the film which all these audience members understood the themes of our film.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?

Melissa: I started as an actor and didn't think I wanted to get into writing and directing until I actually did it. The transition from stage to screen took a while because I wasn't sure I had the technical know how. But I found that if I surround myself with a team that knows more than I do about cameras, and lenses, and sound and color - and trust them to be as excellent as they are - that the collaborative nature of film making helps me tell the stories I want to tell in a way that resonated with audiences. I took the leap in 2016 and have not looked back since!

Penny: I wanted to make films because I love films and also I was getting frustrated with making theater. Plays are too ephemeral. You put everything you have in a production that lasts a month and then it's gone. With a film, it's permanent, and can be shared with audiences all around the globe.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

Melissa: Singin' in the Rain, Wizard of Oz, Moulin Rouge.

Penny: Rushmore is a film I adore because I was a teacher and I knew students like Max. I love the journey of all the characters, and of course, the music. The most Un-Wes Anderson of his films. My other favorite film is The Third Man. You can't beat Orson Welles, the zither music, Joseph Cotten, a post-war Vienna and Graham Greene.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other
festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking
career?

Melissa: Share the wonderful video of the audience reactions to as many people who love film. I want everyone to be able to see OVERDUE and enjoy it as much as your audience.

Penny: Your audiences seem wonderful! And I love all the things that you do for/with the filmmakers and audiences. The only thing missing for me is the networking and conraderie that you get at a live festival.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your
experiences been working on the festival platform site?

Melissa: So far so good! Really great tool to organize submissions and find festivals that you weren't aware of (use judiciously though!)

Penny: FilmFreeway is a great tool to find film festivals but can be too overwhelming. Unfortunately, there are many poorly run festivals listed on the site as well as terrific festivals. Sometimes it is difficult to navigate which festivals to submit.

10. What is your favorite meal?

Melissa: New England Clambake. (Hey Penny I didn't realize we both love lobster!)

Penny: Lobster. In Maine. With the ocean in front of me and lots of melted butter and good wine.

11. What is next for you? A new film?

Melissa: I'll be working on Match Point with Penny shooting this spring and I'm trying to get my feature and pilot scripts into production soon!

Penny: My next project is a short film with two characters tha could be considered a thriller. I am committed to write dynamic characters for women over 40, and this film titled MATCH POINT, has a woman over a certain age who is not someone's best friend or Mom but a very complex and intriguing woman.