"Thank You 5" Film

THANK YOU 5 (a fully improvised comedy featuring an ensemble of emerging Chicago-based actors) tells the story of a fictional company of floundering thespians as they attempt to stage a production of 'Prelude to a Tradition,' an original work by playwright and director Kurt McAbbott.

The film begins on the first day of rehearsal and follows the cast through tech rehearsal, dress rehearsal and into the play's opening night as the cast and crew argue, bicker, fall in love, fall out of love, and generally clash while attempting to collaborate.

THANK YOU 5 is a tribute to all of the unsung artists who endure so much, specifically each other, to create something memorable for audiences.

LOGLINE

A theater production struggles to survive to opening night, enduring the eccentric personalities of the director, cast members & crew.

DETAILS

FILM TYPE: Narrative Fiction, Feature

GENRE: Comedy, Drama

RUNTIME: 1 hour 53 minutes

Phylicia McLeod as HEIDI PERKINS

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From left to right: Reid Estreicher & Michael Barnard review footage

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

This project is significant to us because it’s our first narrative feature after collaborating together many times on stage and producing our own silent short films. But more importantly to us, with this film, we wanted to explore ideas concerning why artists care so much and work so hard to create something that ultimately might go unnoticed; never lasting beyond the moment of its initial, brief existence.

Moreover, it was of great importance for us to tell a story that discourages from looking at things through the myopic lens of success vs. failure. Artistic endeavors gain more value when viewed from the perspective of appreciating the journey of hard work, rather than simply dwelling on mere status or prestige. This theme is particularly poignant to us because, to reiterate, this is our first narrative feature. We thoroughly enjoyed the process of making "Thank You 5." If we gain nothing else from this project, we know we've appreciated the journey.

We hope you enjoy watching the film as much as we enjoyed making it.

Michael Barnard & Reid Estreicher

Emily Zawisza as HEATHER PAXTON

DIRECTOR'S BIOS

MICHAEL BARNARD was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a graduate of Drake University with a major in Radio and Television Production. As a teenager he won a Regional Emmy Award in the category of Arts/Entertainment/Documentary for a comical short he created called “Cold and Flu Season.” His short film “Transfer" was a nominee for Best Film at the 2011 48 Hour Film Project in Minneapolis. Another of his short films, “Comfort Food,” was featured at the Best of Z-Fest screening during the Z-Fest competition in 2012. He worked for several years behind-the-camera in the news industry. He then moved to Chicago and formed Two Ties Productions with W. Reid Estreicher. “Thank You 5” is their first narrative feature.

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A United States Marine and combat veteran, REID ESTREICHER has been involved in various facets of acting, comedy, voice over, stage and film since his teenage years, gaining his SAG Membership in 1996. He is a graduate of both Second City’s Conservatory and Writer’s Conservatory Programs. Reid moved back to Chicago in 2011 with the goal of starting an indie film-focused production company that would shoot primarily in Chicago, using local Chicago talent and local Chicago crews. In the same year, he met and started performing and collaborating with Michael Barnard. After shooting many silent films and writing screenplays together, Reid went on to form Two Ties Productions with Michael Barnard. “Thank You 5” is their first narrative feature film.

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Meghan Murphy as ALEX THWAITE and Richard Kallus as PETER BOURDAN

PRODUCTION NOTES

Weekly Saturday-into-Wednesday Shooting Schedule Insanity

Once production began, we would meet all-day on Saturday to discuss what needed to be shot for the upcoming week. Sunday we arrived on set at noon and filmed until about 4AM the next day at which point we would dump footage, break down our gear, then we’d each head home about an hour later, get about an hour of sleep, then get up and get ready for our day jobs. Immediately after work on Monday, we would get to set at 6PM and resume shooting until about 4AM the next day at which point we would dump footage, break down our gear, then we’d each head home about an hour later, get about an hour of sleep, then get up and get ready for our day jobs. Immediately after work on Tuesday, we would get to set at 6PM and resume shooting until about 4AM the next day at which point we would dump footage, break down our gear, then we’d each head home about an hour later, get about an hour of sleep, then get up and get ready for our day jobs. After work on that Wednesday night we’d go home and sleep from 6PM until we had to get ready for our day jobs the next day. Thursday night, questions from cast and crew would start to come and we’d set a preliminary schedule for the upcoming week, solidify it on Friday, then Saturday do it all over again. We filmed this way for 6 weeks.

THEO KOPPEL AS WARREN L'CHASTIE

Group Shots

This film was shot in 20 days over a 6-week period. There was only one day that we had the entire 13-person ensemble on set at the same time and due to scheduling conflicts we only had them for 4 hours. All of the dialogue elements of large group scenes were filmed separately as solo or two person shots.

(From left to right) John T. O'Brien as SCOT STEVANS, Timmy Carroll as BOBBY MILLIGAN, Michael Barnard as GEORGE PARTRIDGE, Jason Amplo as MATTHEW TAYLOR STANDFORD, Theo Koppel as WARREN L'CHASTIE, and Richard Kallus as PETER BOURDAN

Pseudonyms in the Credits

We did mostly everything so the credits are full of pseudonyms so we don't look like such a chop shop. That being written, Tyler Bailey is a real person and he really was our DP. Elliot Wood really did help us when Tyler was traveling. However, we both ran audio, 2nd camera when not in front of it, set up lights, and with the exception of the initial color correction done by Dan Scott, we executed on all post-production activities but we didn’t want every credit to be our names because it looks kind of ridiculous.

(From left to right) Theo Koppel as WARREN L'CHASTIE, Jason Amplo as MATTHEW TAYLOR STANDFORD, Meghan Murphy as ALEX THWAITE, John T. O'Brien as SCOT STEVANS, Stevie Shale as JENNA EMBERT, Timmy Carroll as BOBBY MILLIGAN, Emily Zawisza as HEATHER PAXTON, Michael Barnard as GEORGE PARTRIDGE, and Richard Kallus as PETER BOURDAN

CAST

Reid Estreicher … as Kurt McAbbott

Meghan Murphy … as Alex Thwaite

Richard Kallus … as Pete Bourdan

Emily Zawisza … as Heather Paxton

John T. O’Brien … as Scot Stevans

Timmy Carroll … as Bobby Milligan

Phylicia McLeod … as Heidi Perkins

Jason Amplo … as Matthew Taylor Standford

Stevie Shale … as Jenna Embert

Michael Barnard … as George Partridge

Theo Koppel … as Warren L’Chastie

Jodie Meis … as Karen Dumako

Alex Solomon … as Logan Anderson

CREW

Directed by: Michael Barnard & Reid Estreicher

Written by: Michael Barnard & Reid Estreicher

Director of Photography: Tyler Bailey

Addition Photography: Elliot Wood

Color: Daniel J. Scott

Edited by: Richard Baleman

Sound Engineer: Eric Himdale

Original Score by: Eli Carter Wilsheim

Visual Effects: Matthew Coleman

Appreciate