HISTORY

FIRST DATE

We met while performing improve at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City and after performing together for about a year, we decided to break away from UCB and develop a comedy sketch show for themselves. The original idea for the show was based on Kevin’s parents who were, unfortunately at the time, going through a divorce. The first sketch was about a husband and wife dealing with an affair that was inevitable. The mother was being won over by a man who claimed to be the world’s master of origami. The sketch was funny, but also heartbreaking and real. For Kevin, it was a cathartic process and for Troy, it was free practice in psychoanalysis… and there, in Starbucks on 42nd Street, POUNDCAKE was conceived.

MEETING THE PARENTS

We would sit for hours and talk about the effect the divorce was having on Kevin’s family and of course, Kevin. Troy would ask questions, trying to get to the core of what it all meant to a grown man watching his family dissolve before his eyes. We both quickly realized that there is a loss of innocence at whatever age, when you realize that your parents aren’t super heroes, they are just two people trying to survive and sometimes that means … not together. The point: “Divorce is hilarious!”

THE BIRTH OF BABY “POUNDCAKE”

For two years we worked night and day to bring POUNDCAKE to life. We’d meet anywhere we could during the day-- the floor in Grand Central Station, Barnes & Noble and restaurants… but mostly we worked at various Starbucks locations all over Manhattan. In fact, Troy spent $1,344.00 on grande coffees over the time spent there … true story. A usual evening of work would require Kevin to drive an hour each way from his home to Troy’s and then we’d write until the wee hours of the morning. This was at least two or three nights a week. In fact, one night at the wee hour of 3 a.m., Kevin went outside to his car to go home only to find that the spot where he parked his car was missing one thing … his car!

MONEY FOR COLLEGE

After two years on the script, it was time to figure out how we were going to make the movie. Inspired by the Coen brothers, we opted to shoot a trailer and over two days and a minimal budget we did. With Director Rafael Monserrate on board, we would eventually gain the interest and the money of two investors. After a month or so, the “experienced” Hollywood investor of the two, informed the team that he thought the movie couldn’t be shot for under a million because we needed a stunt coordinator and CG to make it legit. So needless to say there were obvious creative differences that made Troy put his foot down which in turn made the “experienced” investor pull his monies out one month before production was suppose to start. See ya’ … now what? Troy and Kevin decided, like any proud parent, that they would invest in their baby. Troy took out a loan and with Kevin, they would split it down the middle. By the way Kev, still owes Troy for September and October. Not having much experience in the realm of producing independent films, Troy and Kevin searched for someone who could steer the ship. After much research, Rafael contacted Mridu Chandra via email and pleaded their case. Mridu had some experience, she had line produced the indie film “Love Ludlow” and several documentaries. It was the indie aspect of her resume that attracted them to her. Mridu met with Troy, Kevin and Rafael at Coffee Bar in NYC and decided she would do a budget for the film but she would be going back to her day job and the boys would fend for themselves… accept Troy got down on his knees and begged Mridu to quit her job and take a chance on them. She did and it proved to be the best possible move for all of them. It seemed that this team was meant to be and Mridu Chandra proved to be the powerhouse producer that the boys thought she was. Troy refers to Mridu as his “producing soul-mate”.

FINDING PEOPLE TO LEAD

Working at New York’s well known casting agency Telsey + Co., casting director David Vaccari has known Troy for about ten years. Troy gave David the script in hopes that he could help with casting. After reading it, David immediately came on board as a producer and ended up getting the script into the hands of many well-respected actors in both New York and LA but the three of us had Kathleen Quinlan and Jay O. Sanders at the top of our wish list. After numerous meetings on both coasts, we sat down with Kathleen Quinlan at a Mexican restaurant Santa Monica and then with Jay O. Sanders in a little New York French bistro in the west village and we got our wish.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL POSTPONED

October, a week before production was to begin, Buffalo – where we were filming -- was hit with a catastrophic blizzard. Hundreds of thousands of trees were destroyed, millions of people were without electricity or heat in their homes and the entire Western New York region looked as if it was a war zone. The production team had to make a decision, ‘Do we make POUNDCAKE into a war epic? Or do we shoot around the chaos?’ Needless to say, we made a post apocalyptic war film comedy. The production went forward.

OFFICIAL FIRST DAY

The team was in place and everyone would be venturing on this journey with at least one thing in common: their first feature film… first time director, writers, producers and editor. Both Kathleen and Jay attached themselves based on the merit of the script and graciously agreed to work for scale. Also, the actors would have the luxury of four days of rehearsal with first time director Rafael. The cast and crew of forty people would become one big happy family while working on the film for the nineteen-day shoot and living together at the Holiday Inn. Great rates by the way. For nineteen days, the production team worked tirelessly and enjoyed every second of the film’s true independent spirit. All of the locations were given to the production at no cost. Food was donated, cooked for us and volunteers from the Buffalo community came to the set each day and helped in whatever capacity they could. Even Kevin Logie’s grandmother let the production take over her home for a week to use as “The Morgan” house. Kevin’s hometown was proving to be the perfect place for POUNDCAKE.

FOUR YEARS OF EDUCATION

From the day of the film’s conception, through the writing process, finding investors, the 19-day shoot and the post-production phase, it’s all taken four years. Director Rafael and first time feature film editor, Anthony Ripoli, sat in Anthony’s homemade edit suite in Brooklyn and worked passionately for a year. Independent films rarely have the luxury of resources that would allow the film making process to be much faster, but we looked at our indie status time stretch as a huge blessing… “It’s our one shot, let’s get it right.”