A paleontologist works to unearth a new dinosaur before getting caught by a greedy landowner, finding an unlikely ally in the process.
When Jack McLain (director) and I began brainstorming what we wanted our senior thesis film to be, we knew we wanted to challenge ourselves and create something neither of us had worked on before. We wanted to combine my love of dinosaurs and Jack's love of 1960's cinema. We wanted to create a story that honors the power of the working class and sticking up for knowing what's right. From these elements, IDLEWILD was born.
We also pushed ourselves on the production side, insisting that this shoot be entirely exterior on a construction site with a crew of 60+ people. These challenges pushed us to think creatively about how to keep everyone safe, even during a night shoot where we only had the lights powered by the generators to show us the way. We also had to think about how to shoot our script in a realistic way where we lost two hours of production each day shuttling everyone to and from set.
These production challenges only made us stronger filmmakers that set us up for longer scripts later in our career. It was a jumping-off point for Jack's style, and for me to know how to improve my skills as a collaborator, and more importantly, as a producer. We put a lot of heart and soul into this story, in hopes that it serves as a beacon of opening up to people, and finding power in your own vulnerability.
Check out the film below:
cast
SYDNEY ENDICOTT as ruth
ANDREW HOLLINGER as eddie
DAVID SWEENEY as hollis
key crew
directed by JACK McLAIN
written by JACK McLAIN & L.C. HENDERSON (as lauren)
cinematography by ERIC GESUALDO
editing and sound design by KINSEY RHINEHART
production design by CARY WILLIAMSON
music by REED TRACHY