idk if you’re like a huge nerd, but our director (and truly one of my improv idols) Alex Fernie is (and so am I to be honest), and he put together a list of his influences for The Greatest Treasure in the World (which is crowdfunding now, did you know? bit.ly/treasurefilm) that I’m going to post at the bottom of this email.

We are also streaming a conversation about our first shoot and screening some ~bonus secret footage~ today at 2pm! Join us on youtube!

So if you’re a huge nerd, this email is great news for you.

And now, a word from our Fernie (read the full thing on the Seed&Spark!)

Films etc by ALEX FERNIE

I love an ensemble comedy.

A group of distinct and funny characters thrust into a situation together, bouncing off one another is my ideal way to find and heighten comedy. Films like Dazed & Confused and Clue and the perfect trifecta of Waiting For Guffman/Best In Show/A Mighty Wind all do this. For The Greatest Treasure In The World, that’s exactly what we are tapping into. A movie that pulls its laughs from the characters and their relationships; characters who behave the way they do because of who they are, not because of the demands of streaming viewership algorithms. And I am incredibly lucky to have this group of performers playing these characters. Siobhan and Izzy, along with the rest of the cast, are exactly who I want to create these people with. They are all performers who have years of experience supporting each other and pushing each other’s buttons, achieving higher heights than anyone could alone. You know, a true ensemble.

I also love improvisation. Improv can be hard to capture on camera, but when done right, it feels lived in and magical. The way to achieve that feeling is, counterintuitively, by leaning into planning and preparation. Rehearsal, on-going creative collaboration, and building trust among cast and crew gives everyone the freedom to bring their own voices and their own sense of comedy to the film. It makes the collaborative artform of filmmaking communal, and can comedically take the film places a viewer would never anticipate. And what’s the point of making a comedy that doesn’t surprise people? The documentary format gives us a lot of leeway in how we use the improvisational elements, in addition to a way to work in hard jokes without ever undermining the reality or emotion of a scene (while giving us opportunities to subvert the expectations that come with making a mockumentary as well.)

There’s also a thematic reason The Greatest Treasure in The World is improvised: each of these characters is making it up as they go along too. They have dreams their small town can’t fulfill and no idea how to achieve them. When this once-in-a-lifetime chance to chase those dreams drops in their laps in the form of a massive inheritance, the characters will have no more idea what they’ll do than the viewer does. That’s a story I want to see play out.

Laser asked me to write a thing about comedy movies that I love and/or that have influenced what we’re doing here with The Greatest Treasure In The World, so that’s what I’m doing! Who doesn’t love a good list?

Waiting For Guffman

This one is probably pretty obvious based on the movie that we’re making. In 1997, for reasons lost to the sands of time, my high school took a field trip to watch Waiting For Guffman at the Avon Theater on Thayer Street in Providence, RI. It was my first introduction to Christopher Guest as more than “the guy from Princess Bride and Spinal Tap.” Shockingly, 15 year old me was not familiar with 1989’s The Big Picture. And it was the first (of many) times I’d watch what is one of the funniest movies ever made.

Guest is synonymous with “mockumentaries” (a form that has been unjustly diminished by a raft of post-The Office tv shows that often use talking heads as lazy joke delivery machines.) He basically perfected the form as writer/actor in This Is Spinal Tap and then the ridiculously great directing run of Guffman/Best In Show/A Mighty Wind. But Waiting for Guffman will always be closest to my heart. A big part of that is how sincere it is… the characters are extremely funny, but Guest (and the ensemble of my favorite performers ever like Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Parker Posey, Bob Balaban and more) pulls a magic trick where he gives them all a level of dignity and respect that almost every fake documentary since has failed to recreate. Blaine Missouri is funny, but the joke isn’t really on the people who live there. Because all they’re doing is chasing their dreams and if, as a viewer, you can’t get on board with that, well… what a depressing life you must lead.

(read the full thing on the Seed&Spark!)

Thank you, Fernie, and thank you - YOU!