Casey B Dolan experienced first hand the devastating impact the lockdown has had on the entertainment industry.
“All of my work evaporated. There was no way of creating any income,” says Dolan. With no idea of when she wouldbe getting her next pay cheque, the 45-year-old actress knew somethinghad to be done.
“I first saw a post on renowned South African film director, Tim Greene’s Facebook page. asking if actors who had no means of making an income would be keen to participate in performing in a lockdown film.
“Soon hundreds of South African actors (from across the globe) were sharing their bios and were super keen to join, taking on the task of filming themselves, but Tim could only cast about 10 actors,” she recalls.
And with that realisation, Dolan decided to write her own lockdown movie. “It dawned on me that I had a short film script I had written years ago in a drawer somewhere, and decided to pull it out to see if I could cast some actors and create my own film.
“Eventually Tim’s idea sparked 15 such films under the ‘Lockdown Movie Project’ idea. “I knew I wanted to give people the chance to laugh in the middle of a worldwide crisis, and the film I had written easily adapted itself to the lockdown challenges.”
Her script gave birth to the short comedy film 21 Days, which made its debut online last week. Directed by Dolan and renowned South African commercial film director Brett Wild, it was shot entirely on smartphones and over Skype and Zoom during the first 21 days of the lockdown.
The cast is made up of 11 actors, including Dolan, Rob van Vuuren, Siv Ngesi, and Quanita Adams. All donations made towards the movie will go directly to the cast.
The film revolves around a woman who is turning 38 during the lockdown (level 5) and is still single. She has 21 days to entice a man to come over (illegally) so that she can have a relationship before she potentially catches Covid-19 and dies.
“The online dating premise made the filming easy as we could shoot Zoom calls and use cellphones and laptops to self-tape when needed,” says
Dolan, who plays the role of Sandy. “I shifted characters I had previously written to suit the people I wanted to cast and created new ones to include others I thought might be interesting.”
Dolan also had to find creative ways to shoot the film, as she didn’t have much money to spend on the production of the film. “Since I am out of work I didn’t want to spend any money on new script-writing software, so I had to rewrite the script using the outdated demo model, which only allowed me to write 15 pages.
“So the writing process was a crisis in and of itself, with the script watermarked ‘Demo’ across every page, and half the script sent at a time. But it worked.” She also managed to attract a star cast including comic geniuses like Louw Venter and Van Vuuren of “Corne & Twakkie” fame, Ngesi and the “funniest lady I know, who also happened to be nine months’ pregnant”, Adams.
“Their improv skills are just beyond amazing. Michelle Scott (currently in Europe), who is fabulous, was so gracious to accept a role I created specifically for her (enticing her reluctant husband to join in, who proved to be incredibly funny), and an actress I have long admired for her sharp wit and comedic timing, Shannyn Fourie, jumped in.
“Fanie Schoeman is someone I shot a commercial with, and found hilarious. I knew he would be perfect in the film and he hasn’t disappointed. “At the last minute I saw Carlo Penzo, who has a unique talent – he is a ventriloquist – and I knew I had to incorporate his talent. Aidan Whytock (currently in the UK) did a fantastic job of being my final cast member, apart from my partner Brett Wild.”
Dolan says it was also a huge honour to work with director Wild. “Thank heavens Brett is a brilliant director, and although he spent his days holding down his pressured job remotely, on weekends and after hours he was editing and filming my scenes while I held rehearsal calls, and wrote and downloaded takes from the other actors during his work hours.
“I roped in Brett to play one of the characters in order to make the final scene work…! Thankfully his comedic timing was en pointe.” Despite financial restraints and the unique challenges brought about by the pandemic, Dolan says she’s thrilled at how the film turned out.
“What we have now is a unique half hour of non-stop funny film. The vision is to find the right platform for the film in order to assist this cast, as many of us have lost our income. “I am super happy with how this film turned out and at the amazing talent we have in this country, who jumped into action to make something really special out of a rather tricky situation. They all deserve our giggles and support.”
You can view the movie on here.