Trying to maintain a sense of self-worth while navigating an endless maze of monotone colored cubicles. Carefully riding the fine line that exists between becoming a corporate robot who only speaks in work lingo and a real person who is driven by personal goals. Filling with anxiety when you are called into a conference but also needing to hold on to a sense of composure for the sake of your job. As much as these thoughts might be all too familiar for those who find themselves in the day-to-day depths of office work, writer and director Alice Roth’s narrative debut titled End Meeting might be the euphoric answer one needs in such a brutalist space. By using a few blots of dark humor (and the instantaneous encounter of a Zoom call), the upcoming short film intends to subvert the cold and transformative ailments found within corporate culture and spotlight the hidden human beings underneath it all.
Jokingly calling herself a “classically trained screenwriter” just before taking a trip through her educational background in filmmaking, Roth showed that her frame of mind for End Meeting was being shaped by some severely underrated films. 1960’s The Apartment, 1974’s The Parallax View and 1967’s Playtime were just some of the titles that she looked upon when putting together her own story on office life. “I really love 70s cinema, I mean who doesn’t?” Large and empty spaces, gray and depressed in color but with a subdued spirit attached to them - all compressed down by an antagonistic, angled setting. In order to find out more about Roth’s inspirations toward End Meeting and what went into making this short film, The Movie Nerds recently had a very interesting and informative fire-side chat with the ambitious filmmaker.
Underneath the attention that she gave towards the creative films of yesteryear, Roth also (and surprisingly) mentions a 2022 thriller called Kimi (directed by Steven Soderberg) as being the most helpful source when drafting up her initial storyboards: “It was just really useful because he figured out how to film video chat in a very dramatic way.” While End Meeting is not necessarily about smart speakers and murder, the short film does involve forcibly stepping out of one’s perceived state to help another - through the use of video conferencing software (and the deconstruction of work etiquette). The dark comedy clearly has a message ready for all of those cold corporations that stand tall inside high rise buildings. But what does it want to say to the individual worker that is all but sucked into this relentless machine? Roth has an answer. “I think there’s this way that we are on workcalls that’s different from the way we are in the rest of our lives. [End Meeting] is about how disconnected we all are on Zoom - you just get so wrapped up in the bureaucracy of work you just forget that there’s a human being on the other end.” In addition to Kimi - David Fincher’s films also provided a source of inspiration, primarily The Social Network and Zodiac.
Showing a workplace driven anxiousness with an underlying comedic nuance is not the easiest thing in the world to convey. It’s a thematic balance that certainly needs the help of the right cast. First announced on the Kickstarter page, Sarah Steele (formerly Marissa Gold on The Good Wife), Catherin Curtin (Dustin’s mother on Netflix’s Stranger Things) and Tenea Intriago (Kat on Overthinking With Kat & June) will be playing Margot, Janice and Atlas respectively. While the first is our protagonist who is at the center of this event, Curtin’s Janice is the very experienced HR rep contacting Margot. Intriago’s Atlas (last but not least), is the tech support who comes in to aid Margot during the unfortunate event - that being Janice having a stroke in the middle of the Zoom call. “Margot has this up here, high peak anxiety [and] has to figure out how to save [Janice’s] life over Zoom," said Roth. "Atlas is like April Ludgate in Parks and Rec - a complete deadpan foil to Margot.The odd couple trope naturally lends itself to comedy.” She even says that there were moments - where even though she was director on the project - she couldn’t control her own laughter regarding the dynamics of the three women.
Just as the humor of the short film can take precedence at times, End Meeting also brings workplace tediousness and tension to the forefront as well at times. “There’s moments that we have with Margot before she gets on the Zoom. You’re getting to see the inside of her life - she’s getting stressed out and then she gains composure. In my script, it actually says - a mask of complacency comes across her face. That’s just one of the cues I give my actor.” The first time narrative director then gives the same sort of setting-up insight when it comes to Curtin’s portrayal of Janice. “I had a great rehearsal with her the night before. I told her - imagine this is the eighth one of these [HR calls] that you are doing. So where is her mental state that she’s been repeating the same thing over and over again?” She explains that the collaboration between herself and her actors involves not only workshopping how a character is at any specific point in time but also how that same journey can whisk away the audience to a new place. “The next take would then turn out to be incredible.”
Speaking of takes, rehearsals and everything in between, Roth explains that while a Zoom based rehearsal does work for End Meeting (since the short film uses that kind of digital medium as a storytelling vehicle), there is nothing like a physical script that brings everyone together. “That’s what was great about rehearsing in person with Tenea and Sarah. “We all kind of broke down [the script] if need be," said Roth. "They would say - why is [my character] saying this and I was like, good point. Let's change it. There were so many different versions of the script before the final version.” In explaining her own director-to-cast relationship, Roth tenaciously adds that she makes sure to give ample space for her actors to feel out the character they are given so that they may add or remove aspects to their on-screen personality. “I just enjoy the back and forth.”
Even though there seemed to be some trouble with the casting for End Meeting at first (the initial lead dropped out back in July), Ms.Roth had to go through some bigger hurdles when obtaining the perfect set. While Curtin’s side of the Zoom call was filmed in Roth’s apartment (and completed smoothly), the office setting was a tad harder to procure. “I had a very specific idea of what I wanted for my location which is kind of this repeating, geometric desk in the foreground and then the same kind of repeating geometric light all the way to the end.” But that ideal turned out to be way over budget - by $15,000 a day. There was a problem with the second potential space as well. “This company called Backlot - an inbetween for developers and production - first brought me into an abandoned WeWork. I was like, ok this is perfect.” But as she explains, another buyer came in and swiftly rented out that locale for their own production. “Backlot then graciously let me use their office on a weekend”. Luckily, the repeating desk looking feel could also be implemented in this new space and Roth states that this kind of repetition was what was needed for End Meeting’s overall visual vibe.
Rewinding ten years into the past for a moment, Roth’s career in the world of digital video did in fact start in unscripted directing. But she explains to the Movie Nerds how a growing feeling inside of her eventually changed everything. “I realize that if I wanted to be a director - I couldn’t do that on the editorial side [at Condé Nast] because our budgets were just not there. The highest budget I ever worked with at Condé was around $15,000. No one was going to hand me a million dollar commercial from that.” Condé Nast is a global mass media company that helps to produce digital content for some of the world’s most iconic brands like The New Yorker, Vogue, GQ and PBS. While describing the institution’s entire floor of studios and impressive in-house equipment, the End Meeting writer and director also declared her need to branch out sometime later. “I just reached a plateau and wasn’t learning anymore. I didn't even understand how production worked outside of the Condé system.” As it turned out, the end of that road brought her onto a more desired track: “Narrative was always something I wanted to do - I always have a screenplay ready in my proverbial desk drawer. This one . . . everything just came together. One location, minimal characters - it just made sense.”
Pictured left to right: Emily Lubomirsky (PA), Dena Greenbaum (Producer), Rachel Cantor (AD), Noah Bierbrier (Script Sup), James Bartol (Production Designer), Dan Witrock (Cinematographer), Marat Gazizullin (Gaffer), Alice Roth (Director), Yasha Eskandar (Grip), Tenea Intriago (Atlas), Sarah Steele (Margot), Katie Voss (Assistant Camera), Kelly Flores (HMU), Kelley Cutter (Art Assistant), Veralucia Quispe (Sound) not pictured: Grant Ludwig (Production Assistant), Catherine Curtain (Janice), Sara Ryer (Costume Designer)
Speaking about the finished result of End Meeting and everything that she has learned in the process, Roth begins her run-through by giving a shout out to her Director of photography: Dan Witrock. “He sat with me for two different sessions - four hours - going over my shot list. He explained to me how basic coverage works when you film a conversation. You have to film it in four different ways.” She humbly admits to now knowing how to structure a shot list in relation to the narrative scenes she has set. All the decision making, whether it’s the all-around visual tone, the subtleties of wardrobe or marketing are all aspects that she is now prepared for in the long-run. “At a certain point - It’s like a flow state. Deciding how the shot is going to look, if I want to capture how it’s set up, is it this specific color blazer, is this specific pair of slippers? Do we separate this out into two different posters so we have two different punchlines? I have to shout out my production designer James Bartol and costume designer Sara Ryer here — I couldn’t have done it without them. I’m now prepared on what kind of decisions I would have to make and at what point.” While reminiscing about the many tedious but rewarding steps she had to take, Roth also made it clear that the budget was heavily taken into consideration at all times. “On a super, strappy budget - every creative decision is a financial decision.”
Even long after filming wrapped on End Meeting, Roth still has a clear ambition towards creating future productions. “I basically walked off set and it was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. There was a lot there. I really hope I can do this again. That’s just how I felt immediately.” She then brings the cast and entire team into her final, closing statement: “There’s really nothing like it - everyone coming together to make something that they feel is special.”
Crowd funding for The End Meeting was successfully completed on June 8th, 2024.
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