Courtesy Lisa Tedesco
Filmmaker Lisa Tedesco is a planner, and thanks to that, neither the general disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic to the film industry nor a brief Covid scare on set could prevent her from making Spin — the story of two high-school seniors in a drama club who, after wrapping a run of Romeo and Juliet, let their feelings for one another run free.
Tedesco is founder and producer at Lady Film Media, a film production company with a mission beyond making the best films it can. “We strive to create a platform where women rule on and off camera,” a statement on its website reads. “This production company wants to help in the endeavors of strong women around the world reach their full potential in the film and media spectrum. Lady Film Media wants to lend a helping hand to LBTQ women, women of color and any and all underrepresented or marginalized group that want to see their passion ignited through a camera lens.”
Tedesco is originally from West Haven. In 2005, she enrolled in the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, but “it got way too expensive to just be there,” she said. She returned to Connecticut in 2008 and enrolled first in Norwalk Community College and then in Southern Connecticut State University, continuing her film studies while also writing film and TV reviews for Curve. She also created her first short film, August in the City — directed by Christie Conochalla from a screenplay by Tedesco, and starring Daniela Mastropietro and Mandahla Rose — and took it on the festival circuit in 2017. That was when she founded Lady Film Media. She has now been living in New Haven for seven years with her wife in East Rock.
The film industry isn’t as visible in New Haven — or the state of Connecticut overall — as it is in, say, New York City or Los Angeles, but it’s bigger than it first appears. “There are definitely a bunch,” Tedesco said of the number of the production companies in the state, which saw a dramatic increase after the state implemented a generous tax credit in 2006. “The state of Connecticut — they hook you up,” Tedesco said. The state’s Office of Film, Television, and Digital Media helps bigger production companies with everything from location scouting to paperwork for permits.
“They talk about the production companies in Hartford that do all the Hallmark movies,” Tedesco said. But the climate toward film work in the state has made it favorable for smaller production companies like Lady Film Media also.
“Doing film in Manhattan — I love the aesthetic, but it’s so overpopulated with independent production companies already,” Tedesco said. “And New Haven is so amazing and eclectic with artists…. I’m glad to be a part of it because I like incorporating as many as I can.” Tedesco has been involved in New Haven’s branch of the 48-Hour Film Project, serving as a judge one year and competing with the short film Reception the next. “I have a twin sister who’s an actress, who said ‘we should tag team this,’” Tedesco said. They filmed Reception on the fly in East Haven. “I commend people who love to do this kind of thing,” Tedesco said. “But I’m a planner.”
As it turned out, that included planning how to make a movie during a pandemic. “I had written it right before it happened, and it was just something to write,” Tedesco said of the screenplay to Spin. “Being a screenwriter, I sometimes just pop one out and think, ‘yeah that was good.’” But “Spin was in pre-production for seven months before we shot it.”
That first involved talking to producer Rob Johnson, with whom she’d worked on August in the City. His “schedule was light” due to the pandemic and he agreed to help. Then she assembled the crew, from around Connecticut and beyond it. Her professors at SCSU encouraged her to use the university’s facilities to make it part of an independent study in helping her finish her degree. They moved forward on plans in earnest in August.
“By December we had a casting notice up,” Tedesco said. “Out of the three main roles I needed, I got maybe 900 or 1,000 submissions.” One was the New York City-based actor Sierra Berkeley Fisher. Another, Jahdey Wright, “was the embodiment of what I needed. He gave me all this energy and I was so glad to work with somebody local.” Courtney St. Gelais is “a first-time actor who has a crazy background in Shakespeare,” Tedesco said. “They just killed it. They broke through the 1,000 people, got callbacks, and I worked with them through Zoom.” For script readings and notes, “I would just pin my ear to the screen.” She also hired an intimacy coordinator to work with the actors in prepping for “some intense scenes.”
“By the time we actually got on set, everyone was on point. It was pretty effortless,” Tedesco said. “Besides the part where we had to shut down for a potential Covid scare,” she added.
To film Spin, “we basically transformed Lyman — the theater at SCSU — into a soundstage.” Production team David Shaw and Lea Marie Heller, of SwiftBird Productions, “were in charge of set decorating and props,” and turned the space into a Catholic high school putting on Romeo and Juliet, complete with balcony. They also got to use SCSU’s costume closet, which clothes Elm Shakespeare for its productions. They also brought in additional lighting rigs to make the quality of light seem more natural. “We faked it pretty hard to make people believe that a high school production had just gone on,” Tedesco said.
Tedesco also allowed and budgeted for Covid-19 compliance, as has every professional film production made since the pandemic started. “Within the industry as a whole, it’s a huge adjustment that now has to be factored into the budget and planning of a film,” Tedesco said. “Me being too legit to quit, I followed the guidelines like I was making a million-dollar feature film.” Crystal Williams, her CCO (Covid Compliance Officer), ran the safety protocols, including zoned-off areas of the set to allow for social distancing, hand sanitizer, cleaning every four hours, temperature checks for cast and crew upon entry, and everyone getting tested before arrival.
Tedesco had the theater for three days. At the end of the day on March 19 they were ready to begin. On March 20, “we were plowing through the first scene. Maybe we were on set for three hours.” Then Williams reported that someone’s Covid-19 test had come back positive. It shut down production for two weeks. Meanwhile, the person was retested twice. It turned out the first test was a false positive.
“We went back on set April 2,” Tedesco said. The budget took a hit; Tedesco made up the difference on credit cards (“You got to do what you got to do,” she said. “You’re either going to make a movie or you’re not.”) They shot for two full days. “Somehow we got through all of it.” Regulations dictate that shooting can’t go much longer than 12 hours. We got down to the last minute. My AD said, ‘this is the last shot,’ and I said, ‘this is the last shot.’”
Shaw and Heller are currently in the middle of editing Spin; it “should all be done in three weeks.” With cast and crew now vaccinated and weather warming, Tedesco will be able to hold an outdoor wrap party that will involve a screening of the film. After that, Tedesco is plotting a festival run and distribution through streaming services. “I already have some platforms interested in purchasing the rights,” she said.
As disruptive as the pandemic initially was to the film industry, now that safety standards and protocols have been established, it can also be understood as just another set of guidelines film productions must abide by, along with labor laws, guild standards, and longstanding health and safety concerns on film sets. “That’s what this is now,” Tedesco said. “I think the pandemic itself will have long-lasting effects and won’t be fully eradicated. The filmmaking community just has to roll with it…. It’s unfortunate because it’s more money, but it’s what you have to do to keep everybody safe.”
“You got to push through,” she added. “You got to adapt.”
Love this! I hope that CT can become a great locale for filming and attract large production companies like NY and GA are starting to do. Within a two hour drive you can film in locales both urban and rural, and it would bring welcome jobs for the locals here (including of course the union stagehands of IATSE 74 and 84). I would especially want to see a few big budget films take a chance on filming here, because that is what starts a trend. That's how it happened when I was in Pittsburgh PA. They got "The Dark Knight Rises" and the film office took off from there!