A dark comedy-drama about a girl who escapes physical abuse by running away to Los Angeles and earning a living as a dominatrix has already built a strong following on MySpace among girls and women ages 14 to 35 - and the film has yet to be released. In fact, the movie won't be out of post-production until mid September.

One Hour Fantasy Girl is shaping up to be one of the key indie films to watch in 2009.

Social networking is paramount to the film's marketing plan. Producer John Paul Rice and writer-director Edgar Michael Bravo already have built a core audience on MySpace. They are collecting a database of e-mail addresses for every person who has expressed interest in buying a DVD, as well as zip codes for a theatrical release or for living room screenings. Using online resources such as YouTube and MySpace is essential when whoring a film in this new media age.

"It's the most intimate one on one with your fans - it helps you define who your fans are," Rice said. The filmmakers have created buttons, banners and videos that online fans can post and embed on their own websites.

"People have started sending us their friends," Rice said. After about seven weeks on MySpace, the film has 4,476 friends. Rice said Thursday that he has hired someone who will be working up to 30 hours a week with the dedicated task of raising the film's profile via social networking sites. Rice said he is hopeful the film will nab 50,000 MySpace friends by December.

"All of them are feeling the movie just from the clips," Bravo said, commenting on the effectiveness of MySpace as an audience builder. "And you can see if people are really connecting with you or not. It's just beginning to grow. People from all over the country and all over the world are connecting with the movie from a single scene on MySpace."

One Hour Fantasy Girl is about Becky, who, after enduring a physically abusive alcoholic mother, runs away to Los Angeles at age 17. She survives by panhandling, working odd jobs at restaurants, couch surfing. She has rejected two LA occupations available to young women desperate to survive - stripping, prostitution and pornography.

But by the time Becky's in her 20s, she has grown tired of life on the margins. She dreams of making money and investing it in real estate and building a nest egg. She meets Chi (played by Paul D. Nguyen) who suggests an unusual way that this unskilled and uneducated runaway might accomplish her dream.

Chi tells Becky about men who are willing to pay to have unusual fantasies fulfilled, and that these fantasies won't require her to have sex with anyone or even be touched in any sexual manner. Becky decides to take a chance and accepts a job as a dominatrix.

"She is a survivor. She is trying to find a way to get by and to only do the things she wants to do," Bravo said.

"The core theme of the story is 'are you strong enough to survive?'" Rice said.

Becky falls for one of her clients - Bobby (played by Joe Luckay) - whose stated desire is to simply lie in bed for a full hour with Becky and just stare at her.

 Kelly-Ann Tursi and Joe Luckay in One Hour Fantasy Girl

Casting took 3 ½ months. Rice and Bravo used the internet to put out a casting call for the film's six principal roles. Six thousand actors submitted resumes and headshots. Rice and Bravo winnowed the ranks to 200 actors and asked each of them to record a video audition showing just how they might develop their character.

"It's so much better now with the internet. They can just turn on the laptop camera and do an improv. And they can do something specific to your project," Bravo said.

Actor Jon Morgan Woodward submitted a video audition for the role of "Infant Man." The character of Infant Man is a conservative successful businessman whose fantasy is to dress in a diaper and be fed vodka from a baby bottle while being cradled. Woodward impressed the filmmakers by sending in six potential characterizations for the role, each with its own distinct personality.

"He changes. He's a different person in every scene. It's very bizarre," Rice said.

Woodward, who lives in Portland, was so excited about the possibility of being in the film that he flew to LA at his own expense to meet with the filmmakers. Kelly-Ann Tursi, who was chosen for the lead role of Becky, also flew to LA at her own expense to audition.

  Kelly-Ann Tursi and Jon Morgan Woodward (Infant Man) in One Hour Fantasy Girl

Bravo and Rice conducted internet research on dominatrix subcultures. They were amazed how many of the women didn't fit societal stereotypes - generally, the women were quite bright, upbeat and most did not take drugs.

"They were smart -not educated - but street smart. They looked like the girl next door. You wouldn't know by looking at them or talking to them that they were into this stuff or had seen any of this stuff before," Rice said.

Bravo agreed: "It's a group of people trying to deal with harsh emotional issues. These women have a sense of humor. They were actually very funny. They were trying not to let all the darkness bring them down; not let their past bring them down. I really like the survivor aspect of their stories because we're all survivors of something." And to reflect this reality, the movie mixes comedy with the drama, Bravo added.

Rice and Bravo had about $40,000 of their own money to make the film. They decided to sell gross profit points in the movie to raise additional funds, but agreed that they would make the film using only their own money if no investors stepped forward.

"This movie was going to happen whether we got more investors or whether it was just us," Rice said. Bravo has an MFA in film studies from UCLA and directed Mi Casa, a film that deals with issues of Latino immigrants in LA and which won the grand prize in a national film competition sponsored by the A&E TV channel. Rice worked at Mandate Pictures where producer Joseph Drake (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Juno, 30 Days of Night, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, The Grudge, American Psycho) served as his mentor. Rice left Mandate in 2005 to form No Restrictions Entertainment with Bravo. Rice and Bravo's production company is based in Los Angeles, the city where both filmmakers live.

Rice and Bravo planned several different versions of the movie: a $40,000 plan if they financed the movie themselves; and plans for how to spend additional money if they were able to raise it. The least expensive plan was to use a Canon XL2 camera and shoot in black and white with a skeleton crew.

They set the goal to raise an additional $160,000. All potential investors were told that they would be asked for checks only if enough investors had committed to raise the entire $160,000 sum. Rice and Bravo went to friends and family and asked them if they wanted to invest or had any leads. The filmmakers found 20 investors who committed funds in exchange for gross profit points. They had $200,000 to make their movie.

One-half of the $200,000 production cost went to pay the crew and cast. Paying the cast and crew during the production was helpful to morale, Rice said. If a film set is tense, crew and cast who are working for deferred pay can grow to resent their arrangement. Some key cast and crew received gross profit points on top of their base salary.

"The last thing you want on anybody's mind is money. So to put the people at ease you pay them," Rice said.

They hired a key grip who furnished a 1-ton grip package. They hired Director of Photography Rush Hamden and he provided a Panasonic HVX200 camera and his own lighting package that included Kinos, HMIs and an Ari kit. Rice was amazed how only a few lights, a digital camera and a skilled shooter can create a professional looking film.

"He (Hamden) was able to light it in a way that gave a Super 16 look to the film," Rice said.

Bravo said it is as important to choose your crew in much the same manner that you cast your actors. Everyone should be just right for their particular role and have the right attitude and spirit to mesh with the ensemble.

"In the micro-budget film world, it's important to cast your crew almost like you cast your actors - and that the crew really believe in the project," Bravo said. "And everybody pitched in and helped in so many areas. I'm really, really grateful."

 On-Set in the Diner

Principal photography began in February and lasted 14 days. The film's interiors were shot in a motel and a diner in Palmdale, CA. Rice made several personal trips to Palmdale to woo the owners of the hotel and diner prior to filming, and this personal touch paid off, the producer said.

The diner closed daily at 2 p.m., and Rice convinced the diner owner to allow them to film until it was time to re-open each morning for breakfast. Rice promised that the crew would clean after each night of shooting and make the diner ready for breakfast business. The film's cast and crew bought and ate lunch in the diner every day prior to the 2 p.m. call time. The diner owner got caught up in the excitement of the project and ended up hanging around for much of the filming.

"He (the diner owner) said he likes to help people who like to help themselves," Rice said. "He was there every night watching the monitor." In exchange for shooting scenes at the motel, the cast and crew rented motel rooms and stayed there during the shoot.

Woodward drove his RV down to the set from Portland, and when he wasn't acting, he got in the ensemble spirit and helped with craft service.

"It wasn't asked of, or expected. It was offered," Rice said.

Production completed in March. The picture was locked last week. Skilled composer Nima Fakhrara (who is on the team at composer Hans Zimmer's company, and who recently worked on The Dark Knight) is currently at work on the score. Fakhrara has embraced the ensemble vibe of One Hour Fantasy Girl.

"Every single day since he's gotten the project he has e-mailed us three to four new pieces of music each night," Rice said.

Rice said his goal is for the film to be accepted at a European festival that doubles as a strong foreign film market. Rice said that it is preferable to secure foreign distribution rights for the film prior to contracting domestic distribution. He would like the film to secure both theatrical and DVD distribution.

But if the film doesn't land an acceptable distribution deal, then Rice and Bravo are set to self distribute the film theatrically and on DVD.

"Worst case scenario is if no one else wants to buy this movie then I'll turn to the hardcore fans on my website. That's who I will sell it to and I'll make my money back," Rice said.

Visit the film's MySpace page and the film's official site. You can contact Rice at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Share It!