Interviews | Screenwriting

Three Point Shot

1 Nov , 2007  

Written by David Pierotti | Posted by:

The Portsmouth, NH filmmaking team of Thomas and Heidi Tosi transition from shorts into feature filmmaking with Dribbles, screening at two festivals this month.
Thomas and Heidi Tosi have written, directed, and produced several short films while creating and maintaining a children’s website.  They chose the story of a troubled teenager and his path to finding self-worth for their first feature film.  In Dribbles, David (Joe Orrigo) desperately tries for a spot on the high school basketball team.  In the absence of his father, he finds strength in Dribbles (Robert Shea), the team’s unofficial mascot.

Shot on location in southern New Hampshire and featuring actors from all over New England, Dribbles premiered at the New Hampshire Film Festival in October, and screens this month at the Northampton Independent Film Festival and Somewhere North of Boston (SNOB) Film Festival.

David Pierotti: How did the story come about?  Does it come from your experience managing your high school basketball team? 

Thomas Tosi: It’s not autobiographical, but I did manage the team at Portsmouth High School.  When I was thinking of story ideas, mostly I was fascinated by young people, about who and what they might become.

DP: The film subverted a lot of conventions typical of coming-of-age films.  I think most people would expect David’s dad to walk in as he made a big basket to win the finals.  Is avoidance of clichés a conscious effort while writing?  Or is it more natural than that?

Thomas: I think that you probably have to work at fitting into a genre, so in some ways it’s less work to avoid a genre and conventions.  I just wanted to tell the story, and that’s what’s so nice about small movies, you’re not tied to others expectations, or marketing needs, and you don’t have to worry about structuring it to other’s expectations.

DP: During the casting process, do you have a type or a look that you find someone to fit, or do you enter the process with a totally open mind?

Thomas: Sometimes writers will actually cut out pictures of people who they envision while writing.  I didn’t do that and I know that when we cast, we just wanted the people who would be right for the part.

Heidi Tosi: When we went to Boston, we mostly looked at stage actors.  It was extremely interesting to compare the stage actors with the film actors.  Another challenge was casting family members.  We needed the best actors but they also had to look as though they might be related.

Thomas: I don’t think small filmmakers spend enough time on casting.  It’s one of the most important components of a film.

SAG Boston was terrific, they have a wonderful program for low-budget filmmakers and were great to work with.  They helped us navigate all the union guidelines.  We combined union and non-union actors with SAG’s blessing.

DP: I noticed there were some changes between the script and the finished film.  Was there a certain amount of improvisation?


David (Joe Orriga) sits the bench with Dribbles.
[Click to enlarge]

Thomas: Absolutely, we reinforced with the actors, that there is no point in getting good actors and telling them exactly what to do.  We said to them, ‘Because we think you have this talent, we trust you to know the characters. As a director it’s my job to rein you in and keep you focused.’  Sometimes their suggestions didn’t make the finished film but we ended up with some changed lines and some new lines.  Good actors can make some dialogue irrelevant because they can express visually what you, as a writer, put into words.

DP: How did you handle financing for this project?

Thomas: Heidi and I had a unique approach, we said to ourselves, ‘This isn’t the way Hollywood would do it, but it’s the way we have to do it.’  Money doesn’t make a good movie; creative, hard working people make a good movie, so we went after people first.  And a good script attracted people as well.  Actors came from all over New England because of the material.  Get a good story that people will want to work on and the rest will follow.

DP: Can you tell us about the relationship between filmmakers and state agencies like the New Hampshire Film Office?

Thomas: The state film office was very helpful, they give you logistical assistance, they help in setting up location shots, and facilitating contact with the right people.  They were in touch with everyone we needed to meet.

DP: This project was mostly shot on location.  Heidi, can you talk about the challenges for art direction that posed?

Heidi: We were fortunate that the high school allowed us to change and paint some of their walls, as we needed.  But we had to make sure every sign was different from the actual name of the school.  But in other ways it was very helpful in creating a real atmosphere.

Thomas: I’d like to add that Heidi did all artwork of the character of David that you see in the film.  Also some of the look of the film should be credited to cinematographer Dave Hjelm.  We were doing camera tests months earlier, we wanted a documentary look but what we discovered was that using a small, handheld camera had too much motion on a big screen.  We came across this device just before we started shooting called a ‘Big Rig’ — it gives it a little motion, but remains steadier than handheld.

DP: What were some of the unexpected challenges of a feature as opposed to a short?

Heidi: One thing was the time commitment.  A short can be filmed in a weekend, but this caused us to think about people’s time for a 28-day shoot.  Everything was intensified — food, lodging, props, logistics.

Thomas: When you make a feature, you’re asking people to give up an hour and half of their life for your story.  That puts a pressure on you, knowing people are sharing their time, it better be something worthwhile.  I felt a greater responsibility to the audience; that we had to give them something that justified their commitment.

Heidi: We have been disillusioned by a lot of movies out there, we’ve finished watching films and thought ‘There goes two hours of our lives.’  We didn’t want other people to have that same feeling after our film.

DP: What are your hopes for the film?

Thomas: The great thing is that people have responded positively.  Our mission is to have it seen by as many people as possible and generate some revenue for the next film.  We’re currently mapping out a strategy for the festival circuit and hopefully a certain amount of theatrical distribution.

DP: And future plans for the two of you?

Thomas: We have several stories, and one of them is coming together our minds but we don’t want to talk about it quite yet.

Post Script: The Everyday Visuals, the rock group that provided four songs for the Dribbles soundtrack has been nominated by the Boston Music Awards for Outstanding Pop Act of the Year. Audience members vote for award winners at http://contest.goombah.com/bostonmusicawards07/.

Dribbles screens on November 4th, at the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA and on November 10th, in Concord, NH at the Red River Theatre. For more information check out www.dribblesmovie.com.


Post Script: The Everyday Visuals, the rock group that provided four songs for the Dribbles soundtrack has been nominated by the Boston Music Awards for Outstanding Pop Act of the Year. Audience members vote for award winners at http://contest.goombah.com/bostonmusicawards07/. Dribbles screens on November 4th, at the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA and on November 10th, in Concord, NH at the Red River Theatre. For more information check out www.dribblesmovie.com.

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