Sustainable and Green Films and LOVE & VODKA

There's a lot of talk about hashtag#sustainability and hashtag#greenfilm these days and I can't help but consider what it means to me as a writer, producer and director.

Many of you know that I made a romantic comedy called LOVE & VODKA (or LOVE & HORILKA for our Ukrainian fans) in Michigan, where my team and I created opportunities for local film crews, actors, vendors and provided first-time employment opportunities to recently resettled Ukrainian refugees looking for hope in their newly adopted country.

Now, I know from experience that film festivals, sales agents and distributors love "star talent" to help brand and sell a film. Somehow, however, they haven't seemed to connect the dots between films made on a sustainable green logistical format and the various non-sustainable/non-green hoops required to bring said "star" onto a film set far away from L.A., NYC, Chicago or any of the larger hubs for industry talent.

Sustainability, for me, means investing in your local and regional talent and believing that if you can tell a good story, the story and the great talent should sell the film.

GenZ audiences (I have two GenZ young adults, I know) don't care about "names" as much as they do something that engages and inspires them. And they will go to multiple platforms just to find and watch that favorite film or series. YouTube is as good or better than an over-priced Disney Channel (ahem, no offense) in their eyes.

Older audiences (I watch films with my mother) don't necessarily recognize the current "name" talent and they prefer something that feels authentic and emotionally real.

In between are movie-goers and streamers (like our Millennial-era Marketing Team Member Ariel Wan) who want to invest more in hashtag#community and know that their time is well-spent (as well as their dollar) building joy with members in the community around them.

Topics and themes have become the new "names" and "stars" in the world I see and analyze. And if sales and distribution could get on board with that, there would be more opportunities for all of the locally made, sustainably sourced and green produced indie film productions like mine.

Check out the great comedic performance of Michigan-local actress Sara Cate in LOVE & VODKA, hopefully hashtag#comingsoon to a hashtag#filmfestival hashtag#cinema and hashtag#streamingplatform near you! hashtag#personaeentertainmentpictures Personae Entertainment Pictures hashtag#loveandvodkamovie

​The incomparable Sara Cate / @saracatheryn plays the comedic role of "Annette Fox" (Bobby Fox's mother) with natural hilarity and grace (if that's even possible -- she somehow pulls it off with aplomb!)
Here's about about the role of "Annette Fox":
Michigander from the UP. Met her sweetheart, Robert Fuchs, Sr. in high school and married the week after they both graduated from college. Had Bobby when she was about 25. Considered and considers herself a strong, faithful, religious woman who goes to church every Sunday, was active in her son's schooling, worked her whole life as a secretary in a legal office. Plays group tennis every Tuesdays and Thursdays at the club. She's stylish in a conventional Midwest/Michigan American way. Not too familiar with her ancestors behind her great-grandparents and couldn't tell you more than she's part German, Polish and maybe some Italian. Worries about her son and his preoccupation with this "Eastern European" girl-- hoping it's just a phase. Does not want him to move to "The Eastern Block," where she's afraid he'll get into trouble with the KGB and never come back.
Wow -- that's a lot to think about for back story in a scene. But no worries -- Sara Cate pulls it off and keeps you engaged as the audience member.
We hope you'll enjoy her performance as much as we do at our next screening opportunity, coming soon to a #filmfestival near you!
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