Synopsis -

Ben meets his girlfriend Jeri for a late night dinner only to find out that she isn’t happy with where things are going.  Reliving all the special moments in the couple’s relationship, we begin to find out that the reasoning behind Jeri’s doubts is a little more than justified.

Behind the Scenes -

After finishing the far-too-pretentious “Hit and Run” I thought that if I ever wanted to make another short film ever again, it was pivotal that it be something that could make fun of itself.  Back in the Spring of 2007, I had the notion that instead of doing a flat-out comedy, it might be a little less predictable if we added a dash of romance.  It wasn’t until the Summer of 2008 that a list of funny ideas slowly rolled into what would become the script for “Breakdown,” known then as the less popular “Don’t Make a Scene.”

Right out of the box, “Breakdown” required three essential necessities after coming out of “Hit and Run”:

1)  We needed a third perspective during the writing process to make absolutely certain that the script was solid.  One of the mistakes of both “Hit and Run” and “A Day in the Life” was that Sean and I were always the only ones to see the material before its release which would sometimes result in parts of the films falling totally flat even though we both thought it was gold, or occasionally, plot points didn’t even make sense.  To remedy this, we brought in Claire Schroepfer as co-writer for a more feminine perspective.

2)  We had to realize our goals and limitations, and learn to make compromises where they were necessary.  When we were writing this time around, we made sure that all of our locations were practical and attainable (unlike “Hit and Run”’s ridiculous calls for hospitals and police stations).  We also had a harder time keeping up with everyone’s schedules, and sometimes extras wouldn’t even show up at all.  Time was precious, but we still ended up filming three days before its release. 

3)  Third, and most importantly, we had to make sure that the material held up.  If there was a joke that we couldn’t pull off, we would tweak it to make it work or throw it out entirely.  We never wanted to compromise the integrity of the script, and at the end of the day, the goal of “Breakdown” was to make people laugh.  If we were going back to the trough for more GlassEye goodness, then our junk had to be watchable.

Once we hammered out all the details, “Breakdown” ran pretty smoothly.  Even though it offered its own share of tight spots, it was definitely more of a pleasure to write, film and edit than any of the other projects before it.  And as always, I learned a few more things for the next time I pick up a camera.

Overall, I would say that this film is probably my favorite of anything I’ve ever worked on.  Technically, it’s a little less beautiful than its predecessor, “Banality,” but overall, the tone, heart, and humor outweigh every aspect of the old stuff.  I’m really glad that my friends and family were willing to help me out once again to put together something so positively special, and I am eternally grateful for their help and support.