The Birth of Talentless


Welcome to Talentless! I'm so happy you've decided to join us on the journey of making this film!  

The idea for this movie was birthed three years ago while my family was living in Arlington, TX. My daughter, who is a writer, received a phone call from her cousin who was considering starting a blog. She asked her for some tips on how to go about doing that. McKayla was happy to answer her questions. A short time later her cousin launched her blog and it was a hit. Fortunately, my niece does have a talent for writing. But McKayla began pondering, what if her cousin didn't have any talent and her blog was a hit? What if McKayla, who had wanted to be a writer since she was seven years old, was suddenly thrust aside and all the attention turned toward her talentless cousin? McKayla shared these thoughts with me because her writer instincts knew an entertaining story was coming to life. 

McKayla was right! We began bouncing ideas around as it dawned on us this would be a great premise for a movie. What if instead of cousins they were sisters? What if one sister has amazing talent but is a failure and the other one has no talent but is a raging success? We began discussing the celebrities who've authored children's books and sold millions of copies because of their name recognition. We came up with the idea that one sister should already be a success before she takes up writing. Would writing work on the screen? We realized we need a medium that's more visual. Art! What if the one sister is a gifted artist and the other absolutely is not? But what if the untalented sister is a Hollywood producer? What if she has the charm of Barbie and the intelligence and skills of Greta Gerwig? And what if the artistic sister is like Stevie Budd, the motel manager on Schitt's Creek? What if she was forced to return to her small hometown after failing to make it in New York? But at the same time her sister was making a splash in the art community and was returning home to host some art shows? What if it was shot in a style like Wes Anderson and Napoleon Dynamite had a baby and named it...TALENTLESS! 

McKayla and I planned to write it together. She got the first scene written and we began scouting locations around the area to shoot the movie. We settled on Denton, TX. But then life threw us a curve ball. McKayla was transferring in her company to Milwaukee, WI, and asked her mom and I to follow her. We certainly weren't going to live several states away from our only child. So Lilly and I took jobs up north and made the move. The movie was placed on hold.

I had been working on a Master's degree in film and video producing but I also put that on hold for a year because of all the changes. Once we got settled in our home just north of Milwaukee, I returned to grad school. Wouldn't you know, my next course was focused on story development. We were asked to pitch five movie ideas and then choose one to development. Talentless was one of the five I pitched. I received such a strong response from my professor and peers it that I contacted McKayla and told her, "I think we have a winner!" Since she had only completed one scene I asked her if she'd mind if I took over the writing so I could take advantage of the feedback I'd receive at school. She was cool with that. So Talentless went through the wringer. It was pitched, developed, picked apart, adjusted, and then written for my final project. My professors pointed out the plot holes and raised good questions that caused me to further clarify the characters and the story. In the end, we had a strong screenplay. 

At the same time, we fell in love with Wisconsin. The Midwest fits my wife, Lilly, and I like a glove. While touring the state we explored the town of Cedarburg. It's an absolutely beautiful place with the classic charm of a Norman Rockwell painting. We realized it's the perfect place to shoot the movie. So the screenplay was written with the story taking place in Cedarburg. 

And that is how Talentless was born.

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