Dale Fabrigar: Director, LONELY BOY

1Q: Tell us a little about the origins of LONELY BOY, from concept to financing.

The original concept for LONELY BOY was born from the mind of (Writer/Producer) ALEV AYDIN and loosely “Based on the Imaginings of his Mother.” I teamed up with Alev and his producing partner, TROY DANIEL SMITH after reading Alev’s deeply personal script about a young schizophrenic man struggling with love and family in the big city. I remember being impressively moved by it. I remember laughing out loud. It was a story I couldn’t easily forget, and as a result, a film that I desperately wanted to direct. But making movies requires money, right? Right. And we knew we had to raise a good amount of it to tell our story… to tell it the way it deserves to be told without sacrificing cinematic quality. Alev and Troy sought out potential investors to help us make our film. After over a year of effort and minimal success, we boldly decided to self-finance the picture. We were determined to make OUR movie, with OUR money, the way WE wanted to make it. And upon making that simple decision, everything moved forward very quickly. Our amazing cast came together based solely on the strength of our script and the hard work of our wonderful casting director, HOWARD MELTZER. And once our key actors were attached and in place, incredible momentum began to build for our project. Ultimately, thanks to the pointed work of our dedicated crew, the generous talents of fellow filmmakers and vendors, and the unconditional support from family and friends, Lonely Boy the film, was seen through completion. And it’s a beauty!

2Q: Cinequest is proud to host the World Premiere of LONELY BOY. Explain to the audience how you feel about bringing this film before audiences for the first time, and what do you think their reaction will be to your film?

I’m thrilled and honored to finally share our film with audiences for the first time here at CINEQUEST. To have Lonely Boy projected on the big screen to a public audience is a momentous event for us all. We’re very proud of the work we did together and truly believe that audiences will connect with the film and FEEL something. That was always our goal. Lonely Boy runs the emotional gamut in a pretty unconventional way, and I think (and hope) audiences will be discussing it long after the credits roll.

I’m also incredibly nervous about the screening – Look for Alev and I to be puking in the bathroom before our premiere.

3Q: What was your best and/or worst experience while making LONELY BOY?

This is a fun question, but hardly an easy one to answer. And on Team Lonely Boy, we’re all about full disclosure and honesty. So let’s get the bad out of the way. Working within the confines of an extremely limited indie budget presents countless challenges during production. That is surely a given. But the worst experience for me was when we lost a half-day during shooting due to a location/permit mixup. And on an indie shooting schedule, lost time can be catastrophic if you don’t have the resources in place to recover. Such is the tale of low-budget filmmaking in Los Angeles, or anywhere for that matter. But the impact that had on our shooting schedule wasn’t even the worst of it … it was having to send our “name” talent home early that day after they’d been patiently waiting to shoot. Ouch, that was painful. Luckily for us, we had Super Producer, Troy to QUICKLY identify, assess, and resolve the issue, while our Casting Director, Howard played diplomat to the talent reps. Everyone on our crew rallied, and our actors were incredibly supportive and understanding. The actors were always the number one champions of the script, the story, the material; they knew this film needed to be made. Needless to say, nothing like that ever happened again.

And so, it goes without saying that the best experience for me, clearly, was the opportunity to work and collaborate with our extremely gifted actors: NATALIE DISTLER, MELORA WALTERS, RICHARD RIEHLE and LYNN WHITFIELD, just to name a few. Watching the characters from our script come to life in front of my eyes was like a drug. I couldn’t wait to arrive on set every day to see what they had in store for us. I didn’t want our days together to end. And working with Melora was truly a dream-come-true! I still continually have to pinch myself about it.

4Q: Festival audiences often have to make hard decisions about what to see, and the catalog descriptions sometimes run together. In your own words, why should people see your film?

If you want to FEEL something – see LONELY BOY! Because that wonderful, powerful feeling will stay with you for a couple of days, and you’ll be better for it. Please watch our trailer, you’ll see what I mean.

5Q: The current market for independent films is fractured, to put it lightly, and existing distribution models grow more ineffective with each passing moment. What are your hopes or plans for distribution?

Our number one goal for LONELY BOY is exposure. That is the key reason we decided to take the festival route. We hope to have as many people experience the film on the big screen as possible to promote and build awareness of it and for ourselves. With distribution options constantly in flux, we understand there are many avenues available to indie filmmakers today. Honestly, it’s an exciting time to be a filmmaker. We are totally open to all possibilities of finding the right platform(s) for our film to maximize exposure for everyone involved. On that note, check out lonelyboyfilm.com to learn about everyone involved in this special project.

See the trailer!

Buy tickets to see LONELY BOY at Cinequest!

Buy tickets to see LONELY BOY at Phoenix Film Festival!