Steve Marra, "Amanda"

Hoosier filmmaker Steve Marra shot "Amanda," a romantic comedy with a dramatic undertone, right here in Indianapolis. He took out a few minutes for a Q&A with The Film Yap.

"Amanda" plays at Indy Film Fest on Tuesday, July 20th at 9:15 p.m. Buy tickets by visiting the festival's web site.

Read The Film Yap's review of "World's Largest" here.

How much of a challenge was it to shoot a feature film in Indianapolis?

Shooting "Amanda" was relatively easy. It's all about the successful management of people, locations, time and money. And I can't say enough about how Erin Newell and the Film Indiana office helped our production. That said, independent filmmaking is 90% fundraising. That is always the biggest challenge.

To raise money for a movie in a recession is really difficult. To raise money for a movie IN INDIANA, in a recession, is really, REALLY difficult. Nearly every investor I met with asked the same question: "What was the last successful movie to come out of Indiana?" I couldn't say "Hoosiers" or "Rudy" because those were produced by Hollywood. They were both written by a Hoosier, Angelo Pizzo, but who had established himself in LA. The State of Indiana had no equity in those movies, even though they were successful. So, we have no true precedent to answer that question.

The most difficult aspect of producing "Amanda" was convincing investors we could be successful as an Indiana-produced motion picture. I finally decided that my answer to the question would be, "Amanda" WILL BE the most successful Indiana-made movie. I hope I'm right.

Did your film qualify for any of the state's tax credits for film/TV production?

It probably would have had we filed the paperwork. The issue was the tax credit had no impact on the interest of our investors to put up the funding. The 2004 federal Jobs Creation Act had much more of an impact. Plus, our investors got involved because they believed in me, my production team and the story.

Where did you come up with this idea for "Amanda"?

I've written 12 screenplays since finishing UCLA film school. All of them are totally different; some horror, some sci-fi, some action, some drama, some edgy comedies. I wanted to do a romantic comedy, but not like the typical rom-com. I remembered how my daughter loved Beauty and the Beast. The central theme to that story is "love me for who I am and we will live happily ever after." I love that theme. I put a gender-bending twist on that story, and then twisted it again. Some people say I'm pretty twisted anyway, so it wasn't much a stretch for me.

How did you find your cast? You seem to have a mix of locals and out-of-towners.

Having produced some successful shorts helped me nail down most of the cast. The local talent in Indianapolis never ceases to amaze me. We have some great, great acting talent in this town. However, I had to find my "Amanda" and there wasn't an actress in Indiana that fit the mold for me.

We did casting sessions in Toronto, New York, Miami and Chicago. Couldn't find her. Then, I was browsing a few casting web sites and ran across a photo of Ariana Dubynin. She was in this pose that reminded me of a scene in the script. I thought, "that's Amanda!" I tracked Ariana down in Philadelphia, flew out the next day to have lunch with her and said, "I'm not leaving until you agree to do my movie." By the end of the lunch, she said "yes."

I had worked with Randy Ryan before and he really responded to the script. That was a pretty easy pick. Doug Johnson I have worked with before as well and he was my pick for "Craig Kelly" all along. Everyone else came to open auditions and we filled the roles over a few weeks.

The city comes off looking great. As I was watching it, I kept thinking, "What a cool place to live!" Was that something you were specifically going for?

We absolutely felt like this was a great opportunity to show off the city of Indianapolis. All the night shooting and urban locations we needed for the movie were selected specifically to showcase Indy as well as fulfill the needs of the script. Again, this is our attempt at getting the city noticed and building a filmmaking awareness about the city. This is a great town to shoot a movie!

What are your hopes for other film production in the city/state?

My hope is that "Amanda" will return enough commercial success that it will provide a new watermark for future productions. All we need are a few movies to punch through and return both economic and creative success. That will make the next movie easier for all the talented filmmakers in the state.

I also hope that our not for profit organization, CENAMA, the Center for Entertainment And Media Arts, will begin to prosper from its involvement in the educational aspects of filmmaking. We bring on a variety of college students on every one of our productions so they have a chance to work with the professional crew members. A "real" movie or TV production is absolutely the best form of job training and career development that an aspiring filmmaker can receive. The more CENAMA provides those opportunities, the more these young dudes (and dudettes) will have positive job opportunities and stay in the state to do their own shows.

What's up next for you?

Wow. Lots of stuff. We have 4 more features we want to produce and they all have reasonable budgets; a very exciting animated series that we are shopping; and an internet "network" that will provide an extraordinary opportunity for a variety of series-type shows. Think HBO 30 years ago. That's kind of what that project model is all about.

And what does all this mean? It means we hit the fund-raising trail again. Someday, and maybe "Amanda" will provide the first step, we'll be able to provide funding for our own productions. That's the true reward for all of our efforts.

Oh, and I'm putting together one of my old rock bands to do a sort of "reunion" thing. That's how I got started in this crazy creative business. I'm rock trash from way, way back. Should be lots of fun.