Interview: Catching Up With Scott Prendergast

Growing up in Portland, Oregon, Scott Prendergast was always afraid to admit his dream was to make and star in a movie. But after working in stand-up comedy, he decided it was time to begin writing his first feature. While helping out his sister-in-law while his brother was off fighting in Iraq, Prendergast found inspiration and wrote Kabluey. Starring Lisa Kudrow, Teri Garr and Prendergast, Kabluey is a comedic yet sad look at loneliness, dysfunction and family. The 36-year-old first time director credits Film Independent’s director, writer and producer labs as helping make his first film a reality—even though his own mother never believed it could happen. The film will be released on July 4 in New York and July 11 in Los Angeles.

Where did the idea for Kabluey come from?

It’s partially based on a true story. My brother is in the Oregon Army National Guard and he was deployed to Iraq. While he was there I went and stayed with my sisterin- law to help her take care of the kids. It was miserable and awful because my nephews were horribly behaved. I was at war with a fouryear- old every single day. He had me over a barrel. My only revenge was that I would make a movie and make him look like a jerk... While my brother was in Iraq we went to Hawaii. The idea was to give my sister-in-law a vacation – and the whole family would all take turns watching her kids. My sister-in-law would lie on the beach and drink margaritas and cry. It was on the way home from this vacation that I came up with the idea of a man in a big blue mascot costume. I didn’t know what the plot would be. The more I was writing it I thought that I should include what I was going through.

So did it take a while for Kabluey to get made?

It actually went pretty quickly for an independent film. Once we got the script we started showing it to people and we got a deal pretty quickly. We shot it in Texas in the summer of 2006. In 2007 it premiered at the LA Film Festival. And now it’s coming out in 2008.

How did you get financing and distribution?

We sent it out to a dozen companies and Whitewater Films financed and produced it. We were very, very lucky. Our friends said ‘this is an independent film with a weird story line and you are a first time director who wants to also star in it, good luck!’ But we got the deal within a month... It was such a small movie. The budget was originally going to be under a million but then we got the celebrities it went to over a million. They were willing to take a chance on me because it was going to be under a million and they liked the shorts I had done and they liked the script.

Which leads us to the next question: how did you get that cast?

That is the first question everyone asks me. The first answer is that we had amazing casting people. They did a great job. The second way was that we sent the script to Lisa Kudrow, she called me said ‘I love your script, who are you?’ Once we got her on it was like a stamp of quality. She was a big draw for a lot of people.

Did you always want to be a filmmaker?

I always wanted to be a filmmaker but I did improvisational comedy. I was always afraid to tell people that it was what I wanted to do. I was always nervous but then I started to say that I was going to make a movie and I was going to star in it. My mother and I had a long running argument about this. She would say ‘you are crazy. It’s never happening. Get a job. You need insurance!’ I think we were all surprised. I told my family I was going to make a movie, I told my sister-in-law that Lisa Kudrow was playing her and she was like ‘what?’ No one could believe it was happening.

How did being a fellow with Film Independent’s programs help you in terms of your project?

I went through every possible program that they offer at Film Independent. In 2002, the LA Film Fest showed my short film, Anna Is Being Stalked and in 2003 The Delicious. In 2004 I went through the speed-dating program where I met my agent Todd Hoffman who is at ICM. I did the screenwriters lab, directors lab and producers lab. Every step of my career has been intertwined with Film Independent.

So, you found it helpful? Yeah you can say that. What is your next project?

It is another feature film that I will write, direct and star in. It begins with a mom telling her son, ‘you are never going to get your film made.’ Something tragic/comic happens to her and the son has to be there to help her. But it’s a bummer I can’t come to Film Independent for help again. I guess they will be there for me in spirit.