Abby Singer (film)
Encyclopedia
Abby Singer is a darkly comic tale that chronicles the life of Curtis Clemins, who is torn between the love of his life and accomplishing his dream. Originally released in 2003, there was a different version released in 2006 and a limited DVD release in 2007. The film had some film festival screenings in 2003 and in 2006. The film also has several celebrity cameo appearances.

The film was named after the second-to-last shot of the day on a film, which is called an Abby Singer after Abner E. "Abby" Singer
Abby Singer
Abner E. "Abby" Singer worked as a production manager and assistant director in film between the 1950s and the 1980s. His name has become famous in Hollywood as a phrase describing the second-to-last shot of the day as the "Abby Singer"....

.

Plot

The film follows Curtis Clemins (Clint Palmer) and Kevin Prouse (Ryan Williams) as they have to deal with life's ups and downs.

Kevin Prouse walks across campus to teach his acting class. Curtis Clemins stares self loathingly at himself in the mirror. Maxine Helms (Robin Ballard) and her daughter drive to an audition. Curtis prays in church, and then goes to the casting office where he works. Kevin lectures his acting class on the importance of not giving up on your dreams. All the while, Mr. Mooker (Pat Donahue), tells his son to manage their construction site, so he can go to an audition
Audition
An audition is a sample performance by an actor, singer, musician, dancer or other performing artist.Audition may also refer to:* The sense of hearing* Adobe Audition, audio editing software...

. Curtis arrives at the audition; he brings in the first actor, who fails miserably. Maxine sends Curtis to get copies and on his way out, Curtis runs into Mr. Mooker telling him that there is no part for him to audition for. Mr. Mooker slips past Curtis with the excuse that he has to use the bathroom, then petitions Maxine for a part, Maxine agrees to let him audition.

Curtis gets copies at his old college campus, while there he takes a detour to the theater department and reminisces about his time there 10 years before. Curtis and Kevin were friends, but they have a falling out when Kevin decides to dump their friendship over a girl, Leanne. Kevin marries Leanne and gives up his dream of being an actor, instead decides to teach. Curtis asks Kevin if he is still dreaming, Kevin replies "every now and then when I fall asleep".

Curtis is accosted by a young female college student who overzealously petitions him for an audition. Curtis awkwardly escapes down a flight of stairs. During this time, Kevin visits his father (Jay O. Sanders
Jay O. Sanders
Jay Olcutt Sanders is an American character actor.Sanders was born in Austin, Texas, to Phyllis Rae and James Olcutt Sanders. He is noted for playing Mob lawyer character Steven Kordo in the 1986–88 NBC detective series Crime Story...

), a ski lift attendant, in an attempt to gain some advice about his impending divorce from Leanne.

Mr. Mooker and his son Jake (Mark Wunder), discuss Mr. Mooker's dream of becoming an actor as they fish. Jake does not approve of his father's choice to neglect their business to chase an unattainable dream.

Curtis attacks a parking attendant, and is arrested. Curtis is forced to attend psychiatric sessions with state psychiatrist Dr. Phelps. Dr Phelps asks Curtis when the last time he felt happy. Curtis relates to Dr. Phelps (Scott Hanks) his experiences at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

 with his ex-girl friend Mabline (Wendy Buss).

Curtis, Mabline and Maxine, attempt to fit in at the Festival, getting advice and petitioning Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....

, Mark Borchardt
Mark Borchardt
Mark Borchardt is an American independent filmmaker. He is best known as the subject of the 1999 film American Movie: The Making of Northwestern, which documented two years he spent writing, shooting and editing his horror short, Coven .-Early life:Borchardt was born and raised in Menomonee Falls,...

, Mike Schank, and Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

, Curtis becomes jealous of Mabline as she flirts and dances with movie executives, higher up on the food chain than him. Curtis ties to retaliate by using his status as a casting director to find women to make her jealous only to realize that he is sexually powerless because of his religious convictions.

Curtis goes to Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla
Adam Carolla is an American radio personality, television host, comedian, and actor. He currently hosts The Adam Carolla Show, a talk show distributed as a podcast on the ACE Broadcasting Network...

 for advice, and Corolla tells him that maybe he should get a prostitute.

Curtis, Mabline and Maxine attend the Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony. John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...

 announces to the audience that every one is at the festival for a reason. Curtis Maxine and Mabline, attempt to make connections with Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...

, Robin Tunney
Robin Tunney
Robin Jessica Tunney is an American actress. She is best known for her lead roles in the movie The Craft and the television series Prison Break and The Mentalist.-Early life:...

, and Patricia Arquette
Patricia Arquette
Patricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....

.

Dr. Phelps continues his session with Curtis, who tells him about his break-up with Mabline at the Independent Spirit Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...

. Curtis and Mabline fight backstage at the ceremonie, all the while, Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...

 reluctantly is pulled into the argument. Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...

 attempts to avoid the fray as well. Jill Hennessy
Jill Hennessy
Jillian Noel "Jill" Hennessy is a Canadian actress and musician known for her television roles on Law & Order and Crossing Jordan.-Early life:...

 tells Mabline to move on; Finally Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

 tells Curtis that he is done.

Curtis tells Dr. Phelps that he feels better having shared his story and they agree to meet next week.

Kevin tries desperately to believe in his students. He scans the class looking for someone to inspire him.

Curtis hires a prostitute but, while having sex, has a nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...

.

Kevin meets with Leanne at their former house, and signs divorce papers, ruining his hopes for a better future.

Curtis takes his last thousand dollars and buys a gun, telling the dealers he intends to kill himself as an artistic statement. While, Kevin returns to his empty house and starts to drink. Curtis wanders the streets of Salt Lake City, alone.

Curtis calls Kevin as his last act, saying goodbye. As Maxine holds callbacks for the audition, Mr. Mooker stands up to his son, Jake, and goes to the callback.

Curtis rides the L-train, out of town. Kevin boards the train, and confronts Curtis who runs. Curtis goes to the woods to kill himself. Kevin then appears at the last moment.

Production history

Director Ryan Williams began the project in May 2001, as a series of test scenes shot in Provo, Utah
Provo, Utah
Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...

. Williams had tapped a local acting class (The Actor's Gang) for his cast, and then he began the shooting along with working on several development issues with the story line with some of the actors. This would prove to be an ongoing issue for that the film for that it had no script.

In 2002 Williams, Clint Palmer and the movie's lead actors went to Sundance Film Festival to work on several scenes. While there they came up with the idea to pose as volunteers during the awards ceremony so that they could include several A-list cameos. They were able to get cameo segments from: Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

, Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing
Stockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...

, Mike Schank, Lloyd Kaufman
Lloyd Kaufman
Lloyd Kaufman is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and occasional actor. With producer Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director of many of their feature films, including The Toxic Avenger and Tromeo and Juliet. Kaufman also serves as...

, Mark Borchardt
Mark Borchardt
Mark Borchardt is an American independent filmmaker. He is best known as the subject of the 1999 film American Movie: The Making of Northwestern, which documented two years he spent writing, shooting and editing his horror short, Coven .-Early life:Borchardt was born and raised in Menomonee Falls,...

 Between May 2002 - December 2002: Abby Singer was still in the process of being produced. Palmer, Williams and Jonathan M Black were working aggressively on the production of the film. It was thought that they needed to move to California, which they did that December.

While in California Williams, Black, Palmer and Kamell Clauson were able to access the 2003 Golden Globes and to other various parties. It was at one of these parties where they meet the freelance writer, Tim Cooper, who was interested in "Operation Nighthawk", which took place in February 2003. The idea of Operation Nighthawk came when the filmmakers realized how they just could walk onto the Paramount lot with no problems. For the filmmakers, this became a great potential for marketing their film. After several months of reconnaissance, Black, Clauson, Williams and Palmer, along with writer Tim Cooper and a photographer, dropped off an Abby Singer press pack and a copy of the film trailer to all of the major studios and the executives of each studio.

Williams, Black, Palmer and Wendy Buss, were also able to be at the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards
Independent Spirit Awards
The Independent Spirit Awards , founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glass pyramids containing suspended shoestrings representing the paltry budgets of independent films. In 1986, the event was renamed the Independent Spirit...

. Where they were able to have access to everything and everyone by using the same tactics has they had in the past, which was that they posed as volunteers. While there they filmed several more cameos. They successfully shot cameos with: Jill Hennessy
Jill Hennessy
Jillian Noel "Jill" Hennessy is a Canadian actress and musician known for her television roles on Law & Order and Crossing Jordan.-Early life:...

, Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...

, Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...

 and Brad Pitt.

Abby Singer made its film festival premier at the 2003 New Orleans Media Experience. The film won the two top awards: 'Best Independent Film' and 'Best Feature Film'. Still needing more marketing and public notice, Black and Clauson made their way to Salt Lake City, UT to organize another publicity stunt, 'Operation Altitude'. Operation Altitude was a publicity campaign at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

. Over 1,500 people viewed Abby Singer in the course of the festival, through private screenings. In addition, the group put together a fake Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

 crew to build hype for the film and to encourage more people to see it. A documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

 entitled, The Misbehavers,
directed by Bryan Young
Bryan Young (filmmaker)
Bryan Young is a Utah-based filmmaker, author, and blogger. His films include the documentaries Killer at Large and This Divided State as well as several other narrative features...

 and Elias Pate, was filmed to cover the whole process.

From October 2004 to 2005, the filmmakers were able to hunt down and gain access to their unsigned cameos. The celebrity releases were finally signed. Also, during this time, the film underwent a major revision and got a new soundtrack.
Between 2005 and 2006, Abby Singer again was submitted to and screened at several film festivals.
  • Ain't Cool News: "Ezra reports that he was also inspired by the filmmakers' independent spirit and the film's "never give up" message. Pitt, Ebert and Gyllenhaal are reportedly major supporters of the film (Abby Singer) ...",

Cast

  • Clint Palmer as Curtis Clemins
  • Ryan Williams as Kevin Prouse
  • Wendy Buss as Mabeline
  • Pat Donahue as Mr. Mooker
  • Robin Ballard as Maxine Helms
  • Mark Wunder as Jake Mooker
  • Jay O. Sanders as Kevin's Father
  • Scott Hanks as Dr. Phelps


Cameos
  • Brad Pitt
    Brad Pitt
    William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

  • Jennifer Aniston
    Jennifer Aniston
    Jennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, film director, and producer, best known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career,...

  • Jill Hennessy
    Jill Hennessy
    Jillian Noel "Jill" Hennessy is a Canadian actress and musician known for her television roles on Law & Order and Crossing Jordan.-Early life:...

  • Don Cheadle
    Don Cheadle
    Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...

  • Jake Gyllenhaal
    Jake Gyllenhaal
    Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...

  • Stockard Channing
    Stockard Channing
    Stockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...

  • Patricia Arquette
    Patricia Arquette
    Patricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....

  • Robin Tunney
    Robin Tunney
    Robin Jessica Tunney is an American actress. She is best known for her lead roles in the movie The Craft and the television series Prison Break and The Mentalist.-Early life:...

  • Roger Ebert
    Roger Ebert
    Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

  • Adam Carolla
    Adam Carolla
    Adam Carolla is an American radio personality, television host, comedian, and actor. He currently hosts The Adam Carolla Show, a talk show distributed as a podcast on the ACE Broadcasting Network...

  • Dave Attell
    Dave Attell
    Dave Attell is an American stand-up comedian and the host of Comedy Central's Insomniac with Dave Attell and The Gong Show with Dave Attell.-Stand-up beginning:...

  • Lloyd Kaufman
    Lloyd Kaufman
    Lloyd Kaufman is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and occasional actor. With producer Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director of many of their feature films, including The Toxic Avenger and Tromeo and Juliet. Kaufman also serves as...

  • Mike Schank
  • Mark Borchardt
    Mark Borchardt
    Mark Borchardt is an American independent filmmaker. He is best known as the subject of the 1999 film American Movie: The Making of Northwestern, which documented two years he spent writing, shooting and editing his horror short, Coven .-Early life:Borchardt was born and raised in Menomonee Falls,...

  • Jodie Foster
    Jodie Foster
    Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster is an American actress, film director, producer as well as a former child actress....


Reception

Abby Singer won the awards, Best Feature and Best Independent Film, at the 2003 New Orleans Media Experience. Then in 2005 the film won the Independent Spirit Award at the MassBay Film Festival. In 2006 Abby Singer won Best Feature Comedy at the Eureka Springs Digital Film Festival and Most Creative Film at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival.

External links

  • Abby Singer Official Website
  • Abby Singer on Rotten Tomatoes
    Rotten Tomatoes
    Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

  • Abby Singer on Allmovie
  • Abby Singer on MSN movies
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