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Sticky Wicket

A secret society of women-only croquet players tries to prevent a corporate cineplex from bankrupting a small arthouse cinema.

  • Rick Schmidt
    Director
    Emerald Cities, 1988, Morgan's Cake
  • Rick Schmidt
    Writer
    A Man, a Woman, and a KIller, American Orpheus
  • Rick Schmidt
    Producer
    Blues For the Avatar, Tears of Bankers
  • Barry Norman
    Producer
    Blues For the Avatar, Tears of Bankers
  • Barry Norman
    Key Cast
    Tears of Bankers
  • Sarah Childress
    Key Cast
    --
  • Dorothy Fortin
    Key Cast
    --
  • Paul Fortin
    Key Cast
    --
  • Kay Kehew
    Key Cast
    --
  • Gracia Babbidge
    Key Cast
    --
  • Jesse Calderone
    Key Cast
    --
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Sticky Wicket
  • Project Type:
    Feature, Other
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 10 minutes 30 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 26, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English, English
  • Shooting Format:
    DVCPRO HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Rick Schmidt

Rick Schmidt is an award-winning American low/no-budget feature filmmaker, with 26 indie features to his credit, and author of the seminal filmmaking book, “Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices” (Penguin Books, 1988, 1992, 2000), regarded as ‘the indie bible’ by Movie Maker magazine.

A ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ was bestowed on Schmidt at the Rome International Film Festival, 2005) presented by writer/director Kevin Smith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNM6ZFJZpis

This fourth Barry Norman/Rick Schmidt co-production, Sticky Wicket (2013), was shot at Norman’s Eveningstar Cinema in Brunswick, Maine, with Norman performing the lead role. On this feature Schmidt applied his ‘Workshop’ techniques to solo directing, shooting and conceiving in a breezy, improv style while still creating traditional storytelling plot points, mannered film cuts, and a concise narrative flow toward an ending or “non-ending” climax.
Vic Skolnick, now-deceased co-director of Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington, NY, who presented Schmidt’s features for an early retrospective in the 1990s, valued the manner in which ‘Schmidt fashions a creative weave out of the threads of narrative, documentary, and docu-drama film forms’

Schmidt was born in Chicago, Illinois March 4, 1944. He attended the South Side’s University of Chicago’s Lab School in the early-to-mid 1950s. Schmidt attended the University of Arizona (engineering, 1962-64), and California College of the Arts, Oakland, California (MFA, 1971, Sculpture and Film). Perhaps Schmidt’s background in engineering helped him form his analytical approach to filmmaking, which American Film magazine described as, “down to a science.”

Grants/Awards
Schmidt has been the recipient of grants for his feature-length works from the American Film Institute (AFI) Independent Filmmaker’s grant, and The National Endowment For the Arts (NEA)/Media Arts:

American Film Institute Filmmakers grant (1975) for Showboat 1988-The Remake.
National Endowment For the Arts grant (1976) for Showboat 1988-The Remake.
National Endowment For the Arts grant (1979) for Emerald Cities.
National Endowment For the Arts grant (1991) for American Orpheus.
In 2000, Schmidt’s collaborative feature, Chetzemoka’s Curse was awarded Dogme No. 10 status by the Dogme 95 Secretariat in Denmark.

A full Retrospective of his feature films was presented by festival director Jose Vieira Marguez in 2002, at Festival Internacional de Cinema da Figueira da Foz, Portugal.

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