Private Project

The Sisters Plotz

The Sisters Plotz is a frothy musical romp inside the world of three eccentric heiresses: Dada poetess Celestia, manic inventor Ladybug, and dreamy painter Whimsellica. The sisters live in New York City with their darling butler, Reginald. Hilarity ensues when they must outwit a snooping gossip columnist, a councilwoman set on turning the Plotz home into a carousel, and two scheming maids who plan to steal the ladies' riches and bet everything at the track. The film is a loving nod to old Hollywood as seen through a camp indie lens. Imagine Grey Gardens directed by John Waters and choreographed by Busby Berkeley!

  • Lisa Hammer
    Director
    The Venture Bros., Pox, Pus$bucket
  • Lisa Ferber (written by, Story by and Lyrics by)
    Writer
    Each Time I Kill, Whimsellica's Grand Inheritance
  • Lisa Hammer (Story by)
    Writer
    The Venture Bros., Pox, Pus$bucket
  • Lisa Ferber
    Producer
    Each Time I Kill, Whimsellica's Grand Inheritance
  • Lisa Hammer
    Producer
    The Venture Bros., Pox, Pus$bucket
  • Eve Plumb
    Producer
    The Brady Bunch, Blue Ruin
  • Levi Wilson
    Producer
    SLC Punk 2, Not Fade Away
  • Eve Plumb
    Key Cast
    The Brady Bunch, Blue Ruin
  • Allen Lewis RIckman
    Key Cast
    A Serious Man, Boardwalk Empire
  • Yelena Shmulenson
    Key Cast
    A Serious Man, Boardwalk Empire
  • Lisa Hammer
    Key Cast
    The Venture Brothers, The Networker
  • Lisa Ferber
    Key Cast
    Each Time I Kill, Whimsellica's Grand Inheritance
  • Aryn Elaine Cole
    Key Cast
    New York I Love you, All My Children
  • Mario Corry
    Key Cast
    Bridge of Spies
  • Lori Hammel
    Key Cast
    Burn After Reading
  • Levi Wilson
    Key Cast
    SLC Punk 2, Not Fade Away
  • Chris O'Leary
    Key Cast
    Pox
  • Melissa Patterson
    Key Cast
    The Invisible Life of Thomas Lynch
  • Katie Gilbert
    Key Cast
    The Sisters Plotz
  • Stephen Winter
    Key Cast
    My Super Ex-Girlfriend
  • Lisa Ferber
    About the writer
    Lisa Ferber's film Whimsellica's Grand Inheritance, which she wrote and starred in, won the audience vote in the It Came From Kuchar Festival, and she starred in the final film of underground icon Doris Wishman, Each Time I Kill, featuring cameos by filmmaker John Waters and B-52s frontman Fred Schneider. She studied lyric writing with the Tony-honored BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop.
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 41 minutes 19 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    November 24, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    2,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • New York Women in Film and Television Screening Series at Anthology Film Archives
    NY, NY
    November 24, 2015
    World Premiere
  • American Cinematheque at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre
    Hollywood, California
    May 21, 2016
    West Coast Premiere
Director Biography - Lisa Hammer

You may know Lisa Hammer as the voice of Triana Orpheus on The Cartoon Network show The Venture Bros., but Lisa is also an award-winning director. She studied film-making at Emerson College and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA. Hammer is well known for her darkly beautiful German Expressionist-style silent films and vintage-inspired films. She has also directed independent dark comedy feature films such as Pox and Pus$bucket , created comedy and experimental shorts, and contributed to many feature length movies including James Merendino’s Punk’s Dead: SLC Punk 2 , which premiered as an Official Selection at the Marché du Film during the Cannes Film Festival in May 2015. She also co-directed the CMJ Film Festival winner The Invisible Life of Thomas Lynch . Hammer has collaborated with Ben Edlund ( The Tick, Firefly, Angel, Supernatural ) and Doc Hammer ( The Venture Brothers ) on independent feature films such as Pus$bucket and Pox . She created The Pox Show with H. Jon Benjamin ( Archer, Jon Benjamin Has a Van ), Jonathan Katz ( Dr. Katz ), and Arden Myrin ( Orange Is the New Black, Inside Amy Schumer ).
Lisa Hammer directed and produced two award-winning weekly NY cable TV shows and has worked with such notables as Clayne Crawford ( Jericho,
Swimfan ), Lisa D’Amato ( America’s Next Top Model ), Jimmy Duval ( Donnie Darko, SLC Punk! ), Courtney Love, and Russell Sams ( The Rules of
Attraction ), and celebrity personalities such as Clint Catalyst, Dame Darcy, Piper Ferguson, Jared Gold, Jeff Lieberman ( Squirm ), Selene Luna, Gemma Massot, David Meanix, Thurston Moore, and Reverend Al Ridenour.
Lisa is honored to have directed and starred in The Sisters Plotz.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

When I performed in Lisa Ferber’s play The Sisters Plotz and Their Afternoon
of Will Reading and Poetry, I was so in love with the material that I knew I
wanted to film it. I started shooting it as a web series but I knew it needed
to be a full feature film. I grew up being obsessed with vintage films, music,
and fashion. I always loved the old screwball comedies and musicals, and I
jumped at the chance to direct and star in one. But I also have a big fetish
for camp films, like those of John Waters and Roger Corman, mixed in with a
love of surreal films by Luis Buñuel and Ken Russell. Combining these
influences, I really reached for an old-time Technicolor meets low-fi John
Waters surrealism feel. I also love the cartoonish quality of the
oversaturated color and the use of sight gags from Tom and Jerry and Bugs
Bunny cartoons, but in our case, done in live action. We shot
black-ash-covered faces after a silly explosion, pie fights, wacky inventions,
oversized props, vaudevillian and Busby Berkeley-style dance moves,
exaggerated movements, and physical comedy à la the Three Stooges and
Marx Brothers. As a director, I prefer to give the actors bold movements,
while allowing them to freely express themselves as their characters would
in real life. I gave each actor a description of exactly who their character was
and what they wanted, and that knowledge of the character’s psyche and
personality informed the actors’ choices and their performances. It was so
very easy to direct this film, given the incredible talent of the cast and crew,
and the wonderful dialogue and lyrics by Lisa Ferber, and the phenomenal
music of Mary Feinsinger. This was a once-in-a-lifetime dream come true!