COMP'D

Two absentminded brothers finally reopen their parents’ former bar and restaurant with the best of intentions only to find that the mix of neighborhood gentrification, eccentric customers and their own lack of know-how makes for very odd business.

  • Lee Madsen
    Director
  • Michael Carothers
    Writer
  • Jack Thurston Farrell
    Writer
  • Edwin R. Ruiz
    Producer
  • Jack Thurston Farrell
    Key Cast
  • Michael Carothers
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Short, Television, Web / New Media
  • Runtime:
    9 minutes 45 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 27, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Lee Madsen

Lee Madsen grew up as one of five boys in a career military family. Growing up with so many diverse experiences, not to mention location changes, clearly helped establish and broaden his vision as a filmmaker. By high school, Lee had already appropriated his older brother's video camera and begun making short films with his friends. What started as a hobby, eventually lead him to formally studying directing at the New York Film Academy. After school, he moved to Los Angeles and started working behind the scenes in film and television, continuing his education at UCLA's film extension program. His directing career started with a 35-minute award winning short film, Becoming Irish.

Over the past 10 years Madsen has written and directed three feature films Players, Happy In The Valley and Hated - all of which have received international acclaim (winning over 15 festival awards from around the world) and distribution deals. Players is distributed by Screen Media and Universal Home Entertainment and aired on National TV (ABC). Hated is distributed by Filmbuff, a top distributor of streaming content, and is available on iTunes, Amazon Prime, Hulu and other streaming platforms. Happy In The Valley is distributed by Indican Pictures and premiered on The Movie Channel - January 2015 and was available on Showtime On-Demand for 6 months. In 2013 Madsen relocated from sunny Los Angeles to Chicago and began teaching at DePaul University. He's currently working on a feature film (Chicagoan) and just completed a tv/web series pilot episode called COMP'D.

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Director Statement

With nearly two decades of experience in the LA film scene, I have an immense appreciation for the natural collaboration that takes place in the Chicago stage, comedy, academic and film communities. Our team for COMP'D brought together a diverse cast of characters and crew to put together the pilot episode of COMP'D -- a series that highlights the average day in the life of a family-owned bar and restaurant. While there's a huge difference creating a 90-minute feature, compared to a 9-minute short, it's essentially the same process. CREATE! Thankful for the opportunity to work alongside authentic Chicago artists. We hope you experience the same amount of joy watching COMP'D as we experienced making it!