Private Project

CULTured

When a gay, narcissistic actor becomes the leader of a mysterious cult, he must figure out how to manipulate them into producing a movie to jump-start his failing career. The cult however, has other plans…

In the Pilot, we meet Dewey Bingham, who is the definition of a hot mess. After contracting Chlamydia, losing his agent, and getting kicked out of his apartment, Dewey feels as if he has hit rock bottom. That is until a mysterious stranger decides to lend a helping hand.

*Please note the title sequence is a temporary placeholder.
**We are also still waiting on ADR for a few moments.

  • Ariel Zucker
    Director
  • William Lawrence
    Writer
  • William Lawrence
    Executive Producers
  • CNT Productions
    Executive Producers
  • Ariel Zucker
    Producer
  • Geneva Faye
    Producer
  • Daryl Paris Bright
    Producer
  • Geneva Faye
    1st AD
  • Silvia Lara
    Director of Photography
  • Carlo Maghirang
    Production Design
  • Connie Ennis
    Costume Design
  • Alex Kiser
    Sound Design
  • Kendyll Bursh
    Gaffer
  • Arlyn de los Santos
    Key Grip
  • Cory Bobbett
    1st AC
  • Autumn Palen
    Script Supervisor
  • Dionna Michelle Daniel
    Associate Producers
  • Isabella Boose
    Associate Producers
  • Brian Semel
    Associate Producers
  • Ariel Leigh Cicero
    Editor
  • Blake Lieder
    Composer
  • William Lawrence
    Key Cast
    "Dewey Bingham"
  • Isabella Boose
    Key Cast
    "Rembrandt Williams"
  • Nicholas Sheppard
    Key Cast
    "Lucas Grabeel Knock-Off"
  • Sydney McDonald
    Key Cast
    "The Barista"
  • Matt Kelly
    Key Cast
    "Pog"
  • Dionna Daniel
    Key Cast
    "Bradgina"
  • Zack Gearing
    Key Cast
    "Gotchi"
  • Claudia Wit
    Key Cast
    "Alice"
  • Brian Semel
    Key Cast
    "Kyle"
  • Stacy Dawson Stearns
    Key Cast
    "Indigo"
  • Aathira Rajeev
    Key Cast
    "Buffy"
  • Tyree Marshall
    Key Cast
    "Phoebe"
  • Jenapher Zheng
    Key Cast
    "Ming-Na"
  • Derek Jackson
    Key Cast
    "Paul the Hipster"
  • Project Type:
    Television
  • Genres:
    Comedy, LGBTQ, Episodic, Pilot
  • Runtime:
    21 minutes 33 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 7, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    5,000 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:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Ariel Zucker

Ariel Zucker is fascinated with epic and intimate stories, focused on the very real dramas that plague this world, and the humor that inevitably follows. She's invested in experimenting with varying mediums and values collaboration above all else. By day, Ariel assists groundbreaking female directors, such as Josephine Decker (Madeline’s Madeline and Room 104 on HBO), Sarah Adina Smith (Hannah on Amazon), and Sabaah Folayan (Whose Streets? on Hulu). By night, she directs, produces, edits and writes. Just over 2 years ago, Ariel earned a B.F.A. in Directing from the John Wells Directing Program (and a degree in Business Administration) at Carnegie Mellon University. There she developed CNT Productions, a production company devoted to creating opportunities for women and POC in roles they don't typically see themselves in, both on and off screen. Following her graduation with honors, Ariel directed, produced, shot and edited the short Papi Runs, which went on to screen at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth and won Best Music Video at Studio City Film Festival. This piece sparked the inspiration for CNT’s award-winning Open: A Spoken Word Series. Ariel negotiated an investment on behalf of CNT which allowed her to produce several shorts and launch the writer’s room for Not Your Type, a dark sketch comedy web series unlike any other. Every week to this day, a collection of young, diverse writers align to create content they don't believe is represented in today's mainstream media. Her challenge and privilege is to make those works happen. CNT’s work has won the AT&T Film Awards for New Forms of Storytelling, and screened worldwide at the American Black Film Festival, Lady Filmmakers Film Festival, Capital City Black Film Festival, Little Wing Film Festival, Awareness Film Festival and received special mention at London-Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival. In addition to her work with CNT, she performed second-second duties on Josephine Decker’s latest feature Shirley (including directing over 40 background actors at once) and is an Associate Producer to Sabaah Folayan and Sarah Adina Smith’s latest collaboration Ratify, a documentary about the Equal Rights Amendment.

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Director Statement

https://www.arielzucker.com/