Go Down, Diller
Logline: An anxious single father seeks to protect his teenage daughter from a talking bear that works at a fast food restaurant.
Brief Synopsis:
Stressed-out single father and hotel security officer Diller McCasslin’s world is thrown upside down when at his favorite fast-food restaurant encounters a bear that talks. Diller turns to his work nemesis Leon the Wine Guy for advice who insist they must “show that bear who knows best”.
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Andrew BatemanDirector
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Andrew BatemanProducer
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John SchorgProducer
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Ryon ThomasKey Cast"Diller"
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Lauren RobinsonKey Cast"Shelly "
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Ben HilzerKey Cast"Leon the Wine Guy"
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Eric HowertonWriter
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Andrew BatemanWriter
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Jessica McGaughDirector of Photography
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Project Type:Short
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Runtime:23 minutes
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Completion Date:January 8, 2025
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Production Budget:30,000 USD
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Country of Origin:United States, United States
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Country of Filming:United States, United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:RED
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Aspect Ratio:1.85:1
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
Andrew Bateman is a Denver-based filmmaker who looks to tell stories of the human condition in unique and beautiful ways. Andrew was thrilled to screen his last short film Loose Change: A Memoir of Childhood to festivals around the world. Andrew’s work has thus far been recognized by grants and fellowships received from the Bay Area Video Coalition, California Humanities, Comcast, Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Coalition, and SOMArts Neighborhood News Network.
Andrew earned a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Media Arts from Temple University and a Master of Arts in American Studies from the University of New Mexico where he wrote his master’s thesis on the prescient and omnipresent artist Sun Ra. Currently, Andrew serves as a faculty member for the University of Colorado Denver where he teaches film production.
In many ways Go Down, Diller started while I was a graduate student in American Studies at the University of New Mexico. There I was studying, to some degree, the revolutionary potential of love. It was at this same time that I met Eric Howerton, who was in his early stages of his writing career. But at this time, we were coffee shop friends and part-time racquet ball foes. It would not be for another 20 years that our paths would cross again when I reached out to him to see if he had any short-stories he thought might be suitable short film material. Eric sent a handful of stories and it was Go Down, Diller that captured my imagination. Yes, it was cinematic in its writing, and a bit “weird”, which I am naturally drawn to, but it really circles back to my studies at UNM and the power of love.
In our main character Diller, we have the much maligned (rightfully so) cis, white, male and a representation of the culture of domination. Diller’s job is to be in control. He is good at, and takes pride in it. Leon the Wine Guy’s solution to Diller’s anxiety about losing control is to “kill the bear”—that which Diller blames for his loss of control. However, as the social commentator and poet bell hooks argues: “A culture of domination is anti-love. It requires violence to sustain itself” and it is only through a “ethic of love” we might be guided to turn away from an ethic of domination. This in a nutshell is Diller’s dilemma and why I was inspired to make Go Down, Diller. In this historically fraught moment, I believe it is vital to tell stories of love, and that at the core of this film is a recognition of the healing and revolutionary power of love.