Private Project

Out of State-A Gothic Romance

Elsa, 18, is sent to live with her strange step-relatives Aunt Marcia and her two twenty something sons, Tab and Emery. Tab is a pianist and Marcia's favorite while Emery is the Cinderella of the family and they never leave their house. Both brothers fall madly in love with Elsa shattering Marcia's control. Who will leave with Elsa? Stay tuned and find out.

  • Victoria Bugbee
    Director
    "Boxer Short," "The Gas Station Project," "A Surreal Soap Opera" Life & Death With Business In Between."
  • Victoria Bugbee
    Writer
    The Gas Station Project, A Surreal Soap Opera, Life & Death With Business In Between, Boxer Shorts
  • Charles Bugbee
    Writer
    Just Off The Coast
  • Victoria Bugbee
    Producer
    CBS -Vogue's The Making of Fashion Week, The 25th Reunion of Murphy Brown, Boxer Shorts
  • Cherie Fortis
    Producer
    Twilight Los Angeles, Paul Simon:Graceland: The AfricanConcert, American Playhouse
  • Sarah Moliski
    Key Cast
    "Elsa"
    Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Kristel, Ladylike,
  • Caroline Winterson
    Key Cast
    "Marcia Garth"
    Bobby Dogs, C299,792 Kilometers Per Second
  • James Nester
    Key Cast
    "Tab Garth"
    Heroes of Dirt, Engame
  • Avery Ryder Turner
    Key Cast
    "Emery Garth"
  • Tess Warren
    Key Cast
    "Becky"
  • Matthew Brueckner
    Key Cast
    "Roy"
  • Lynne Goldberg
    Key Cast
    "Ms. Heller"
    America's Most Wanted:America Fights Back
  • Dave Scheffler
    Key Cast
    "Pennsylvania Dutch Baker"
  • Ilya Shnitser
    Director of Photography
    The Island of Fire, Heroin
  • Kim Miille
    Editor
    Mohammed Ali:Part 1, American Masters:Marian Anderson:In Her Own Words
  • Joe Deihl
    Sound Design & Scoring
    Sundance Channel, Blue Like Jazz, Witness:Voices of the Holocaust, Memory After Belsan, Maidentrip
  • Victoria Bugbee
    Production & Costume Design
    COTY CEO Address, Life & Death With Business In Between, Boxer Shorts, Surreal Soap Opera
  • Kim Druce Sava
    Costume Designer - Lead Actress
    Kids, The Sopranos, 18 Shades of Dust, Dead Man Walking, A League of Their Own
  • Daniel Marracino
    Additional Camera
    Heart of the Bear, Capitalism: A Love Story, Sicko,
  • Blair Johnson
    Additional Camera
    NY Fashion Week
  • Dylan Warren
    Additional Camera
    Heroes of Dirt, NY Fashion Week, Yellowstone
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Romance, Gothic, Dramatic Comedy
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 47 minutes 7 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    January 13, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    70,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital 1920x1080
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Buffalo Roots Film Festival
    Rome
    Italy
    May 19, 2023
    Italian Premiere
    Finalist - Best Feature Film USA
  • 9th Music Film Festival
    Buenos Aires
    Argentina
    May 7, 2023
    South American
    Official Selection
  • Vancouver Arthouse Film Festival
    Vancouver
    Canada
    Canada
    Best First Feature Film
  • Dumbo Film Festival
    Brooklyn
    United States
    Semi-Finalist Best First Feature
  • AFIN International Film & Television Festival
    Brisbane
    Australia
    Honorable Mention Best Feature Film
  • European Cinematography Awards
    Amersterdam
    Netherlands
    Best Feature Film February 2023
  • RED Movie Awards
    Reims
    France
    Finalist Best Feature Film
  • International Film Art & Hearts Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Honorable Mention Best Feature Film
  • Berlin International Art Film Festival
    Berlin
    Germany
    Nominee Best Feature Film
  • World Indie Film Awards
    Abruzzo
    Italy
    Best Drama, Best Director, Best Acting Ensemble
  • White Lion International Film Festival
    Stockholm
    Sweden
    Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay, Best Drama, Best Romance, Best Debut Director
  • 11th Yonkers Film Festival
    Yonkers
    United States
    November 19, 2023
    United States
    Official Selection
  • 8 & Halfilm Awards
    Rome
    Italy
    November 14, 2023
    Official Selection
  • Moonwhite Film International Film Festival
    Mumbai
    India
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Victoria Bugbee

Victoria Bugbee is an award winning playwright known for her experimental performance and on-site audience immersive work. At the same time, she pursued work in video and film as a special projects producer. At B Productions she produced videos for Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Oscar de la Renta, Betsey Johnson, Videowalls for GQ, and TV Specials for CBS and STARZ.

After leaving B Productions, Bugbee focused on her first feature film "Out of State:A Gothic Romance," a dramatic comedy co-written with her distant cousin, the late Charles Bugbee.

To date, "Out of State A Gothic Romance" has won "Audience Choice Award YoFIFest Yonkers Film Festival 11, NY, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Background Music (Score) 6th Moonwhite Films International Film Fest in Mumbai, India Best Feature Film, European Cinematography Award; Best First Time Director, Vancouver Arthouse Film Festival; Best Drama, Best Director & Best Acting Ensemble, World Indie Film Festival, Abruzzo, Italy; Best Dramatic Comedy, Best American Film & Best First Time Director at 8 & Halfilm Awards in Rome, Italy; Finalist for Best Feature Film Buffalo Roots Film Festival, Rome, Italy; The RED Movie Awards Finalist Best Feature in Reims, France. The film is an Official Selection at The 9th Music Film Festival in Buenos Aires; 11th Yonkers Film Festival, Yonkers, NY; Moonwhite Film International Film Festival in Mumbai India; a semi-finalist at DUMBO Film Festival, Brooklyn, NY; Nominee at Berlin Independent Film Festival, Germany; Honorable Mention at both ANIF Film Festival in Brisbane, Australia and International Hearts and Hearts Film Festival in Los Angeles, CA. It is a Quarter Finalist at Red Fox International Film Festival in Tbilisi,Georgia; Portuguese Lemur International Film Festival, Lisbon, Portugal; & Winter Leopard International Film Festival Stockholm, Sweden.

Bugbee self-funded with her husband, George Warren, directed and produced the feature with her Producer Cherie Fortis as well as handled production design. She collaborated with costume designer Kim Druce Sava for the period film set in the early 1990's in Eastern Pennsylvania. Think. "My Cousin Rachel" Meets "The Royal Tenenbaums," dark with a sense of humor.

Bugbee & her team shot 100 scenes in 21 days of "Out of State-A Gothic Romance" before the pandemic. "When I would tell people about the story that focuses on a dysfunctional family of shut-ins, they said no one would understand shut-ins,"said the writer director. "Then the pandemic hit and we edited the film and finished music, sound design and color grading in January 2023. Now the whole world knows what it is like to be isolated and cut off from the real world. It can make you strange."

Before working in New York City, Bugbee made a name for herself by creating three site specific performances that were funded by Atlanta's Bureau of Cultural Affairs. These include "Murder at Le Pavillion Hotel" in the windows of The Javo Gallery, "The Vacation" in an urban parking lot, and "Laundry" at The 10th Street Laundromat. This performance was videotaped by Gerald Jones (Nexus) and the short video "Boxer Shorts" marked her entrance in the world of moving images.

On moving to New York, she worked at Digital Effects, one of the first companies making computer graphics (TRON, Xanadu). She lived with artist George Warren above a fish market in Chinatown and created a series of pastels of Chinatown & fireworks entitled KABOOM. The large mural "Life & Death With Business In Between," became the inspiration for her performance installation in the windows of Benson's Furniture Store in the East Village.

Bugbee made a music video of the performance. With a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for Playwriting & Screenwriting she expanded "Life & Death..." into a surreal musical with music by Joe Deihl, who scored "Out of State:A Gothic Romance."

Other projects include a commission by Lincoln Center Out of Doors to created "A Surreal Soap Opera:Toxic Waste Meets Beach Resort," "Confessions of a Baby Slave," "Art Angel," and "The Gas Station Project" staged at Overseas Auto Body Shop.

In between writing, directing and producing avant grade videos and performances, Bugbee married George Warren (Executive Producer of "Out of State") and together they have three children,

Currently, Bugbee is adapting her original play "The Gas Station Project" into a feature film. She and Joe Deihl, her music collaborator, will finish their musical "Life & Death With Business In Between." Based on the life story of Mrs. Carrie Camiso, housemother of Bugbee's tenement building on The Lower Eastside, the musical shifts between reality, the afterlife and past lives.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

We shot 100 scenes in 21 days of our film "Out of State-A Gothic Romance" before the pandemic. When I would tell people about the story that focuses on a dysfunctional family of shut-ins, they said no one would understand shut-ins. Then the pandemic hit and we edited the film remotely since Kim Miille, the editor, and I were never sitting together. Chromavision color graded remotely. For the soundtrack, Joe Deihl on the West Coast and I on the East Coast finished music, and sound design in January 2023. Now the whole world knows what it is like to be isolated and cut off from the real world. It can make you strange. Also finishing a film totally remotely makes you crazy and is something I hope to never do again.

Before making my first feature physical spaces and places were the sparks that ignited my creative work. I've created stories and audience immersive performances in a furniture store window, an auto body shop, a laundromat and an urban parking lot. When my parents said I could make a film in their home in Pennsylvania I created a fictional family to live there.

My distant cousin, Charles Bugbee, whose first feature "Just Off The Coast" debuted at San Sebastián Film Festival joined me to write the story & screenplay. I had just completed a commission from Creative Time to create "A Surreal Soap Opera:Toxic Waste Meets Beach Resort" at Lincoln Center Out of Doors. Creatively, we were on fire.

Thinking of working within a micro-budget, we created The Family Garth who are shut-ins, a mother and her two twenty-something sons who never leave the house. The feature film is a gothic tale set in the 1990's in a small town in Pennsylvania. It's "The Royal Tenebaums" meet "My Cousin Rachel," dramatic with elements of comedy. The Garth's distant step-relative, a young girl on the cusp of turning 18, is sent far away to live with them. Hence the title "Out of State,"

Unfortunately Charlie became deathly ill when he went to Los Angeles to look for financing. He rallied and was back on Broadway as one of the top sound mixers for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals when they discovered that he had inoperable brain cancer. I promised him that I would make our film and his brother George Bugbee gave his permission. Thank You George.

Years later, with the support of my husband George A Warren III, I was able to wrap my head around producing Out of State. On a micro budget to make the film, I was joined by Cherie Fortis, Producer, Ilya Shnitser, Director of Photography, Kim Druce Sava additional Costume Design and many sound people to shoot our film. Besides directing I wore many hats including Producer, Production and Costume Design. Shooting in my house saved money but my husband George said it was like living in The Grand Hotel since some of the actors lived with us during the shoot.

Our fantastic ensemble included Sarah Moliski, Caroline Winterson, James Nester and A. Ryder Turner. They were joined by a supporting cast featuring Lynne Goldberg, Tess Warren, Matthew Brueckner, Dave Scheffler, Peter H. Bugbee and a few extras. We shot 100 scenes in 21 days in my house & garden in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. When things would not be working out, I'd ask Charlie for help and he always came through. He was our angel and this film is "For Charlie."

Our post production team saved the day and made sense out of chaos. Editor K.A.Miille was joined by Matthew Brueckner, Assistant Editor and Post-Production Supervisor. Joe Deihl of Real Deihl Sound & Music composed an incredible score, created sound design and handled the audio mix. Grammy nominated Emily King, Kim Kalesti, Amanda Anne Platt and The Honeycutters, John Mason, Carter McNeil and Bachtopus are songwriters and performers who graciously licensed their music. Amie Becker Karscig sings the title song written by V Bugbee and Joe Deihl. Chromavision NY color graded the feature.

Thanks to all who believed in my vision and Charlie's dream to make our screenplay a reality. Kudos to our many supporters on Indiegogo.