Private Project

Play Me Like That

Free-spirited sisters Slipper and Crescent (their parents were undoubtedly Burning Man meets Jesus freaks) have made a promise about the child they both long to have, until one sister's grasp on the promise starts to slip.

  • Julianna Robinson
    Director
    https://filmfreeway.com/JuliannaRobinson
  • Nicole Gabriella Scipione
    Writer
    CSI, Shark Swarm, McBride, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1494210/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
  • Silas Weir Mitchell
    Producer
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0593734/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0, Grimm, Rat Race,
  • Samantha Curley
    Producer
    Framing Agnes, winner NEXT Innovator Award, & Audience Award, Sundance 2022., Triibeca Film Festival (2019), https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8765235/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
  • Nicole Gabriella Scipione
    Producer
    CSI, Violet (starring Olivia Munn, Dir: Justine Bateman), Shark Swarm, McBride, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1494210/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
  • Silas Weir Mitchell
    Key Cast
    "Luca "
    Silas Weir Mitchell has been working steadily since the mid-nineties, appearing in many films as well as hundreds of episodes of TV. He is probably best known for his 6 seasons on NBC’s Grimm, and 2 seasons on FOX’s Prison Break, among many others, including My Name Is Earl, Dexter, Six Feet Under, The Mentalist, Cold Case, Burn Notice, The Closer, The Shield, 24, Law & Order, CSI, NYPD Blue, ER, etc… On stage, Silas has appeared in New York Off-Broadway (Playwrights’ Horizons, The Harold Clurman Theatre, HERE Theatre, Ludlow St. Theatre); in Los Angeles (The Actors’ Gang, Circle X, Atwater Village Theatre, Stella Adler Theatre, The MET Theatre, Zoo District); and regionally in California (La Jolla Playhouse), Ohio (The Porthouse Theatre) and Oregon (Portland Center Stage). He has produced and directed numerous revivals both in New York and Los Angeles, and has helped generate and shape countless new works. He is very proud to have collaborated with Nicole Gabriella Scipione many times over the years as a director and producer both of her work (for stage and screen), and of the classics. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0593734/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
  • Pamela Shaddock
    Key Cast
    "Griselda"
    Gray's Anatomy, For The People, Velvet Buzzsaw, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0787170/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
  • Onahoua Rodriguez
    Key Cast
    "Aracely del Sol "
    The Good Doctor, All Rise, Hawaii 5-O, Shameless, Major Crimes, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1015516/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
  • Alina Phelan
    Key Cast
    "Crescent "
    Lucifer, NCIS, How to Get Away With Murder, Grey’s Anatomy, Shameless, Criminal Minds. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1615826/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
  • Nicole Gabriella Scipione
    Key Cast
    "Slipper"
    CSI, Shark Swarm, McBride, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1494210/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    24 minutes 11 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 4, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    20,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Arriflex Alexa Mini
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • LA Shorts International Film Festival 2022 (Academy Award Qualifying)
    Los Angeles
    United States
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
  • HollyShorts (Academy Award Qualifying) Monthly Screenings
    Los Angeles
    United States
    January 25, 2023
    Official Selection
  • Cordillera International Film Festival
    Reno-Tahoe
    United States
    July 30, 2022
    Nevada Premiere
    Best Nevada Short Nominee, Official Selection
  • Maui Film Festival
    Maui
    United States
    July 26, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Chain NYC Film Festival
    NYC
    United States
    August 13, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Beyond Hollywood International Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    April 21, 2023
    Finalist, Best Director
  • Gold Movie Awards -- Semi-Finalist 2022
    London
    United Kingdom
    Nominated, Best of the Year Award, Best Sound
  • Paris Women Festival -- Semi Finalist (Award only, no screening)
    Paris, ONTARIO
    Canada
    Award only, not a premiere
    Semi-Finalist March 2022 (award only, did not premiere/screen)
Director Biography - Julianna Robinson

Julianna was born in Reno, Nevada to working class parents. Her parents divorced when she was very young and she spent her formative years raised by her single, working mother who often worked several jobs just to make ends meet. Although it was financially impossible, Julianna knew she wanted to go to college. She was accepted to UCSB and paid for her own tuition by working every morning as a personal trainer. She was the first in her family to go to and graduate from college. Her foray into Hollywood came that first year of college when a casting director saw her in a play and thought she'd make a perfect Andorian space cadet in Star Trek. She booked the role and was able to get her SAG card, work side by side with the original Star Trek cast (and wear the original wardrobes from the show) and she made enough money to send herself to school abroad in London for a summer to study Shakespeare with the RSC. She has been the lead in a few award winning independent feature films like the multi-award winning zombie rom-com Aaah Zombies!, Nun and The Funeral Guest (all 3 films available to watch on Amazon). For her role of Emily in The Funeral Guest she won a best actress award from LA Indie Film Fest and she was nominated for a best actress award at Hoboken International Film Fest for her role of Sister Gracie Rose in Nun. Julianna had her directorial film debut with The Party (2019) which had its Los Angeles premier at Screamfest. After directing The Party, Julianna got the directing bug and went on to direct two more shorts in 2019 (Hurricane Forecast and Slice). Hurricane Forecast (which she also stars in) won the Jury Prize for best drama short at Long Beach International Film Fest in New York in December 2020. During 2020 she wrote and directed two more shorts, Misophonia and For Worse. Play Me Like That is the 6th short she's directed. She has a project in the works about the real life story of Kate Morgan who died suspiciously at the Hotel Del Coronado on Thanksgiving in 1892.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I remember the day, almost exactly one year ago, that I received a phone call from Play Me Like That screenwriter Nicole Gabriella Scipione. She wanted to hire me to direct her in a film that she wrote. I immediately said, yes of course. She said, well, maybe you should read it first. I said, sure, but still…my answer is yes.

From the first page, I was intrigued. It opens with the POV of a box. Yep, I’m totally in. A box point of view, I thought, this is fantastic and surrealistic and wonderful. The whole script unfolded visually for me as I read. I sent in a Look Book the next day. So many of the scenes and shots you will see in the film I saw in my mind when I first read the script. I knew right away that I wanted the POV of the box to be through a tilt shift lens. We ultimately used the Lens Baby but its similarity to a tilt shift holds true. I knew that I wanted the art studio scene to be in the round, with the camera circling the two lead actors. Initially I thought maybe we would just have the DP walk in a circle around the actors but ultimately we landed on a 360degree circular dolly for this idea and shot that entire scene on that dolly with the camera hand held. Within a month of saying yes to the project Nicole and I were out scouting tree swing locations. We found THE tree right away. There were other trees we looked at, discussed, talked about-but the tree we first saw together and loved is the tree you will see in the film. The tree holds great symbolism and it weaves its way through the film in many ways. I’ll say no more. I hope you enjoy it.