Private Project

The Answer

Following the tragic death of a spouse, six old friends re-unite for a backpacking trip deep into the woods, hoping to mend the pain and bring back balance. The Answer is a sometimes-comedic 2nd-coming-of-age drama that aims to re-define contemporary masculinity and create a new genre of film – the “male chick flick.” It is a human story about the oft-neglected relationships between men, and the friendships that lead the way to coping with life’s difficulties.

  • Wade Wofford
    Director
    Perception
  • Wade Wofford
    Writer
    Perception
  • Wade Wofford
    Producer
    Perception
  • Andrew Clendinneng
    Producer
  • Christian Bester
    Key Cast
    Dreams of Lydia, The Bronxville Affair
  • Elan Even
    Key Cast
    X-Men: The Last Stand, 88 Minutes, Seasons of Love
  • John Anthony
    Key Cast
  • Bjorn Gessle
    Key Cast
    Strings Attached
  • Neimah Djourabchi
    Key Cast
    After Earth, The Wolf of Wall Street, A Most Violent Year
  • Jeff Stanley
    Key Cast
    Perception
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Comedy
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 57 minutes 53 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 26, 2015
  • 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 - Wade Wofford

Wade Wofford has studied multiple aspects of the dramatic medium for fifteen years. A native of an Atlanta suburb, Wofford studied Drama at the University of Georgia, then moved to LA at 21 to pursue a film career. There, he completed the two-year intensive program at the Meisner School of Acting and Los Angeles Film School’s intensive film production program.

He shot several student shorts and parlayed his production knowledge into feature work, serving as a gaffer, scenic carpenter, and set dresser. He directed several stageplays, honing his skill of working with actors. He adapted his third stageplay into a screenplay, and relentlessly studied still photography to expand his knowledge of film as a physical medium.

In 2000, Wofford moved to New York City. He worked with light in off-Broadway theatrical productions, continued his study of photography, and wrote another four screenplays. In 2004, he founded Dedalus Films out of Brooklyn.

Wofford bought enough equipment to furnish Dedalus with a small production studio and began filming. He shot "Assailable," a short collaboration with a dancer from Paul Taylor Dance, in 2005. In 2006, he began pre-production on his fifth feature screenplay, "Perception," which Wofford spent five years producing. It won The Royal Reel Award in Filmmaking at the Canada International Film Festival and Best Dramatic Feature at the DIY Film Fest, whose programmers called Perception “a really great, beautifully shot and compelling film that stays with you for days afterwards.”

Wofford moved to Northampton, Massachusetts in 2006, seeking a place with Brooklyn’s energy but more access to nature. Here, he founded and moderates Noho Screenwriters Workshop, a peer-to-peer workshop of professional screenwriters that workshops the scripts of members in the Pioneer Valley. Here, he penned another five original screenplays, several of which have been optioned.

Most recently, Wofford formed Happy Wasteland Studios, a full-service production house for commercial shoots, with partners Mike Haas and Jake Hulse. Happy Wasteland co-produced The Answer, and is also in post-production on its second feature film, "Heroes Don't Come Home," which Wofford acted as DP on.

Wofford lives with his wife and daughter, and teaches video production to high school students in Chicopee.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

It all started at your run-of-the-mill dinner party—a conversation we’ve all heard before... at a point during the party when the sexes co-mingle and the subject of movies comes up. One couple had gone to a movie the night before, and the wife had won the usual gender battle of “this-or-that”; they had seen a film that the majority of American culture (and the men at this party) would call a “chick flick.” The husband admitted, reluctantly, that he’d really liked the movie. The other men admitted that they had also seen “chick flicks” over the years that were “surprisingly quite good.”

I left the party, bothered by the social implications of the conversation. I found myself wondering why we belittle the genre with such a derogatory title, and what the attributes of a “chick flick” even were. I spent the next few months conducting informal social research, and found that “chick flicks” were understood by most to be “films about human relationships, often romantic…with lots of talking about love and life.”

I turned to the cinematic canon for films that depict male friendship. Not action films about guys driving Aston Martins, and not comedies where the friends wake up with tigers in their hotel rooms...but stories about the 150 million modern American men who walk our streets and live next door. Amazingly, I found only three American dramas featuring intimate portraits of male friendship—two of which are over 25 years old. “Where,” I asked myself, “are the stories about the real, recognizable men that I have come to know in my own life?

I took it upon myself to create just such a story. Knowing that a film of this nature wouldn’t garner traditional Hollywood funding, I chose to set the story in the woods, so we could avoid location struggles and complex light setups (ironically, we had both—and shooting in the woods is no picnic…). I wanted to really focus the audience’s attention on the relationships at the core of the film. I based the voices of the characters on men I have known and respected across my lifetime, and struggles I have heard them speak of in their most personal moments. Out of this, The Answer was born.

We shot the film across four states in 17 grueling-yet-inspiring days, 10 of which were in the wilderness of Vermont. We backpacked film and camping gear alike, and these actors truly became the friends that they set out to portray. The screenplay became a scene…became a conversation… became real. And this small story written on a page became six real men in the woods together looking life, and each other, in the eye…while the camera silently witnessed.

So enter the world of one circle of men on one dirt path. Discover the majesty of the forest with them. Laugh with them. Cry with them. I guarantee you, it will be time well-spent—and you will see in them glimpses of the great men you have known.