The Fairchild
The new hire at an exclusive museum becomes a special part of the membership experience.
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Danny RogersDirector
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Danny RogersWriter
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Alyssa KatalynaProducer
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Celai AhmadzaiProducer
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Danny RogersKey Cast"The Fairchild "
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Catalina ParraCinematographer
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Ash PopiwchakProduction Designer
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Cynthia E. GarciaProduction Designer
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James GrisomProduction Sound Recordist
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Cecily LoEditor
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Austin HammondsComposer
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Bissa Burr1st Assistant Director
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Project Type:Short, Student
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Genres:Dark Comedy, Thriller
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Runtime:15 minutes
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Completion Date:September 30, 2022
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital, RED Epic Dragon
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Aspect Ratio:1.85
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:Yes - University of Southern California
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DGA Student Film AwardsLos Angeles, CA
United States
Jury Prize - West Region, African American Category
Danny Rogers is a pale, ginger biracial man who tells provocative stories that blur genre lines. His mom is a Black woman from Jamaica. His dad is a white man from Jersey. The paradox of his mixed racial identity and the strange experiences that come along with it inspire much of the writer/director/actor's creative work. After graduating from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor's in US history, Danny moved to New York City, where he got one of his first jobs as a membership desk assistant at an esteemed museum on 5th Avenue. But working in the fine art world was only a brief detour on his intended career path. He later broke into television production as a CBS Page for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and a production assistant for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. In 2022, he graduated with an MFA in Film & Television Production from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. Danny is also the winner of the 28th Annual DGA Student Film Awards Jury Prize in the West Region/African American Category for his thesis film, The Fairchild. He is currently pursuing professional screenwriting and filmmaking in Los Angeles.
The Fairchild was created by writer/director/actor Danny Rogers for his graduate thesis project at USC. In the final year of his MFA program, Danny wanted to challenge himself by making a genre-blending short film that explores themes of race and class while making audiences laugh, wince and think all at once. His brief time working at a prestigious museum in New York City and lifetime of feeling like a token in white institutions inspired the project. Danny took on several key positions for the film, following in the footsteps of a few of his main creative influences -- multi-hyphenate artists like Spike Lee, Dave Chappelle, and Jordan Peele. Thanks to the generosity of 125 project backers, Danny partially funded the film with a successful Kickstarter campaign. He and his crew completed production in the spring of 2022 and post-production in the summer of 2022.