Private Project

Trouble in the Quad

Jesse thinks she's just investigating on-campus break-ins, but it quickly turns into so much more.

  • Anthony Williams
    Director
  • Ben Bishop
    Director
  • Ben Bishop
    Writer
  • Anthony Williams
    Writer
  • Charles Borg
    Writer
  • Rachel Van
    Producer
  • Anthony Williams
    Producer
  • Kristen McCabe
    Producer
  • Ben Bishop
    Producer
  • Rachel Van
    Key Cast
  • Kristen McCabe
    Key Cast
  • Anthony Williams
    Key Cast
  • Ben Bishop
    Key Cast
  • Pearl Paramadilok
    Key Cast
  • Jon Kline
    Cinematography
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 24 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 1, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 48 Hour Film Festival
    Chicago, Il
    United States
    September 22, 2019
    Premiere
Director Biography - Anthony Williams, Ben Bishop

Ben Bishop:
Ben Bishop is a Chicago filmmaker that acts, writes, directs, and edits most of his films. His short, Broken, has won Best Dramatic Short twice, Best Writing, and Best Actor, along with being nominated for Directing and Editing. During his training to be an actor, Ben learned the value and joy of telling stories which led to him writing his own. He found directing actors to be somewhat natural, after all the times he had been directed. Out of necessity, Ben learned how to edit along the way and now absolutely loves that aspect of the process, too.

Ben finds a different type of artistic fulfillment with each of the four jobs. Each is a different interpretation and each has to be performed from a different standpoint in order to create the best possible story, which is King.

Anthony Williams:
Anthony Williams is an award-winning, visionary storyteller and content creator. His critically-reviewed feature film, Thicker Than Blood, has recently garnered him the awards for Best Director in a Feature Film at the Newark International Film Festival in New Jersey and Best Narrative Feature Film at the Arlington International Film Festival in Boston, both in 2019. His short film, Absolutely Positive, won him accolades such as Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Dramatic Short Film at the World Music & Independent International Film Festival in 2013, spawning a personal invitation to attend the Launch of the HIV Care Continuum Initiative of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy at the White House in 2013. And his social media crowdfunding campaign, Operation: Help Us Get Ellen, reached the ears of those working closely with Ellen DeGeneres.

Since starting his production company, Second Glance Productions, in 2009, Williams has produced content that establishes a safe, creative space for conversation around challenging or difficult subject matter. He prides himself on growing as a visionary storyteller and content creator who holds a mirror up to society, tastefully pushes boundaries, and causes viewers to not only enjoy what they see at first glance, but think about and discuss its issues and beauty upon second glance. He holds tight to his mission of establishing platforms for the underprivileged, underserved, and for all people who feel as if they don't have a voice, but desire to be silent no longer.

While in the midst of acquiring distribution and funding for the remaining Thicker Than Blood film series, Williams is also producing a new streaming series, reality and docuseries following first responders, and a reality competition show franchise.

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Director Statement

What began as a 48 Hour Film Project - restricting us to limited resources and only 5-7 minutes to create and maintain an element of surprise - ended up being a film that would keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Only given one line of dialogue, a character, and a quirky prop, we set out to create a story of distraction and mystery that would completely catch the audience off guard and leave them feeling like they never saw it coming. Above all, we wanted the audience to connect with a story that concludes with an issue that is all too often swept under the rug. And sometimes, in order to get people to care about an issue, you have to trick them into caring about a character first. And if that fails, just hook them with the highly probable scenario of a burglar who uses a dating app to track when their victims are not home.

As male writers/directors, we were very blessed to be able to work with a very talented female-led cast whom we relied heavily upon when it came time to include a story element that we knew was completely outside of our realm and spectrum. We don’t feel that it was our place to tell these particular stories, but we know that it is our responsibility to help further add visibility to them whenever possible. Together with our female cast, we were able to combine a sensitive subject with the assigned genre of suspense which resulted in telling the story we were after without losing the authenticity and details we were wanting to highlight.

Our crew was a godsend! We were lucky to get our DP who owned an equipment rental shop and who provided a beautiful scenic tapestry for us to paint our story on. He also taught filmmaking students (who were our crew members) literally how to use equipment on set. Luck struck again when we were contacted by a very talented composer who was seeking work in order to maintain his visa status. Without having the beautiful work of the DP and the transcendent score of the composer, our words and direction would not have been as impactful as we were envisioning.

This film will always be special to us because of the final moment. We crafted this mystery where the audience follows the clues along with the protagonist, thinking they know where the story is going and leading them to draw a conclusion. And when the final detail drops, it leaves our hero with a moral quandary that our audience can relate to - there isn’t always a clear right or wrong answer.