Date:
June 03, 2008
Time: 7:00PM
Location: Norris Cinema Theatre/Frank Sinatra Hall
Time: 7:00PM
Location: Norris Cinema Theatre/Frank Sinatra Hall
SCA Alumni Screening Series Presents: THE GO-GETTER
The Go-Getter
7:00PM on Thursday, June 3rd
Norris Cinema Theatre/Frank Sinatra Hall
Followed by a Q&A with Martin Hines '96 (Writer/Director), Lucy Barzun Donnelly (Producer), Byron Shah '98 (Director of Photography) and David Birdsell '97 (Editor)
ABOUT THE GO-GETTER
A vivid, original road movie with a little sex, drugs and an instantly-classic rock'n'roll score by M. Ward, The Go-Getter is the story of Mercer White (Lou Taylor Pucci), a straight-arrow 19 year-old who, eight months after the death of his mother, steals a car and sets out to find his older half-brother he hasn't seen in fourteen years.
He's barely out of town when a cell phone left behind in the stolen car begins to ring. Mercer immediately finds himself talking to the car's owner, Kate (Zooey Deschanel). Surprisingly open to Mercer’s journey, she does not threaten to call the police, but instead offers him the most curious deal: Mercer can use her car until he’s done with it on one condition: that he call her and tell her about his trip all along the way.
Despite this stroke of good fortune, almost nothing proceeds as expected for Mercer from there. In seemingly rapid succession, he is punched by a lapsed-Buddhist, taken in by bohemian potters, seduced by Joely (a mysterious and sexy girl he's had a thing for since he was 11, played by Jena Malone) and has a slew of dangerous, humorous and eye-opening encounters that confound expectations: with a white cowboy hat, a philosopher-pornographer, a gun-toting traveling liquor salesman, a very unusual pet store, and a bilingual hotel clerk with a vivid vocabulary and a one-track mind.
ABOUT THE GUESTS
Martin Hynes '96 (Writer/Director) grew up in Eugene, Oregon; he graduated from Columbia University with a history degree. During and after college, he worked in New York theater and sketch comedy. Hynes then attended the graduate film school at University of Southern California (USC), where he received the Paramount Pictures Fellowship. His student film, Al As In Al, premiered at HBO's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, and was one of the films chosen by USC to celebrate the best student work in the school’s 75-year history. Just after film school, Martin directed a low-budget independent feature – The Big Split. Hynes has written scripts for Universal/Imagine, Disney and New Line. After The Go-Getter, he will direct a romantic thriller called 4AM Automatic from a script he also wrote, to be produced by Lucy Barzun Donnelly and Joshua Astrachan.
Lucy Barzun Donnelly (Producer) created Exacta Film Company with Joshua Astrachan who was a producer for Robert Altman for the last decade. Their current projects include: The Widow Claire which James Ivory will direct from a script by Horton Foote, a comedy called The Satyr which will be Oliver Platt’s directorial debut; a thriller, At The Devil’s Table, The Newtonian Casino, a gambling film, and 4AM Automatic, by writer/director Martin Hynes, which is currently casting. Donnelly launched etc.films after developing and co-producing Peter Hedges’ Academy Award®-nominated Pieces of April with John Lyons. Under the etc.films banner, she produced The Go-Getter by writer-director Martin Hynes starring Zooey Deschanel, Jena Malone and Lou Pucci which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; she is in post production on Grey Gardens, a drama based on the lives of Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter “Little Edie” Beale starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange for HBO films.
Byron Shah '98 (Director of Photography) has worked as director of photography on a number of upcoming independent features, including Careless (starring Colin Hanks and Tony Shaloub), An American Crime (starring Catherine Keener and Ellen Page) and Teenius. Byron was second unit D.P. on the NBC films Martha, Inc. and Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company, and the New Line feature Grilled (starring Ray Romano and Kevin James). Byron has also shot and directed commercials and music documentaries since graduating from the USC School of Cinema-TV with an M.F.A. in 1998. He has worked with Beck, Perry Farrell and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and traveled with The Smashing Pumpkins throughout Europe and Africa, shooting and directing a documentary of their final tour. Byron's work on two short films (Debutante and Invisible) earned him the Kodak Award from the New York Exposition of Short Films, Best Cinematography from the Carolina Film and Video Festival, and inclusion in the Camerimage Festival of Cinematography in Poland. Byron has a BA in Art History from Williams College.
David Birdsell '97 (Editor) is a Canadian filmmaker and editor living in Los Angeles where he graduated from the USC School of Cinema-Television in 1997. As a director, his short films have won over 20 festival awards and screened at the Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto Film Festivals, among others. The Go-Getter is his second feature film as an editor.
ABOUT CHECK-IN & RESERVATIONS
This screening is presented free of charge and is open to all USC students, faculty, staff and alumni. The theater will be OVERBOOKED to ensure capacity and the RSVP list will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis, with no reserved seating. Please bring a photo ID or print out of your reservation confirmation, which will be automatically sent to your e-mail account upon successfully making an RSVP through this website. Check-in will begin at approximately 6:15PM.
ABOUT PARKING
The USC School of Cinematic Arts is located at 850 W. 34th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007. Parking passes are available for Parking Structure D and Lots M & V (across the street from the George Lucas Building) for $8.00. You must pull into Gate 5, located at the intersection of McClintock Ave. and W Jefferson Boulevard and purchase your parking pass with the booth attendant. Street parking is also available along W Jefferson Blvd.
To view the full schedule of films during the Alumni Screening Series, click here.
He's barely out of town when a cell phone left behind in the stolen car begins to ring. Mercer immediately finds himself talking to the car's owner, Kate (Zooey Deschanel). Surprisingly open to Mercer’s journey, she does not threaten to call the police, but instead offers him the most curious deal: Mercer can use her car until he’s done with it on one condition: that he call her and tell her about his trip all along the way.
Despite this stroke of good fortune, almost nothing proceeds as expected for Mercer from there. In seemingly rapid succession, he is punched by a lapsed-Buddhist, taken in by bohemian potters, seduced by Joely (a mysterious and sexy girl he's had a thing for since he was 11, played by Jena Malone) and has a slew of dangerous, humorous and eye-opening encounters that confound expectations: with a white cowboy hat, a philosopher-pornographer, a gun-toting traveling liquor salesman, a very unusual pet store, and a bilingual hotel clerk with a vivid vocabulary and a one-track mind.
ABOUT THE GUESTS
Martin Hynes '96 (Writer/Director) grew up in Eugene, Oregon; he graduated from Columbia University with a history degree. During and after college, he worked in New York theater and sketch comedy. Hynes then attended the graduate film school at University of Southern California (USC), where he received the Paramount Pictures Fellowship. His student film, Al As In Al, premiered at HBO's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, and was one of the films chosen by USC to celebrate the best student work in the school’s 75-year history. Just after film school, Martin directed a low-budget independent feature – The Big Split. Hynes has written scripts for Universal/Imagine, Disney and New Line. After The Go-Getter, he will direct a romantic thriller called 4AM Automatic from a script he also wrote, to be produced by Lucy Barzun Donnelly and Joshua Astrachan. Lucy Barzun Donnelly (Producer) created Exacta Film Company with Joshua Astrachan who was a producer for Robert Altman for the last decade. Their current projects include: The Widow Claire which James Ivory will direct from a script by Horton Foote, a comedy called The Satyr which will be Oliver Platt’s directorial debut; a thriller, At The Devil’s Table, The Newtonian Casino, a gambling film, and 4AM Automatic, by writer/director Martin Hynes, which is currently casting. Donnelly launched etc.films after developing and co-producing Peter Hedges’ Academy Award®-nominated Pieces of April with John Lyons. Under the etc.films banner, she produced The Go-Getter by writer-director Martin Hynes starring Zooey Deschanel, Jena Malone and Lou Pucci which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; she is in post production on Grey Gardens, a drama based on the lives of Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter “Little Edie” Beale starring Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange for HBO films.Byron Shah '98 (Director of Photography) has worked as director of photography on a number of upcoming independent features, including Careless (starring Colin Hanks and Tony Shaloub), An American Crime (starring Catherine Keener and Ellen Page) and Teenius. Byron was second unit D.P. on the NBC films Martha, Inc. and Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three's Company, and the New Line feature Grilled (starring Ray Romano and Kevin James). Byron has also shot and directed commercials and music documentaries since graduating from the USC School of Cinema-TV with an M.F.A. in 1998. He has worked with Beck, Perry Farrell and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, and traveled with The Smashing Pumpkins throughout Europe and Africa, shooting and directing a documentary of their final tour. Byron's work on two short films (Debutante and Invisible) earned him the Kodak Award from the New York Exposition of Short Films, Best Cinematography from the Carolina Film and Video Festival, and inclusion in the Camerimage Festival of Cinematography in Poland. Byron has a BA in Art History from Williams College.
David Birdsell '97 (Editor) is a Canadian filmmaker and editor living in Los Angeles where he graduated from the USC School of Cinema-Television in 1997. As a director, his short films have won over 20 festival awards and screened at the Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto Film Festivals, among others. The Go-Getter is his second feature film as an editor.
ABOUT CHECK-IN & RESERVATIONS
This screening is presented free of charge and is open to all USC students, faculty, staff and alumni. The theater will be OVERBOOKED to ensure capacity and the RSVP list will be honored on a first-come, first-serve basis, with no reserved seating. Please bring a photo ID or print out of your reservation confirmation, which will be automatically sent to your e-mail account upon successfully making an RSVP through this website. Check-in will begin at approximately 6:15PM.
ABOUT PARKING
The USC School of Cinematic Arts is located at 850 W. 34th St., Los Angeles, CA 90007. Parking passes are available for Parking Structure D and Lots M & V (across the street from the George Lucas Building) for $8.00. You must pull into Gate 5, located at the intersection of McClintock Ave. and W Jefferson Boulevard and purchase your parking pass with the booth attendant. Street parking is also available along W Jefferson Blvd.
To view the full schedule of films during the Alumni Screening Series, click here.
Contact Information:
Alessandro Ago
213.740.2804
aago@cinema.usc.edu
| Associated Person: | Alessandro Ago |
