I shot a short drama film last October on Fire Island – unfortunately I didn’t get back to the island this year (probably because I’ve been recovering from concussion for the past seven months). The film is now out being pitched on the (rather expensive) film festival circuit. I suspect – as with pitching for a job – it makes a huge difference if you establish personal contacts with people on that circuit – but so far, it’s been a strictly internet, cold-call approach. Still, I’m enjoying having this small snap-shot of a relationship out there.
Extract below.
Fire Island: a new short drama by Francis Mead. Duration: 15 minutes.
Mike and Leah have been together for seven years, but they have never made a decision. As their summer rental on Fire Island draws to a close, things are looking bleak. They quickly discover what lengths they are willing to go, both to avoid, and then to force, a choice. Their future depends on the flip of a coin.
Shot on location at Davis Park on Fire Island.
Writer/Director Francis Mead:
“From my personal perspective, having a child and getting married are absolutely terrifying choices. Not very long ago there was very little freedom around these decisions. Of course I prefer to have those choices – but I think one of the most insidious ideas, that I espoused when I was (slightly) younger, was that “settling down” was a death experience, an inescapable trap. It was a no-brainer that settling down as a married couple, especially with children, was the antithesis of happiness. 
But now I’ve come to be much more interested in people in long-term relationships. Of course I like romantic stories about people when they first meet and fall in love – but there’s an enormous wealth of material to be explored in, for example, marriages. And maybe, just maybe, a lot of those long-term married people know more than the rest of us about happiness.
francismead.com 
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