Online Shorts Fest with Michelle Davidson
Three elderly women living in a retirement home fumble with modern technology while trying to land a date.
We are excited to announce the next film in our Online Shorts Fest line-up, A SENIOR MOMENT, written and directed by Michelle Davidson. It's a funny short. At just under six minutes, it's a quick watch that will give you a laugh. Check out her film here.
Michelle Davidson is an Emmy award winning writer, producer and actor. On the small screen, Michelle hosts a daily entertainment show “Kansas City Live” on KSHB (NBC). She also co-hosts and produces “CinemaKC" on KCPT (PBS), which spotlights short filmmakers in the Midwest.
Michelle wrote, directed and produced the regional Emmy Award winning comedic short film “A Senior Moment,” also recognized with a Celtx Seed Grant and Audience Choice Awards at various film festivals around the world.
Michelle is a Finalist in the 2014 Showtime Tony Cox Screenplay Contest at the Nantucket Film Festival with her screenplay "No Man's Land, co-written with Jeffrey Field. They were also a Finalist in the Austin Film Festival pitch contest with "No Man's Land." Her various feature length screenplays have been honored as a Finalist in the Omaha Film Festival, Finalist in Tulsa Film Festival, Semi-Finalist in Final Draft Screenplay Contest, Semi-Finalist in Scriptapalooza and Second Round of the Austin Film Festival.
Michelle has served as the president of Kansas City Women in Film & TV. She is currently a board member of the Film Commission of Greater Kansas City, KCWIFT, Missouri Motion Media Association and KC FilmFest Advisory Board.
What drew you to wanting to tell this story? I’m terrible at texting and my friends make fun of me. I prefer to talk on the phone, because texts seem so impersonal and I never know the tone. I also improperly use emoticons. I channeled my frustration with texting into this short film. I just thought it would be funnier with an older generation trying to navigate this new way of communicating. And, our actors brought so much to the story. They were a breeze to direct as actors. It took a little bit longer to help them figure out the phone, which played beautifully into the film.
What were some of the challenges in getting this film made and how did you overcome them? I learned through working on other short films to try to limit the number of locations, cast great actors and have the best production team in place. I think that helped us avoid some issues. We tried to plan ahead with rehearsals and pre-pro meetings. Then, on the morning of the shoot, our camera didn’t work. DP Hanuman Brown Eagle quickly tracked down another camera, and we started rolling just a little behind schedule. We got back on track, thanks to a “we’re going to make this film” type of attitude with our team.