Just your typical day on a French beach, right? This hilarious comedic short was written and directed by Travis Kurtz. He tells the eventful story of the film’s creation below.

Shot on the coast of not-so-beautiful Oxnard, CA, we hiked 45 minutes away from the main beach (police, lifeguards) toward an army base and a deserted factory. We carried everything in duffle bags but once we started filming, all our guys were carrying WWII prop rifles and we expected the Army or police to show up and shut us down and/or fine us. Luckily we were pretty far away and out-of-sight from the lifeguards. A couple people on long walks strolled by smiling in amusement.

With a small budget crew, our make-up guy doubled as a soldier and when one of our few extras had to leave early (ARGH!), I had to squeeze into one of the Army outfits and run across the beach. The Army outfits were authentic from WWII, rented from a costume shop in Hollywood.

One thing did go wrong – I forgot the nice bottle of French wine I had bought when we left at 6am. We had been up til 4am prepping for the shoot and studying the film one last time. We had to stop at a supermarket and the only “French” bottle they had was Clos du Bois (yes, I know – it’s a CA wine). Maybe they should kick down for some product placement! 😀

Other than that, the shoot went well and we celebrated – covered in sand – at a local pizza place and drank beer and ate pizza.

The beginning of the shoot at Norman Villa is a place near my house in Pasadena, CA. I was walking down the street a couple of weeks before the Frenchy shoot and I saw this place which was perfect for the opening.

Thanks to ThisBlogRules for showing the film, as struggling artists, we always appreciate the exposure and support.

Merci!
Travis Kurtz
www.zekemahogany.com