Panda: A Short Film

Panda is a 14 minute long short film written and directed by Jordan Thewlis.

Plot: Panda is a dark comedy following a male panda at a zoo who learns that a female panda is being brought in for him to mate with. The issue is that pandas famously do not mate in captivity, so they have to navigate the pressures of other people’s expectations.

The hook: our story is set in a futuristic, dystopian zoo where all the animals are played by people in mascot-style animal suits. In a Truman Show fashion, their lives are live-streamed to an at home viewership, but the characters believe that they are animals, even when we see them at lunch time in the cafeteria, eating their meals with their mascot-suit heads off on the table beside them.

Locations: We will be shooting at two locations, both of which I have acquired for free. The first is the Panda Enclosure. This set will be built at a warehouse called EcoSet in Atwater Village. Here we will use flats (fake walls) to build a brightly painted room with astroturf floors. All of the flats are available to use at EcoSet and, since my friend works there, we’ll be able to use those for free as well. The astroturf I got for free from a different set, it’s rolled up in my garage right now. The second location is the Cafeteria. The current plan is for a friend to let us use a faculty room at Rolling Hills Preparatory High School down by Long Beach.

Team: The two main producers that I'm working with are Ben Kurzrock (writer/producer at Spongebob) and Alex Choonoo (Commercial Cinematographer). I went to the premiere of a feature-length mockumentary that they made together called Counting In, which blew me away, so I was excited when they said they were willing to work on this project. They have a lot of connections in the industry, and have helped me find a Location Manager, Costume Coordinator, Grips, and Lighting guys, all professionals in their industry who are willing to work on the project for free. The star of the movie (the main panda) will be my friend Ryan Goodcase, who has a large following through stand-up comedy, and can help with promotion once that time comes.

Expenses: The biggest expense is going to be hiring the guy with the Panda Suit , which is, unfortunately, $2000. The panda suit is the main set piece of the film, and it needs to look realistic. There are many poor quality suits online that go for $200-$400, but none of them will work for this movie. There's also a lot of foreign scam sites that advertise a really realistic looking suit, but most actually stole the images from the company I linked to above.

The other expenses will be lighting rentals ($600), makeup and costumes for the other zoo animals + zookeeper ($800), catering for both days of shooting ($800), and then other props + set decoration ($600) and some festival application fees, bringing the total budget to $5,000.

Post Production + Release: I estimate the editing will take about 3-6 months, which is when I can have a private premiere in LA, and start submitting the film to film festivals across the country.

Thank you so much for any support you're willing to give! Happy to answer any questions you may have :)