#andrewshaw

Must Come Down: Guiding You Through Your Quarter-Life Crisis

This article was first published in the the September 2010 issue of SLUG Magazine. Read it online or in print.

Quarter-life crisis: Based on SLUG Mag’s demographics, there’s a good chance a lot of you are experiencing one, especially in this economy. What do you do when nothing seems to be going your way? Even extraterrestrials know to at least phone home. That’s where local artist, curator, filmmaker and screenwriter Kenny Riches sends the main character of his upcoming indie feature film, Must Come Down­ — back to his roots. Going home usually means a plate of cookies and a chat with mom, not trying to break into the house where you spent your childhood where someone else’s mom currently lives …

Ashley (David Fetzer) and Holly (Ashly Burch) are the two unemployed twenty-somethings “stumbling through life’s final bout of growing pains” in this quirky comedy about being lost.

Written, directed and produced by Riches, Must Come Down is his first feature-length film, no doubt inspired by his own adventures and experiences. Founder and owner of Kayo Gallery until he sold it in late 2007, Riches left to travel the world, including his terra patria, Japan, and returned to begin working on the screenplay. “I’d only written short films up until two years ago... I came back to Utah and had a [reunion] show at Kayo and I started being more interested in my family history,” he says. The gallery show, titled “I Wish Things Were Different,” took place last November and, like Must Come Down, focused on the past with the themes of nostalgia and adventure. 

“My favorite thing is when people tell me ‘oh, I really connect with this or that part of the story,’ I feel like that’s important to me. This film is a lot about being lost and everyone our age is kind of there,” he says.

 This led Riches to seek out his childhood home, which he wanted to use as a location, obviously resulting in a key part of the film’s plot. Thanks to Google and Riches’ persistence, he was able to make it happen. “I stalked [the family who now owns the house] a little bit, I found their names on the county recorder through their property listing … The family that lives there is so amazing and supportive,” he says.   The cast also fell right into place. The close friendship shared by Riches and Fetzer was evident as the two skillfully played off each other’s comments and even finished each other’s sentences.

“It’s my suspicion that Kenny had me in mind from the get-go when he was writing the screenplay, ‘cause when I read it, he’s incorporated some of my idiosyncrasies,” says Fetzer. Riches confesses the part was written with Fetzer in mind — no audition needed. Both agree their relationship benefits the artistic process. “It’s a casual collaborative dynamic between the two of us. It was just an extension of our history,” says Fetzer. “We share similar comedic timing, which is really important,” Riches concludes. Phoenix native and first-time actor Ashly Burch was brought on to play Holly after Riches was introduced to her popular web video series, Hey Ash, Watcha Playin’? after which he sent her a Facebook message to gauge her interest in the project. Burch read through the script and loved it, as Holly holds the same eccentricities as her Hey Ash character. 

“I feel like one of the things you can recognize a good character is when you can imagine going somewhere and just having a conversation with them outside the context of the movie, and I can definitely imagine having a cup of coffee with Holly. The great thing about a film is that it’s a way of knowing, in a really overdramatic way, that you’re not alone,” she says.

Burch’s large fan base is partially responsible for the $11,000-plus that was raised for the film through Kickstarter.com. People were able to watch comedic promotional videos and received pledge gifts, from stickers and DVDs to premiere tickets and production credits, depending on the amount donated. “The thing that is pretty unique about this production is that we’re paying everyone involved. Most indie productions I’ve been involved with just put together a team who are in it for the love of the game, which is nice, but then you have to contend with flakes and half-assed work. It’s awesome that we get to be able to do that, and Kickstart helped,” says Fetzer.

The film went into production from August 2-20, with all filming done exclusively in Salt Lake. Edited by Tj Nelson (editor, Snowmen), produced by Patrick Fugit (actor, Almost Famous) and Dominic Fratto (producer, White on Rice), and the score written and recorded by local musician Andrew Shaw (The Platte), this is a promising local film you won’t want to miss. 

“I personally hope that it will inspire local filmmakers in particular to be serious about filmmaking and to make more films … When one person just says ‘I’m just gonna do this’ and they do it, it creates a chain effect, and I would love to see that,” says Fetzer. 

This trade rocked Habs Nation throughout the world, I would know, living in London, England. This trade had me go through a whole load of emotions, at the time when I heard about the trade, I was at work on a night shift thinking that I would have a normal night’s work when this shocker happened, I immediately had to step away and take a breather.

Putting my initial emotions aside, which from what can be seen all around social media and in the papers are shared emotions, lets discuss this trade.

PK Subban has to be a lot of Montreal Canadiens’ fans favourite player, I know he was mine, but hey…. he got traded, this happens in Hockey all the time, Nay, it happens in sports all the time. This is something that we Habs fans need to accept - whilst I’m writing this, I realise that the hype has died down about the trade, but there are still many that are bashing the organisation and Marc Bergevin for making this deal.

The deal is not bad - yes, we lost arguably our best player, a franchise player, a top personality, but have acquired another top defensemen, a great leader, the league’s hardest slapshot, a great defensemen, albeit an ageing one. This is what most Habs fans are upset about, the contract, Weber’s contract length. Even though he has 10 years left on this contract (which will bring him to be 41 at the end),Marc Bergevin is clearly trying to bring home Lord Stanley’s Cup in the upcoming seasons, what with acquiring Andrew Shaw (a deal that saw Lars Eller traded to the Washington Capitals in exchange for second-round selections in 2017 and 2018), a great First Round pick at the NHL Draft 2016 in Mikhail Sergachev, and Alex Radulov, along with with further movement since the Free Agency opened. 

Montreal forward said not having to go against big, physical defenseman is ‘a huge positive’

This should be a statement to all Montreal Canadiens fans, that the Montreal Organisation is planning some great things for the future. There is a reason why Subban was traded, the organisation clearly felt that the rift in the changing room which had been denied at so many points during the course of the 2015-16 season, was too much, and something had to be done. And….. of course, the Superstar who had disagreements with the Coaching staff, and was a cause to the rift, had to go. Bergevin did the right thing I believe for the team (something that hurts to say, who would have thought that this day would come, especially when remembering cheering for Subban at the Bell Centre, and all his off the ice antics, and great Charity Donation). Subban will be missed, but we all need to accept the organisation’s decision, welcome and embrace Shea Weber, and look forward to seeing his crunching hits (”Andrew Shaw happy he’s with Shea Weber - New Montreal forward said not having to go against big, physical defenseman is 'a huge positive’) and incredible slapshots working for our beloved Montreal Canadiens. 

The Power play has been the talking point around many Hockey conversions, the Montreal Canadiens’ Power play is not working, and something needs to clearly change. With this off-season moves, lets hope they do,the statistics show that with Weber, they should, but again, along with the risky signing (yet exciting signing) of Radulov, only time will tell if these moves will pay dividends.

Not to downplay PK Subban, but I think that our team is looking good, even without his skill and power, I may even quote Geoff Molson: "No, I’m not surprised how the fans have reacted, I think that P.K. is a bigger-than-life person on and off the ice, and our fans love him, and still will love him, and I heard a lot of it on my Twitter account and I appreciate that. But I also appreciate what I’ve hired Marc to do, and that is to make our team better, and I’m confident he has done that…. and I’m really looking forward to seeing the evolved team on the ice and I think our fans are going to really appreciate the improvements.“

Here’s to looking to the future, and seeing how these new pieces will fit in, how Michel Therrien will make them fit, and make them work.

In Summary, I’m excited…