Rainy Kerwin – The Wedding Invitation

By starrymag | June 15, 2017

By: Nicole Dintelman

 

Q) Please tell us the premise for the movie The Wedding Invitation.

A) Three best friends get a last minute invitation to an 80’s prom themed wedding. Desperate to bring the perfect plus-ones to the wedding of a decade, the trio decides to turn this problem into an opportunity to take control of their dating lives. Their mission is to go out and hit on their dream crushes, snagging them before “Here Comes The Bride” plays.

Q) What inspired the storyline for the movie? More specifically the 80’s theme for the wedding?

A) There are so many single people in the world looking for love and what if women felt empowered to go out and hit on men? How many more connections would be made? This question, “Should women hit on men?” often sparks a debate at screenings amongst audience members. The theme of the film is “taking control” of our own lives. The girls in the film do it by picking their guys, but it’s interchangeable. We have so much more control than we know in all areas of our lives. The 80’s prom-themed wedding comes from my love of the 80’s. It was in the 90’s when I was going to school dances, but they would play all of the 80’s bands. Our school DJ’s might not have been so hip and up-to-date with their music back then. I fell in love to those songs. I had my first kiss to those songs. I pined over boys at home alone on a Friday night to those songs.

Q) Where do you connect with your character?

A) For starters, we both look the same. [laughs] Sadly, I think I connect to Lucy in her obsessive, neurotic ways. I’m a big fan of highlighters and post-it notes and germless food. The other half of my personality is pure Ryann. I can be quite a smart ass at times and I definitely dress more like Ryann.

Q) Why did you feel it was important to have an all female crew for the movie?

A) When I tried to make this movie many years ago, men just did not like the script. They had a problem with the three female leads. They didn’t resonate with the story (insert sarcastic, “Really?” here) and they didn’t want to fund it because women meant very little in the foreign market and foreign comprised 60% of film sales. Yet, women were drawn to it. So, we set up a team (by no design of my own) that happened to be all women. But ultimately without the money, we couldn’t push it over the finish line. The project fell apart. Three years ago, I took the project back and decided to make it. And since women had gravitated to it and men had shunned it, it seemed like a natural fit to use a predominantly female crew. However, because I also wanted to make a small dent in the gender parity gap that plagues our industry, I made the bold move of hiring all women for the production crew. It’s for similar reasons that we’re donating 5% of the film’s net profits to 10 women’s charities and organizations. We’d like to effect change for women on a broader scale as well.

Q) Was it hard for you to wear three hats for the movie? Writer, director and star?

A) It was definitely a challenge to keep all the balls in the air. Since the writing was done and the script had been vetted, there was very little to do there. I had lived with these characters for so long so I felt like I really knew Lucy. On set I would shoot more takes on myself so I wasn’t shortchanging the film. Plus, I watched playback on every single take to make sure that I had nailed it before we moved on. Directing was challenging in that I was a first-time director. I relied on my producing partner, Sage Scroope, to by my eyes on camera while I was on screen. Also, she sat in on all of my rehearsals so she knew what I wanted. Rehearsing was also key. I rehearsed everyone down to the day-players. But I think the most challenging task was something that you didn’t mention: producing. I had two producing partners that were instrumental during production. However, it was once we wrapped that I was on my own. Post-production is a beast. It is long and painful. And as a first-time producer, I was learning on the job. It feels like at every turn there is an opportunity for the film to fall apart with one misstep. My job was to make as few missteps as possible.

Q) How involved were you in the casting of the film?

A) Extremely involved. We didn’t hire a casting director. My producing partner, Narmar Hanna, and I took that on. Aside from being the one in the room during every casting session, I was also the one setting up the appointments and callbacks and dealing with the agents and managers.

Q) Do you have a favorite scene from the movie?

A) There’s this scene where my character, Lucy, is sitting in the trunk of her car overlooking the twinkling lights of the valley with Ryann (Camille Guaty), her best friend. They’re eating licorice. They have this really sweet moment and then after the scene we both kept improvising and it eventually turned into laughter. I left that part in the final edit. I not only love the connection between the girls in that scene, but also the backdrop – at the iconic overlook of the city up on Mulholland Drive.

Q) What did you take away from your time working on The Wedding Invitation?

A) Eye glasses and exhaustion – #kiddingnotkidding. I really got schooled in DIY filmmaking. I had no idea how hard it would be. For the past three years, I’ve spent six days on this film. To avoid failure and to minimize my mistakes, I’ll often go in ten directions to ensure that I’m covered. I think my take away is a firm grasp of independent filmmaking from A to Z. I was involved from funding, through to distribution and everything in between.

Q) What do you think it is about the movie that will make people want to take their time to see it?

A) My goal was to put real friendships, real conversations and real situations on the screen. My hope is that audiences will relate to these women. And there are some awkward, embarrassing moments that are fun to see happen to OTHER people, but just not you!

Q) What is your advice to women who want to break into the entertainment industry?

A) Kick down doors. That was some advice that was given to me early on. I often come back to that advice when something’s not going right and I think I should be polite and not make waves. We don’t have that luxury in this business, especially as women, to be too polite. I would also say: ask and try. Be fearless. Don’t assume. Oh, look at me with my self-help book quotes.

Q) What is your favorite TV show right now and what makes it so special to you?

A) I make comedies, but yet I tend to watch dramatic TV. I’m into season four of the “The Killing” right now. I’m obsessed with it. The story is great, but it’s the characters and their relationships that keep drawing me in.

Q) What is a movie you have recently watched and what did you like the most about it?

A) I just saw Snatched with Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn. I think Amy is a comedic genius and can do no wrong. I’ll see whatever she makes. I love to see women on the big screen killing it in comedy.

Q) As we get towards summer, what are some of your favorite summer fashion trends or ones you recommend?

A) Oh, man! I want to have a cooler answer to this. I want to be a Fashionista. I want to have time to be able to shop again and look at styles. But, sadly, you will catch me in a pair of flip-flops, cuts-offs and a tank top.

Q) During our current political climate, what kind of actors or artists in entertainment can be doing to push boundaries and promote more representation and resistance?

A) I think they’re doing it. The amount of celeb-power that showed up at the Women’s Marches was amazing. I think the key to change is longevity. We all need to stick with it and not get tired of standing up for equality, compassion and kindness. The current administration has sparked so much hate and somehow made that acceptable. It’s not. We must persist.

 

Watch a Clip from The Wedding Invitation