"House Party" (2021)

"House Party" is a 2021 short film directed by Clarke M. Smith, and written and produced by Xina Uhl. It starred Lauren Saez, Jarryd Gooch, and Stef Teran. It was Smith’s sixth San Diego based film..

Fantasy novelist Xina Uhl and Clarke M. Smith had been talking about doing a short film together for many years. Uhl had contributed and had input on many of Smith’s short films. When she wrote a short script called House Party, she sent it to Smith in the hopes he would direct it. Uhl considered directing it herself, but her lack of experience inspired her to find a director and a DP to bring her vision to the screen..

Realizing the Script
In 2020, Uhl approached Smith for her film, but Smith was in production and post-production on his feature Mystery Highway and unable to commit to another project. Mystery Highway ran into personnel problems, delays, and a drawn out post production schedule, leaving him time to focus on House Party. Once Uhl had his commitment, they two set out to find a DP, and a cast.

Initially, Uhl’s acquaintance Carolyn Stack had experience with shooting and editing was chosen. They 3 had many Zoom meetings, but Stack had to drop out due to Covid concerns. Uhl conducted a search in various Facebook film production pages, and narrowed it down to 2 interested DPs. They finally settled upon Christopher Peay.

Uhl’s friend Lauren Saez was a performer and a ‘ham’, and was chosen early on (before anyone else was involved) to play the lead ‘Gretchen’. For the Prowler, Smith thought of an actor from his film “The Loyal Remnant”, Jarryd Gooch. Gooch signed on immediately. Lastly, Uhl searched for and found actress Stef Teran for rookie cop ‘Andrea’.

Shooting Details
Shooting till take place on May 29, 2021 at Xina Uhl’s home in Thousand Oaks, CA.

Film Analysis
To come.

Aftermath
To come.

Video and Web Links
To come.