I was asked to check out the screening of a new indie film comedy-drama called Katie’s Mom. The narrative of this film is essentially The Graduate from a woman’s perspective. It’s about a recently divorced middle-aged mom who has an affair with her daughter’s boyfriend when she returns home during holiday break.
Katie’s Mom was enjoyable to watch and had several hilarious scenes. The Graduate theme flipped was familiar yet the reversal of roles for the protagonist was quite a breath of fresh air. Although a few of the scenes were unbelievable, they were all highly entertaining nonetheless!
It made its big screen debut at the 26th Annual Dances With Film Festival in Hollywood, CA on July 2, 2023. The film’s length is 111 minutes and its cast is Dina Meyer, Aaron Dominguez, Julia Tolchin, Colin Bates, Jason Wiles, and Shannon Dee.
According to IMDB, Katie’s Mom gets an 8.6/10 rating. I would recommend going to see this comedy when it becomes available.
Meet Meryl Branch-McTiernan
I had the pleasure of first meeting and later interviewing the screenwriter/producer of Katie’s Mom, Meryl Branch-McTiernan, at the screening at Ideal Glass Doors on W. 8th Street in Greenwich Village.
Meryl is a super down to earth and highly likable person, who happens to also have a fantastic talent for writing comedy. Upon seeing the tremendous support she received by the collective of 150+ plus friends, industry people, colleagues, associates, and acquaintances who attended the screening, she surely doesn’t need any help from me.
Nonetheless, Meryl is someone who I am rooting for. She and co-writer/director Tyrrell Shaffner have worked relentlessly on this film for nine years. Short of getting picked up by one of the big studios, the harsh reality for indie film makers who don’t have the backing clout of a Barbie or an Oppenheimer, is that those same aspiring screenwriters, directors, and producers pray to land a deal for their films to go straight to streaming on Netflix or Prime—if they are so lucky.
Judging by the level of laughter and entertainment and the positive reactions from the crowd during the Q&A afterward, Meryl and her team might just fulfill their dream.
Sadly There Has Been a Paradigm Shift in the Indie Film Industry
Long gone are the days when an indie film could have a fighting chance of landing a solid run in traditional theaters.
I wondered why Meryl decided to screen this film in a private event space such as Ideal Glass Door rather than a traditional theater. During the audience Q&A, I asked, “Is this a new paradigm which reflects the current state of the industry?” Meryl artfully dodged my question, saying, “This is a really fun and lively place to screen a new film.”
However, later during our private one-on-one interview, I asked Meryl again if she tried to get a traditional theater to show her film. She shook her head and gave her sobering analysis.
Meryl told me, “Even big films are going straight to Apple or Netflix, so there is very little hope for smaller indie films. It’s really unfortunate, because the fun thing is hearing people laugh, hearing them react, being together, and having an experience together. It’s so hard to make that happen now.”
She added, “When conceiving this film, it wasn’t like streaming was my dream. But now even Scorsese is going to streaming. After COVID, it’s not like there’s less respect for it. Whether investors gave us $100 or $1,000, it’s really hard to make back that money.”
Five Years to Write the Film, Four Years to Market (and Still Trying)
Meryl told me this film was crowdfunded, however not according to a more familiar blueprint as so many indie films have raised money through donations. It was all done through a crowd equity campaign, where investors later will proportionally recoup the amount they’ve invested while hopefully realizing a nice profit from the proceeds.
Indeed, the excellent writing of the team behind the film is ultimately what has driven Katie’s Mom. The fact they were able to raise the indie film’s $500K budget through crowdfunding is quite a feat.
What’s most impressive is that Meryl and Tyrrell did not begin their crowdfunding efforts until five years into the project. Through their efforts, they were able to bring 170 investors on board to raise the first $100K using WeFunder. Then one day they struck gold and were able to get an angel to invest an additional $270K.
“For the first five years, the writing was all we had. People have been behind the film all along. They really love The Graduate concept,” Meryl stated.
Meryl and her team are currently working with a sales agent they signed the movie over to. Look for Katie’s Mom to be in theaters or available on streaming services soon.
For more information, go to Katie’s Mom IMDB Page: imdb.com/title/tt22307442
Read this article where I originally wrote it in The Village View:
KAJU ROBERTO is an accomplished musician, singer/ songwriter, journalist, and an award-winning producer. He is the artist Rad Jet on Spotify.