Medfield Resident Collecting Funds to Direct Indie Short Film

Medfield resident Evan Hatten knew he was passionate about film before he was 10 years old.

“I got involved young,” Hatten said. “I definitely remember writing scripts before I was 10, but never filming them. They were pretty much exactly Star Wars.”

When Hatten attended Medfield High School ­– Class of 2004 – he outgrew his Star Wars tales, evolving into more of a creative writer. He and a friend also started putting their creativity on camera and when he was 17, he began editing.

“I would visit my friend up in Burlington, Vt. and we'd stay up all night making stupid little films that probably would have found their way to YouTube had such a thing existed at the time,” Hatten said.

He pursued film in college, earning a degree in film and video production at Hampshire College – Class of 2009 – despite having a forgettable first experience on set of a short film in 2004.

“The 2004 set was a short film called "Out of the Woods," a film so forgettable I had to look it up,” Hatten said. “I'm not listed in the credits, but I was a PA for one day, and I might have been the least helpful PA in history. I tried to do well, but I was so out of my element and so unprepared for the realities of the set that I think I actually brought a Discman. I've never seen the finished film.”

Hatten did not let that experience deter him from chasing his dream and has been working in film for the past eight years. Hatten’s journey in film took him to Brooklyn, N.Y. for a year and has put him on some notable sets in Massachusetts.

“I work on movies that come to town when I can - I was a casting intern on Edge of Darkness and The Fighter, a casting assistant on Here Comes The Boom! and Ted, and a production assistant on Crooked Arrows,” Hatten said.

A perk Hatten has enjoyed working on these sets are the stories that come from them.

“I have the most random anecdotes when my friends and I start swapping crazy work stories,” Hatten said of his experience. “Dickie Ecklund, who Christian Bale won an Oscar for playing in 'The Fighter,' told me I was too pretty to box on two separate occasions.”

As for his time in Brooklyn, N.Y., Hatten said it just didn’t work out.

“I never got the foothold I was looking for, but worked on a few small things here and there,” Hatten said. “All I can remember specifically is I shot a spec commercial, a drag queen's 40th birthday performance, and a 9/11 victim's charity event with a speech by Tony Blair.”

Presently, Hatten is focusing on obtaining more work as a film editor and just recently finished editing a short film for the Rhode Island Film Collaborative. He says it is the smaller industrials and advertisements that pay the bills, even if they aren’t particularly exciting.

“Occasionally, someone will hire me to do a wedding, and those are fun,” Hatten said.

With experience in various aspects of filmmaking and a reputation as a skilled editor, Hatten admitted his passion is to direct.

“I love directing,” Hatten said. “Every day on every set, something goes horribly wrong in a way you'd never consider, so you have to think on your feet. It's not uncommon to be on a set for 14 hours and not know where the time went. I've literally been in the middle of the woods at night with a busted generator, no shoes, a crew who won't speak to me and five pages to shoot in two hours [is better than the alternative].”

For Hatten, the undesirable alternative would be a 9-5 office job.

“Considering that I could be sitting in some office somewhere, waiting for 5 o'clock to finally come so I can have a few hours to myself before going back to work - every day, for decades on end … I'll take the woods every time, no question,” he said.

As for his own projects, Hatten is currently looking for funding for a short film entitled “Fishbowl,” that he hopes to be directing next month.

“The film is a dark comedy about the allure, culture, and price of fame,” Hatten said. “We're still looking for locations, but we're thinking it'll be filmed in a weekend either outside Boston or down by Providence. Casting is already under way.”

To date, Hatten says his production team has collected $1,050 of the $1,500 needed using the website “Kickstarter,” which is an all-or-nothing fundraising system.

“This means we need to reach our $1,500 by our end date, which is March 3rd,” Hatten said. “Otherwise, we'll lose everything and we'll be forced to cancel production. We're offering rewards to our backers based on their pledge amount.”

The rewards are as follows:

• $5 gets you a special thanks in the end credits.
• $15 gets you a special thanks in the end credits, plus behind-the-scenes photos and updates e-mailed to you.
• $25 gets you the $15 rewards, plus a DVD of the finished film.
• $50 gets you the e-mails and the DVD, but instead of a special thanks in the end credits, you're listed as an Executive Producer.
• $100 gets you the e-mails and the DVD, plus a cameo in the movie. These are limited, and at this moment there are only five cameos remaining.

And for anyone interested in fully funding the $1,500 for the project, Hatten and his team have put together an special reward for that too, showcasing the crew’s sense of humor.

“As a joke, we added a special reward to anyone who wants to kick in the full $1,500,” Hatten said. “Pictures, updates, DVD, Executive Producer credit, plus an evening of dinner and dancing with me, director Evan Hatten.”

To help fund Hatten's short film, click here.

If funding for “Fishbowl” is secured and the project goes well, Hatten says he has a feature film script he’s working on, but that's further down the road and there are no certainties in this business … a harsh reality he typically enjoys.

“Filmmaking is a funny thing,” Hatten said. “It necessarily teaches you resource management, time management, people skills, computer skills, improvisation, thinking outside the box ... basically, filmmaking is a crash course in life. … It's not for everyone, but people are attracted to it, and I think that's great.”