We Are Gathered Here began as a play performed in non-air-conditioned living rooms across Los Angeles as part of cARTel: Collaborative Arts’s Living Room Tour play series. Audiences crammed onto couches and throw pillows in sweltering heat to watch six wacky characters figure out how Ben should move forward with his life.

The film explores the theme of the expectations of adulthood, and plays with the idea that even if you seem to have it all together, you definitely don’t. The stage version explored this in a humorous and at times absurd way, leaving audiences rolling in their seats. As the piece was adapted for the screen, a more heartfelt and grounded, though still comedic, version of the story started to blossom as both the director and actors worked to explore the depths of the characters and their journeys. Working with a very limited production schedule, I along with cinematographer Megan Richardson Shy chose visual language that is reminiscent of how the piece might be presented on stage – wider framing, long takes, and photo (versus cine) lenses that allowed the piece to keep its theatrical feel and still be completed within the allotted time for principal photography, while honoring the type of dialogue-driven, ensemble experience We Are Gathered Here is meant to be.