When most people think of independent film, they generally think of two things: horror and Clerks. While Kevin Smith did create a huge interest in independent films with his debut cult hit, horror still seems to be what most people think of when it comes to indie films.
Travis Legge and Kyle Hoskins set out to change that. Dry Spell is a feature length romantic comedy about a woman going through a divorce and trying to re-enter the dating scene. That's right, Dry Spell is a romantic comedy indie film. Travis and Kyle -- who both appear in the film, Kyle as the unconventional leading man -- wrote an off-beat screenplay that is touching and hilarious.
Kyle plays Kyle in the film, who's estranged, soon-to-be-ex-wife Sasha (played by Suzi Lorraine) goes on a double date with her roomie Lacey (played by the hilarious Amanda-Elizabeth Sawyer) with "one of the best ad-libs" in the film -- according to Travis. In response to "where are you going?" she answered, "To get some lube, because this..." holds up her fist, "isn't going inside you without some help." On this date, Sasha hits it off with her date and they end up back at Lacey and Sasha's apartment, barely able to keep their clothes on as they come in the door. Except there's a problem. Sasha, while really into her date, is having trouble... performing. Her body is rebelling against her, hence the title of the film.
She feels terrible and thinks that she's feeling some guilt over getting intimate with this guy while Kyle hasn't had sex with anyone since his initial split with Sasha a year ago. Her plan: set Kyle up with a series of dates (in a scene reminiscent of Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall interviewing potential queens in Coming to America) in the hopes that he'll get laid and assuage some of her guilt.
While some of the acting is a little over-the-top, more suited for stage than film, and the cinematography was somewhat basic, I really enjoyed this film. The story moved at a decent pace, the actors were believable, if unconventional in their style at times, and it was funny. And guys, if you're worried about watching a romantic comedy, there's more "comedy" than "romantic" in this one.
The film was crowd-funded on IndieGoGo, filmed in New York in October of 2012, and polished in time for Valentine's Day. Currently Aegis Studios (the makers of Dry Spell) are crowdfunding another related project, the distribution of Dry Spell. Travis went the traditional route with his first film, Raymond Did It, and was picked up for international DVD distribution, but was less than pleased with the results. With Dry Spell, he's going a different route and using IndieGoGo as his distribution outlet, after being told repeatedly by "traditional distribution outlets" that an indie romantic comedy couldn't be done. So he's proving them wrong.
If you'd like to help Dry Spell be a successful indie romantic comedy, and get a signed DVD in the process, you can follow the links below and help crowdfund this very funny indie film.
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Dry Spell IndieGoGo distribution page (here's where you can help them out and get a copy of the film)
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