Photo courtesy Grace Koziol
‘Bad For Me’ film still
‘Bad For Me’
Cult classics such as The Evil Dead, Napoleon Dynamite and Whiplash got their start as short student films; after catching the eyes of prominent directors, showing at film festivals, or simply receiving passionate audience feedback, they all became fan favorites. Could Bad for Me join their ranks?
Produced by Marquette students Grace Koziol, Celia Huber, and Brandon Engel, the film is a feminist take on a story of domestic abuse. Beginning in the 1950s and following married couple, Antoni and Beverly, it tracks the decay of their relationship and Beverly’s growing lucidity to Antoni’s narcissism. “Most women in this time couldn’t just ‘walk away’ from their relationships,” says creator Grace Koziol. “These women were just girls at one point in their lives who dreamt about their crushes in class and made up these fantasies of what their lives could look like … For a lot of women, these situations ended in death. We didn’t go that dark, but many of these women end up suffering.”
Koziol says the film takes inspiration from the stories of her grandmothers, particularly the stories of abuse they shared with her later in life, juxtaposed with cheerful family photo albums. “I grew up perplexed by this lack of respect or social status for wives and mothers. It struck me how difficult it was for them to leave an abusive partnership.” The concept quickly became a passion project for Koziol, eventually joining forces with friend and peer Celia Huber, now co-executive producer, to begin production on a proof of concept—a short pitch for the film, about 30 minutes in length. After casting, actor Brandon Engel became deeply invested and joined the production team as an additional co-executive producer.
Getting the Word Out
Photo courtesy Grace Koziol
‘Bad For Me’ camera view
Shooting ‘Bad For Me’
Production began after receiving a grant from Marquette. The team then set about the hard work of amassing a caring and passionate audience. Koziol feels “as a young filmmaker, and a young woman at that, you have no credibility. It’s hard for anyone to believe in you. ‘Oh, you want to make a movie? So do 8 million others.’” The team used their student networks such as theater program email lists and social media to get the word out initially about casting. The short film was shot in Koziol’s childhood neighborhood and middle school, as well as a hospital simulation room in a former Marquette nursing building. The team noted that production was full of learn-as-you-go moments, and that many times they felt as if they were flying by the seat of their pants. “It’s a continuous learning experience,” mentions Engel.
Huber was the primary cinematographer during production of the short, often the only camera on set. Despite these constraints, the production quality for the film is high, with an engaging color palette and detailed camera work. “I find that period pieces are often a lot more muted in color, and in my taste I tend to go for bolder colors. I also learned how to use the camera we used for shooting three days before we started filming … now, we have so much more experience, and it kind of speaks for itself,” Huber says.
After premiering the short in December while actively in classes at Marquette, the proof of concept received resounding support both via social media and from direct audience engagement in the Milwaukee area. Their audience continues to grow, and now the production team is beginning the process of filming a feature-length version of Bad For Me. The group crowdfunded through Kickstarter to ensure integrity rather than selling the full-length script. “
Message of Resilience
"I don’t want this to become some Hallmark or Lifetime story,” Engel, Huber, and Koziol all insist. Crowdfunding has been successful, as have initial casting calls. Their Kickstarter is still accepting late pledges, and the production team is open to larger investors (contact rubyredfilmscasting@gmail.com). Leveraging their status as a serious production, however, continues to be a struggle. Casting non-students has required an insistence in their caliber as a group and a search for talent that is passionate about their story.
Spreading a message of resilience in community is a primary ambition of this film. After building a significant audience, the team was struck by how many viewers felt that the story resonated with their lived experiences. “The goal of this film is to honor the voice of a generation of women who were not able to tell their own stories. We’re here today because of them, and we can break that cycle.”
Filming for the feature length version of Bad for Me is beginning this summer, and though the final product of course remains to be seen, their short (available to watch on Vimeo) has set a strong foundation to build from. At this rate, perhaps we’ll see Bad for Me at the Milwaukee Film Festival in no time at all.
