About the Play:
Four people waiting for an elevator to open discover their landlord is more clever than they thought.
Produced By:
About the Author:
Prior to film school Cameron Porsandeh worked for the Federal Reserve, the World Bank, and as a consultant to various municipalities both domestically and abroad. Now he lives with his parents. Also, he is the winner of the Humantias Award for Comedy Writing, has two reality shows in development with Endemol, and is in development of a one hour drama surrounding the Witness Protection Program for a cable network.
Cameron’s Forty Days to Forty Plays Interview:
OOB Festival (OOB): Tell us a little about your playwriting career. When did you start writing plays? What are some of your proudest accomplishments as a playwright?
Cameron Porsandeh (CP): This is actually the first play I’ve ever written. I wrote one in 3rd grade about two dogs ignoring a piece of meat, but it was more a letter to my parents than a real play. I’m definitely more proud of this one.
OOB: This is really your first play? Congratulations! I’m interested in what drew you to write a play. What kinds of other writing have you explored? What drew you to attempt to frame this story for the stage, as opposed to say, a screen?
CP: Truthfully, I’m not sure the premise, in its purest form, could have sustained much more than a one act play. One of the great things about one acts is that you can attack one subject, or even one emotion, and then just pound on it relentlessly. ‘Ugly Couples in Los Angeles’ is 14 pages. A television pilot is at least twice that and by nature requires the writer to set up characters and storylines that can be continued, hopefully, in perpetuity. A feature, usually, depends upon some kind of story arc to make the narrative satisfying. Plays come with their own set of constraints, but being able to work outside the three I just described is strangely liberating for a new writer.
OOB: Talk about your entry to this year’s festival. How did you come to write this play? Was there a particular inspiration behind its creation? What do you hope festival audience will take from your play?
CP: I wrote this play one day after waiting an extraordinarily long time for an elevator. Before film school at UCLA, I was a management consultant, and while a lot of people bemoan the profession, my job was essentially to find clever (read cheaper) solutions to seemingly intractable problems. Slow elevators are a huge problem. My solution, which comes at the end of the play, is very real, and very cheap.
On a secondary note, I’ve often found the conversations I’m forced into are more interesting than the ones I choose to participate in. Elevators are the perfect physical device to create a forced conversation. And more importantly, it’s one of the few times in life, where everyone around you wants the exact same thing – for the doors to open.
OOB: What is the history of your festival entry? Do you plan to hone and further develop the play in upcoming rehearsals? Has it already been produced?
CP: I’m actually in the process of turning it into a television pilot. In terms of aesthetics, I’m broadening it beyond an elevator hallway, but the core very much remains the same – two people forced into a place that both would rather not be.
OOB: Can you talk a little more about that process? How to begin to take a short play set in one location and expand it to a full length pilot?
CP: In Ugly Couples the play, I wanted to take four people who would otherwise never interact, force them to interact, but more importantly, force them to interact in a scenario where they all wanted the exact same thing. Typically, it’s hard to create good conflict when the actors all want the exact same thing to happen. In turning it into a television pilot, I had to do a number of things. One, I had to make the characters more likable. I can spend 15 minutes with anyone, but spending week after week with someone is hard unless you like the person. So that came first. Two, I had to expand the ‘world’ to a cul-de-sac as opposed to a elevator stairwell. Otherwise it’s just too claustrophobic. And once you open it up like that, new characters filter in too. And that’s a good thing. Three, I had to change everything. It sounds glib, but I’m finishing a final draft of the pilot right now, and as I compare it to the play, I worry it’s only obvious to me how one came from the other. I just feel like the longer something is, the more room you have to allow for your characters to do what they want to do. If you’ve developed good, round characters, sometimes that feels out of your hands.
OOB: Tell us a little about your producer. How did you come to form your relationship together? If you are self-producing, please talk a little about that process—have you ever mounted your own work before?
CP: In the past I’ve been fortunate in that the director/producers I’ve worked with have been close personal friends. Living in Los Angeles, that simply wasn’t possible in this case, so I was lucky enough to be introduced to Ilana Becker. Ilana has a history of successful productions behind her, understood where I was going with the play, and had the added advantage of attending theater camp with an actor in Los Angeles we’ve recently cast for a pilot presentation who described her as “really nice”. Talented and nice are about as much as you can ask for in any partner. I feel lucky to have found her.
OOB: Looking back over your personal history in the theatre, what emerges as your favorite memory? Is there a particular story you’d like to share?
CP: As a kid, theater very much seemed like something that happened to other. The first play I ever saw was Art– I was 20. And I loved it. But my fondest memory of the experience was how badly I needed to go to the bathroom the whole time. I remember thinking, this is great, but I really wish it was shorter. Or at least had commercial breaks. Years later I discovered the short play, and years after that, I wrote one. I feel really lucky to have gotten into this.