The Patients

Story Notes

The patients play several key roles in the story. The first and most important is that they allow us to see the reckless genius of Leanna's talents. She is frequently unorthodox and even inappropriate, but at the same time, uncanny in her ability to cut to the crux of an issue and get a real result. Her patients value her greatly because of this.

Leanna has actually done a major part of her training in child psychology, and has a growing private practice in this field, but she is young, and sometimes does things detrimental to her own career. She has landed in this state facility partially as a result of this.

Another part played by the patients was to represent different personalities. Each of them has a key color and a very specific psychological diagnosis. I wanted them to be very round characters despite their short screen time.

We are also introduced to two very key patients in Morton and Ruth. Both characters were played pitch perfect and inspiringly by Jeremy Childs and Ruth Galvaro respectively. These were complex characters in and of themselves, requiring the barely restrained battle between several warring personalities. Then on top of this already daunting task, these two characters will be "ridden" by the entity and thus have to manifest his personality in a unique but consistent way.

The characters couldn't have been in better hands. If you've had the chance to see them I think you will agree that their transformations are remarkable.

One of the best compliments we got was from a real orderly that we conscripted as an extra. After he did his bit he commented that dealing with our patient's ranting and carrying on was just like any other day in his job.

Filmmaker's Notes

We actually shot a fairly extensive therapy session for each patient. I truly wish I could have kept these in their entirety for the final cut. Ultimately we had to distill these fantastic performances down to their bare essence due to time constraints. They were all so wonderful, funny, and poignant. I particularly love the interchange between Leanna and Martine. It shows not only Leanna's incredible capacity for compassion, but also the remarkable acting chops of Brooke Bryant who basically stayed in pieces half the day and delivered when it counted.

Filming that scene also was a technical victory because we had lost time early in the day and when it came time to shoot the Martine scene, we'd lost our light. But a few tricks from our DP and some quick editing in my head allowed us to get the day done without mismatching footage.

Just goes to show you always have to be thinking on your toes, and I think directors always need to be editing.

 
 

Interviews

Selected Scene Explorations

  1. Opening Montage
  2. The Intruder
  3. Opposites Attract
  4. The Hospital
  5. The Patients
  6. First Impressons
  7. An Issue of Trust
  8. First Big Clue
  9. A Door is Opened
  10. Confronting the Witness
  11. Testing a theory
  12. Enter Mason
  13. The Conversation
  14. Leanna is Lost
  15. The Entity Forms a Plan
  16. Leanna's Call, Bill's Epiphany
  17. Only one of us can stay
  18. Resolution

Thoughts and Spooky Production Stories:

HInts and Inspirations.

 

 
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