Film: Kombucha
Director: Jake Myers
Writers: Geoff Bakken, Jake Myers
Starring: Terrence Carey, Claire McFadden, Paige Bourne, Charín Álvarez, Jesse Kendall
Synopsis – A mind-altering drink makes employees work themselves to death.
In a new exclusive interview on Blazing Minds ahead of Dead and Sudburied, I got a chance to ask Director / Co-Writer Jake Myers a few questions about ‘Kombucha’, which has been selected to play at the festival.
Kombucha will be playing at Dead and Sudburied on Friday, 17th October at 12:25 pm.
Q. Your film Kombucha has been selected for Dead and Sudburied, can you tell us a bit about what we can expect from the film?
A. It’s a corporate satire and body horror that’s been described as David Cronenberg’s Office Space. The film explores the dilemma many creatives face: do we pursue our creative passions or take a day job that provides stability? Kombucha also deals with the fear of starting a new job, the fear of being replaced, and the fear of turning into a version of yourself you no longer recognise.
Q. You share the co-writing credits for the film with Geoff Bakken. How did the original idea for the film come about and what was the process for collaborating on the script?
A. Geoff had three feature-length script ideas, and I found the concept of Kombucha to be the most compelling and relatable. To get financing for a feature, we collaborated on a 7-minute short film that embodied the core idea of being fermented by corporate culture. After playing that short at a bunch of festivals, we had interest from investors and knew what played well with audiences and what might not work in a feature-length story. So we wrote new story beats that leaned into body horror while maintaining the conflict between our creative selves and slimy alter-egos.
Q. What were some of your influences for the look and style of the film?
A. I talked with Matt Brown about this, and I wanted the film to feel grounded, plausible, elevated, with soft back-lighting and understated colours until we see the big bad. He showed me examples from Alex Garland’s films Ex Machina and TV show Devs, and I said “exactly”. For special effects, I wanted to use a hybrid of practical and VFX to make this insane concept feel as believable as possible with very little budget. Some of the films I referenced were The Blob (1988), Alien (1979), The Stuff (1985), and the puke scene from Poltergeist II.
Q. Did you make any changes from the original script during filming?
A. We made a lot of changes to the script over time. At one point, there were several scenes with Molotov cocktails, and that just wasn’t going to happen with our budget. We only had 15 days to shoot and needed to make sure we prioritised getting the “meat and potatoes” of the story, so a few scenes were cut or truncated. Liz Kaar further shaved down some of the dialogue and re-ordered a handful of scenes in the edit as well. In the end, I feel like some of our limitations worked to the film’s advantage and fixed pacing problems that can plague indie films.
Q. What were some of your favourite memories of making the Film?
A. John Condne and Take Care Productions set me up for success by putting together a brilliant and supportive team. Whenever there was a problem to solve, everyone genuinely cared and pitched in to make the scene work. Filming Kelsey making fresh kombucha for Luke was complicated and hilarious. It involved a medical device and four different people working together to puppet it.
Q. Did you experience any issues during filming?
A. We had issues in preproduction with fabricating some of the gags. The practical for our main creature just didn’t read on screen, and it was a tough day on set. We ended up working with Third Beacon in Chicago and replaced the practical monster with CGI animation. It was a heavy lift, but I feel like VFX saved the third act of the film.
Q. What makes Kombucha stand out as something different in the horror genre?
A. Joey Lyons, who produced The People’s Joker, said, “This is meeting a cultural moment. Much like Severance does— I feel like you perfectly captured the hard to describe uncanny/unsettling feeling of just trying to exist in a modern glossy corporate office.” I hope that people agree that Kombucha taps into the zeitgeist of contemporary workplaces, where you are simultaneously family and completely expendable.
Q. What do you hope people take away after watching the film?
A. I hope they see the film more as an allegory than a personal vendetta against the actual beverage. I still drink kombucha, although I don’t think Geoff has ever tried it. But I do hope people see themselves in some of these characters and reflect on how much their jobs have fermented their hopes and dreams.
Q. Do you have any other projects which you are currently working on?
A. I have a slasher feature slated for production next summer. Depending on how well Kombucha does on streaming, we might move forward with a sequel. We left the door open to continue this story with the last shot of the film.
Q. If someone was looking to get into filmmaking, what advice would you give them?
A. Tell a story that you feel the world needs to hear and tell it in a way that you personally would find entertaining. Make sure you clearly communicate that vision to all of your collaborators and be open to hearing their ideas on ways to make it better. If they are on board with your vision, they will help you when problems arise. Say thank you when they help solve those problems. Post-production is a whale that you need to eat one bite at a time. Keep reminding yourself of that and be stubborn as hell in pushing your film across the finish line.
Kombucha will be playing at Dead and Sudburied on Friday, 17th October at 12:25 pm.
You can follow Jake Myers on Instagram
Find out more about the festival and purchase tickets for Kombucha here
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
