The most heartbreaking tragedies can ultimately lead a splintered family to reevaluate their contentious relationships and life journeys. That’s certainly the case for the protagonist of Chase and his siblings, who must learn to work together to uncover their father’s secrets after his death, in the comedy-drama television series, ‘Restorage.’
The sci-fi-driven show was created and written by E’an Verdugo and Caleb Davis. Verdugo also directed, and Davis also served as a producer and the editor, on ‘Restorage.’ The comedy-drama stars Connor Boyd, Jacob Daniels, Olivia Clari Nice, Joan Deschamps, Stephen R. Miller, Tyler Corie and Stephen Miller.
The pilot episode of ‘Restorage’ is set to premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on January 22 and January 23, as part of the Episodes Series group. The group’s screening on January 22 will begin at 5:15pm MST at The LUMIX Theater at The Yarrow Hotel, and the second showing on January 23 will start at 7:15pm at The Summer and David Theater at The Yarrow Hotel.
‘Restorage’ chronicles a fractured group of siblings who each receive a portion of their inheritance. Robert is given the business legacy, Lisa is granted the family estate and a priceless family heirloom, and Chase is left an old storage unit filled with junk. Chase and Robert quarrel, and he inadvertently breaks the vase causing a greater rift in the family.
Chase goes to the storage unit and discovers that it can repair anything that has been broken that has been placed inside. So he takes his siblings to the storage unit in an attempt to fix the broken vase, but upon doing so, everything goes mysteriously sideways.
Verdugo and Davis generously took the time earlier this month to talk about scribing, helming and producing ‘Restorage’ during an exclusive interview over Zoom. Among other things, the filmmakers mentioned that they were in part inspired to make the show because they were offered the opportunity to shoot in the storage facility for free. They also shared their excitement over being able to screen the comedy-drama during the Slamdance Film Festival later this month.
Film Factual (FF): Together, you co-wrote the television web series, ‘Restorage.’ What was the inspiration in scribing the show? How did you work together to build the comedy-drama in the teleplay?
E’an Verdugo (EV): The idea came up a couple of years ago between Caleb and me. We were shooting a short film at a studio of a client of mine; we asked if we could use their office to make an interrogation office space. The owner of the studio heard us laughing and having a good time.
Afterwards, the owner pulled me aside and said, “I own a storage facility. If you ever need a storage facility for a location for a short film, or anything, let me know. I’d love to let you use it for free.”
So I immediately got Caleb and said, “Let’s come up with an idea and pitch it to this guy. Maybe we can get a location for free.”
We then spent a couple of months coming up with ideas and then pitched it to him. We were like, “Instead of a short film, what if we do a pilot? That would cost a lot more, and would you be willing to invest?” (Verdugo laughs.)
Caleb, I’ll let you speak about it from your perspective.
Caleb Davis (CD): We played a lot into the short film territory. But with this story, we knew that there was an opportunity that we could make something a bit bigger, but we didn’t know if we’d be able to get enough money to make a feature. So we wanted to bridge the gap between short and feature.
So we thought, how can we maybe tell this story in a decently short amount of time – I think our pilot is about 29 minutes – and have it open-ended, and be something that you’d want to watch on Netflix? Then when it ends, you immediately have a cliff hanger that pushes to the next episode.
It then all started from there. The idea and concept started with E’an. Knowing that he wanted to do this 30-minute pilot, and also do some form of situational comedy, or a comedy based off a location that provided us with convenience, we started working on the story.
When he pitched me the story, I was like, “What if we had sci-fi in there?” The story then started getting bigger and crazier, and the pilot ended up becoming this sci-fi dramady.
FF: E’an, in addition to scribing the comedy series, you also served as the project’s director. How did writing the show influence the way you approached helming the show?
EV: First and foremost, Caleb and I work on low and small budget projects all the time. So we spent a long time on this script and story, and coming up with the whole series.
We really wanted to hone in on the story because if it wasn’t great, it wouldn’t matter how well I “directed” it; it still wouldn’t be compelling. So we spent a lot of time going back and forth, working on the story. So I think most of the time we spent on the project was creating the idea, which was the most fun part.
Then when it came to directing, it was a ton of fun and easy. Caleb had set me up for success by producing it. He was able to set it up that we were able to get amazing locations and an amazing cast. We were also able to get an amazing crew that Caleb and one of our other producers, Alana (Rood), were able to put together.
But the transition of writing something and then getting to direct it was intimating because it was so much bigger than our other projects. So it was pretty scary, but all of the hard work that the producers put in really helped.
But it was a ton of fun because Caleb and I come from that independent space. When we wrote it, we asked, “How can we make something that’s sci-fi and other worldly, but also grounded enough that we can shoot it with our friends?” So that’s what we did.
Directing it was intimidating, but I was also comfortable with it. We have always kind of operated in that realm of working with what you have, and what we had was very little. (Verdugo laughs.)
CD: To sort of piggyback off of that, it was so cool that we had some money to be able to cast people who are really talented. It’s one thing to cast and work with your friends, and it’s another to cast actual actors.
So it was really cool that we were able to give E’an an opportunity to play in the sandbox of this world, and direct this project. It’s larger than anything else he’s ever done before.
It was also cool to give him this talent to be able to work with, and know that he could rely on and trust them. I think you really see that in the performances in the end, which was really cool and wonderful. It was really cool for all of us to be able to hire and work with actors who know what they’re doing and bring these characters to life. That way, E’an was able to relax a little bit more than he had on his previous work.
EV: That’s such a good point Caleb. I would also say that being able to hire actors was a bit intimidating.
I also do a lot of commercial work and projects with friends who aren’t necessarily actors. Everyone is looking to the director to tell them exactly what they’re looking for.
So having people who are actual actors in the narrative space was different. It wasn’t like I just told them, “Walk here and say this,” like I do in commercials. On the series, I realized I had to explain why they’re doing this simple action of walking from here to there. So to see the actors get excited to talk about that was very different for me, but also super fun. But that speaks to Caleb’s point of being able to hire actors changing everything.
FF: Speaking about the actors, did you encourage them to improv while you were shooting ‘Restorage,’ in order to help to create the comedy within the story?
EV: I tried to encourage people to improvise, and it seemed like most everyone just wanted to stick to the script. That honestly kind of scared me because I didn’t know if what we had written was good enough.
I think the comedy part came from everyone’s personality because I don’t necessarily think there a ton of laugh out loud jokes in the pilot. So each person made the comedy their own.
But I would say that probably the best and funniest moment that happened on set was when Caleb got our friend Francis, who was originally just going to be our production assistant, to also play the nurse receptionist at the assisted living facility. I think I walked away and Caleb encouraged Francis to just riff.
When I came back, Connor, our lead actor, and Francis were just riffing with each other. I just stood there and we were cracking up. We were laughing so hard because Caleb told Francis to just come up with whatever he wanted. It honestly became the funniest part of the whole movie. (Verdugo laughs.)
CD: E’an and I started our creative partnership around creating these really dumb comedy sketches. But with this project, it’s not a fully comedy. E’an originally pitched it to me as a comedy, and we’ve played in that space, so we thought it would be fun to come up with something different. So we added a little bit more drama and sci-fi.
So it was really interesting to come up with this idea that’s not a straight comedy, which is where we’re most comfortable. That way we were able to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone.
But, of course, the show isn’t straight sci-fi or drama. So there were a couple of really beautiful moments that just sort of happened between Francis’ nurse character and Chase, the main character. We wrote the nurse character as maybe a quarter or half of a page, so it was really nothing.
So on the day, this nurse is supposed to be hating his job and not letting Chase into the building. On the day we shot this scene, Francis had a horrible day at this full-time job, as acting isn’t his full-time job.
So we talked to him and ask, “Can you do it?” He said “Yes, what’s the character?” I think one of us said, “Just take all of your frustration that you feel now towards your job, and that’s who your character is. Just take it all out on the Chase character.” He did, and they acted so beautifully in the scene.
So it’s those moments that are so fun and frustrating for somebody who’s writing material. It’s fun because it’s like, oh, these people just came up with this, which is incredible. But it’s also frustrating because we’re like, “Why did we even write anything, since they’re so good at it? We should have just let them play in the sandbox immediately!” (Verdugo laughs.)
Then there’s another moment which just happened on set, and was completely unscripted, just before that scene. Connor, as Chase, is riding his bike to the assisted living facility, where he’s trying to get in through his interaction with Francis. The bike halts a little bit, so he falls off and tumbles into a flower bed. Then he gets up, and it’s so comedically hilarious. That was literally just him falling.
EV: Yes, I told him, “You’re just riding the bike really quick, and you’re just going to hop off the bike and go to the door, okay?” He said, “Alright.” Then he just falls off and everyone on set was trying to hold back laughter, and then he still plays it.
I then asked him afterward, “Dude, what was that? That was funny – did you mean to do it?” He said, “No, it was a complete accident.” (Verdugo laughs.)
CD: Yes, he fell. He was like, “I just fell.” At that point, we had to be good producers and ask him, “Are you okay and safe? Are you hurt?,” while we were all laughing hysterically.
But E’an and I cut our teeth in moments like that, in allowing comedy to just sort of come to us and the production in the moment. The way that E’an directs is allowing these genuine moments, whether they be comedy or something else, to happen on set that maybe weren’t scripted. That led to some of the funniest moments of the whole show.
FF: Caleb, speaking about producing the series, in addition to pening the episodes, you also served as a producer on the project. Why did you decide to also produce the show? How did you approach producing the comedy-drama?
CD: We had a lot of challenges, which I think may always be the case when you’re creating anything. But what was incredibly helpful on this was that we immediately formed a team, with E’an as the director and co-creator, and myself as a co-creator producer. Then Alana also produced with us.
Then almost immediately, in almost a naïve way, we took on as many tasks as we possibly could. I think our pre-production on this was three or three-and-a-half months before we started shooting.
At the time, we knew we had a lot, so we had to buckle down and do as much as we could. We worked with so many people. We had two other executive producers on this, Ryan Polly and Grant Wakefield, and they helped us get gear.
It’s funny; when you’re producing something, you’re very conscious of your budget, and you obviously want to be able to pay people. We were able to pay people, but we also needed some stuff for free. By the end, it was really tight. But thankfully, with the hard work that Alana, as well as the entire crew and cast, put in, we were able to make it all happen.
I think the craziest thing that happened was that we filmed this two years ago, in 2022, and it was still COVID time. It was one of the scariest things that could happen. The moment someone got COVID, production shut down. For big budget productions, it’s crazy, but for small budget productions, like us, it’s really tough.
The night before we were set to start filming, our lead actor got COVID. So the morning of production, we had to make calls to everybody to delay production. He’s from New York and came down to Texas, but everyone else is local to Texas. But they all had jobs after our production.
So it was a mad rush to make this work, but props to everyone who was on the shoot. We had to call them and ask, “What do we have to do to make this work for your schedule?” I think we delayed for a week-and-a-half to accommodate the COVID protocol. We made it happen, and everything worked out.
I haven’t had that much experience with making a project with that much difficulty until this show. But that was the hardest part of this process. Getting the talent and making the schedule during pre-production was the natural part of the process. But when something so wrong happened, and fitting everything around that, was so challenging. But we were able to make it happen, which was awesome.
FF: ‘Restorage’s pilot will be screened in the Episodes Series group at this month’s Slamdance Film Festival. What does it mean to you both that the show will be screening at the festival?
EV: So gearing up for Slamdance is really exciting, but we’re also very nervous. (Verdugo laughs.) Speaking for myself, and not trying to sound ignorant, but I don’t know what this is going to be like and will entail. But I think that having that naivety makes it a little more exciting going into it.
When we found out, I was like, “Oh cool, Slamdance! That’s awesome!” I then talked to other filmmaker friends and they were like, “You got into Slamdance!?!” (Verdugo laughs.)
So Caleb and I are slowing catching up with the reality that this is a big deal. So I know for myself that I’m really excited.
We were also really fortunate to get into the Austin Film Festival and got the Audience Award there in October, which was really fun. That was the first film festival we went to with this project. That was the first time I watched the project with peers and professionals.
It’s striking a chord with some people. I think that was super encouraging and surprising. It’s not because I don’t think the work is good, but I have a lot of self-doubt. So to hear that was reassuring. I’m super thrilled to be getting to go to Slamdance. (Verdugo laughs.)
CD: Yes, it’s awesome. I think it will be fun to talk to other filmmakers during this process leading up to, and at, the festival. This will be our first time in Park City for a film festival. We’ve never attended Slamdance or Sundance, and never had anything accepted into those festivals.
So to hear the buzz and excitement from our group of filmmaker friends and peers, as well as from people we reach out to and on Instagram, is amazing. People are like, “Oh my gosh, I was there this many years ago, and it was incredible!” (Verdugo laughs.)
What we’ve found is that you’re immediately a part of this community when you’re accepted into Slamdance. Everyone who we’ve talked to has told us that going to a film festival in Park City is so much fun.
But what makes Slamdance so unique is that all of the filmmakers there are so deeply kind and passionate about the work that they’re doing. I think that’s so cool and I’s tbeen so encouraging to us prepping for, and then going to, the festival. It’s been incredible so far!
What also makes it so much fun is that some members of our cast and crew are also going to Park City. We live in Dallas, so we live just a few hours from Austin. So it was really easy to get everyone from the cast and crew to Austin for the film festival there.
But for Utah, it’s such a big change, so it’s been so cool to talk to our cast and crew and see them get ready for Slamdance. To be able to share this journey with them has been amazing.
We’re part of an episodes block. So to be able to talk to the other filmmakers in that block, and then be able to share our work with them, and see their work, as well, has just been so cool. Every part of this journey has been an incredible ride so far. So going to the festival at the end of January can’t come soon enough!
Film Factual 