Hi everybody!
I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Kevin Bigley - I am a writer on one of the scripts in competition, DIRT, with my wife, and our director, Kate Cobb.
This community seems very interesting and cool and I’m looking forward to getting to know some of you. A little about us and our project:
For myself - I’m an actor/writer. I played Luke on Amazon’s UPLOAD, Rick on ANIMAL CONTROL (Fox), as well as roles in other TV and film including BOJACK HORSEMAN, SIRENS, UNDONE, HBO’s HERE & NOW, and others. For writing, our first feature was one I wrote, OKIE - available on TUBI, premiered at Santa Barbara IFF, and we recently produced a film that premiered at this year’s SLAMDANCE. I also had a novel release under Clash Books in 2020 titled COMAVILLE.
For Kate - she is a director/writer, born and raised outside of Chicago, Illinois. She started as an actor in LA, working in TV and film such as Showtime’s SHAMELESS, SCANDAL, CASTLE, and HBO’s unreleased David Fincher project VIDEO SYNCHRACY. She has directed three feature films including OKIE (Gravitas Ventures), BRB (our film at Slamdance), and the recent project COLLECT (a found footage/mockumentary we both wrote, currently in post).
For DIRT… we’re very grateful to have been included in the top 26 selected scripts, as well as the editor picks. This is a project we feel very strongly about - a passion project, certainly. A rural story about a town pariah. We love small town stories that are pinhole in scope, yet thematically impactful on a bigger scale. This one in particular delves into our national “rural vs urban” mindset, which much of our social politics have fallen into, orbiting themes of judgement, masochism, religious righteousness and purity, legacy, and land ownership.
If you enjoy films such as Red Rocket, Florida Project, Hell or High Water, Three Billboards, Take Shelter - this might be up your alley! Growing up in a rural community, I have always felt connected to and relished rural storytelling that illustrates how it can feel living in a small town - the isolation, the comfort, the insular nature that can posses a dual nature. Writers like Larry McMurtry, Cormac McCarthy, John Steinbeck - these have been very inspirational for us as they highlight a, as we feel, commonly mischaracterized genre of literature and filmmaking - Americana.
If you read, we hope you enjoy. And we are VERY much looking forward to reading everyone’s projects and engaging in this artful, eager, and special community.
-Kevin