Zoe.MP4 is a psychological thriller set in and shot in Vancouver Canada.
You can also read the Hollywood North review by Shaun Lang.
We subsequently had a chance to sit down with writers and producers Jesse Boyko and Ryan Bright at the Whistler Film Festival (WFF).
HNMAG: Where are you both from?
Jesse Boyko: I’m from a small town in Alberta called Lacombe. We had two stoplights. I fell in love with movies and moved out to Vancouver to pursue writing in 2015. I got a diploma in screenwriting from School Creative. That’s where I met Ryan.
Jessie Boyko
HNMAG: You were at School Creative as well?
Ryan Bright: Yeah, I was his instructor.
Ryan Bright
HNMAG: When did you decide to work together?
Ryan Bright: It took a while.
Jesse Boyko: We kept in touch after that and we always got along because we could talk about movies forever. We kept in touch afterward and our friendship budded.
Ryan Bright: The first thing we did together was a TV pilot. A very near-future sci-fi. An immortality drug comes out on the market but it’s highly expensive, so only the wealthiest people can get it. That’s what led us to Zoe. That was a higher budget so we wrote something more practical as an ultra-low budget (ULB).
HNMAG: It looks good.
Ryan Bright: Part of that is because of our director Jeremy and our DOP Daniel. They had a hook-up on the Island with Cinevic. She donated a bunch of equipment to us.
HNMAG: Ryan, are you originally from Vancouver?
Ryan Bright: I was born in South Surrey but moved to the Okanogan. I flirted with the prospect of becoming a pro-golfer and then business but I realized that I didn’t want to be in an office and I loved movies…
Jessie Boyko: He could have made it as a professional golfer but he chose not to.
Ryan Bright: He’s lying. I injured my shoulder.
HNMAG: You were the writers and producers and Jeremy was the director. Was Zoe.MP4 the first feature you produced?
Jesse Boyko: Ryan, you produced shorts before.
HNMAG: When you were producing your shorts, did you go through UBCP for the ULB program?
Ryan Bright: I was a writer with a producer credit. There was a key producer who could answer those questions better.
HNMAG: Has this movie had any other screenings?
Jesse Boyko: This is the premiere.
HNMAG: It was shot in Vancouver but was the movie set in Vancouver?
Jesse Boyko: We wanted it to feel like it could be anywhere.
Ryan Bright: We liked the idea that this is a woman who could live anywhere, perhaps next door to you.
HNMAG: Was it difficult to hide clues of where it was filmed?
Ryan Bright: I think that was one thing where the mostly one location helped us quite a bit.
Jesse Boyko: There were only a few exterior shots at the beginning where she was walking.
Ryan Bright: At times, we had to shoot in certain directions.
HNMAG: With Alena’s daughter, did she understand what he mother’s intentions were?
Jesse Boyko: We did talk about that. No, she didn’t but Alena was open about it.
HNMAG: I don’t think Alena would have chosen me because I feel content in my life. She takes a long time to find the right person. She’s like a lawyer in a way. She wants to prove she made the right decision. That’s where all the questions come in.
Ryan Bright: One of the lines in the beginning got the response that she didn’t have enough time. Then it’s pointed out that she had her whole life to answer these fundamental questions.
Jesse Boyko: Also we didn’t have answers for some of them.
Ryan Bright: We saw ourselves a lot in the character of Zoe.
HNMAG: This movie seems like a psychological thriller. It’s not exactly a horror but some may categorize it as that.
Jesse Boyko: We are going to see how it does. That is an obstacle we have to deal with as we agree with you.
Ryan Bright: It doesn’t quite fit in an overt genre.
Jesse Boyko: Even with our early conversations with some distributors, most of them like the movie but they are not sure about the marketing.
HNMAG: Is she focused on one person at a time?
Ryan Bright: We did talk a little bit about that. If she’d happen to run across someone as a perfect candidate, she might take note but she would not actively pursue that until she is done.
Jesse Boyko: Going back to the daughter, had the hesitation with Zoe not occurred, her daughter would not have been there.
Ryan Bright: That was also important when it came to the daughter’s age. She would be old enough to be interactive but young enough to not have complicated moral constructs.
HNMAG: What would you most like to share from this experience?
Jesse Boyko: It was very much a labor of love. Especially since we had limited resources. It was wonderful to see the involvement of all the cast and crew. Certain comforts that they truly deserved, they were so gracious even though we could not offer them that.
HNMAG: Where did you find your cast?
Ryan Bright: We wrote the character Alena for Emily. I did a short with Jeremy called Reset and she played an Android. She was not just phenomenal as an actor but just awesome all around. Her nickname was One Take Emily.
Jesse Boyko: I didn’t work on the short, so I watched it, got the vibe, and then we wrote the character.
Ryan Bright: We didn’t ask her in advance because we wanted to get to a place where the script was good enough that she would like it when she read it. All three leads were first choices. We were quite surprised that they all agreed to come on board.
Zoe.MP4 is a dark thriller filmed in Vancouver but set in a generic US or Canadian location. It’s very entertaining but also makes you think. You walk about questioning some important decisions you have made in your life or lack thereof. This is the ideal with movies. Did you enjoy it and what are your big takeaways?