Provo web series directors compete in national contest
Still shot from Provo filmmakers Davey and Bianca Morrison Dillard's web series "Adam and Eve," featuring Becca Ingram Morales and Davey Morrison Dillard.
Still shot from Provo filmmakers Davey and Bianca Morrison Dillard's web series "Adam and Eve," featuring Becca Ingram Morales and Davey Morrison Dillard.
Actors and crew laugh behind the scenes of Provo filmmakers Davey and Bianca Morrison Dillard’s web series “Adam and Eve,” featuring Becca Ingram Morales and Davey Morrison Dillard.
Provo filmmakers Bianca and Davey Morrison Dillard have created a web series “Adam and Eve,” featuring Becca Ingram Morales and Davey Morrison Dillard.
If you are a filmmaker, but not working in Hollywood, the profession can be a lot less lucrative sometimes.
Provo husband-and-wife filmmakers Davey Morrison Dillard and Bianca Morrison Dillard have found this to be very true in their experience. They both are writers, directors and producers, and involved in various film projects around Utah, but they also hold down other jobs in order to pay the bills — Bianca at the Orem Public Library, and Davey as a voiceover actor.
“It’s a really interesting time in the market right now. It’s really weird — there is no middle market for independent films. You either get to make Avengers, or you make a $5,000 movie that you pay for yourself,” Bianca said.
Davey explained that in the movie industry, $1 million to make a film is considered inexpensive. That’s why it’s very hard for independent filmmakers to find investors.
“The options for pitching movies for smaller budgets are really hard now,” Bianca added.
Thus, the couple took on the task of self-funding their own web series, “Adam and Eve.” They both write and direct the series, which stars Davey and Becca Ingram Morales, and had a first season run of four episodes on Amazon Prime. One would think being on Amazon would be lucrative, but Davey said they only earn about a nickel every time someone views an episode.
Though each episode of “Adam and Eve” is only five to 10 minutes long, and the entire series only runs for a total of about 30 minutes, it takes the Dillards at least five months to complete them. They said this is because they have to use their own savings and funds to do the series, and they have to plan around the small crew they rely on.
“It’s a labor of love for everyone involved. We’re not paying them what they’re worth, frankly, so we have to plan around everyone’s work schedules, and their better-paying jobs,” Bianca said.
This is why the Dillards are constantly raising money through Patreon and other sources, just to keep going. They finished shooting their final episode for season two last weekend, and now must do all the post-production work.
This month, they’ve been in the running for a $2,000 prize through stareable.com, competing against the other web series on that curated site. Bianca said it may not sound like much, but it could pay for one entire episode for the series.
They’ve led the rankings, even crashing their page recently because of an abundance of clicks on their link but this past week, they’ve been neck-and-neck with another series.
“It’s really nerve-wracking. But people have been reaching out and telling us they are watching it online,” Davey said.
“Knowing people are enjoying what they are seeing is very heartening,” Bianca added.
The contest runs through midnight Monday, and local residents can check out the series at https://www.stareable.com/view/series/adam-and-eve.