Beyond the Short

Our long term plans with Love Me Tender are unique because beyond the film festivals and using the film as a calling card to the industry, we have serious plans to turn the short film into a feature-length film. An incredible feature-length screenplay of the same title has already been written by Mr. McAuley. Our hope upon graduating from NYU is to produce this feature. The short film will help us fundraise and attract investors to our feature film project. The short will demonstrate that this feature film can be marketed to a wide audience, and show investors and production companies that we are the filmmakers who can produce Love Me Tender into an extraordinary film. The feature version of Love Me Tender will one day come to a theater near you, and making this short is the first step.

What's the feature about?

In the feature-length version of Love Me Tender, Emma’s character is further explored. We uncover the origins of her deep-seated attachment issues and learn more about the philosophy that compels her never-ending search for her elusive white knight.

Why is Emma so obsessed with finding a perfect gentleman? Will she ever get caught? Can one ever really find true love? These are a few of the questions the feature delves deeper into.

Emma encounters more characters (and racks up a larger body count) in her pursuit to find true love. Eventually left disappointed by the jerks, party animal frat boys, and dim lacrosse jocks that seem to make up the entire student body, Emma soon finds herself pining over her creative writing teacher, Professor Richards. Meanwhile, the school dean is investigating into the disappearances of Emma’s victims. Soon enough sweet, seemingly harmless Emma is headlining the suspect list. As her innocence is thrown further into question, Emma may have a harder time finding her “happily ever after” after all.

What have we done with the feature already?

Currently, the Love Me Tender feature is in consideration for a $1 million production deal with a prominent New York production company. The company will not be making its final decision for the next several months, but has already notified our production team that we have made it to the top 1% of all entrants. Fifty projects still remain in consideration, and five are ultimately chosen.

We have also recently applied the Love Me Tender feature to the Sundance Institute Creative Producing Initative. If selected, we will be given a stipend and support by the Sundance Institute. We are still awaiting their decision.

We also plan on applying for the Chris Columbus/Richard Vague Film Production Fund, the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, and IFP’s Independent Narrative Lab among others. We will also be seeking investors to help us fund the project.

© 2009 - Matthew Morgenthaler