ZIEGELMAN BROTHERS GO “9 TO 5 FEET UNDER”
Published in Reel Chicago, August 2014
“Bob” and office mate in “9 to 5 feet under”
LA-based filmmaker Terry Ziegelman and his twin brother, Chicago-based filmmaker Larry Ziegelman, recently transformed a bizarre workplace tragedy into “9 To 5 Feet Under,” a dark comedy that premiered at LA’s Dances With Films in June and is scheduled for, among other festivals, NewFilmmakers LA in September.
“9 To 5 Feet Under” is a ten-minute journey through the final moments of a man who dies at his desk while on the job as a health products salesman. Shrouded in the dim glow of a computer monitor, his passing goes unnoticed by the office workers who dwell in the same space.
The plot is derived from an incident that Terry heard about in LA.
“I was watching the news and a story came on about this guy dying in his cubicle,” he explains. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s a great idea.’”
The morbid inspiration prompted him to contact his brother, Larry.
The Ziegelmans have collaborated for years. Their efforts include 2010’s “Boom Boom,” the story of two aspiring suicide bombers who argue over which one gets to blow up a coffee shop and claim the divine booty that allegedly awaits certain kinds of murderers in heaven. The film generated success as well as notoriety.
Terry and Larry Ziegelman
Following-up with the tale of a guy who dies in his cubicle seemed like a good move because, according to Terry, “it’s got a universality” and “it was dark but not as divisive.”
Upon hearing the idea, Larry recalls thinking, “great premise, but where you gonna take it?”
Terry offered him 15 pages worth of destinations.
With years of experience creating television commercials, Larry began whittling the script down to nearly half the size.
“I used my ad background,” he explains. “I tied things together.”
He also worked to maximize the movie’s potential exposure.
“The shorter films do better at festivals,” he says.
Back in LA, Terry began thinking about locations. While working on animation for “Hotel Transylvania” at Sony Imageworks, he noticed that the cubicles were kept dark to facilitate the visual process.
“So dark,” he says, “I would have to use my hands to find the chair.”
It made such a perfect model for the set of “9 To 5 Feet Under” that he persuaded Sony to let him film there.
He shared links from auditions with Larry and ultimately cast Shaun Parker in the role of Bob, the dead man.
“You wanted to like him the minute you saw him.”
The remaining cast is populated by characters “so into themselves” that they fail to realize one of them is dead.
“It says a lot about corporate culture,” Terry notes. “People are so myopic.”
Except for Bob’s mother, who leaves him voicemails throughout the film.
Kevin Moss from “Chicago Overcoat” came on as dp.
Before the shoot, Terry gave him hand painted “dark greenish” images based on the work of George Tooker, one of his favorite painters, to use as a reference.
“I said ‘imagine the main character’s cubicle is hell,” he recalls. “And outside, just beyond the curtain is this bright light: heaven”
Spencer Keimon, a reality show veteran, edited.