The initial idea for “Sara and the Animals” came about after Writer-Director Joel Austin and star Ronnie Toone reconnected following a film they’d both worked on in mid-2018. After bouncing some ideas back and forth, Joel set about writing the script with one goal in mind: Tell a surreal, strange, emotional story that a small team could actually make with little to no funding or support.

Joel was and is fascinated by the Wyrd tales of old – stories that weave in and out of literal, symbolic, and mythic language to take a character from a state of unawareness to terrible, irreconcilable recognition. He set about writing a contemporary interpretation of a Wyrd story, one that would rest equally in drama, comedy, and horror. Seven drafts later, the script was complete.

Ronnie Toone then helped to assemble a team of alums from their alma mater (Hofstra in New York) to help out on the shoot. Among these were Executive Producer Andrew Grell, Director of Photography Daniel Wolff, and more.

The cast was entirely comprised of either people Joel had worked with during his time as  New York City performer or Ronnie’s family. Both Ronnie’s mother and father appeared in the film. Their father played Sara’s father in the short and their mother played Dorothy Caldwell, the copy store employee who assists Sara during her job hunt.

About three months elapsed from the time script writing officially began to the time shooting started.

“Sara and the Animals” was shot on a shoe-string budget over the course of three days. The shooting dates were September 6th, 7th, and 8th in 2019. The production cost was roughly $2,000 before going into post.

The locations used were in Peekskill, NY (the cell store, copy store, and external city street scenes), Cortlandt Manor, NY (the house interior and exterior scenes and the tripping scenes), and at Sherwood Island State Park in Connecticut (the beach scenes).

The film’s influences are multifaceted, but there were a few at the forefront of Joel’s mind when crafting the initial script.

A major b-plot that was cut from the finished film (but which astute viewers will no doubt notice the shades of) had to do with what Sara is doing on her phone for the majority of the film. While much of this material was shot, it extended the finished runtime beyond the bounds of many festivals and was therefor cut. This b-plot was largely influenced by the work of Ridley Scott and Charlie Brooker. Should the short ever be optioned for a feature incarnation, this b-plot will likely make its way back in.

The most significant influences on the finished short, however, were Panos Cosmatos and David Fincher. Fincher’s tone and melodic sensibilities were at the forefront of the conversations between Director Joel Austin and Director of Photography Daniel Wolff from the beginning. Cosmatos’ work has been revelatory to Joel and more or less the entire tripping sequence in the film is an ode to Panos’ films.

The original score for “Sara and the Animals” features five songs and was composed, performed, and recorded by Frank Coda. Frank and Joel found each other via reddit. Frank posted a Stranger Things cover track that Joel happened upon just as he was looking for a musician to score the film. After having a listen, Joel reached out and the two were off to the races.

The two largest musical influences in the conversations between Joel and Frank were Trent Reznor and Johan Johannson (largely for their previous work with David Fincher and Panos Cosmatos).

You can listen to the full score here.