Patrick Renna and Tommy Savas just completed "Bad Roomies," their first feature film together, but the first-time producers still don't feel any sense of relief. The two actors, who have a combined 36 years in the industry, committed to the toughest challenge of their careers when they decided to tackle the responsibilities of developing a movie from start to finish and are now hoping the film, released today, finds an audience.
Their journey began two years ago when they launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund their dark comedy, written by Justin Mooney and directed by Jason Schnell. The finished project is now available via iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and other video on demand platforms.
"Bad Roomies" stars Renna and Savas as Bobby and Raymond, two friends who lose their roommate and have to find a new one to make rent. Following a number of disastrous interviews with potential candidates, they settle on a beautiful, seemingly harmless, young woman named Chloe (Annie Monroe). After a great start together, things go south when the three roommates make a horrible mistake, setting off a hilarious but disastrous game of roommate versus roommate that will change their lives forever.
Renna fulfilled a lifelong dream completing the film, being involved in every aspect of filmmaking and watching the magic unfold. The movie also gave him and Savas the opportunity to work together alongside Mooney, who wrote the script in two weeks on vacation in Bali, and Schnell, who made his directorial debut on the movie, implementing the skills he obtained directing hundreds of videos for his YouTube channel, Reckless Tortuga.
Renna and Savas relied heavily on Schnell to educate them about the digital world and the best ways to distribute their movie.
"[Schnell] having that experience and that contact was invaluable during the process... having him as part of the team to kind of explain stuff when people talked to us in that crazy, nerdy language was very helpful," Savas said, laughing.
Renna joked that he and Savas might not feel any sense of relief until they pay back their investors, but the experience taught them a lot.
"I think the lesson we all learned is that everything in the world worth anything is a lot of work," Renna said.
Click here to purchase your copy of "Bad Roomies."
