Those Who Wander

Plot

A 19-year-old Zoe sets off on a road trip, along with her best friend Sam, Sam’s roommate Spencer, Zoe’s (friend) lover Joel, and Danny who somehow connects his mold to his socks to Sam's childhood home in George, WA. But along the journey things turned from funny to troublesome, with Sam and some unsolved issues between his stepladder, Spencer continuously interning for Zoe while Sam’s childhood best friend Tray, wants to create a difference, between Zoe and Danny.

Cast

Development

Schwarz and Scandiffio both graduated from New Canaan High School, in 2010 and 2011, respectively. The pair collaborated on multiple projects through their collegiate careers, culminating in a short film they produced in 2012, Seconds of In Between, which was chosen as an official selection of the L.A. First Glance Film Festival. Schwarz began work on the screenplay for Those Who Wander in March 2012, marking her first feature-length screenplay. Scandiffio, talking about the film in a local article, said, "She sent me the first rough draft and we immediately had a conversation about, 'How do we make this happen,' We needed to figure out how big a film we could make. And it didn't matter, we were going to make this film on any budget, even if it had to be just our friends or if we could get it to where it is now, with primarily a professional film crew and cast. We were going to make this on any budget."

After deciding on the budget of the film, inspired by the success of the Veronica Mars fundraising campaign, secured $70,000 in 30 days (from June 20, 2013 to July 20, 2013) for the film through the Kickstarter. On the fundraising campaign Scandiffio said that "No one thought there was any way this was ever going to happen. And then it took off—and kept growing to where it is now." The pair raised the remaining money through private investors. In mid-July 2013, the pair announced via their Kickstarter page that NY Times bestselling author James Frey was coming on board as an executive producer.

Pre-production

Schwarz completed the screenplay in January 2013 and after their successful Kickstarter campaign, production began in August 2013. On the crew and casting Schwarz said in a press release "We are part of the SAG Ultra Low Budget Agreement, which means that the Screen Actors Guild recognizes that we are a tiny budget independent film, and is allowing us to hire professional actors alongside non-union actors, and for a fraction of what it would normally cost to hire them. Using local talent is so important to us, especially since we have such a wealth of talent in this town. Already cast are Ryan Stiffelman [NCHS Class of 2011], in the role of Danny, the youngest, oddball traveler of the five friends, and Ryan Timberlake [also Class of 2011] in the role of Eddy, a philosophizing stoner they meet along the way."

Cinematographer Elisha Christian, best known for his work in 2012's Save The Date with director Michael Mohan, had been in contact with Schwarz about the project since early 2013, but officially came on board in July once the film had secured its funding.

Schwarz worked alongside Adrienne Stern, the NYC casting director and owner of ASC Casting to cast the principal and adult roles in the film, securing Bonnie Wright, Jacob Zachar, Christian Coulson, Anastasia Barzee, Maxwell Caulfield and Anna Holbrook.

Filming

Principal photography began on August 6, 2013 in New York City. Filming took place at Washington Square Park on August 9, 2013. Scenes were also shot in Brooklyn from August 19 to August 26, 2013.

Filming also took place at New Canaan, Norwalk and Stamford, Connecticut. Stamford served as the backdrop for the scenes featuring Atlanta, while some residential area from New Canaan has been presented as rural setting in Georgia. Talking about the filming locations Scandiffio said that, "We realized we could get away with it visually with certain pieces of property and roads in Connecticut as the film travels to Georgia, because the film is dialogue heavy, a lot of it will be interior shots and we can easily get away with most of it being filmed in Connecticut." Filming wrapped on August 29, 2013.

Music

Kendall Eagan, a member of Chloe Sunshine and another alum of New Canaan High School, will serve as the chief music supervisor for the film, with the assistance of Ryan Timberlake.

Screening

In April 2015, Nicola Scandiffio and Abigail Ann Schwarz hosted the screening of the film at Ridgefield Playhouse.