Offbeat films put these former Zags on the cyber-map
Once upon a time in an analogue world long, long ago, only big shots with big budgets were making movies.
Then the Internet showed up. Now dreamers with digital cameras can entertain the masses on a shoestring.
Some dreamers are even good at it.
Luke Barats and Joe Bereta, two recent Gonzaga University grads, are the faces/talent behind Barats & Bereta Productions. Their acting, writing and filmmaking collaboration has resulted in some hilarious comedy shorts that are winning fans throughout the vast electronic showcase that is cyber-cinema.
They have a video featuring a rapping ninja. There’s a musical sendup of square white suburbanites. My personal favorite involves two creepy, door-knocking missionaries who will stoop to just about anything to save a soul.
“Silly seems to be the better route for us,” said Bereta, 23.
(See for yourselves at www.BaratsAndBereta.com.)
Though used to being appreciated, the two were shocked by the reaction from “Mother’s Day.”
The duo released this two-minute film in April. Posted on multiple Web sites, the clip has now logged over a million-plus hits.
A lot of failed TV sitcoms would kill for those numbers.
“Mother’s Day” centers on the dysfunctional dynamics of two brothers who can’t get along even to snap a photograph for Mom.
The idea came to Barats while he was at his home in Eagle, Idaho, on spring break. “It kind of streamed out of my brain,” he said.
Barats plays the controlling Tucker. He tries in vain to get his slob of a brother, Brad, to pose like a gentleman.
Buttoned-down Tucker has the attitude of a future micro-managing office Nazi.
Brad, played by Bereta, is the kind of party-hearty dude a bowling team would send out for a beer run.
The two fight. They bicker. Brad does his best to sabotage every Tucker demand. Tucker threatens Brad with a yardstick.
After chuckling through “Mother’s Day,” I decided to get to know these two and learn their secret.
“We’re just trying to make our friends laugh,” explained Bereta, who grew up in Columbia Falls, Mont.
That was easy.
There’s more to this pair than that, of course.
Barats and Bereta honed their craft taking broadcasting classes and performing on the stage and in clubs. They won an amateur stand-up comedy contest. Friends Tyler Jacobson and Ben Mallahan joined forces with Barats and Bereta to capture both the Jury Award and the People’s Choice Award for their expertly made “Just Wonderful” at First Night Spokane’s 48 Hour Filmmaking Contest.
Barats said the popularity of “Mother’s Day” has caught the attention of some Internet entrepreneurs who are talking about paying for their work.
Make money off Internet moviemaking?
What a novel notion.
Bereta and Barats met while performing in Gonzaga University’s improvisational theater company. One thing led to another, and B&B was born. Whether their merger will evolve into more than a passionate side venture, well, that’s the big question.
But the sudden interest from “Mother’s Day” has the two thinking.
“We’re at a fork in the road right now,” said Barats.
“Everything’s a vehicle for future money-making endeavors,” said Bereta.
“This is the kind of ultimate for us – to be writing and acting,” added Barats.
Filmmaking is such a glamorous business.
Asked for an anecdote, the two tell about an accidental encounter with a couple of drunks whose truck broke down while Bereta and Barats were shooting some footage in the wee hours on Spokane’s North Side.
With nothing to do during the wait for a tow, the sots wandered over and asked if they could horn in on the movie.
Not wanting any problems, the two lads said sure. One of the drunks then started trying to make up new plotlines. “Then he called me his brother and tried to kiss me,” said Barats.
Show biz. What are you gonna do?
Before we leave our two filmmakers, it should come as no surprise that B&B’s next production will be a sequel to “Mother’s Day” called – surprise, surprise – “Father’s Day.”
Just a wild guess here. But I’m betting Tucker and Brad still won’t be able to get along.