Republic is an entire world of narratives and characters, currently in development as a television series, feature film, webseries, and video game. The world was created by writer/director K. Michel Parandi and me over the last two years.
K. Parandi and I first met in 2011 over drinks with a mutual friend in NYC. I subsequently read a script he had written - Dust Motion - which is now being produced by Lucas Foster, and over the next several months, we began to talk about various projects that we might be able to work on together. K had recently experienced a serious health scare that exposed him to some of the problems with the American healthcare system. From that experience came the idea of corporate cops, operating like gangs in New York City. We layered in various ideas about the similarities between America today and the Roman Empire, and over the course of the next year and a half, we built out the world, the themes, and the characters of Republic. In the spring of 2012, we created several short films which K directed and I produced (scroll down to watch them below) to offer a glimpse of what this world would be like.
A number of key collaborators have been involved in this project, including designer Ben Mauro, co-executive producer Lauren Beck, costume builder Julien Richard, sound designer Pascal Bonifay, the immensely talented team at Hectic Electric (led by Robbert Lubken and Marc Kubinga), and aerial photography by Evidence Productions.
The project is currently in development as a television series, a feature film, a webseries and a video game.
Here are a number of images and videos showing how the project has come together so far.
Here are a few of the images from our five-day shoot in late May, 2012. Locations are in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
... and the five short films that we created, here. Full production credits for this project can be found at the very bottom of the page.
The slide below shows the route K and I took together to develop this project. It's probably my favorite image from the work we've done together so far.
Production Credits
JAMES LAWLER Productions presents a film Written and Directed by K-MICHEL PARANDI
Producers: James Lawler & K-Michel Parandi
Executive Producer: Virgil Price
Co-Executive Producer: Lauren Beck
Production Design & Concept Artist: Ben Mauro - Design art work: K-Michel Parandi & Ben Mauro - Costume Production Design: Julien Richard
Dialogue: K-Michel Parandi & Jack Coulton
Music and Sound Design: Pascal Bonifay (AOC/BOC)
First Assistant Director: Etan Harwayne-Gidansky
Second Assistant Director: Ramde Serolf
Assistant Producer: Paul Jarret
Unit Production Manager: Adam Benlifer
Production Coordinator: Dann Ramirez
Director's Assistant: Louis Papaloizou
Director Of Photography: Ray Flynn
Cast: Max Kaminsky NYPC: Justin Campbell - Parker: NYPC Chris Beetem - Bodyjacker: Nathan Owen - Young NYPC cop: Tommy Walker - NYPC hungry cop: Mike Falcon / Waitress: Kim Allen - Rami: Roberto Lopez
Thief: Louis Paploizou - MPF Narc: Toby Wilson
Camera Operators: K-Michel Parandi & Ray Flynn
First Assistant Camera: Violetta D'Agata
Second Assistant Camera: Christopher Bye
DIT: Drew Ravani & Stephen Dirkes
Aerial Photography: Marcin Nadolni & Toby Wilson
Steadicam: Amar Ioudarene
Editing Assistants: Max Smith & Tom Klane
Sound Design: Pascal Bonifay & Fabrice Smadja
Audio: AOC/BOC (M. Letaconnoux - S. Weinberg - L. Jokiel - B Mora - M. Singer)
Voice Talents: Kate Clark - Billy-Bob Thompson- Roberto Serrini - Kim Bonifay - Mia Bonifay
Storyboard: Andrew Wendel
Art Dept: Nick Tong - Brian Rzepka - Nola Denett - Nicole Eure
Wardrobe: Marina Lelchuk
VFX by Hectic Electric Amsterdam
VFX Producers: Mark Kubbinga & Patty Veestra
VFX Supervisor: Robbert Lubken
Post Production Services by Moon Dog Edit - New York, in Association with Violet Creative
Colorist: Blasé Theodore
Gaffer: Raina Oberlin
Best Boy Electric: Matt Kessler
Second Electric: Noah Chamis
Third Electric: Brendon Swift
Forth Electric: Albert Phaneuf
Driver / Swing: Rebekka Bjornosdottir
G&E Intern: Deanna Covello - Jack Buckley
Key Grip: Stratton Bailey
Best Boy Grip: Will Gottlieb
Third Grip: Adam Barbay
Forth Grip: Matt Garland
Rig Gaffer: David Duktus
Sound Department: Brian Flood - Oliver Rush
Stunt Coordinator: Roberto Lopez
Stunts: Luciano Acuna - Kenny Wong
Associate Producer: Ray Flynn
Production Assistants: Anthony Salvatori - Curtis Yarlborough - Victor Trejo - Christopher Duchene - Pierre Tissot - Grady Daub - Chelsea Moore - Angel Martinez - Ben Budde - Aldo Rodriguez - Chris Gautsh - Benjamin Budd - Angel Paredes
Drivers & Production Assistants: Patrick Chen - Mikhail Chernikov - Stewart Resmer - Alexander Bragg - Stephen Mitchell - Aido Rodriguez - Ryan Hawk
Still Photographer: Simon Briand
Special Thanks To: Channing Tatum - Reid Carolin - Sandy Morhouse - Rory Haines - Sohrab Noshirvani - Micah Sherman - Hoke Hokansen - Jill McDermid - Rafael Childress - Jon Darman - Brian Zingale - Remi Liebert