STORY
After 40-years of codependent marriage, a husband makes a life changing decision to ensure that he will never have to endure another waking moment with his wife
FILM
CAST
Tom Mardirosian
HUSBAND
Geoffrey Cantor
JUDGE
José Ramón Rosario
PREACHER
Schecter Lee
GUN STORE OWNER
Matt Golden
BANK MANAGER
Ronnie Farer
WIFE
Jill Marie Lawrence
STENOGRAPHER
Jenny Anne Hochberg
WAITRESS
Young Mazino
GUN STORE FUCK UP
Marielena Logsdon
BANK TELLER
Team
Pete Johnson
Writer/CO-Director
Pete Johnson is a creative director/writer with lengthy experience in commercials and now short film. Currently, he serves as the Executive Creative Director of Deutsch NY where he oversees the creative development for the agency’s national and global accounts. Along the way he’s won many industry awards including Cannes Lions, Clios, One Show and in his free time he’s managed to pen many short and feature length screenplays. A Better Half is his directorial debut.
Adam Jones
CO-Director/WRITER
Adam has directed hundreds of TV commercials and content projects for national and international brands around the world. He’s developed a wheelhouse in comedy dialogue, improv and visual storytelling. Along the way his spots and shorts have won a number of awards including Cannes Lions, Clios and CA Annual as well as a handful of film festival awards. His web series, “The Stay-At-Home Dad”, was lauded by Comedy Central and viewed over 4 million times.
Joe Calabrese
Executive producer
Currently Joe serves as EVP, Director of Integrated Production at Deutsch NY. He oversees and unifies production across broadcast, experiential, interactive and print. Major industry awards include: 7 Cannes Lions, 3 AICPs, 2 One Show Pencils, 1 D&AD, 3 Clios, 3 Webbys, and 2 FWAs.
STEVE MARCHESE
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Steve has spent the last decade overseeing production, creative and tech for as teh Webby Awards’ Executive producer. He’s also a music writer and journalist, contributing to publications such as Flavorpill, XLR8R and Stash as well as his long-running blog scissorkick.com.
JOEL SIMON
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Joel is CEO and CCO of JSM, a global commercial music production leader for the world's most influential and compelling brands. Located in its beautiful newly completed 10,000 sq. foot facilities in NYC’s Financial District, JSM is one of the world’s most comprehensive recording and creative resources.
Nicholas Bupp
Director of Photography
Nicholas received a graduate degree in Cinematography at American Film Institute and quickly established himself as a DP on various short films, commercials, and music videos projects. He has shot various formats spanning from film to digital and seeks to provide a unique vision on every project he shoots.
Tom Scherma
EDITOR
Tom is not known for anything, especially his editorial work. Having worked in advertising his whole life he feels that the devil now owns a controlling interest in his soul, and rather than bore you with a resume of his “accomplishments", he has decided to work on this film in the hopes that it brings a short beat of peace to his otherwise tortured life.
Also he did draw all the storyboards with Pete, has no idea what Joe is talking about when he says experiential ads, and has always admired Joel’s winter tan.
JOSHUA WILLIAMS
FIRST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Joshua Williams started out as a key production assistant on film/tv projects such as 30 Rock, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Hunger Games and Southpaw, working his way up to a First Assistant Director/Producer. He's worked on over 200 films/shows such as The Kitten Bowl, The Neighborhood, Bully, The After Party, etc.
Daniela Clementi
Production Designer
Daniela tells stories through objects, colors and atmospheres as Production Designer and Art Director in the advertising industry, and films since 2002.
nAjEE WILSON
Costume designer
Najee Wilson is a Brooklyn based multi disciplinary designer and costumer From Charleston South Carolina He received his BFA in Interior Design from The Savannah College of Art and Design in 2009 and focuses on the creation of immersive spacial experiences that have been exhibited in New York, Milan, and London.
shaun Thomas Gibson
HAIR & Makeup
Shaun is a multi-disciplinary hair and makeup artist with a deep portfolio that includes film, television, fashion, and advertising.
Joshua bergasse
choreographer
Joshua Bergasse is a New York-based choreographer and master teacher. Joshua won the Emmy Award for his choreography on NBC’s musical drama SMASH. He also choreographed multiple segments on So You Think You Can Dance and PBS's Sinatra: A Voice for a Century.
RANDALL TRANG
STUNT COORDINATOR
Randall Trang is known for his work on The Guardians (2017), Madam Secretary (2014) and Dornalai Cailin: Girl Boxer (2019).
MARY EGAN CALLAHAN
CASTING DIRECTOR
New York commercial casting director Mary Egan-Callahan, of House Casting. Her credits include the indie films "Life in Short" and "El Segundo," the MTV series "Damage Control," and commercials for Bank of America, Bud Light, Amtrak, Diet Coke, Levi's, FedEx, AT&T, Verizon, and Gillette.
HALLEY MANGANO
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Halley is a graduate of University of Buffalo, force of nature and film and commercial producer living in New York city.
Briana Carrington
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Freelance Film & Television professional based in Los Angeles
about the Film
The older couple sitting together at a restaurant with nothing left to say… They’ve said it all. It’s an image we all know, but few of us ever think will be our own fate. Yet in this moment there is something incredibly sad, unbelievably funny and breathtakingly human happening.
This movie is about that relationship. The sober end of a forty-year run and what that does to a man, a woman, and a marriage.
Adam and I conceived a Better Half on a rainy day in Vancouver during a commercial shoot neither of us wanted to be on. Between us, we have nearly 40 years of marriage experience, and after reading a real-life news story of man who went to desperate lengths to leave his own long marriage, we were intrigued and inspired.
In the two years that followed we (along with Executive Producers Joe Calabrese, Steve Marchese, and Joel Simon) painstakingly assembled a group of amazingly talented people who wanted to come along with us on a journey to tell a story not often told, about older people at the end of their lives and their loves, who are all-too-often overlooked in our society.
PARTNERS
SATURDAY MORNING
Is a creative organization that helps build awareness and promote change in the face of bias in the African American community. Formed in 2016 as a non-profit organization its founding mission is to advocate change. We do this by creating educational scholarships, employment opportunities and creative storytelling. All in effort to help shine a light on injustice, racism and inequality.
cosmostreet
Cosmo Street is an editorial house that specializes in commercials and content for TV and the web. We have finishing, VFX, color grading, and extensive post-production capabilities, but our real strength is all of the amazing people who make us who we are
…and our ping pong game, of course.
The mill
The Mill is a VFX and Creative Content studio headquartered in London, England, with three offices in the United States & one office in India. The Mill produces visual effects, moving image, design and digital projects for the advertising, games and music industries.
JSm
JSM Music is the preeminent global commercial music production and sound design leader for the world’s most influential and compelling brands across all digital, broadcast, film, television, live experiential and mobile mediums. For over 30 years, JSM continues to evolve and always chooses to take the creative roads less traveled.
CONTACT: JoeCalabrese@me.com with any and all inquiries