Before We Get Started

Feature Documentary Film

EAST COAST PREMIERE

1 hour 13 minutes ■ English

Known as one of the hardest jobs in comedy, the audience warm-up. They have to be just as funny as your favorite late night host, but they’re also legally obligated to point out the fire exits, and no one has come to see them. In this feature documentary we dive into the trenches of this little known job with long-time warm-up comedian Ryan Riess who meets some familiar faces along the way that cut their teeth in the role before breaking out in front of the camera, and a few who just never made it out.

Cast
Ryan Reiss, John Oliver, Leslie Jones, Pete Holmes, Judd Apatow, Gary Cannon

Director Biographies
Joe Saunders is an Emmy Award winning documentary director and producer. His work has appeared on HBO, Netflix, Funny Or Die, ABC, NBC, Hulu and includes The Traffic Show, The Penny Black, Coach Snoop, and Billy Mize and the Bakersfield Sound. Saunders received an MFA from Columbia University, and is a Film Independent documentary fellow. He currently lives indoors. 

Gareth Upton was born and raised in the UK and trained as a Journalist before moving into television production. With an initial focus in comedy Gareth worked across a range of shows including; Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place, The Frank Skinner Show and Fantasy Football before moving to the US where he made the transition to features, programming for the Slamdance Film Festival and running Luc Besson’s US office, developing English language films that include; Taken, From Paris With Love, I Love You Phillip Morris, Colombiana, The Lady, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.  Gareth later moved on to co-produce Moroccan-set thriller Collision, and SXSW award-winning comedy Uncle Kent 2. His IMDB star meter ranking is currently #376,400, and he spends much of his free time plotting a meteoric rise to #376,399.

Shorty Shorts screening before this Feature Film:

Book Note

New York Premiere

Denise finds a life-changing note in a controversial novel.

Tantrum Tent

World Premiere

Being an adult is hard. Sometimes you just need to throw a tantrum. 

Read about all of the Shorty Shorts +HERE+