Michaela Watkins leads Jessica Sanders’ improvised L.A. comedy
Deadline reports filming has wrapped on I Want to Feel Fun, Jessica Sanders’ first narrative feature, with Michaela Watkins starring.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Michaela Watkins is fronting a new improvised indie comedy from filmmaker Jessica Sanders, with cameras now wrapped on I Want to Feel Fun, Deadline reports.
The film stars Watkins, known for Hacks, and is adapted from Sanders’ short film of the same name, which debuted at Tribeca last year, according to Deadline. The feature is now in post-production at Wavelength’s Los Angeles campus.
Sanders, whose background is in documentary filmmaking, is making her first narrative feature with the project. Deadline reports that the movie combines trained actors with non-professional participants, giving the comedy a hybrid feel.
Who is in the cast
Watkins leads an ensemble that includes Avi Rothman, Lilah Pate, Vivian Bang, Dave Merheje, Kiran Deol, Zainne Saleh, Finn Harry, Andrew Key and Gene Kang, according to Deadline.
Sanders described I Want to Feel Fun to Deadline as “an entirely improvised comedy weaving intersecting stories of love and connection.” She also called it “an unexpected, emotional adventure across L.A.’s diverse neighborhoods and ultimately a love letter to the city.”
The Los Angeles setting is central to the project as described by the team behind it. No release date or distributor was announced in Deadline’s report.
Sanders moves from docs to narrative
Sanders previously directed documentary projects including After Innocence, which won the Sundance Special Jury Prize, and Sing!, which earned her an Oscar nomination, according to Deadline.
With I Want to Feel Fun, she is shifting into narrative features while still drawing on documentary instincts. Stacey Reiss, head of film at Wavelength, told Deadline that the company responded to Sanders’ plan for “a narrative comedy mixed with documentary elements” and to her drive to get the project made.
Reiss said supporting that kind of work as an independent studio is “a big part of who we are and what makes projects like this so meaningful.”
Who is making the movie
Sanders is also producing the film with Patricia Seely, Deadline reports. The executive producer team includes Mary Pat Bentel, David Katznelson and Noam Dromi through Reboot Studios, along with Joe Plummer and Stacey Reiss through Wavelength.
Alyssa Schroeter and Roland Kassis are co-executive producers through Brevity Films, while Caitlin Cleary serves as co-producer, according to Deadline.
Dromi, managing director of Reboot Studios, praised Sanders’ approach in comments to Deadline, saying she has “a rare ability to create work that feels both deeply human and completely alive in the moment.”
He said I Want to Feel Fun captures that quality in a way that feels “fresh, emotionally resonant, and distinctly of Los Angeles.”
The project now heads through post-production with its improvised ensemble comedy, documentary texture and L.A. neighborhood sprawl all intact, based on the production details reported by Deadline.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.