Oregon filmmaker Shilpa Sunthankar will premiere here latest short fim, The Company of Thieves, at Portland’s Hollywood Theater on August 21 at 7:00 PM.
Company of Thieves tells the story of a thief named Dex, who tries swindling his partner, Sanjeev, out of their spoils. Things don’t go according to plan, however – Sanjeev finds out and leaves Dex for dead. Dex makes a deal with the Devil and goes on a long mission of vengeance to find Sanjeev, kill him and get his loot back.
The Company of Thieves Clip: Sc 1 & 2 from PushStart Productions on Vimeo.
Sunthankar says that Company of Thieves was produced for under $30,000. “Roughly 75 people and vendors contributed to the film in some way or another,” she says, ”We shot entirely in and around Portland – including Portland-proper, North Plains, Mountaindale, and the Clackamas area – over 4 days.”
Sunthankar also says that about 25% – 30% of the budget was used to rent equipment locally from vendors like Koerner Camera and Gearhead Grip & Electric; another 20% was used to pay her crew; around 25% went to other local purchases of props and supplies for hair, makeup and wardrobe and location fees.
“So, approximately 75% of our shooting budget went to local vendors and crew,” she says, “with the rest going to insurance, travel for main talent, and other things. The other 30% of the total budget went to post-production over the next 15 months, which was entirely done by local subcontractors, including our editor, sound designer, compositor/visual effects artist, color correction, DVD duplication, and the premiere event at the Hollywood Theatre… and even an after party, t-shirts and posters.”
