Bullying comes in all forms, shapes, colors, and sizes. A universal problem, but especially here in America. School shootings have eclipsed in this country and even though this type of terrorism may be the extreme, even the verbal assassinations to bullied victims leave a carnage of casualties. Surviving Lunch, starring Avery Arendes, is about a high school student, Gabriella, from New York, who moved to Florida with her mother after witnessing her father’s murder from a school shooting. Coping with her grief, she sees a boy being bullied in the lunchroom. Another socially, relevant film Surviving Lunch is an AWIAFF 2019 Official Selection, screening at Laemmle Santa Monica.

“As writer and director, I made this film because I am horrified and saddened by the ever increasing amount of bullying, exclusion, and gun violence in America’s schools. We had just begun casting SURVIVING LUNCH when the school shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida occurred “—KT Curran

Interview by Kaylene Peoples
Responses by KT Curran and Kaycie Lee,

Great title! Tell me a little about your film and what inspired you to make Surviving Lunch?

KT Curran: Thank you so much! I’m so happy the title resonates with you. What fabulous questions you have presented. It has been such a pleasure to answer them.

All of us at SOURCE PRODUCTIONS are excited to present our new feature film, SURVIVING LUNCH, based on true stories about real American teenagers whose lives have been affected by bullying and school violence.

In this dramatic story, ripped out of today’s harrowing headlines, Gabriella, a Latina girl from New York, moves to Florida with her mother after her father is killed before her eyes in a school shooting. Trying to keep to herself and recover from her grief, Gabriella notices a boy being relentlessly bullied in the lunchroom. With the memory of her father fresh in her heart, Gabriella is determined to find a way to stop the bullies – even if it means standing up to the meanest kid in the school.

SURVIVING LUNCH is produced by SOURCE PRODUCTIONS, a national film company created by Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida and features an exciting and talented cast of young professional actors – all of whom are committed to using their talents to address bullying and gun violence in American schools.

KT Curran: I chose the title Surviving Lunch specifically because while talking to young people across America about bullying and violence, lunch time at school has always been a particularly complicated time to navigate. Even something as simple as what table you sit at during lunch can become a painful process of humiliation and rejection. Many kids each day actually eat their lunch in the bathroom in order to avoid bullying.

“What’s interesting about high school lunch is that everybody is there,” says Parker Padgett, who plays the role of Robert, the bully in the film. “It’s kind of a microcosm of the real world, so to speak, where you are surrounded by hundreds of different people every single day. There’s always going to be that one person who just wants to get at you. Maybe high schools do it on purpose. They throw everyone in a lunchroom just so we can battle it out. I think that Surviving Lunch could be a metaphor for just surviving. It’s like survival of the fittest in this one rectangular room with echoing walls and lunch ladies.”

KT Curran: As writer and director, I made this film because I am horrified and saddened by the ever increasing amount of bullying, exclusion, and gun violence in America’s schools. We had just begun casting SURVIVING LUNCH when the school shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida occurred – a school so close to our home in Sarasota, Florida, and many of us knew people who attended school there or worked at MSD. We honor the memory of those students and teachers from Parkland, and we held them close in our minds and hearts as we rushed to complete the movie. Each morning, when we came to the high school where we were filming, I would pass the flag at half-mast, waving in the early morning light. It was chilling to have that visual reminder that what we were working on wasn’t fiction. School violence is happening all around us.

How long did it take to complete the film? What was it shot on? Tell me about the filmmaking process.

KT Curran: We filmed SURVIVING LUNCH for six weeks at three different schools and numerous other locations.

Including pre and post production, we have been working on the film for a year and a half.

SURVIVING LUNCH was shot on the amazing Panasonic VariCam LT camera which features outstanding image quality, advanced grading tools, in camera dailies, and a host of other fabulous features. I had seen quite a few films coming out that were shot with the VariCam, and loved the look of the camera and really wanted to try it out. Lucky for us, we were able to partner with Wes Carr at Panasonic to use this beautiful camera. Our budget was extremely low – I still can’t believe we pulled it off – and everyone on the cast and crew was working below scale along with volunteer grips, extras, and reductions in location costs, craft services, and other expenses. This has been truly a case of passion driving us all to tell this story and bring it to the screen.

Let’s talk about the cast and crew. Tell me about who was involved and particularly your key players.

First of all, I am thrilled that we had a female cinematographer, Natasha Thornton, who brought her exquisite composition and keen eye for psychological storytelling through the lens of the camera. Natasha was an absolute dream to work with – quiet and focused and possessing true vision, with the strength and stamina of Wonder Woman.

A big partner for me in the whole process of making the film was Jerry Chambless, a producer on the movie. Jerry, a consummate film professional himself, is a real advocate for new filmmakers, and he helped facilitate many elements of the shoot, including bringing in a stellar crew of camera people, gaffers, sound and grips, many of whom are graduates of Ringling College of Art and Design, one of the top film schools in the country, and helped arrange the logistics of many of our locations. We also had several extremely generous producers and sponsors who made the film possible – particularly Roger Sandt, who is an angel in every sense of the word, along with the Amicus Foundation, Tom and Kathy Cook, and the Huisking Family Foundation.

SURVIVING LUNCH stars AVERY ARENDES, a beautifully talented young actor who, although still in high school, has already made a few features before SL.

Avery has a depth and soulfulness that helped illuminate and define her character’s arc from popular girl, to grieving teen, to high school warrior!

“My character of Gabriella was really empowering to play,” says Avery. “She’s brave and fierce; really smart and just an exceptionally strong person, with a quiet strength and honesty that absolutely commands justice. I liked playing someone who isn’t afraid to stand up for what she believes in. Gabriella cannot stand to see anyone being hurt or bullied. When someone is being attacked physically or emotionally, they deserve a chance, they deserve someone in this world who will stand up for them. And if enough people stand up, there won’t be anyone left to knock us down!”

KAYCIE LEE, also appears in the film and plays the role of Lacey, a high school girl struggling to fit in by sacrificing her own identity. “It was fun going to set day after day and I loved being a part of this film. It felt like a family. The passion driven Director, crew & cast brought the scenes to life.

“We filmed many scenes in the high school. It felt at times as if we were rewriting history, and if we could just alter the experience for one character who was hurting, perhaps we could make things better for kids of the future. What drew me most to working on this film was that it dealt very realistically with some tough and complex issues facing teenagers during their high school years – bullying, violence, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. Our movie shines a light on the difference one single person can make to perhaps change their life and in the process, change the course of events. This movie is about how people learn to survive. I was drawn to my character, Lacey, who has her own journey of “survival”. She learns that being true to herself will lead her to doing what is right, even if it means sometimes standing alone. For Lacey it is the very thing that her own healing depends on.”

What would you say is unique about this film? Were there any challenging moments during production?

KT Curran: Surviving Lunch was extremely challenging to create. The year we made the film, 2018, was by far the worst year on record for gun violence in the schools. We were having auditions for the film when the school shooting in Parkland occurred with 17 students and teachers killed. For days I couldn’t sleep, knowing that we were making a film about a real story, a devastating story, that was happening in real time.

As we started scouting locations, the schools in our community were at that moment, reviewing safety measures, adding bullet proof glass to the administration offices, closing off entries. Kids and teachers were making plans about what to do during a school shooting, students were holding vigils. It was a scary and intense time that continues to this day.

It was challenging to convince local administrators to trust us enough to open up their schools to allow us to film; it was challenging to have conversations with kids about the fear they were holding about being safe in school, and it was challenging to talk to law enforcement who shared the heartbreak of responding to school shootings.

We made Surviving Lunch in order to examine what makes our youth so unhappy, so lost that they lash out at each other in such extreme measures. It was actually very healing for our community to make the film, because all of us – artists, filmmakers, teens, teachers, police officers, and administrators, could work together and do something positive artistically to address this terrible and heartbreaking situation.

What were some of the highlights of filming Surviving Lunch?

All the elements that made Surviving Lunch so challenging to work on are also what became the highlights of this film project. To see so many people in our community working together to create the film was a beautiful thing to experience. It felt like every day was a miracle. Acts of generosity and courage were the norm. Even local restaurants all came together to donate delicious meals to our hardworking cast and crew, and every day on set, teens and adults were talking about bullying and gun violence and how we can work together to stop it.

Our biggest highlight was when two talented students, Sawyer Garrity and Andrea Peña from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School allowed us to use their beautiful song, SHINE, in the closing credits of our movie. SHINE was written by these two students in order to raise funds for art programs for those still traumatized by the school shootings. Sawyer and Andrea are beautiful and courageous girls, and they have inspired us tremendously with their courage and talent.

What were some of the obstacles? On your next project what might you do differently and what might you do the same?

I think indie filmmaking is an obstacle in itself in that – in order to finish your movie, every single person has to do not just one, but several full time jobs at once just to pull it off. This is my second feature, and after both films, I have fallen into such an exhaustion when they are finished, that I swear I won’t make another one. And three months later, I’ve got a gleam in my eye and I find myself planning the next movie.

What advice could you give to a first-time director/producer?

My biggest advice would be to have a great script you really believe in and are excited about and are willing to live with and sacrifice for, night and day, for possibly years to come. A film takes over your life. It takes over your soul, like nothing else I have ever experienced. And if you’re going to give up a piece of your soul, you might as well give it up for something you really believe in.

My second piece of advice would be, try to work with the people who love filmmaking and love your movie just as much as you do. To me, having a passionate group of artists who give their all for a project they believe in is the most powerful and exciting thing in the world. And if that group of people are also your friends,

It’s as good as it gets. I started filmmaking with a merry band of rebels, and together we figured it out along the way…. Messing up, making mistakes, taking risks, and trying with everything we have to make a difference in this world through film. It was epic.

Final last words: Please elaborate if there is anything you didn’t mention.

We are so grateful to Agenda Magazine for giving us this opportunity to talk about. Surviving Lunch, a movie that is so vitally important to all of us who worked to bring this film to America. Thank you.

Screening: April 27th, 2019 at 6:25 PM!
Tickets: https://www.laemmle.com/films/45719