Harley McKabe is a Chicago-based writer/director whose proof-of-concept short film The Other Guy will screen at Reggies Music Joint this Friday, July 21 as part of a concert featuring punk acts The C-Sides, StereoViolet, Butchered and the New Sex and Drugs, who wrote an original song for the film. McKabe is a transwoman who based this raunchy, Kevin Smith-influenced comedy on her own pre-trans life; the plot concerns Sean (David Weiner), a green-haired punk, cajoling his wallflower roommate, Harry (Adam J. Rebora), into attending a party referred to as a “shirtless shindig.” At less than four minutes, this funny, no-budget DIY effort establishes McKabe as a talent to watch.
How did you get involved in filmmaking?
I actually have a background in print journalism. I worked as a staffer for a small newspaper in Alaska. But I’d always done film on the side, even if it was just writing scripts. Ever since I was a kid I was always interested in film. Whenever there were school projects and there was an opportunity, I’d go with making a film. The Other Guy script was under consideration by two producers and a director at one point and I was just going to stay on as a writer. But as I learned more about the actual [filmmaking] process, I decided that I wanted to get into directing myself.
The film is a traditional comedy in a lot of ways because it’s about two characters with contrasting personalities. Were they based on people you know?
That is a very interesting question. A person I used to be rather close with suggested I write this film. It was pre-transition. The character Harry is loosely based on me. As I was beginning to decide to go through with this, I had some questions as to whether I wanted to continue that project, for obvious reasons. I do believe that there are a lot of universal concepts at play in the short. There have been plenty of times where people feel awkward at parties or are placed in uncomfortable situations by their good friends. Sean is also much more loosely based on me. But the idea was basically that there was this guy who thinks fate’s out to get him, that he’s never going to find a girlfriend because every woman he’s attracted to already has a boyfriend. It’s about him realizing the problem is really him; that he just has to get some self-confidence, stop being a wallflower and start going for the women who might actually be interested in him. It’s coming-of-age as if directed by Kevin Smith—that’s kind of what I was going for.
There’s a lot of good gross-out humor. I loved seeing the vomit because the texture of it seemed so authentic. I see big budget Hollywood movies where the vomit looks less real. How did you make that?
Thank you for the compliment. It’s actually not the first time I’ve thrown soup on a man. It was a mixture of vegetable soup and lentil soup with a fair amount of crackers. I put that together in a bucket the day of. It was referred to as the puke bucket. Adam later told me that he still smelled like puke two or three days later.
The band the New Sex and Drugs wrote a song for the film. How did you find them?
I met Adam, the front man for the band, through Craigslist. I posted an ad saying I was a screenwriter looking for someone to swap scripts with. He and I exchanged scripts and I ended up going to one of his concerts, and he and his band were kind enough to write the song “All Hipsters Must Die.” It’s pretty difficult to get music for a short film, let alone have someone offer to write an original. So I was like, ‘Yeah, fuck yeah. Absolutely!”
One last question: Are “shirtless shindigs” a real thing?
Pretty much the only reason I wrote the short was to have Sean say, “No-shirt shindigs are the shit!” I’ve never been to a shirtless shindig. I do not know if they exist but it sounds fucking hilarious.
The Other Guy screens at Reggies Music Joint Friday, July 21. Doors open at 8pm for this 21+ show. More info can be found on Reggie’s website.
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