Speaking with Phil Bucci, Director and Co-Writer of the Festival Circuit Comedy Short smash hit, SPECIAL FORCES – starring 2 gyrlz and a guy!
Pamela Perry: Congrats on the great reception for Special Forces, and being an Official Selection at Dragon Con. What’s the core concept?
Phil Bucci: It’s kind of a comedy/action parody of Beverly Hills Cop, meets Three’s Company, meets The Magicians. We’ve got a bad-ass detective who is forced to work with 2 bumbling cops that have super powers they can’t quite control. They have to learn to get along and make the most of each others abilities to save their city from a sinister plot with real Super Villains.
Pamela Perry: What’s your background?
Phil Bucci: I graduated from San Francisco Academy of Art University. To pay the bills, and hone my skills, I have worked editing countless films and trailers for Hollywood Blockbusters. I was able to meet a lot of great people in the industry, many who expressed an interest in working with me when I was ready to venture out on my own.
Pamela Perry: You wrote and directed, correct?
Phil Bucci: Award winning screenwriter Marcus Perry, helped me with the initial script. I come from a family of cops, so I had been conjuring the storyline since I was a boy. I enjoy collaborating. Special Forces is a proof of concept short that was partially funded with a Kickstarter program. My friend from the Art Academy Phil Briggs, was our cameraman.
Pamela Perry: Who are the lead characters. We want to know more about the Gylrz in the film!
Phil Bucci: I was fortunate to get super-talent to participate! We’ve got Tania Gunadi, the Disney star best known for her part in the XD series Aaron Stone. She plays Genesis, a sarcastic punk-rock cop, with the embarrassing super-power of manifesting objects with light that reveal her true emotions. Then there is Mircea Monroe, who works with Matt LeBlanc on Episodes. Mircea plays our bad-ass lady detective with no special powers, just a super-size appetite for justice. Our Super-guy is Mort Burke from Drunk History. Mort plays Eugene, the son of a super-villain trying to atone for his family’s misdeeds by being a great cop. He has the not so super-ability of being able to heat up objects a few degrees, which doesn’t impress his supervisor, but it does keep his coffee hot.
Pamela Perry: What was it like doing the Short Film Festival Circuit?
Phil Bucci: What a blast. The audiences were standing in line to get in. I think we were fortunate to pick Festivals that would be receptive to a Comedy/Action, Super-Hero, Supernatural, Thriller. We were the Official Selection for Dances with Films, Dragon Con, Holly Shorts, Fargo Fantastic, Sunscreen and The Unreal Film Festival.
Pamela Perry: Is there a feature or TV Series in the works for Special Forces?
Phil Bucci: That is the plan. The team had super-chemistry and wants to continue working together. The characters have taken hold with the actors and the audiences, and the storyline is really infinite. We are prepared with a TV Bible and Feature script. Now we just have to find the right producers.
Pamela Perry: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me, Phil. Where can we see Special Forces?
Phil Bucci: Right Here: https://vimeo.com/132731007
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