The Poet

​Written and Directed by Erin Enberg
Director of Photography Mark Hensley

A vampire moves to the city to follow his dreams of becoming a poet -
with the help of a vampire hunter posing as a real estate agent. 

​

The Poet Trailer from Erin Enberg on Vimeo.

The Poet is a short film, based on a longer script I wrote called Rock N' Roll & the Immortal Soul. The film was initially made for the invite-only event 'Damnationland,' a showcase of 'dark films' that premiered at the State Theater in Portland, Maine to 800 people and then played in various theaters for the Halloween season. 

Although that event promotes 'dark films' I set out from the beginning to stay true to my vision of the film being "light, beautiful and sweet"--and it just happens to be about a vampire.

​

Directing as the actors chill on the floor (kidding, they were acting).

Here I am instructing Erik Moody at One Longfellow. You can see the heads of many extras and more onstage with him, along with Mark Hensley the DP, Tadin Brown the Gaffer and Editor, Jenny Anastasoff the Production Manager and Gretchen Petrone the Set Designer.

​This was the first time I had ever done a Kickstarter campaign. We became a Kickstarter Staff Pick, and successfully raised $4500 with 106 backers. This was an enormous boost to the production, as my vision for this story involved many different locations in Portland and elsewhere, an hour and a half away.

​The wardrobe was also extensive, mostly for Erik Moody's character Drake. You can see some of his various outfits and the color scheme I tried to utilize throughout the film. Erika J. Wilson's character, Jennifer Herald, had a much more subdued color palette until the end according to her character's emotions. Crickett Cote and Jenny Anastasoff helped fulfill this vision, along with the Maine State Music Theater's costume collection.

​Red was a major color I wanted throughout the film, as you can see in Drake's wardrobe, but also in the set design. My influences stylistically and emotionally were American Beauty, Velvet Goldmine, Little Miss Sunshine, Nosferatu (original and the Werner Herzog version), The Royal Tennenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom and Dracula. Gretchen Petrone who did set design and Mark Hensley, the Director of Photography, captured my vision perfectly. I had worked with Gretchen before on Arabel so we have a great working relationship. Mark Hensley's cinematography style was exactly what I wanted for my story and he was absolutely fantastic to work with. 

Red, red and more red props.

American Beauty, an influence, with the red roses.

Mark and I discussing the scene, with the red record player and red record in the background.

Velvet Goldmine had so much rich color and costumes.

Red telephone, red jacket and red lighting at the height of Drake's career and longing.

Werner Herzog's Nosferatu.

Music was also a big part of the film. In the longer version, Drake wants to be a musician and in 2010, I did a live, staged reading of the full screenplay at SPACE Gallery in Portland, ME (you can see more about that here). I asked local musicians to either contribute one of their songs or write a new one for my story. Dominic Lavoie wrote the song City Mouse and it became a central part of this film. His other song 'Van Dyke Brown' with the band ShaShaSha became the cast and crew's theme song as I played it so many times during that scene we couldn't stop listening to it later (and have vowed to make a music video for it).

                                                        Check out more stills and behind-the-scenes below!

Some of The Poet cast and crew at the Damnationland premiere.

The Poet was an Official Selection at The Emerge Film Festival!

The Poet

Starring
Erik Moody
Erika J. Wilson

Written & Directed by
Erin Enberg

Director of Photography
Mark Hensley

Set Design
Gretchen Petrone

Editor
Tadin Brown

Original Score
Michael McInnis

Wardrobe
Crickett Cote

Produced by
Gene Trussell
Diane M. Martin

Assistant Director
Andrea Nilosek

Production Manager
Jenny Anastasoff

Assistant Camera
Charlotte Warren

Gaffer
Tadin Brown
Dean Merrill

Grips
Andrew Painter
Corey A. Rich

Sound
Andrew Nelson
Sam Rappaport

Production Assistants
Caroline O’Connor
Camille Howard

Hair & Makeup
Jessica Morse
Nikolina Trajanoski
Claire Noonan
Nicole Cox
Hair by Kong
Heidi Bea White Vanity Hair Studio

Special FX Makeup
Eric Anderson

Post Production Sound Design
Michael McInnis

Colorist
Tadin Brown

Specialty Props
David Stoddard

Wooden Stakes
Art Bodwell

Vampire Scarecrow
Misty Gaynor

Gun Wrangler
Mark Flanagin

Drake’s jackets provided by
Maine State Music Theater

Poetry by
Cecelia Moody

City Mouse written by
Dominic Lavoie

Zombie written by
William Ethridge & John Fountain

​Cast

Drake
Erik Moody

Jennifer Herald
Erika J. Wilson

Vampire Hunter Boss
Jenny Anastasoff

Blood Donor Benefit Announcer
Lady Zen

Vampire Hunter Colleague
Tia Dibiase

Vampire Couple
Kelly Enberg & Navid Ahadzadeh

Drake’s First Reading Extras
Tessa Cavendish-Góes
Jake Hammond
Allison Kelly
Dani LeBlanc
Cornelia Pomegranate
Vanessa Romanoff
Emily Weston
Thea Wyatt
Emily Young

Drake’s Fans
Ben Howard
Alyssa M. Rojecki
Adrian Wong-Ken
Thea Wyatt

Drake’s Driver
Michael Tolley

Blood Donor Benefit Extras
Brian Chick
Susan Flaherty
Elizabeth Freeman
Pete Haase
Valerie Irish
Ian Jones
Lauren Jordan
Michael Kimball
Sharon Krueger
Kat Loef
Christian Matzke
Conor A. Quinn
Ann Tracy
Dwight Wilcoxson

Children of the Night
Rene Johnson
Keyson Jones
Tess Van Horn
Marjolaine Whittlesey

Music:

“Song in the Sunshine”
Written and performed by Zach Jones
www.zachjonestunes.com

“Some Other Day”
Written and performed by Zach Jones
www.zachjonestunes.com

“Van Dyke Brown”
Written by Dominic Lavoie, performed by ShaShaSha
www.shashashamusic.com

“City Mouse”
Written by Dominic Lavoie, performed by ShaShaSha
www.shashashamusic.com

“Motherbird”
Written by Dominic Lavoie, performed by ShaShaSha
www.shashashamusic.com

Special Thanks

Sarah Richards, Sheila Flanagin, Kelly Enberg, Navid Ahadzadeh, Tom & Donna Goodrich, Michelle Souliere, David Meiklejohn, Possible Studio, Fiona O’Grady,Tia Dibiase, Kevin and Posie Gillespie, Sidney Flanagin, Mark Flanagin, Bull Moose Music, the Producers of Damnationland, One Longfellow Square.

This film was made possible by the following people:

Roni Strout, Catherine Schmitt, Through the Door Productions, Jenny Anastasoff, Daniel Noel, Shael Hawman, Tobias Fleischer, Sean Martin, Nick Callanan, John, Mark Flanagin, Kathryn Perry, Helen Peppe, Suzanne Strempek Shea, Jesch, Gene Trussell, John Grounds, David Rooker, Leska Tomash, Fred Greenhalgh, Adrian Wong-Ken, Danielle LeBlanc, Jennifer Moore, Marjolaine Whittlesey, Steve Underwood, David Miller, Corey Norman, Chris Gorman, Joe Quinn, Dave Habeeb, Kyla Rowe, Angela Still, Den Roberts, Tim Rhys, Diana Choksey, Will Ludwigsen, Andrea Danielle Eshelman Levin, Diane Baringer, Jen Mayberry, John Thurston, Elizabeth Freeman, AVI Labs, Elizabeth Searle, Peter Jacobs, Amanda Painter, Audrey McGlynn, Sherwin Young, Robert E. Stutts, Jonathan Grassi, David Meiklejohn, George McQuilken, Tony Hartford, Judy Jones, Sarah Davis, Linda Van Vranken, Joey Morrissette, Sarah Thomas, Tadin Brown, Dan Currier, Krystal Kenville, Alison McMahan, Donna LaNigra, Michael Kimball, Soy Forde, Sokhean Jonathan Ouk, Andrea Nilosek, Nathan Cyr, Nicole Barna, Art Bodwell, Maggie Olin, Eric Bosarge, Kelly Enberg, Deborah Williamson, Ann Tracy, Marisa Polk, Michael McInnis, Kathryn Smith, Jonathan Blood, Diane M. Martin, Diana Stewart, Donna McFarland, Rik O’Neal, Zach Jones, Jody Clark, Jim Mentink, Mark Ireland, Donny Chavez, Mark Magee, Mary Jewett, Barry Dodd, Linda Sienkiewicz, 19image Productions & Jillian Major, Paula DeBoard, Joseph Carro, Misty Smith, Sheila Flanagin, Gary Robinov, Paul Kirsch, George Dalphin, Meghan Sinoff, Cadi Atchinson, David Enberg, Tom Brown, Jim Wickey

Filmed in Casco & Greenwood, Maine
and in Portland, Maine at:

Bull Moose Music
The Green Hand
Homegrown Herb & Tea
One Longfellow Square
Possible Studio

This film is dedicated to David Enberg