LOGLINE

In the cholera-stricken Old West, the closeted son of a traveling doctor starts to suspect that his father is a conman. Dr. Randall & Sons’ Traveling Medicine Show is a psychological western exploring how enticing it is to sell a lie – even to ourselves.

SYNOPSIS

In the cholera-stricken Old West, the closeted son of a traveling doctor starts to suspect that his father is a conman. Dr. Randall & Sons' Traveling Medicine Show is a psychological Western that explores how enticing it is to sell a lie – even to ourselves.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT

Dr. Randall & Sons' Traveling Medicine Show is a visceral, atmospheric plunge into the psychology of William Randall, making it the most intimate, character-driven western you've ever seen. Think Taxi Driver meets Moonlight in the hellish, plague-stricken Wild West. Visually, we aim to evoke less the operatic grandeur found in westerns such as the masterpieces of Sergio Leone, and instead yearn to create compositions that express how William sees the world, immersing us always in his point-of-view. This will mean oppressive wides, in which the gargantuan mountains tower over William, almost belittling him; and it also means evocative close-ups, where our shallow depth-of-field suggests William's own sense of confusion about the world around him. In other words, our film will make use of subjective filmmaking, an underutilized approach for the western genre. Audibly, we will use a diegetic soundscape to externalize William's emotions, whether that be the building of crickets chirping to evoke an inner madness, or the sound of William's drum to evoke his building fury. By contrast, when William begins to crush on a farm boy, we steal Scorsese's technique of hypnotizing the audience through dialogue that is not in sync with the slow-motion imagery. The locations we have chosen will also express or comment on the emotional experience of William. At the beginning of the film, hard mountains and foreboding trees will tower over him, validating his misguided belief that he is ill-equipped for this macho Wild West world. But when his father’s body begins to die from cholera, the environment too will begin to crumble. Dead trees will crack under the weight of the cold, hotel room wallpaper will begin to peel, the masculine pretentions of the Wild West replaced with something far more vulnerable as William discovers a side of himself and his father he never wanted to face. Until, finally, William, resisting this vulnerability, tragically becomes hardened to survive, turning his back on this vulnerable landscape and riding back into those hardened mountains, perhaps more equipped for physical survival, but at great spiritual cost.

KEY CREW

Matthew Pancer - Writer/Director

Matthew Pancer is an award-winning writer-director who received his MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute (AFI). Upon graduating, his thesis film, AKEDA, screened at over twenty film festivals worldwide, and won over five awards. These accomplishments lead to him being represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Currently, Matthew's feature screenplay, THE MARVEL METHOD, has esteemed actor Rob Lowe attached to star, and the script is being produced by MM Productions, run by veteran producer Michelle Manning (THE BREAKFAST CLUB). Matthew is interested in creating highly visceral, highly cinematic character-driven genre pieces that explore the LGBTQ experience.

Jason Eisner - Producer

Jason Eisner is a Tony-winning, LA-based producer who recently launched his own production company, Play Practice Productions. Play Practice has a first look at American High Productions and crosses genres and platforms, producing film, TV, and theatre, with a special eye toward LGBTQ+ content, YA content, and musicals. His most recent theatre credits include Stereophonic (Tony Award), Romeo + Juliet, and Gypsy. Jason previously worked at UTA and at Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in Creative Development.

Peter McClellan - Producer

Peter McClellan is a Brooklyn, NY based Independent Producer. Peter is best known for line producing the Sundance Official Selection ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT, written/directed by Raven Jackson and line producing LINGUA FRANCA, the John Cassavetes Award Nominee from writer/director Isabel Sandoval. Most recently, Peter produced the sophomore film from Nicole Riegel, DANDELION which had its world premiere at SXSW in 2024. Additionally, Peter was an Associate Producer and UPM on FREMONT, the Sundance NEXT Selection and Cassavetes Award Winning film from writer/director Babak Jalali. He continues to produce films that fill the independent space with diverse voices and unique stories through his company, Think On Pictures.

Kai Krause - Director of Photography

Kai Krause is a cinematographer from Germany, living and working in Los Angeles, CA since 2009. He has since shot several feature films, countless commercials and music videos, alongside other narrative projects. His projects include “Unremarkable) (ASC Heritage Award), Wild Beauty (Best Cinematography at Doc LA, Red Rock, Atlanta, and the Boston Film Festival), Breakwater, and The Lamb, a movie shot in the Saudi Arabian desert that will release in 2024. In 2025, Kai will add another neo noir film (Dark Highway / dir. Matthew Gentile) as well as a dark comedy (Hard Buns / dir. Andy Gillies) to his filmography. In the short form realm, Kai has shot countless commercials and music videos for clients like Celine Dion, Ozuna, J. Balvin, Gatorade, Land Rover, and Delta among many more. Kai is a graduate from the American Film Institute Conservatory (AFI), the Metropolitan Film School in London, and Idyllwild Arts Academy.