What's With the Name?
Our name has its origins in a line from Cameron Crowe's Say Anything. In the film, a heartbroken Lloyd Dobler (played by John Cusack) tells his best friend "I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen." Thus, Dobler's Pen.
Say Anything is one of those 80's movies that everyone can relate to. The indelible image you remember is John Cusack standing in the rain, the sound of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" playing on the boom box raised above his head, as he tries to win back his girl.
For people who grew up in the mid to late 80's, films like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Breakfast Club, Better off Dead, Ferris Beuller's Day Off, and Say Anything define their adolescence. The name Dobler's Pen is a tribute to those films and filmmakers, which helped instill in us a love of rich, well-developed characters, intelligent dialogue and great story telling.
Our Story So Far
In the Spring of 2003, Matt Mickelson and Dan Franko, who had met in an acting class in Northern Baltimore, decided to put together a team for that year's 48 Hour Film Project in Washington DC. Both had done prior 48 Hour Films with other teams and were looking to put together a group of their own.
They recruited Gerry Paradiso, Jennifer Robers, and Bethany Hoffman from the same acting class. Along with Chester Stacy, a college friend of Dan's, and a couple of co-workers who loved film, Steve Graf and Steve Morris, Dobler's Pen Productions was born.
Dobler's first film, 6:41, made it into the Best Of DC that year, and won an award for Cinematography. More importantly, it was such a positive experience that the group decided to stick together for the long haul.
Since then, Dobler's has gone through some line-up changes. Some members have moved on and other's have joined. Chris Mueller and Kasandra Bibaz came on board in 2004, just after Shutter was completed. And most recently, long-time collaborator and friend Cucillo Consad became a full-time member of Dobler's Pen.
Dobler's has competed in the 48 Hour Film Project five times and each film has won awards. We've written and filmed other shorts, including Matchbook and Full Circle, which were accepted into several festivals, including the Annapolis and Maryland Film Festivals. Our last short film, Where's Duff, premiered in March 2007.
We love showing our movies and have uniquely premiered them in a variety of locations. At our inaugural event, the premiere of Matchbook in 2004, we cashed in a favor with a Chef friend, who made an incredible array of delicacies, which was unexpected for a movie showing in a gymnasium.
The following year, our Annapolis premiere of Full Circle (this time showing at a real theater) featured more great food, wine and a live band whose music was featured in our film. In 2006, "An Evening with Dobler's Pen" at Gardels Supper Club showcased all our films, including our two entries for that year's 48 Hour Film Festival.
And this year, on March 9, 2007, we returned to our humble beginnings, premiering Where's Duff in the Waldorf School gymnasium. Once again, we added new elements, creating a movie theme and providing popcorn (in those classic red and white striped boxes) and twizzlers to all our guests. Representatives from the Alzheimer's Association set up an information booth. And Kasandra and Chester created a Hollywood-style Production table, complete with props, scripts and various stills used in the movie - it was a fantastic idea and a big hit.
We currently have two projects under way. A documentary based on the 2007 Howard County Boat float. And a parody series of short films titled Indie vs Studio. Check out the News for more information on these projects.
Dobler's Pen makes more than movies - we make movie experiences and hope one day to present a feature-length movie for the world to see.