Jozef Zekanoski stars as The Basket Weaver, an eccentric television host on the late night Basket Channel. When his show is interrupted by police officers, his dark secrets come to light on live TV.
at the Alternative Film Festival in Toronto
Like most of my projects during this time, this film was made spontaneously. No script, no pre-production, just improv.
A handful of my friends and I were on a vacation in Washington and were inspired while in a pizza restaurant. The restaurant had a coin machine that dispensed miniature plastic guns, and we knew we had to make a skit using them.
Jozef Zekanoski is a natural for improvising goofy characters. He and I planned the skit in about two hours and we prepared our set. We were fortunate enough to be on a property that allowed for our quirky plot to make sense. The creepy basement and the big white house added to the playful tension, but it was Jozef's performance as the Basket Weaver that carried the film.
The Basket Weaver 2 in 2019
In 2019, I began writing a proper script for the sequel, The Basket Weaver 2. I planned to go bigger adding new characters and a new backstory to The Basket Weaver. However, the production turned out to be too ambitious. Filming delays and script issues plagued the production, and even though 90% of the film was filmed, the sequel had fundamental flaws that couldn't be fixed.
I edited a cut of The Basket Weaver 2. The film was 20 minutes, but had severe pacing and continuity issues. I thanked my cast and crew for their time, but scrapped the project. Whether or not the scrapped cut of the film will be publicly available is to be determined.