Q&A: Tahira Chloe Mahdi and Christopher A. Brown on Caught Out There

Tahira Chloe Mahdi and Christopher A. Brown started writing this movie in 2013, on a platonic date. Three years later, they were planning their wedding and still writing it. It took ten years from first draft to premiere.

Caught Out There is what happens when you refuse to let a rom-com end the way rom-coms end.

We talked to Tahira and Christopher about the genre they invented, why the aliens were always part of the plan, and what happens when you shoot a boot scene until the boot sails perfectly through the air.

The genre that started it

Where did the idea come from to mix zodiac-based dating, romantic comedy, and extraterrestrials?

First, we need to clear up that it's not a romantic comedy, it's a platonic comedy (or platon-com, as we like to call it). Back in 2013, we were on a platonic date and talking about how cool it would be to write a movie together about people like us: platonic friends who absolutely do not get together at the end. In 2016, right after it was clear that we were no longer platonic, we started planning our wedding and writing the movie anyway.

In a conversation during that time, we were discussing a friend's behavior in relation to his zodiac sign, and that led to the idea that these people use a zodiac-based dating service. As we were building the story, we were planning to write a whole universe of movies including something sci-fi with aliens. Early on in writing, we brought the aliens in as a twist for the platon-com.

Why Heartly and Malik

They're "star-crossed singles" in a very literal way. What made them the right pair to build this around?

They're a couple of platonic friends, and we never get to see a man and woman just hanging out and having a cool friendship. These are very flawed individuals, undateable even, but relatable. From a zodiac standpoint, a Gemini woman and a Scorpio man are hilarious people.

What it's really saying about modern romance

The premise is wild, but it's also about dating and trying to understand each other. What were you really getting at?

Modern romance is messy, and modern friendships are important. Friendships are just as important as romance, even more so, because everyone needs that kind of support. As far as the dating pool, everyone in it is strange and can seem quite alien. So why not have actual aliens in the mix?

Why astrology works as a sci-fi entry point

Why did astrology feel like the right jumping-off point?

Astrology was such a fun jumping-off point for developing the characters. Instead of going by the stuff you can just look up online, we thought of people we knew from each zodiac sign and what they had in common. It made for lots of funny stuff, such as the Libra who does a grand romantic gesture, the Pisces who supports bad slam poetry, and a bossy Virgo. "Let the stars be your guide" is the dating service slogan, so it was easy to tie that into the theme of beings from another planet.

Building the community

The film has a big ensemble and a real community energy. How did you build the world around the two leads?

A community feel was very important to this story, which is loosely based on my (Tahira's) dissertation research about how community members recognize one another. Interestingly enough, though the aliens look like humans, not everyone is thrilled to have them around.

Building this world with intention meant that several scenes take place at the same bar, Malik and Heartly consistently watch the local public access channel, and you can spot some of the same extras and minor characters in different scenes. As a hat tip to the current gig economy, co-writer Christopher A. Brown plays multiple side-hustle roles.

Hip-hop and Black film culture

IMDb mentions references to Belly, including a homage to the DMX and Nas slow-motion entrance. What role did hip-hop and Black film culture play in shaping the movie's style?

One of the themes of community in this movie is "We know who we are." Hip-hop heads would understand this, and a good number of our actors are also hip-hop artists who contributed music to the soundtrack.

Some of our favorite Black films, such as Belly and Boomerang, got low ratings in the mainstream sphere but are favorites in the Black community because "we know who we are." We wanted to tap into that knowing, that recognizability, with the same quotable, rewatchable style that makes a hip-hop influenced Black film a classic. Our directors Michael "Swiezo" Anderson and Aaron Hernandez also had experience directing hip-hop videos.

The boot

What was the funniest or most chaotic day on set?

We shot several scenes at a bar/restaurant and had a good number of people in and out of set all day. This was where we shot the slam poetry scene, a stand-up comedy scene, one of Malik's dates, and the opening sequence where Heartly and Malik meet. It was truly a group effort, with extras improvising and really having a good time together.

There were tons of hilarious moments that day, but an especially fond memory was watching an actress repeatedly throw her boot with marksman precision just so we could capture the perfect shot of it sailing through the air.

Before you press play

What do you want someone to know going in?

Caught Out There is a labor of love. It took 10 years from the first words on a computer screen to premiering on the Relay app. The screenplay is actually available in bookstores and gives viewers a new way to appreciate the actors' character choices and things that had to be changed because of budget and/or time. And finally, platonic friendship is a gift that should be celebrated and encouraged more often.

Comedy

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Streaming now on Relay.