Based off the short story by Jincy Willett, The Best Of Betty tells the story of Betty, an aging advice columnist for a small town newspaper. She has a comfortable home, a family, and seemingly all the answers the community needs. However, as the letters keep flooding in and her relationship with her family becomes estranged, she begins to question her own self worth. With her patience for her neighbors' trivial problems growing thin, Betty laces her column with cynicism until she finds some advice worth giving.
This film was produced for the MDIA419 Advanced Narrative Production class at Ohio University, with a crew of 30 undergraduate students from the School of Media Arts and Studies.
Cast (in order of appearance):
Paper Boy: Luke Giannoutsos
Human Being: Karen Chan
Old Man: Jeff Bruce
Woman in Boxer Shorts: Kelly Gingery
Nauseous in the Nighttime: Tiffany Thornton
Nauseous’ Husband: Blake Sherry
Petunia: Carol Ault
Fed up: David mcNulty
Niobe: Claudia Esposito
Fourteen & Wondering: Magee Sprague
Betty: Teri Clark Linden
Hopeless: Marlo Marie Tinkham
Caitlin: Ginger Pangas
Human Being’s Husband: Ron Castle
Waitress: Alexie Ihde
Uninterested Cat: Simba ‘Extreme Cat’
Misunderstood: Megan Jones
Falling Short: Luther Center
Additional Voices:
Greg: Dave Linden
Misunderstood: Meg Mealy
Fuming Liberal: Ben Volk
Pent Up: Emily Weithman
Visually Assaulted: Jessica Rovniak
Counting Calories: Grace Vaught
Extras
Barbara J. Dingle, Mindy King, Robert Woodworth, Erica Partridge, Chelsea Ashworth, Sarah White, Benuel H. Stoltzfus, Sharon Stoltzfus, Kay Taylor, Barb Taylor, Deborah Edwards, Rachel Edwards, Ken Edwards, Wendy Merb-Brown, Peter Mather, Kimberly Mather, Andrew Bissell, Grace Vaught, Jessica Rovniak, Allie Gottlieb, Garret Henry, Dan Ray, Evan Mitchell, Andrew Thomas
Crew
Executive Producer: Frederick Lewis
First Assistant Director: Ben Volk
Script Supervisor: Grace Vaught
Director of Photography: Jeff Kolada
1st Assistant Camera: Allie Gottlieb
2nd Assistant Camera: Mike Zorbas
Production Designer: Emily Weithman
Art Direction: Jessica Rovniak
Art Direction: Dan Lasco
Art Direction: Katie Firm
Art Direction: Carly Straight
Casting: Kristin Raimondi
Casting: Allie McCarthy
Gaffer: Ben Purse
Best Boy: Josh Gelber
Key Grip: Will Burchfield
Grip: Ben Engel
Grip: Andrew McMillan
PA: Micia Clemmons
PA: Willem Holzer
Editor: Chris LaBonty
Assistant Editor: Grace Vaught
Data Management: Alex Bolinger
Paint & Rotoscope Artist: Josh Cole
Audio By: Take 19 Productions
Audio Dept. Supervisor: Corey Poindexter
Audio Dept. Supervisor: Tate Galbraith
Production Sound Mixer: Matt Johnson
Boom Operator: Shane Riley
Boom Operator: Spencer Plassman
Post Recordist / Sound Design / Sound Editing: Elliott Klein
Foley Artist: Matt Kissell
Original Music by David Young
Also featuring
“That Sound”
Performed by: The First Street Heat
Written by: Eric Turner, David Young, Jack Gould and Ben Kain
Some sound effects used are from the freesound.org free sound project. These effects were used under the creative commons legal code, sampling plus 1.0. This license can be read at the following web address CreativeCommons.org/licenses/sampling+/1.0/legalcode.
The following freesound.org users’ work was used in this film:
Zippi1, Gezortenplotz, CPT_Destroyer, Syna_Max
Special Thanks
Ohio University school of Media Arts & Studies
Kimberly Woods, MI Homes. mihomes.com
Autumn Wallace, Rhapsody Music & Dining, Nelsonville OH.
Donna Schmadel, Hocking Valley Bank
Angela Mitro & Monica Nieporte, The Athens Messenger, Athens OH
Scenic Lanes, Logan OH
Rising Park, Lancaster OH
Mayor John Brennan, City of Bexley OH
Rent-A-Center, Columbus OH
The Golf Car Company, Columbus OH
Fazoli’s, Reynoldsburg OH
Bob Evans, Blacklick OH
Bexley/Gahanna Pizza Plus
Eric Cornwell, The Athens Bike Cooperative
Greg Sabo, Sabo Studios
Kathy Bryne, AFTRA/SAG Chicago
David Lauchheimer, Dental Models & Designs, Inc.
Jeff Dexter, Marietta Health & Wellness Center
Gary Bowne, MacMall
AVW Productions
Kickstarter.com
The Miss Universe Organization
The Kolada Family
The Taylor Family
Roger Cooper
T.W. Li
Mark David
Matt Hardman
Robert & Jo Kappes
Bob Mullins
Alex Wechsler
Drew Crabtree
Colin Hornett
Paula Shugart