They’ll turn down the offer because they’re too busy writing, directing and producing their own films. Their first indie feature-length movie, an absurdist comedy, “Sofa So Good,” will screen at Dayton’s Neon theatre on Sept. 7.
Credit: Hannah Kasper Levinson
Credit: Hannah Kasper Levinson
FIREFLIES AND SLEDDING
Eli describes an enchanting childhood along with their three sisters. “We grew up in the country on the border of New Lebanon and a town called Farmersville, which is exactly what it sounds like. We had fireflies surrounding the house in the summer and a little hill in the backyard for sledding in winter.” As kids they would go into Dayton to visit the Art Institute, Muse Machine and the Victoria Theatre.
INSPIRATION
In junior high, Kyle and Eli would make “silly sketches” inspired by Andy Samberg’s “Digital Shorts.” “That’s where we got into trying to tell a funny story.” Nowadays they’re more influenced by the Coen Brothers and “their cinematic language.” “All the characters fall into a pattern of folly,” says Eli, “and we enjoy that.”
“Sofa, So Good” was lined up to start with a full crew before COVID, but ended up being just the three brothers, a sound guy and two lead actors. A standard couch is 6½-feet long, and since the film revolves around the actors moving a couch outside across Dayton without a car, they were always socially distanced.
The brothers funded the film by selling Kyle’s paintings and Eli’s plants. The latter grew exotic houseplants. “I set up a homemade aquaponic system in my house. I sold plants out of my back door and made rent and film payments.”
THE LITTLE HELLHOUND OF THE GREAT MIAMI
Eli and Kyle, who live together in a Walnut Hills fixer upper, are woken by Sheila the year-old beagle. “Sheila is an active dog,” says Eli, “so I start every morning with a long walk before breakfast. We hand-make the dog food every week.” “That dog eats well,” says Kyle, and Eli adds, “Whole oats, blueberries, apple and whatever vegetables are in the fridge.” Eli, who went to UD for Communication Media Production and worked at the Cincinnati Zoo before turning to filmmaking full time, gets back from the walk and makes Sheila a breakfast of two eggs. “The dog is gonna live forever,” says Kyle. “She’s the little hellhound of the Great Miami,” Eli beams.
PURPLE RAIN, PURPLE RAIN
The elder brothers share the house with not just Sheila. Bernie (formerly the neighborhood street cat, Kyle says, “He used to come in and sit with me while I painted, and then leave and go to another house”), Toby the Gekko (named for actor Tobey Maguire’s “Spider-Man”), a purple fish called Purple Rain, and a little frog called Cute Frog are also residents.
ALPHA AND OMEGA
Kyle, a self-described DIY artist, spends hours each day painting in the backyard studio, when he’s not working at Omega Records in the Oregon District. “I wake up to the sound of the dog running around downstairs and start off being outside or painting. Eli and I and my dad set the studio up. It’s nice to have a space where I cannot mess up Eli’s stuff.”
MAKE IT RIGHT
While Kyle is at Omega, Eli “is usually checking emails for different promotional things or whoever we’re in contract with. All three of us do freelance work for videos.” The work ranges from local hip-hop videos to social justice work. Kyle elaborates, “Right now we’re working on a mini-doc for these families who had a large diesel spill dumped in their yard, and the company’s refusing to do anything about it. So we’re helping them have that situation made right.”
WALK IT DOWN
When Kyle gets back from work, he and Eli take a long walk to talk about story ideas and strategize next production steps. “Our real medium is filmmaking, as a collective that’s the one we all do together. We don’t walk with our phones,” says Kyle. “We walk trying to find new places and make a mental note of that spot to try to go back.” Eli continues, “Sometimes the lighting’s just really beautiful, whether it’s for a painting or a film shot.” Cole comes to the house four days a week and joins the afternoon walks.
Cole is always working on a project. He’s a little shy about it, so Kyle adds, “Cole has trunks and trunks of drawings. He’s been doing it every single days since he was 8.” Cole adds, “When I was taking classes to get my BFA, I was simultaneously working on my animated short film, “CARBOLOAD,” and “Sofa, So Good.” I graduated from Columbus College of Art and Design this May.”
LUDDITES
After walking, the trio comes back home and writes down their ideas in Kyle’s stack of Moleskine notebooks. In true Luddite style (“We are inept at social media skills,” he says, “we’re not really online too much”), Kyle tears pages out and inserts them into other books. “It becomes a scrapbook of nonsense,” he says. But ultimately it becomes the script of a film.
Their process is collaborative. Eli explains, “It all starts with a story, and the camera is just a tool. Kyle brings this big idea and then Cole and I sift through it; and we all have a session where we figure out who the characters are, what world they live in. Usually, they’re based on people we’ve met, or our own experiences. Kyle starts the typing process. Cole and I insert ‘interruptions’ into the script.”
RHYTHMIC STORYTELLING
“We make sure every day we’re intaking other mediums,” says Kyle. “I listen to at least three albums a day. I like trying to find albums that I am intrigued by tempo and mood change because I think that’s a really good structure to follow for filmmaking. We listened to a lot of jazz and world music (when we made the film). Storytelling is rhythmic.”
RAISED BY WOLVES
“Every evening, I take care of the critters,” says Eli. “Feeding Sheila and Bernie, misting “Cute Frog” and the gecko. A good exercise helps me think clearly; it’s something I do to clear my head, as well as tea and reading. For fun, I am reading a children’s book called ‘The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place’ about kids who are raised by wolves. For a more serious read, ‘Braiding Sweetgrass.’ It’s a beautiful book — the relationship between nature and indigenous culture. I think about my mother when I read it.”
TRUE STORIES
The day starts to wind down with evening basketball down the street at Cleveland Elementary School, or soccer with fellow artists in the area. Into the evening, Kyle spends time on the front porch and cooks dinner with Eli or his partner Ashley. “I will listen to a few records as I write or draw. Most evenings, I am going over projects I am working on and strategizing the steps needed for the following day.
“No day is done without dessert,” says Eli. “Once Cole and Kyle are done sketching or painting, we get ice cream from the freezer, then we pop on a film. We try to watch something new every week, but some of our favorites that make the re-watch list include ‘True Stories,’ ‘The Big Lebowski’ and ‘Mon Oncle’ by Jacques Tati.” The last one is Cole’s favorite.
Until the day the Thiele Brothers get offered that reality show, or perhaps get lured off to a bigger town, we’re lucky to have them in Dayton. “We joke that Dayton has a gravitational pull like a black hole,” says Eli. “It brings people in.”
THE PARTICULARS
Local screenings with cast and crew of “Sofa, So Good” will take place on Sept. 7, at the Neon, followed by a Q&A. For film updates follow on Instagram here.
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