Robby
Drama
A young homeless man casts aside his own troubles in order to help a friend battling addiction but at the cost of failing to realize his own struggles with his past.
Directed By: Steven Dickson Jr.
Steven entered his first-ever film festival in 2015. At the local "Holland Projects 3-minute film festival" to which he took home the audience choice award for third place for his short film "Apiphobia" Involving wild, gas mask-wearing gunman in a surreal post-apocalyptic desert. And then later the following year returning to the same festival to win the first place jury award, as well as second place for the audience choice award for his short film "SAD: By Lamp", Involving a lamp that narrates its own life noticing the animosity in human behaviors and searching for its true purpose.
Steven has now been editing projects of all sorts for 10 years. His works range mostly between Reno and Los Angeles through his small production company he solely owns. His works range from Narrative films, Music videos, Reality TV, Documentaries, and Commercials of all sorts. He is taking on projects left to right in hopes of someday getting to direct and write his first ever feature film and find his name amongst many shelves with jacketed blurays and DVDs.
Director Statement:
This was by far the most challenging project I’ve ever taken on. No budget, a skeleton crew, and barely any knowledge of how to tackle something this big. Yet, somehow, without a shadow of a doubt, I can say: mission accomplished. I called in every favor I could think of to assemble a team willing to help out on set. I tried to credit everyone accordingly in the film, but honestly, we all wore multiple hats on this one. We had no choice, as no one could stay committed for more than two days without pay.
A year passed as we pushed to finish the film in time for its first festival: the Reno Tahoe International Film Festival. The biggest challenge was maintaining continuity while filming between seasons and finding locations willing to let us shoot for free. Fortunately, Reno is supportive of its emerging arts community, and many wonderful people helped us secure locations. The film’s foundation was built around Reno’s unique exterior assets, and luckily the story called for fewer interior shots and more gritty, under-kept back alleys—something Reno has in abundance.
I wanted to make my hometown a character in itself, giving the film a nostalgic “this is where I’m from” feel. As my first "big" production, it was important to me to capture that essence. Realizing that something this amazing can be accomplished with no budget has ignited a fire in me, teaching me how a story can truly be told and executed. I believe Robby sets an example for local filmmaking in Reno, proving that anything is possible when you put your mind to it.