One night during the filming of GARDEN PARTY, actor/musician Erik Scott Smith (“Sammy”) was hanging out, waiting for someone to light something. And to pass the time, he got to talking about some of the crazy things he has seen people do since he moved to LA from Tennessee. And Erik, who is a street musician, has seen quite a bit.
Alex Cendese, who plays Nathan, was there as well, and after hearing one of Erik’s stories, he said that’s just what attracted him to the script of GARDEN PARTY. Erik said, yeah, these are all “garden party stories”. If you’ve lived in LA for long, you have one of your own. And so, a “garden party story”, as they became known that night, is a story about the most awkward, or outrageous, or humbling moment that someone experiences in an effort to get ahead or just get by, while waiting for fame and fortune in LA. And the filmmakers began to collect “garden party stories” from various people. One actress was paid $500 to clean an apartment in her panties. One actor responded to a personal assistant ad, which led to nothing but trouble. Another actress ratted her boyfriend’s other girlfriend out to the tabloids. And so the stories go. At the bottom of these, and many others, is both the desperation of trying to get ahead in Hollywood and the humor that goes with it.
The filmmakers began to post them on the internet, in part to publicize the film and in part because these stories are so compelling in their own right. These “garden party stories” have become a cult sensation on YouTube, and attracted the attention a number of true YouTube superstars[citation needed], Mememolly, CommunityChannel, Paperlilies and Katers17, each who have done their own take on these stories.
To help his actors get into character the director would often take his pants off on set and say "now you don't have to imagine me nude, because I am nude and this feels so right".
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