“Dazy Girl,” a new short film produced in part by Parkite Trish Walker, is whipping up some attention.
The screenplay, written by Charri Brummer, who is also the film’s executive director, landed two Best Short Screenplay nods from the Sun Film Festival in Los Angeles and the Toronto Film and Script Awards earlier this year.
Brummer’s story was also nominated for Best Short Screenplay at the Indie Vegas Film Festival and the Utah Film Festival.
“I am overwhelmed with so much gratitude,” said Brummer, who lives in Sandy. “I think anytime anyone recognizes your original work, you’re always a little surprised because you know how much passion you put into a project but don’t know how it will come across to others.”
“Dazy Girl,” directed by Elijah Amodt, follows teens Riley, played by Brummer’s daughter, Kayli, and Sam, played by Park City-based actor Tom Glasmann, as they discover romance and maneuver through tragedy, said Brummer.
“I actually didn’t write the script for her,” Brummer said regarding Kayli. “It’s actually a story that just sort of came to me while I was sitting on the couch. It was sort of as if the two lead characters tapped my shoulder and said, ‘Hey, we would like you to tell our story.’ So, I grabbed my computer and started typing, and there it was.”
Brummer realized the script would be for a short film after she finished writing.
“”Typically short films run 15 to 20 minutes, so they aren’t quite as long as this one, which is 35 minutes,” she said. “At the time, I had written beginning to end, so things were already done.”
The thought about writing a longer script hit Brummer after Amodt finished filming.
“I realized that these people need their full stories told, and that prompted me to go back in and draft a feature,” she said. “So, I do have a draft for a full-length feature, should we someday be able to get funding to do a full-length feature.”
Brummer’s connection with Producer Trish Walker stems from another project.
“There was something about her energy that just made me want to be friends with her,” Brummer said with a laugh. “It really had nothing to do with the film community. I was just drawn to her energy.”
As they became friends, Brummer discovered more about Walker, who is known for her work on films such as Alicia Oberle Farmer’s 2022 feature “Rite of the Shaman” and Paul Cartwright’s quirky 2024 comedy, “Royal Façade.”
“I realized what a talented woman she is,” Brummer said. “She really wants to promote females in any industry and show what they, like most of us who are over 50 and saying, ‘Why not?’ are doing, and how they are accomplishing goals.”
As Brummer and Walker talked more about things they wanted to do, they began discussion projects, such as “Dazy Girl.”
“I asked if she wanted to hop on, and she said ‘Sure!’” Brummer said. “Trish is an amazing light.”
“Why not?” has become Brummer’s motto, especially as she approaches her later 50s.
“I’ve lived a great life,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of opportunities, and as I start to settle into the latter part of my life, I feel like we should have more opportunities.”
Brummer, who also acted early in her film-industry career, has always enjoyed writing.
“I have done it ever since I was a little girl, but I never put it out there for public consumption,” she said. “I love storytelling, and I initially wanted to write a book or a novel.”
As Brummer explored her options, she realized that she loved writing dialogue.
“When you’re writing a novel, you don’t want it to be full of dialogue and nothing else,” she said with a laugh. “So I thought, I might want to write a script. So that’s how I began.”
Brummer dips into her bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in social work while she’s creating her characters.
“I think my background makes me delve a little deeper into characters and into their ‘why’ and purposes,” she said. “I think (my degrees) also has helped me learn compassion, communication and the importance of relationships between people, regardless of what the relationship might be — familial, collegiate or whatever.”
Relationships, expectations and nonexpectations all play into the connection people have with each other, Brummer said.
“I also think having worked with people who are going through a lot of challenges makes me realize that we’re not all that much different,” she said. “We all have challenges, but they don’t have to define who we are. And I think that lends itself to writing things on a page.”
Setting up movie scenes is just a way to talk about regular, day-to-day events, according to Brummer.
“The world can be a messy place to live in, but you can find ways to move forward,” she said. “Sometimes it’s not in the way you thought, and sometimes the path you’re on is not where you saw yourself. But you can take that new path and still have hope and success even if it looks different than you thought.”
“Dazy Girl,” which was filmed in Sandy, Draper and Cottonwood Heights, is currently in post-production.
“I have my eyes on some film festivals, and once it’s done through post production, we’ll put it out there and look for distribution as well,” Brummer said.
Seeing a project go from inspiration to paper to film has been both overwhelming and rewarding, Brummer said.
“The biggest part of it that has been so exciting for me and has given me all the feels is being able to pull together a group of people who can learn from one another and create together,” she said. “For me this was also about providing opportunities. In our cast and crew we had a lot of brand-new people to process, as well as some seasoned folks who came on board. They learned from each other and guided each other to create this product together. That meant a lot to me.”
Brummer felt so much camaraderie with the crew and cast that she made several posts on social media.
“I wanted to recognize everyone with all of their experiences because I wanted others to see how fantastic these folks were in hopes they would utilize them in the future,” she said. “I wanted to say, ‘This is who’s out there. Let’s give them more opportunities.’”
Brummer hopes her next project will be as rewarding as “Dazy Girl.”
“The most exciting part for me is seeing the new friendships and professional relationships develop,” she said. “It was overwhelming, and I want to do it again.”
For information about ‘Dazy Girl,’ visit tinyurl.com/yckexunr and tinyurl.com/ynp5r7bz.