OKC filmmaker Cate Jones says being the weird roommate just fit, film rebates hit her work
Cate Jones didn't set out to play the eccentric new roommate that ruffles the feathers of a household of Oklahoma actors in her latest movie "Chicken House."
But when you're scratching out your second feature film as an independent writer, director and producer, sometimes you also have to strut your stuff as an actor to get your vision to the screen.
"I just couldn't find another person that could talk in her voice exactly how I heard it in my head. So, it just ended up being that way. ... That character, Cat, is based on a few people, but also a little bit me when I was living in this house in Atlanta for a year. It was all actors — there were five of us in that situation — and I was definitely the weird art roommate that was like, 'You can just do it. You guys can just paint,'" said Jones, who has been acting since 2014 and now also makes independent movies through her production company, P Trader Films.
Ahead of its May 1 streaming premiere on Hoopla and Vudu, the Oklahoma City filmmaker's subversive comedy will get one more hometown theatrical showcase with a free screening at 7 p.m. April 22 at the nonprofit Rodeo Theatre in Stockyards City.
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Born and raised in Lawton, Jones bowed her feature film directorial debut "She's the Eldest" at OKC's 2020 deadCenter Film Festival. The twisty family drama did well on the festival circuit and won top feature film at the Best of NewFilmmakers Los Angeles Awards.
"I didn't expect it to do anything, so for it to go win some awards was really awesome," Jones said. "It was definitely affirming because I felt like we had something special. But getting recognition was like, 'OK, I didn't just think it was special because it's my baby. It's because it is special.'"
In 2021, she filmed her sophomore feature, "Chicken House," in mostly black and white — with strategic splashes of moody color — in her home state. The off-kilter comedy centers on three small-town Oklahoma actresses who take in a mysterious new roommate from Los Angeles, shaking up their lives as well as the lives of two Latter Days Saints and a possible poltergeist.
"The whole thing was a learning experience, just seeing if I could do it. ... We shot 'She's the Eldest' in eight days, and we shot 'Chicken House' in nine days. So, it's learning how to make a decision really fast and just go with it," Jones said.
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Director rounds up Oklahoma cast and crew into her 'Chicken House'
Jones rounded up a largely local cast and crew into her "Chicken House," which features Oklahoma actors Ashley Mandanas, Jessi Kyle, Alex Sanchez, Kaylene Snarsky and Kassie Gann.
"When I lived in Atlanta and I was acting in Atlanta, I had shot 'She's the Eldest' and was finishing it ... and I just realized, 'Oh, my people aren't here. I don't want to make stuff with these guys. I want to make stuff with my friends in Oklahoma,'" Jones recalled. "I just was like, 'Well, I guess I just have to go back because that's where my homies are.' ... With 'Chicken House,' it was just a full family atmosphere."
That was behind the scenes. Based on a true story, the movie wanders into weird and wild antics onscreen when Jones' Cat takes up residence with a divergent group of actors.
"She was able to direct through acting in a way that's very hard for me to explain," Gann said. "Being an actor and working with her as a director at the same time, when we were in the same scene together, she was just able to kind of look at you and get what she wanted. She's just a force to be reckoned with, I can tell you that. She's able to get what she wants in a very kind and creative way."
Along with co-starring in "Chicken House," Gann also took on a producing role after she met Jones through Mickey Reece, a prolific OKC writer, director and actor. Jones has acted in several of Reece's surreal independent films — she is the narrator for his latest comedy, the bizarre music saga "Country Gold" — and Reece co-starred in "She's the Eldest" and "Chicken House."
"I got introduced to Cate through Mickey because I produced 'Country Gold' ... and it was, honestly, like a kismet thing. We instantly were friends when we met, and she told me about 'Chicken House,'" Gann recalled.
"She said that she wanted to have a crew of mainly women and LGBTQ+ members. And that was something that I was really passionate about: being able to work with more women instead of women pitting against each other. ... Also, the storyline was just brilliant. I couldn't say no to something like that."
Last year, Jones returned to the deadCenter Film Festival with the world premiere of "Chicken House," which earned the Audience Award for Best Feature at her home state's largest film fest. She has since taken the movie to festivals across the country.
"It's exciting to have a young, female, arthouse-inspired director living and creating films in Oklahoma. Jones is one to keep an eye on as we will definitely say, 'we knew her when ...'" deadCenter Executive Director Cacky Poarch said in an email to The Oklahoman.
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Along with her compelling turn in "Chicken House," Jones has continued to gather up acting credits in the acclaimed made-in-Oklahoma series "Reservation Dogs," in the CW show "Walker: Independence" and in the Sooner State indie feature "A Cowgirl's Song." She also plans to appear in husband-and-wife Oklahoma filmmakers Jeremy and Kara Choate's upcoming movie "Salt of the Earth."
As a writer-director, Jones initially hoped to follow "Chicken House" with "Romeo, Romeo," a comedy she described as "'Dazed and Confused' meets the military" that would be inspired by her six-year stint in the Air Force. But concerns about how she would finance the project have forced her to set it aside.
"I would love to be making 'Romeo, Romeo,' but when we had a couple of money people drop out, it was just like, 'Well, it's just gonna be too much to raise.' And then watching how the rebate's going, it's like, 'Well, I can just go ahead and count that out,'" Jones said.
The Filmed in Oklahoma Act of 2021 increased the cap on the state's film rebate program from $8 million to $30 million a year for 10 years and devised a new structure for filmmakers to qualify for the incentive.
The new incentive was designed to create a more robust film program for the state — and it spurred quick, dramatic growth in the already burgeoning industry. But with that growth has come growing pains, including several homegrown moviemakers whose independent films have been squeezed out when their rebate applications were turned down.
"Everybody, I think, is struggling to raise funds, and the fact that their rebates all keep getting turned down makes it even harder to secure funds because that can be a selling point sometimes in getting funding," Jones said, adding that she is writing a smaller movie that she hopes will be easier to crowdfund and make.
"If you think about the success of Atlanta, a lot of it comes from Tyler Perry Studios, because he built in his own community. And that only happens if you're investing in your local filmmaker and he does well."
In March, House Bill 1362, which would boost the annual cap for the state film incentive from $30 million to $80 million and set aside $5 million of that amount for projects with total expenditures of less than $1 million, passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives with a 72-22 vote, sending it on to the state Senate.
But a potential Writers Guild of America strike also is slowing film and television production across the country.
"I did a bit part in Las Vegas in a Mark Wahlberg movie called 'The Family Plan' recently. I've been acting in New Mexico, Atlanta and Texas mostly lately, just because Oklahoma has slowed down," Jones said.
"There's peaks and valleys, but hopefully, we're just in the middle of a valley that's about to go up."
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'CHICKEN HOUSE' OKC SCREENING
When: 7 p.m. April 22.
Where: Rodeo Theatre in Stockyards City, 2221 Exchange Ave.
Admission: Free.
Tickets: https://rodeocinema.org.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Cate Jones, OKC filmmaker and actor, talks about film 'Chicken House'
