In a world where tax evasion is the worst crime possible, a sly tax fraudster
must help the IRS catch a notorious book cooker.
Poster
Trailer
Awards and Festivals
Official Selection: Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival
Official Selection: Pune Short Film Festival, Maharashtra, India
Official Selection: Miami Independent Film Festival December Monthly Edition
Finalist: Central Florida CineFest
Additional Info
Short Synopsis
Conrad Fawkes is a surprisingly nimble tax fraudster who is at the top of his game until he gets caught cooking the books by Ethan Davis, an undercover IRS agent. Conrad will be forced to sell out his book cooking boss, The Chef, in order to avoid a life sentence. But all is not as it seems, The Chef has stopped cooking the books for rich business men and instead turned over a new leaf making tax loopholes for everyday people living paycheck to paycheck. Will Conrad continue his scheme to betray The Chef or will he find one more way to cook the books?
Director’s Vision
This short film is heavily inspired by the works of the late great Leslie Nielsen in Police Squad, Airplane!, and The Naked Gun. These hilarious comedies are so funny because of the amazing word play elements and punny humor as well as the character’s complete belief that these wacky events are normal, everyday occurrences.
Technical Specs
Shot on Sony F5
Storage Codec: 4K DNxHD
16:9 Aspect Ratio
Digital, Color
Edited in Avid Media Composer and mixed in Avid ProTools in 5.1 Surround Sound
Colored and Finished in DaVinci Resolve
Total Runtime: 10 minutes and 10 seconds
Cast and Crew
Writer and Director Zach Nall Powell was born in 1992 in Fairfax, Virginia, the greatest day of all time. In 2015, he received his undergraduate degree in Telecommunications from the University of Florida, go Gators, and then began pursuing his Master’s in Film at Full Sail in 2018. Since then, he has worked on numerous films as a writer, director, video editor, and much more. Peep his epic portfolio at zachnallpowell.wordpress.com. Fun fact, he is double jointed in his left arm and can rotate it completely backwards.
My name is Angelo Isnardi, I am currently working on my thesis as the Producer.
I’ve spent most of my adult life in the military serving as an NCO in the infantry. After ten years I was combat wounded and spent two years in and out of the hospital recovering from my injuries. I then had to redefine my career path and chose film. I attended Full Sail University for my undergrad and then journeyed throughout America’s film industry to work. My current crew went overseas for a project and I decided to go back to Full Sail for my masters.
Hi, I am Sadam Hussain, the 1st Assistant Director. I am from India. I have a huge passion for cinema. My areas of interest are writing, direction, cinematography, photography and editing. I did my bachelors in B.Sc. Visual Communication. I have worked as an assistant script writer in south Indian film industry and a bunch of short films as director and DP. Right now, I am doing my MFA film production at Full Sail. I wish to work for Netflix someday soon.
My name is Ujwal Shashidhara, I am working as a DOP for this film. I’ve spent my youth life in India as a Civil Engineer and then changed my mind and did my bachelor’s in mass communication. I was interested in working on film sets and in this eighth year of my film journey I have 23 short films in my name and I always wanted to be in the Camera team. After working in the professional Industry for a couple of years, I decided to complete my masters in Film, so I am here now. I am excited to work on this project and I know everyone on the team are feeling the same.
Ray F. Hussain plays the role of Conrad Fawkes in our amazing short film. Ray is a local actor in Central Florida who studied with Art Sake Studios focusing on meisner. Ray has been in a variety of Full Sail Films, independent films and commercials over the past 2 years. Ray aspires to continue to entertain everyone so that they can forget about their own issues/problems for that moment and enjoy themselves with his creativity that he brings to his roles. In his spare time Ray enjoys doing hands on activities such as building cars, remodeling homes, and jet skiing. Ray’s main goal in life is to try and heal everyone with his bizarre and wild imagination.
John Cook plays the role of Ethan Davis. John was born eons ago in a far off land called Panama. He eventually attended the University of Hawaii, where he studied acting, among other things. He then moved to Florida to attend F.I.T. Unfortunately, the acting bug had bitten him and he continued by becoming involved with many different theaters along with obtaining parts in commercials and films. He also found himself involved in the tourist entertainment venues of Central Florida, such as Titanic, Capone’s Dinner Theater and Medieval Times. He took a long hiatus from acting to join the U.S. Navy, get married and finally return to Florida. As of last year, he decided to brush up on his acting skills and has taken part in films and commercials.
Ken Lemons will play the role “Jeff”, the Chef’s bodyguard and watchdog. Ken was born in Orlando, Florida and has lived there his whole life. He went to the University of Central Florida for Film. Recently, he has returned to acting which has been a lifelong passion.
Erik Helsen will become The Chef, the ultimate book cooker. Erik has been acting for over 20 years. He has studied at a number of Acting schools including American Stage, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Classact Studios, and Art Sake Studios. In 2008 he was nominated for a Suncoast Theater Award for Best Supporting Actor. Fun fact, he made a previous appearance in the Zach Nall Powell cinematic universe.
Sarah Malfara is our wonderful tax office receptionist. Sarah started her acting career in her family living room, where she forced her cousins to join her in a bi-weekly reenactment of The Lion King, starring in the role of ‘Scar’. She continued on to study Acting in college. Today, she can be found eating foods with loads of cilantro, petting dogs and feverishly trying to get the people in her life to recycle.
Mohammed Osman, playing The Prisoner, is an Egyptian-American actor, screenwriter, Director, and painter. Mo was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and immigrated to the United States in 2006. His extended family remained in Egypt. Mo is the youngest of three, he has two older siblings, a brother and a sister. Mohammed’s passion for art and acting was ignited since a very young age in theater and continued through high school and still on-going. He began his career in his native country as a fashion model and commercial lifestyle actor. After graduating from the University of Fine Art in Alexandria, Egypt, Mo’s passion for exploration was reinforced through years of travel. Finally, he decided to move to Miami, Florida in 2006 to pursue a bigger career in general art, acting and film production. Currently he is working as a part time actor, freelancer designer, and art-therapist.
Publicity Stills and Behind The Scenes
The lobby and waiting area
Conrad tries to impress his client, Ethan, a wealthy business man.
The Chef is cooking the books.
The cast and crew on wrap day!
Conrad is arrested by the IRS in an undercover sting.
The cast and crew sign the Giant Pencil
For the entire collection of BTS and publicity stills: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1F_fI3Me0BCFWu2U9jhTKnwbgqq_SeXnF
Production Notes
This production like any other has many stories behind the film. As this story was finally being made, four students set out to accomplish this task with a solid team behind them. The daunting task of building five sets with four people in less than four days can be intimidating. But with the recruitment of an art department experts (Kim) the job was coming together.
Right after set design was compete the crew being led by Kim met with one of the school instructors on set design and construction. A plan was implemented, and walls started going up on the first day. Measurements were made and more and more of the feel for Tax Evasion was coming together.
Three days later we were about 90% finish when on the last day a teacher unfortunately had a class booked on our soundstage. It was one of the longest waits knowing we were so close yet so far from finishing. As the teacher wrapped up, we all rushed in and started painting the final coats and ensuring all was ready for Monday’s shoot.
As the first day of the production started timing issues came up. Equipment needed to be replaced and small movements with the lighting. The first shot was two hours after schedule, but the crew went to work. Grips, electrics, art, props, and camera teams put in extra work to get ahead of schedule and finish a few minutes early the first day.
The rest of the production days ran smoothly, with everyone knowing their roles and staying in their lanes the shot list was complete almost a full day early. When this happened the Producer met with the Director, DP, and 1stAD and came up with a new plan to complete as many wish list shots as possible. By the end of the production there was more than enough footage to ensure the Editor had a lot to play with.
Press Release
Contact Ujwal Shashidhara at 321-263-9763, ns.ujwal@gmail.com
For Immediate Release
TAX COMEDY SELECTED BY MIAMI INDEPENDENT FILM FEST
November 14, 2019|Orlando, FL: Tax Evasion is a pun-filled comedy short where tax evasion is the worst crime, the IRS goes after you with a SWAT team, and cooking the books is an activity you perform in the kitchen. The film will debut in late December at the Miami Independent Film Festival, the leading independent film festival in Miami.
The writer/director, Zach Nall Powell, an up and coming comedy writer, has also written and directed “Florida Man”, which played in multiple film festivals in Florida. Zach said “This film is for all the people who are tired of paying taxes”.
Producer Angelo Isnardi said, “Tax Evasion was very ambitious. With a group of only four in our cohort, building the rest of the team was challenging but fun. Every taxpayer has to watch this short!”. He hopes the audience response will justify producing a feature based on the film.
Tax Evasion cast includes Ray F Hussain as Conrad Fawkes, John Cook as Ethan Davis, and Erik Helsen as The Chef. Key crew includes Cinematographer Ujwal Shashidhara, Music Composer Yasukuni Masuda, and Production Designer Ngan Nguyen.
For more information, visit taxevasionthemovie.wordpress.com
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Full Downloadable Electronic Press Kit
Contact
Director, Zach Nall Powell
Producer, Angelo Isnardi
angelo.isnardi@gmail.com
(321)-474-0280
Tax Evasion 