DIRECTOR STATEMENT
Like countless others, I've dreamed of making movies for as long as I can remember. I even moved to L.A. back in '99 to break into the biz. I was quickly disenchanted with life as a production assistant, but my experiences on film sets taught me a lot, and while living there I finished writing my first screenplay, called "Vain."
After Hollywood, I returned to my original career as a TV news photographer at the Fox station in Boston, Massachusetts. There, I followed a gruesome case involving a serial killer. Drug-addicted prostitutes were disappearing from the streets of nearby Worcester, MA. Some of their bodies eventually turned up as far away as Maine. I started playing "what if," and the concept for THE STREET CLEANER was born.
After interviewing counselors, prostitutes, and heroin addicts at the CAB Health and Recovery Services Clinic in Lynn, MA, I began writing. I spent many late nights on the phone with my brother Eric in Savannah, Georgia, honing the screenplay. Just as I completed the first draft, some personal issues (OK, I got dumped) led me back to California, where the script gathered dust.
A year later, Eric convinced me to move to Georgia to finally do what we'd always talked about: make a movie together. I accepted a position as Chief Photographer for the ABC/FOX affiliate in Savannah, and headed east. Soon after my arrival, my brother and I decided that a full-length feature would be a bit too much for our first project, so we pared THE STREET CLEANER down to a short.
I joined a local writing group that Eric belonged to, and brought in the revised script. The story sparked the interest of fellow writer Jody Schiesser. Within days, Jody had a cattle-prod to us, insisting that we get off our butts and make this movie! Jody's passion was contagious. The three of us formed a company called PERPOMBELLAR PRODUCTIONS, and began the hard labor of preproduction. One year later (May 2007), THE STREET CLEANER premiered at "Shorts At The Beach," a film festival in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
From the beginning, PERPOMBELLAR PRODUCTIONS has been a triumvirate, with each of us wearing many hats, and often swapping hats, as well. We've also had the help and support of many talented local artists and film enthusiasts. We hope THE STREET CLEANER is only the first of many projects this team creates.
All the best,
Nathaniel Nauert
Writer/Director/Director of Photography/Editor
