By Khalida Sarwari
The idea for Laugh Along the Way came to David Mandell late last year, and he wasted no time putting pen to paper to begin his 80-page screenplay. When he found himself in India during Christmas, he took the script with him, restructuring and fine-tuning it. Five months later, he finally had the script he wanted. And then the hard part began.
Mandell, 21, is a graduate of Saratoga High School and a senior at the USC, where he’s studying acting and entertainment business. Though he’s been in Los Angeles only a short while, he’s already learned that in order to “make it” in Hollywood, patience is more than a virtue, it’s a necessity. But when inspiration struck, Mandell didn’t want to wait any longer. As he put it, “I wasn’t going to wait for my acting opportunity to happen; I wanted to create my opportunity.”
Laugh Along the Way is a 12- to 15-minute film that revolves around three main characters: John, a high school swimming captain and homecoming king dealing with his recent diagnosis of leukemia; Chris, the only openly gay student in the school, who John once bullied; and Sam, Chris’ 11-year-old brother. Through his friendship with Sam, and later Chris, John learns to come to terms with a disease he cannot control.
The film is relatable, said Mandell, because it shows that everyone is dealing with their own set of insecurities and adversities. Mandell, who portrays the lead character, John, said he hid his own sexuality all throughout high school and didn’t come out until he was in college, a decision he now regrets.
“I do not want to compare cancer with being gay, but I do think we’re given our sets of cards–whether we’re fat, whether we’re gay, whether we’re straight, or whether we have cancer–and it’s our job to play them,’ he said. “If you want to play them safely, if you want to play them with a smile, it’s your decision.”
Earlier this year, Mandell put together his cast and crew, which includes Kelton Dumont in the role of Sam, Zachary Roozen as Chris, Amber Coney as John’s girlfriend, Sarah, and Robin Dearden, the wife of Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston, as John’s mother.
The film is in pre-production, which means Mandell is still developing the script and establishing his crew. He is attempting to raise $11,000 through the crowd-funding site Indiegogo for his project. As of Aug. 12, he’d raised nearly $4,000 with 12 days to go. At this rate, it looks like he’ll be able to begin shooting in L.A. in October, even if he has to tap into an alternate budget he’s set up.
Eventually, Mandell wants to enter his film in the Sundance, South by Southwest, Toronto and Cannes film festivals and then turn it into a feature-length movie within the next 18 months.
“This has just been my passion and dream for the past year; it’s consumed all my thoughts and my aspirations, and I want to share this story with the world because I really think it can help,” he said. “It’s something that I think can inspire people.”
If the film is capable of inspiring even one person, it will have been worth the effort, Mandell said.
To contribute toward Mandell’s film project, visit indiegogo.com/projects and search for “Laugh Along the Way.”
Link: Mandell uses Indiegogo to fund his film, ‘Laugh Along the Way’
