Trillo & Suede History

I created the concept of a ventriloquist/dummy detective duo in a film noir-ish alternate universe back in the 1990’s. In 1999 I wrote my first Trillo & Suede feature film screenplay – The Hong Kong Canary. It was a parody of both The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca.

Next I entered a Twilight Zone of Catch-22’s…

Production companies would not look at my script unless I was represented by an agent. And agents were not interested in representing me unless a production company had already taken on one or more of my scripts.

Agents were also not interested in looking at my script because I was not an established, well-known screenwriter. And, of course, there was no way I could become an established, well-known screenwriter unless I could get one of my scripts produced.

I tried submitting The Hong Kong Canary as a pilot for a tv series. I also wrote treatments for an entire season of episodes. However, most tv channels would not accept tv series scripts unless submitted by an agent. And agents were not interested in looking at my tv series scripts because I had never gotten a tv series produced.

Somehow my tv series script and treatments got to the desk of the Head of Development at Sky TV, UK. I received an email from her (I forgot her name and deleted the email) which momentarily elated me and then immediately deflated me. She praised my script and concept highly, calling it “brilliant”, “hilarious”, “unique”, “amazing”, etc. Then she said that they don’t want to take a chance on something so innovative and different from their usual programming.

Through the years since then I continued to try to find ways to produce The Hong Kong Canary, either as a feature film or as a tv series. I did not have the money to invest in producing it myself. I also wrote four additional feature film Trillo & Suede screenplays. A small production company in the UK, Farnham Films, took an interest in the project and tried to form co-productions with larger companies. Several times I was led to believe that a deal was about to be made, but they always fell through.

In 2006 I wrote and produced a short film, Oxford Park, with the help and support of Farnham Films. We hoped that we could use it as a demo that would attract funding for a larger project, but that did not happen. Although I think Oxford Park was good, I also believe that it could have been much better. Since Farnham Films was funding it I was obliged to write the kind of script that they wanted. It was not really the style that I wanted. They were going for more of a horror vibe mixed with British mystery style. It was not the New York-film-noir-gritty-snappy-absurdist style that I had in mind.

In the years since then I needed to focus my time and energy on raising two daughters as a single dad. I'll never regret having made that the top priority in my life. Still, I gradually lost hope of ever producing a Trillo & Suede project the way I envisioned it. 

A few years ago I decided to turn one of my screenplays into a novel. I self-published the resulting novel – While the Village Sleeps – as an e-book on Amazon. You can buy it here… http://myBook.to/DummyNoir

In late 2018 through early 2019 I was in deep despair from a combination of personal issues and health issues. At one point I asked myself, “If I die today what would be my biggest regret in my creative/professional life?” The answer was clear: that I never was able to produce a Trillo & Suede project the way I envisioned it.

I decided to produce a web series with my own money. A web series could be produced on a lower budget than a feature film, so I decided to go for it. I wrote the scripts and despite all sorts of production problems and stresses - including the need to fire my director/producer while still shooting scenes – I got it done. And I’m pretty darn proud of the result: Season 1 of the Trillo & Suede Web Series.

Episode 1 of 10 weekly episodes was released on Jan. 1, 2020, on the official Trillo & Suede youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TrilloSuede

As you probably know, the series has had enormous success at international film festivals, winning all sorts of awards, including Best Web Series at eight different festivals! This has encouraged and inspired me to keep this going. I wrote ten episodes for Season 2 and shot it last month. It is now in post-production and scheduled for release of the first of the ten weekly episodes on Nov. 1, 2020.

Meanwhile, I am posting other non-web-series Trillo & Suede videos – and some with other puppet partners of mine – on the channel, for friends and fans to enjoy.

I launched an Indiegogo campaign to help finance Season 2, which raised about $1000. The remaining approximately $30,000 of the budget is once again coming out of my own pocket. I will not be able to self-finance a Season 3, so I’m hoping that Season 2 will be successful enough to enable me to find other sources to cover the entire Season 3 budget.

Meanwhile, enjoy all the videos on https://www.youtube.com/c/TrilloSuede. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel and click the bell 🔔 to be notified on new uploads. “Like” and comment under the videos and I’ll be sure to reply to your comments. Share the link widely.

On behalf of my alter egos, Trillo & Suede, thanks for your support.