As part of the 25 Days of Sine Fine Films extravaganza leading up the 25th Anniversary I have decided to write a series of posts celebrating the 25 actors who have been the most dedicated by participating in the most productions.
Actor of the Day: Syndi Eller
Syndi Eller officially joined the company in the fall of 2002, although she almost joined in the spring of 2002. She has participated in 11 productions as cast and/or crew.
When I was in college and filming the Gift Bearer in the late fall of 2001 there was a lot of drama at the end of filming Season 1. After shooting wrapped up for that semester I fired the actress playing Atlanta (because I was crazy and for other reasons, none of which were her fault). I needed to find another Atlanta before I could film Season 2, so Morgan Thomas made a flyer and I held an audition. No one came. Then one of the guys at SPC-TV, I think it was Paul Costello, introduced me to Syndi who was working at the McDonald's in the student center. She was willing to play the part, but in the end I canceled the original Season 2, rewrote a shorter script and was able to get Christine back to play Atlanta. I'm not sure how I managed that but Chris was willing and amazingly forgiving.
After I started filming Dream Chasers in October of 2002, one of the actors in the cast quit and I needed to recast the role. Enter Syndi. I still saw her at McDonald's from time to time and we chatted a little, so when I needed someone I asked her if she was still interested in filming a TV show. She said yes and I changed Thanatos, the God of Death, to Atropos, the Goddess of Death, and a fantastic character was born.
Syndi was wonderful in the role, looking and acting like a total bad ass bitch who could literally kill anyone but because she was Death she didn't need to bother with someone insignificant. The character was two dimensional with a quirk or two, but Syndi took Atropos's character and ran with it. Quirks and interests kept being added as the filming continued, such as Atropos liking to shoot hoops, go bowling, and her obsessive need for chocolate when stressed. She played up the overworked attitude that would naturally go along with the constantly busy Goddess of Death. To this day about 90% of Atropos' character was created by Syndi, and she has 100% of Syndi's gothic Barbie appearance and slight southern twang.
When I decided to film Eidolon in the spring of 2004 I hoped to get Syndi back for at least one shoot. Eidolon is a sequel to the The Curse which I wrote in order to wrap up the lose ends from both The Curse and Dream Chasers, the prequel. Since I wanted to film with Syndi again I knew I wanted to work in Atropos somehow, even if it was just a cameo. In the first five episodes I wrote she only had one scene - just a token appearance - where she was trying to convince a soul to move on from the graveyard. However, as I wrote more episodes I was able to get the character more screen time by having her helping out Morpheus directly and Maria indirectly.
Syndi was always willing to work crew when she wasn't filming and was often my assistant director when she was on the set. She wasn't always able to film but I really looked forward to when she did because she's so much fun to be around. She's also a huge moral support for me and helped me get through some times while filming and editing Dream Chasers.
Eidolon finished filming in the spring of 2005 and about a year later I wrote and filmed the 10th Anniversary production - The Cursed Destiny of Pandora's Gift Box which we filmed in the spring of 2006. Syndi was willing and able to return to the set and film with us again as the evil Asarina, the wicked and scheme cross between Asarai and Zarina, and got to wear one of my costumes so that was a bonus! She was hilarious as not just Asarina but also as the various extras she played. Everyone in that movie worked so well together, it was truly a joy to film.
The next thing she was involved with was two productions for Twisted Tales, the series of short films that takes a twist on a common fairytale. We filmed both Little Red and Charming in the same weekend in the summer of 2010, so Syndi was able to be in both along with Brittany Ann Whalen and Kevin Meyer.
Little Red is a dark twist on Little Red Riding Hood where the wolf is, of course, a charming but evil man named Conner who leads innocent Sarah down a thorny path. In several scenes Ruby, a woman who was also corrupted by Conner, is confronted by a bounty hunter aptly named Chase who is after Conner and determined to bring him to justice. Obviously Chase is the woodcutter from the story. Syndi did a fantastic job as the harsh and angry Chase and had just the right amount of compassion to make the end believable. It was also a lot of fun to film in a dark Red Roof Inn with the door wide open while your holding a gun. I'm glad no cops stopped by.
We filmed Little Red on Saturday, then filmed the next Twisted Tale on Sunday afternoon. I had previously written the script for Charming in 2009 and had intended to film it in December of that year, but due to a blizzard I wasn't really able to. I'm very thankful we waited to film it until the summer because I was able to assemble and awesome cast! I was able to get two Rachels, a Brittany, and a Syndi together all in one place. Yay! I think that was the first time Syndi had met Rachel Anderson and Rachel Zorlee and all the women worked so well together it was like they'd acted together before.
It was the first time that Syndi was able to play a ditzy character, and the first time being a princess to I think, since she was cast as Cinderella. It was fun to see her play the dumb blonde, all her other characters had been some version of a bad ass, and she got to show off her talent since she wasn't type-cast for once. Despite the heat, not to mention the melting donuts, she survived the set and had a blast - at least I think she did. I'm pretty sure everyone had a blast filming that short, except possibly Kevin who wore a hot costume but only had one line at the end (sorry Kevin)
It wasn't until the fall of 2012 that I was able to film with Syndi again. I put out the call for actors to film on one weekend in November and originally I had a lot of people reply that they would film, but that number kept dropping during the week before we were supposed to film until I was only left with a few people. Luckily Syndi was one of them.
I had written Goddess Anonymous only a couple of days before we filmed it so no one got to read it before showing up on set. That's actually not that unusual now that I think about it. That happens a lot. Anyway, Goddess Anonymous is a self-help group for diminished deities. Goddesses who were once powerful and widely worshiped but now had to get mortal jobs in order to survive. She agreed to play the role of Uni, the Etruscan goddess of Childbirth (and other things). She was great and once again got to play a non-bad ass role so it was fun to see that.
There were many jokes on set including ones about cupcakes, carrots, and altar ornaments. It was one of the best film shoots I've ever done and I think I ended up with a headache due to the lack of oxygen from me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. Needless to say Syndi enjoyed that shoot as much as I did and I'm so glad she was a part of it.
The next day we went to the MacLeod Farm to film Only You, a production for the series of short films called Fortunate Ones. In most Fortunate Ones scripts someone gets what they wish for and then discovers they don't want it. Only You is the reverse, two people say what they don't want to happen and it's the one thing that does. The only two people who survive the apocalypse are exs who hate each other.
Although Syndi didn't have a part in this one since there were only two characters and I wanted to see Brittany and Bryan act together again, she was willing to be my Assistant Director and help out with whatever was needed. Aside from the hotdogs, sex jokes, and tons of laughter one of the most memorable parts of the day was when we literally got smoked out of the tipi. It took about hour for it to clear up enough so that we could go back inside and film the rest of it.
We filmed Goddess Anonymous on Friday night, Only You on Saturday, and I wanted to film a third movie on Sunday. The only problem was that I hadn't written it yet. Syndi and Brittany were both tired from long shoots and late nights so they passed out while I furiously typed up a script to shoot the next day. The result was C², a short film about a pair of bounty hunter sisters who specialize in capturing magical criminals and bringing them to justice.
Syndi and Brittany were hilarious together and came up with lots of extra details about the sisters that honestly I wasn't sure I wanted to know about. Together with Dan Zangerl who played Kasimir, the criminal they were sent to capture, we had a really fun time shooting. There were some problems like running out of battery, running out of daylight to film by, and having to wear handcuffs for hours that chafed their wrists. Despite all that I know she had fun, and the result is one of the best short films SFF has ever made. C² actually made it into the Top 5 Favorite Productions to Watch, the Top 5 Favorite Productions to Film, and it was voted #1 in the Top 5 Short Films.
I try to film something every year, even if it's just one short film. In the fall of 2013 I realized I was running out of time to film something. Again I sent out a call for actors and again more people responded then were actually able to make it. I ended up only have two people to film with that weekend - Syndi Eller and Rachel Anderson. The two of them have filmed together a few times before and they are a great pair. It's hilarious to film with both of them.
The scripts I wrote are part of a series of short films called Out of Time Adventures. It's a weird concept and I'm not really sure if it works. Basically Syndi and Rachel play Karen and Amy, two friends who spend their free time dressing up and pretending to be different characters with different names from different time periods while walking around and interacting with the modern world. They have a timer set and see if they can stay in character for the whole time, trying hard not to be distracted and break character. When the timer goes off they drop the act and let loose, laughing about things the other person said or did.
The first adventure is called Treasure Inland and Amy and Karen dress up and act like the pirates Captain Keel and Vicki Jinx. I remember when we first put Syndi in a corset it was a little absurd. I forgot that you can't lace big, busty women into a corset too tightly because they risk getting strangled by their boobs. Anyway, we went over to Mike and Molly's Bar, which I had cleared with owner ahead of time, and hilarity ensued.
I made both Rachel and Syndi drink real shots of rum, so that was fun. They didn't have to drink more then one though, although watching them play those characters drunk might have been fun. Not that they could get their lines right when they were sober, but at least they could stay on the bar stools. After filming was over we went out to dinner and I even paid them a whole dollar! That's the most any actor has ever made on set!
The second adventure is called A Stroll in the Park and Amy and Karen dress up and act like proper Victorian women, Lady Annabelle Sommersby and Lady Lillian Chestwyk. It wasn't too hot to be wearing heavy Victorian clothes, but it was a little windy. Rachel's parasol kept getting stuck in her hat and Syndi's skirt was too long so she kept tripping on it. Both of them had problems raising their arms over their heads so it led to a joke about having T-Rex arms. This one was my personal favorite to film, not just because I love Victorian costumes but also because the women were especially silly and came up with jokes about scandalous parties and nakedness being wrong unless you were wearing sock - then it was okay.
The third adventure is called Cosmic Bowling. Karen is expecting Amy to go bowling with her as their own selves, but instead of Amy a time traveller from the future named Onzella shows up to warn of impending doom. Karen plays along and teaches "Onzella" how to bowl with some very funny results. Syndi actually does bowl a lot so she was pretty good at it and after we were finished filming we all played a game of bowling.
I still haven't finished editing the Out of Time Adventures because I didn't have the introduction ready for them to film at the time. I realized while shooting that I needed the two of them to introduced and explain the concept as Amy and Karen or none of it makes sense. I kept hoping to get them together and some point for another shoot and then I'd take a few minutes to film the into with them, but they haven't filmed together since 2013. It's very sad. I need more Rachel and Syndi shoots!
In the spring of 2014 I wanted to film something again and the idea I had didn't work, so at the last minute I came up with the idea for The Villains Workshop. The concept was to have everyone film all day in character in an ad lib performance with scenarios but no actual script. It's basically the same idea I had for Frumpy Gets It 17 years before and it worked just as well as it did then, which is to say it was a disaster. Why didn't I learn from my mistake?
All of the characters are villains who attend a workshop to learn how to be better at being bad. Although all of the others played various villain character tropes, Syndi's character was a normal person just there to see what being a villain would be like as she searched for a new career. She was the Undecided. Each villain made a t-shirt for themselves and Syndi's was hilarious. The set was cold, freezing at night when they had to sleep in tents, and the lack of a script made shooting chaotic. I really wish I'd chosen to do a different project, but I don't regret getting to film with people like Syndi since it's really the only time I get to see them.
With the 20th Anniversary in 2016, I asked people what they wanted to do to celebrate. The overwhelming answer was that they wanted to film (and watch bloopers, but that was already a given). I decided to film excerpts from Spoon River Anthology, a book of poems by Edgar Lee Masters where each poem is a person talking from their grave. It's one of my top 5 favorite books of all time and it's great for actors because everyone gets a monologue and has a role. The poems vary in length so each person could choose if they wanted a short one, a medium one, or wanted to try a long one.
Syndi chose to take on the long and difficult poem of Elizabeth Childers, a woman who died in childbirth and spends the poem talking to her baby. It's a very emotional poem and although Syndi did a good job with it, the poem was hard to memorize and we were running out of time so she mostly read it. It's still a good performance though and someday I'll actually finish editing it!
That was the last time I was able to film with Syndi and I think it was also the last time I got to see her. She moved to a different state after that and between her taking care of children and me taking care of my dad, as well as work and other things we were not able to get together again. Syndi had often driven to CU to see me when she was going to visit her sister who lived about an hour away, so I was happy that I got to see her a couple times a year outside of filming. Sadly that stopped being possible in 2016 and now we both live several states away from each other which makes it even more difficult.
I know that someday we will get to hang out together again, most likely at a film shoot. I have hopes of seeing her when we film the 25th Anniversary production, which will be in November of 2022 in the 26th year but due to Covid-19 it wasn't possible to do it this year.
Syndi is a bold, brave, beautiful, intelligent, talented, funny, and caring person. She is one of my dearest friends and I would never have gotten to know her if she hadn't been willing to film Dream Chasers with us. Like I said she helped me through a difficult time in 2002 and we spent lots of time hanging out and having fun in the spring of 2003 before I graduated from SIUC and returned to CU. I even manipulated convinced Syndi and the others to dress up in costume, let me take them into the woods, and shoot them...with a camera. We had more than one photoshoot at some fun places. Good times.
Thank you Syndi for always being there for me, both on and off the set! I can't wait to film with you again!
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