It wasn’t the edgy title that caught the interest of Ashton Avila when she was trying to pick a project to direct for her Chapman University class; she fell in love with Matt Gibson’s student-Emmy nominated script. “Trying to Fuck: A Modern Day Romance” is a musical comedy that plays on a role reversal in dating roles.
“It was just such a great story and a unique story and a unique way of telling it…” Avila says. “I think Matt was very aware that men and women oftentimes have similar feelings that aren’t portrayed equally. It was his vision of these characters that they were all people. They were not men and women. They were all people.”
Avila loved the combination of the musical and comedy elements, but since she’d never directed a musical before and had very limited time to do it, she faced new challenges. She gladly took tips from her fellow filmmakers, including the suggestion to make sure to hear the actors sing and not just rely on the fact “singing” was listed on a resume. “…you don’t know if that means experienced singer or musical theater or to what extent that actually means,” she explains. So, Avila had
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