NYC Filmmaker Todd Bogin Puts it All Together in First Feature Film ‘Hidden Exposure’
Todd Bogin embarked on his first feature in 2019, and in making his successful stand, he has some advice to offer.
What young filmmaker doesn’t have a dream of landing an agent and getting a studio to sign onto their blockbuster screenplay? Quite possibly all of them. Todd Bogin knows the feeling and embarked on his first feature in 2019. Of course, fantasy eventually gave way to the facts of putting an actual film in the can. So the West Side Manhattan resident dug in, and in making his successful stand, he has some advice to offer.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned is that the cavalry isn’t coming,” said the writer/director of Hidden Exposure. “Nobody is coming to help.”
In keeping, Bogin had no representation and barely raised enough money to buy the shoestrings. Fit to be tied anyway, he got the entire shoot done in 15 days and was able to sell the film to Tubi at Berlinale for the US rights. "We broke our investors even and made a small profit," said Bogin.
A piercing story of abuse, the idea had roots in his upbringing. His mother a social worker, Bogin was well versed in the subject of depression, and with a Jewish background, the trauma of the Holocaust has been ever present. "Negative stuff and how it can bring you down," he said, “I’ve always been obsessed.”
In this case, Sabina (Liana Liberato) is a NYC dancer and is in a relationship with a wannabe tech mogul named Ramsay (Jordan Rodrigues). He is controlling and duplicitous, and Sabina’s trusting and accommodating nature makes her easy prey.
Inevitably, the coupling unravels, and Bogin’s central premise reveals itself. The film asks why somebody would want to confront their abuser and what happens when they show up without a plan.
A big margin for error, decision-making can go wildly awry and aligns with Sabrina’s journey. A good-hearted character, he said, “She knows what’s best for her, but is fighting the human urge to do what’s wrong for her.”
Far from blaming the victim, the drama emphasizes the consequences when people are so thoroughly manipulated and the outcome reiterates the downward spiral. “The film follows the cycle of abuse,” he said.
In this, Rodrigues really does a number. So almost no conscience to speak of, the portrayal is quite a sleight of hand. The nicest guy and making the whole set laugh, according to Bogin, the calls to action were a complete 180. “He got in the zone,” said the Chicago-born director.
It was no easy feat and drew awe from the author. “Writing the script, I would walk around depressed. So I can’t imagine acting it out,” said Bogin.
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On the receiving end, Liberato was more than attuned to the onscreen abuse, and the way it played out paper. “She’s a writer in many ways, and with her, it was very much an open dialogue,” said Bogin.
The subject matter also had him acknowledging the limitations of his gender. Cinematographer Barbie Leung, her all-female camera crew, and the lead actresses, he said, “I would be an idiot not to listen to that team.”
He cited the breakup scene where Ramsey decides the argument is over, and Liberato gives voice to a common complaint that women have. “How come you’re the one who gets to choose when the conversation ends?” the character extolls.
As a result, Ramsey moves on, and the third wheel enters the drama. Alvy temporarily getting a toned town version, Rumer Willis almost felt the part was written for her. “She connected to the character, so as her director, I kind of stayed out of her way,” said Bogin.
He had no problem deferring to the star power either. “You don’t have to direct Richard Kind,” he asserted.
Open to taking direction anyway, the well-known character actor was part of the same LA agency that brought in the main trio of actors, and a father figure needed, the actor signed on. “A Jewish guy like me, when Richard Kind calls, I was telling my family, it’s like a second Bar Mitzvah,” he joked.
No doubt, Bogin’s rearing probably had Kind and his kind playing a part. With both his parents working all the time, they’d fork over money and send him to the cinema. “I was essentially raised by movies,” Bogin explained.
Spielberg his biggest influence, he went onto make little movies and became head of the film club in high school. “A bunch of guys without girlfriends,” he deadpanned.
Even so, Bogin didn’t opt to study film at Baruch. Also a musician as a kid, he studied music theory and business and became an assistant producer at a radio station for two years.
Still, the movies remained on his mind, and in 2012, he jumped in with his first job as a PA. Finally, on set, he learned editing, writing, and through the patience of others, how to direct. “A bunch of very nice people allowed me to follow them while they were directing,” he revealed. “I was probably such an annoying person.”
From there, the filmmaker made a few shorts, and while serving their purpose as learning experiences, the end results went as expected. “I have a couple of shorts that I will not let the world see ever again,” Bogin didn’t hold back.
Modulation Nowhere was another matter. The 2019 short went to Venice the Film Festival, won an award at a festival in Portugal, and was picked up by Shorts TV.
But personal feedback made the real difference. “People were telling me there was something there. And I was like, ‘OK, so maybe I’m not horrible,’” he recalled.
The way was then paved for Hidden Exposure, and he doesn’t hesitate to tally the revision count. “I did 72 drafts,” Bogin said.
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Going from, “this is terrible” to racking up the “nuggets,” the confrontational premise eventually comes due. Not necessarily breaking new ground, the story does serve up a distinction.
Involving a photo of Sabina, the haunting stare really holds up a mirror that we cannot look away from and strives to give these two women what they really need. “I wanted to convey the idea that they are trying to express themselves,” Bogin said.
Paying homage to the soul of artists, it’s still no easy task in real life or the film. An idea he got from a similar scene in a Humphrey Bogart movie called The Two Mrs. Carrolls.
As for the two locations, the crew took the venues in stride. They spent eight days shooting in the upstate New York towns of Jeffersonville and Narrowsburg. Obviously more relaxed than the city, the cast and crew lived in a hotel and spent a lot of time together. “We solidified as a team,” Bogin said.
Of course, New York City came with many more challenges. “It’s not like you can tell everyone in Chinatown to be quiet,” the director joked.
Still, he welcomes the fast pace and the need to be quick on your feet in the suffocating space. But the individual drama the film portrays of NYC doesn’t necessarily typecast the people in his estimation. “New Yorkers are the most fascinating people on Earth. I think they are the most honest, and they are also the people who will help you out the most,” Bogin boasted.
Certainly among them, he’s quick to contribute that the final realization of any film means switching gears from filmmaker to entrepreneur. “You have to see yourself as a businessperson and make those smart moves, while remaining as humble as possible,” he concluded.
Hidden Exposure is now available to watch on Tubi.
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Rich Monetti was born in the Bronx and grew up in Somers, New York. He went onto study Computer Science and Math at Plattsburgh State. But after about a decade in the field, he discovered that writing was his real passion. He's been a freelancer since 2003 and is always looking for the next story. Rich also dabbles with screenwriting and stays active by playing softball and volleyball.
