Chris Scamurra and Nick Reynolds of Portland is the New Portland
The blog doesn’t voyage into the film realm often because, well, we are a music blog. However, Chris Scamurra and Nick Reynolds’ new short-film, Portland is the New Portland, blurs the lines too much for us to ignore. The duo was a staple of Buffalo’s music scene in the first half of the 2010s, and were heavily featured here on the blog with their project, Space Wolves. The short-film’s premise of a do-it-yourself musician juggling multiple projects has the potential to connect deeply with so many involved in the local scene. Moreover, the protagonist in the feature is Matthew Danger Lippman, another buffaBLOG favorite from the 2010s.
We had a chance to speak with the co-creators of Portland is the New Portland in the midst of their media blitz for the short film. The picture has been making the rounds for the past month in the national film festival circuit, securing screen time on multiple curated showcases including the Nashville Film Festival, Santa Fe International Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Fest and the Buffalo International Film Festival.
Portland is the New Portland will make its Buffalo debut Saturday, October 12th at 7:15pm at the North Park Theatre as part of the WNY Stories block. Tickets are available here. After the showing, there will be a free rock and roll show in the neighborhood at Revolution Gallery featuring sets from star Matthew Danger Lippman, a Space Wolves reunion, and jangly local act milkweed.
buffaBLOG: First off, welcome back to the buffaBLOG. It’s been a while. The last post we covered on your endeavors was a Space Wolves show at Allen Street Hardware in 2015. It seems like there’s been a lot going on since then. Last time we checked in you were a two-piece power pop band and now you are a movie production tag team. Can you give us a brief synopsis of your new short film Portland is the New Portland?
NICK REYNOLDS: Am I allowed to open an interview with a David Lynch “no”? Can you use that meme here?
CHRIS SCAMURRA: Ah, the infamous Hardware gig. Nick and I got into a fight at that one. The short film is a 17 minute film about a guy who makes music in his parents basement in a small town. He doesn’t have friends so he pretends his music is made by a bunch of bands and sends the music off for reviews. When Rolling Stone calls he has to figure out how to keep up the lie. In retrospect, it should have been Mike Moretti from buffaBLOG calling. That’s more realistic.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you two know each other and about your creative partnership?
CS: We went to elementary school together. We became friends in middle school. We played music together in high school and we have pretty much been working on stuff together since. Our creative partnership is constantly teetering on the edge of “this is going to be great” and “wow, we suck.”
NR: Chris and I balance each other out pretty well. I’m likely far too devil-may-care – that is to say that without someone to temper my “let’s just start making this” attitude, I would be making things one step above home-movies. It takes Chris to harness that pinball and actually shoot a double-super-jackpot, you know?
CS: Am I supposed to compliment Nick here or something?
NS: Use that David Lynch meme again.
Obviously you both are well-rounded creatives. How long have you been looking to dive into film? How long have you been working on Portland is the New Portland?
NR: Chris and I failed at making a feature film in 2015. We shot 90% of it, but ultimately didn’t have the Huston-esque charisma and leadership to be able to keep a cast of amateurs together and on track for a month.
CS: I’ve been working in film since 2017 here in LA. This is our first released project together, but we’ve been working on different film ideas for years.
In the short, lead character Jesse is a one-man-PR machine. Do you see a parallel to that and your success with getting accepted at all of these film festivals?
CS: I actually think there’s more similarity between us and Jesse when he is making music alone for no one.
NR: Yeah, Jesse is far more the manifestation of our failures than our successes.
Matthew Danger Lippman as Jesse in the short film “Portland is the New Portland.”
The movie stars fellow 2010’s Buffalo local scene alumni, Matthew Danger Lippman, as multi-band megapower Jesse. How did you end up casting MDL to star as Jesse?
CS: We re-connected with MDL a couple years ago. We played a show together (and our friend Dan Licata) in 2022. Around that time we started bouncing around some ideas and projects with him and when we wrote this script we knew he would be Jesse. I knew he would be great, but I was not prepared for how comfortable he would be acting alongside Siobhan Fallon Hogan and Creed Bratton.
NR: Matthew asked me to watch a no-budget film he was in called Samantha Rose. He had a bit part in it, but I was very impressed. I called up Chris right after I watched and told him that he needed to put it on. “Ignore the film; just watch MDL. He’s too good to not be the lead in something.” So we wrote him something.
The film takes place in Portland, NY. Do you see yourself as part of the growing Buffalo, NY film scene or just more of a DIY thing that takes place in WNY?
CS: To my knowledge, no one involved in the film lives in Buffalo, NY. Most of our crew lives in Los Angeles. As much as I’d love to be part of a growing scene in WNY, the story and our background are why we shot some of it in Portland, NY.
NR: We actually did have a few people involved who live in Buffalo, but none of them were film-insiders. We asked a couple WNY film people for help with costuming and locations, but they declined. So yeah, I think we are definitively not part of the WNY film scene. It is almost comical how many people involved are from Western or Central New York, though. Our very small cast and crew in LA had six people from the WNY area– basically half of the people on set.
There have been examples of indie hits like Napoleon Dynamite that started off as a short and evolved into full-lengths. Is there any chance of an expansion or continuation of the Portland is the New Portland universe?
CS: We’re finishing the feature script. The intention has always been to make this character and world into a feature.
NR: If we had the money, we might have started with the feature version, honestly. Hopefully someone will see the short and believe that it can be bigger. We know it can.
What’s next for your writing/producing partnership?
CS: Documentaries.
NR: Yes, we are actively working on a couple documentaries. Those are the most likely to be “next.” If you come to the after-party, ask us about The Pride of Utah, though.
Lastly, we are very excited for your show on Saturday at Revolution Gallery. What is the deepest cut Space Wolves song you will be playing so we can study the lyrics on Bandcamp?
CS: I’m sure the set list will mostly be songs that I can’t possibly fuck up.
NR: It’s going to have to be things I remember how to play, yeah. At this point, every Swolves song is a deep cut, even to me.
Categorised in: Interview
This post was written by Michael Moretti