Billy Federighi and Chris Storer grew up making short films together. They moved to L.A. eight years ago, where Federighi became a rising commercial director.
Now they’re back in Chicago to make the 35mm high school comedy “Sin Bin,” starring award-winning Canadian TV actor Michael Seater (“18 to Life”) and Jeff Garlin (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”) Federighi is directing from Storer’s script.
“Sin Bin” shoots 20 days beginning April 5 in Park Ridge and other suburbs near O’Hare, with city locations including Lincoln Park Zoo and Union Station.
The film’s under-$1 million budget was raised from outside invstors. Federighi’s older brother Dante, a former futures trader and venture capitalist, is executive producer.
They are producing with Brian Petsos, co-starring as older brother Benny, and Gary Giudice (“Adam”). Petsos connected Federighi and Storer to the Gersh Agency, through which Giudice signed on.
“Chris wrote a fantastic script,” Giudice says. “I love the fact that it’s commercial but not clich?. It had a heart and soul, and wasn’t just a mixture of raunch and sex.”
Giudice says they’re aiming for a prominent festival premiere and distribution deal. “Adam,” the Asperger syndrome romantic comedy Giudice produced, premiered at Sundance 2009 and was acquired by Fox Searchlight.
In “Sin Bin,” Seater plays a high school senior whose titular van is the site of friends’ romantic rendezvous until a teen lothario (Bo Burnham, “American Virgin”) blackmails him to use it for his own nefarious adventures.
Jeff Garlin plays the high school principal. Emily Meade (“Assassination of a High School President”), Ben McKenzie (“Southland”) and Brad Morris (“Special Needs”).
