Laura Lawson Visconti
Laura Lawson Visconti is an author, Sony Alpha photographer, and adventure-obsessed travel writer based out of Truckee, California. Laura also runs GEOGRAPHY CREATIVE, a creative agency telling adventurous stories for rad brands around the world. Laura joins the cast of Westfalia portraying herself — when she's not exploring the photogenic mountains she calls home, she can be found mindlessly scrolling through Instagram (@lauralawsonvisconti).
Nick Visconti
Nick Visconti is a man of many hats, most the time a beanie as he lives in California’s fabled Lake Tahoe. Nick’s accolades roam many realms, including a retired professional snowboarder, founder of DRINK COFFEE DO STUFF, and moonlight actor. While adventures in the high alpine occupy his free time, he’s a family man and gastro-nerd at heart.
Haley Finnegan
Haley Finnegan is an Irish-American actress and comedienne, she is known for her work on several Christopher Guest projects, her role in Robert Luketic’s Paranoia. and for playing Anne Otto in the podcast turned hit Amazon Series, LORE.
Finnegan began her career in New York. She booked her first series, Spirits: The Series (Webby Awards - Honorable Mention) Her work on Paragon Algorithm was featured at the Hoboken Film Festival & Manhattan Film Festival. While performing improv at The PIT (NYC), the former CEO of Meow Mix scouted her to be the face of his pet news web series, K9 & the City, where she worked on stories featuring Hilary Swank, Martha Stewart, Howard Stern. After moving to Los Angeles for the premiere of Paranoia, she unknowingly auditioned for Christopher Guest (This is Spinal Tap) and has since worked on several of his improvised projects. She frequents the LA improv stages including UCB, Second City, and The Ruby (formerly The Nerdist).
Brian Flynn
Brian Flynn is a writer, actor and comedian currently living in Los Angeles, CA, who has worked on several television series including Showtimes’s “The Chi” and Fox’s “Wayward Pines” and in film for Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming”.
In 2012, Brian joined the cast of Kill Bosby, where he wrote, acted and produced several sketches for their YouTube sketch show “Watch Immediately”. Since then, he has performed improv and sketch across Los Angeles and New York including UCB, Second City, iO, the Ruby LA. Brian’s voice work can be seen on Machinima’s “Line Waiters” and he has also contributed to the comic periodical The Devastator Magazine.
Currently, you can hear Brian on the improvised public radio podcast “This American Lie” as part of The Ruby Tone Network and as a Co-host of “The ‘Boot” podcast (available on iTunes).
synopsis.
Emelia & Brody want to be Insta-famous. Emelia is convinced an engagement post will bring them there... Brody isn't willing to make that leap. When they pack their things for a social media road trip in a 1984 Westfalia Vanagon, things are looking up. Their "Hitting the road from an A-Frame" post is gaining popularity. But their rivals, Instagram star, Laura Lawson Visconti, and former pro-snowboarder, Nick Visconti, have an ever-growing following that they just can't seem to keep up with. Until they come up with a master plan to sneak onto their Insta-stories and steal their followers.
Paul Heran
California-born Paul Heran is a director of photography based out of Seattle, Washington. After many years spent shooting professional snowboarders, skateboarders, and endurance athletes, he now works in the virtual reality space for HTC VIVE. In his free time, you can find him with a camera in hand, snapping photos of friends and family. He is very grateful for the opportunity to work with the cast and crew of Westfalia.
Bryce Hymans
Bryce joined the Westfalia team with the sole intention of working along side Paul as the first assistant camera. After spending time with Haley and the crew on-set, Bryce quickly realized he was working with a truly special group, and wanted to become more involved. He Eventually filled the roles of art director and graphic designer, creating all of the design elements–from the film titles, to the film poster. Westfalia marks the first of what Bryce hopes to be many more film productions with Rolling Stella Films.
Montana Loran
A huge fan of all things egg. Montana is the owner of Mallet Media, a production company based in the garden state. When she's not behind a computer working, she's behind someone on line trying to buy eggs.
We are living in the era of the influencer. Somehow we have voluntarily signed up to watch commercials disguised as people on a road trip. I wanted to scroll through that world with Westfalia. What kind of love might a couple living in the public Instagram eye have? Emelia and Brody are constantly surrounded by beauty. Can a beautiful mountain inspire the most jaded set of eyes?
Influencers share their every move and we love it. They are able to make the mundane beautiful and luxury available. Their posts and stories affect how we behave - this is the nature of influence. I really liked the idea of two characters who don’t quite have influence but want it. The to create a naturally beautiful world as the backdrop for their superficial objective. While great people exist on instagram (two of them are in the film), I think it would have been really boring to follow two people who share epic love, photogenic coffee and a million followers.
Our characters are not making fun of themselves. They are just themselves. Their reality is that they want to be insta-famous, they just don't love the work and it is a lot of work. I wrote a script for Westfalia but the dialogue is largely improvised. This is my first time directing but not my first time working on an improvised film. Christopher Guest played a huge role in demonstrating how to direct a “script” like this. His voice was in my head while I was on set, “your character really believes she has the best product” when in reality what she is selling is ridiculous.
The star on instagram is not like the movie star. There is no mystery - only secrets. And those secrets are what Westfalia explores. What happens when the camera is off? How did they roast that chicken in a camper van? Let’s all take a step back here. Life isn’t as perfect as it seems on Instagram. #vanlifeishard. #thechickenisstorebought #optoutside
-haley finnegan
Emelia - Haley Finnegan
Brody - Brian Flynn
Laura Lawson Visconti - Herself
Nick Visconti - Himself
Owen McKenzie- Nicholas DePriest
Tierra - Belle Adams
Executive Producer - Haley Finnegan
Associate Producer - Nicholas DePriest
Consulting Producer - Brian Flynn
Director of Photography - Paul Heran
Editor - Montana Loran
Art Direction & Design - Bryce Hymans
Unit Still Photographer - Ryland West
Composer & Music Editor - Kyle McCammon
Sound Editor - Andrew Markus
Re-Recording Mixer - Brian Berger
Post Audio Producer - Jonathan Sheldon
Location Sound- Forrest Jett
Music Consultant - Scott Nicastro
Colorist - David-Aaron Waters
1st Assistant Camera - Bryce Hymans
2nd Unit Camera - Montana Loran
2nd Unit Camera - Pablo Chasseraux
2nd Unit Sound - Scott Nicastro
Florist - Christine Pocock
Special Thanks to:
Little Village Films
Carrie Heran
Don and Mary Finnegan
Whitney Wiberg of Nosh Catering
Amanda Abadie
Crystal Pare Trowbridge
Katie Pfundstein
Robert Funke
“Put A Light On”
Written by Grant Widmer and Edward Joyner
Performed by Generationals
Published by Rough Trade Publishing
"Red Cloud Road"
Written by Melissa Lucciola
Performed by Francie Moon
“Come Back”
Written By Stephen Johnson & Kyle McCammon
Performed by Lean
“Coffee Sundae”
By the Vaughns
“Our Love Will Always Remain”
Performed By The Aquadolls
Courtesy of Burger Records
By Arrangement With Natural Energy Lab
