Andrew Simonian on The Take Out Move

Andrew Simonian decided to create his own filmmaking opportunity when he made The Take Out Move. Find out how he shot his first feature for $3,500 and the philosophical approach to production that made it possible. The Take Out Move is available now!

IFJ: Congratulations on the movie’s release! Can you tell us what it’s about?

AS: The Take Out Move is an action-packed, R-rated comedy. The logline I usually use is “When a shadowy figure instructs two different men to take out the same woman, they both end up at her home at the same time and must fight each other through absurd situations to be the one to complete the assignment.” So the movie starts our like a thriller, but quickly devolves into a very broad comedy.

IFJ: What inspired you to make the film?

AS: Basically, after years in TV, I was sure I could make a really cheap movie. Not like “a half a million dollars is a really cheap movie”… but a literal VERY CHEAP movie. So when I had a hole in my schedule coming up, I wrote a script, called in a bunch of favors, and just went out and made a feature film. I also consciously wanted to make something where the main focus was to be fun and entertaining. I feel like indie films often focus on very serious or heavy themes. Which is important, and I really appreciate. But I wanted to show that a) a professional, entertaining movies can be made with basically no budget and b) indie films can be funny and entertaining instead of having to be heavy and serious.

Read the full interview here.