STAGE TUBE: Trailer for WALT WHITMAN NEVER PAID FOR IT

Walt Whitman NEVER PAID FOR IT is a black comedy about a semi-employed would-be poet, his criminal brother, and a Ukrainian prostitute in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Written by Angelo Berkowitz (based on his play), it stars Angelo Berkowitz, Joseph Cassese and Amanda Greer. It is directed by Anthony Marinelli. You can view the trailer for the 25-minute film below!

Walt Whitman NEVER PAID FOR IT began on stage as part of Chelsea Repertory’s E-Merging Artist 1-Act Play Festival. The play was written by Angelo Berkowitz, directed by Anthony Marinelli, and featured the same cast: Angelo Berkowitz as Georgie, a thirty-two year old virgin and semi-employed would-be poet; Joseph Cassese as his brother, Jerry Boy, a neighborhood thug concerned with upholding his tough-guy reputation; and Amanda Greer as Oksana, the Ukrainian prostitute who Jerry Boy pays to give Georgie his first sexual experience but can’t get him to stop taking about poetry and playing cards.

The film was shot in black and white using the Canon 7D and edited in Final Cut Pro. Unlike most black and white films, this was not shot in color and de-saturated in post. “I never wanted to see it in color,” the director says, “Even when we were doing the play, I saw it as black and white, darkly funny and gritty, and I wanted to capture that on the shoot.”

The cinematographer is Joseph Ciccarellia.

More information about the film