Photo courtesy of: Winning Formula
It’s not every day you hear about a teacher flying out to LA to promote a movie they directed. 30-year-old UVU Professor Tyler Farr has been doing just that this past month with the premiere of his second feature film, Winning Formula.
Winning Formula is a buddy comedy that surrounds two girlfriends from Australia who think they have traveled to Las Vegas and lose all their money in a turtle racing bet. They then have to flee to Los Angeles to pay back their debt. “It’s a whacky comedy!” says Farr. “Lots of side characters, with some international flavor, with some jokes that make it fun.”
Making this movie was a blast for Farr. Although he did not write for this film, unlike his first film which he wrote and directed, The Good the Bad the Coyote. This is the first film out of grad school for which he was able to be hired on as a director.
“It all goes back to the first steps you take,” says Farr. “When I shot The Good the Bad the Coyote, it was low budget. But it was a stepping stone with that film so I had something to showcase for a second feature.” This played out well for Farr, because of his low budget, Utah based film, and it was able to act as a resume which landed him the directing job for Winning Formula.
This film was a breath of fresh air for Farr. He had applied for other directing jobs with lower budgets and lower quality but was rejected from them time and time again. It was the final week for Farr at grad school when Farr applied for Winning Formula when the producer contacted him and sent him the script. Farr was excited about this new opportunity, but was later told he no longer had the job after coming home from a family trip.
“You would think, ‘shows over,’ right?” said Farr. “But I had this feeling that said, ‘it’s not over!’” Farr was later called back by the producer and they were able to make out a deal in which Farr would be awarded the directing job.
Promoting this film hasn’t been easy for Farr. Winning Formula was just screened for the first time on March 13, 2015 in LA at Film Academy where Farr attended grad school, with another screening coming at a later date.
“We just sent it off to our first batch of film festivals,” says Farr. “Now we are just producing. Doing a lot of “detective work” and just trying make things happen.”
Farr has high hopes for Winning Formula. Sending it off to various film festivals, promoting it to producers and executive producers. Farr has a bright career in the film industry, even if Winning Formula doesn’t go all the way as planned. Farr is an intelligent and creative UVU Professor who will no doubt be directing another big film soon.
According to Farr, all he can do now is, “Cross my fingers and hope for the best.”
