Merrick Resident Shoots Movie

Merokian Debra Markowitz, director of the Nassau County Film Office, far left, and her partner John Marean of North Merrick are in pre-production to begin shooting Markowitz’s latest screenplay of the short film The Last Taxi Driver, starring stage, screen and television actor Robert Clohessy (Wolf of Wall Street, Blue Bloods, Boardwalk Empire).

The Last Taxi Driver is a dark horror comedy about one man’s determination to retain his career as a taxi driver and refusing to give up when most of his customers are eaten by zombies. It will also star Emily Jackson (Fringe, Incarnate).

When Markowitz wrote the screenplay for the short film, The Last Taxi Driver (after simply discussing amusing story lines and funny anecdotes while out walking their rescue dog, Trippy, she said), she and Narean  talked about different people who could actually play the roles if it ever got produced. Markowitz then spoke to her filmmaker friends, and the wheels began turning.

Markowitz and The Majors Productions (Marc Riou of Huntington, Nugent Cantileno of Mineola, Robert La Rosa of Valley Stream, Joshua Paige of Port Jefferson Station and Carrie Ferrante of Connecticut) explored the possibility of producing this dark comedic horror film on Long Island.

Stan Adams, Cheryl Martin, Mark Riou and Robert La Rosa do preliminary design on Last Taxi Driver

John Marean and his producing partner, Cecily Mihok-Trenka (Rapier Wit Films of Merrick) got involved in the production, and it became closer to realization. Steve Sage of Steve Sage Productions (originally from Greenlawn, now of Rocky Point) jumped on the bandwagon with his Red camera. Kory Diskin (Roslyn Heights) came on as production designer.  Regina Hardy (originally of Glen Cove, now of Hempstead) came on to assist as second assistant director. Helene Schulman from Suffolk signed on as set photographer/videographer.

Writer/director/producer Markowitz said, “The most exciting thing about The Last Taxi Driver is the collaboration between all the Long Island filmmakers.  It’s wonderful to work with all of these talented, creative individuals on one project.”

In order to raise the money to shoot the film, acting friends Christina Wood (Coram), John Thomassen (Staten Island), Stan Adams (Roosevelt), Cheryl Martin (Huntington) and Ingrid Dodd (Baldwin Harbor) came out on the coldest night of the year and acted in the promotional video without even rehearsing to stir attention for the project.

Crew members, background and additional actors come from Hempstead, Farmingdale, Selden, Freeport, Massapequa and all over Long Island.  The film will be shot in East Meadow.

The money for The Last Taxi Driver is being raised through crowdsourcing on indiegogo.com, and donations of any amount are appreciated to get this film completed and onto the festival circuit.