Trivia Night NYC film interview

Earlier this month, I was alerted to a project on Kickstarter which instantly captured my imagination: Trivia Night.

An independent film directed by fellow Brooklynite Robert Gregson and starring the comedy trio LOCAL EMPIRE – a video sketch comedy group written and created by Addison Anderson, Colin Drummond and Michael Molina – the premise is instantly compelling: a dark comedy about a disgraced trivia guru, who seeks solace in the pub quiz “underworld” of New York City.

So intrigued was I by this unique project that I wanted to understand more about how it came to being. I reached out to the guys, who were gracious enough to answer my interview questions; if you find the whole culture surrounding trivia nights, pub quiz and “brain game” competition fascinating, especially here in NYC, then you’re going to LOVE this:

1.     People are passionate about trivia nights. What is it about trivia which resonates so deeply, here in NYC and elsewhere?

Addison: Part of it is just raw competitiveness, but I think there’s a weird element of nostalgia, too – people want to go back to a classroom-like world where knowing a bunch of facts mattered, before we all grew up and that kind of structure went out the window. Something particular about trivia in NYC is that we get so many people with so many backgrounds, it might be possible here to form a 5-person pun-named team that actually has the widest breadth of knowledge of any group of human beings ever assembled. And that’s maybe what you’re aiming for when you email a select subset of your coworkers about stopping by some bar to win a coupon for 40 beer-bux.

2.     What issues does this film address, which other films featuring trivia/pub quiz do not?

Michael: Just like the movie Highlander, there can be only one. What I like about the film Trivia Night is that it’s NOT about the group of friends you hang out with and what you learn about yourselves while doing pub quizzes, this is about one person who abandons everything in pursuit of greatness. Our film addresses the lengths a person goes to prove their worth, the morals they’ll abandon to become a god. You cannot be a trivia champ with a group of friends because there is no collective champion – that’s lame, like basketball at the Olympics. This is not a movie for teams to get inspired by, there is no coach giving a motivational speech. It is an examination of cold, simple Darwinian truths: survival of the fittest. In this case, our fittest is a guy who is at the best at knowing 7% of everything.

3.     Are the characters in Trivia Night exaggerations, or are there really people like this in the NYC trivia underworld?

Colin: I used to work as a trivia night host at a bar in the West Village. It was a tiny operation – I think the bar owner just really liked trivia – and my roommate and I hosted it so we could get free drinks. Since it was a small turnout (they needed TrivWorks in there) we had a pretty intimate relationship with some of the teams, and they took it VERY seriously. Obviously they were there to have fun, but it was definitely a matter of pride to win. I would say the bar tab prize was secondary. Scott’s an exaggeration of that dedication, but it’s a logical one. Somewhere in the world there must be someone who believes their sole destiny is to be the best at trivia, which is kind of a sad destiny, but also really fascinating. There’s a reason we like watching people like Ben Stein and Ken Jennings

4.     What do you hope people who see Trivia Night will take away from it? Will people who have never attended a trivia night find this film compelling, and why?

Robbie: We want to make people laugh and show them a world they’ve never seen before. Beyond having a well-told story, a movie should be specific enough to show the viewer how a thing works – show business in Network, part of the finance industry in The Wolf of Wall Street, the Madonna/whore schism within Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. We’re telling our own story about Scott as a misguided trivia genius, so I hope people laugh at the insane things we’ve invented and maybe recognize some things that aren’t too far from the reality of television, celebrity, and the world of trivia. People will find the film compelling because it deals with friendship, show business, success, and many other things people experience in life outside of a trivia night.

5.     Can you each share a favorite trivia question, that’s NOT in the film?

Addison: I love any question to which the answer is the band Savage Garden, because your brain will always think of Soundgarden instead. Any question that exploits the basic human preference for Soundgarden over Savage Garden is so cunning, you have to respect it.

Michael: A group or assemblage of badgers is called a “cete.”

Colin: In 218 BC, military commander Hannibal embarked to cross the Alps with 38,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and 38 of what animal? A: War elephants.

Robbie: While You Were Sleeping was originally titled Coma Guy.

Trivia Night Is Approaching their Kickstarter Goal, With Less Than a Week Left…

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