Founded by Kimberley and Amy Datnow in 2016, Clean Slate Productions are the only sister production company in the UK. And the dynamic siblings hope that making their first feature film together — romantic comedy Daddy Issues — inspires other people.
“I don’t understand why more sisters don’t do productions together because your sister’s your oldest friend, the person you trust most,” notes actress and stand-up comic Kimberley, who has appeared on Grey’s Anatomy, Community and The Middle.
“We definitely have this dynamic; I’m the older sister and she’s the younger so we fell back into those family roles sometimes! But it was an amazing process.”
Kimberley stars in Daddy Issues as Henrietta, who is struggling to come to terms with father’s death and regaining her prowess as a stand-up comic following her father’s funeral. After making the move from her native UK to LA to run the family business, she faces some issues; balancing trying to fit the mold of her late father’s career with her own wishes for life, whilst also trying to date.
The quirky film, which is aimed at millennials, explores Henrietta’s fragility, her past dysfunctional relationships, and the difficulties of adulthood. The project is a “bit biographical”, says Kimberley, who then quips: “We’ve definitely had dating mishaps!”
Through Henrietta’s college friends, the film shows a range of different types of “daddy issues”, based on stories the filmmakers had heard from friends. Nolan, played by Tanner Rittenhouse, finds his relationship with his single-mother girlfriend isn’t going where he wants it to — he’s clearly frightened by her intensity.
Then there’s Alice (Alice Carroll Johnson) who, feeling bored from many years in the same relationship, decides to make some extra money by becoming a sugar baby. It’s a dry, self-aware look at relatable dating habits and patterns; rejection, poor communication, people not living up to our expectations, and the fact we often go back to exes who treated us badly.
The sisters’ decision to write the film was also sparked by the sudden death of their father; they were on other sides of the world when it happened, with Kimberley working as an actress in LA and Amy living in Israel where she was writing for the Jerusalem Post.
“Our father did pass away, but really it [the film] comes from us just talking to our friends, talking to each other about our relationships,” explains Amy. “The best way to get through any grief is comedy and friendship,” follows Kimberley.
“A lot of people don’t talk about grief and so I think this film is really good at this time when we’ve got the coronavirus pandemic, and everybody needs to watch romantic comedy to make themselves laugh.”
Did they find it cathartic to take a traumatic experience and channel it something creative? “Yeah, it was such a good form of therapy for sure,” responds Amy. “We tried to keep a lot of our personal things in it, like our dad’s jumper, and real photographs, to try and bring a personal touch to it.”
They also had lots of fun times during filming. Amongst the cast is veteran American actor Peter Jason, star of Jurassic World, Hail Caesar! And HBO series, Deadwood. “There was a lot of set bonding,” says Kimberley, recalling how at the end of big scenes, Peter would sit with them and eat all the chocolate that was on set.
“He was so happy to be with a young crew and we were so excited to be with this Hollywood actor and hear his stories,” adds Amy. It’s clear that Daddy Issues was a super collaborative process. “Amy was more involved in the writing and had a cameo part in the film which she made look really easy,” says Kimberley, who worked as a producer on the film.
“She’s obviously a natural talent. We were working with a really great crew and a really great director and I was juggling two hats — producer and actor in the film — which was multitasking but shows that you can do it.”
It helps that, as sisters, they could be really open with each other throughout the process. “First of all, it saves a lot of bills on therapy because we talk about a lot of stuff anyway,” confides Kimberley.
“Because we’re targeting films for a millennial audience, it kind of makes sense, as we’re both millennials, and we have similar subject interests, that we would combine those and put those out into the world.
“And luckily we’ve had big studio interest from iTunes and Amazon, and making films in the UK is just becoming easier and more accessible.
“And obviously with the new studios, NBCUniversal and Sky, going into collaboration, and Amazon Studios, they’ve built well in the UK, it’s a really exciting time to be part of that movement and part of the female voice in England. From that perspective, it’s a really good time to be doing this in the UK.”
As for what’s next for the pair, they’ve just finished writing another script together. The dream is to get Amazon and iTunes on board again. “We’re casting soon, and we will be shooting it in England, which is really exciting,” follows Amy. “The last one was half in LA but we want to do the next one in England for sure.” Daddy Issues is available to download from Amazon and iTunes now.