Screamplay
Thursday, October 22, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Music Box Theatre
screening
Edgar Allan is an aspiring screenwriter who has just come to Hollywood to make it in the movies... only to wind up working as the janitor at a fleabag apartment complex run by the greasy ex-boxer Martin instead. When Edgar begins channeling his frustrations with his kooky neighbors into fodder for his latest screenplay, the vivid murder scenes he writes begin to happen for real. As the bodies begin to pile up and the line between reality and fiction become increasingly blurred, Edgar, who is convinced that the only way to be a real writer is to suffer, is slowly driven mad. Inventively produced using a host of early cinematic techniques and featuring a memorable performance by underground film legend George Kuchar, Rufus Butler Seder's Screamplay is a singularly charming tribute to Old Hollywood and a marvel of low-budget but high-concept filmmaking. New 4K restoration by Muscle Distribution in association with Matchbox Cine! Director Rufus Butler Seder, Art Director Cheryl Hirshman, and Film Historian Elizabeth Purchell in person for a post-film Q&A. Gerber/Hart will be tabling in the lobby with a pop-up of queer archival materials from their collections before and after the screening.