The Tea Party For Sad People was written by Cathy Friend for the graduating performance students of Excelsia College. Excelsia recruits a team of emerging filmmakers to make short films around their performance students, with on-set support by production students.
Michael McLennan came on board as a producer and director of the project, screen testing the actresses, identifying crew and locations, and re-working the script. The film was shot in late September 2019 over two days in the Grand Dining Room of Sydney’s Castlereagh Boutique Hotel, with a day of pickups in October. Shooting days tended towards large coverage blocks, with the actors freely interacting for up to seven minutes each setup. The film was shot on Panasonic GH5 and the Sony A7SII using Cooke lenses, equipment secured with the support of Camera Hire and Sydney Film School.
The editors tag-teamed with the editing of the film between Sweden and Australia. Composers Luna Pan and Sandrine Rudaz created the film’s distinctive musical palette, united by a recurring solo violin part, with Luna providing the film’s waltz for violin, marimba and flute; and Sandrine interpolating Mozart and Boccherini with style. The original script by Cathy Friend was presented as a short play as part of Short’n’Sweet In March 2020 in Sydney, with Julia Pennisi and Tihanna Vulcik reprising their roles.