NH writer makes it to Prime with 'Pickleball the Movie'

CONWAY — Justin Chaffee’s story could be the plot of one of his own movies: a local kid with two lifelong passions — tennis and film — who turned both into careers.

By day, he’s the longtime tennis pro at Bridgton Highlands Country Club. By night and in every spare moment, he devotes himself to mastering the craft of screenwriting. That relentless commitment has paid off with three produced feature films. His latest, “Pickleball” is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video and stars Kevin Farley, the younger brother of the late comedian Chris Farley.

For Chaffee, who grew up in Fryeburg — with twin brother Chris, mom Carol and dad David — graduating from Fryeburg Academy in 2003 and going on to earn a degree from the University of Southern Maine, one of the biggest steppingstones wasn’t writing movies at all. It was reading them.

He started by writing what he jokingly calls “book reports” on other people’s scripts, breaking down what worked and what didn’t. He evaluated scripts for the Austin Film Festival, providing detailed coverage on feature films, television pilots and short films submitted by aspiring writers around the world.

“It’s almost like writing a book report,” he said. “You analyze the characters, the structure, the dialogue and the concept.”

Then he started writing and kept writing, year after year, until someone finally noticed.

Being a tennis pro in Bridgton — no surprise here — Chaffee’s first script was about tennis. He sent it around to anyone he could think of connected to movies. It went unnoticed until it caught the eye of a producer, Molly Mayou. “She liked my voice and asked if I could meet her. She was in Brooklyn at the time, I was in upstate New York teaching tennis.” And that’s when it all started.

“My uncle works on bridges in New York City,” said Chaffee, “and he’s like, ‘I’ll take you down.’

“So I jumped on that moment, and he helped me, and and I connected with Molly, and Molly was connected with Jay Dee Walters (his eventual writing collaborator),” Chaffee said.

The tennis screenplay that first opened doors has never been produced, but it accomplished something equally important: It introduced Chaffee to collaborators who believed in his writing.

Those collaborators became the team behind the three films Chaffee has worked on: “Porch Pirates,” “Grumpy Old Santa” and his latest, “Pickleball: The Movie.”

While Chaffee focuses primarily on screenwriting, Walters wears multiple hats as producer, actor and co-writer. Their collaboration begins with Walters developing a broad outline (known as a “treatment” in Hollywood) before Chaffee expands it into scenes and dialogue.

“Sometimes I come up with things in the moment, writing that he doesn’t have,” Chaffee said. “Then he looks at it. Then Jeff (Hamm, the director), goes through it, and it’s a lot of putting your ideas together and seeing what fits.”

As with most films, “a lot of the time, the first draft is not what you see at the end,” Chaffee said.

Writing comedy, he noted, presents its own unique challenge.

Rather than trying to force jokes onto the page, Chaffee believes humor grows naturally from believable characters facing unusual situations.

He points to the hit 1990s TV sitcom “Seinfeld” as an enduring example.

“Comedy is basically putting characters in situations,” he said. “You have these quirky characters, you put conflict in front of them, and you get comedy.”

He says trying too hard almost always backfires. “If I try too hard to write the comedy, it falls flat.”

No doubt, excellent actors helps.

“Pickleball” stars Farley, alongside veteran character actor Glenn Morshower, whose lengthy résumé includes “Transformers,” television dramas and numerous feature films.

“Farley wasn’t simply cast in the movie; he helped reshape it,” said Chaffee.

Originally, the “Pickleball“ movie centered on a serious story about saving a community center from redevelopment. Co-writer/actor Walters played a ruthless Texas developer bent on demolishing the building.

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After reading the script, Farley suggested abandoning the drama in favor of an all-out comedy.

The result became a story filled with slapstick humor and improvisation. “He helped us create that concept,” Chaffee said of Farley.

The actors frequently went beyond the written dialogue, ad-libbing for the camera. “They’ll say, ‘Let’s see if we can create something in the moment,’” Chaffee said. “Sometimes that’s even better.”

One scene involving Farley’s character fumbling with another character’s ashes became an early favorite. “We were like, ‘This is a funny scene,’” Chaffee said.

While screenwriters often disappear once production begins, Chaffee enjoys visiting film sets whenever possible.

Because his summer job in Bridgton prevented him from attending the main production, he traveled to Texas for the film’s reshoots in April at Oasis Pickleball Club in Rockwall.

Watching director Hamm orchestrate dozens of moving parts was instructional. “Being on set is unlike anything,” Chaffee said. “You’re learning on site.”

He compares directing to catching a baseball game. “Jeff is like a catcher. He’s got all these elements thrown at him, and he’s in control.”

Because of his tennis skills, which are easily transferrable to pickleball, Chaffee doubled for actor Eric Matthews during several “Pickleball” scenes, though “you have to look really quick,” Chaffee joked. He also appears briefly in the stands as an extra.

His scripts fall into the independent category of filmmaking where budgets remain modest compared with Hollywood productions.

Chaffee estimates that the “Pickleball“ movie cost roughly $500,000 to produce, financed collectively by producers and the principal cast members.

Distribution also differs dramatically from major studio releases. Rather than opening in theaters, the film was acquired through FilmHub, which distributes independent productions to streaming platforms, including Amazon Prime Video.

Success depends largely on views, rentals and audience reviews. “The more reviews it gets, hopefully good reviews, the more eyeballs can see it,” Chaffee said.

How much does Chaffee make from his films? He wouldn’t say, but it was noticeable he didn’t pull up to the Sun’s TV studio, where the interview that was the basis for this story was held, in a chauffeur-driven black behemoth SUV. “But it’s a decent amount,” he said.

The reviews so far have been encouraging. One critic said that like all comedies, some jokes hit and some didn’t, but he praised the surprisingly heartfelt relationship between the film’s two brothers, saying their “evolving bond gives emotional weight to an otherwise absurd comedy.”

Chaffee admits reading reviews isn’t always easy. “You have to have thick skin,” he said. “Some people are going to like it and some people aren’t.”

He considers himself sensitive by nature but tries not to dwell on criticism. “It’s hard enough to make a movie,” he said. “When people like it, it feels good.”

His team’s previous effort, “Porch Pirates,” earned multiple honors at the Texas Independent Film Festival, including Best Screenwriter for Chaffee, along with awards for best picture, director and acting.

Now the team is heading in a different direction. Their next collaboration is “The First Martyr,” a biblical drama exploring the relationship between St. Stephen and Saul, who later becomes the Apostle Paul.

Meanwhile, Chaffee is developing a separate science-fiction thriller trilogy with acclaimed music video director Shane Drake, known for directing Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw’s “Highway Don’t Care.”

Despite growing success, Chaffee has little interest in abandoning New England for Los Angeles.

A blockbuster would certainly be welcome, he admits, but fame isn’t the goal. “I’m super passionate about the work,” he said. “Getting something that you work so hard on made — because there’s no guarantee that it does — that’s really the best part.”

This story was adapted from a TV interview with Sun Publisher Mark Guerringue and Justin Chaffee. The interview and a trailer for the movie are available at conwaydailysun.com.