Mark Duplass is a well-known name in the entertainment industry, with his extensive filmography that includes a plethora of television and film projects. He has starred in many successful productions, including Apple+’s The Morning Show, which earned him an Emmy nomination in 2020 and a Golden Globe nomination in 2022. Mark also co-created the praised HBO series Togetherness alongside his brother Jay. His newest venture, A Long Long Night, had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival this week.
The Story of A Long Long Night
A Long Long Night is a six-episode series co-written by Duplass and award-winning actor and playwright, Barret O’Brien. The story follows childhood friends Pete and Carroll, who recall a disastrous incident that occurred in a motel room six months before, and they are nowhere over it. The series is a tragicomedy, as the two men scramble to build adult lives that contain some semblance of meaning and purpose.
The Importance of Collaboration and Delegation
Deadline recently talked to Duplass about A Long Long Night, his production company goals, and why independent cinema matters. When asked how he balances acting, producing, and directing, Duplass admits that he sometimes gets it wrong, but he has learned that delegation creates balance. He credits his company, Duplass Brothers, for taking a lot of the weight off him that he used to put on himself.
Duplass believes that healthy collaboration is everything and that he had the fear that if he didn’t touch everything, the work would be less good. However, he now has a team of collaborators in place, which he finds awesome. Duplass Brothers doesn’t have a strict edict on the type of content they want to produce, but they chase things that they find meaningful.
The Impact of the Pandemic on A Long Long Night
The pandemic was a springboard for Duplass’s creativity, and A Long Long Night deals with some of the pandemic themes like guilt and isolation. The movie was shot in about five days, but they weren’t happy with it, so they had to start from scratch. Duplass invited Barret O’Brien to write a movie that deals with all these issues and puts these two guys in a motel room, and they shot it. Out of those discussions sprang the next iteration of the project, and they expanded it to become a television series where these two men are reflecting back on this crazy night they had six months ago.
Duplass admits that making micro-budget movies is his skill set, and he loves to dive in a little unprepared, a little excited, and make a mess, and then gather his community of smart people around him to help him fix it. A Long Long Night is the best example of that.
Mark Duplass’s A Long Long Night is a tragicomedy that deals with some of the pandemic themes like guilt and isolation. Duplass believes that healthy collaboration is everything, and delegation creates balance. Duplass Brothers doesn’t have a strict edict on the type of content they want to produce, but they chase things that they find meaningful. Duplass’s passion lies in telling the kind of story that most studios won’t want, and he’s using his own career and money as venture capital funding into Duplass Brothers to make it happen.