Charlie Hane takes inspiration from personal experiences for thesis film, ‘Divorced Dads Hotel’

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Even before Charlie Hane began work on his senior thesis film, he already had real-world experience in the industry halfway across the country. With his friends that joined him on this project, Hane is now ready to put his professional skills to good use.

“Working in the outside world gives you a little bit of a taste for the fire you have to have in anything creative,” Hane said. “The motivating passion behind it is coming from a place of professionalism.”

While the pandemic may have shut many doors for people across the country, Hane took the opportunity to leave Syracuse University for a year and make the best of a tough situation. He created a commercial videography company in Austin, Texas and named it Voyager.

Hane moved to Austin with Robby Shaffer, Maria Raad and Sophie Penn to establish the company. Through their experiences away from SU, students like Hane found a silver lining in the pandemic. Two years after returning to Syracuse, these students are about to see their efforts come to fruition with their senior thesis films.

Every member of the group that established Voyager in Austin is also now part of Hane’s team for his thesis film, “Divorced Dads Hotel.” Shaffer is his assistant director, Raad is his assistant camera operator and Penn is his script supervisor.

In Austin, Voyager produced commercials for clients around the area. They chose that location because it is known for its high rates of entrepreneurship, Hane said.

They learned how to be flexible and take on new roles in each set as they collaborated on each other’s commercials. The skills they developed helped them work on Hane’s thesis film and provided them with professional insight, he said. Their motivation shifted from fear of a teacher’s disappointment with their work to fear of their company failing.

The thesis film is inspired by the Wednesday afternoons and weekends Hane spent at a neighborhood hotel visiting his recently divorced father. During this time, Hane made some unexpected friends with other children in the same situation. Over a quarter of the team helping Hane with this film also took time off from school during the pandemic to gain professional experience that they wouldn’t have otherwise had time to pursue as college students.

“It’s really meant to shed light on the fact that even in the worst of times, you can find friends or moments or memories that are going to bring you out,” Hane said.

“Divorced Dads Hotel” is a dramatization of Hane’s own childhood. In his film, a girl named Mary with a recently divorced father meets two brothers, and they attempt to solve the mystery of why their families split apart. Once the film is completed in May, it will be presented at SU’s senior showcase and a directors showcase at Skidmore University, and submitted to various film festivals.

Maddie Keith, a producer for “Divorced Dads Hotel,” met Hane during the year he spent away from SU. She helped with some of his independent professional work in Austin and considers it a valuable experience, especially for someone still in college.

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“Working on a real set with real money and grown-ups involved kicked me into higher professional gear,” Keith said.

This year, Keith is working on multiple thesis films and wants to share the knowledge she has gained. She wants to help other students be organized and have a strong work ethic, as she learned while working in Austin.

Olivia Thompson, the art director on Hane’s set, gained professional experience when she did the SU LA program, where she completed her capstone. The experience helped her to grow into the skills that she needs to succeed in the industry, she said.

The organization skills she gained from previous experiences helped her with her role on this film, Thompson said. She and Hane spearheaded the thesis and past work gave her the confidence to be heavily involved with the film’s decisions.

The high level experiences Hane gained didn’t stop once he returned to SU. Along with Rowan Oliver — the line producer for Hane’s thesis project — Hane participated in SU’s Prague program at the fifth oldest film school in the world, Hane said.

One of the reasons that SU is one of the best film schools is because of its Prague program, Oliver said. SU professor Kara Herold is from the Czech Republic and helped in founding the program.

“It really set me up for working in the real world,” Oliver said. “But in a place that I still felt safe.”

Through independent ventures, the Prague program and the SULA program, this year’s batch of seniors has a unique set of experiences, Hane said. Hane’s film will be the culmination of many students taking tough circumstances into their own hands and managing to further their careers in the process.

“I’m taking that real world experience with me into this film,” Hane said. “If me and my team don’t put it together, it’s not coming together.”