Oh Crappy Day
(FEATURE)
THE STORY
Oh Crappy Day is a romantic comedy with a psychological twist. The main character, Jared, is an aspiring filmmaker with a severe case of OCD. It’s so severe, in fact, that he had to give up film school. He hasn’t had much success with romance, either, so he tries a dating website, thinking this might give him more control “over the process.” Unfortunately, his OCD has other ideas, and his dates keep getting derailed by his compulsion to wash his hands.
Love seems out of the question until he gets knocked over — both literally and figuratively — by a charming young librarian named Katie. To his delight, she seems able and willing to accept him the way he is. As he soon discovers, though, Katie has a psychological issue of her own, and he has to decide whether he can overcome his OCD to be with her.
THE BACKSTORY
Oh Crappy Day is based on our film short by the same name, released in 2015. When the short started screening at various film festivals, we were surprised to discover how many people identified with Jared. Whether or not they had OCD themselves, people recognized his desire for connection and his fear of self-revelation. After almost every screening, audience members would ask what happened to him next. This enthusiastic response convinced us to turn the short into a feature.
Very quickly, the project became a mission for all of us at Dagtype Films. We worked hard to create a positive, nuanced portrait of someone dealing with OCD, as Hollywood has a long tradition of disparaging and/or ridiculing OCD sufferers. To ensure accuracy and responsible representation, we consulted with five experts in the treatment of OCD and related disorders.
After two years of pre-production, we filmed the feature in our home town of Raleigh, North Carolina. Our 15-day shoot included 16 locations, 30 crew members, 22 cast members, and 140 background performers.
By the time we completed post-production, the COVID pandemic had hit. Ironically, Oh Crappy Day was proving to be quite timely: people who’d never worried about contamination (or decontamination) were now seeing the world through the eyes of someone with OCD.
Despite the pandemic, we secured a deal with Gravitas Ventures for North American distribution. On October 12, 2021, Oh Crappy Day had its VOD premiere. It’s currently available on several streaming services, including iTunes, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Vimeo, Google Play, Microsoft, and Vudu.
Our feature has also screened at international film festivals, from New York, New York, all the way to Madrid, Spain. We’re proud to say that audience members with OCD have thanked us for giving them visibility onscreen and treating their struggles with respect. As the film industry comes to recognize the need for accurate, compassionate portrayals of people with mental illness, we hope that Oh Crappy Day will serve as a model for such portrayals.
Oh Crappy Day - Official Trailer (2021)
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