Table of Contents
When Maya discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her, she enlists her best friend Ellie to help her steal his couch and sell it online. Once it's sold, things take a wild turn. That's the deceptively simple engine of Couch, a short built by writer-actor Amanda Godoy and director-actor Hannah Martinez-Montes, two friends of a decade who decided a moving-day joke was worth chasing all the way to a finished film.
What lands is the chemistry. Couch is a buddy comedy in a genre the filmmakers feel has long belonged to men, retooled around the female experience without losing an ounce of absurdity or physical comedy. It's a film, in Godoy's words, for the girls who would bury a body for their friends, no questions asked.
Key Takeaways
- Couch began as an off-the-cuff joke β that Godoy and Martinez-Montes could be "moving a couch and it would still be funny" β and became a love letter to a wilder, younger version of their friendship.
- An eleven-minute limit forced ruthless "killing our darlings," yielding two self-centered, sharply defined characters who stay true to themselves in any ridiculous scenario.
- Made entirely by the pair and their friends, on their own time and dime, the film is a case study in leaning on your creative network.
A conversation with Amanda Godoy about friendship, comedy, and making a film on your own back.
Interview
What drew you to make this film, and why this story, why now?
Hannah Martinez-Montes and I have been best friends since we were sophomores in college. When we first graduated, we started making content online together in the form of a sketch comedy show and several web series projects. Life continued to move forward, and we took a break from online content, but always felt the itch to create together again. Last year, our place of employment announced they would be doing an in-house film festival, and we both really wanted to create something. She was in the middle of moving, and her husband, off the cuff, said that we were so funny, we could be moving a couch and it would still be funny. That's where the initial idea of the short was born! Ultimately, it became a love letter to a version of us a decade ago β wild, carefree, and down for pretty much anything. We've always loved buddy comedies, and female friendship is the heart of the story.
What surprised you most about the filmmaking process, including any moment that changed how you saw the story?
When we submitted this to our work's film festival, we had a tight requirement to keep the short under eleven minutes. Hannah was incredibly adamant about keeping the story moving and "killing our darlings." It kept us locked in on our story and the actions of our two characters, so by the time the script was finished, we had these two incredibly defined characters who only thought about themselves and didn't care about the consequences of their actions. Hannah joked that it was very Seinfeld of us. We know who these girls are, what their objectives and goals are, and we can put them in any ridiculous scenario because they're always going to be true to themselves.
What moment in the film feels most like you, or like something only you could have made?
Truthfully, it's the way our characters speak to each other in the film. There is a particular cadence and dynamic that they have that can only be discovered through a decade of real-life friendship. We know every single thing about each other, and leaned into that absurdity when writing the script. Sometimes best friends bully each other, or snap at each other β or even sing an original song just for them, which fully happens in our short. There is a natural chemistry that just leaps off the screen. The relationship is what pulls you in.
What was the hardest creative decision you made while making the film?
Hannah and I are a completely independent producing team, and we made this film entirely on our backs and on our own dime. When you're two women in your twenties with full-time jobs, we were a little more limited in our time and finances than maybe another film could've been. Hannah's my director, and I'm her writer. She's a dreamer, thinks big, and wants to shoot for the moon β and I'm her realist that lassoes her back to earth. She had a particular idea for our last shot, but it ended up being unrealistic for our time and budget constraints. Luckily, I had been filming in a location similar to it about a month earlier, and we were able to complete that last shot there. With the perfect timing, and the editing genius of Donnie Mathias, we made it work. Sometimes we wonder what we could've done with more money and time. Anyone want to finance our next project?
What tool, technique, or collaborator helped most during production?
We were proud of what we had created, but one final touch pushed it over the edge. I had written a silly little song that my character sings to Hannah's character in the film, but I had done this a little randomly, and did not really think about how it would be edited later, which was extremely out of character for me β I am a planner! Watching it in post was funny, but it needed more. Hannah reached out to our composer friend, Ethan Algazi, and asked if he could send a little piano underscoring to what I sang. Within the same day, he sent over an entire orchestral backing track for my song and made the scene a thousand times funnier! It honestly saved the film.
What is the greatest strength of independent filmmaking, and what lesson would you share with others?
We could not have made this without the support of our friends. Every person that we asked to be involved in this project is a personal friend of ours, and everyone was so willing to offer their time and talents to us, and we are so grateful. Lean into your creative network! Throughout this process, and even screening this at our work's film festival, we learned so much about our community and what everyone is good at doing. People are hungry and ready to create, and there is always a story ready to be told. Couch only happened because of our friends. Say yes the next time someone asks you to be on set for their project, even if it's not in a role you've done previously! People want to be a village, and want to help, and you can be part of that village too.
What does it mean to have your film selected for The Reel Champions Shorts Fest?
We were absolutely elated to have Couch as a selection for The Reel Champions! We loved how this was a festival that highlighted and supported female filmmakers, and we are so excited to connect with other women, and to be inspired by their work. We both believe that things always have a greater purpose, and we couldn't be happier to be included in this group of extraordinary women and stories. We are treating this as a test pilot of sorts. We found these characters that are delusional, and a little self-centered, and for us, it's easy to see what kinds of messes these girls can find themselves in. If we wrote an entire short around the concept of moving a couch, what else could they do?
Main Cast & Crew
- Hannah Martinez-Montes β Director / Actor "Ellie"
- Amanda Godoy β Writer / Actor "Maya"
- Patrick Cooley β Actor "Neighbor"
- Cristina Seta β Actor "Savannah" / Production Assistant
- Luke Broyles β Actor "Josh" / Production Assistant
- Aristeo Deharo β Director of Photography
- Ana Cristina Grajeda β First Assistant Director / SFX Makeup
- Donnie Mathias β Editor
- Ethan Algazi β Composer
Filmmaker Opportunities
π Fund your next project with fiscal sponsorship
Have a project in the works? As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Cinematography for Actors Institute can accept tax-deductible donations on your film's behalf β a door-opener for grants, foundations, and supporters who want to back your work. We've serviced over 100 projects to date and helped route over $800,000 in funding to filmmakers. Explore fiscal sponsorship β
π¬ Grant deadlines and festival opportunities, straight to your inbox
The CFA newsletter rounds up grants, festival calls, and community news for independent filmmakers β the kind of opportunities that are easy to miss and painful to miss. Join the newsletter β
π¬ Focus on the creative β we'll help with the logistics
Production Management, CFA's newest member program, launches this November: production insurance and workers' comp, payroll, film permits, gear rental coordination, SAG-AFTRA compliance, contract drafting, production consulting, and crew recommendations β handled by a team of working filmmakers, Γ la carte or all in, in partnership with Creative Access Group. It's waitlist-only until launch. Join the waitlist β
League of Filmmakers is published by our parent organization, the Cinematography for Actors Institute β a 501(c)(3) dedicated to education, community, and capital for underrepresented filmmakers and actors. Learn more about CFA β
