The Neighbor

The Neighbor is a fantasy drama about Jeet, an Indian immigrant who discovers a hole in his apartment that opens into an alternative universe. It is a perfect world where he can live with the person he loves, surrounded by his favorite things. But after meeting a neighbor who has had a similar experience, he begins to understand how a world that gives him everything he wants can also take away his freedom. To me, the film’s emotional core is very touching. We know the pain of loving someone who doesn’t love us back, the uncertainty of leaving one home for another, and the desire to escape into a world where everything might finally feel right. The film takes those familiar feelings into increasingly surreal and unsettling territory, with tonal influences such as Beau Is Afraid, Weapons, and Everything Everywhere All at Once. I came on board as producer after the director, with whom I had previously worked on an AI vertical series, shared the story and told me he was looking for a producer.

Bringing those different worlds to life meant finding locations that fit our budget while leaving room for creative control. We wanted a house with spatial depth and character, rather than the neat, uniform interiors we often found in rental listings. I researched and organized roughly 20 options across Giggster, Peerspace, and Facebook, then coordinated scouts at five or six houses. The original script also included a laundromat. After scouting several, we decided to move that scene to a shed at our chosen house, bringing more of the shoot into one location. This helped us concentrate our resources on camera and production design. To make the budget work, I kept the production team lean and handled most production logistics myself, alongside hiring additional crew and working with department heads on scheduling and budgeting. With approximately 25 cast and crew, that structure remained manageable. We also began camera tests for planned AI effects, drawn by their relative affordability and our curiosity about what they could achieve. That exploration is still at an early stage while we focus on editing.

We completed the shoot within the planned schedule and budget, and the chosen house worked well for all our scenes. It became Jeet’s apartment, his ideal world inside the hole, and the neighbor’s alternative world: his grandmother’s house. Changes in set dressing and lighting helped sell the same location as completely different spaces. Looking at the footage, I’m pleased with how those transformations came together and how much we were able to achieve within one house. The next step is to see how everything holds together in the edit. We’re now working toward picture lock and further effects tests, including the hole’s opening and closing, with the goal of completing the film for festival submissions.