User:Theskeletone/sandbox

Scumbag is a 2017 black comedy film by Hellawood filmmaker Mars Roberge, which is also referred to as a rocktopia. The film stars Princess Frank and Debra Haden with an ensemble cast of underground legends. The film follows a young wannabe-dj, Phil, played by Princess Frank, who takes on a day job at a telemarketing company to make ends meet but has to fight for his life and his girlfriend Christine, played by Debra Haden, while keeping up with his co-workers who consist of crazy people, ex-prisoners, drug addicts and murderers. The movie takes place in the 90s.

Plot

Scumbag
Directed by	Mars Roberge
Written by	Mars Roberge
Produced by	Tamas Birinyi Eric Ragan
Starring	Princess Frank Debra Haden Nick Zedd Michael Alig Nina Hartley Scott E. Myers Ryan Beard Keith Morris Monique Parent Angelo Moore
Cinematography	Marco Tomaselli
Edited by	Mars Roberge
Music by	Lionel Cohen
Production company	World Domination Pictures
Distributed by	Freestyle Releasing (North America) Ourscreen (U.K.)
Release dates	February 2, 2017 (2017-02-02) (International Film Festival Rotterdam) May 1, 2018 (2018-05-01) (North America) May 18, 2018 (2018-05-18) (U.K.)
Running time	114 minutes
Country	United States Canada
Language	English

The movie opens up with a group of lewd telemarketers walking to work, while random people struggle on toilets intercut with an old tv playing a black and white educational video on how to have good posture. A young couple, Phil and Christine, are waking up to their morning ritual of make-believe synchronized-swimming practice. Christine then pushes Phil to go to his first day of work.

On the way to work while riding the subway, Phil is confronted by a "Hot Mess" club kid telling him that he is going to burn in hell. Right afterwards, a homeless Black man asks him to contribute to the "United Negro Pastrami Sandwich Fund."

Phil rides an elevator with his friend Jeremy who asks "are you sure you want to do this?" After Phil explains that he needs a job, Jeremy laughs at him and messes his hair. When they exit the elevator, shots of scary telemarketers are intercut with haunted house displays from a Halloween store.

Cody, the run down impatient office manager, played by Michael Alig, trains Phil on how to make phone sales using a "smile and dial" technique. During his training session there are intercut shots of co-workers such as Ron Jeremy playing himself, a Black telemarketer they call "Snoop" who sells using a Caucasian voice, the eccentric Snidely Whiplash-ish man called "Corny" which is short for "Cornelius", the large jokester Elmo, and Pierre the French-Canadian with a heavy accent. Ron Jeremy fails at making a sale, thanks Elmo for getting him the miserable job, and quits.

In the smoke room, Jeremy introduces Phil to some of his co-workers who make fun of him. Jeremy asks Elmo about his weekend where it flashes back to a nonsensical tale about Elmo sewing himself up in some carpet. Tyler, the hungover rocker assistant manager enters and vomits in a garbage can, asking Phil if he likes the band Rush.

Tyler takes Phil around the office introducing him to more oddball co-workers: Ray the tattletale, Conan the short-tempered body builder, Kathy the insane cougar, Travis (aka K-Y) the racist cowboy who everyone hates, Porsche the tramp, Junior the crust punk who can never be fired because he is Jewish like his boss Cody, and Walter Pigman who is an elderly autistic man who sells as a half-man half-pig. We also learn that the stud co-worker, Ryan, has had an embarrassing fling with Kathy. Plus, Cody is spotted flirting with the secretary Lydia (played by Penny Arcade).

Phil realizes that the windows are covered with tinfoil because the office is being punished. Tyler hands Phil the sales pitch and tells him to memorize it so he can start throwing deals up on the board like "Stuart who has a boner to sell toner." Corny teases Travis and they start to fight but it is broken up by Tyler. Phil asks Tyler what they are selling and Tyler says photocopy machine toner ink but stresses that nobody knows much more than that or should care. Phil tries making his first sales call but fails miserably. His co-worker Ryan takes him under his veteran wing to show him how to make a proper sale but quickly gives up saying that he only sells to women. Ryan asks another co-worker, Stuart the junkie Newfie, how his marriage is going, learning that his wife has lost interest in him because she became a lesbian and wants a sex-change. Tyler explains to Phil that the lead cards come from 'Leadsbitches', a group of women on phones at the other end of the office who are so unimportant nobody talks to them. We also learn that Ryan has had a previous affair with Porsche, cheating on his ex-wife during their marriage ceremony, shown through flashback.

In the shipping room, a tough skinhead named "Hardcore" opens up a box full of oil, splashing all over him while his co-worker Grover laughs. Hardcore throws dirty rags on Tyler's desk, threatens Travis and introduces himself to Phil saying he has heavy music "that will blow your speakers" after learning he is a dj.

Phil is seen in a restroom stall next to fowl graffiti when Joe, an alcoholic Native American, enters asking him about his nightclub party. He pretends to have interest and then leaves by turning the light off on Phil saying "I'll let the others know you're ready."

Phil goes to lunch with Corny and Megan, an abused grunge rocker girl, after Corny offers to buy him a banana. On the way to the restaurant, Corny tells Phil that he doesn't like Stuart because he wouldn't let him take a life insurance policy out on him but then tells Phil he will pay him a hundred dollars if he lets him take a life insurance policy out on him. During lunch, Corny disturbs Phil by belittling a panhandler, as well as explaining that he hates vegans, loves hurting animals, wishes he could perform cannibalism, is obsessed with Eddie Munster, and is not into girls but "things you wouldn't understand." Corny makes Phil eat the banana he bought him in an uncomfortable way.

After eating, they stop at a store called "Artsy Fartsy" to pick up brass polisher for Corny's two-thousand dollar brass palm tree. On way, Corny points out a boy walking with him mom that he likes like in a pedophile way, disturbing Phil. In front of the store, they meet Charles, a pushy salesman played by Kosha Dillz, who lets Corny ash his cigarette in his hand and tells him to come back after work, taking Corny's coat to sew a button on.

They leave the store and Corny notices a man putting up a billboard, screaming up at him to jump claiming that nobody loves him. They meet up with Hardcore at a check cashing place and Corny shoves a pretty girl out of his way when they enter. Corny screams at the teller to hurry up and then casually leaves, embarrassing Megan.

When they return to work everyone is upset because the office was robbed. In particular, Corny flips out that his bottle of imported massage oil was broken, assuming it was Stuart. William, the quiet tough guy, and Junior discuss whether or not Stuart is in Methadone program. In doing so, Junior admits he is an ex-junkie. Robert, the owner of the company played by Tom Silverman, enters and gives the office a lecture about flicking their boogers on the elevator walls while putting down his brother, Cody.

After work, Grover is waiting with a pipe to beat up Elmo for causing his friend to quit a few days earlier but Hardcore breaks it up. Ryan introduces Phil to his girlfriend Lana and invites her out but she cannot go. He uncomfortably kisses her goodbye then pulls Phil aside saying that they are going to have a good guys' night out and then mentions that he could get him a side job as a gigolo for older rich women, one that they can take turns having sexual intercourse with.

Meanwhile, Phil’s girlfriend Christine is working at a sex shop, managing her cougar co-worker Wanda (played by Nina Hartley) and younger male, Glenn, who Wanda likes. An emo rocker named Russ hits on her in a slimey way. Christine rejects him, showing her loyalty and admiration for Phil. Wanda and Russ notice a club flyer she designed for Phil and compliment her artistic talent.

Ryan and Phil pick up a lost man in a wheelchair on way to the local roadhouse bar. Inside, Elmo and Joe are winning a pool game for money against Tyler and Ray while Corny and Hardcore watch. During the game, Ray learns nobody likes him and storms off. At the bar, William is secretly selling cocaine to strangers as a side-job he does for his clean-cut co-worker, Chris, who is a drug dealer that "doesn't want his calls traced." Corny mentions he wants to hurt Travis and Hardcore mentions he knows someone who can do it but has to go because his girlfriend is paying his rent again. Corny also leaves as Ryan enters, immediately noticing two pretty girls, Sam and Stephanie. He bets his co-workers that he can make out with Sam. Elmo and Joe win the game and exit. Ryan approaches the girls, make small talk and then flashes forward to making out with Sam in a restroom stall. His co-workers along with Walter and Pierre are seated at the bar when Ryan returns, rudely cutting off some Canadian soldiers from ordering their drinks. After throwing insults at them, Ryan points out to the main soldier, Jake, that he just made out with his girlfriend. A barfight ensues, including the man in the wheelchair helping Ryan, until the owner fires off his shotgun. The telemarketers flee off with the man in the wheelchair. Meanwhile, a lost, heavily intoxicated Junior stumbles into a random bar, vomits on a man and runs away.

Afterwards, Christine finds Phil with a black eye, vomiting in her toilet and she laughs it off.

The next day at work, Tyler tells Snoop and punk co-worker Javier (played by Superstar DJ Keoki) about their fight. Elmo jokingly says he doesn’t fight because he is gay and then tells a make-believe story via flashback about a kid named Donald who was the toughest kid in his public school who would throw excrement at people before he would fight them. Hardcore enters and tells William that he saw Junior tied up in an alleyway with excrement on his face via flashback but it is never revealed if the flashback imagery of Junior struggling is a joke or actually happening.

During lunch, Phil is walking through a park with Christine talking about how she is going to model in a photoshoot when a jogger scares them. They notice Snoop and Phil tries to introduce Christine to him but he walks away pretending he doesn't know him.

Also on the lunch break, William is with Tyler, Ryan and Corny picking out tuxedos for William's upcoming wedding. Corny has a fit because he isn't allowed to wear the "Gandalf outfit" from another store, damning William's marriage. William then tells Tyler that he will have Chris be his best man, to which Ryan is unimpressed.

After work, most of the telemarketers gather for a backyard party at Elmo's house, becoming heavily intoxicated. Phil reveals that he walked away from a career as a video editor because he didn't want to have a boring life. Junior reveals that he used to be an intelligent kid on way to becoming an accountant due to his parents' demands but threw it all away because he wants to have fun. Junior points out that Megan stays with an abusive boyfriend who beats her up all the time. Phil learns that Corny is not an actual pedophile but only thinks sick thoughts, was possibly molested by his uncle when he was a kid and possibly took too much LSD at one point in life, flashing back to Corny yelling at an innocent Hasidic Jew late at night like a crazy person. Hardcore explains to Phil that Ryan is insecure about being from a poor background without a father while Hardcore admits he hates everyone and everything, having nothing but low expectations in life. Phil reveals to Megan that he is a dj because he likes to get laid but is too embarrassed to dance. This causes Megan to start dancing with Phil. Joe joins in by table dancing for Elmo, taking off his clothes. Everyone except Elmo follows by shedding to their underwear, dancing in a drunken stupor. At this point, Megan walks off and sings an intimate song called "Delicate Boy" while Phil, in a dreamlike state, walks away from the crowd to his girlfriend to dance with her. This scene cuts to flashbacks of Phil driving alone in the desolate city at night, looking depressed.

The following morning, Hardcore stumbles past sleeping telemarketers to find Elmo having sex with Tara, the young telemarketer girl who never talks.

Later that afternoon, Elmo answers the door to an upset neighboring couple with family values, played legendary punk singer Keith Morris and popular 90s nude actress Monique Parent. After they complain about the nudity that happened at Elmo's party, Elmo calls them scumbags and slams the door in their face.

The next day at work, Ryan introduces Phil to Peter, an elderly telemarketer addicted to prozac who lives between his mother's house and a mental health facility. This is the one moment where we see compassion from Ryan while Phil receives a flash into his grim future. Phil tells Ryan he is going to hang out with Hardcore and Ryan gives him a crazy look.

After work, Hardcore is dancing like a lunatic around Phil at Hardcore's apartment to the beat of loud and fast hardcore techno music. While smoking weed, Phil points out that Hardcore's neighbors are knocking on the floor again to which Hardcore runs out with a large stick, screaming obscenities back and forth. When he comes back in, he turns off the music and Phil reveals in voice-over that Hardcore has already called the police on himself. Shortly after, the police officers arrive and Hardcore innocently tells them that "he was listening to music with his friend when his neighbor came down and threatened his life." When the police leave, Phil continues to nervously smoke weed while Hardcore changes his shirt and points out how stoned Phil is. Phil also revelas in voice-over that you can pay Hardcore to move in with you to get rid of your roommates as well as your neighbors. The police come back and point out that Hardcore was in the wrong, to which Hardcore mouths off to them then throws them out. Phil is freaking out but Hardcore calmly decides they should go to the concert now.

Industrial musician En Esch is performing at a concert but is heckled by Hardcore while Phil is nervous that the fans will attack them. En Esch calls Hardcore a scumbag and then continues into the next song while Hardcore cheers on, admitting he is a huge fan.

The next day at work, Tyler hands weekly reports to Corny and Phil. Corny cheers that he beat Phil's sales week and claims Phil owes him a massage due to a bet which Phil says never happened. Ryan enters, holding Phil down while Corny takes off his shirt for the massage. While struggling, Phil yells "rape" to which Ryan says "you want a rape off? Go!" Ryan then dry humps Phil while Elmo jokes about it. Eventually, Phil runs off humiliated.

At lunch, Hardcore is holding an elevator for Phil but then tells Travis to take the stairs, threatening him. Travis calls Hardcore a gutter punk and Hardcore knocks him out with a backfist. Phil and Hardcore casually step over Travis, leaving like it was no big deal that Travis is lying there unconscious.

After work, drunken Ryan stumbles upon Phil who is standing next to a dumpster that Hardcore has written "Coke, the real thing for real assholes" on. Phil tells him Ryan that he thinks it is the name of one of Hardcore's bands and that he was hanging with him earlier. Ryan tells Phil to come with him to a bar where he can get him a job a dj but Phil says he has to hang out with his girlfriend. Ryan persuades him to come and they walk off.

Christine has been waiting on a dark street corner for Phil who never shows up. She takes the posters she made for his club party, puts a bunch up and then gives up, throwing the rest away in slow motion.

Ryan, Phil and Chris are in an after-hours bar filled with an office crowd but run by bikers who talk down to everyone. Chris wants to leave because William never showed to sell his drugs but Ryan assures him he's a good salesman, approaches a young guy in a corner and sells him cocaine. Ryan then notices a pretty girl named Jessica at the bar who has just come back from her cousin's funeral. Ryan cheers her up and then tries to sell her cocaine saying that she can also have sex with him as a bonus. Appalled, Jessica throws a drink in his face and storms off. Two bikers then approach Ryan telling him not to be stupid, meaning sell drugs in their bar. Ryan cracks a joke to lighten the situation which angers them more and they make him leave.

Phil is washing up in the bar's restroom when his co-worker, an over-excited Porsche, surprises him and pulls him into a stall to do cocaine. Admitting she has a crush on him, she forces herself on him to which he eventually gives in and then does the cocaine with her while she laughs like an insane person. It is revealed that Porsche "also works for Chris" as a drug-dealer while Chris spies on them from a distance.

Phil while high knocks on Christine's door the following morning, who has been up all night in tears wondering where he was. Christine yells at him for standing her up and points out that they have been having problems ever since he got that new job. Christine discusses how Phil once saved her from living a street life as a "dope-smoking gutter punk" and Phil mentions how she got new direction by going to art school just like how he is having a new direction now. She says he should have gone to work for her dad but Phil says he likes being independent and likes his new friends. Phil gives up arguing and goes to work, leaving crying Christine behind.

Phil throws on his old headphones and walks away angry, listening to Danko Jones in his cd walkman give a cocky lecture at one of his live concerts about how to get over a breakup.

At work, Phil, Pierre and Ryan are taking an elevator with Ryan explaining why he ditched Phil the night before. Two regular female office workers approach the elevator while Ryan and Pierre hit on them in an uncomfortable manner, like they have never seen a woman before.

Later that day in the office, Travis and Joe are fighting while Stuart stops them with Tyler cursing them out for playing "cowboys and Indians." Phil enters and Tyler asks him about his video background, saying he wants to hire Phil to film his concert which Phil agrees to. While walking away, Elmo asks Phil if he "wants to huff some glue and run around a cemetery naked" with him. This cuts to a joke flashback of Elmo huffing glue, naked in a cemetery before he passes out.

A few hours later, Phil is sitting next to Camille and Ryan when Phil asks Ryan if there are going to go on a beer factory tour that Ryan once mentioned. Camille brings up the time Ryan had sex with hookers which flashes back to a time when Ryan and his friend had sex with two prostitutes--they were all high, one of the prostitutes complained about her life the whole time while Ryan complained that one didn't move fast enough, talking his friend into speeding her up. This near gang-rape sort of imagery is then lightened when it cuts back to the office and Stuart mentions that he has seen the size of Ryan's large penis like it is no big deal.

After lunch, Elmo approaches Phil with his goaltender business card, "Crazy Slav's Goaltending Emporium", and asks him to come play hockey with them on the weekend. Elmo then tells Junior to listen to his new tunes from his Walkman but Travis grabs and accidentally breaks it. Infuriated, Elmo tries to choke Travis to death but is stopped by William while Travis escapes. Ray watches on and runs to tell Cody. Junior tells Elmo that he is "probably going to go to jail" to which Elmo responds that he always knew he would eventually. Kathy hangs up the phone and screams at the office for being the only person who works there. Cody then runs out and screams at everyone, threatening to hold their returns.

After work, Christine is sitting in a traffic jam with Phil in an old red Honda Civic car while Phil is driving. She is still upset about last night. In a car behind them, a frustrated driver (played by D.H. Peligro from the punk band Dead Kennedys) is sitting in his muscle car arguing with his girlfriend. Also in the jam is a frustrated male public school teacher as well as a man who needs to badly use a restroom--one of the same people shown on a toilet at the beginning of the film. Phil wins Christine over by popping in a cassette tape and singing along to a tape they both like (actually written & performed by them). Pretty soon Christine and Phil jump out of their car, breaking into a full Grease-like musical number dancing on top of their car while a group of pedestrians run in as their backup dancers. All of this happens the frustrated drivers and a confused motorcycle couple complain about them. The song ends and they drive away.

It's Friday night and Phil is djing at his Gothic club which Hardcore claims is "very weird." The club is pretty busy according to Christine. Phil Christine that Elmo left angry because he wouldn't play Massive Attack in the middle of the night for him. At this point, Junior runs in all drunk and causes Phil's cd to skip. Chris notices Christine and approaches her in a slimy way, knowing she is Phil's girlfriend. Christine notices some of the telemarketers on the dance floor, especially Ryan who is drunk, trying to pick up girls by calling himself "Lestat" the vampire. The bouncer storms up to Phil, complaining that his friends are bothering all the customers and sneaking booze into the club. Phil tells him that they are his co-workers from the office which confuses the bouncer even more, thinking none of these people could ever have a real job. As a favor, Phil asks Chris to straighten it out for him, which he does since everyone including the bouncer knows him as the popular drug-dealer. Phil also secretly warns Christine to stay away from him, that he is bad news. Tony, Phil's club owner boss enters the dj booth who is a Mafioso bald man with a Brooklyn accent. Tony jokingly complains about the music and asks Phil if he is going to come and play soccer again because his friends can't stop talking about the gay kid with the painted fingernails. Tony demands Phil to spin The Cure and walks away. By now, Ryan is beyond drunk, thinks the girls are telling him that their name is Stella which makes him fall to the ground screaming Stella like Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire. The bouncer throws Ryan out and then we see Corny hiding in a corner, wasted drunk, laughing to himself while dressed like Eddie Munster with a Victorian wig and vampire fangs.

In a secret backroom of the bar, presumably after Phil's club closed, Phil, Christine and a group of club patrons gather to smoke weed. Phil overhears Richard, a slick club patron, telling his friend that he laced the joint with cocaine so that he can manipulate girls. Richard offers the joint to Christine, telling her it is just marijuana, before Phil can stop her. Phil yells at Richard for being a jerk to which Richard calls Phil a drunk loser telemarketer. Phil flips out, chucking a bottle at Richard but is separated by his friend.

The next day at work, Phil storms in and yells at Ryan for urinating on his roommates the night before. Ryan plays it off as "it was hot, we took our pants off, we had a sword fight, it was my secret weapon." Out of nowhere, Junior pops out wearing a white generic Halloween mask that he found at Phil's club, saying that Hardcore found a mask too. Junior proclaims that he is the "Phantom of the (photocopy) Toner" and bursts into a song about it, walking into Elmo. Elmo stares Junior down, rips his mask off and crushes it for mocking him and his workplace, saying that he "doctors the dope your dealers." Ryan puts the mask back on Junior, finds Pierre sleeping and tries to wake him up by jokingly saying that "it was all a bad dream, you're not really a telemarketer." Hardcore enters the office and hands a bikini magazine to Elmo who takes it with tongs, suggesting that he was masturbating in the restroom. Tyler, Hardcore and Elmo wail insults at each other.

Later that day, Phil wheels his chair up to Javier who has been making sketches on the back of lead cards of how much he hates his job, everything from photos of his boss being raped by co-workers to various scenes of office violence. Javier tells Phil he is saving up for a new motorcycle by doing guinea pig testing for scientists on the weekend and that he can hook him up with that job if he wants it.

Phil goes to the guinea pig testing center at lunch where he is greeted by a medical student who cannot stop laughing while routinely telling nervous Phil that he will be paid right after the procedure.

Phil comes back from lunch looking very ill, crashing at his desk. Tyler looks at the lead board and yells at the office for doing so poorly but Elmo insults him back. Tyler asks Elmo if he is coming to his show next week and Elmo says via flashback that he will be there "with his giant diaper and papier-mâché clown shoes."

Meanwhile, in the office elevator, Travis is surprised attacked by a punk stranger who knocks him out with a bottle. Travis comes back to the office drenched in blood, freaking everyone out, and asks Tyler if the office really hates him that much to which Tyler replies "yeah." Off in a corner, Corny is seen happily paying off Hardcore who hired the hitman.

Christine finds Phil sitting on the roof of his apartment building after work. He confides in Christine about the Travis being jumped, as well as the pedophiles, murderers and drug-dealers at the office, saying he doesn’t think he is “cut out to have a day job.” Christine tells him to be careful and Phil tells her not to give up on him, that he will only be doing it for a little longer. Phil also reveals that Christine had a brother who died of a cocaine overdose and that she means everything in the world to him.

Later that night, Phil is paid along with his friend Mike to videotape Tyler’s progressive rock band’s concert

while all his telemarketers appear bored while a punk (played by Johnny Angel Wendell) constantly heckles them. Corny works hard creating the band’s psychedelic backdrop by dropping food coloring on an overhead projector.

Tyler has party with the telemarketers in his apartment after the concert. Ryan and Phil get into a drunken fight over a joking insult where Phil smashes a tray but they quickly make up. Tyler goes looking for Stuart and finds him masturbating on his bed in front of a porno. Tyler throws Stuart out and then laughs about it with Ryan who proceeds to watch the porno by himself.

Phil has coffee with Christine the next day at a patio where she reminds him that she did all his club promoting work by herself. He tells her that he plans to play hockey with the telemarketers and that he said she would be a cheerleader. They get into a play fight about it and he tells her he is glad they didn’t have a “rape off” which confuses her.

In the lobby of the hockey rink, Phil introduces Christine to Elmo who then tells Christine how he plans to hurt Phil but she defends him, calling Elmo “a big meanie.”

Phil is getting dressed in his hockey gear next to his nightclub boss Tony and the telemarketers. Elmo insults both Tony and Phil.

On the rink, Phil is spotted barely able to skate while Christine, Megan and Tara cheer from the stands with Tara wanting to see violence. Tyler is checked hard into the boards by Tony and Pierre scores a goal on Elmo who is the goalie.

After the game, Elmo rushes Pierre in the dressing room who cries. When Pierre asks Elmo why he picks on him, Elmo answers “because I can” which causes Tony to burst out laughing.

At work the next day, Tyler meets up with the office owner Robert who tells him that he has little regard for for his brother Cody and appreciates Tyler, giving him a hug while also asking him to score him weed. Robert points out that he is making a lot of money in the stock market.

Ryan, Hardcore, Phil and Stuart are walking around on their lunch break when Stuart suddenly approaches two random Black drug-dealers for crack. After making his purchase in the distance, one and of the drug-dealers punches Stuart, breaking his glasses, sending him back crying to his co-workers who walk away in shock.

The next day, Phil is videotaping a children's dance recital with his friend Mike who keeps embarrassing Phil in front of disturbed parents by talking lustful thoughts about the dance instructor. After the show, Mike gets into a physical fight with the dance instructor's boyfriend over permit issues, causing them to flee the scene of crime.

Phil goes to Mike's house in a rough neighborhood at midnight to get paid but learns that Mike has a foot fetish, constantly talks to himself and smokes crack occasionally. Mike offers Phil crack but Phil rushes off. Mike catches up to Phil outside of his apartment, pays him and forcefully hands him the crack in front of two hoodlums.

At work the next day, Ryan is yelled at by his girlfriend and Tyler helps Corny deal with an annoying secretary by telling her that there is a bomb under her desk.

Back at the sex shop, Christine tells Wanda that her and Phil made up. Wanda also mentions that the rockstar guy Russ back looking for her. They are interrupted by a creepy male customer purchasing unusually large sex toys.

Mike and Phil are hanging at that old biker after-hours club but now it is turned into a gay bar with flamboyant club kids and transsexuals, including the Hot Mess from the subway at the beginning of the film. Chris gives a knowing glance to the bartender (played by Gregory 'G-Spot' Siebel of L.A. Ink) to spike their drinks and next thing they are very high, making out with transexuals while Phil has his wallet stolen by the Hot Mess. Russ enters, notices Phil along next to all the club flyers that Christine made on the ground, grabs a handful and exits.

Russ runs back to the sex shop with the flyers and tells Christine that Phil has been playing her. He then asks her out on a date which she agrees to while upset.

Phil and Mike have left the bar, walking down an alley, high on ruffies. They are swarmed by a vigilante punk gang who are trying to clean up their neighborhood from "Guido cokeheads." The Hot Mess and her wheelchair friend Gina (played by Goddess Bunny) stop the attackers with a home-made flamethrower. Mike decides to stay because he "thinks he is going to have some action" with Gina while Phil ventures off, noticing Russ and Christine leaving in her car together. Phil hopelessly falls to the ground, sulking.

Federal officers storm into the office to investigate the bomb call that Tyler did from the other day. Chis hides in a corner telling someone over the phone that he needs his money. Out of nowhere, Lydia's boyfriend, a tough man named Bart, enters the office looking for Cody who she has been cheating on him with. Conan tells Bart to quiet down and stands up revealing how enormous he is. Some commotion happens when Bart spots Cody but Cody is saved by the Federal Officers who handcuff Bart while says "you people are crazy!"

Phil hides in an abandoned building, looking depressed, and smokes the crack. He then ventures around the city going between a beautiful sunny day to walking skid row.

The next day at work, Phil is sitting at his desk, high on crack, appearing insane while people on the other end of his phone calls insult him. Christine's answering machine tells him that she is not interested in dealing with him anymore. Meanwhile, Corny is crying at his desk because William mysteriously died.

After work, Elmo runs into Chris who says everyone has been blaming him for William's death, that he was not allowed to his funeral. Elmo says "I never liked him, I never liked you much either."

The next day, the Federal Officers return and shut down the office for fraudulent activities. Stuart tells Phil to go work at another office that Ray now manages.

Ray hires Phil to work at another telemarketing company that sells credit card machine paper rolls. Phil's new immediate Moroccan bosses are paranoid cokeheads: Ted the owner (played by punk music legend Don Bolles) and Johnny the assistant manager (played by punk music legend Kid Congo Powers). His co-workers are two tough extorting Cholos, Walter Pigman who doesn't acknowledge him, and Hardcore who is wanted by the police for previously assaulting Travis.

Meanwhile, Elmo, Tyler and Joe opened up their own telemarketing office that Corny and Ryan work at. After a few insults from Elmo, Corny quits. Ryan continues his sleazy ways but now as an assistant manager in charge of office recruiting, hinting that he is going to sleep with a girl applying for a job.

The next day, Phil meets his coworker, a shady rock n' roll-looking telemarketer named "Brian" played by Nick Zedd, who explains to Phil that they could be rich if they had financial backing to start up a similar company to the one they are working for because he has all the contact info. Phil says he knows a potential backer and Nick tells him that they will talk later.

After work, Brian lays out the business plan in full detail to Phil while he sits between Brian's roommates, two tough-looking fellows in their underwear, Hank and Greg, who smile candidly. Brian explains that him and Phil are going to be rich.

The next day, Phil and Brian approach Tony in the office of his club, pitching the business idea, explaining that they need five-thousand dollars of his money to start it. Brian barely speaks during this meeting but Tony agrees to invest. When they leave, Phil is upset and confronts Brian on why he didn't speak. Brian answers "because you were doing great, we're rich" as he high-fives him.

Phil spends his lunch hours with his weed dealer, a Black man named Kirk (played by Angelo Moore from Fishbone) who makes successful telemarketing sales calls for Phil using a "White" voice. Even Phil's tough Cholo co-workers secretly start selling for him while they work at their day jobs because Phil pays them cash.

Everything is going well until Phil brings Ryan to meet Brian at his house. Brian becomes very nervous around nosey Ryan while Brian's tough roommates are spotted in the background packing their suitcases. When asked if they need a ride, Brian slams the door in their face saying they will talk later. Ryan warns Phil to stay away from those guys, claiming that they are "full on criminals" as opposed to regular office scumbags like they are. Ryan explains all the worst case scenarios in the world of telemarketing, stating Brian is as bad as they come and has probably killed people. A little boy carrying a lion doll then scares them.

Phil finds out Brian left town with all of the company start up money. Kirk helps Phil cash checks and signs bogus letters addressing State Attorney Generals while Tony helps Phil look for Brian at various crooked telemarketing companies.

At Phil's new job, Ray fires him in front of Johnny and Ted, feeling betrayed. Johnny then begins to search the office frantically to see who is working for Phil.

Phil is accidentally tackled by random football players on the street and then walks into a club kid as he searches everyone from drag queens to jocks for Brian. He is paranoid that he is being watched by the F.B.I. from vans.

Meanwhile, Christine is on a date with Russ, bored out of her mind while she doesn't gel with phony friends and is forced to listen about how great of a rockstar he is.

Phil is about to come back to his original telemarketing office that has temporarily re-opened when he runs into Snoop in an elevator who has just left his Caucasian girlfriend. Snoop gives Phil a lecture on life: to stay with his good girlfriend, avoid the loser co-workers, quit telemarketing and try to become spiritual. He then puts up a sticker which reads "Beauty Fades but Crazy is Forever."

After Snoop's lecture, Phil shows up to Christine's house a changed man, with black roses in hand. She invites him in and he apologizes to her for being an idiot and admits that he only took the job because he didn't want her parents to think she was dating a loser. They both also clear up why they were with other people and that it meant nothing. Christine says she can get him help with a 12-step recovery program and that he can get a job at her dad's. Phil puts on the cassette from the car into a ghetto blaster, playing Christine's favorite rock song. They make up, kiss and slow dance together.

Phil sits in an an AA meeting surrounded by alcoholics including an angry man, a flirty girl and a delusional man named Fred (played by legendary punk musician Howie Pyro) who cannot stop talking about how popular he is with women. Fred puts Phil on the spot by telling everyone that he is coming to his sober party. The group welcome Phi when hel says he just wants to get better and change his life.

Phil meets up at Corny's dark apartment where Corny sits under a giant brass palm tree, smoking from a cigarette holder in a silk robe. Phil tells Corny that Christine got him a job as an enveloper stuffer to which Corny makes of him. Phil asks Corny if his future is doomed for sleeping with a psychic (Porsche) and Corny tells him that psychics are afraid of him because of his dark aura.

Phil starts his new job as a mailroom clerk and meets his new co-worker Maria who is rudely hit on by a company executive named Mr. Davis who also belittles Phil. Phil then secretly calls up a favor from a friend.

Flashing forward, Phil recaps the lives of his coworkers. He explains that Corny went onto to be a police wanted pedophile fiction novelist while holding a day job as an annoying check cashing clerk who interrogates customers. Phil also explains that Elmo mysteriously died after fleeing the law for 20 years because of his busted telemarketing company. Phil explains that Joe fled the law, moving illegally to Mexico and started a family as well as opening a Santeria shop. Phil assumes that Stuart was killed by Chris for owing him drug money, admitting that this is the reason why Chris killed William. Phil mentions that Javier ended up opening a motorcycle shop while Junior also moved illegally to Mexico to mooch off his Swedish exchange student girlfriend but never runs into Joe, adding the political statement: "it's funny how all the losers from America move to Mexico but we complain about the hard-working Mexicans who come here." Phil wonders if Megan's boyfriend killed her, while in a flash forward, he walks over a Hollywood Wall of Fame star for the legendary band leader with identical name Phil Harris, saying "sometimes in life you just have to find yourself." Phil explains that the feds eventually shut down Robert's office for fraud but he still greatly profited from it and still makes money in the Stock Market. Phil explains that Travis became an assistant manager at a Telemarketing company where his personality now mimics Elmo when he used to pick on him. Phil mentions that Hardcore served time for punching travis but now sings in a punk band when he is not djing at raves. Phil also explains that Tyler married a girl from Javier's punk band who would publicly give him oral sex. Also flashing forward, Ryan falls in love with Christine's co-worker Wanda, who also dominates him in a routine pony boy S & M whipping activity.

Jumping back to the present, Phil spots Chris selling drugs to an accountant from his mailroom, saying that he now sells for the bikers and is the most popular guy in his building. Mr. Davis is confronted in the office restroom stall by Hardcore who is wearing a rubber horse mask, holding a horse puppet in one hand and a baseball bat in the other. Hardcore drags Mr. Davis to the ground, beating him senselessly while saying "I don't want you're money, I want your love."

Phil surprises Christine at her sex shop with a bouquet of flowers and Wanda says "get a room." Phil narrates "most of us get stuck doing it (telemarketing) forever until we blow are brains out." The last shot of the movie shows Walter Pigman making an oinking sales call, looking insane.

The final credits are intercut with two animations created by Scumbag's lead actress Debra Haden and illustrated by D.J. Rabiola while the director Mars Roberge sings his electropop song "I don't wanna be a telemarketer". The first animation shows all of the telemarketers around Phil, throwing garbage at him. The second animation shows Phil, Christine, Wanda, Ryan and Russ with Wanda whipping Ryan in a cage. On top of the animations during the final credits, there are 4 more scenes from the movie: the telemarketers drinking at Corny's house with Junior teaching Corny's cat Gwendolyn how to flip, Hardcore surprise attacking an executive man in an elevator named "Don", all of the telemarketers vomiting because Hardcore left a newspaper with fecal matter on Travis' desk, and Junior waking up in his own vomit in a bar then helping himself to a beer, triggering a security alarm as he exits.

Cast

Scumbag has an extensive cast with 220 roles. For a more detailed list, refer to IMDb page.

• Princess Frank as Phil
• Debra Haden as Christine
• Nick Zedd as Brian
• Michael Alig as Cody
• Ron Jeremy as Himself
• Nina Hartley as Wanda
• Keith Morris at John Stevens
• Angelo Moore as Kirk
• Don Bolles as Ted
• Kid Congo Powers as Johnny
• Jael de Pardo as Jessica
• Cindy Lucas as Tiffany
• Goddess Bunny as Gina
• D.H. Peligro as Frustrated Driver 1
• Tom Silverman as Robert
• Penny Arcade as Lydia
• Howie Pyro as Fred
• En Esch as Himself
• Scott E Myers as Ryan
• Ryan Beard as Cornelius
• Spookey Ruben as Junior
• Camille Waldorf as Megan
• Lauren Parkinson as Porsche
• Red Brady as Elmo
• Stephen Winders as Hardcore
• Tim Truman as Walter Pigman
• Andrew Davis II as Snoop
• Brennan Keel Cook as Stuart
• Aaron Tyler Rosenberg as Tyler
• Derrick Williams as Joe
• Matt Stoner as Travis
• Srinivasa Kapavarapu as Ray
• Michael Anthony Ibarra as Mike
• Michael Francesco as William
• Kosha Dillz as Charles
• Kate McKay as Tara
• Vanessa Lake as Sam
• Monique Parent as Susan Stevens
• Gregory G-Spot Siebel as Gay Bartender
• Neon Musíc as Hot Mess
• Gasper Gray as Russ
• John McDermott as Tony
• Sydney Viengluang as Stephanie
• Eric Carr as Jake
• Matthew Spalding as Mr. Davis
• Jonathan Stanton as Police Officer 1
• Devonric Johnson as Police Officer 2
• Superstar DJ Keoki as Javier

Production

Writing

Scumbag was originally inspired from Mars Roberge's thesis script, "Smog", for the undergraduate Film Production program at York University in 1995, with research dating as early as 1989. "Smog" focused mainly on the dj aspects of Scumbag, where the main character works as a Goth music dj in Toronto. However, the script takes on a new form after Mars takes on an actual telemarketing job in 1995 where he "purposely put himself in a crazy situation so that one day he could write about it." Doing extensive research on insanity, drugs and partying, Mars falls into a dark spiral where he almost doesn't come back, opting out of a film career to become an S & M dj for 20 years, which eventually leads him to NYC where he finds recovery. The first draft of "Scumbag" was finished in 2009 but registered with the WGA in 2014 because Mars was sidetracked with moving across the country, a failed marriage, as well touring with an award-winning documentary he made called "The Little House That Could".

Pre-Production

The casting for Scumbag was done by the director, Mars Roberge, starting in 2013 with remaining role auditions being held in 2014 at Cazt Studios in Los Angeles after placing ads in Backstage, Breakdown Express and Craigslist. Mars wanted to cast actors who lived the identical parts offscreen or at least resembled the actual people who influenced the creations. This led to many non-actors being cast in roles. Many other roles were pulled from popular underground musicians and porn stars. Ron Jeremy ended up in the movie just by randomly showing up to set one night. During casting, many celebrities were approached by Mars such as Ringo Starr, Steven Tyler, Jerry Mathers, Pee Wee Herman and even some such as Peter Murphy ended up on the cutting room floor for the final version.

The 90s wardrobe styling was primarily done by Karmia Amarissa with the exception for a few actors from the East Coast location. Many of the actors pulled clothes directly from their own wardrobes.

Scumbag was self-funded by filmmaker Mars Roberge after raising a low initial amount by crowdfunding through Indiegogo which is the main reason the movie took a year to shoot.

Filming

Principal Photography for Scumbag began on January 25, 2015, in New York City at Nomad Editing Company's old office on 12 W. 21st St (12th floor) under Mars Roberge's film production company, World Domination Pictures. After the first shooting day, the rest of the film was shot in Los Angeles from February 12 to December 5th in 2015. Originally, the entire film was going to be shot in Los Angeles but Michael Alig's payroll officer informed him that he was not allowed to leave New York State in order to not violate his release so World Domination Pictures had to set up a cast and crew on both coasts. Many scenes have actors speaking back and forth across in the main office that have never actually met each other because they are either in a Manhattan office or a Burbank office. The production also shot 3 days over schedule to make up for a main actor that was replaced two-thirds into shooting the movie. Red Brady was the replacement actor for Elmo and spent most of his shooting time acting by himself, visually inserted into scenes that were previously shot. Scumbag is filmed using the Black Magic Production camera in 4K raw with most of the scenes being shot simultaneously by two cameras.

Post-Production

Scumbag was edited by Mars Roberge over the course of 8 months at Nomad Editing Company in Santa Monica using Adobe Premiere CC. Mars was also the sound designer and synced all the rushes manually by eye. Every month when a new scene was shot, he would edit the entire scene the following week so that it would be ready before the following shoot day. This aided when an actor had to be replaced during the shooting. Color-correction was also done at Nomad Editing Company in Santa Monica by Flame artist Josh Kirschenbaum.

The audio for Scumbag was mixed in Toronto at Musique Corazon Studio and Blue Sound and Music, with ADR re-recording done at Soundesign in Los Angeles. Voice Overs were done at Nomad Editing Company in Santa Monica which included Kate Hudson's new husband, Danny Fujikawa, and the official voice of iPhone, Glenn Martin.

Release

Scumbag had its world premiere at the 46th International Film Festival Rotterdam on February 2, 2017. Scumbag's director Mars Roberge, cast members Debra Haden and Camille Waldorf, along with soundtrack artist Linda Lamb, were present for this, engaging with the audience after the film. It then had its North American premiere in the Museum of Moving Image on March 18th, 2017 for Queens World Film Festival with an introduction from Emmy Award-winning Sex and the City stylist, Patricia Field.

Scumbag, was selected by 15 film festivals and is still touring the film festival circuit with the final festival screening scheduled for early December 2018 at The Comedy World Network Film Festival held in Las Vegas.

Scumbag was released on VOD in North America by Byron Allen's company, Freestyle Digital Media, on May 1st, 2018, available on iTunes, Vudu Movies & TV, Google Play, YouTube Movies, Amazon Instant, Fandango Now, FiOS from Frontier, Verizon Fios, Xbox, Vubiquity, SlingTV, DirecTV, and Dish Network.

Scumbag was released theatrically by OurScreen in the U.K. on May 18th, 2018, with the U.K. premiere held at VUE Piccadilly, hosted with a cast Q & A from Bruno Wizard of legendary punk band The Homosexuals. Scumbag cast Ryan Beard answered questions from the audience, with positive reviews in the Royal Wedding Souvenir Special edition of the Daily Star.

Reception

Scumbag has had mixed reviews where audiences either love or hate the movie, there is no middle ground. Scumbag has been called a “must see cult film” by World of Wonder while China publication The Polysh claims “you may hate the filmmaker for making you walk on mine bombs that go against public morales.” Scumbag was selected as the Pick of the Week by LA Weekly in March 2018. Film Threat calls it “The Office unhinged, mixed with Mulholland Drive, mixed with Spinal Tap, plus some inexplicable surveillance footage.”. Because of the extreme responses, Scumbag has quickly developed a cult following who call themselves "scumbags" relating to the movie.

Critical Response

Scumbag garnered an IMDb rating of 7.1 out of 10.0 based on 57 customer reviews in September 2018.

Accolades

In 2017, Scumbag won Best Feature Comedy at Philadelphia Independent Film Festival and Best Ensemble Narrative Feature at Queens World Film Festival, beating Adam Green's Aladdin starring Macaulay Culkin, Nicole LaLiberte, Leo Fitzpatrick, Zoë Kravitz and Har Mar Superstar. Michael Alig stars in Scumbag but his personal life was portrayed by Macaulay Culkin in the 2003 cult film Party Monster, so the Best Ensemble Award is an example of reality beating Hollywood. Scumbag's lead actors, Princess Frank and Debra Haden, also won Exceptional Emerging Artist Composer at Hollywood Film Festival.

Year	Film Festival	Category	Recipient	Result
2017	Chinese American Film Festival	Golden Angel Award		Nominated
	Hollywood Film Festival	Best Feature Film		Nominated
		Exceptional Emerging Artist Composer	Debra Haden & Princess Frank	Won
	Philadelphia Independent Film Festival	Best Actor	Princess Frank	Nominated
		Best Feature Comedy		Won
		Best Feature Film		Nominated
	Queens World Film Festival	Best Director Narrative Feature	Mars Roberge	Nominated
		Best Ensemble Narrative Feature	Entire Cast for Scumbag	Won

Themes

Scumbag deals with very serious themes: drug addiction, death, domestic abuse, pedophila, spirituality, racism, anti-semitism, transgender identification, respect for minorities in the police force, Quebec separatism, illegal immigration from Mexico, Canadian-American relations, autism, the existence of God, sadomasochism, Satanism, prostitution, bullying, cultural appropriation, feminism, homelessness, homophobia, the economy, crime, and political correctness. These serious issues are often broken up by comic relief from Elmo who speaks of humorous nonsensical flashbacks as well as with musical numbers throughout the film. Scumbag has been called an intelligent film about stupid people.

Lawsuit

In June of 2018, World Domination Pictures alleged that the movie "Sorry to Bother You" infringed on the copyrights for "Scumbag", presenting the parties involved with a demand letter from The Fraser Firm, one week prior to its release date. No further actions have yet taken place.

Music

To help promote the release of Scumbag, two music videos were released, both directed and edited by Mars Roberge, containing various footage from the film as well as the artist singing the track within the film:

"Delicate Boy" performed by Camille Waldorf and "Do Me" performed by En Esch.

Most of the music in Scumbag was provided by actors from the film (Scott E Myers, Princess Frank, Debra Haden, Camille Waldorf, Spookey Ruben, Keith Morris' group Off!, Aaron Tyler Rosenberg, etc.) or by the filmmaker, Mars Roberge's various music projects (The Millionaires, Rise NYC, Tulips for Tina) or people directly connected to Mars Roberge either through his years as a dj or from working as a stylist at Patricia Field's in NYC. This included several unreleased songs such as "Gothic Boy" written by Die J! Mars which featured the vocals of Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds) & Nomi (ex-Hercules & Love Affair), as well as "Not Enough" written by the late Steve Strange (Visage) & Philip Anthony Gable featuring Alejandro GoCast. The score was written by Lionel Cohen who also scored Mars Roberge's first feature, The Little House That Could.

Lead stars Princess Frank and Debra Haden wrote, as well as recorded the song "Is this Real?" which they perform in Scumbag which won Exceptional Emerging Artist / Best Composing at the 2017 Hollywood Film Festival. Their performance was choreographed by Raquel Medina who plays Lana (Ryan's girlfriend) in Scumbag.

Art Installation

To coincide with the promotion for Hollywood Film Festival in 2017, Scumbag was included in a collective art exhibition held at Sur Le Mur Gallery in October 2017, along with Grace Jones, Lincoln Townley, Robert Vargas and Los Angeles Punk Museum. Scumbag's exhibit consisted of modified printed stills taken on set by Scumbag's producer Eric Ragan, as well as experimental film High Hopes by Mars Roberge that was projected onto the ceiling of the gallery.

Touring Show

Outside of traditional screenings and film festivals, Scumbag has toured several US cities (Los Angeles, San Diego, Philadelphia, Toronto, Austin, NYC) as a concert party featuring djs/electronic acts from the film (Mars Roberge aka Die J! Mars, Superstar DJ Keoki, Chris Lopez aka DJ 1979, Nick Zedd, Don Bolles, Jade Johnson aka Sister Circuit, Shanda Conners aka Trovarsi, Forward, Debra Haden aka Skunk in the Roses, Lightfinger, Neon Music, Kris Pierce aka Haunted Echo) as well as live acts (Spookey Ruben, Princess Frank, Patrick Salway, The Snags, Marlin Sandlin, Aaron Tyler Rosenberg, Scott E Myers, Camille Waldorf, Hart Heiden aka Swiss Melon Campy, The Millionaires, Cyclops 7666, Novella FM, Elaine Benavides, and Zef Noise), usually accompanied by a screening of the film and with the occasional guest djs outside of the film--from the original buzz party at San Diego's Studio 79 in July 2016 right through to The Lash in Los Angeles on December 5th, 2018.

External Links

• Scumbag at IMDb