Art Star Scene Studios or ASS Studios as it is commonly referred to as, is an American independent Motion Picture Studio founded by Courtney Fathom Sell & Reverend Jen Miller in 2011.

History

The studio, which Sell and Miller claim was launched off of money won on scratch tickets while drunk at a bar, was a recent development in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

underground filmmaking. Shooting shorts,

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s and one feature-length film – '' Satan, Hold My Hand'' – on little to no money, the studio produced a prolific amount of work in the short time they existed. Common traits ASS Studios became recognized for were their guerrilla style techniques, being set on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

of New York City and featuring a wide array of Art Stars and celebrities including

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. Though merely developing a small

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by their controversial public screenings at various bars and venues in New York City, the studio's last feature was produced by Jonathan Ames. Eventually, Sell and Miller, who at the time were in a relationship, parted ways due to creative and personal differences, effectively putting an end to the studio. At the time of the studio's collapse, the team was in the middle of their now-abandoned second feature, ''Werewolf Bitches From Outer Space'', starring

, Rachel Trachtenburg, and Robert Prichard. Sell's extensive writings on the creation of ASS, the struggles they faced while working on no-budget, extensive alcohol abuse during times of production, and the end of the studio have been published in ''Filmmaker'' Magazine.

Distribution

ASS Studios found distribution with MVD Entertainment who released both a box-set of the studios short films as well as '' Satan, Hold My Hand''. The distribution label is also responsible for releasing work by Sell and Miller prior to their collaboration.

ASSdance Film Festival

After returning to New York City from the 2012

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

, Sell and co. developed an idea to start their own independent

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

which would only screen films rejected by other film festivals. The ASSdance Film Festival took place during an entire week in 2012, where films from various no-budget filmmakers were shown at numerous

venues and eventually hosting a closing night ceremony at Bowery Poetry Club, where every filmmaker was given an award for their work presented by various celebrities including

and Michael Musto.
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Select filmography

* ''Elf Workout!'' (2011) * ''Killer Unicorn'' (2011) * ''The Bitches of Bowery'' (2011) * ''The Sinful Bitches'' (2011) * ''Waltz of the Bitches'' (2013) * ''Pretty Pretty Pretty'' (2013) * ''Orgy Whiplash'' (2013) * '' Satan, Hold My Hand'' (2013) * ''Werewolf Bitches From Outer Space'' - Incomplete. Trailer only. (2013)

References

{{reflist

External links

* http://www.assstudios.tumblr.com * https://web.archive.org/web/20151113234354/http://www.courtneysell.net/ Mass media companies established in 2011 Mass media companies disestablished in 2014 Defunct American film studios Lower East Side