Feature-Length Directing Debut Makes a Haddonfielder out of L.A. Transplant

If, as the African proverb says, it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes the combined effort of a county voting district to get one into an Upper East Side preschool.

Josh Shelov’s very real experiences with the hypercompetitive, angst-filled admissions processes of elite urban childcare centers fueled his new independent comedy, The Best and the Brightest.

The Best and the Brightest will open to wide release in July 2011.

Philadelphia became New York’s shooting stand-in when funding for was provided by independent local producers Robert and Patricia Weiser. The six months Shelov spent filming in the area were so enjoyable that he and his family moved east permanently and now live in Haddonfield.

“I was living in L.A. with my family, but I really wanted to direct something back east,” says Shelov, who originally hails from New York.

“We’ve got three kids—Owen (6), Emma (6), and Andrew (3),” he says. “We loved the schools and the amazing downtown area here.”

The cast includes Neil Patrick Harris of How I Met Your Mother, Shaun of the Dead’s Peter Serafinowicz, and Amy Sedaris, of cult comedy series Strangers with Candy, whom Shelov says was “the biggest domino to fall” in the casting process.

“My co-writer, Michael Jaeger, and I were both going through the travails of getting our kids into private schools,” Shelov said. “We’re both slavish fans of Tootsie and A Fish Called Wanda, and we wanted to write a classic-style, old-fashioned farce about our experiences.”

Satirist and Apple pitchman John Hodgman also appears in the film. In the Apple ads he portrays "PC," a dowdy businessman to Apple's hipster pitchman. Shelov and Hodgeman were college buddies. The rise Hodgeman's  comedy career comes as no surprise to Shelov.

“Hodgman is one of the most brilliant comedians I’ve ever worked with,” he says. “We’ve been friends for 20 years. The stuff that comes out of his mouth just conversationally is just eye-poppingly smart and funny. A lot of the best improvisations in the movie are his.”

Although he says it took him 10 years of dues-paying to break into the business, Shelov has been attached to many well-received projects. They include the character-driven Elijah Wood soccer indie, Green Street Hooligans, which he wrote, and ESPN personality Kenny Mayne’s scripted Web comedy series, Mayne Street.

Most recently, Shelov, who is an adjunct professor of film studies at Yale, was named Education Chairman of the Pennsylvania Film Industry Association (PAFIA).

For more information about The Best and the Brightest, visit bestnbrightestmovie.com.