Ben Ahlers and Wesley Taylor Wrap Satire Short ‘Movin’ On Up’

“The Gilded Age” star Ben Ahlers and Wesley Taylor have wrapped production on ‘Movin’ On Up,’ a workplace satire short film directed by Jacob Wahba .

Taylor (“Only Murders In The Building,” “Smash,” “Spongebob Squarepants: The Musical”) stars as a directionless white-collar worker who is catapulted up the corporate ladder. He lands in an “MGM Musical Meets Silicon Valley world” where employees dance through the halls and the company’s actual purpose is a mystery.

The cast also features Ainsley Seiger (“Law and Order: Organized Crime”), David Mattar Merten (“Enemy of the People”) and Denise Lute (“The Path,” “Up Here”).

The aesthetics of the satiric short were “inspired by the intricacy of 1950s MGM musicals—films like ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ and the work of Vincente Minnelli and Busby Berkeley,” Jacob Wahba said Tuesday. The short film is Wahba’s film directorial debut, following work across editorial campaigns, New York City theatrical productions and 20th Century television series.

“It captures a uniquely 2020s feeling that we all have inside of us – that feeling of ‘I’m not sure what I’m doing, but if I don’t do it fast I might die.’ It’s unsettling in real life, but hilarious on screen,” writer Patrick Daly said.

Max Johnson, Chloé Ryan and Wahba are producers, with executive producers Frankie Seratch and David Treatman, co-producers Maria Noto and Daly, and associate producers Katherine McGuire and Joseph Hayes. 

Pierre Marais (“As Apple Pie,” “Ghost Light), recently a leading man in Broadway’s “Sunset Boulevard,” served as editor. Veteran studio gaffer Jason Velez (“The Meyerowitz Stories,” “When They See Us”) is director of photography, while costumes are by Kala La Fortune Reed (“Only Murders in the Building,” “Musica”), production design by Lucas Degirolamo (“Run Amok,” “The Mill”) and choreography by Matthew Steffens (“Once Upon a Mattress,” “Into the Woods”). Joseph Hayes (“The Alto Knights,” “The Bear,” “Masquerade”) served as casting director. Composers are Natalia Karaseva and Christian McGhee and Zachary Schur is music supervisor.

Ahlers is repped by Gersh and Artists First. Taylor is with Innovative and Anonymous. Seiger is repped by Gersh and Authentic. Merten is with Innovative and CLA Partners and Lute is repped by the Bloc Agency.