Exclusive Chat with Filmmaker Josh Monkarsh (As We Know It)!

[00:00:06] It's a JackedUpReviewShow

[00:00:46] Back to the show, we have Indy Filmmaker himself.

[00:00:49] Josh Munkarsh is on the show here to share a few stories.

[00:00:54] I had a mutual pal stunt coordinator, Chris Gann, and it was just an honor to review the

[00:01:00] screener of As We Know It.

[00:01:02] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:01:04] Talk about prestigious.

[00:01:05] You've been at the New York Film Academy.

[00:01:07] You've done some various editing and cinematography.

[00:01:11] And where do you think this courage comes from though?

[00:01:16] Well, you know, it's one of those things like always kind of floating around the

[00:01:23] back of my head in terms of my ambition for filmmaking.

[00:01:27] And really, it just depends on what I'm doing in my life at any particular time.

[00:01:34] So like there was a while after film school, I tried out kind of the independent filmmaking

[00:01:43] thing.

[00:01:44] But this was back in the early 2000s when it was a little bit tougher.

[00:01:48] Oh, so tough.

[00:01:50] I'm still not sure whether cable TV or DVD is going to be a bigger factor.

[00:01:56] Right, yeah.

[00:01:58] And like the only real network you could kind of appease to was IFC.

[00:02:03] At that time, right?

[00:02:06] Yeah.

[00:02:07] Or in an insiders channel came out, right?

[00:02:09] So like those were kind of like the two ones.

[00:02:12] So just because there was at the time not that many outlets for independent films,

[00:02:18] it took a break from that world for a minute.

[00:02:22] And then it wasn't actually until like 2010 when I started producing a bit,

[00:02:31] you know, and then it wasn't until COVID 2020 when I'm like at this point

[00:02:39] where, you know, we're all quarantining and stuff.

[00:02:40] And I was like, you know what?

[00:02:43] I want to give directing another go.

[00:02:46] Sweet.

[00:02:47] Yeah.

[00:02:48] So like that was kind of, you know, just that whole process of quarantining

[00:02:52] that really inspired me to do it again.

[00:02:57] You know, and yeah, and it's funny because when you're working as a producer

[00:03:02] on a movie, you can only insert like so many notes.

[00:03:09] Yeah.

[00:03:10] You know.

[00:03:11] No, totally.

[00:03:12] Right.

[00:03:13] There'll be some kind people who will say you're right that doesn't work

[00:03:16] better and then you'll get the rude, you know, duly noted ones to where

[00:03:20] you're like, OK, why am I here?

[00:03:22] Yeah, exactly, man.

[00:03:23] Exactly.

[00:03:23] And like, you know, like, I guess what was happening is like maybe there

[00:03:27] was like a couple like creative indifferences and then like, you know,

[00:03:32] no bad blood or anything, but it's like, all right, maybe in order for me

[00:03:37] to like really kind of put my stamp on something.

[00:03:40] I have to direct it and it proved to be so true.

[00:03:47] You know, like when I when I thought that, I'm like, OK, you know,

[00:03:50] hopefully it'll be like that.

[00:03:52] Right. And I was lucky enough for as we know it to be like literally

[00:03:58] involved in like from page to screen and then you're going to post.

[00:04:02] And so I was fortunate enough to be around for like literally every step

[00:04:09] of this project. Yeah.

[00:04:11] Which was great, man.

[00:04:12] It was a great experience. Perfect.

[00:04:17] Where how did the collaborations with both Thomas Jane and K.

[00:04:22] Asher Levin first start up?

[00:04:25] OK, so yeah, that's interesting, man.

[00:04:29] That's an interesting story, actually.

[00:04:32] So I actually reached out to Tom Jane.

[00:04:36] I want to say 10 years ago.

[00:04:39] Oh, yeah.

[00:04:41] And I wanted.

[00:04:43] Yeah, I wanted at the time to option a comic book that he had coauthored

[00:04:50] called Bad Planet.

[00:04:52] Hmm. It's actually like beautifully illustrated.

[00:04:57] He's a big comic book guy.

[00:04:58] And but I have heard how he will bring storyboards to pitch meetings and everything.

[00:05:02] That's cool. Yeah.

[00:05:03] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:05:04] So I was working at the time

[00:05:08] with this company Palm Star and I was trying to figure out ways

[00:05:13] to create content and looking for different types of IP.

[00:05:17] And so, yeah. So I reached out to Tom about Bad Planet

[00:05:21] and, you know, the consensus was it's way too expensive to do as a.

[00:05:30] I mean, if for those who are listening, if you Google Bad Planet, check it out.

[00:05:36] You're welcome, Tom.

[00:05:39] It's basically it's just like this kind of Star Wars meets alien meets.

[00:05:49] I want to say like Bukker, Banzai.

[00:05:51] Hmm. Well, yeah.

[00:05:52] Very, very zany, very out of this room.

[00:05:55] Yeah, yeah, it's cool.

[00:05:56] It's really cool.

[00:05:58] But yeah, as a movie was impossible.

[00:05:59] So long story short, we kind of kept the relationship going,

[00:06:03] like sending each other different stuff and articles and stuff.

[00:06:06] And my brother-in-law is actually Ash 11.

[00:06:11] And yeah.

[00:06:12] And so when Asher was casting his project Slayers,

[00:06:19] there was this character.

[00:06:22] Elliot Wreck is a very much of the last name, but is

[00:06:27] like a very kind of gritty type of guy who in my mind I'm like, OK, this is this is Tom.

[00:06:34] This is TJ.

[00:06:35] Like and he's kind of one of those actors where he's a chameleon, right?

[00:06:40] We're like, yeah, right?

[00:06:42] He could really like when I recently watched him in.

[00:06:47] What was it?

[00:06:48] The Predator remake, right?

[00:06:52] When he was kind of the escape mental patient.

[00:06:56] He was schizophrenic and he took on this whole other thing, right?

[00:07:00] So like that's kind of the great thing about him.

[00:07:01] But for this role, it was more or less just like this zany, wild

[00:07:08] vampire hunter dude who I'm like in my mind thinking, OK, this could be him.

[00:07:13] And it was there if you want him to exactly.

[00:07:17] He'll go there.

[00:07:18] And so right.

[00:07:19] So I sent him the script.

[00:07:21] He loved it.

[00:07:22] And then yeah, he attached himself to the movie.

[00:07:25] And yeah, he actually was his attachment that ended up getting

[00:07:30] getting the movie made or is he's the first step in getting it made.

[00:07:36] So yeah, that's that that's all that's all the story that essentially

[00:07:41] was the foundation of that relationship.

[00:07:44] Lovely.

[00:07:45] And I love these types of chats because you hear about just so many

[00:07:51] pitch meetings that in awful like someone indirectly takes another person's idea

[00:07:57] or just or because it keeps not being made.

[00:08:03] Everyone's just like, well, you know, we're never going to talk to each other again.

[00:08:06] You know, we're we're cursing each other.

[00:08:08] It's so cool to just say, hey, you know, let's let's just keep

[00:08:11] emailing each other and see what's there.

[00:08:14] Yeah, no, 100 percent, you know, and it's it's cool.

[00:08:17] It's it's one of those things where like,

[00:08:20] you know, content it is so important, right?

[00:08:23] Um, because as you can imagine, like guys like TJ,

[00:08:27] like they're getting stuff sent to them every day, you know,

[00:08:31] and it's a lot of stuff to sort through.

[00:08:33] Totally nearly impossible.

[00:08:35] I mean, even me, like when I'm looking for new content,

[00:08:40] it's that's one of the hardest parts, right?

[00:08:41] It's funny that right one.

[00:08:42] But when you're lucky enough to have an actor read a character

[00:08:48] and kind of dive into that character before they're even cast,

[00:08:52] like kind of imagine themselves in that role before their cast,

[00:08:56] especially when it's, you know, not an audition situation,

[00:09:00] but it's more of like a straight offer.

[00:09:03] It's no pressure.

[00:09:07] Yeah, exactly, man. Exactly.

[00:09:10] And so I love this kind of ambitiousness.

[00:09:16] So how would you describe your experience at the New York Film Academy?

[00:09:20] Because, you know, I've heard some people had a fun time

[00:09:23] and then I heard others who were just like, whatever.

[00:09:26] Mixed reviews.

[00:09:29] Great question.

[00:09:31] I love to kind of say that I know what the new New York Film Academy

[00:09:36] you know, formula is.

[00:09:39] I don't, unfortunately.

[00:09:41] But what I can speak to is when I was there, it was pretty amazing.

[00:09:47] Mainly because we were still shooting on film.

[00:09:50] Oh, lovely. Yeah.

[00:09:52] Yeah. Now I do know because my

[00:09:58] they have like a camp now, I guess, at New York Film Academy.

[00:10:01] And Nephew was there and he was saying they're all video now, digital now,

[00:10:05] which, you know, it's great.

[00:10:06] But with film, the experiences that I had shooting on, you know,

[00:10:11] the 16 millimeter air flex, you know, and we had to use the daylight spools

[00:10:18] to pop them in and we were, you know, that whole part just being able

[00:10:22] to kind of learn every part, you know, from loading to, you know,

[00:10:29] essentially like being.

[00:10:31] At least try each one once before you say I won't do that again.

[00:10:35] We got a total man like the loading thing is tough, you know.

[00:10:39] I did load it once and I didn't.

[00:10:41] Yeah.

[00:10:42] My my issue with my college wasn't so much a.

[00:10:47] How to do this and everything.

[00:10:50] It was more just a lack of communication and commitment to every

[00:10:54] everyone helping each other out.

[00:10:56] And I was like, well, why are we all in class together for all?

[00:10:59] Just going to be lone dogs, you know, different things.

[00:11:01] Yeah. And that does that does happen.

[00:11:03] We had some groups, you know, because it kind of like fraction out into groups.

[00:11:07] Right.

[00:11:09] Everyone scratch each other's back and say, Hey, exactly man.

[00:11:12] Exactly. In some groups, I will say, like did work better than others.

[00:11:17] We got pretty lucky with our group or like everybody kind of understood

[00:11:20] their position, right?

[00:11:21] And that part was great.

[00:11:25] So yeah, I mean, to answer your question, it was a good experience.

[00:11:29] The other mainly because like we got our hands dirty, right?

[00:11:33] And not only was it cool to kind of get our hands dirty

[00:11:37] when being on set and actually like, you know, handling the camera,

[00:11:41] but also we were cutting back in the day.

[00:11:44] This is the real man.

[00:11:46] We were cutting on we're cutting the film with these

[00:11:50] they're called Steenbecks, which are these older German editing like dinosaurs.

[00:11:57] Yikes. OK. Huge.

[00:11:59] And these things are massive and you're sitting there

[00:12:02] and you're actually physically cutting and taping.

[00:12:04] And that part, that was incredible, man, like just to be able to do that was awesome.

[00:12:09] Man. And that would have been before I'm trying to remember what was the one

[00:12:14] before Final Cut and Adobe took over.

[00:12:18] Yeah, I know you're talking about I can't think of a name.

[00:12:22] It always is one of those brief names.

[00:12:24] Everyone knows that. And yeah, I would see people complain about it's great.

[00:12:30] But why is it considered like professional?

[00:12:32] But I can't use Sony Vegas unless it's like a

[00:12:37] like random concert shoot in Nevada where no one cares.

[00:12:43] It's interesting how which apps took over and were considered like,

[00:12:47] you know, that is a late that was professional.

[00:12:49] You must use that versus right.

[00:12:52] Can't use that's only beginner level level stuff.

[00:12:56] Level stuff. Yeah, no, you're right, man.

[00:12:57] You're right. And it was also expensive, like with Avid.

[00:13:01] When I saw one of it, yes, I have it.

[00:13:03] That's your thing. Yes. Yeah, I have it.

[00:13:05] And it's in a bit is like still pretty easy, like yeah.

[00:13:09] It's like with the other software, right?

[00:13:10] It's like pretty like fundamentally like solid.

[00:13:15] But yes, like at the time when it came out,

[00:13:19] it was so so expensive.

[00:13:21] And I think it like I don't know, correct me if I'm wrong.

[00:13:23] Maybe you know better than I do.

[00:13:24] I actually don't know.

[00:13:26] You don't know. OK.

[00:13:26] I might have been like Lucas's team that helped kind of build the Avid maybe.

[00:13:31] I that's worth a Google.

[00:13:32] I wouldn't be surprised, you know, because they were always pretty technology friendly.

[00:13:37] And yes, it's like you want to get your feet wet,

[00:13:41] come work at our, you know, behind the scenes at the ranch.

[00:13:44] Yeah, behind the scenes at the ranch. Exactly, man.

[00:13:46] So yeah, so that was cool, like cutting.

[00:13:48] And then we would take it to the Telesini and then they would kind of transfer

[00:13:53] it on to, you know, whether it was like VHS or DVD.

[00:13:59] And that was that.

[00:14:00] So like that part of it was cool just because it was kind of like

[00:14:02] an antiquated approach, which at the time was not antiquated,

[00:14:06] but, you know, looking back now, of course it is.

[00:14:09] You know what I'm saying?

[00:14:09] Like just having that kind of foundation was was very helpful.

[00:14:14] Totally. And you've spoken on your bio and how you were a studio courier,

[00:14:21] you know, delivering equipment.

[00:14:23] Isn't it wild how bad along with delivering coffee is like the oldest

[00:14:26] trick in the book? Oh yeah, man. No, it is.

[00:14:29] Delivering mail and people will pay attention to you and say, OK,

[00:14:33] this guy treats this nine to five as more than just another gig.

[00:14:39] Well, no, you're right, man.

[00:14:40] And it's also like when you're a courier or maybe like delivering coffee,

[00:14:44] whatever, you're also like just being around that world and you're kind of

[00:14:49] like just soaking up the energy.

[00:14:52] Soking up is the best way to put it.

[00:14:53] Yeah, you're kind of.

[00:14:55] Yeah, exactly.

[00:14:57] Like this is this was a crazy story when I was a courier.

[00:15:01] I was delivering something to Fox on Pico.

[00:15:06] And yeah, and this was around 97 or no, it could be 97.

[00:15:13] It was like 98 99 around there, like late 98.

[00:15:17] And when I was going to deliver the package,

[00:15:22] I saw on like a eight by 10 sheet on a door.

[00:15:30] Episode one meeting.

[00:15:35] Man, so that was.

[00:15:37] And I was like, I was like, oh my God, like, what do I do?

[00:15:40] Like do I put my ear at the door?

[00:15:43] Like, you know, and it was one of the I was like I was tested

[00:15:47] in that situation for sure.

[00:15:48] Right. So I like hung out a little bit around the door and the door opened

[00:15:52] and like, I didn't see Lucas.

[00:15:54] I don't know who knows if he was even there, but that's just an example

[00:15:57] of like being around when that don't know who, you know, tampered.

[00:16:03] Yeah, exactly.

[00:16:05] So no, I said fortunately for them, it was soundproof the room.

[00:16:10] But it was just cool being in their presence at that time, you know?

[00:16:14] Kind of a don't you wish more of that was the case?

[00:16:18] Right.

[00:16:19] Because I really saw the new newer

[00:16:23] Battlestar Glide Club Blu-rays and they had a hysterical special feature

[00:16:27] where they're back when Internet rumors were the worst people would,

[00:16:32] you know, anyone from extras to PAs would leak something on the Internet.

[00:16:36] They decided to film like five different scenes.

[00:16:39] Oh, yes, they had to.

[00:16:41] The producers whispering to like the AD and the director jokes

[00:16:46] to the camera is like, I won't know what's the actual scene

[00:16:50] until I go to the edit room tomorrow.

[00:16:53] No, I mean, I got to say, like it's a problem,

[00:16:56] but it's a good problem to have, I guess, right?

[00:16:59] Encourages more creativity.

[00:17:00] People are still you can't say I predicted it.

[00:17:03] No, you did it.

[00:17:05] Yeah, exactly.

[00:17:05] It will end like if you think about it, if you're a filmmaker

[00:17:08] right that's in that position where you have the budget, right?

[00:17:12] Like make five different right.

[00:17:14] And like there's that much of, you know, the desire to know

[00:17:19] the need to know like what is going on.

[00:17:21] Like that's a success, man, in my mind, at least.

[00:17:24] That totally.

[00:17:26] Hey, I think so many.

[00:17:31] So let's talk about how when you got into the chair,

[00:17:35] you know, this is a fun, very laid back zombie film.

[00:17:38] I saw it so hyped up and I loved how you kind of paid tribute

[00:17:44] to the whole one location.

[00:17:46] Yeah, you know, everything's hitting the fan and reminding

[00:17:50] the audience, hey, you are here to laugh, but, you know,

[00:17:53] what would you actually do in this, you know, doomsday scenario?

[00:17:56] Yeah, what would you really do?

[00:17:58] And you got to just laugh because any choice you make

[00:18:03] is still going to be very absurd.

[00:18:05] Zombies by default are absurd, you know?

[00:18:09] Well, yeah, and they are.

[00:18:11] I mean, like historically.

[00:18:13] Yep, it's absurd in some cases, not to be too literal,

[00:18:16] but it's just like, man, you're bringing up some fun content.

[00:18:20] And I appreciate that.

[00:18:24] I think Charles Parnell set the mood perfectly,

[00:18:28] especially in between all the Synthwave 80s music montages.

[00:18:32] Oh, yeah. I mean, he was he was so much fun,

[00:18:36] so much fun to work with and kind of like what I imagined

[00:18:40] when we were writing this thing.

[00:18:43] Um, as as Ted Summers, I mean, he like that was one of the first roles

[00:18:48] that actors that popped into mind for our role was it was him was was Chris.

[00:18:53] I was like, oh, yeah, this is this is Ted Summers.

[00:18:56] Lovely. Yeah.

[00:18:59] And yeah.

[00:19:03] What what do you feel like you want to capture next now that you

[00:19:10] are have been comfortable, you know, you've produced so many shorts,

[00:19:14] you've done yeah, thrillers and now you test the horror comedy route.

[00:19:20] Well, what do you think you really want to conquer next?

[00:19:24] So, yeah, I mean, I think for the next the next one,

[00:19:28] I probably will stay away from and not like for any particular reason,

[00:19:35] but I'll probably stay away from the horror comedy

[00:19:40] and focus more on the darker comedy genre.

[00:19:48] And yeah, and it's and it's mainly because it's more of a test.

[00:19:55] You know, when you're dealing with comedy horror,

[00:19:58] it's a lot easier to get those last because like you said,

[00:20:02] you're dealing with zombies who are already kind of absurd and by nature.

[00:20:08] Right? Oh, that's so cool that you had a supporting crew and

[00:20:14] you were willing to test out these ambitious ideas.

[00:20:17] I'll tell you, I had an awful college experience in that I kept encountering

[00:20:21] professors and you're going to find this laughable.

[00:20:24] They were like, you can do anything you want,

[00:20:27] except gangsters, zombies and space battles

[00:20:33] because you can't relate to that in real life.

[00:20:36] Oh my God, what part of that makes any sense at all?

[00:20:39] It's a movie you have to buy the bait.

[00:20:43] Yeah, I wouldn't say that's good advice, right?

[00:20:45] Because I get a lot of every genre film like you need a hook.

[00:20:50] You could say any of them are implausible.

[00:20:52] It's like it's just what sticks, but totally.

[00:20:55] You can't relate to it in real life.

[00:20:57] Well, I thought the filmmakers job was to make a

[00:21:00] incomprehensible situation plausible.

[00:21:03] Yeah, that's that's a little yeah,

[00:21:04] it's maybe that professor were just like taking projects to literally.

[00:21:09] I think they were full themselves.

[00:21:11] Yeah, like you got to find the humor man,

[00:21:16] like at least for my style of filmmaking,

[00:21:19] even when you're making a drama,

[00:21:22] like I always feel like there's room to make it a dramedy.

[00:21:27] Mine is a little possible, you know, like it's just like you got to have

[00:21:31] for me like there's there's flaws in everybody.

[00:21:33] We can this isn't everybody.

[00:21:35] It's my kind of whole angle and an idea.

[00:21:41] And I would say goal as a filmmaker is to kind of expose those

[00:21:45] vulnerabilities and insecurities and, you know, have them at the end of the day

[00:21:50] be kind of like more of a laughable slash teachable moment.

[00:21:54] Yeah, I mean, if you're not going to learn it from any of this, why do you anyway?

[00:22:00] It's so much fun putting a puzzle together.

[00:22:03] Yeah, totally man, totally.

[00:22:04] So yeah, so to answer your question,

[00:22:06] you know, the dark the dark comedy would be the next project.

[00:22:11] And it's definitely kind of and I'm working on it now.

[00:22:15] I can't tell you too much about it.

[00:22:18] I can tell you it is another period piece.

[00:22:20] And this one is set in the 1970s

[00:22:24] and we will have more than one location.

[00:22:26] So it will be, yeah, budget will be a little bit greater.

[00:22:31] And, you know, set design will be a lot of fun.

[00:22:36] And can't wait to get started on that one.

[00:22:39] But it is not a horror.

[00:22:42] It's more of a, you know, dromity mixed mixed with a little

[00:22:49] I want to say action slash thriller.

[00:22:51] So that's the vibe. Yeah.

[00:22:55] And have you ever thought of remastering Subway Cafe

[00:23:00] and the high life under like streaming or DVD maybe?

[00:23:05] Yeah, I mean, honestly, I have.

[00:23:08] There's this process called

[00:23:13] what is a telescopic rotoscoping where they actually

[00:23:17] they applied this kind of animation effect over footage.

[00:23:21] A scatter darkly.

[00:23:24] Was a film that yeah, yeah, like butter.

[00:23:27] Yeah, like butter, right?

[00:23:29] Did and they they use that technology now.

[00:23:32] My understanding is it's come a long way since then.

[00:23:35] So I've thought about taking that and putting it over

[00:23:40] the high life because I do think it would work for that.

[00:23:43] Subway Cafe, you know, possibly I just don't.

[00:23:48] I don't think that would have to be like a total reimagination.

[00:23:52] Like in I just don't know if the footage is there.

[00:23:57] Maybe maybe right.

[00:23:59] But with High Life, I think there's definitely more of a chance of that happening.

[00:24:03] I know what you mean.

[00:24:04] And you don't want to risk damaging the elements when you're remastering them.

[00:24:09] Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[00:24:11] And then there's also like, you know, now I'm a lot pickier, I would say,

[00:24:15] like as a filmmaker slash editor.

[00:24:19] And so I might have a situation like with Subway Cafe, Subway Cafe, for example,

[00:24:24] where like I'm not happy with the footage and then we don't have a feature.

[00:24:28] We have a short, right?

[00:24:29] So like, you know.

[00:24:32] But you never say never. Who knows?

[00:24:35] No, it's cool to keep it all open to where it's like, OK, this one I want to revisit

[00:24:39] or this one I'm moving on from there.

[00:24:42] Yeah, just do it all over again now.

[00:24:44] But with the pros.

[00:24:47] Exactly. Well, right.

[00:24:48] And that was the other thing is like when I was making these movies

[00:24:50] like Subway Cafe and the High Life, I was spreading myself way too thin.

[00:24:55] I was the cameraman.

[00:24:57] I was the director.

[00:24:59] I was the producer. I was the line producer.

[00:25:01] I was like craft services.

[00:25:04] You know, I was the loader.

[00:25:05] Like it was it was crazy.

[00:25:07] Oh, man. Yeah.

[00:25:09] I mean, granted, I was young at the time.

[00:25:11] I was like 19 or 20 years old.

[00:25:12] So like I had the energy to do that.

[00:25:15] But still like the product definitely suffered because I didn't have help.

[00:25:20] Right. So like that's, you know, if anything for like, you know,

[00:25:25] filmmakers out there, younger filmmakers out there who are listening to this.

[00:25:29] Like it really, really does help to ask for help.

[00:25:32] And it shouldn't be something you don't do.

[00:25:35] Right. It's not taboo, guys.

[00:25:36] It's not taboo.

[00:25:38] I got asked for it.

[00:25:40] Yeah.

[00:25:41] Man.

[00:25:44] Now that.

[00:25:47] Well, what advice would you have?

[00:25:48] I always love to ask these because, you know, film business

[00:25:52] can unfortunately still be pretty competitive.

[00:25:55] What solutions would you recommend for those who are

[00:25:58] letting just, you know, some snobs kind of wreck what they want to do

[00:26:03] or just need more motivation like what they want, but not how to again

[00:26:10] start the show.

[00:26:11] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:26:13] I mean, honestly, like it's hard sometimes, but

[00:26:17] the best way that I find sometimes to, you know, kind of spin

[00:26:21] the negativity is to use it.

[00:26:25] You know, yeah, just use it.

[00:26:28] Use it to either fuel the project and the passion.

[00:26:34] Or if it's like an insult slash note, because generally

[00:26:38] like there are notes sometimes in insults, whether or not

[00:26:42] they're critic meant to do that or, you know, like true times.

[00:26:46] It's like, OK, well, he was kind of like an ass about that.

[00:26:50] But that might make sense.

[00:26:52] Right.

[00:26:55] He had a point, but he just was not constructed the way he said it.

[00:26:58] But you need to focus on what works for you.

[00:27:00] Totally versus totally.

[00:27:04] Who knows?

[00:27:04] People are cryptic sometimes, sometimes they're a jerk just to get your attention

[00:27:09] and not go there anymore.

[00:27:10] And then you're like, OK, well, right.

[00:27:12] And then there are those.

[00:27:14] You know that again.

[00:27:15] Totally. Yes.

[00:27:16] You hit it on the head.

[00:27:17] There are those haters as well, right?

[00:27:19] That will do anything to try to just like keep getting it down.

[00:27:22] And it's not positive at all, right?

[00:27:24] It just continuous activity, right?

[00:27:27] And those are the.

[00:27:29] But for me, like the way I look at it is like I've encountered a few of those,

[00:27:34] you know, really like what they're doing is most likely projecting

[00:27:38] their own negative experiences that they have had onto you in that moment.

[00:27:42] Right. That could be a two.

[00:27:45] Yeah. So right.

[00:27:46] So if anything got a feel for that person in that moment, brush it off

[00:27:50] and, you know, don't don't let them deter you at all.

[00:27:53] It helps that there's a lot of great mental health and fitness podcasts.

[00:27:57] And almost all of them will bring up insecurity.

[00:28:00] Yeah. That is the main source of anything from

[00:28:04] an unpleasant person to bullying to someone who's just a fear monger.

[00:28:08] They let fear kind of ruin their lives and they're now letting it impact you.

[00:28:12] You're like, I have fear, but I don't let it rule me.

[00:28:16] No, exactly. You can.

[00:28:18] And it's right. It's good to take it and kind of try to turn it into something

[00:28:22] creative, if possible. And I hear you, I'll validate you, but please don't bring

[00:28:27] it to my my house or my film set or my family.

[00:28:32] Right. Right. No.

[00:28:33] Yeah, totally mad. I mean, if you look like the review process, you know, there are

[00:28:37] all reviews. Yeah.

[00:28:39] Oh, the studio.

[00:28:41] They're they're they're real unless in the studios are dealing with this

[00:28:44] issue too, because, you know, that you have these people who they don't

[00:28:49] necessarily even watch the movie.

[00:28:51] Like their soul intent.

[00:28:52] I saw the trailer. Therefore I'm giving it a one kill it.

[00:28:56] They just want to kill it. Right. Yeah.

[00:28:59] So that does that does make it harder for for, you know, independent

[00:29:03] filmmakers, especially, but even even studio filmmakers, I can tell you a funny story,

[00:29:07] dude. I went on to this sci fi web series was on all the streaming platforms,

[00:29:12] mainly Amazon at the time.

[00:29:14] Yeah, it had a lot of Babylon 5 and Star Trek people in it.

[00:29:18] And long story short, you know, the effects were good.

[00:29:21] The tone was kind of confusing.

[00:29:25] Is it a mockumentary or is it just a straight up sci fi parody?

[00:29:28] What is it? And yeah.

[00:29:30] But I had to just suffer fruit and just do it myself because there was

[00:29:35] a lot of lame like one out of five star reviews with poorly written grammar.

[00:29:41] You know, like a five year old just dissing the movie.

[00:29:43] And then there was a bunch of reviews clearly by the filmmakers giving it five stars.

[00:29:48] So I was like, well, I don't know what I got.

[00:29:50] I don't know. Yeah.

[00:29:52] And so that's that's not the problem, man.

[00:29:55] That's the problem.

[00:29:56] But yes, it's just it's just so apparent.

[00:29:59] And he's like, OK.

[00:30:02] Yeah. Well, I mean, look, I think it is happening more with the studio films,

[00:30:06] like the larger films, for example.

[00:30:10] I haven't seen it yet, but I do know that like Madame Web, I think

[00:30:13] has maybe like what is like a 17 percent or something.

[00:30:17] Yeah, it's not fresh and you don't know how much of it is.

[00:30:21] Maybe it's cheesy, but right that bad or maybe it is bad, but not bad.

[00:30:27] OK, perfect. So yeah.

[00:30:29] Yes. So for that, I mean, like you have to there's a few things though,

[00:30:33] like because for example, when you have something like a Marvel film, right?

[00:30:38] The budget is so great.

[00:30:39] There has to be a way like and this is a very hard part of the filmmaking

[00:30:45] process, the script, you know, the screenwriting process and making sure

[00:30:49] that you're kind of, you know, sending out a well executed script

[00:30:53] to be made, right?

[00:30:55] What happens and this is really unfortunate

[00:30:58] is when you have these big names that start to get attached to the project

[00:31:01] and granted, like this is a huge shooting a movie, but still

[00:31:04] you have these big names that are attached to the project.

[00:31:07] A lot of talent, they have their input nowadays, especially

[00:31:12] types of figures, right?

[00:31:13] I'll do it, but not on this day.

[00:31:15] Yeah, but then only got to change that.

[00:31:17] It's got to change that, right?

[00:31:18] And then there's like on set revisions that are happening

[00:31:21] a lot of the time to these scripts as well.

[00:31:24] Oh, yeah. And then look back and it's like,

[00:31:25] what this this does not represent the comic book at all, right?

[00:31:30] Yeah. And the fans are intolerable.

[00:31:32] Like they they might because like you say, there's someone who does have

[00:31:37] good ideas, but then they're not realizing that it takes again,

[00:31:43] it takes an army to craft this every day and try and make everybody happy.

[00:31:48] And yeah, I mean, they don't seem to realize that famous people don't

[00:31:53] have not everyone has time to read comic books, but at the same time

[00:31:57] a Wikipedia article wouldn't take much long either.

[00:32:01] Yeah, this character doesn't do that.

[00:32:04] Absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:32:06] And it's tough because I would say that for a lot of the original

[00:32:13] you know, Marvel Studio films, you know, Iron Man and,

[00:32:19] you know, Winter Soldier and, you know, that

[00:32:23] initial run of just kind of the good versus evil was very accessible

[00:32:27] before exactly more sequels.

[00:32:31] Yes, it was so smart how they did it too, because they pretty much did

[00:32:35] they pretty much work can and with with everything for the most part.

[00:32:38] Yeah. You know, and like just the Red Skull and Captain America

[00:32:43] kind of going at it.

[00:32:44] Like that's what I remember reading in the comic book, right?

[00:32:47] But I just feel like maybe if you're kind of diverting too much

[00:32:53] from the original concept that everybody left so much,

[00:32:57] you're kind of shooting yourself in the foot from the start.

[00:33:01] And that's I guess my big issue.

[00:33:03] So I wouldn't say like I don't not get the critics kind of ripping apart

[00:33:09] the larger Marvel Studio movies that are that are kind of

[00:33:13] you know, can process to a point where like you don't recognize them anymore.

[00:33:19] But it's a good quandary because it's like, yeah.

[00:33:23] Because I saw how there was a corporate media scandal with run tomatoes

[00:33:27] a year ago where they had some critics.

[00:33:30] Also, you heard of this one that some critics had taken some

[00:33:32] bribes for the last five years and I was like, well, come on.

[00:33:36] No, it's yeah, that's that's the problem.

[00:33:38] I used to work for a blog I won't name and they

[00:33:42] practically would even ask me at the end, did you give it

[00:33:45] at least a free out of five?

[00:33:47] I'm like, well, I thought we're here to be honest.

[00:33:49] Yeah. I don't want them to complain and bash my blog.

[00:33:52] I'm like, well, that's very gutless.

[00:33:56] I thought we're here to just help everybody.

[00:33:57] You know, you gotta you gotta own it, man.

[00:33:59] You gotta own it.

[00:34:00] Honestly, like what I would do right now and obviously, you know,

[00:34:04] this is just me speaking here.

[00:34:06] But if I had a film, if I was at Marvel Studios, right?

[00:34:09] If I was in that position, I would actually take those negative

[00:34:13] reviews and I would print them.

[00:34:17] There you go.

[00:34:18] Seriously, print them.

[00:34:19] Yeah, no, let's learn from them with the previews.

[00:34:22] But in fact, that's what every other mega movie producer should do

[00:34:25] right now is like, let's collect them instead of just acting

[00:34:28] like it's all just, you know, five year old gamers who talk

[00:34:32] smack about anything is like, let's actually what?

[00:34:34] What are they all commonly saying?

[00:34:36] Yeah. Own it.

[00:34:37] Like take the worst part out of all those quotes from all

[00:34:40] those bad, bad negative reviews and put them in the next trailer.

[00:34:46] Absolutely. That would all in the trailer.

[00:34:48] That would be very amusing.

[00:34:50] That would be almost.

[00:34:50] That would be the trailer.

[00:34:51] Little joke.

[00:34:53] There was this one site that used to do that where they would take

[00:34:56] like some of the most infamous movies of all time and they

[00:34:59] printed all their negative reviews on a poster.

[00:35:03] That's I love that.

[00:35:04] They did one for Battlefield or they think and then they did one

[00:35:07] for like just a bunch of the other just like sci-fi or mishaps

[00:35:10] that angered audiences and critics.

[00:35:14] There was one site that talked about Man of Steel, like and

[00:35:18] but it was a collection of both good and bad reviews.

[00:35:22] And they were pretty much showing there was like a common

[00:35:24] quandary, like they weren't sold on the star yet.

[00:35:26] They were a little iffy on the slow motion and then right by

[00:35:33] the runtime, but ultimately they had a lot of the same pros

[00:35:38] in good and bad reviews where they're like, hey, we love

[00:35:41] the visuals, camera work and themes.

[00:35:44] I was like, OK, interesting.

[00:35:45] I yeah.

[00:35:46] But yeah, that would be brilliant putting in a

[00:35:49] mental style.

[00:35:50] Yeah, I mean, and they obviously have to cut a new trailer,

[00:35:53] but I mean, like at that point, instead of trying to

[00:35:59] fight it, just go with it.

[00:36:00] I don't know.

[00:36:02] Totally. I mean, yeah, because like some of the

[00:36:06] I know with some of the different comic books, they've

[00:36:09] had had to change it either because they just didn't feel

[00:36:12] like they could make the character as likable or

[00:36:15] satirical.

[00:36:17] Like I know they did it with Constantine is like, OK, so

[00:36:19] he's a demon hunter as opposed to a sarcastic, you know,

[00:36:23] chain smoker in the comics and Hellboy.

[00:36:27] I mean, Mike Mignola approved it, but he's kind of more

[00:36:29] about taking out the trash as opposed to a well, this

[00:36:33] is a weird world I live in.

[00:36:35] Yeah, no, you're right.

[00:36:36] And the boys, you know, the same kind of deal.

[00:36:39] And yeah, I see some fans who clearly aren't.

[00:36:41] It's kind of like secession.

[00:36:42] You can tell they're identifying with the despicable

[00:36:47] characters, but they're not actually listening to what's

[00:36:49] going on. It's like, OK, sad tires hard, I guess.

[00:36:53] Yeah, no, it is tough.

[00:36:56] They are.

[00:36:58] I will say, though, on the topic of Marvel and

[00:37:03] the whole DC franchise battle review bombing

[00:37:07] and the review bombing, I will I will say I do have

[00:37:10] to give Deadpool major props

[00:37:14] for following the comic book so so well.

[00:37:19] And I think they did such a great job at creating

[00:37:22] an onscreen version of Deadpool that, you know, reflects

[00:37:26] the comic book version of one of the few

[00:37:29] that I think they knocked out of the park.

[00:37:31] Yeah, it's such a shame that it was so chaotic

[00:37:34] behind the scenes, they wanted to kill it.

[00:37:36] And then they kind of just expose the corporate side

[00:37:40] and they pretty much had to laugh at their falling.

[00:37:43] You're like, well, now we got to release it.

[00:37:44] It's yeah. Yeah, because they killed them

[00:37:48] in the Wolverine Origins film.

[00:37:52] Right? Even more confusing.

[00:37:55] Yeah, they killed him.

[00:37:56] And I think they he right around the dress is that

[00:37:59] and one of the and I think in part one or two.

[00:38:03] I think so. He does say something like this is like

[00:38:07] that wasn't the real me.

[00:38:09] That wasn't me. Yeah.

[00:38:12] And I know they're doing

[00:38:17] that there's some other kind of satirical kind of comic books

[00:38:21] kind of being adapted and now auction, but it's

[00:38:25] it is kind of funny how Tim Miller also kind of had to do that

[00:38:29] with Sonic, coincidentally, his visual effects company was working out.

[00:38:32] Yeah, the Deadpool director.

[00:38:34] Yeah, same deal where there's like the Aztecs in Japan

[00:38:38] had been complaining to the studio for like months and they had been like,

[00:38:41] oh, it looks fine to us.

[00:38:42] And then they're looking at all the hate mail and you're like, guys,

[00:38:45] we we really do not won't see this movie.

[00:38:47] It does not look finished.

[00:38:48] It doesn't look well made.

[00:38:51] You should redo the effect.

[00:38:53] People Sonic. Yeah.

[00:38:54] Yeah, yeah, a trailer can kill a movie now.

[00:38:57] I think there's just that overreaction now.

[00:38:59] You don't know how much of it is done versus it's

[00:39:04] it would work for a video game, but not for a movie.

[00:39:06] You know, it's just right.

[00:39:10] I thought that evil Sonic was cool, though.

[00:39:11] Like you kind of like had more character and more depth to him.

[00:39:16] I thought then the one they went with, but, you know, I see what they

[00:39:19] I see why they probably did it probably for the kids, right?

[00:39:23] They probably did.

[00:39:24] They they wanted to go hard on the the camp.

[00:39:27] And yeah, yeah, maybe it was too much.

[00:39:30] I was willing to give it a shot just because some of the start

[00:39:33] out behind it, but it is interesting how.

[00:39:36] I don't know.

[00:39:37] Like I will see so many people trying to analyze a trailer,

[00:39:40] even though some of them are very bright and know for a fact that,

[00:39:44] you know, that's the sell.

[00:39:45] That's not the actual, you know, product.

[00:39:48] So I.

[00:39:51] Yeah, I don't know how you get rid of that component when

[00:39:55] there's so many clickbait sites that want to jump on that bandwagon.

[00:39:58] Oh, my things we know from the trailer.

[00:40:00] Well, yeah, it's hard.

[00:40:04] Well, it's also like speaking of, you know, IP, comic book IP.

[00:40:10] It's tough because, you know, if the studios that on the IP gave

[00:40:15] independent filmmakers more of a shot at, you know, optioning the IP

[00:40:20] and making the project the way they would make it.

[00:40:23] They think you would see, you know, I'm saying, I think you would

[00:40:25] see a lot more successful films like with Deadpool.

[00:40:28] That was a similar thing.

[00:40:29] Like that was kind of an empty film because they didn't, you know,

[00:40:33] the odds were against them that they were going to have a success

[00:40:36] on their hands.

[00:40:36] I ain't.

[00:40:38] We'll return after these messages.

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[00:41:40] Hi, I'm James Cavsian on the who would win show.

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[00:42:16] who would win show dot com.

[00:42:21] They didn't know what they had even after fighting the studio battle.

[00:42:23] It's like they still might reject it.

[00:42:25] We still might not make a buck.

[00:42:28] Right.

[00:42:28] Totally.

[00:42:28] So like, yeah, I remember Reynolds again.

[00:42:30] Yeah, you're right.

[00:42:32] You know, you're right.

[00:42:33] I remember reaching out to Marvel before Disney acquired it about

[00:42:38] optioning some of their lesser known comic books.

[00:42:41] They have this comic book from the two thousand ninety nine series.

[00:42:44] It was called Ravage two thousand ninety nine.

[00:42:48] Yeah, it's cool.

[00:42:49] So it's like there was like Spider-Man two thousand ninety nine

[00:42:51] Punisher two thousand ninety nine, which were obviously the more well known

[00:42:55] and then the Ravage two thousand ninety nine who was like an original

[00:43:00] creation, I believe it was a Stanley concept and it was so cool.

[00:43:06] And that's what I reached out to.

[00:43:08] Looks like the whole kind of kind of box enemies.

[00:43:11] Oh, OK, that's yeah.

[00:43:13] Wow. Yeah, yeah.

[00:43:15] So I shout to them before before Disney acquired it.

[00:43:19] And at the time they're like, you have to you must send every request via fax.

[00:43:26] It was nuts.

[00:43:27] So I had actually like, you know, like print out the letter like really

[00:43:32] quest because we got to make an offer and like we faxed it to them.

[00:43:37] And they didn't they obviously rejected it.

[00:43:39] But it's sad because if you had, you know, more independent, like I said,

[00:43:43] more independent filmmakers able to option these types of IP.

[00:43:47] I honestly think you would kind of see.

[00:43:51] More successful.

[00:43:54] Absolutely, dude.

[00:43:55] I try so I think.

[00:43:57] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:43:59] I saw this hysterical

[00:44:03] Bremlins fan film.

[00:44:05] Oh, yeah. And I the Ryan Patrick guy, I think perfectly helmed it.

[00:44:09] It could have been anything and it would have just been a hysterical short film

[00:44:14] where creatures are attacking a diner.

[00:44:17] Yeah, yeah.

[00:44:17] And I was just like, see this guy,

[00:44:23] I feel like he kind of captured the 80s without having it be only homages

[00:44:28] or only see what I did there.

[00:44:29] I felt a sense of just kind of amusing claustrophobia for lack

[00:44:34] of a better reality.

[00:44:36] And he's done a lot of rap music videos and everything.

[00:44:39] And it's like, you know what?

[00:44:40] I think I would like to give this guy a shot because he just seems to have

[00:44:43] a sense of tone.

[00:44:47] I think and I've asked everybody from famous comedians and everything

[00:44:53] what, you know, do is X not get certain things.

[00:44:57] I asked even Frank Conniff who you might know as TV's Frank

[00:45:00] from Mr. Science Theater one time and, you know,

[00:45:04] our execs just not getting humor nowadays.

[00:45:07] And he's like, oh, but they get it generally in my experience.

[00:45:10] It's just they're not sure how to sell it and they feel like it needs to be

[00:45:14] faster just because it seems like.

[00:45:17] And so that's kind of the note I'm noticing is like everyone wants

[00:45:20] everything faster.

[00:45:21] Yeah. Well, it's sad.

[00:45:24] I go faster when it's a slow burn scenario.

[00:45:28] Is it right?

[00:45:29] It's definitely a challenge and like we even kind of faced that

[00:45:33] with as we know it when we were writing it.

[00:45:35] Oh, really?

[00:45:36] Oh, yeah, because we didn't the first couple of drafts.

[00:45:39] We didn't have all the, you know, necessarily

[00:45:45] like more I want to say jump scare elements.

[00:45:49] If like when you saw the film, you know, we had some of those

[00:45:52] like jump scare moments and yeah, you know, which were great.

[00:45:57] You know, in your face kind of moments.

[00:45:59] Yeah, exactly.

[00:46:00] Like funny jumps.

[00:46:01] Now like really scary, but like fun.

[00:46:03] Yeah, return to living dead kind of stuff is like exactly right.

[00:46:07] Kind of poking fun at the jump scare really anything, right?

[00:46:12] But that was not that type of stuff was not in the original draft.

[00:46:17] Oh, no.

[00:46:18] Yeah, like it was really like, you know, more or less a

[00:46:23] bromance slash, you know, breakup film.

[00:46:28] Yeah, it really is.

[00:46:30] It's a dating.

[00:46:30] Yeah. And the zombies but the zombies in that first draft were

[00:46:33] like literally in the backdrop, like the only interaction you

[00:46:38] would see was from their POV outside the window.

[00:46:42] And that was it.

[00:46:43] Like we didn't have any interaction and look, we could have

[00:46:47] made that movie and what it had been, you know, as engaging

[00:46:52] of a film with audiences.

[00:46:53] I don't know it could have been less.

[00:46:55] It could have been, you don't know, but the notes that we

[00:46:57] received were more and more and more.

[00:46:59] Right. So they were like, all right.

[00:47:01] So then we actually wrote it like on the fly.

[00:47:04] Miss Jones, you know, Emily leaves in a huff and she goes

[00:47:08] wanders around.

[00:47:09] She ends up at Miss Jones's place and Miss Jones has turned

[00:47:12] and the guys at the same.

[00:47:14] So like that was added.

[00:47:15] And they were like, all right, but actually that's cool

[00:47:16] because it gives James an opportunity to prove himself

[00:47:20] that he still loves her and that he.

[00:47:21] Either way, I'm glad you didn't get too many on welcome notes

[00:47:24] where you're like, okay, these guys are missing the point

[00:47:26] of what I'm going for.

[00:47:27] Yeah, yeah. No, totally.

[00:47:28] I didn't. Yes, we couldn't go like that crazy.

[00:47:31] But like, I will give you a little bit, but if you want more,

[00:47:36] we need more, we need a bigger budget.

[00:47:38] Like it's that simple.

[00:47:39] Yes.

[00:47:41] I'll give you what you want, but it's got to be on these terms.

[00:47:45] Yeah, other because, because, you know, that's one of the

[00:47:47] big issues, man, like when I've been to films is, you know,

[00:47:50] a lot of filmmakers butt off more than they can chew.

[00:47:52] And I'm like, oh, I can do all this for this budget.

[00:47:54] And that's when you get in trouble as any filmmaker, you know,

[00:47:57] and I was going to ask you about that.

[00:47:59] I see so many other people.

[00:48:01] Oh yeah.

[00:48:02] Getting into disputes on budget when some people can handle it

[00:48:06] and others can't.

[00:48:07] And it's like, well, but maybe we can film it this way

[00:48:12] or maybe we can.

[00:48:14] This explosion can be an audio form versus actually showing.

[00:48:18] Yeah, well, no.

[00:48:19] And that is what happens is like you make the you end up making

[00:48:22] sacrifices when you over commit, right?

[00:48:25] You're like, oh, yeah, I can do that for that.

[00:48:27] Right. And so for yeah.

[00:48:29] So for it for my film and I should say my films,

[00:48:35] that's the opposite of what I want to do.

[00:48:38] I don't want to misrepresent it at all.

[00:48:39] I want to say this is what it is.

[00:48:41] You know, this is right.

[00:48:43] This is why it's this budget.

[00:48:45] What you're talking about is an entirely different budget genre.

[00:48:50] And it's well, how they're still going for that.

[00:48:53] They like they get a big return on a comedy or horror movie

[00:48:57] as long as it's like five to 10 million.

[00:49:01] Right. Yeah, no.

[00:49:02] And what's even worse is when you see these movies

[00:49:04] that were made for like what, like two and a half million

[00:49:09] bucks that are trying to look like if the 50 million dollar movie

[00:49:14] and like you said, it's like instead of seeing somebody get cut,

[00:49:18] they go to a wall and then you just see the blood splatter on the wall.

[00:49:21] Right. Yeah.

[00:49:23] And, you know, or here are the explosion.

[00:49:27] You don't see the explosion.

[00:49:29] And then when you so when you start making sacrifices like that,

[00:49:31] then it's like, oh, man, like you're not for anybody.

[00:49:35] But in the but the problem is when you have these any films

[00:49:38] with so many executive producers, there are so many cooks in the kitchen

[00:49:42] and everybody's like, oh yeah, it's fine.

[00:49:44] It'll work like I buy that I buy that.

[00:49:47] And it's not none of the creatives are not.

[00:49:50] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:49:51] So there was this one sci-fi channel movie I saw years ago.

[00:49:55] Yeah.

[00:49:56] And of course, you know, usually their effects aren't very good,

[00:49:58] but it was a Bruce Campbell joint.

[00:50:01] And so, you know, call back to what makes him famous.

[00:50:05] And it was called Alien Apocalypse,

[00:50:08] but they kind of took the same kind of army of darkness kind of formulas.

[00:50:11] So therefore he made what wasn't working kind of work for him in the filmmakers.

[00:50:16] It was like, OK, we're still embracing that this is a 50s type sci-fi parody.

[00:50:21] He's like, OK, cool.

[00:50:24] Yeah. Well, right.

[00:50:26] As long as it's embraced, I think it's so important, you know,

[00:50:28] like instead of, you know, it's not working but laugh at us anyway.

[00:50:33] It's like, what?

[00:50:35] Yeah, no. And you have that all the time where it's like, you're like, well,

[00:50:39] yeah. And so it's filmmakers, it's not easy because there are a lot of politics, you know,

[00:50:46] like you have to manage the budget and then you have certain cast members

[00:50:51] maybe need to make more than others.

[00:50:54] And then, you know, when you're negotiating with them, if you're like,

[00:50:57] OK, I'll pay you that much more.

[00:50:59] That's money from the actual practical budget of the movie.

[00:51:05] Right. Oh.

[00:51:08] So you'll have like the producer producers are like, all right, yeah,

[00:51:11] we'll make that promise.

[00:51:13] Sure. But then you're making sacrifices on the film, right?

[00:51:15] And so that's a slippery slope.

[00:51:17] And I hate any time I'm like in a conversation like that for when I was

[00:51:22] the producing, for example, when I was in those types of conversations,

[00:51:26] most of the time I'd be like, I'm just not down to be involved in this

[00:51:30] project because like if it's going to look like shit, like I'm sorry,

[00:51:33] you know, I'm not going to do it.

[00:51:35] Yeah.

[00:51:36] And it makes better sense to just stay true to yourself instead of, well,

[00:51:40] this might take me somewhere.

[00:51:43] I interviewed the director with Kaya Sianata, who is best known for films

[00:51:48] like Tite Talking To and Ballistic X versus Ever, same kind of deal

[00:51:54] where each movie he was not so fortunate.

[00:51:58] It would always get taken away by a producer even when he followed their

[00:52:01] instructions.

[00:52:02] He got.

[00:52:03] He had a little room where he admitted he needed to mature and it's so he

[00:52:10] then started having to do everything from Christian movies to Super Bowl

[00:52:13] commercials and then back to doing what he actually wanted to do in

[00:52:16] Thailand with Mark Dacascos of John Wick and Stargate fame.

[00:52:20] It's but it's like to say, it sucks having to kind of rebuild yourself

[00:52:25] and then say, well, you know, maybe this will pay off.

[00:52:30] No, it doesn't pay off.

[00:52:32] Well, no, you're right.

[00:52:33] And it's hard.

[00:52:34] Like once you start making this, our advice is that it's hard out of like

[00:52:38] to get out of that.

[00:52:39] There will always be a snob.

[00:52:41] They'll be like, what's the last five movies is made?

[00:52:43] Oh, they're all rated three out of ten on IMPP.

[00:52:47] Yeah. Right.

[00:52:48] No, absolutely.

[00:52:49] Even if they're not that bad, it's bad enough because now

[00:52:53] I got all this blockade.

[00:52:54] I got these guys will never give me a shot.

[00:52:57] It's true.

[00:52:58] And that's the part that that is hard.

[00:53:01] Although I will say with Bob's Mechis, he has a great story.

[00:53:10] I think he had three blocks.

[00:53:15] I think so.

[00:53:16] Yeah, right?

[00:53:17] It was either two or three flops.

[00:53:18] I think there was Marwan and then, yeah, there's like a few others

[00:53:21] that were kind of recapturing that forest scum kind of.

[00:53:25] Yeah.

[00:53:26] Before back to the future.

[00:53:29] Oh, before. Oh, that's right.

[00:53:31] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:53:33] Before back to the future.

[00:53:36] Yeah, there was like I think he worked on 1941 a bit.

[00:53:40] Yeah, but yeah, both he and Skilberg had the same story

[00:53:43] where had that exactly first movie, they would have never been

[00:53:46] able to do the ones that made the millionaires and creative.

[00:53:50] Oh, yeah. No.

[00:53:50] And right.

[00:53:51] And I was in that.

[00:53:52] So like I think the two or three did before back in the future.

[00:53:55] Those were like projects that like the guy that you recently directed

[00:53:59] or interviewed, he was there were offers, right?

[00:54:02] He was like, OK, you can direct this.

[00:54:05] Right. So they were jobs.

[00:54:06] So they're just gigs more or less.

[00:54:09] But with back to the future, that was like a real vested interest

[00:54:14] that he had.

[00:54:18] And that just proves, man, like if you want a real success,

[00:54:23] you got to put your everything in it.

[00:54:26] Even if it doesn't hit investment.

[00:54:28] Yeah. Yeah.

[00:54:31] Yeah, this has been a delightful man because

[00:54:36] so many of us want to make this our nine to five job.

[00:54:39] And I think I got burned out just because I was on a few

[00:54:43] indie sets and a few professional sets where there wasn't some good attitudes.

[00:54:47] I would like to try it again, but it would again, it would have to be

[00:54:51] all in time management and everything.

[00:54:54] Right.

[00:54:56] Are there any other kind of closing thoughts that you would recommend for anyone

[00:54:59] who you feel might have the right mentality for it, but they

[00:55:03] are a ways away from going all the way?

[00:55:07] Yeah.

[00:55:09] Yeah, no, I'll kind of end with something that I was told in film school

[00:55:14] that, you know, when you pick up a camera for the first time

[00:55:18] and you try to make your first film, whether it's a shorter feature,

[00:55:23] you'll know within 24 to 48 hours

[00:55:29] if you're a film maker or a film lover.

[00:55:36] I love this dissect.

[00:55:38] I love this discrepancy.

[00:55:40] Yeah. And there's a big difference, right?

[00:55:42] Because you can be a film lover, right?

[00:55:44] You could idolize the classics and love to watch, you know,

[00:55:49] days and days and classic films, but to actually get behind the camera

[00:55:54] and to actually attempt to make these types of films, especially if

[00:55:59] like that's your ambition, you want to make great movies.

[00:56:02] It's not for the faint hearted because you got no.

[00:56:07] Yeah, you got to put everything in.

[00:56:09] Dude, I didn't learn about staging until I got out of the joint.

[00:56:12] I was like, that would have been such a help.

[00:56:15] Why did they not teach me that?

[00:56:18] Have you ever tried the I know some people debate shot list versus shot,

[00:56:23] you know, just storyboards?

[00:56:26] Have you ever tried a shot script where you're writing by the side?

[00:56:31] No, I do.

[00:56:32] Yeah, I often do that.

[00:56:34] We're good shortcut, man.

[00:56:36] Yeah, I do that all the time.

[00:56:37] And, you know, I have a pretty good rapport with my DP and we.

[00:56:43] Yeah, so like we for the most part, but as we know, we're on the same page

[00:56:48] with pretty much every setup and we, you know, went to the house

[00:56:54] and we studied it.

[00:56:57] I want to say at least 14 days prior to shooting.

[00:57:01] We actually had this might be an extreme example, but we actually

[00:57:06] had a draftsman come and I actually had floor plans made of the house.

[00:57:12] Oh, man.

[00:57:13] That's a good dedication, dude.

[00:57:15] Yeah, I have floor plans made and with Steve and our DP,

[00:57:20] I actually just marked up the floor plans and we were kind of just

[00:57:23] emailing back and forth.

[00:57:24] And so by the time we got there to shoot, like we literally every corner

[00:57:29] of that house, so we, you know, because of that, we were able to

[00:57:33] utilize it in the best way possible.

[00:57:37] Isn't it also wild how construction kind of has perils to.

[00:57:40] Oh, yeah.

[00:57:41] All the different foam crew hats.

[00:57:44] Clean lines, man.

[00:57:45] Like I love I need clean lines like first unit, second unit.

[00:57:48] Oh yeah, man.

[00:57:49] If they screw up, they blame you even though you weren't there and you're

[00:57:53] like, I gave you the plans.

[00:57:55] You didn't follow the plan.

[00:57:57] Yeah. No, you're right, man.

[00:57:59] You're right.

[00:57:59] That part of it is tough when you're dealing, you know, with

[00:58:04] the barking water and it's like, oh no, you know, I didn't do this.

[00:58:06] I knew that, but ultimately like what I kind of learn on as you know,

[00:58:11] it is just as the director, you know, because you're kind of steering

[00:58:14] the ship, like keep a very calm head at all times.

[00:58:18] Like that was for me like so important because when you were losing

[00:58:21] your shit, like that's not good.

[00:58:24] Right.

[00:58:25] Because everybody's looking at you, right?

[00:58:26] And that's kind of why the jobs filmmaking is just so inspirational.

[00:58:30] You know, that could have, that could have been it for Mr.

[00:58:33] Spilberg.

[00:58:35] Oh no, totally man.

[00:58:36] Totally.

[00:58:36] So yeah, I decided I'm going to just breathe and take a break and come back

[00:58:41] instead of the Marcus car.

[00:58:45] You can't you can't like you imagine that he's been in asshole and decided

[00:58:49] I'm done.

[00:58:49] I'm on this is too much.

[00:58:52] I mean, God bless him for, you know, surviving that shoot.

[00:58:56] I mean, you know, your story, the rest of us would have probably

[00:58:59] been like, I guess it's not meant to be.

[00:59:02] Oh, yeah.

[00:59:03] I want to talk about like endurance, you know, like that's

[00:59:07] and that's kind of what I was talking about.

[00:59:08] Like when you're, you know, if you're a filmmaker or a film lover,

[00:59:11] like, you know, that's, you know, if you're able to kind of endure

[00:59:15] and survive these very, very, very stressful situations and you do it

[00:59:19] and then you want more than you know, right?

[00:59:22] You love the thrill of it instead of just acting like all these things

[00:59:27] you couldn't control anyway.

[00:59:29] You know, like, oh, that's the worst.

[00:59:32] It's like, yeah, they won't happen again now that I know how to avoid this.

[00:59:36] Totally, man.

[00:59:37] Totally.

[00:59:38] Yep.

[00:59:39] Yeah.

[00:59:40] This has been dynamite.

[00:59:41] My guy, I really hope that, you know, the years are still kind of you

[00:59:47] and you do get, you know, so many more that you want realized.

[00:59:54] I appreciate that.

[00:59:55] I'm really excited about this next one.

[00:59:59] As it progresses, I'll definitely keep you posted, you know, when that time comes.

[01:00:05] Of what?

[01:00:05] Lovely.

[01:00:07] If you want, I can even reach out to some of the other guys who

[01:00:12] if you want to share that screener with them or anything.

[01:00:16] Yeah.

[01:00:18] But man, you know, just to actually just get something that you want,

[01:00:23] you know, realize, you know, it's already

[01:00:26] a challenge as it is.

[01:00:27] So that's so cool that, you know.

[01:00:31] Yeah.

[01:00:31] No, it's cool.

[01:00:32] It's one of those films where like, I'm really proud of it.

[01:00:36] You know, we had a great time.

[01:00:38] The cast crew, we all had a great time and it was a lot of fun.

[01:00:43] Perfect.

[01:00:43] Perfect, man.

[01:00:44] And, you know, I hope that you keep working with a lot of your same crew.

[01:00:51] You know, now that you guys.

[01:00:52] Yeah, no, that's the goal.

[01:00:54] That's the goal.

[01:00:54] The crew for sure I want to keep.

[01:00:56] Yeah, because most of those guys that I worked with for LA base.

[01:00:59] So for sure, yeah.

[01:01:01] Splendid.

[01:01:03] Hey, well, I hope you stay safe out there and yeah, you're able

[01:01:08] to keep picking a few more brains.

[01:01:11] Yeah, no, hopefully, hopefully we, we, LA kind of takes a little

[01:01:16] brain break because we're not built for the rain in the city.

[01:01:21] Oh, yeah.

[01:01:22] Yeah.

[01:01:22] And.

[01:01:24] This when, especially when you get so many reports and they're not

[01:01:29] consistent, you're like, okay, I didn't get any indicator of this.

[01:01:32] Why are we feeling rain drops?

[01:01:34] Totally.

[01:01:35] I know.

[01:01:38] Yeah, man.

[01:01:39] Hey, thank you so much for your time and I'm glad we can find

[01:01:44] out about this, but also just, you know,

[01:01:47] if anyone needs to organize a set, follow Josh's example.

[01:01:55] I appreciate that man.

[01:01:56] I appreciate that.

[01:01:57] Yeah, it's, I mean, look, you know, as, as with any job, it's

[01:02:01] a lot of moving parts, a lot of work, but I just, you know,

[01:02:05] to follow your, follow your instincts while you're at

[01:02:08] guts, let's think the best advice I could give.

[01:02:12] Right?

[01:02:13] Hey, better than just kind of sulking the corner.

[01:02:17] And not share what's on your mind.

[01:02:19] Exactly.

[01:02:20] Yeah, we're gonna kick ass first AD who has your, your best

[01:02:25] interest at heart.

[01:02:27] So true.

[01:02:28] Yeah.

[01:02:29] You know who, uh, McArus is, Hocus Pocus director?

[01:02:33] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[01:02:34] He had a podcast he, he hosted for a while that he's

[01:02:37] just finished up and he had a hysterical idea where he's

[01:02:41] like the 80s or should be called the executive directors.

[01:02:45] Yeah.

[01:02:45] Because they reported the studio and say, Hey, we don't

[01:02:48] got it.

[01:02:49] What do we do?

[01:02:50] Yeah, no, you're absolutely right.

[01:02:51] It's that's a very short.

[01:02:54] Good old ADs man.

[01:02:57] I'm glad they're getting there to do is like cinematographers

[01:03:00] and makeup are kind of becoming better known and

[01:03:02] stuntmen are giving them chance, but it was like, I'm

[01:03:04] not finally now the ADs.

[01:03:07] Yeah, now they deserve a lot recognition.

[01:03:10] Sure.

[01:03:11] Obviously not on the set of Russ, but that's a whole

[01:03:13] different stuff.

[01:03:14] Oh my God.

[01:03:15] Yeah.

[01:03:17] Friends close enemies closer.

[01:03:20] I hope you get so many more shots.

[01:03:23] Thanks, guys.

[01:03:23] I appreciate it, man.

[01:03:24] I appreciate it.

[01:03:25] Time.

[01:03:25] Got to be to you my guy.

[01:03:27] So much fun.

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[01:03:51] Thanks a million for listening.