The Sequence: Inside the Making of an Horror Short Film with Joe Bandelli | & Hell House LLC 10th Anniversary

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We had a limited theatrical release set up for
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the fourth movie, but then Taylor Swift announced
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her heiress tour, and so we got canceled. Welcome
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back to the Physical Cut, where films will be
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on the stream. My name is Carlos, and today I
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am joined by the gentleman that makes Pennywise
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look like Mary fucking Poppins, with Joe Bandelli.
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Joe, welcome to the podcast today. Thanks for
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having me, Carlos, and thank you for the kind
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words. Appreciate it. I told you just now that
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that was my first time watching Hell House LLC
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yesterday. And I was like, I don't know what
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I'm getting into. Again, I got to keep repeating.
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Everybody here is probably tired of me saying
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this. I hate found footage films. It's the most
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stressful thing ever to sit down and watch. But
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I had to say I got through that. But Joe, today
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we are going to be talking about a few things.
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And like I said, including Hell House LLC. I
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want to begin with the reason we are here and
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the reason we linked up. And that is because
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you have a new upcoming film coming out called
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The Sequence, a short film written by Brian Loposino.
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And I got a chance to see it yesterday, but I
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got a chance to see the film yesterday. And I
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got to say, those 14 minutes were completely
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unnerving. I was on the edge the entire time.
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I have so many questions about it. And we're
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going to get into that. I'm going to try not
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to spoil it, but I don't promise anything, but
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I'm going to try not to spoil it. But how did
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the sequence come together? So I was living in
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L .A. and I had a friend who's a cinematographer
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named Jonathan Williams. And he mentioned to
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me that he has a friend who has been trying to
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find the right director. His friend wrote a script,
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a short film, and he was trying to find the right
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person to direct it. And he thought I'd be a
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good fit. So that was Brian Lopresino. And so
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what was supposed to be like a 30 or 45 minute
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coffee of him and I meeting turned into like
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a six hour, like us two, like becoming like buddies.
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And he hired me on the spot and I saw a lot of
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what he was trying to do and a lot of what the
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idea for the sequence was originally something
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that he dreamt of. So he has a very, very vivid
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dreams that he remembers that he writes down.
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So a lot of the actual screenplay was very, very
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cinematic already. There are a lot of things
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in the script that I really like. There are some
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things that I kind of wanted to adjust or make
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changes on. Him and I got along really well.
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And I told him from the start, I'm like, I'm
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not the type of director who's going to come
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in and be like, my vision, fuck off. I'm going
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to do this the way I want to do it. I wanted
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to know. I wanted to know, like, imagery, things
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that he, like, kind of was, like, either was
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in his dream or was inspired by. And then I tried
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to incorporate some of the stuff that he was
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seeing into the way I designed the movie and
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the way I saw it when I put the whole thing together.
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Well, what was the original spark? I know Brian
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wrote the story, but was there anything you had
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to do with the story itself? Was there anything
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that you kind of, like, sparked the story to
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come together? I mean, listen, any time a director...
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takes on a project they always do rewrites on
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the script so there's always that element like
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hey like whether it's budget limitations or cast
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crew whatever the limitations are you're always
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going to adjust things and even on set you're
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cutting things you're adding things and so on
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and so forth one of the big things that like
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because like i said brian had a very visual representation
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of what he wanted the movie to be and it was
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very to me transparent in the script the one
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thing that i really added from the script phase
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uh was brian had one or two things that had like
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a repetitive sound, like maybe the clock ticking
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or something. And I really thought that that
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would be really unnerving to kind of use sound
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design and use sound to drive us through the
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opening sequence of the movie. And so my suggestion
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to him was to do another rewrite on it. I kind
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of gave him an idea of what I think should go
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where. And that's kind of how you saw the opening
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like minute and a half of the movie, the opening
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dream sequence. That was kind of like a big inspiration
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for me in terms of giving that to Brian. But
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it was honestly, it was a true collaboration
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with him as well as for the rest of the crew
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because no one really got like their feelings
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hurt or got shut down. It was like, hey, that's
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a cool idea. This doesn't work. Let's try this
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and so on and so forth. So I'd say that's probably
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the biggest one. And then the second is there's
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a shot in the movie. That's kind of like the
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culmination shot. We call it the lazy Susan shot.
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And in the script, it was written in there twice.
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It was in the dream sequence and it was in the
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reality sequence. And I, when we started like
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testing and started to like put together how
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we're going to shoot that, I felt very strongly
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that we shouldn't do it twice in the movie and
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that we should do it once. And, and I think Brian
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initially had reservations about that, but when
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I sort of explained to him and got through to
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him, like, Hey, listen, if we see a sequence
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like that play out. And I'm being vague purposely
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because I want people to go watch the movie.
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But if we see a sequence play out like that in
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the dream sequence, when we get to reality, if
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the camera starts moving in the exact same way,
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which is a very unique way of how we move the
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camera. Everyone is going to know what's going
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to happen within two seconds of that shot starting.
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And so I wanted to kind of get rid of the original
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one and sort of create a different shot of how
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I would do kind of the play out of the dream
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sequence or how the dream ends. That way we can
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kind of save and hold on to this kind of really
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cool shot that sort of was the culmination of
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what happens in reality. When you started the
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script and when you started reading the script
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itself, was the nightmare concept? there the
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entire time which has something when you guys
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yeah yeah yeah i mean the basic concept of the
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movie is a woman has a dream or is a nightmare
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that she poisons and murders her entire family
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and kills herself and then as she wakes up from
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her dream and as she starts to go about her day
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moments from her dream start creeping in reality
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and she does everything she possibly can to try
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to make sure that this nightmare does not become
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reality but why did you choose to at least like
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shoot that or explore that fear throughout horror
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it could have been any other genre but why horror
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necessarily i mean i mean yeah i mean well for
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starters i mean that's kind of like the sub -genre
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that i've been working in for a genre that i've
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been working in for years and and honestly like
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i saw it more like the themes that i really were
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was attracted to in the story was stuff that
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wasn't literally written in the text it was more
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of the subtext and so one big thing for me is
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i think when you The mother has a, the main character,
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Taylor, she has a husband and she has two kids,
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a teenage son and a younger daughter. And so
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when you introduce horror elements with kids,
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number one, it's always creepy. And number two,
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there's a lot of things that people will say.
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They say it with a dog, like don't kill a dog
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in the movie, you'll lose your audience. But
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with kids, it's also kind of similar. It's like,
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how far are you willing to push that? Where are
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you willing to go? And Brian had a very clear,
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like, I want to do this. I've been finding problems
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and having trouble with people who also want
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to do this. And when him and I had that conversation,
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I was like, yeah, for me, there's no limits.
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If it supports the story and it actually makes
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for a better story, I'm down to do whatever,
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no matter how terrifying it is. And to me, I
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think one, the biggest thing that I pulled away
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from the whole thing, the biggest thing that
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I wanted to convey to people is. There's so much
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going on in this woman's head. There's so much
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backstory. There's so many things that we barely
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even touched on in the short. But the biggest
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thing is, as she's dealing with her own problems
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and as she's dealing with things, she's in a
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way neglecting her family and she's neglecting
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her children. And communication, I've always
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been, in every relationship I'm in, I mean, every
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girl I've ever dated, as well as my wife, if
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they heard this, they'd probably be like, yeah,
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Justin, shut up about his feelings. Communication
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is key. And I think... in a world that kind of
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has a lot of chaos going on there's a lot of
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polarizing opinions politics are insane if you
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can't dislike or like something you have to hate
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it and love it like there's all these like things
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that happen we try to protect our kids and we
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try to protect the youth and i think that's not
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the right way about going to raise the next generation
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of people. It's you need to communicate with
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them and you need to treat them like they're
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adults, even though they're kids at times. And
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so communication was a big thing for me. And
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I really wanted to kind of talk about, in essence,
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what's the worst possible case scenario of what
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happens when a mom does not communicate with
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her kids? Well, like we said, the film does deal
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with a lot of emotional elements. You have the
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grief, the isolation, you have emotional. This
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connection that you kind of see in the relationship.
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I'm not going to say which one, because I feel
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like there's two key relationships there that
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kind of, I would say, move the story forward.
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Even with some of the twists, you still see how
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a relationship affects. Right. And you have the
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inability or unwillingness to communicate. Like
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you said, communication is a big part of why
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this is happening. But were you interested in
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the idea that sometimes the things that happen,
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inside someone's head can be more frightening
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than anything that's happening supernatural.
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Yeah, absolutely. And I think at the end of the
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day, I think if you, any person, I have a one
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-year -old now, so I kind of know what it's like,
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but any person who's a parent will tell you like
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before they had kids, they might've been scared
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of clowns or spiders or whatever. And now that
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they have kids, they might still be scared of
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those things. But if you ask most of them, what's
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the worst thing that could possibly happen to
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you? It's something happening to them. kids yeah
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i i again i think beautifully written by brian
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and the way we kind of put it together i think
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the movie talks a lot about things that parents
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go through or couples go through when they have
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kids a lot of those struggles so to me it always
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felt very relatable and i made this movie before
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i had kids but then obviously had a kid and my
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wife and i she got pregnant and so on and so
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forth so i got to live through a lot of this
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experience of being like oh my god my life is
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no longer mine it's for my son or it's for whatever
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person has what kids or not i think that the
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there are a lot of really interesting themes
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and like themes like isolation and grief every
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person goes through that so i think one of the
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best parts about horror and why i usually love
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horror so much is because Horror is a genre that
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usually gets to tackle all emotions, whereas
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certain genres only tackle one or two emotions.
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And I think usually the best horror are things
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that touch on things that almost every single
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person can experience or has experienced. And
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so that was something that I saw in the script
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and I really wanted to kind of make sure it came
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through to fruition as we were filming the movie
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and as it was put together in post -production.
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How easy was it to balance the psychological
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and the emotional side with the horror because
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it was well balanced again for something that
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happens so much in such a short time it's pretty
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well balanced yeah i mean that with some with
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a short film specifically like you don't have
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a lot of time to like really create like a full
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-on beginning middle and end you don't have a
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good you don't have enough time to really pull
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on the strings and kind of get to all the characters
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arcs like you might get to one or two of them
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and usually in horror it's usually you have one
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or two really good scare sequences and that's
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kind of how you would get a short film across
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so i mean listen it's it's the thing that i love
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doing i've been doing it for 15 years so this
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is home to me so it wasn't i'm not going to say
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it wasn't hard because it absolutely was hard
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every every time you make a movie it's hard but
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it was it was pretty easy in terms of trying
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to find that balance of what should be tense,
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what shouldn't be tense, what should be unnerving.
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And like you said earlier, this is one of those
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movies that we really wanted to make it unnerving
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throughout the entire movie. There's really only
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one part in the movie that has a little bit of
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a laugh, and that happens almost exactly in the
00:12:03.190 --> 00:12:05.470
middle of the movie, purposely to kind of break
00:12:05.470 --> 00:12:07.970
the tension of you being like, oh my God, I'm
00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:09.870
so tense. You catch my breath, and then immediately
00:12:09.870 --> 00:12:12.519
it goes right back into the unnerving. Yeah,
00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:14.820
but how important was it to at least keep the
00:12:14.820 --> 00:12:17.100
audience questioning what was actually happening?
00:12:17.500 --> 00:12:20.919
Yeah, listen, in essence, we're creating a whodunit
00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:24.539
in a very, very unique way. And so I think that
00:12:24.539 --> 00:12:26.100
was always something that was really important.
00:12:26.299 --> 00:12:32.779
There were a lot of shots that we did not use
00:12:32.779 --> 00:12:36.399
in the final cut of the movie because those shots...
00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:39.019
had certain characters coming across even more
00:12:39.019 --> 00:12:41.460
menacing or less menacing than we actually wanted
00:12:41.460 --> 00:12:43.500
the audience to kind of perceive them at that
00:12:43.500 --> 00:12:45.340
given moment that was definitely like something
00:12:45.340 --> 00:12:49.120
that i think we we were very cautious of and
00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:51.320
i i wanted to make sure that at no point in time
00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:53.820
we were like tipping our hat going this is going
00:12:53.820 --> 00:12:55.860
to happen or this is going to happen like we
00:12:55.860 --> 00:12:57.879
really wanted the audience to be on their toes
00:12:57.879 --> 00:13:00.860
throughout this entire film let's get a little
00:13:00.860 --> 00:13:02.919
bit into the directing because again it does
00:13:02.919 --> 00:13:05.889
have some pretty amazing shots. And like you
00:13:05.889 --> 00:13:09.950
said, we didn't want to use one twice. And I
00:13:09.950 --> 00:13:12.029
wouldn't say it's so much of a spoiler, but it's
00:13:12.029 --> 00:13:14.370
a very interesting shot. But I want to start
00:13:14.370 --> 00:13:16.450
from the beginning of the directing process.
00:13:16.690 --> 00:13:19.350
What was the biggest challenge in directing this
00:13:19.350 --> 00:13:21.669
particular story? Yeah, so the biggest challenge,
00:13:21.690 --> 00:13:23.809
truthfully, was there was two of them. Number
00:13:23.809 --> 00:13:25.970
one, that lazy Susan shot that culminates at
00:13:25.970 --> 00:13:27.549
the end of the movie. That was such a difficult
00:13:27.549 --> 00:13:30.409
shot because Not only is this an independent
00:13:30.409 --> 00:13:33.409
film, a low budget film, a short film, you don't
00:13:33.409 --> 00:13:35.029
have a lot of time. And especially when you get
00:13:35.029 --> 00:13:37.289
really good caliber actors like we got in this,
00:13:37.370 --> 00:13:41.169
like Katie Parker was incredible. Braxton, who
00:13:41.169 --> 00:13:43.190
played her teenage son, is awesome in it. Our
00:13:43.190 --> 00:13:45.450
little girl Sloane is great. Every person we
00:13:45.450 --> 00:13:48.169
had in this was phenomenal. And so when you get
00:13:48.169 --> 00:13:50.889
a higher caliber cast or people who can like
00:13:50.889 --> 00:13:53.620
bring their A game from moment one. you usually
00:13:53.620 --> 00:13:55.500
don't have a ton of time with them. You have
00:13:55.500 --> 00:13:57.399
your shoot days with them. And we didn't have
00:13:57.399 --> 00:13:59.340
any prep days with them. So we didn't have any
00:13:59.340 --> 00:14:00.860
rehearsal time or anything like that. And I'm
00:14:00.860 --> 00:14:04.019
big on rehearsing. So that sequence for that
00:14:04.019 --> 00:14:08.080
technical shot, we did, like I had my cinematographer
00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:10.799
and his team build that setup multiple times
00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:13.759
over multiple days and really work on getting
00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:15.740
it down. And my whole mantra when I was talking
00:14:15.740 --> 00:14:18.519
with Jonathan about it was, listen, on the day
00:14:18.519 --> 00:14:22.090
of when we do that shot, you need to be as the
00:14:22.090 --> 00:14:24.370
most consistent person in terms of how you're
00:14:24.370 --> 00:14:25.870
operating the camera and how you're moving it
00:14:25.870 --> 00:14:29.730
around the table. Because I am going to be dealing
00:14:29.730 --> 00:14:31.870
with a child actor. I'm going to be dealing with
00:14:31.870 --> 00:14:34.350
three other actors who have their own opinions
00:14:34.350 --> 00:14:36.250
on how they want to do things and how they want
00:14:36.250 --> 00:14:38.350
their characters to come across. And we don't
00:14:38.350 --> 00:14:39.970
have a ton of time in the day. We're dealing
00:14:39.970 --> 00:14:42.190
with special effects. We're dealing with blood
00:14:42.190 --> 00:14:44.190
and vomit, dealing with a bunch of things there.
00:14:44.250 --> 00:14:46.710
So the camera movements needed to be perfect
00:14:46.710 --> 00:14:49.330
and needed to be down because... everything else
00:14:49.330 --> 00:14:51.730
was going to happen and you never know exactly
00:14:51.730 --> 00:14:53.330
what how things are going to play out when you're
00:14:53.330 --> 00:14:55.750
on set so for me it was like rehearse the out
00:14:55.750 --> 00:14:58.929
of the thing that you you need to nail because
00:14:58.929 --> 00:15:01.230
the other variables are kind of like you don't
00:15:01.230 --> 00:15:02.629
know what's going to happen with those things
00:15:02.629 --> 00:15:04.710
that was probably the biggest challenge i would
00:15:04.710 --> 00:15:08.009
say the second biggest challenge is brian his
00:15:08.009 --> 00:15:11.070
original script for this was about 30 35 pages
00:15:11.070 --> 00:15:14.250
long and when i read the script i was like this
00:15:14.250 --> 00:15:17.730
is great but We need to lose some of this stuff
00:15:17.730 --> 00:15:20.850
because we can't have a 35 minute short film.
00:15:20.970 --> 00:15:22.970
You're not getting into festivals. No one's going
00:15:22.970 --> 00:15:25.470
to watch this. You need as short of a possible
00:15:25.470 --> 00:15:27.450
as a film. And I realized we were tackling a
00:15:27.450 --> 00:15:28.990
lot of themes and a lot of stuff. So I knew it
00:15:28.990 --> 00:15:30.850
wasn't going to be like a two minute film. So
00:15:30.850 --> 00:15:32.769
I was able to kind of work with him to get the
00:15:32.769 --> 00:15:36.129
script cut down to roughly 22 pages. And even
00:15:36.129 --> 00:15:38.769
the 22 pages that we shot, we cut a lot of it.
00:15:38.909 --> 00:15:41.370
And I think the biggest thing from script to
00:15:41.370 --> 00:15:43.710
reality that changed was the dream sequence.
00:15:44.279 --> 00:15:46.679
The dream sequence itself was written linearly.
00:15:47.019 --> 00:15:49.659
So each one of those sequences that you see in
00:15:49.659 --> 00:15:51.659
the opening of the movie was played out from
00:15:51.659 --> 00:15:54.500
like point A to point B to point C. Next segment,
00:15:54.580 --> 00:15:57.299
point A, point B, point C. And I always felt
00:15:57.299 --> 00:16:00.320
off. Something felt off about that. Not in the
00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:02.460
right way, but I couldn't really put my finger
00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:04.679
on it. And when we shot it and we put it together,
00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:07.299
I wanted to give Brian and our other producer,
00:16:07.379 --> 00:16:10.600
Chris, I wanted to give them a rough cut of what
00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:13.789
the movie looked like. based on how the script
00:16:13.789 --> 00:16:16.210
is written. And so I gave them this rough cut
00:16:16.210 --> 00:16:18.470
and both of them were like, something is off
00:16:18.470 --> 00:16:20.669
about the opening. And I was like, great, let
00:16:20.669 --> 00:16:24.090
me and my editor, Nick, work on it. And so the
00:16:24.090 --> 00:16:27.190
whole thing for Nick and I was, you know, I'm
00:16:27.190 --> 00:16:29.370
not a big fan of experimental films. For me,
00:16:29.450 --> 00:16:31.110
if you don't like found footage films, that's
00:16:31.110 --> 00:16:32.789
where I would say experimental films are for
00:16:32.789 --> 00:16:34.789
me. I just don't like when people, I feel like
00:16:34.789 --> 00:16:37.149
experiment on their own time, not on other people's
00:16:37.149 --> 00:16:39.639
time. And by all means, it's just my opinion.
00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:41.899
If anyone does films, they could tell me to go
00:16:41.899 --> 00:16:44.759
fuck myself. But for me, I don't usually have
00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:46.679
a great experience or response to an experimental
00:16:46.679 --> 00:16:49.220
film. But one of the things that I kept saying
00:16:49.220 --> 00:16:53.419
to Nick in post -production was, let's cut the
00:16:53.419 --> 00:16:56.759
dream sequence as if the audience is going to
00:16:56.759 --> 00:16:58.659
think they're about to watch an experimental
00:16:58.659 --> 00:17:02.309
film. Like there you see a very like weird imagery,
00:17:02.370 --> 00:17:05.670
imagery driven, like all over the place, jump
00:17:05.670 --> 00:17:09.869
cuts, like weird, strange thing so that it culminates
00:17:09.869 --> 00:17:12.170
in this moment, this horrific moment. And then
00:17:12.170 --> 00:17:14.789
boom, we're back. We're in real life and everything
00:17:14.789 --> 00:17:16.809
is linear moving forward. And that was really
00:17:16.809 --> 00:17:18.430
important for me. Number one, because I think
00:17:18.430 --> 00:17:20.490
when you think you're watching something and
00:17:20.490 --> 00:17:22.089
then you realize you're watching something else,
00:17:22.130 --> 00:17:23.710
I think that's always a jarring moment. And that's
00:17:23.710 --> 00:17:25.549
how I wanted the audience to feel. And number
00:17:25.549 --> 00:17:28.990
two. When I dream, I don't dream linearly. I
00:17:28.990 --> 00:17:30.730
don't dream from point A to point B to point
00:17:30.730 --> 00:17:33.210
C. Like it's all over the place. It's like, you'll
00:17:33.210 --> 00:17:34.490
be walking down the street and then all of a
00:17:34.490 --> 00:17:35.930
sudden you're in the water. And then all of a
00:17:35.930 --> 00:17:38.109
sudden you're on a plane. That for me was really
00:17:38.109 --> 00:17:39.809
important with the dream sequence. And so when
00:17:39.809 --> 00:17:41.730
we recut it together and I showed it to Brian
00:17:41.730 --> 00:17:44.210
and Chris, they were like, this is it. The dream
00:17:44.210 --> 00:17:47.569
sequence really sets off the movie. It really
00:17:47.569 --> 00:17:49.329
puts you already in a headspace where you're
00:17:49.329 --> 00:17:51.190
like, okay, anything can happen from this point
00:17:51.190 --> 00:17:53.940
on. Given the fact that, again, it's 14 minutes
00:17:53.940 --> 00:17:56.700
and you have so much information and so much
00:17:56.700 --> 00:18:00.119
emotion packed into that, when you decided what
00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:03.680
wasn't going to make the cut, what did you want
00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.180
to leave out or what did you want the audience
00:18:06.180 --> 00:18:09.500
to figure out as they went along? Well, so because
00:18:09.500 --> 00:18:13.319
Brian wrote things cinematically, a lot of the
00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:16.220
shots that I chose to use were Dali -inspired.
00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:18.599
So we used a lot of Dali throughout this entire
00:18:18.599 --> 00:18:21.809
movie. and anyone who knows dollies or you could
00:18:21.809 --> 00:18:24.630
do a fast dolly dolly but for the most part dolly
00:18:24.630 --> 00:18:27.630
shots take a long time if you have like one section
00:18:27.630 --> 00:18:30.029
where you're going through something and you
00:18:30.029 --> 00:18:32.450
just need to convey we're moving up to the front
00:18:32.450 --> 00:18:34.650
door and you see an image in the window like
00:18:34.650 --> 00:18:37.769
in your head and on script that's two sentences
00:18:37.769 --> 00:18:39.809
so that's a sentence but when you're actually
00:18:39.809 --> 00:18:43.599
playing that out that's 45 seconds 60 seconds
00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:46.220
and like having the whole dream sequence i think
00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:49.059
is a minute and 20 seconds long so if one shot
00:18:49.059 --> 00:18:51.640
of like the 45 shots that we have in the dream
00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:54.980
sequence was 45 seconds long the dream sequence
00:18:54.980 --> 00:18:56.700
is going to be like a whole short film in itself
00:18:56.700 --> 00:18:58.700
and so that that was kind of one of the things
00:18:58.700 --> 00:19:00.119
where i was like yeah this doesn't make sense
00:19:00.119 --> 00:19:03.160
i want to kind of like rework this and see it
00:19:03.160 --> 00:19:05.019
the way my brain has saw it which is like all
00:19:05.019 --> 00:19:07.480
over the place yeah yesterday when i was watching
00:19:07.480 --> 00:19:10.670
it i also realized and it's probably one of the
00:19:10.670 --> 00:19:14.500
most unnerving horror that I see is when everything
00:19:14.500 --> 00:19:17.400
in the surface looks so clean. So you have just
00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:20.440
a clean house, a perfect family, like the American
00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:22.619
beauty situation. And then all of a sudden you
00:19:22.619 --> 00:19:26.440
have all this, I wouldn't say gore, but grotesque
00:19:26.440 --> 00:19:29.460
moments within the same film. And it's like,
00:19:29.559 --> 00:19:31.960
yeah, over on the surface is everything is shiny.
00:19:32.099 --> 00:19:34.980
And then right under that is so there's a belly
00:19:34.980 --> 00:19:37.920
under that. And it's so odd. But one point I
00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:39.710
thought this was going to be. an apocalyptic
00:19:39.710 --> 00:19:41.990
film because it felt like you're being watched
00:19:41.990 --> 00:19:44.990
at one point. And I was like, oh, come on, where's
00:19:44.990 --> 00:19:48.269
this going? And one thing that we did with my
00:19:48.269 --> 00:19:50.289
production designer, John, different John, we
00:19:50.289 --> 00:19:52.869
had two Johns, a production designer. John one,
00:19:52.990 --> 00:19:56.710
John two. So John two, one of the things that
00:19:56.710 --> 00:19:59.609
I did with him and I did with our wardrobe team
00:19:59.609 --> 00:20:03.789
and so on and so forth was I really wanted to
00:20:03.789 --> 00:20:05.809
mess with the color palette so that basically
00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:08.759
any time, the whole dream sequence is really
00:20:08.759 --> 00:20:11.119
cool. You're not getting any warm tones. You're
00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:13.259
not getting any like feelings of hope throughout
00:20:13.259 --> 00:20:15.940
the dream. So basically the way I set it up was
00:20:15.940 --> 00:20:18.500
the whole dream sequence, except for one shot
00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:23.160
is all cool. And so once we get in reality, basically
00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:25.740
the way I kind of designed it with everyone was
00:20:25.740 --> 00:20:29.319
where the final sequence of the movie takes place
00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:32.700
is the coolest place in terms of coloring in
00:20:32.700 --> 00:20:35.210
the movie. But as you get further and further
00:20:35.210 --> 00:20:39.750
and further away from that area, it gets warmer
00:20:39.750 --> 00:20:41.849
and warmer and warmer, almost in essence being
00:20:41.849 --> 00:20:44.309
like there's more hope for this family surviving
00:20:44.309 --> 00:20:47.470
the further they get away from this room. But
00:20:47.470 --> 00:20:49.670
the further they get to it, the cooler it gets
00:20:49.670 --> 00:20:51.789
and starts to match what happens in the nightmare.
00:20:52.210 --> 00:20:56.029
And I have to say, for a short film, you mentioned
00:20:56.029 --> 00:20:58.849
that Brian wrote this very cinematic, and it
00:20:58.849 --> 00:21:01.210
does feel like that. It does feel very cinematic.
00:21:01.950 --> 00:21:05.170
It does feel like an actual feature film because,
00:21:05.230 --> 00:21:07.410
again, there's so much that you are exploring
00:21:07.410 --> 00:21:10.329
within those 14 minutes. But one thing that I
00:21:10.329 --> 00:21:13.309
wanted to ask was, how did you approach creating
00:21:13.309 --> 00:21:17.349
the atmosphere for the film without relying on
00:21:17.349 --> 00:21:20.490
conventional horror shortcuts? Yeah, color was
00:21:20.490 --> 00:21:23.670
number one. So color was probably the biggest
00:21:23.670 --> 00:21:26.430
thing that we did. Number two was the dolly shots
00:21:26.430 --> 00:21:29.670
and controlling the pacing. of how things work
00:21:29.670 --> 00:21:31.269
like certain things need to be fast like the
00:21:31.269 --> 00:21:32.990
dream sequence and i think the dream sequence
00:21:32.990 --> 00:21:34.970
works because the final shot in the dream sequence
00:21:34.970 --> 00:21:38.049
is not a fast shot it's a very very slow shot
00:21:38.049 --> 00:21:41.069
but you're watching all the chaos happen you're
00:21:41.069 --> 00:21:43.349
why and then you end on this tight close -up
00:21:43.349 --> 00:21:46.309
of this mom right before she does what she does
00:21:46.309 --> 00:21:49.390
and so it's really it's about finding peace the
00:21:49.390 --> 00:21:51.089
thing is a lot of times people always say like
00:21:51.089 --> 00:21:54.410
comedy is so difficult comedy and horror are
00:21:54.410 --> 00:21:57.049
the exact same thing the setup and punchline
00:21:57.049 --> 00:21:58.930
is the same thing as you set up in your scare
00:21:58.930 --> 00:22:01.490
you basically have to offset how you're doing
00:22:01.490 --> 00:22:03.509
things so if you have a lot of really slow things
00:22:03.509 --> 00:22:06.470
playing out the the scare comes with the fast
00:22:06.470 --> 00:22:09.769
thing or if you're doing things really fast the
00:22:09.769 --> 00:22:12.009
unnerving comes with the really slow thing so
00:22:12.490 --> 00:22:14.509
It's really about balancing the pacing throughout
00:22:14.509 --> 00:22:16.410
this whole thing. And that was probably one of
00:22:16.410 --> 00:22:19.130
the things that I really enjoyed doing and enjoyed
00:22:19.130 --> 00:22:21.450
working with our cast was figuring out how fast
00:22:21.450 --> 00:22:23.390
a scene needs to be or how slow a scene needs
00:22:23.390 --> 00:22:26.190
to be. Like Willie, who plays our exterminator
00:22:26.190 --> 00:22:27.950
in the movie, like those scenes had to be fast.
00:22:28.589 --> 00:22:31.250
he was brought in purposely for comedic relief.
00:22:31.470 --> 00:22:33.930
So him coming in was supposed to kind of offset
00:22:33.930 --> 00:22:35.869
the kind of unnerving feeling that you're feeling
00:22:35.869 --> 00:22:38.049
throughout the movie with this mom, Taylor. And
00:22:38.049 --> 00:22:40.809
then he's out. And as soon as he's out, it gets
00:22:40.809 --> 00:22:42.829
back to these long shots and these slow shots
00:22:42.829 --> 00:22:44.710
or whatever. And you're sort of building the
00:22:44.710 --> 00:22:47.210
tension of the day with that pacing. And yeah,
00:22:47.309 --> 00:22:48.990
it was a lot of fun to do. It was, and again.
00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:52.319
As great as the writing was, it's all things.
00:22:52.420 --> 00:22:54.619
It's the cinematography. It's the camera department.
00:22:54.700 --> 00:22:57.039
It's the lighting team. It's how the production
00:22:57.039 --> 00:22:59.119
design and the art director are bringing things
00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:00.759
together to kind of make things pop here and
00:23:00.759 --> 00:23:03.180
there. And then, yeah, one of my favorite collaborators
00:23:03.180 --> 00:23:06.720
is my editor, Nick Landa. And he really helped
00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:08.940
customize some of the pacing to kind of really
00:23:08.940 --> 00:23:11.619
make this stuff feel really uneasy. Because like
00:23:11.619 --> 00:23:14.839
you said, the goal was to make people feel uneasy
00:23:14.839 --> 00:23:18.549
the entire time. And it's funny because you also
00:23:18.549 --> 00:23:22.089
have a lot of, you know, using cinematic wording,
00:23:22.329 --> 00:23:24.970
to put it that way. You do have Chekhov's gun,
00:23:25.150 --> 00:23:27.150
but you have Chekhov's gun, you have Chekhov's
00:23:27.150 --> 00:23:29.730
knife, you have Chekhov's, you literally just
00:23:29.730 --> 00:23:32.230
took out Chekhov's entire house and you threw
00:23:32.230 --> 00:23:34.329
it out the window. And I was like, because at
00:23:34.329 --> 00:23:35.829
one point you're like, oh, it's going to happen
00:23:35.829 --> 00:23:37.369
with this. Oh, no, it's going to happen with
00:23:37.369 --> 00:23:39.549
that. And it's going to, so all the elements
00:23:39.549 --> 00:23:42.890
are there. And then they just become, it just
00:23:42.890 --> 00:23:45.190
all becomes one whole circle. And you're like,
00:23:45.250 --> 00:23:49.500
yeah, no, like. Everything was meant to be and
00:23:49.500 --> 00:23:51.759
be used at the same time. It was actually pretty
00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:53.859
interesting how it all came together. Well, thank
00:23:53.859 --> 00:23:56.900
you. But how was the thought behind the sequence
00:23:56.900 --> 00:24:00.240
itself, the movie? Was it always intended to
00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:03.700
be a standalone short or was it a larger idea
00:24:03.700 --> 00:24:06.819
behind the film? So there's always been a larger
00:24:06.819 --> 00:24:09.740
idea behind the film. After we finished the short,
00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:11.779
Brian and I started kind of taking stabs at what
00:24:11.779 --> 00:24:13.839
the feature should look like. He's writing it
00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:15.460
right now. He's writing the feature length version.
00:24:15.579 --> 00:24:18.619
So we do have intentions of potentially making
00:24:18.619 --> 00:24:22.220
this into a feature. And there are a lot of those
00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:24.000
themes that we're talking about are things that
00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:26.019
I wanted. I'm talking with him about putting
00:24:26.019 --> 00:24:28.279
into the feature or whatnot. But obviously with
00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:30.299
like Taylor, for instance, this is Taylor's story.
00:24:30.460 --> 00:24:33.460
You see a picture. There's a backstory there.
00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:35.680
You see tension with her husband. There's a backstory
00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:37.960
there. You see tension with her son. There's
00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:39.779
a backstory there. In the feature -length version,
00:24:39.900 --> 00:24:42.099
you would get that. But I think one of the most
00:24:42.099 --> 00:24:45.400
interesting things is when you make a short film
00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:48.940
that does the job that you intend for it, you
00:24:48.940 --> 00:24:52.380
really want to make sure that you're really careful
00:24:52.380 --> 00:24:54.240
with how you write it and how you perform the
00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.579
feature because ultimately, you don't want your
00:24:56.579 --> 00:25:00.049
feature to just be... an extended version of
00:25:00.049 --> 00:25:02.930
what the short is you want to be able to extend
00:25:02.930 --> 00:25:05.670
the short but you want to expand on other elements
00:25:05.670 --> 00:25:07.910
of the short and make those become bigger parts
00:25:07.910 --> 00:25:09.670
of the story and it's definitely challenging
00:25:09.670 --> 00:25:12.849
because do you have multiple dream sequences
00:25:12.849 --> 00:25:14.950
does everyone have a nightmare does you you can
00:25:14.950 --> 00:25:17.009
go to like 100 different places so we've been
00:25:17.009 --> 00:25:18.849
pitching ideas back and forth for a while now
00:25:18.849 --> 00:25:20.690
and we kind of have somewhat of an idea where
00:25:20.690 --> 00:25:22.589
i think we're going and brian's working on that
00:25:22.589 --> 00:25:26.289
now i want to move a little bit from The sequence,
00:25:26.309 --> 00:25:28.609
but not entirely because you can see a lot of
00:25:28.609 --> 00:25:31.789
yourself. Here in the film, it's one of the things
00:25:31.789 --> 00:25:34.789
I find interesting about your career is how you've
00:25:34.789 --> 00:25:38.329
experienced from both sides. Like you said, you've
00:25:38.329 --> 00:25:41.730
done indie filmmaking in the past and you've
00:25:41.730 --> 00:25:43.569
experienced both sides of indie filmmaking. You've
00:25:43.569 --> 00:25:46.349
produced, you've acted, and now you're directing
00:25:46.349 --> 00:25:49.829
your own stories. And I believe it was, is it
00:25:49.829 --> 00:25:52.670
a series also that you're also directing? It's
00:25:52.670 --> 00:25:55.420
a short series? Which one? I know Daphne Rubin
00:25:55.420 --> 00:25:57.859
-Begas. Oh, no, no, no. That's actually a drama.
00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:00.660
It's called Tuesday Nights. I directed that series
00:26:00.660 --> 00:26:03.720
like five years ago. That was a web series that
00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:07.660
I got hired to direct. And yeah, it was so different
00:26:07.660 --> 00:26:10.299
than anything I had ever done before. And I remember
00:26:10.299 --> 00:26:13.359
I actually got hired to produce it. And as I
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:15.960
was working with the creator Shiva on it and
00:26:15.960 --> 00:26:18.160
her partner on it, Jolene, as the three of us
00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:20.079
were working together, they told me that they
00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:22.259
already had a director for it. and then like
00:26:22.259 --> 00:26:24.059
after working with them on it for like maybe
00:26:24.059 --> 00:26:26.940
like three or four weeks they like invited me
00:26:26.940 --> 00:26:29.619
out to to grab a drink and we sat down and they're
00:26:29.619 --> 00:26:32.140
like hey listen they're like we haven't introduced
00:26:32.140 --> 00:26:34.220
you to the director yet because things have kind
00:26:34.220 --> 00:26:36.200
of fallen apart with him so we're gonna move
00:26:36.200 --> 00:26:37.920
in a different direction and ultimately we'd
00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:40.420
love for that direction to be you and we'd love
00:26:40.420 --> 00:26:43.000
you to do it and my first like words out of my
00:26:43.000 --> 00:26:45.099
mouth was are you sure you don't want to hire
00:26:45.099 --> 00:26:47.559
a woman to tell this story because this is a
00:26:47.559 --> 00:26:51.059
very female -centric story and what deals with
00:26:51.059 --> 00:26:53.759
a lot of things that I think it might be a good
00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:56.400
idea to at least explore that idea. And they
00:26:56.400 --> 00:26:58.160
both were like, we love the care and attention
00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:00.140
that you put into these characters and what you've
00:27:00.140 --> 00:27:01.579
been working on. So we really think you would
00:27:01.579 --> 00:27:03.559
be the best to tell it. And I was like, I'm going
00:27:03.559 --> 00:27:05.740
to say like, I'm not going to say no twice. So,
00:27:05.740 --> 00:27:10.220
so, um, yeah, so no, I, I honestly, the, that
00:27:10.220 --> 00:27:12.079
was such a great experience working with a lot
00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:15.539
of people in Daffy Rubin Vegas, fucking. She
00:27:15.539 --> 00:27:17.920
was awesome. But yeah, no, I've done a bunch
00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:19.799
of different things, but primarily most of the
00:27:19.799 --> 00:27:21.359
stuff I've done in my career has been in horror.
00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:24.660
Yeah, she's a fucking icon. She's my number one
00:27:24.660 --> 00:27:26.500
meme. She will always be my number one meme.
00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:28.839
I'm pretty sure a lot of people are not going
00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:30.519
to get that reference, but I don't give a shit.
00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:34.299
I don't have to explain it. But all the experiences
00:27:34.299 --> 00:27:39.779
from putting on a clown suit to producing, how
00:27:39.779 --> 00:27:43.789
all that has shaped the way that you... have
00:27:43.789 --> 00:27:45.730
become, basically the filmmaker you are today.
00:27:45.930 --> 00:27:48.609
How has that, all of those experiences come together
00:27:48.609 --> 00:27:50.809
to shape who you are? Well, I think at the end
00:27:50.809 --> 00:27:53.190
of the day, like the thing, there's so many different
00:27:53.190 --> 00:27:55.450
words that you can use or so many different titles
00:27:55.450 --> 00:27:57.430
that you can use to describe all the things that
00:27:57.430 --> 00:27:59.549
you've done in your career. The biggest thing
00:27:59.549 --> 00:28:01.609
that I would say is I'm a storyteller. Like the
00:28:01.609 --> 00:28:03.990
thing that I like to do is I like to tell stories.
00:28:04.109 --> 00:28:07.329
Now, whether I'm producing or writing or directing
00:28:07.329 --> 00:28:10.230
or acting or wearing a clown costume, you're
00:28:10.230 --> 00:28:13.559
still telling a story. As an actor, which I would
00:28:13.559 --> 00:28:15.759
never call myself an actor, but I know I have
00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:17.960
acted in things, but I always say act out of
00:28:17.960 --> 00:28:20.759
necessity, not out of like, I'm the best person
00:28:20.759 --> 00:28:23.140
for the role. Whenever I've acted in things,
00:28:23.339 --> 00:28:26.259
it was all about, okay, cool. I'm this character.
00:28:26.339 --> 00:28:28.640
I'm this clown or I'm this. What's my motivation?
00:28:28.779 --> 00:28:30.559
What's my goal? To scare the shit out of someone
00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:33.059
or to terrify someone or whatever. So you always
00:28:33.059 --> 00:28:35.519
want to tell a story, whether it's a small piece
00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:37.539
of the story or the entire story that you're
00:28:37.539 --> 00:28:39.319
kind of the technician putting the whole thing
00:28:39.319 --> 00:28:41.880
together. I've always been a storyteller and
00:28:41.880 --> 00:28:46.130
I'm stereotypical type A person. I like... being
00:28:46.130 --> 00:28:48.410
organized and structure and having a lot of things
00:28:48.410 --> 00:28:50.569
figured out. And I'm really big on rehearsing
00:28:50.569 --> 00:28:52.369
and planning and all of that kind of stuff. So
00:28:52.369 --> 00:28:54.490
all of those things kind of go into the storytelling
00:28:54.490 --> 00:28:57.230
aspect. And even a lot of people, when they meet
00:28:57.230 --> 00:28:59.369
me, will tell me they love the way I tell stories.
00:28:59.430 --> 00:29:01.529
Some people will tell me to shut up because when
00:29:01.529 --> 00:29:03.829
I'm telling a story, I want the person who I'm
00:29:03.829 --> 00:29:06.089
telling the story to, to experience whatever
00:29:06.089 --> 00:29:08.250
I'm telling them the same way I felt when I first
00:29:08.250 --> 00:29:10.470
heard that or witnessed it or experienced it.
00:29:10.609 --> 00:29:14.349
So that kind of element is important for me.
00:29:15.519 --> 00:29:18.380
doing little things as an actor helped me working
00:29:18.380 --> 00:29:20.799
with actors. Producing things helped me figure
00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:22.440
out the business side of things, the finance
00:29:22.440 --> 00:29:25.460
side of things, the structure, the hiring people,
00:29:25.660 --> 00:29:27.700
the figuring out how to bring a team together.
00:29:27.859 --> 00:29:29.759
That helped me figure that kind of stuff out.
00:29:29.859 --> 00:29:32.299
I think where I excel and what I love to do more
00:29:32.299 --> 00:29:35.180
than anything, like I think if you were to look
00:29:35.180 --> 00:29:38.160
at my career, I probably have more success as
00:29:38.160 --> 00:29:41.559
a producer, but my love and my care is really
00:29:41.559 --> 00:29:43.579
in the writing and directing component of things.
00:29:43.779 --> 00:29:47.819
But that being said, I do all of them because
00:29:47.819 --> 00:29:50.039
I don't want to limit myself. I know a lot of
00:29:50.039 --> 00:29:52.480
people that are only writer -directors, and usually
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:53.960
if you're only a writer -director, you might
00:29:53.960 --> 00:29:56.579
make a movie once every three years. five years
00:29:56.579 --> 00:29:59.039
i realized really early on that i love being
00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:01.400
on set i love being around people and there have
00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:03.519
been times with steven cognetti when i met him
00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:07.200
in 2013 and he pitched me hell house i was like
00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:09.880
hey i love this i want to help you figure out
00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:11.880
a way to make this movie and a couple years ago
00:30:11.880 --> 00:30:15.019
i did that with two producers tom bond and sarah
00:30:15.019 --> 00:30:17.700
seligman and director caleb phillips they brought
00:30:17.700 --> 00:30:20.079
me the movie imposters and i was like this is
00:30:20.079 --> 00:30:22.789
great um shirt and then six months later we're
00:30:22.789 --> 00:30:24.690
on set in Massachusetts shooting it with Jessica
00:30:24.690 --> 00:30:28.710
Roth as our lead and so it's I just really like
00:30:28.710 --> 00:30:31.369
being parts of collaboration and telling stories
00:30:31.369 --> 00:30:34.329
and so any way i can do that i'm always gonna
00:30:34.329 --> 00:30:36.650
be up for i knew you didn't ask me this but if
00:30:36.650 --> 00:30:38.529
i had a choice directing is always going to be
00:30:38.529 --> 00:30:40.430
the number one thing because i really love working
00:30:40.430 --> 00:30:42.750
with actors and i really love pulling performances
00:30:42.750 --> 00:30:45.349
out of people or like shooting a sequence with
00:30:45.349 --> 00:30:47.809
someone where you're going from a to b but in
00:30:47.809 --> 00:30:49.690
your head you know you're editing it not in anything
00:30:49.690 --> 00:30:51.529
like that you just need the sequence to play
00:30:51.529 --> 00:30:53.910
out that way just for editing purposes and then
00:30:53.910 --> 00:30:55.589
you're going to chop it up or whatnot so i love
00:30:55.589 --> 00:30:58.109
that component of it no and the thing is like
00:30:58.109 --> 00:31:00.670
also if you you mentioned something very important
00:31:00.670 --> 00:31:05.170
in that is that Not just the writing. You can
00:31:05.170 --> 00:31:07.069
wear a lot of hats, but sometimes wearing those
00:31:07.069 --> 00:31:09.710
hats also help you. Because for example, you
00:31:09.710 --> 00:31:12.349
were a producer and now you're a director and
00:31:12.349 --> 00:31:14.769
now you know how, okay, I remember when you were
00:31:14.769 --> 00:31:17.069
milking me. Now I have to have some consideration
00:31:17.069 --> 00:31:18.549
when I'm milking you. You know what's funny?
00:31:18.630 --> 00:31:21.049
You could ask Brian this when you talk with him,
00:31:21.109 --> 00:31:23.609
but I remember like every day, like at the midpoint
00:31:23.609 --> 00:31:25.309
of the day, towards the end, when we're running
00:31:25.309 --> 00:31:27.950
behind time, I would go to Brian and be like,
00:31:28.700 --> 00:31:30.619
This is what I need. This is what I need. This
00:31:30.619 --> 00:31:32.480
is what I need. Because I've been that person
00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:34.779
to do that for directors. I'm like, this would
00:31:34.779 --> 00:31:37.039
help me the best right now. This is what I'm
00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:40.490
cutting. And I was, I always say this. I'm very
00:31:40.490 --> 00:31:42.890
I like to consider myself very collaborative
00:31:42.890 --> 00:31:44.789
when I work with other people especially if it's
00:31:44.789 --> 00:31:46.509
stuff that they've written and I'm not writing
00:31:46.509 --> 00:31:48.869
it because I want to try to encompass what gave
00:31:48.869 --> 00:31:51.430
them joy and I want when the movie comes out
00:31:51.430 --> 00:31:53.089
and when people see it I want them to feel the
00:31:53.089 --> 00:31:54.970
same way that I feel when I watch it and not
00:31:54.970 --> 00:31:57.089
that this was this thing that they came up with
00:31:57.089 --> 00:31:58.789
and someone took it away from them but there's
00:31:58.789 --> 00:32:00.089
this thing that they came up with and someone
00:32:00.089 --> 00:32:02.430
came and like enhanced it and made it shine that
00:32:02.430 --> 00:32:04.759
has been whenever i collaborate with people like
00:32:04.759 --> 00:32:06.759
i did with shiva on tuesday nights as well as
00:32:06.759 --> 00:32:08.920
with brian those things have always been important
00:32:08.920 --> 00:32:11.440
to me because no matter who gets the recognition
00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:13.819
a lot of times it is the director who gets the
00:32:13.819 --> 00:32:15.579
recognition or the writer director gets recognition
00:32:15.579 --> 00:32:17.960
but none of these things get made without an
00:32:17.960 --> 00:32:21.319
amazing team of cast crew people that put this
00:32:21.319 --> 00:32:23.500
whole thing together so that's very important
00:32:23.500 --> 00:32:26.059
to me is to make sure that learning growing and
00:32:26.059 --> 00:32:28.440
consistently supporting people the way i would
00:32:28.440 --> 00:32:31.720
want to be supported what's the one thing that
00:32:32.309 --> 00:32:36.069
as a filmmaker or as a storyteller like you said
00:32:36.069 --> 00:32:39.349
on the process of that that you understand now
00:32:39.349 --> 00:32:41.529
that you didn't understand when you first started
00:32:41.529 --> 00:32:45.000
i think one of the things that you get better
00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:47.579
at the more experience you have is cutting out
00:32:47.579 --> 00:32:49.859
the fat and realizing there's a lot of people
00:32:49.859 --> 00:32:51.599
that say audiences are stupid and you have to
00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:53.559
spoon feed them i'm not one of those people i
00:32:53.559 --> 00:32:55.339
think audiences are smart and don't need to spoon
00:32:55.339 --> 00:32:57.160
feed them but there's certain things that you
00:32:57.160 --> 00:32:58.599
do need to give a little bit more information
00:32:58.599 --> 00:33:00.119
there's things that you can kind of be vague
00:33:00.119 --> 00:33:03.039
on i think the more you shoot and the more you're
00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:04.980
on set and the more you're a part of this process
00:33:04.980 --> 00:33:08.920
the easier it is is to look at a script and go
00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:11.019
yeah you don't need this scene you don't need
00:33:11.019 --> 00:33:13.279
this scene you don't need this scene We're wasting
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:15.519
time if we're going to shoot all of these pages
00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:17.559
because these things can be told with just this
00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:19.880
thing. And I think the more experience you get,
00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:22.059
the more you can look at like a hundred page
00:33:22.059 --> 00:33:23.819
script and be like, we can cut 10 pages out of
00:33:23.819 --> 00:33:26.339
that and shoot a 90 page, go on set and shoot
00:33:26.339 --> 00:33:28.759
90 pages versus going on set, trying to shoot
00:33:28.759 --> 00:33:31.940
a hundred pages and being behind the clock, always
00:33:31.940 --> 00:33:33.799
trying to figure that I think is one of the things
00:33:33.799 --> 00:33:36.970
that I've really enjoyed about. filmmaking. And
00:33:36.970 --> 00:33:38.609
I think I've gotten better the more experience
00:33:38.609 --> 00:33:40.789
I have. And I think most people who do this for
00:33:40.789 --> 00:33:44.019
a long time get better at that same thing. Before
00:33:44.019 --> 00:33:46.240
we wrap up, Joe, I want to touch a little bit
00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:49.140
because I know Hell House LLC is coming up on
00:33:49.140 --> 00:33:51.660
its 10 year anniversary this year, this month.
00:33:52.309 --> 00:33:56.750
It's weird. We're labeling it as a 10 -year anniversary.
00:33:56.869 --> 00:33:58.910
Technically, it's an 11 -year anniversary, but
00:33:58.910 --> 00:34:01.849
whatever. You're not kind of the honeymoon phase.
00:34:02.089 --> 00:34:05.230
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And forget my anniversaries,
00:34:05.230 --> 00:34:06.950
too. It's going to be showing back in theaters,
00:34:07.089 --> 00:34:08.789
so it's going to be now out in theaters. This
00:34:08.789 --> 00:34:09.750
is the first time it's being shown in theaters.
00:34:10.130 --> 00:34:12.329
Oh, it's the first time? Yeah, yeah. It was released
00:34:12.329 --> 00:34:15.690
on Amazon Prime and Shudder in 2015, and so this
00:34:15.690 --> 00:34:18.130
is actually the first time. that that actual
00:34:18.130 --> 00:34:20.449
movie that we made in 2014 is being released
00:34:20.449 --> 00:34:22.130
in theaters. It's being released for four days
00:34:22.130 --> 00:34:25.250
from October 29th to November 1st. Oh, that's
00:34:25.250 --> 00:34:27.929
epic because I know it's become a cult classic
00:34:27.929 --> 00:34:29.449
at this point. I know some people don't like
00:34:29.449 --> 00:34:31.550
the cult classic. Those are some of the best
00:34:31.550 --> 00:34:36.110
films. And I saw the umbrella box set. It looks
00:34:36.110 --> 00:34:38.269
amazing. And I know some collectors that have
00:34:38.269 --> 00:34:42.010
it. But when you were part of the original as
00:34:42.010 --> 00:34:44.190
a producer, because you were a part of the original
00:34:44.190 --> 00:34:47.420
film as a producer. And as a clown, like you
00:34:47.420 --> 00:34:50.059
said, you basically stepped in to play the clown.
00:34:50.260 --> 00:34:53.059
When you look back at the movie now, what stands
00:34:53.059 --> 00:34:57.449
out to you the most? I think it was so interesting
00:34:57.449 --> 00:35:02.699
because I think creatively, like Stephen Cognetti
00:35:02.699 --> 00:35:05.559
wrote and directed it, I produced it. To see
00:35:05.559 --> 00:35:08.960
this little movie that we had next to no money
00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:11.199
and brought a bunch of people together to see
00:35:11.199 --> 00:35:13.480
everyone's hard work and dedication go into it.
00:35:13.809 --> 00:35:16.090
and to actually see it turn out really good.
00:35:16.409 --> 00:35:19.329
And then for it to be released and almost nothing
00:35:19.329 --> 00:35:22.309
happened and like no positive response, no anything,
00:35:22.530 --> 00:35:24.429
but us being like, yeah, let's make another,
00:35:24.590 --> 00:35:26.389
let's make another and just keep going down that
00:35:26.389 --> 00:35:29.130
path. I'm really proud of the cult status and
00:35:29.130 --> 00:35:30.909
I'm really proud that it's grown because a lot
00:35:30.909 --> 00:35:33.809
of times there, if I meet 10 people in a day
00:35:33.809 --> 00:35:35.429
and ask them if they've seen Hell House, seven
00:35:35.429 --> 00:35:38.150
out of 10 of them have not seen it. And so it's
00:35:38.150 --> 00:35:40.130
a movie that just grows by word of mouth and
00:35:40.130 --> 00:35:42.030
like. Most of the people I know who have seen
00:35:42.030 --> 00:35:44.789
it, they didn't see it until 2019 or 2020 during
00:35:44.789 --> 00:35:46.969
the pandemic. So it's one of those movies that
00:35:46.969 --> 00:35:49.210
I think grows on you. And I think similar to
00:35:49.210 --> 00:35:51.429
the sequence, it has a lot of unnerving things
00:35:51.429 --> 00:35:53.889
in it. And I think I'm really proud of that.
00:35:53.989 --> 00:35:56.929
I'm also really proud that it's rare that you
00:35:56.929 --> 00:36:00.510
see a franchise where both the producer and the
00:36:00.510 --> 00:36:02.590
writer -director stay consistent through the
00:36:02.590 --> 00:36:06.289
entire run of the franchise. So for it to be
00:36:06.289 --> 00:36:09.030
Steve and me kind of handling things from movie
00:36:09.030 --> 00:36:11.750
one to movie five, over 10 years like i'm really
00:36:11.750 --> 00:36:13.750
proud of that and i'm really excited for it to
00:36:13.750 --> 00:36:16.070
come out in theaters too because i think we got
00:36:16.070 --> 00:36:19.230
the we had a limited theatrical release set up
00:36:19.230 --> 00:36:21.650
for the fourth movie but then taylor swift announced
00:36:21.650 --> 00:36:25.150
her heirs tour and so we got canceled which i
00:36:25.150 --> 00:36:27.670
don't blame her for that like i get it to make
00:36:27.670 --> 00:36:29.449
money and her stuff was going to sell out but
00:36:29.449 --> 00:36:31.929
then we made the fifth movie and the fifth movie
00:36:31.929 --> 00:36:34.449
got a theatrical release and the fifth movie
00:36:34.449 --> 00:36:37.130
it's just not as good as the fourth movie and
00:36:37.130 --> 00:36:38.750
it's definitely not as good as the first movie
00:36:38.750 --> 00:36:41.739
and so I always think, and I think Steve felt
00:36:41.739 --> 00:36:43.920
the same way, like we always wish the first movie,
00:36:44.079 --> 00:36:45.719
especially the way it's been received over the
00:36:45.719 --> 00:36:48.159
last 10 years, we wish it could be out to like
00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:49.880
a mass appeal so that people could see it in
00:36:49.880 --> 00:36:51.679
theaters. Because I think seeing horror movies
00:36:51.679 --> 00:36:53.619
in theaters is always the best experience, especially
00:36:53.619 --> 00:36:56.059
found footage movies. So I'm really excited for
00:36:56.059 --> 00:36:58.599
fans to see it. I know fans who love our movies
00:36:58.599 --> 00:37:00.719
and we have the best, literally the best fucking
00:37:00.719 --> 00:37:02.559
fans in the world. I think they're going to enjoy
00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:04.159
it. And hopefully it brings a newer audience
00:37:04.159 --> 00:37:06.679
to hopefully someone's like, hey, have you ever
00:37:06.679 --> 00:37:08.260
seen this movie? Come watch it with me and we
00:37:08.260 --> 00:37:10.570
can grow our audience. people can kind of get
00:37:10.570 --> 00:37:12.309
to experience the thing that we put together
00:37:12.309 --> 00:37:16.150
with just like 10 of us 11 years ago how has
00:37:16.150 --> 00:37:19.130
that experience like at least from the beginning
00:37:19.130 --> 00:37:22.369
of of hell house llc you were bringing someone
00:37:22.369 --> 00:37:25.610
else's vision to life to be honest and now this
00:37:25.610 --> 00:37:27.809
is again someone else's vision that you're bringing
00:37:27.809 --> 00:37:31.570
to life but as a director yeah how that time
00:37:31.570 --> 00:37:35.880
between hell house and the sequence How has that
00:37:35.880 --> 00:37:38.139
prepared you to put yourself in the director's
00:37:38.139 --> 00:37:40.340
chair and approach horror that way? Yeah, I mean,
00:37:40.360 --> 00:37:42.760
I've always been a director. It's not as much
00:37:42.760 --> 00:37:45.400
as it's it's more experience. That's really the
00:37:45.400 --> 00:37:47.219
thing. It's the experience. It's seeing what
00:37:47.219 --> 00:37:49.179
works and seeing what doesn't work. A lot of
00:37:49.179 --> 00:37:52.570
times when you're producing like. creative differences
00:37:52.570 --> 00:37:54.670
and creative things happen all the time there
00:37:54.670 --> 00:37:56.130
are a lot of times that you agree with people
00:37:56.130 --> 00:37:57.489
there are a lot of times you disagree with people
00:37:57.489 --> 00:37:58.949
there are a lot of times that you have to shoot
00:37:58.949 --> 00:38:00.650
something one way because the person paying for
00:38:00.650 --> 00:38:02.550
it is making you do it that way even though you
00:38:02.550 --> 00:38:04.670
don't think you should do it that way a lot of
00:38:04.670 --> 00:38:07.130
those things happen and play out and i think
00:38:07.130 --> 00:38:10.110
a lot of times the more when you're a director
00:38:10.110 --> 00:38:12.610
it's all on your shoulders so if something plays
00:38:12.610 --> 00:38:16.079
out and like it's good people look at you as
00:38:16.079 --> 00:38:17.619
a good director something plays out it's not
00:38:17.619 --> 00:38:19.059
good people look at you as a terrible director
00:38:19.059 --> 00:38:21.480
and like people are really quick to say like
00:38:21.480 --> 00:38:24.079
i was saying before not i like this or i don't
00:38:24.079 --> 00:38:26.880
like this i love this and i hate this or i can
00:38:26.880 --> 00:38:28.920
tell you like if you go on reddit threads right
00:38:28.920 --> 00:38:31.190
now there are people who call hell house the
00:38:31.190 --> 00:38:33.409
original Hell House, the best found footage movie
00:38:33.409 --> 00:38:35.750
they've ever seen in their entire life. And there
00:38:35.750 --> 00:38:37.349
are people who think it's the worst movie they've
00:38:37.349 --> 00:38:39.309
ever seen in their entire life. That's what's
00:38:39.309 --> 00:38:41.730
interesting about this medium is it's so subjective
00:38:41.730 --> 00:38:45.469
and people try their hardest to make it so objective,
00:38:45.750 --> 00:38:49.710
but it's not. And so I think one of the things
00:38:49.710 --> 00:38:52.289
that is really interesting about getting experience
00:38:52.289 --> 00:38:55.869
is when you are a producer, you obviously have
00:38:55.869 --> 00:38:58.659
a lot of stake. in what happens and how successful
00:38:58.659 --> 00:39:01.900
the the film is but you can also you utilize
00:39:01.900 --> 00:39:04.239
things that you learn positive as well as things
00:39:04.239 --> 00:39:05.920
that you learn negative so that when you're in
00:39:05.920 --> 00:39:07.480
the director's seat you can be like i'm not going
00:39:07.480 --> 00:39:09.500
to make that mistake or i'm going to learn from
00:39:09.500 --> 00:39:11.800
that mistake or i'm going to try to do this or
00:39:11.800 --> 00:39:14.599
that scare that we did was really effective why
00:39:14.599 --> 00:39:16.519
was it effective let me deconstruct that scene
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:19.480
cool i'm making this movie now i have something
00:39:19.480 --> 00:39:21.679
that has a similar sort of setup let me see if
00:39:21.679 --> 00:39:24.210
i can learn from what I did in the past or learn
00:39:24.210 --> 00:39:26.070
from what I watched or what I collaborated on
00:39:26.070 --> 00:39:28.150
in the past and see if I can utilize that to
00:39:28.150 --> 00:39:29.909
get that same experience or that same feeling
00:39:29.909 --> 00:39:32.449
from an audience in the future. I feel like this
00:39:32.449 --> 00:39:35.150
is a good place to bring it back quickly to the
00:39:35.150 --> 00:39:38.329
sequence because I do want to, this is one of
00:39:38.329 --> 00:39:40.110
the major reasons we're here, but I did ask you
00:39:40.110 --> 00:39:42.969
if we can touch a little bit on South House LLC,
00:39:43.250 --> 00:39:45.750
because I come from the physical media community
00:39:45.750 --> 00:39:49.030
and this is mostly what this podcast is about.
00:39:49.110 --> 00:39:53.579
I'm so happy and so glad. that I've had the chance
00:39:53.579 --> 00:39:56.940
to speak to filmmakers, indie filmmakers, because
00:39:56.940 --> 00:40:00.280
again, I want to document the people behind the
00:40:00.280 --> 00:40:04.539
films. And Hell House, I know, is a big thing
00:40:04.539 --> 00:40:07.099
in the community. And you mentioned that, oh,
00:40:07.139 --> 00:40:09.539
you can go on Reddit. Fuck fucking Reddit. Reddit.
00:40:09.940 --> 00:40:14.019
I posted a reel of the 80s horror still book
00:40:14.019 --> 00:40:16.019
that I got. And somebody was like, oh, I just
00:40:16.019 --> 00:40:17.599
wanted to see who was a stupid person who was
00:40:17.599 --> 00:40:19.159
going to buy. And I guess I found one. I was
00:40:19.159 --> 00:40:20.820
like, shut the fuck up, dude. Just because you
00:40:20.820 --> 00:40:22.980
don't have it, it doesn't mean it sucks. It's
00:40:22.980 --> 00:40:25.480
a great retro box set. I feel like a kid with
00:40:25.480 --> 00:40:29.099
this box set. So let me be. But I also understand
00:40:29.099 --> 00:40:32.039
that there's a lot of people that could, like
00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:34.400
I said, I'm not the biggest fan of found footage.
00:40:34.460 --> 00:40:36.219
And it's not because I don't like the genre.
00:40:36.340 --> 00:40:38.280
It's because the genre gets the shit out of me.
00:40:38.360 --> 00:40:41.079
Right. So it's a little different, especially
00:40:41.079 --> 00:40:43.480
now with all the found footage of cell phones.
00:40:43.869 --> 00:40:45.989
But I loved the Blair Witch Project. That was
00:40:45.989 --> 00:40:48.889
an experience in theaters that it was amazing.
00:40:49.190 --> 00:40:51.889
And I didn't know this had to come out in theaters
00:40:51.889 --> 00:40:53.650
because I would have preferred to go see it in
00:40:53.650 --> 00:40:55.889
theaters than at home. You know, I'm going to
00:40:55.889 --> 00:40:58.789
do a shameless plug here. I directed, I wrote
00:40:58.789 --> 00:41:00.949
and directed a movie. It's called Unknown Dimension,
00:41:00.969 --> 00:41:03.369
the story of paranormal activity. It's a tell
00:41:03.369 --> 00:41:05.469
-all documentary about how they made the paranormal
00:41:05.469 --> 00:41:08.590
activity franchise. And I did a section of the
00:41:08.590 --> 00:41:10.769
movie on the history of found footage and why
00:41:10.769 --> 00:41:12.949
found footage is effective. I think you would
00:41:12.949 --> 00:41:14.829
really enjoy that. And I say this because my
00:41:14.829 --> 00:41:16.889
wife always pitches this movie for people because
00:41:16.889 --> 00:41:18.610
people are like, oh, I don't watch horror movies.
00:41:18.670 --> 00:41:20.949
I'm scared of horror movies. This isn't really
00:41:20.949 --> 00:41:23.469
a horror movie. It's sort of a documentary explaining
00:41:23.469 --> 00:41:26.929
how someone took an idea and it became this worldwide
00:41:26.929 --> 00:41:29.730
phenomenon. But if you have Paramount +, you
00:41:29.730 --> 00:41:31.809
should check it out because it was a lot of fun
00:41:31.809 --> 00:41:34.389
to make. And it was a lot of fun to make. I think
00:41:34.389 --> 00:41:37.630
it's good. And yeah, I mean, if you like the
00:41:37.630 --> 00:41:39.630
stuff that I'm doing, that'll be another thing.
00:41:39.650 --> 00:41:41.840
I'm in. I don't think there's a shameless plug,
00:41:41.920 --> 00:41:44.719
and I didn't have this sitting next to me because
00:41:44.719 --> 00:41:48.119
I knew you were going to plug that. I've had
00:41:48.119 --> 00:41:49.960
this, and for people who are probably watching
00:41:49.960 --> 00:41:54.340
the YouTube video, this is the second site Blu
00:41:54.340 --> 00:41:55.940
-ray, and then this is the Playbill from the
00:41:55.940 --> 00:41:58.760
Broadway show. I still have this on my desk,
00:41:58.820 --> 00:42:00.579
like right next to where I record. So again,
00:42:00.659 --> 00:42:02.760
that was not part of your shameless plug, and
00:42:02.760 --> 00:42:05.320
there's no shame in plugging. What do you think
00:42:05.320 --> 00:42:08.079
of the play? And it was fucking amazing. Well,
00:42:08.139 --> 00:42:09.800
the thing is, we're theater people. Like, you
00:42:09.800 --> 00:42:11.059
know, me and my partner, we're theater people.
00:42:11.400 --> 00:42:13.559
We see a lot of theater now less because it's
00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:16.559
more expensive. But I wanted to see it in London
00:42:16.559 --> 00:42:18.400
because that's where it started. Well, at least
00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:22.300
the major one besides the Broadway one. And mostly
00:42:22.300 --> 00:42:24.139
because of the merch. I went to see it and I
00:42:24.139 --> 00:42:25.639
was like, let me get all the merch because like
00:42:25.639 --> 00:42:29.300
the poster looks amazing. And it was such a good.
00:42:30.199 --> 00:42:32.519
drama like obviously it was a it was unnerving
00:42:32.519 --> 00:42:34.219
you had some scenes that were kind of like how
00:42:34.219 --> 00:42:36.159
the fuck they pulled this off but when you know
00:42:36.159 --> 00:42:37.800
theater you know how they pulled it off yeah
00:42:37.800 --> 00:42:40.539
i i love the crowd reaction yeah as a matter
00:42:40.539 --> 00:42:44.380
of fact i i when i was taking seminars for producing
00:42:44.380 --> 00:42:46.900
you would have directors that will come in and
00:42:46.900 --> 00:42:49.480
they were broadway producing and they will come
00:42:49.480 --> 00:42:51.199
in and they're like oh that they like to watch
00:42:51.199 --> 00:42:53.969
the audience reaction yeah So they're like, we
00:42:53.969 --> 00:42:56.190
sit in the audience and we like to watch the
00:42:56.190 --> 00:42:58.650
audience reaction. And I wanted to do that. With
00:42:58.650 --> 00:43:00.250
this play, I wanted to do that because people
00:43:00.250 --> 00:43:03.070
next to me were on edge. And I'm like, this is
00:43:03.070 --> 00:43:04.869
what's going to happen. This is what's going
00:43:04.869 --> 00:43:06.829
to happen. Like, you go in and you already know
00:43:06.829 --> 00:43:09.289
horror. But the way they pulled it off and the
00:43:09.289 --> 00:43:12.550
setting inside, the sound design. Yeah. Oh, God,
00:43:12.610 --> 00:43:14.409
I'm a sucker for a good sound design, which is
00:43:14.409 --> 00:43:16.369
something this film, and I'm not plugging it
00:43:16.369 --> 00:43:17.809
shamelessly because that's what we're here for,
00:43:17.869 --> 00:43:20.349
the sequence. It has such good sound design.
00:43:21.739 --> 00:43:24.679
If you could do that, and I'm not hating on feature
00:43:24.679 --> 00:43:27.559
films, but if you could do that in a short film,
00:43:27.599 --> 00:43:29.099
and if you could do that in a Broadway play,
00:43:29.360 --> 00:43:32.199
why can't we get in a fucking Academy Award nominated
00:43:32.199 --> 00:43:35.340
movie? I'm just, I'm just, I'm a sucker for the
00:43:35.340 --> 00:43:38.079
Oscars. Like there's, but the play itself, I
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:39.719
didn't want to sit down and talk about it on
00:43:39.719 --> 00:43:42.519
the podcast because it's an extended run right
00:43:42.519 --> 00:43:45.909
now. So it's a limited run itself. But if it
00:43:45.909 --> 00:43:48.150
goes on tour, it was in San Francisco. And if
00:43:48.150 --> 00:43:50.630
it goes on tour and you're a horror lover, like
00:43:50.630 --> 00:43:54.070
you have to go see the play. Yeah, I moved back
00:43:54.070 --> 00:43:56.510
to New York right when they premiered it in L
00:43:56.510 --> 00:43:59.650
.A. So I got invited to go watch it with like
00:43:59.650 --> 00:44:02.130
the people from Paranormal Activity. And I'm
00:44:02.130 --> 00:44:04.070
so mad that I didn't get a chance to see it.
00:44:04.130 --> 00:44:05.989
And I still haven't seen it. But it's like literally
00:44:05.989 --> 00:44:09.769
the number one on my list of things. You're a
00:44:09.769 --> 00:44:12.289
train away. You're a train away. You can literally
00:44:12.289 --> 00:44:14.920
come watch that play in a day. If you want to
00:44:14.920 --> 00:44:16.920
sit towards the middle, if you're in the mezzanine,
00:44:17.119 --> 00:44:19.619
again, this is just because we know Broadway
00:44:19.619 --> 00:44:22.199
and the best shot for that play is the mezzanine.
00:44:22.380 --> 00:44:24.559
If you're too close to the stage, there's a scene
00:44:24.559 --> 00:44:26.500
that you're not going to appreciate that happens
00:44:26.500 --> 00:44:29.860
in the upstairs. And people were freaking the
00:44:29.860 --> 00:44:32.039
fuck out when that happened. And I was like,
00:44:32.119 --> 00:44:33.920
yeah, I'm watching it. My partner was like, why
00:44:33.920 --> 00:44:35.539
was everybody yelling? What happened upstairs?
00:44:35.699 --> 00:44:37.860
I'm like, I'm not, I told them what happened,
00:44:37.920 --> 00:44:39.980
but I'm like, I couldn't, I'm not telling the
00:44:39.980 --> 00:44:41.360
audience. You would recommend sitting in the
00:44:41.360 --> 00:44:43.400
mezzanine, not in the orchestra. The orchestra,
00:44:43.500 --> 00:44:45.420
if you sit in the orchestra, sit at least like
00:44:45.420 --> 00:44:47.860
after role -y. Because if you sit before that,
00:44:47.920 --> 00:44:50.159
it's going to be kind of hard to see the top.
00:44:50.380 --> 00:44:52.960
Because what happens, it happens in the bed and
00:44:52.960 --> 00:44:55.619
is behind her. So you really can't appreciate
00:44:55.619 --> 00:44:58.679
it if you're too close. And the Demesanine has
00:44:58.679 --> 00:45:01.139
a perfect view because you have, obviously, you're
00:45:01.139 --> 00:45:03.920
at stage level. But yeah, if you could come to
00:45:03.920 --> 00:45:05.980
New York, watch that play. And again, I should
00:45:05.980 --> 00:45:07.639
just probably tag them at this point and just
00:45:07.639 --> 00:45:09.380
be like, hey, we shamelessly plugged you as well.
00:45:11.510 --> 00:45:14.510
But what is next for you? And where do you see
00:45:14.510 --> 00:45:17.829
the sequence taking you? Or at least you and
00:45:17.829 --> 00:45:20.969
Brian as well. Yeah, so next for me is a couple
00:45:20.969 --> 00:45:23.710
things. Here comes my plugs. So Hell House is
00:45:23.710 --> 00:45:25.949
doing its four -day theatrical run from October
00:45:25.949 --> 00:45:28.789
29th to November 1st. You can get tickets at,
00:45:28.829 --> 00:45:31.469
I believe it's iconicevents .com. Tickets are
00:45:31.469 --> 00:45:34.389
on sale now. So that's the first thing. Second,
00:45:34.550 --> 00:45:37.869
I believe October 22nd on YouTube, we're releasing
00:45:37.869 --> 00:45:40.030
the short film, The Sequence. And I know we're
00:45:40.030 --> 00:45:41.630
going to be able to release that in a couple
00:45:41.630 --> 00:45:43.429
different places over the next couple months.
00:45:43.550 --> 00:45:45.469
So we're excited for people to actually see that
00:45:45.469 --> 00:45:47.809
because we just finished the festival run from
00:45:47.809 --> 00:45:50.949
it. In early next year, there's going to be a
00:45:50.949 --> 00:45:52.710
limited theatrical run of a movie I did called
00:45:52.710 --> 00:45:54.389
Imposters, which I was mentioning a little while
00:45:54.389 --> 00:45:57.570
ago. I produced it with two partners. And it's
00:45:57.570 --> 00:45:59.630
directed by Caleb Phillips and it stars Jessica
00:45:59.630 --> 00:46:01.889
Roth from the Happy Death Day franchise and Charlie
00:46:01.889 --> 00:46:04.070
Barnett. That one's a nice little horror sci
00:46:04.070 --> 00:46:06.010
-fi movie that I think indie fans are going to
00:46:06.010 --> 00:46:07.769
love. And it did really well in the festival
00:46:07.769 --> 00:46:10.030
circuit. And then I'm working on the next feature
00:46:10.030 --> 00:46:12.210
right now that I'm going to direct. Brian's writing
00:46:12.210 --> 00:46:14.550
the sequence and I'm working on a different film.
00:46:14.710 --> 00:46:16.949
So depending on who gets done faster, whichever
00:46:16.949 --> 00:46:19.550
one is done faster is going to be the next movie
00:46:19.550 --> 00:46:23.110
that gets made by me. If you could go back a
00:46:23.110 --> 00:46:26.440
few years and give yourself a piece of advice,
00:46:26.619 --> 00:46:29.599
what would that advice be? Don't listen to what
00:46:29.599 --> 00:46:33.510
other people say or think. And obviously experience
00:46:33.510 --> 00:46:36.389
and mentorship and all of that stuff is very
00:46:36.389 --> 00:46:40.369
important. I think what happens is when you start
00:46:40.369 --> 00:46:43.650
to get success, you start to chase something.
00:46:43.750 --> 00:46:46.550
You start to chase trends and you start to chase
00:46:46.550 --> 00:46:49.389
things where you begin writing and directing
00:46:49.389 --> 00:46:52.389
and producing whatever. You try to make things
00:46:52.389 --> 00:46:55.289
that you think people will like. And I think
00:46:55.289 --> 00:46:58.400
the only way movies are successful. are when
00:46:58.400 --> 00:47:00.780
you make movies that you would like, and you
00:47:00.780 --> 00:47:02.639
make things that you want to see, and you make
00:47:02.639 --> 00:47:05.440
things like, I'm a horror guy, so I love horror
00:47:05.440 --> 00:47:07.699
movies. So if I'm going to make a horror movie,
00:47:07.800 --> 00:47:10.820
I want to make something that the fan wants to
00:47:10.820 --> 00:47:13.559
see. And again, I think when you start bringing
00:47:13.559 --> 00:47:15.780
objectivity into things that aren't really objective
00:47:15.780 --> 00:47:17.639
and they're really subjective, and you start
00:47:17.639 --> 00:47:20.300
saying good, bad, worse, better, that kind of
00:47:20.300 --> 00:47:22.860
stuff, it makes you start questioning if you
00:47:22.860 --> 00:47:24.420
should do this or if you should do this for your
00:47:24.420 --> 00:47:26.900
career. And I think... sticking to your guns
00:47:26.900 --> 00:47:30.340
and believing in yourself and kind of, you have
00:47:30.340 --> 00:47:32.119
to put in the work, but believing in yourself
00:47:32.119 --> 00:47:35.420
is the only way to be successful. And it is very,
00:47:35.519 --> 00:47:38.260
very tough because the industry measures success
00:47:38.260 --> 00:47:40.599
with awards and with money and with a lot of
00:47:40.599 --> 00:47:42.820
other things. And truthfully, that is not the
00:47:42.820 --> 00:47:44.880
thing that it becomes the most fulfilling thing.
00:47:45.059 --> 00:47:48.119
So that's the piece of advice that I would give
00:47:48.119 --> 00:47:50.000
to younger me. And that's the piece of advice
00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:51.739
that I would give to any young filmmaker out
00:47:51.739 --> 00:47:54.199
there is trust your instincts and trust your
00:47:54.199 --> 00:47:57.170
gut. You have a unique way of telling a story.
00:47:57.329 --> 00:47:59.449
So tell that story the way you would want to
00:47:59.449 --> 00:48:00.829
tell it and the way you would want to see it.
00:48:00.909 --> 00:48:03.449
Thank you so much, Joe, for being with me here
00:48:03.449 --> 00:48:05.909
today. I do appreciate your time. But before
00:48:05.909 --> 00:48:07.929
we go, just please tell the listeners where they
00:48:07.929 --> 00:48:10.150
can find you and where they can also find the
00:48:10.150 --> 00:48:12.489
sequence. Yeah, so the sequence will be on YouTube.
00:48:12.610 --> 00:48:16.150
It's on Red End Productions. That's Brian Lepresino's
00:48:16.150 --> 00:48:18.750
company, Red End Productions. It should be available
00:48:18.750 --> 00:48:22.099
on YouTube on October 22nd. And you can find
00:48:22.099 --> 00:48:24.099
me. I'm not the biggest social media person,
00:48:24.199 --> 00:48:27.019
but Instagram, you can find me. I'm the Chosen
00:48:27.019 --> 00:48:35.789
Joey. That's a good name. If you enjoyed this
00:48:35.789 --> 00:48:37.610
episode, the best way to support The Physical
00:48:37.610 --> 00:48:41.170
Cut is simply to follow, share. And if you know
00:48:41.170 --> 00:48:43.349
any physical media lovers, please send them this
00:48:43.349 --> 00:48:45.650
podcast. Also, if you want to leave us a review
00:48:45.650 --> 00:48:47.849
wherever you listen, I would totally appreciate
00:48:47.849 --> 00:48:50.980
that as well. You can also follow along on Instagram
00:48:50.980 --> 00:48:54.739
at The Physical Cut Pod and our website at krpodlab
00:48:54.739 --> 00:48:56.679
.com. You can leave me any voicemails there.
00:48:56.760 --> 00:48:59.000
I usually check them out. And you might want
00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:02.179
to check out the TPC support subscription for
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00:49:07.820 --> 00:49:09.539
has been The Physical Cut, where films will be
00:49:09.539 --> 00:49:11.219
on the stream. And I will see you guys next time.