Full Transcript for Festival Interview: Kate Price & Joshua Ling

I made up a character, I made up an entire film career for this character at one point when I was little. 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:17.839 Yeah. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:22.720 Well, I'm curious how how long or how far back your involvement with River Run goes. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.639 Have you all attended the festival in the past? 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:26.879 Was this some of your first experience with River Run? 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:29.920 Uh Josh, I know you work with the Arts Council, is that correct? 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:33.680 So I imagine you've had a decent amount of interaction with River Run over the years. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:34.800 Will that be a safe assumption? 00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:35.519 Yeah, yeah. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:45.519 And I think River Run was kind of one of the first things I did kind of moving to Winston-Salem, just going because it was such a big part of the downtown community. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:57.839 And as we were trying to plug in as soon as we moved there, I think it was just really fun to feel that festival environment in a city that was new, so it felt really fresh. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:13.199 So I've been probably several years uh just going to see shows and and then with working at the arts council, also being involved in kind of some of the helping set up for the past, I think, two years and making sure everything ran smooth. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:20.160 But I've seen so many cool, so many cool films just because of uh River Run being available. 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:25.040 An arts council, they're based right there in kind of the same building as the Road Center, correct? 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:29.519 We have the Dom Road Center and then uh the Haynes Bram's Theater as well. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:30.480 Yeah, I thought so. 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:31.040 Thought so. 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:33.839 My my wife and I have kind of been in and around that. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:35.279 She works at Sawtooth. 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:36.240 Oh, yeah, yeah. 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:37.680 Right up on the other side there. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:41.120 So kind of in and around the Arts Council over the years, and with her art. 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:46.079 I don't know if you can you can't see it in this shot, but like there's some on either side of me. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:48.319 It's amazing. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:52.879 Well, um Kate, I know you're the screenwriter for Mooncat. 00:05:53.120 --> 00:05:59.600 Uh how far back do you're I see quite a few books behind you there, and I see you've very carefully placed them. 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:03.759 And is that a typewriter I see behind you as well, or is that it is, yeah. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:04.319 Uh yes. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:06.959 Yeah, it doesn't it doesn't work typewriter. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:09.040 It doesn't work, but hey, no, but that's an awesome. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:12.879 It could with some with more love than I have to give

it, probably. 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:21.439 Yeah, I think again, just kind of stemming out of love for ingesting stories and kind of trying my hand at telling stories. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:29.839 I think I've always been drawn to that, and and Mooncat was kind of our our just us getting together and saying, let's try it. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.839 So this uh Mooncat was my first screenplay, so okay. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:38.319 Had no idea what I was doing, and just kind of we jumped into it and yeah. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:40.000 Yeah, it was fun. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:44.480 I guess it's been about five years since we first started talking about doing this. 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:52.879 Um and originally it was I think two and a half pages of a montage story that no dialogue. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:58.480 No dialogue, we're just gonna film it, and we're like, what if we film this and then just like put it up on Instagram or something? 00:06:58.639 --> 00:07:00.639 It's like great, let's do that. 00:07:00.720 --> 00:07:10.000 And then it just kept growing because Kate really just cares about characters and finding ways to make those characters grow and come to life. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:20.480 And I think we spent so much time just like reading and talking about the characters, and then she would like we'd we leave, and then she texted me and be like, I have something to tell you. 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:31.279 I wrote more, and there's a lot more dialogue now, and we need to get a beer and talk about it, and just kind of growing and evolving in that way, just in the way that we love talking about stories so much. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:36.240 We talked about this and in the same way, which really helped it grow into what it was. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:44.079 The characters change and develop into more fully realized people, and I think Kate just did such an incredible job. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:56.480 One being open to talk about them critically in some ways and also lovingly in others, and it'd be something that then she took back with her and grew again, which I think was just so fun and special. 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:02.959 Yeah, it's really the process of communicating as a whole can really be boiled down to how we wrote it as well. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:06.959 It was incredibly collaborative, and that was kind of what we were going for. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:26.720 And so it really did just naturally progress and get bigger and bigger, starting like we said, from that two and a half, three-page thing that we were like gonna shoot on a weekend and maybe throw up on YouTube or Instagram or something, and we're gonna just that was all it was gonna be to talking about the characters and what's motivating them. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:37.759 And and I would just, yeah, I had so much fun talking about talking about them, and then I would go home and just write another scene and then come back, and then we would we would just have that

one scene and then we would all talk about it. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:52.240 And at that point we had our little sister Michaela as well as another friend, Desiree, who were kind of you know, workshopping it with us as as the two ki main characters, and so we would all just talk about it. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:09:08.159 So it would be, you know, all four of us, and then I would go home so inspired by the conversations we had around these characters, and then write another scene and another scene and another scene until it ended up being the 22-minute short film that we that we ended up making. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:10.720 Yeah, and that that's pretty ambitious for a short film. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:18.559 I just not that I speak from tremendous experience, but just looking at the ones I got to see at River Run, I didn't see I saw maybe one or two others that were of that length. 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:23.200 So that yeah I'll that's more we'll get more into like TV episode territory. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:24.879 So that's pretty good. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:28.559 Yeah, I think it's because we didn't know we were being ambitious. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:46.639 You know, this was the first thing that we have ever done, and it was kind of very intentional about how we were making it, and everybody involved in the process had never done anything like this before, but we had all just wanted to, and uh, so we didn't know what we were doing, and we didn't know that what we were doing was crazy. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:50.240 That kind of helped Dan Hurt in a lot of ways, but helped more so. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:50.799 Yeah. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:10:10.720 It definitely felt like we there was an element of caring so much about the characters that we wanted their growth to have be done justice in some ways, and then it turned into, well, we need to be able to see certain certain arcs or else it doesn't work in some ways, and that's where we just kind of grew into this. 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:15.039 Maybe a little bit more ambitious, short than what we intentionally planned. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:17.039 But like Kate said, we didn't we didn't know any better. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:22.480 We didn't felt like the right choice, which was yeah, I think in the end it was for us. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:26.159 Well, at what point did your uh two actresses come into play? 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:30.559 Were they a part of the process and just like all right, you're the act, you're gonna be the actors now? 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:33.519 Or did you did you do some auditions? 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:36.480 Like like how did that did you just have some friends who are into acting? 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:37.840 You're like, hey, can you be in our movie? 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:38.639 Like we'll see. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:39.360 Yeah. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:46.480 The when I wrote the original, you know, little tiny two and a half page, uh, I can't even really call it a

script. 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:49.759 I think it feels so sad to call it a script. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:55.519 Uh, I the first two people that I sent it to was Joshua and then also our younger sister, Michaela. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:00.080 And so I had just sent it to her and I was like, I wrote this. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:01.279 That that was kind of it. 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:04.159 She responded back like, I I want to be Izzy. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:05.759 Like I I want to try it. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:06.799 Can I try? 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:08.320 And I was like, absolutely. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:12.320 And then when I brought it to Josh, I was like, what do what do we do about Helen? 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:12.879 Yeah. 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:33.039 And then at the time we had, I thought of my really, really good friend Desiree, who Kate mentioned earlier, who really kind of spent, I guess like almost a year like workshopping, maybe longer, I can't remember now, but workshopping and doing we would do table reads and we would do like blocking stuff, and we would kind of work on scenes together. 00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:43.120 And as a part of that like collaborative, let's find the let's find who these characters are and how it works with your voice, just because yeah, she had never acted before either. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:50.159 And then some things happened and and she wasn't able to do the actual filming once it came time to to film it. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:54.639 So then I we were scrambling trying to because we had already locked in dates. 00:11:54.720 --> 00:12:01.440 So we were trying to find someone to do that, and then I remembered my good friend Kat, uh, who ends up playing Helen in the film. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:08.240 I remember that she had done some film work and some acting in college and have done a little bit since then. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:11.919 And uh I just texted her and I said, Hey, this is a long shot. 00:12:12.080 --> 00:12:13.600 We're shooting this in two weeks. 00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:14.639 Here's a script. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:16.960 I think you would be perfect, actually. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:21.360 And she ended up being great, and she read it and was like, I love this. 00:12:21.759 --> 00:12:28.399 And I let me triple check that I can not do anything else for five days. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:30.000 And and it it worked out. 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:31.440 It was kind of it was crazy. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:58.000 We we didn't know what we were gonna do if that didn't work, and I think Kat just really came in and really embodied everything that we had worked on with Desiree and how the character had grown so much and all the love that Kate put into writing that character specifically, and then brought so much of herself to it as well, which I just yeah, so many of her scenes are like just make me cry thinking about him as an older sibling as well. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:00.960 Just yeah, it felt

like it was it was right. 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:03.840 Yeah, and I was gonna say that to clarify for listeners. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:07.919 So Helen is the older sister, there's two sisters, maybe for our listeners. 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:10.080 We probably should give a little synopsis of of the film. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:11.440 Probably should have done that to start with. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:15.279 I can I'll definitely put that in the description as well, just to include that. 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:19.919 But uh maybe for our listeners, just kind of give an overview of the the story of the film. 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:24.639 So you have two sisters at the center of it, but how would you describe the the story? 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:55.039 Uh yeah, it's we kind of are like one sentence description is about two sisters who are who love each other very much in maybe not the most healthy ways, but through the course of their this story, take kind of one one step into learning how to love each other in a more healthy way and loving them for who they actually are instead of just the roles that we can play for each other. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:14:27.759 But as far as like a synopsis go, it's you know, a younger sister in who reaches out to her older sister needing to kind of be saved from a situation and uh the sister swoops in as it comes to, you know, you kind of realize is it not a um this isn't a one-time thing, and they stay together for you know the course of like two-ish weeks that this takes place through that uh learning to think who they really are um and not just who they are to each other and moving through that. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:31.519 I don't know, Josh, if I it's hard to talk about sometimes. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:32.720 Yeah, that's great. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:52.320 Yeah, and I think as they kind of have the hard conversations around the ways in which they're currently acting out certain roles for each other, they learn to just take one step back and kind of view themselves, how maybe they want to be viewed, and then how they can view the other person in a more holistic and loving way. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:58.080 It doesn't end with them being fully there, but I don't think that's true to life most times anyway. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:01.120 So yeah, we we don't want to step closer healthy. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:07.200 Don't have full house endings at the end of the episode in real life, at least not very often. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:09.519 In 22 minutes, let's solve this problem. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:12.720 It's a lifelong problem. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:13.279 Yeah. 00:15:13.519 --> 00:15:22.879 So with with Helen, like in the sisterly dynamic, Helen mean the older sister, Izzy the younger, like you said, Izzy having some issues with a partner. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:30.159 My I took it as a domestic abuse situation or at the very least verbal emotional abuse situation that she needed to get away from. 00:15:30.320 --> 00:15:39.279 And I can imagine, and it seemed like maybe I'll try to portray this in the film that Helen feels a bit like the parent in that situation of like, oh, I've got to take care of my younger sister. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:45.759 Like she loves her sister and she wants to help, but is also frustrated having to that's how I took it. 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:47.600 Like, and I'm also an old older sibling as well. 00:15:47.679 --> 00:15:48.720 I have two younger sisters. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:54.320 But like there have been seasons when I was growing up where I kind of had to be like a third parent. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:55.519 Some some by necessity. 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:59.919 But and you mentioned, Josh, that you guys you tried to transition that a little bit. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:01.600 That was one of the character arcs. 00:16:01.679 --> 00:16:12.480 Is that Izzy and forgive me, it's been a minute since I've seen it, so I'm trying to recall how it goes, but Izzy kind of learns to stick up for herself a little more and start doing more for herself. 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:25.600 And then Helen also, I noticed you made her kind of a elapsed writer that that she had kind of gotten away from that and that her sister challenges her to get back to that. 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:39.519 Did you uh even though I know you're a younger sibling, Kate, with the writing piece, did you I suppose every writer puts a little bit of themselves into their characters with that kind of the thinking there a little bit, it's like, well, I'm gonna put a little bit of myself, I'm gonna make her a writer, but she needs to get back to it. 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:45.120 Yeah, I think you know, there's parts of I'm one of five siblings, you know. 00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:46.799 Joshua's the oldest. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:48.159 I am right in the middle. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:54.080 And so there is there's very much a lot of parts of all of us in both of the characters. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:17:06.960 And I think especially being the middle child, I kind of am there are parts there are all my worst parts probably in both Helen and Izzy, you know, and that's very much something that, you know, as a writer, it's hard not to do. 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:16.319 But I think the the idea is like she's very pragmatic, she's very logical, she is very looking for the most controlled way to live her life. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:22.880 And having something that, you know, there's something audacious about being in any kind of artist. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:44.720 And so to have that kind of deep down that she's suppressed and and gone the like more practical route, you know, that it we played around with several different um versions of what it was that she had, um, you know, or what it what versions of that dream, the the dream deferred or the dream suppressed would be. 00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:51.119 And it kind of uh really boiled down to logistics of what was

really easy to do. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:59.039 And especially like there are some flashbacks sequences with the the characters as young children. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:02.240 And so we played around with like, well, what if she's a musician? 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:19.039 But we wanted to have that dream deferred be present in those flashbacks, and so it was very easy to have a nine-year-old read from a storybook to a three-year-old versus trying to have them, you know, have her strum a guitar or something, you know. 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:20.319 Um, yeah. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:29.680 So it kind of came down to logistics, but the idea behind it would just be that there was a you know, a dream suppressed that Izzy could help pull out of her. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:30.079 Yeah. 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:35.200 So, Josh, did you get to put a little bit of yourself into Helen being the oldest yourself? 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:39.599 You mentioned that you'd say related to aspects of the character being the older sibling. 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:51.839 Okay, obviously you're the older sister, so there's elements there too, but like in your collaboration on the scripts and stuff, did you you feel like you gotta it's like, yeah, that's probably what I know what the oldest would say right there, or things like that. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:54.160 Maybe not directly, I don't think. 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:55.920 Not consciously, maybe. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:57.200 Not consciously, yeah. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:08.319 I think I tried to focus more on kind of overarching ways in which we could ensure that the characters had a pro a growth. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:16.000 But I I tried to let Kate fully express kind of the dialogue and the ways in which she wanted those characters to speak. 00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:21.119 I think that was really important to me, just as she was she's a she is the writer. 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:23.839 I have I have not that is not my strong suit. 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:36.799 And so I think just like, okay, let's just spitball about what these characters are feeling in that moment, which I think is like more what I got really excited about, and I think more what I like to talk about in that process. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:44.880 So maybe indirectly or not consciously, but I think Kate just did such a good job knowing how siblings speak to each other. 00:19:44.960 --> 00:19:55.920 I think we that's one of the things we talk about uh quite a bit when we see sibling-based movies or or shows, and it's like, I don't think these people have siblings. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:19:57.440 It's easy to spot when they don't. 00:19:57.759 --> 00:19:58.720 The person who wrote it. 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:01.119 Yeah, I think that's an only child. 00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:13.039 Yeah, I think you know, Joshua is so good at analyzing, and he's so good at talking about stories, and he's so good at talking about characters and knows story structure so well. 00:20:13.359 --> 00:20:22.640 And so there were things where I would come, there isn't there is another character that we haven't mentioned, um, Dan, who is the partner of Izzy that comes into play. 00:20:22.799 --> 00:20:45.119 And I, when I, you know, he did not exist in many iterations of the script, and I just kept feeling like there's there's something that there has to be a catalyst, and I couldn't, you know, I was trying to figure it out, and I was like, I don't know, maybe maybe the the ex comes in and there's you know, whatever, but I didn't really know necessarily I knew it needed to happen, I didn't know why, I didn't know how. 00:20:45.359 --> 00:21:12.160 And I just talked to Josh and I was like, I don't know, and I I had him like drunk and really like crazy and like you know, because I was just like, something has to happen here, and that you know, I I couldn't get it right, and I just presented this idea to Josh because I was like, something with this character has to exist, but I don't know what it is, and he very immediately was like, Dan is Helen's mirror character, and that's why he has to be in here, but the way that you've written him is terrible. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:19.359 So let's talk about this character, let's talk about what he would like what his motivations are, how he would, you know, express that. 00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:32.079 And so even if he didn't technically write any of the words, it is very much of a a full collaboration, and like you know, I wouldn't have gotten where I where I ended up without without those conversations. 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:32.640 Yeah. 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:42.079 Yeah, I did I did really feel strongly about Dan being more in the film, he shows up and he's just kind of very even keel. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:51.279 He's not aggressive feeling, but you know that there's obviously some kind of toxicity in his relationship with uh Izzy. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:59.680 And I thought it would be more powerful for Helen's character if she's confronted with someone who's also trying to control. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:20.160 Her younger sister in ways that maybe she isn't as be as toxic, but she is still trying to be like, you need to do this, you need to get this job, you need to come conform to my ideas of what growing up and being an adult looks like, and that's security and that's safety above all other things, and very rigid. 00:22:20.319 --> 00:22:38.880 And so if this other person also has this sort of control, however the viewer wants to describe what that is, or think about what that is for themselves, but it is like, okay, he's gotta somehow express that, and Helen has to be confronted with it because then she'll be allowed to move on. 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:45.119 And also Izzy can then move on in some ways as well, if she's able to somehow have that confrontation for herself. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:48.400 Yeah, we needed we needed Helen to have to look it in the eyes. 00:22:48.559

--> 00:23:09.279 You know, Richard, you said it, and it's very true about being parentified, and that is definitely Helen's character taking that on, and it's also very much just when you love someone so much and you see that they're in a cycle of maybe bad choices, and you just are like, I could do it so much better for you. 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:14.960 And you just want to like take that, take their life on for them because you it's out of love. 00:23:15.119 --> 00:23:21.680 You love them so much, and you want them to have the best, and you want them to, you know, not be stuck in these bad cycles. 00:23:21.839 --> 00:23:28.880 And so yeah, she that's that is a very noble thing to want for the people that you love. 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:49.359 So you have to, she really had to be confronted and look it in the eyes and of someone that she definitely does not like and can see the harmful things about what it does to a person if they're never allowed to kind of feel like they have the opportunity or have the ability in themselves to make a good choice. 00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:54.079 If if their whole life it's just been, well, you're not gonna make the good choice, so I'll make it for you. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:24:02.799 Like, what does that do to a person other than make them carry around that mythos about themselves and also not really be able to do anything outside of that? 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:05.519 So yeah, she had she had to stare it in the eyes. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:06.160 Nice. 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:20.480 I think that was a good choice in the the actor you got, and even down to the clothes that he wore in his body language gave off the kind of definitely like kind of covert narcissist vibe of like, yeah. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:21.359 Yeah. 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:28.319 Definitely that narcissistic arrogance, and yeah, I think it worked really well. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:36.559 I know they I know in in real life relationships they tend to target either consciously or subconsciously codependents, like people that have that pattern. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:41.279 And yeah, it's gonna be so hard to break out of too, like, just from what I understand. 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:42.400 Yeah. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:25:20.079 And and we wanted to, I think kind of like with Mooncat showing that codependency that you do sometimes create in sibling and familial like aspects of those coping mechanisms that you developed as children of how you survived that was really good for you when you were children, but how when you get stuck in them it's harmful, and how to how to get how to have that like deep, intense love of of siblings and recognize though that the way that it currently is is unhealthy because you're our codependent and to both take a step out of that together. 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:28.880 It's and it's hard, but it's yeah worth it to to try to learn how to re-love each other in a way that isn't codependency. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:29.359 Nice. 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:32.000 Well, I think that's that's a good good message. 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:48.160 So I'm curious, um, at what point did you all get the uh screenplay and kind of the plans for the film uh set enough that you're like, okay, now it's time to actually plan this, it's time to actually set a shoot date, it's time to get a crew. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:58.079 If they I don't know if you had already had the crew together at that point, they've been helping in other ways, but like in terms of like, alright, we're doing this thing, we're gonna do it this year, we gotta find a location. 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:01.200 So he said that kind of the whole process was about five years. 00:26:01.359 --> 00:26:06.000 At what point in that did you reach the point where you're like, okay, we're ready to do this thing. 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:15.119 Extreme, I think, desperation to make sure that we completed it. 00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:18.240 I think we got to a point where it was like, okay, it's been written. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:21.599 We've we're at a good place with where we have it. 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:24.960 We don't we're not doing any more rewrites, mostly. 00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:30.960 And it's ti like if we don't shoot it now, we won't. 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:42.400 And so I think we just kind of we said, okay, we're gonna pick these days, these days we think we can get it done in five days, which was again for people that did didn't really know how to do this. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:47.839 That was also incredibly ambitious, but um, we just said we we have to. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:27:00.640 And it's again that feeling of like, okay, we started this because we wanted to do we wanted to create something so badly, and we've hit the point where we've done all of the easy parts and we haven't done the scary part yet. 00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:07.279 And if we don't just do the scary part, it won't ever happen, and that would be incredibly sad. 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:11.359 But yeah, and then I think we knew that we would. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:16.240 I mean, uh, Kate and I were we're always gonna co-direct it together. 00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:23.279 And then we knew that her husband, Steven, has done audio work, does audio work for his job. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:26.079 I'm gonna butcher uh this part. 00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:37.440 But um, so we knew that he was on board, we could talk him into it uh because he he loves Kate so very much, and he also loves me because he loves Kate so much. 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:44.480 And then Kate had two great friends from Portland that are now two of my great friends that I think she jokingly said, Hey, do you want to come and do this? 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:47.920 And they bought plane tickets from Portland, and we're like, All right, we're coming and we'll crew. 00:27:48.319 --> 00:27:48.720 Nice. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:28:01.519 That was kind of our crew, and then uh my sister's fiance, Chris,

was also there holding boom mics, and Kate and I were doing all the camera hopping and photography, and it was just like that was our crew. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:02.319 Yeah, yeah. 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:12.079 It's very, it was very much like we it was very much like what we talked about with being kids playing, and you know, all of us just said, let's let's do this. 00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:20.559 My husband, Joshua said, like does sound mixing, so he was a professional, but none of the rest of us are or work. 00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:28.400 But I think part of that was really intentional from our point of view of like one to to just be completely honest, this was a zero budget film. 00:28:28.480 --> 00:28:30.799 Everything that we used was things that we already owned. 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:45.839 There was a few things that were like let lent to us that we borrowed from friends, but all of the cameras, all of the lighting equipment, all of the grip, most of the sound equipment, all of it was we had to use what we owned or we figured out a different way to do it. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:55.839 So it was very much just this homegrown thing of can't, you know, and it was it was the great experiment, uh experiment, like could this group of friends just make something? 00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:57.759 And we had no idea if we could. 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:02.000 But every day we came to set and we were like, well, let's try it again today. 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:05.839 We kind of got we got something last time, so maybe we'll it'll work again. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:17.200 And you know, so our crew was just our friends, again, people um professionals in their own world, and most of them in audio, but not ever having been on set before. 00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:26.160 And yeah, so we were we were learning how to light a scene as we were lighting the scene to capture, which is an interesting way to do it. 00:29:26.319 --> 00:29:39.519 It's not it's maybe not necessarily recommended if you have any other way to do it, but you know, there is something to say about a bunch of a ragtag group of friends stepping up to the plate and and trying to hit a ball. 00:29:39.599 --> 00:30:01.920 So yeah, it it was there's something so like family-oriented about the way that we even created this too, where it felt like everybody was there just to make something and we were gonna it was very stressful at times, it was really hard at times, it was long days at times and tiring and exhausting, but everyone was still just like, Oh, what if we did this? 00:30:02.079 --> 00:30:03.359 What if would this work? 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:06.960 What if that if you shot it this way, that might be cool. 00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:08.400 Let's try that one time. 00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:29.440 And it was just this very collaborative effort, and it really made things stand out in a way that I think if we just hired people with the I mean we didn't have money to hire anyone, but it just felt like, oh, we're this might not be the correct way to do it, but we'll we're gonna do it this way because this makes sense to us, and then we'll figure out the the right way as we go. 00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:35.440 And then while Kate and I were editing, some of we've we found the wrong ways more often than not. 00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:36.720 Yeah, it's like we can see. 00:30:40.319 --> 00:30:49.440 Yes, I think I think when we did it right, it was because we stumbled into it, maybe, but you know, it's it was still such a fun experience. 00:30:49.519 --> 00:30:59.680 And yeah, I mean, our it makes me laugh every time I I watch the credits roll and see, you know, on the crew there's six names, and three of those are in the audio department, you know. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:07.680 So it's it's really it's really fun, but it just it felt a little bit like summer camp and it felt like playing. 00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:09.119 It absolutely felt like playing. 00:31:09.279 --> 00:31:13.920 I think there wasn't a phrase I said more that week with than okay, let's try it. 00:31:14.160 --> 00:31:15.920 Someone had an idea, let's try it. 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:17.039 Did it always work? 00:31:17.200 --> 00:31:18.720 No, most of the time it didn't. 00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:22.319 But a lot of times it led us down the path to to something that did work. 00:31:23.519 --> 00:31:24.480 But yeah. 00:31:25.119 --> 00:31:26.000 That's really cool. 00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:29.519 I one of the reasons I I love hearing the behind the scenes. 00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:35.119 Uh I mean I've always been kind of nerdy for that, but I just love hearing the behind the scenes and it's always so encouraging. 00:31:35.279 --> 00:31:42.799 So many, even of like the huge filmmakers like your Steven Spielbergs and whatnot started out doing things very small, just with friends, you know. 00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:56.240 I mean, he's a little older, so he had an eight millimeter camera, you know, just doing it out in the I th I think if I remember the stories correctly, just doing it out in his backyard with buddies, you know, and then just so many other people and they learn as they go, and you know, some of them go to film school along the way and some of them don't. 00:31:56.319 --> 00:32:00.000 You know, it's like I don't think James Cameron, as far as I know, ever went to film school. 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:09.920 I could be wrong about that, but I I think he just kind of learned on the job and worked his way up, so to speak, you know, and then at some point you just gotta grab it by the horns and like we're doing the stuff. 00:32:10.160 --> 00:32:10.319 Yeah. 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:11.279 That's pretty awesome. 00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:13.599 Well, congratulations for for getting this done. 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:22.720 Just uh kind of in our in our last little segment here, did you plan, like as you were finishing it, did you plan on submitting to River Run? 00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:28.880 Or

um did that come later in like post-production phase, or was that kind of a goal along? 00:32:29.039 --> 00:32:30.720 Like how did how did that come about? 00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:35.039 Yeah, I I think it was a it was a goal all along. 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:40.720 It was a it was basically we're gonna submit to this as a incentive to finish it, you know. 00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:43.440 So we had, you know, it gave us a deadline to work towards. 00:32:43.599 --> 00:32:47.039 It gave us, yeah, just a a goalpost at the end. 00:32:47.200 --> 00:32:52.720 So that was that was kind of our our goal to just have a stamp of like we we did it. 00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:57.359 We made something and we finished it and we feel good enough about it to submit it. 00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:03.119 So yeah, and I think it was a part, a big part of like that desperation to finish it. 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:11.039 And it's like, okay, if we don't, if we don't shoot it, it will just be this thing that we never finished or followed through with. 00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:16.559 And in order to ensure that happens, we are setting ourselves a goal of submitting it to River Run. 00:33:16.640 --> 00:33:23.920 So we need to we need to set shoot dates, we need to be able to edit it, and we need to get it submitted before December 15th. 00:33:25.839 --> 00:33:31.680 So there was a lot of like, okay, let's just go for it, and we have to go for it. 00:33:31.839 --> 00:33:43.759 Um, and I think there's just a lot of that Kate and I share this similar drive, I think, of needing to do those creative things and needing to have some form of creative outlet. 00:33:43.920 --> 00:34:10.880 And sometimes those things are big, scary things, sometimes they're a little simpler, like shooting our sisters or our nieces, you know, like there's different levels to it, but this was something that just felt like it had to happen, and a good way to force ourselves to do that was to give deadlines and hope that and hope that it would be accepted, because I think even if it wasn't accepted, it still would have been such a great thing, and we were so excited when it was done. 00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:24.800 And when we finished the edit, it was it felt like all of this was definitely 100% worth it, even if that little edit that we watched on Kate's TV was all that we all that ever happened with it would would have been enough. 00:34:25.360 --> 00:34:25.920 I love it. 00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:27.280 Art for art's sake, right? 00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:29.840 Love the process or do it for the process, I guess. 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:31.039 Absolutely. 00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:33.119 Big proponent for doing it for the process. 00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:33.760 One thousand. 00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:48.079 I think that's where I I know when you're trying to do it for a living, there's there's always the tension, and even the bigger filmmakers talk about this and the actors and whatnot, and you know, there's the tension of like, well, I need to make it something that'll make money. 00:34:48.559 --> 00:34:54.320 So I know some people they have to alternate between the moneymaker and the passion project, as it were. 00:34:54.960 --> 00:35:09.760 But yeah, like uh one of the things I loved about Riverrun was getting to see just so many of those passion projects that people had made, some in similar ways to y'all, like with like no budget and we're just we're making it together, some in film school, some with a budget. 00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:14.880 I mean just all over the place, but just seeing the the love that people bore into that has been really encouraging. 00:35:15.119 --> 00:35:18.480 So zooming forward to where we almost met. 00:35:19.119 --> 00:35:20.639 We were in the same theater together. 00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:22.159 How did it feel seeing it? 00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:25.840 Was that I mean I'm assuming that's the first time you'd seen it up on a big screen. 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:27.679 Uh how did how did that feel? 00:35:27.920 --> 00:35:37.599 We we had actually um a few months before for our our birthdays are like a few days apart, um years, but a few days in the month apart. 00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:46.880 Um and so we we did a big showing for just the people that were in it and the people that made it and our their friends and family and our friends and family. 00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:49.599 So we got to see it at the what theater was it? 00:35:49.760 --> 00:35:53.119 Uh Reynolds Place Theater at the Arts Council. 00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:54.000 So we got to see it there. 00:35:55.440 --> 00:35:55.840 Nice, okay. 00:35:56.159 --> 00:36:09.199 That was really fun to just have, and that felt very special just for us and this kind of big like, woo, we did it, you know, like and and to do that for the people that were in it and who made it with us was really fun. 00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:17.760 And so then getting to see it though at Marketplace, which was so reminiscent of that, you know, dollar theater that we grew up seeing grow going to. 00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:24.400 I think I've been to one a few if it's the one I'm thinking about over there in like Greensboro High Point, I think I went to that one once or twice. 00:36:24.880 --> 00:36:28.559 Yeah, it was the one in Greensboro was real close to to our house. 00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:30.880 So that was kind of a our our typical haunt. 00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:49.119 But so to see it in a a real theater that smelled like, you know, decades of popcorn and had a sticky floor and you know, all of those things that make you feel like just nostalgic for the experience of being in a movie theater and you know, getting to be kind of anonymous. 00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:50.639 Nobody knew who we were. 00:36:51.280 --> 00:37:12.719 It it was so cool getting to be screened in front of Battersea, and so a lot of people were for that film, and it kind of felt like we were just like sneaking in in the in the front half and um

just getting to kind of like sit back and hear I think hearing laugh, like hearing laughter at some of the parts that you know that were maybe a little funny. 00:37:12.800 --> 00:37:13.920 They they thought they were funny. 00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:16.800 I don't, you know, like I was like, okay, this is pretty cool. 00:37:16.960 --> 00:37:27.519 Like you just we got to experience um seeing our film with other people seeing it and their natural reactions to it was really fulfilling. 00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:31.599 So I I really like just getting to to be anonymous and yeah. 00:37:31.920 --> 00:37:32.480 Yeah, nice. 00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:39.119 Yeah, it was really there was something so special about again being in a movie theater that is just a movie theater. 00:37:39.199 --> 00:38:10.800 Uh Reynolds Place Theater was very nice to see our film in, but it was also, you know, there's they do so many different things in that space, and then to like come to the the magical for however corny and cheesy it is, but that magical environment of being in a movie theater, the place that we've spent so much time and being so inspired by so many different kinds of movies, and then to just get to sit back and like Kate said, it was it was really nice to not be uh known because it was with our friends and family. 00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:21.280 That was a really special and sweet and emotional time, but it was also nice to hear, you know, there's always that little bit of like, I don't know, did they really think that was funny, or are they just my friend? 00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:22.480 My mom, you know? 00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:33.760 Like so it was nice to hear this is a landing with people that have no emotional investment into what we've done, which was like, yeah, that that was really special and really surreal and crazy. 00:38:33.840 --> 00:38:40.800 I think I thought about it for like a couple of days, being like, I don't know how to express that feeling, but it was very cool. 00:38:41.039 --> 00:38:45.360 Well, it seems appropriate that it showed at Marketplace a family run cinema as well. 00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:47.360 They've been running together for over 20 years. 00:38:47.679 --> 00:38:58.400 And it used to be um, I don't know if you'll ever saw a movie there back in the day, but it used to be a two the 250 theater was kind of what it was known as, because they they would get the like once the main theaters were done with them, they would get the the reels. 00:38:58.559 --> 00:39:08.719 You'd see them sitting out in the lobby sometimes at second hand, like so you'd see it like two months into a movie showing, and you go to see if if you hadn't seen it yet or you just wanted to see it again for two dollars and fifty cents. 00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:10.159 I love that. 00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:16.320 They're not allowed to do that anymore, sadly, but but yeah, but they're still still a great place to go catch a film, so but yeah, it seems appropriate. 00:39:16.800 --> 00:39:19.119 Family run, and this is definitely a family project. 00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:22.480 I mean family and friends, but like definitely so that's that's pretty cool. 00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:26.000 Well, do you uh is there a future for the film? 00:39:26.079 --> 00:39:30.480 Do you all plan to or have you already if I maybe I missed it, but have you put it up on YouTube? 00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:33.039 Do you have any plans for doing anything with it further? 00:39:33.280 --> 00:39:34.719 Submitting to other festivals, maybe? 00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:38.320 Yeah, we've submitted to a couple of other festivals. 00:39:38.480 --> 00:39:46.880 Um, and we're kind of I think we'll hear back the the last one, they'll hear back uh the notification date. 00:39:47.039 --> 00:39:48.000 That's the word I'm looking for. 00:39:48.079 --> 00:39:51.280 Uh the notification date is about the early June. 00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:56.800 So we've we're holding off on putting it out on online until we hear back from them. 00:39:56.880 --> 00:40:01.840 But then uh yeah, we'll probably just put it up so that everyone can see it. 00:40:02.079 --> 00:40:02.559 There you go. 00:40:02.719 --> 00:40:03.280 I'm cool. 00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:07.119 Well, we'll uh hopefully, fingers crossed, you'll get accepted. 00:40:07.199 --> 00:40:08.239 That'd be that'd be really cool. 00:40:08.400 --> 00:40:10.800 Uh I imagine you'll these are probably are these out of state? 00:40:10.880 --> 00:40:13.760 You get to travel for it if you get accepted or cool. 00:40:14.000 --> 00:40:16.000 Yeah, yeah, all the rest are out of state. 00:40:16.800 --> 00:40:17.199 Nice. 00:40:18.239 --> 00:40:19.119 Fingers crossed. 00:40:19.280 --> 00:40:20.960 Yeah, well good luck with that. 00:40:21.199 --> 00:40:25.519 And uh either way, I'm assuming eventually it'll be available for for our listeners to catch. 00:40:25.599 --> 00:40:30.079 So uh yeah, we'll try to give you all a shout-out on our Instagram when that if and when that happens. 00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:38.719 And I know some festivals like River Run are doing the the virtual on the back end too, so like people from all over the world could potentially like if it comes up as an option for that. 00:40:38.960 --> 00:40:40.480 So I know that's becoming more common too. 00:40:40.639 --> 00:40:46.480 All right, well, Kane Josh, the it was nice to meet you and get to know you all a little bit better uh through this interview. 00:40:46.559 --> 00:40:48.800 Thank you for coming on to the Nerdhat podcast. 00:40:48.960 --> 00:40:53.280 And uh yeah, good luck with both the future of Mooncat and with any other future adventures. 00:40:53.519 --> 00:40:53.760 Awesome. 00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:55.360 Thank you so much for having us. 00:40:55.440 --> 00:40:56.079 This was great. 00:40:56.320 --> 00:40:56.960 Yeah, absolutely. 00:41:00.320 --> 00:41:01.199 Nerd hat