Category Film Maker Interviews

This week’s guest is Bill Ostroff, the First Glance Film Festival Director who tells us how indie film festivals have evolved in the past 20 years. Bill shares his insights on festival submission trends, storytelling, camera technology and most importantly marketing. First Glance Films is the creator of the hashtag #SupportIndieFilm that has engaged and united thousands of indie film makers around the world.

William Ostroff, the FirstGlance Film Festival’s creator and director, is a Producer, Independent Media Consultant and DGA Assistant Director who has worked on over 100 film and television productions. He graduated from Temple University in 1993 with a degree in film and video and has since worked with major studios such as Disney, Warner Bros, Universal, Dreamworks, and Paramount on feature films and television series.

As the FirstGlance Film Festival Director, he has produced 37 film festivals to date, has watched over 20,000 indie films and is hands on with programming and decision making of all aspects of the Film Festivals. In 2013, he created the World’s Largest Traveling Comic Con Film Festival, which has screened genre indie films to over 5 million attendees over the 1st fours year in 2 countries, with plans of taking this concept global.

Submit Your Film to First Glance Film Festival: http://firstglancefilms.com

Follow First Glance Films on Twitter: http://twitter.com/firstglancefilm

When did you start the First Glance Film Festival?

This is our 20th in Philadelphia. We’ve been doing this since 1996. I wanted to work in movies and I had started the film festival right out of college. When I moved to Los Angeles to make movies I said I’d try to keep the Philly thing going and I did and then I was in LA and said we may as well do one here too.

How has the film festival evolved since you started the First Glance Film Festival?

When we first started it, we would screen on projectors that would run reels of celluloid. Having to mail those back and forth would be very expensive. We would cut and paste our program, literally, cut and paste with Elmers glue and tape. We actually advertised in newspaper and when we started we were pretty much the only independent film festival in Philadelphia. There was no one else here. At the time there was the Festival of World cinema which turned into the Philadephia Film Festival. It’s funny to me because the Philadelphia Film Festival says its 25 years old but it’s not. It’s only 5 years old because it used to be the Festival of World Cinema which forced us to change our name.

I don’t think people really get confused between us and them. We are the Slamdance to Sundance. We are the separate indie arm and don’t get mistaken. It would be nice if a big sponsor would.

Where has the First Glance Film Festival progressed to?

It used to be interesting because every year I’d have to go to IKEA to add to the shelves for the VHS collection. Then the VHS collection turned into the DVD collection. Now almost the entire screening is on a thumb drive. Between DCP’s and thumb drives I figure in the next couple of years we will figure out to stream directly to the projectors. The problem is because we’re an indie film festival we don’t always use state of the art venues. We try to use venues that have great screens and sound but may not be up to snuff with major corporations.

How did you come up with the idea for First Glance Film Festival?

When I was at Temple University I started a theater company with three friends of mine and I was kinda the behind the scenes guy saying we should do something film. I started brainstorming and looking at the film festivals that were around. Sundance was always one that I wanted to go to or have my film in and then Slamdance came. I said to myself I need to come up with something that has a feel like Slamdance or Sundance so we don’t just call ourselves the Philadelphia International Independent Film Festival of America. In my mind and most filmmakers know, the longer the title of the film festival, probably the smaller the venue or they don’t actually exist.

I had a couple of films in school and tended to make things more commercial than the professor wanted. I always seemed to lose out to the slow motion opening of the petal of a flower. You know I’d really like to show my stuff to people instead of classmates. The venue we were showing musical theater in was an underground space. I just decided I have 3 short films I’d like to show and put ads in the newspaper and made flyers and we ended up with about 30 films. This way I didn’t feel like it was my film festival it was their film festival. We screened for 3 nights and I thought that was going to be it.

People started calling and emailing and asking and we continued. I’ve kept continuing now 20 years later. As of next week I’ll have produced 37 film festivals and watched 18,000+ films. As a festival director I have and will always watch every single entry. I also have a screening committee I pull together. If it gets by me then I drop it into their boxes and have them watch a percentage of the films and grade them.

One of the things we do different. I want my screeners to take their jobs seriously. I don’t drop 100s of hours of film on them. They may watch 15 to 20 hours of film over 2 months. It’s not their job. The pre-screening committee and myself do nominations in a whole bunch of categories and we actually do them. Speaking of Film Freeway there are lots of scam festivals that will take your money. It may only be a $5 entry fee but they aren’t really watching your film and then you get an award for Best Costume Design and you’re like huh?

Don’t Miss The First Glance Filmmaker Roundtable with Dave Bullis

How has marketing the First Glance Film Festival changed?

One of the things I’ve always realized was we are not a huge film festival. We are a weekend independent film festival. Social media has been huge for us. I’ve learned how to use social media quite well including Twitter and Facebook. It’s not only how we cultivate filmmakers but we also teach them how to market. If you ask any of our alumni filmmakers, from the time of acceptance we will get to them and say here’s some of the things you need to do to market your film. People aren’t going to come to your film if they don’t know it exists. I want to educate people. A lot of filmmakers aren’t very good at marketing.

My goal when I was a filmmaker was I yes I want to have a film festival, I want to show my film but I want as many people to see it as possible. How do I make that happen? Before the internet the only way you could do that was call or invite people, make flyers or postcards. What I did was as I was learning Facebook and Twitter I would create a Facebook event and invite everyone. It was us working really hard doing it ourselves.

As we started to grow I knew if I could educate the filmmakers to use Twitter 1/10th as well as I do then they’ll be able to promote. Even if they can’t get people to First Glance if that’s their first showing, by the time they finish their festival circuit they’ll have full rooms and will have their audience. It’s one of the few ways you can build an audience without really spending. You have to spend time but you can build an audience.

When I came up with the idea #SupportIndieFilm hashtag this is when I noticed hashtags were sort of came into being. I noticed big companies like Pepsi using it. I need something to bring the community together to understand indie film is not the kind of indie film Hollywood is talking about made for $25 million and distributed by Sony Classics. LaLa Land is not an independent film.

We threw the hashtag out there and used it every single day. We have thousands of followers that have tagged #SupportIndieFilm in their profiles that use it every day. On average #SupportIndieFilm reaches 15 to 25 million people a day. In the last couple of years I’ve noticed big names starting to use it and companies starting to notice. I think we are on the cusp of something happening. There’s a lot of true indie filmmakers that are making them for $100k to $200k that would sell it to break even. These big giant 20 screen multiplexes and walk in any day and only find 5 people. If these megaplexes would open up one of their screens to someone like me I could put a new project on their screen every day.

What do you look for when screening independent film submissions?

Look at our alumni films on YouTube and watch the trailers. You’ll see a wide variety of content across genres. I’ve always been someone that enjoys all types of entertainment. I look at things for the production value, acting, sound, cinematography. A lot of people will ask if only accept film shot in a certain medium and it’s not about that. It’s about the storytelling. It could be shot on an iPhone and if the story is good and the acting is good and the sound is decent then there is no real criteria other than will an audience enjoy this film in some way. Will you laugh, will you cry, is this a great short film or cutest animation I’ve seen. Is this web series different or original?

When you have a finite amount of time to program it’s hard. I don’t think a lot of people have the knowledge I have. Watching the amount of film I have, I have an eye for it now. I get it, every filmmaker wants to be in a film festival. That’s why film festivals keep popping up left and right. Eventually your film will end up somewhere. Will it end up in First Glance? I don’t know. It depends on the other entries that come in and do we have the time? If it’s a 7 minute short film, it may be a better opportunity. If it’s a 109 minute feature film, it better be good. When we screen, we never screen just one film. We screen a program.

Do you see any trends in film festival submissions?

It’s cyclical. Because technology has made things easier and affordable, I think we are seeing more SciFi and Horror. We are seeing things that are extraordinarily topical. Back in the day when you would shoot on film and edit, if it’s an indie film it could be 2 to 3 years old before it went to festival. We are finding a lot of interesting voices and filmmaking. People are using all types of instruments to shoot.

We even get people who say they’d like to show their Virtual Reality film at the festival and we don’t have the capability to make that happen yet. The theater we are in isn’t going to be able to provide 200 headsets. We tried to do 3D a few years ago and it just didn’t pan out. It’s a hard process and I think VR is in that same position. I couldn’t even watch that Hardcore Henry that came out a few years ago.

Every year it changes depending on the mood of the country. It’s interesting to me. The genre stuff is great and the production value seems amazing and they’ll go after the production value and special fx but the acting is subpar. As a filmmaker and festival director, one of the main things they should look at is getting the right actors before they shoot. If you have to postpone a bit, unless your grandmother is Jane Fonda don’t cast your grandmother in your movie. I understand with time and money but with the magic of editing, you don’t have to shoot grandma at the same time.

I think the trend is also people want to use the most high tech cameras and that doesn’t matter either. I’m looking at the story and I don’t mind if it’s gritty when it calls for it. I’m not dead set on a certain criteria for anything. I can pretty much enjoy anything. If it gets by me it goes to the screeners for the nominations and we go from there. As a backup we usually do a short online contest that runs for 30 days to give the opportunity to other filmmakers and the winner premiers at the next First Glance Film Festival.

Cinematographer, Valentina Caniglia has worked on over 60 film productions, documentaries, music videos commercial work and more. She is known for her work on the film “The Stand” where her astonishing lighting and camera work caught the attention of American Cinematographer magazine which featured an exclusive article in March 2017 issue.

As a DP (Director of Photography). Valentina is the real deal and brings her positive attitude to her work and life. We discussed the challenges of shooting on location in Palestine to being snowed in in New Jersey. Her eye for coloring and lighting are what makes Valentina’s work unique and why she’s won so many awards. As a female cinematographer her journey to success has not be so easy.

“Pomegranates and Myrrh” winner of the Golden Dagger for Best Cinematography, premiered in USA at Sundance film Festival and received the Audience Award at Doha Tribeca Film Festival handed out by Robert De Niro.  “Madeline’s Oil” was the winner of the Best Cinematography award at the Louisiana International Film festival.

Keep up with Valentina Caniglia on Social Media

Website: http://valentinacaniglia.net/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valentinacanigliadp/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ValeCanigliaDP

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valentinacanigliadirectorofphotography

Valentina’s philosophy on Film Making

“I always adapt at filming each project with versatile visual style that best translates each story’s unique concept into breathtaking moving images that unravel the characters’ state of mind throughout the progression of the storytelling. Cinematography represents a concept of beauty that stands beyond the aesthetic aspects, something more intense that supports, follows and enhances the story where the camera can capture and show the transparency and the awareness of visuals drawn by the emotions.” – Valentina Caniglia

Where did you catch the filmmaking bug?

In reality, my father wanted to be a Director so I took a lot of inspiration from him. Then I realized his dream became mine.

Is film school in Italy difficult to get accepted to?

I didn’t go to film school in Italy.  I came to New York after London and majored in film at New York University.

What filmmakers inspire you?

I think it was mostly paintings coming from a country where art is important. There was a lot of influence when I saw these paintings in Italy and all over Europe. I realized I wanted to be a cinematography because I wanted to work with lighting. I wanted to recreate what these artists were doing on the canvas.

How did the film Blindness include your love of art?

Blindness was interesting because it was about a woman who was losing her sight. We had to tell the story with visuals and not many words. The camera was capturing what she was seeing but not very well. It was a long journey because I had to see beyond what we see normally. What I said to the director was sometimes what you don’t see is more powerful than what you do.

I like European film because isn’t a lot of dialogue and there’s more visuals. It’s also nice to see how independent films are being done in the United States as well.

What is your relationship with the lighting crew?

When I decided I wanted to be a DP (director of photography) I made a point to meet all the lighting rental businesses and owners. I knew I really cared about lighting so I wanted to explore how I could get them to give me what I needed and also new equipment that’s becoming available.

It’s also important to say you don’t need a lot of light, you just need the right light to make it work.

How much interaction do you have with the director on set?

We do a lot in pre-production where the director will tell me what he or she wants in terms of mood and movements. I anticipate and interpret what they want while reading the script and translate the words into visuals. I write my notes and compare each scene and character. Sometimes I give each character a color to identify them because I see their personality.

It’s a visual way to tell the story and the director how I see it. During pre-production they have the final say and that’s when they’ll let me know if they like my idea or maybe need to go another way. It’s important to listen to what the director wants.

How important is still photography for setting up your film shoot?

It’s actually very important because I like to capture the moment. Things may look very well lit but sometimes I just observe what’s around me and I just snap it. It depends on the situation as well. If I shoot a documentary I like go and explore right in the moment. To be honest, I’m coming from a culture where everything can be done in the moment and I’m not afraid of that. Basically we live day by day and I like to take this approach to film as well.

Maybe in that moment even though you do a lot of pre-production, it may not work the way you and the director thought. You have to be ready to have a plan B, plan C, and plan D as well. Maybe the actor doesn’t want to do certain things so you just have to come up with an idea.

I shot a movie in Palenstine behind the wall. In a place like that where theres a lot of bombing, I realized to get the story out there you have to think in the moment.

What was the most challenging shoot you had to film?

Every shoot you do is not really difficult because you love what you do. One of the most challenging was definitely another Palestinian film. Not because of the crew but because of the situation. I shot a movie in Italy that was complicated because we shot in Sicily and difficult to get to the location. I shot another movie all in New York called Without Grace that just opened. It was a small crew with an emmy nominated actress Ann Dowd. We shot in Jersey during the winter and it snowed like crazy and couldn’t move it so we were blocked in the apartment we were shooting in. We had to just stop and go home and come back in two days because we couldn’t put up lights or do anything

I always translate the worst into the best. It’s survival. You have a lot of support and never give up because you want to make something good. Even if you have a big budget, it’s not going to be any easier. The producer may be afraid to take more risks.

What award did Madeline’s Oil win at the Louisiana Film Festival?

Madeline’s Oil was a period piece about slavery and racial discrimination. I loved it because we shot all over the fields and in the mud and every swamp in Louisiana after the hurricane. In that moment you will see people were all united including the actors. It’s challenging because you really have to deal with what you have at that time even though we had a bigger budget.  The film won Best Cinematography at the Louisiana Film Festival. I’m very happy about it and love Louisiana.

I actually shot another film in Louisiana called The Stand. It was interesting because it was all shot on a bus and there was a terrorist attack with Christians and Muslims all together. They had to make it look like they were all the same people. We shot in Louisiana where it was supposed to look like West Africa. Big fields with dirt roads. I really relied on natural light and worked a lot with mirrors.

I say it was easy but it really was not.  Buses are wider in the United States so I thought I could put up a light but I didn’t count on every seat being occupied. I couldn’t put up any light whatsoever and the windows were small. I actually put the mirror on the ceiling creating triangles of light using what I had.

You have to worry when you see the faces of your Gapher, your Key Grip and First AC go pale and they don’t actually know how to tell you the problem. When you see that you start to see there is a problem.

What challenges did you face breaking into the industry?

As a woman cinematographer it’s difficult to break in because especially when I started in 1998, I was one of the few DP’s around. Every time I was on set I was the only woman on set. I had discrimination but I didn’t have much because I also had a lot of people that believed in me and supported me. I’m bothered by women who don’t support each other as men do.

I used to have a big shirt over my shoulder but I’m a boxer and they didn’t know. A lot of women would start to panic wondering if I could do it. If you train it’s not about the strength it’s about the power you have from your legs as well.

What is your go to camera?

I think it really depends on the project. I can’t always say I want to use a particular camera. I do prefer the Alexa. My work is not all the same. Every story calls for a different cinematography style. You have to go with the story. You can use any camera really, it’s about the story.

I shot a TV pilot with Joseph Sikora. I thought I wanted to shoot with an Alexa but I did some tests and showed the director how it looked with a Red anamorphic lense and we just liked that much better.

What is your new film Amytal Therapy about?

The short film I just directed and DP called The Amytal Therapy. It’s about a woman who has a double identity looking for the murderer of a companion.

She’s a psychiatrist, living in New York that spies on her own patients, though the security cameras she’s personally installed in their homes. She knows what they do. She knows what they want. She knows how to stop them.

The good thing is if I wanted to put someone in the darkness I didn’t have to turn around and ask someone. The bad thing is I didn’t have a companion. I really did miss the collaboration between directory and cinematographer though.  It’s amazing because you have someone who covers your back. I think my next move I want to continue to be a DP (Director of Photography).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnTye4YrxUk

Director, writer, producer, cinematographer this week’s guest has done it all. Dimi Nakov is a filmmaker’s filmmaker. This New Zealander is making a big splash in the indie film community. Dimi is a multi award winning filmmaker with a diverse body of work.

Talking to Dimi couldn’t have been a better way to kick off our next season of interviews. He runs a popular Facebook group called the FilmMakers Generation Next. He’s filled with tons of inspiration. We talked about mental health and film making and his body of work that started in music videos. We hope you enjoy the interview with Dimi as much as we did and learn more about seizing your opportunities for yourself.  Listen for free or read the show notes below.

 Where did your passion for filmmaking come from?

I didn’t realize it until later but I got involved with photographer when I was young. My grandfather was a mathematics teacher but also conducted photography workshops for his older students. I studied with him for 1 or 2 years sneaking into his workshops during the early 1990’s. Photography was still manual and gave me a Zenit camera that belonged to my dad.

I used to take photos of my sister and brother and process them in the dark room. What was amazing that you don’t see with digital, just like animation the photo paper starts changing color and becomes this picture I took months ago. It’s unreal. Those experiences stuck with me.

Photograhy didn’t stick and I went on to appreciate movies with Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris and when I moved to New Zealand I studied film and television at the University of Auckland.  2 years I didn’t even finish the undergrad degree. I was a B student and to graduate with a degree you have to have better marks. I have trouble reading big passages and was much more prone to read things like comics.

After that I decided to go to South Seas Film & Television School where I had to choose between documentaries and drama. I chose documentary because it fit with my personality and I’m able to get my subjects to relax and open up with conversation.

How did you transition to music videos?

Before I moved to Czech Republic I was a DJ in Bulgaria for years. I love music. I’m not a musician but I love rhythm and music. When I was in New Zealand and finished school doing odd jobs as a production assistant or cable operator I decided to do music videos because they are fun and quick to produce. If the rhythm of the music grabs me most times I’ll be willing to do it for free. Plus it helped build my portfolio with diverse work.

Where did the idea for FilmMakers Generartion Next (FGN Inc.) Come From?

I finished film school in late 2008 and I didn’t know anybody except my classmates so I created a group to keep in touch. My idea was that there was always going to be a next generation of filmmakers. Almost a decade later it’s probably one of the top 5 independent film making groups on Facebook with almost 40k members.

Join FilmMakers Generatoin Next on Facebook

FGN Inc Mission Statement: We Support EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & MENTAL HEALTH in Film/TV Industry & Beyond. ?#SupportIndieFilm FOR A POSITIVE FUTURE. Changing The World One Message At a Time.

How did you develop your mission statement for FGN Inc?

That wasn’t the idea from the start. It only happened only in the last year and a half. I was going through a rough patch personally, some projects were just stuck and I know that I’m capable of more and nothing was happening. Some people may think this message is overstated but it’s very important, especially for mental health.

Mental health is the first thing that will determine your level of creativity and productivity. If your mental health declines, creativity and productivity declines. It’s equation doesn’t break or lie. It’s something that determines our quality of life personally and professionally. Originally I started collecting quotes to motivate myself, to not get into the dangerous wheel of self-doubt and fear which is suffocating and difficult to get out of.

The quotes started piling up after a year and a half I decided to create an Instagram account to only post quotes. That was the kickstart to creating the blog that’s for a positive future. Only quotes was good but it’s not enough.

http://forapositivefuture.blogspot.com

Why did you start the Phoenix Writing Group?

I wasn’t a prolific writer and reader so I always had that fear that my writing wasn’t good enough. In my early stages I only directed and produced. Even if the story was by me, somebody else wrote because I thought it just wouldn’t be good enough, or laughable. I decided to find somebody and get together to start writing because there are so many ideas I have especially in the topic of SciFi where I want to explore the human condition , the technology that surrounds us. The good and the bad side of the interactions with that technology and artificial intelligence.

I’m a director and want to pursue directing first and foremost. I teamed up with another passionate storyteller and actress Jean M. Who also felt she wanted to develop her screenwriting skills while pursuing acting. So together we started pushing each other forward. Like anything in life there is no straight path. We want to master the writing in a genre that we feel passionate about which will ensure our longevity in producing when we are not getting paid for it.

What is the system of writing you developed?

As an exercise we take existing intellectual property, Spiderman for example, where you take the main characters and what they do, the genre and a brief synopsis. Then you take it all and flip it upside down. If it’s a male character you make them female. If the character is younger you make them older. If it’s SciFi you make it a horror or a comedy. When we are turning projects upside down like we try to choose project we can turn into a SciFi. We generate ideas this way and determine which ones we want to make and work on it for a few months without even chasing a page count.

To make it even more interesting, I go on my cell phone on IMDB and pick a list of movies. I scroll down and just push my finger and choose where it stops just like Wheel of Fortune. We have over 20 ideas at the moment.  Ideas are everywhere around us and you just have to seize the opportunity.

That’s another reason I created FGN, because I was asking for opportunities from others and I wasn’t creating them myself. I decided to create opportunities for myself and stop asking for permission or waiting for somebody else to see the potential in me. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask or be shy about. There’s so many talented people out there willing to help but you shouldn’t be waiting for it.

What was your experience at the Cannes Film Festival like?

Blind Side was a short film that depicts mental and physical abuse that happens behind closed doors in middle class environments. A young girl and her mom who is divorced finds a new man in her life that is sinister and bad. That’s where things start to go wrong and there’s nothing anyone can do unless the victim finds a way to speak out. Mental and physical abuse victims think they will be able to fix the problem before they may speak because they fear embarrassment or worse.

We created the film that was accepted to Cannes Film Festival. I was lucky enough to have friends and family that helped me get there for the duration of the festival. I know there wouldn’t be many options at that stage of my career. It was surreal seeing all the filmmakers and

I came home with many business cards and pamphlets and attended all the workshops. A few months before, you need to start communicating with people setting up meetings and workshops. I was busy every day from morning until night. I didn’t have time to party at all.

What is your movie ARA about ?

ARA is a very interesting project. Actually I started writing in 2012 and shooting some footage in 2013 with no budget. I tried to finish it in post-production but there are a lot of VFX. We are now looking for ways to get it finished. I encourage film makers not to listen to the little fears in the back of their mind.

I really believe in the story. A smart film maker would not make a feature with so many VFX as their first feature. Obviously I’m not one of those smart film makers so that’s why I’m stuck with it?

How do you feel about AR in film making?

You can imagine how I feel what I was thinking to be in the movie is actually happening 4 years later. We can feel these things and are very lucky.  Imagination is one of the perks we have as a species. All of us have the talent of creativity and storytelling. It’s just nurturing it.

Download, Listen or Watch Women in Film Telling Stories with a Purpose

This week’s guests on the Imperfect Podcast are the women from REAL Pictures and founder Jacqueline Real. The REAL Brand NYC is a brand built on humanitarian, forward-thinking ideals. Their first company launch will be REAL Pictures, a production house helmed by #TheREALSisters that produces provocative, female-driven films. Its premiere film will be ‘The Drive,’ written by Jacqueline Real & shot by Diana Matos.

Jacqueline Real is a native New Yorker as well as a working SAG-AFTRA/EQUITY actress. After a year of activism and volunteer work, she has finally focused her passions and launched the company The REAL Brand NYC. The REAL Brand NYC  combines her love of activism, volunteering, and film making.  The most recent film she produced, ‘How Far’ (2016), was featured at the New York Short Film Festival. For more info on Jacqueline’s multiple skills go to follow her on IG @JacquelineReal!</

Jacqueline’s sister, Nicole Real has worked in the film & television industry for almost 15 years, where she started as an intern on “The FBI Files” for the Discovery Channel and then later at Tribeca Productions; Robert De Niro’s production company. She graduated from The School of VISUAL ARTS in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in cinematography and later met a group of filmmakers who led her to work with Glass Eye Pix “one of the indie scene’s most productive and longest-running companies.” – Filmmaker Magazine.

Also feature in this weeks interview is Diana Matos, who is a New York based Director of Photography working regularly in LA and Miami. Once a Local 600 camera assistant, her credits include: The Amazing Spider Man, The Bourne Legacy, R.I.P.D., Winter’s Tale, The Other Woman, Annie and Ricki and the Flash. Prior to working on set, she was a technician at Panavision NY and is a graduate of the University of Miami. Talking to Diana about film gear was a real treat. Hell she even owns owns an Arri Alexa Classic with High Speed License!

Diana has shot with an Arri Alexa, Super 35mm film, S16mm, RED Weapon, Dragon, Epic, Scarlet, Canon C300/C500, HDCAM, and HDV on several webisodes and short films, including the award winning Latin-American film, A Dual Citizen. Of Nicaraguan and Puerto Rican decent, Diana is on the road to being a lead female cinematographer. Her most notable works include: A New York Love Affair, The Silence, Bait: or Trapped by the Truth, The Groundskeeper, and Ghost Ride.

To see Diana’s work in action visit her website: http://dianamatosdp.com/

Get involved and support indie film with #TheREALBrand kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/therealbrandnyc/therealbrandnyc

Watch the Full Interview About Women in Film Telling Stories With A Purpose

Highlights: Women in Film Telling Stories with a Purpose

How did you all meet prior to Real Pictures?

We met on a small project. It was a TV pilot the second episode and we met Nicki through that and Nicki was directing. Jacqueline was acting in one of the scenes and fell in love with Diana. I’ve been on a mission to find all the fierce females right now and Diana was definitely one of them…. I sent the script to her to get some feedback and Diana was like we should shoot this. That’s literally how we met and that project was only 8 months ago.

When did you create the REAL Brand company?

So I was in LA feeling Jaded because of the business there and how women get treated especially actresses. The first film that Nicki and Jacqueline did together was “How Far” and it was really just Jacqueline’s own expression of getting a project completed. The people in my life were heavy hitters and I wanted to see a completion from A to Z. Now that I found a very particular voice in writing, now we would like to take Real Pictures to the actual level of a female driven production company. With Jacqueline’s year of activism work it’s going to be a production company that focuses on certain social injustices that we feel need to be highlighted.

Now that we want to take that to the next level is was not even a question when Diana said we should shoot this. Diana thinks it was a year or two ago Jacqueline came to her working on separate projects. Nicole went to film school and was working with Robert Deniro at Tribeca Productions and Tribeca Film Festival seeing people do all these things and being like I wont have the money for this and Jacqueline said listen lets just try it and see what happens. Producing with Jacqueline it just worked.

Tell us about REAL Pictures first film ‘The Drive’

I hate to say that it is a film on police violence because it’s not at least for Jacqueline. It’s exposing another side Jacqueline feels people are not talking about. Where are all the good cops, where are the ones sticking their necks out to make sure that they are doing what they’re supposed to do, which is protect and serve the people. The way that we’ve seen this topic is through very heavy images and peoples cell phone footage on Facebook and it’s all in our face. So that’s been all a part of the research and Diana trying to come away from it to say, “Alright, cinematically how are we going to do this justice?” Diana has brought lots of questions and suggestions to the table for Jacqueline. Diana thinks “our limitations turn into opportunity for creativity”. We always keep talking about how are we going to do this justice? How are we going to make this something that moves people because we’ve gotten detached from our humility and that’s the biggest thing that we are focused on, At the end of the day we are all just people and we could all get on that level and have heart felt discussions on these issues. In this script everybody has a voice and everyone has a reason why they function the way they function.

Diana, what medium do you enjoy working in?

I love working on films that have something to say. Diana has worked on big features and TV shows but it was all about experience because if she hadn’t she wouldn’t have worked with and learned from the greats. Diana says it’s not about the money it’s about what you’re going to say, it’s finding who you are and finding those film makers that support that. At this point in my career it’s about moving forward with the stories that reflect who I am and I can support, enhance and tell the world about these things because people need to know.

Why do you like shooting on the Alexa EV?

I come from the film days and felt that the Alexa was the first camera that really convinced me to come off of film into digital. I had some money saved and said to myself “okay, it’s either a house or a camera and that was the decision that I made. I still think it was worth it.”

What are your plans for distribution?

We are going to stay strictly festival. This is really going to put us out there as a female driven company. This is really going to be our launching point to show people who we really are. We want the film ‘The Drive’ to be our business card.

Download Indie Film Distribution Through the Decades with Sam Sherman

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-imperfect-podcast/id1107133885

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-129479778/indie-film-distribution-through-the-decades-with-sam-sherman

Welcome to Part 2 of our interview with writer, producer and distributor Sam Sherman. In case you missed it here’s Part 1: Indie Horror Icon Sam Sherman. In this part of our interview with Sam, we discuss how film making and distribution has changed, his relationship with director Al Adamson and how films like Dracula vs Frankenstein came to be.

Sam Sherman attended New York’s City College Film Institute, where he ran “Flash Gordon” serials and “The Mask of Fu Mancho” in the student film program and made the 16mm short “The Weird Stranger” in a single day. The first picture he distributed was a re-release of The Scarlet Letter (1934) in 1964. He also worked in the publicity department of Hemisphere Pictures prior to forming the hugely successful production and distribution outfit Independent-International Pictures with Do-It-Yourself indie filmmaker ‘Al Adamson (I)’ in 1968. Independent-International produced and/or released a slew of movies in such genres as horror, Western, science fiction, comedy, action and even blaxploitation for the drive-in market throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Watch Sam Sherman Discuss Indie Film Distribution Through the Decades

Sam Sherman Part 2  Interview Highlights

Whats your view of indie film distribution today?

I’ve been in contention with the major studios from the beginning. When I realized that I was not going to be involved with them. I wanted to be originally it made me declare my oath of independence. My opinion is they are to blame for everything that’s happened in this industry. As a result of the stupid things they’ve done the major studios have hurt the whole industry.

In the past year Paramount and Warner Bros fired a third of their employees on the west coast. They employ a lot of people that effects the economy out in Hollywood. As far as young people I try to encourage young film makers because when I started out I met veteran people in the industry. Whether it was Otto Preminger or John Wayne, they were always very nice to me and encouraged me. So I always want to encourage the next crew coming up.

It’s tougher today than it was because it’s tough to get into the major studios. They control 95% of the major theatrical market. When I look back the independents used to control 35% of the market. They hated to see when we were making all the money and they weren’t. We were making more horrific or sexy pictures and the studios were making old fashioned movies. The studios didn’t grow with the changes in the marketplace.  But they are certainly smart. When someone picks up on an idea such as Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity which is an awful picture. I had to walk out on it. It was a waste of time, yet there were 2 or 3 sequels and made mega millions of dollars. You can’t possibly understand why that is or even be influenced by it because its so freakish and impossible.

Can indie film makers compete the studios?

It’s like The Boob Tube (1975) in a way. As much as that was influenced by a movie called the The Groove Tube,  no matter what we tried to do to clone the Boob Tube we couldn’t do it. If you looked at Paranormal Activity and said that’s a great idea I’ll make a picture like it, you can’t. It’s just so weird and freakish that nobody has succeeded in copying it.

If you look at what pictures the majors are making today, they’re big production pictures like Batman vs Superman based on comic books or it’s a big Tom Hanks movie. They are well directed, shot all over the world. These pictures are costing $100 million dollars or more. It means film making is a very hard thing. Is it impossible? No, but one has to realize, especially young film makers that the cards are stacked against you.

At the time when I started out, it wasn’t an industry that didn’t want me. They didn’t care one way or the other about me. Couldn’t care less whether or not I wanted to do something. Today they don’t want you at all. You have to look at what is going on.

Today we are seeing things change so amazingly fast. We’ve seen the growth of the internet and internet programming. Not even the studios know where its going. One thing we can look at is where the stocks are going. Companies like Alphabet, Inc. that own Google and YouTube, their stock is worth over $900 per share. Amazon stock is over $900 per share. Disney owns studios, two theme parks and a great library of movies. Disney is a great company with branded entertainment and their stock is probably $30 per share. Who would believe that?

I can only give one piece of advice and that’s my credo. Never give up!

Tell us about your partner and director Al Adamson

I suggested you look at the film Nurse Sherri. Nurse Sherri was made for as next to nothing as it could be. I said to my director Al Adamson we have no money to pay you now but we have money that’s due. Go out and put a second mortgage on your house and we’ll do this picture. Who would do that?

Unfortunately if you know the story of Al Adamson he was sadly murdered. Al Adamson was like my brother. We started this company together and made all these films and did a lot of great things. Al was murdered by a man who was rebuilding his home in Indio, CA south of Palm Springs. It was a great tragedy. He went missing for a long time, we went looking for him and brought in the police and FBI. Eventually he was found entombed in his house.

Six months before he died he said something to me that was so strange. We had a little gag where I’d ask Al to do something for me and he’d ask what is it and I’d say I’m not telling you. You have to agree first. Who would do that? What a relationship we had. Only once did Al say to me he had something he wanted me to do. He made me agree first and said I want you to do three things. First I want you to tell my story to the world, what I’ve directed and my career. Number two I want you to keep the films that I directed in distribution so that people can see them. Number three I want you to finish the UFO film we were working on. I haven’t finished that film which bothers me especially because I gave my word on it.

In the case of tell his story to the world I worked on a book called Schlock-O-Rama The Films of Al Adamson by David Konow. It’s a great book that tells the whole story of this. Then we had an E! True Hollywood Story about Al. I was following the background of Ed Wood. He had a book written about him, then he had a documentary done about him and then he had a movie done about him. We are working on a movie about Al and myself making films together for a number of years.

How did you make Dracula vs Frankenstein?

Dracula vs Frankenstein was very popular. It went through several levels of shooting and edits. It started as a spinoff of Satan’s Sadists with some of the same people involved and it was originally called The Blood Seekers. The picture was rushed into production and Al wasn’t really ready but he was being pushed by other people. Al sent us the work print for a screening in New York with myself and some investors. Everyone hated it. They said better to take your first loss early, we don’t want to release this film.

I asked if they would mind if I tried to fix this thing up with my background as a film editor and writer. I belong to the school of waste not, want not. The main doctor was played by J. Carrol Naish, a two time Academy Award Nominee and 5 or 6 other well known actors in it. A concept had come to me that Dr. Durray, at least that’s what he called himself, was actually Dr. Frankstein, the last of the Frankensteins. I decide to change the picture in that direction. If we could put Frankenstein in, we could put Dracula in for good measure. I had to find a good editor to fix up the original material and then re-shoot the whole thing into what became Dracula vs Frankenstein.

The film is still around, still playing, it’s just now on Blu-Ray and wentthrough TV distributors MGM Studios. It’s one of those weird things. It became a great cult film. There are producers also working with us to remake it.

What’s in the future for Independent International Films?

Continuing to keep our library in release. Making new films, working with young film makers and encouraging them while figuring out a way to deal with this stranger market that exists today.

How did you get films into distribution?

We came in off the street and didn’t know anything. I had one film, The Scarlett Letter that I brought to a regional distributor in Boston that don’t exist anymore. There were probably 500 regional distributors around the country at that time. Denver Dickson, Al Adamson’s father knew some of them in the south from distributing a Western him and Al had made called Half Way to Hell which helped but he didn’t know every area.

I thought going up to New England, where the Scarlet Letter took place that I’d get some distribution. It never played in New England and they had no interest in my picture. They told me they had no interest in old pictures. They had interest in horror films and others. That was the turning point for me. I realized we’re forced to go into whatever the market dictates.

What’s different or the same about film making today?

Number one, the thing that’s always interesting to me is how cheaply can you make a film. At the time if you were shooting a film on 35mm if nobody else got paid, you still had to pay for the film stock, the lab to develop it. Today you don’t have that. Back then we had films shot in 16mm and blown up to 35mm because that would cut the cost up front way down. Satan Sadists was shot in 16mm. Dracula vs Frankenstein was shot in 16mm. Pictures that were popular were shot on 16mm but I didn’t like that. I wanted to shoot on 35mm. Today digital is digital. It doesn’t have to cost anything.

The one thing all movies have in common and that’s the secret. That great thing is ideas. Ideas are more important than money. If you have a picture that costs $400 million dollars and it was stupid idea who cares. If you shot it on digital and it cost zero dollars but the idea was great.

How do you protect your ideas?

Anybody can steal anything or change it a little bit. The one thing you can do that costs nothing is the Writers guild of America allows you to register written materials with them. You can take a script, a story, a one page idea and register it for free with the Writers Guild. That’s respected in this industry everywhere.

Download Independent Horror Film Icon, Sam Sherman Interview

iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-imperfect-podcast/id1107133885

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-129479778/indie-horror-film-icon-sam-sherman-part-1

This week we take the Imperfect Podcast on the road with horror icon, Sam Sherman. Sam is has been a writer, producer and distributor that continues to work in the film industry today. We were fortunate enough to be introduced by our friend Ethan Marten who you may remember from our podcast about Eyes of the Roshi.

Sam Sherman attended New York’s City College Film Institute, where he ran “Flash Gordon” serials and “The Mask of Fu Mancho” in the student film program and made the 16mm short “The Weird Stranger” in a single day. The first picture he distributed was a re-release of The Scarlet Letter (1934) in 1964. He also worked in the publicity department of Hemisphere Pictures prior to forming the hugely successful production and distribution outfit Independent-International Pictures with Do-It-Yourself indie filmmaker ‘Al Adamson (I)’ in 1968. Independent-International produced and/or released a slew of movies in such genres as horror, Western, science fiction, comedy, action and even blaxploitation for the drive-in market throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Sam is a humble, intelligent film maker who gravitates toward “the weird.” We couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to learn from someone who made his mark in the film industry as an independent for decades. Part of 1 of this interview discusses Sam Sherman’s background and early career. Stay tuned next week for Part 2.

Watch one of Sam Sherman’s classic films: Dracula vs Frankenstein

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjQP_eaFVuU

Watch the Entire Interview with Indie Horror Icon Sam Sherman

Sam Sherman Interview Highlights

Where did your love of movie making come from?

It started with a love of still photography then in whole movie photography. I had been given my uncles 8mm camera and projector. I started making my own 8mm movies and also started collecting movies like Charlie Chaplin and westerns. When I started going to the movies at the age of 4 I always had a love for it. First time I was in a theater, what impressed me was how enormous the screen was and that was before TV or home movies.

Television started running old films that I took a liking to which took me in that direction. I basically started as a collector of movies. Regular 8mm, short 5 and 15 min films and then I got a 16mm projector for movies that ran longer. At that time there was no home video and I wanted to have certain movies I could see and preserve. I thought a lot of them were so obscure that if I didn’t have them nobody would have them.

Through all of that I became a film historian, studying the history of films going back to the late 1800s. I was hired by James Warren who produced the Famous Monsters of Film Land as a writer and film historian. He had an editor but couldn’t keep up with everything so they would farm out articles to me. Along the way I got to interview many directors, producers and actors.
I was always interested in the more obscure films but I did get meet famous people such as John Wayne. John Wayne liked me because I knew all about his early work as a young man starting out. He couldn’t believe I had all of his films on 16mm prints. At that time actors or producers would have 35mm screening rooms in their homes and didn’t even know these 16mm prints existed that you could run yourself.

I got to meet John Wayne over a dozen times in different circumstances. I sat with for an interview article from 8am until 1pm. No acting, just shooting the breeze about old 1930’s pictures. He couldn’t believe some of the facts I knew about those old films like the time they were shooting live ammo on set.  I had a good friend Joe Franklin who had a television show in NYC and he helped me with a lot of things whether it was getting to do a film or meeting someone. He knew just about everyone in the industry.

What was the first independent horror you filmed?

It’s a funny how that happened. Things like that don’t get planned. If I had said I’d like to make horror films it doesn’t happen like that. There’s always a million impediments to you doing something. I was a big fan of photography and I subscribed to a popular photography magazine. There was an article about City College Film Institute that seemed interesting. A place to learn about making films, use equipment, and meet people. To get into the film program you had to have top grades and be a science student which I was.

That gave me an in because I was a step up from the average student in the New York area. It was a free school if you got there. At the time, other schools that taught film were on the west coast like UCLA & USC and it was too costly for my family to send me to California. I was also very young because I skipped two grades. I was 16 and looked like I was 12 which was hard to get people to experience me.

I was going to college and working as a film editor, projectionist and teaching audio/visual use at Hunger College, plus making my own little movies. The fact that I liked horror films came from two areas: One was comic books and they always had horror and in addition to that I would listen to radio programs. Most of the dramatic shows were in the mystery or horror genre. The weirder the better for me. That background and working for Famous Monsters of Film Land Magazine pushed me into horror.

The Weird Stranger: Sam Sherman’s City College Film Project

I was in charge of programming at City College and they came after me in the school newspaper and called me the ‘Horror Man: Sherman is lowering the standards of City College.” The head of the film institute was teaching a course and we had to make a small film to pass the class. It took most students almost 6 months to make their short films. Everyone else was pretty artsy and I was low class. The end of the semester was coming and I had nothing. He said to me I should make a horror film about a vampire who robs a blood bank.

I end up making a film called The Weird Stranger. It was a crazy horror satire and it was technologically way ahead of what the others were doing. I had a full synchronized score that matched the moods and sound effects. As much as he hated it, the professor had to give me an A. What he hated the most was that I wouldn’t put the City College logo on the film. I shot my film on location, with my own equipment and had my own logo. It turned out to be the best film of the class and years later my sister was taking a course at City College and invited me to a screening. They announced they were going to show their favorite student film and it turns out they start showing my film The Weird Stranger. People loved it. Since I made the film, peoples taste changed.

What makes horror films so unique and likeable?

It’s because it’s different. Everything in life today, seems too similar and uninteresting but when you get to horror, you have the undead coming back to life or zombies or whatever. Way back when, not many were made. People wanted to see something different.

How did you start making films professionally?

I was friendly Irwin Pizor who owned a company called Hemisphere Pictures. They were located in New York with offices in the Philippines who had made one horror film but at the time I met them they were making war films because there was a big demand for them overseas in 1963. Make them in the Philippines and sell them around the world but they were making no money in the United States. I had bought a picture from Irwin Pizor based on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and I wanted to re-issue it.

This week’s Imperfect Podcast guest is Manon de Reeper, who is the Editor in Chief and founder of independent film magazine Film Inquiry. Manon is also a screenwriter currently shopping her Screencraft Fellowship quarter finalist MORAL TREATMENT. She has two academic degrees and currently lives in beautiful Perth, Australia. Starting as her own personal blog, Film Inquiry has grown to having over 100 contributors.

Film Inquiry is an independent, crowd-funded magazine with which purposefully steers away from the current online journalism trends of meaningless click bait. Instead you’ll find long-form reviews and articles, as well as in-depth resources that are interesting to cinephiles and filmmakers. Film Inquiry also supports women and minorities in film and behind the camera.

Since December ’16, Film Inquiry is a Rotten Tomatoes approved publication and all of our reviews are counted towards their tomato-meter. To support Film Inquiry, you can join the Film Inquiry Society that will grant you complete access to all of their archives, as all posts older than 30 days (aside from a few freebies) are locked. Once a member, all the content is ads-free. Members also get a 10% discount to the Film Inquiry shop, and more.

Keep up with Manon de Reeper and Film Inquiry:

https://www.filminquiry.com/about/
https://www.facebook.com/filminquiry/
https://www.instagram.com/filminquiry/
https://www.twitter.com/filminquiry/

Watch How To Get Your Independent Film Reviewed by Film Inquiry

Interview Highlights with Manon de Reeper Editor in Chief of Film Inquiry

How did Film Inquiry get started?

I founded Film Inquiry as my own personal film blog where I was doing my own amateurish film reviews. I had just graduated from university and was doing some research while studying criminology. It’s still the most geeky thing ever, where I studied how a science fiction film effected the future effects of real life policies.

It was the best time of my life and I wanted to keep doing it because I always wanted to do film. Film was my biggest passion but friends and family recommended I not go to film school but I ended up making everything about film anyway.

I moved to Australia with my partner and he got a job here and I was hoping that I’d be able to do something with my criminology degree and it didn’t turn out the way I wanted. I’m not one to sit still so it was my chance to jump into the whole film thing.

People liked the blog and I wanted to involved more people so we could do more. The ball started rolling in early 2014. Every since, we’ve been steadily publishing. I don’t want to publish too much because I get too overwhelmed with how some of these magazines push out content. We want to keep the content schedule minimal but the actual articles bigger. It gives us the opportunity to go more in depth and explore one film more. More and more people are joining us to write.

People have told me they are pretty disillusioned with the current online film journalism. We really want to be able to talk about film in a context more than Marvel’s easter eggs. It’s fun and more people are picking up on it. I’m stoked an excited that all the hard work is paying off.

How do you decided which films you write about?

Honestly, at this point I have the luxury of having a team of 100 people so I have a combined amount of a time. I personally don’t review many films anymore. I’m trying to get a YouTube series going for myself but even choosing the films I’m going to watch every day is becoming a challenge. It’s starting to get so busy but I feel like I have this responsibility to watch movies.

What does a typical day as editor in chief at Film Inquiry look like?

I have to say I set it up pretty smoothly. What I do is coordinate when film makers ask us to review films, then I make sure that my team knows this film is available for review. They let me know if they want to review it, I request the screener, send it to them, they write the review and it’s reviewed by a few editors. I’m always the final review before publishing. We have a pretty strict schedule we adhere to so I make sure all the time slots are filled in. For general feature articles, its mostly all the writers pitching their good ideas. It’s a lot of work but it’s also fun.

Where does your love of films come from?

My Dad was very much into films and my Mom too actually. They would always take me to the movies. For instance, on Christmas we wouldn’t go to church, we’d go to the movies. That was our thing and it just stuck with me throughout life. I started exploring film myself when I got a little older.

What was the first article published on Film Inquiry?

I think it was a review of the film Elysium, by the South African director Neil Blomkamp. Everyone was raging on how incredibly poor it was and I thought it was pretty good. I wrote a little essay on how the criminological aspects of it were interesting.

How does your degree in criminology influence your writing?

It definitely taught me to look further than just the actor’s performances or the visuals. I always want to explore the idea of the film more. What are the film makers trying to tell us. We learn so much from film. Most of the situations these characters find themselves in, we wouldn’t ever find ourselves in. Seeing those things it teaches us a lot about life.

The way a camera is used and how a scene is framed adds to an idea. If you shoot someone from below, it elevates the person and adds meaning.

What is your screenplay Moral Treatment about?

I wrote a story influenced by academic background. It’s about a woman who is a British Royal set in the late 1800’s. It’s a Victorian era script. She has the privilege of receiving education in the UK and is married off to a rich guy in the US, an industrialists son. She starts to work at a local asylum because she’s a psychiatrist. It’s quite fascinating to me because there are so many terrible horror films set in these type of asylums. I wanted to do the opposite and give a very realistic portrayal of mental health and how these people were treated back then.

How does it differ from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest?

In a way, it was quite influenced by One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I personally really love that one because it’s a realistic portrayal of mental illness and what a mental hospital was like back then. It does have a big twist in the end like Moral Treatment does. I say it’s a mix between One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Shutter Island.

Is Moral Treatment your first screenplay?

No it wasn’t but it’s the first one I fully completed and edited. It was a challenge for me specifically how do you get into the mindset of writing. You need to put a lot of creative energy into writing which I did for 30 days. If you don’t keep at it every day, it’s easy to get out of that again. I adapted the National Writing Novel Month for my own needs. I was traveling and working during that time but because I had this goal of writing 3 pages a day, which is doable, I finished writing 90 pages in that month and had 30 pages before that. If you’re just focused on writing you don’t have the time to go back and edit it constantly.

Watch Manon’s video on “How I Wrote a Script in One Month”

I had seen the deadline for the Screencraft contest and gave myself that concrete goal. It was my first complete script and I wasn’t thinking I would ever win. Considering there were over 2000 submissions I was completely stoked to have made it to the quarter finals. It doesn’t even matter how good your screenplay is at that point. It’s more like a game of luck because there are so many people that submit great work. I still think there may be an audience for my script and winning one contest isn’t going to win you the Hollywood game.

What did you learn as Editor in Chief of Film Inquiry?

I learned it’s more about the people you know. I feel for the people that believe they need to win a contest to make it because that’s not the way it works. I’m in Perth Australia and trying to get to know people in Hollywood. Film Inquiry has definitely helped with that in a very casual way. Knowing people is the most important thing.

How can film makers get coverage at Film Inquiry?

Everyone can send their request to [email protected] and I will always put their requests in front of the team. It’s up to the team whether they pick it or not. It happens sometimes that nobody is interested. We also cannot guarantee a positive review.

I try to put everything out there. There is an audience for every film so I don’t filter it. I offer it up to my team for them to decide.

This week’s guests on the Imperfect Podcast are Trish Rainone and Katie Uhlmann. They are the writers and producers of the new hit web series, My Roomate’s An Escort. The web series is an off kilter comedy about two polar opposite roomates who influence each other’s lives for better or worse. Trish and Katie personally bonded over break-ups and roommate stories and began writing together two days later and haven’t left eachother’s side’s since. The two share a lot of laughs together on the screen and in real-life. Trish is thrilled at how My Roommate’s an Escort came together and can’t wait to make more!

We had a great time chatting with these ladies who are super funny and clever. They talk to us about funding the web series through crowd funding, investors and sponsors. Like many other talented people in the entertainment industry, they needed to create their own path to showcase their abilities. Fortunately for Trish and Katie, My Roomate’s An Escort seems to winning over audiences with over 69k views in less than 4 weeks.

Writers, Producers & Actresses Katie Uhlmann & Trish Rainone

Katie Uhlmann is an award winning director, writer, and actor and was born and raised in Trenton, Ontario, Canada. After graduating from Queen’s University with a degree in drama and psychology, she started pursuing a career in film and moved to Toronto. Katie has acted in countless shows (Workin’ Moms, Just Passing Through, Paranormal Witness), commercials and independent films (Kingdom Come). She is also known for her work as a host on her web show entitled Katie Chats where she completed over 3000 interviews with guests including David Cronenberg, Tatiana Maslany, and oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche.

Trish Rainone is an actress, writer and producer from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. She initially studied Film at Carlton University, but moved home to The Soo after some horrible roommate experiences and a bout of home-sickness. After working on several commercials, short films and the odd pause-or-you’ll-miss-her roles in popular films such as The Void, she decided to begin creating her own content with people she connected with and respected. Her first short film, Constance, (which she Produced and Co-wrote) had a successful film festival run in the States and Canada. She earned a Best Actress Award at the Horrorizon Film Festival in 2016.

Watch How to Make Successful Comedy Web Series

Interview Highlights with Trish Rainone & Katie Uhlmann

How Did You Meet?

Drunk at a bar where all of our relationships begin. We met at a friends birthday party in January of 2016 and hit it off and seemed to have the same sense of humor and the same angst towards exes. At the time, we were both going through “something.”

I had just gotten out of a 3 year relationship and crying a lot. We were both frustrated actors because we weren’t getting opportunities for roles that we wanted so we decided to pursue the dream.

Why did you choose to produce a web series?

I think because we had good chemistry we decided to do some writing together. We both had produced some short films and put them in festivals. With short films you do festivals and then wonder what has changed. We thought tackling a web series would be a better approach to tackling stardom. (just kidding)

We are still taking My Roomates an Escort to festivals but it was the idea of getting something out there immediately and distribute ourselves online. Although I do have to say there is something about being in a theater with an audience and seeing what jokes they laugh at. That’s something that’s nice about festivals. On the internet you just have a bunch of assholes attacking you.

Has My Roommate’s An Escorted offended anyone yet?

We took some heat early on when the trailer was released but now that it’s released everyone knows we aren’t making fun of escorts. Both of these girls are just girls. When you’re figuring out your life in your 20’s you go through some ups and downs.

We started with reality since we both had disaster roomates and branched out from there embellishing things and making them more absurd. The hope is that it’s relatable on some level.

Some people no matter what your job is you might not be great at it. You can be a low achiever in any field is what we’ve learned from our experience. We can be fired from almost every job. That’s something we talked about for Heather’s character because we never explored. I’ve had a lot of different jobs in life. As an actor you go through a lot of jobs because you want to keep acting the priority and for some reason bosses don’t like that at day jobs.

What was the creative process like for My Roomate’s an Escort?

We wrote the series over 7 months. We both have day jobs, I work at a casting studio and at the time Trish was working at a bar which she’s likely going back to. Whenever we weren’t at our day jobs we’d be writing and sometimes I’d go sit at the bar when she was working. Other customers would be like what’s going on? Did you say escort?

We had no lives for 7 months but really still have no lives. We crowdfunded on IndieGoGo and raised $20k and we threw a big party during the Toronto International Film Festival where we sold tickets to the party and got free alcohol from sponsors. Then we charged people $30 to go to the party that went directly to the IndieGoGo campaign but they got free food and drinks. A local business Adrenalin Tattoo gave us $5k and they were in the show. Our executive producer also contribute a lot of money.

Crowd funding and asking people for money was very stressful. Some people don’t like it and get offended. I had one person actually say I’ve tried chatting with you and you never write me back and now you’re asking me for money. My Mom got mad at one her friends for not supporting the campaign.

It’s one of those things where you can’t hold it against people if they don’t support you. A good approach is being grateful when they do support you. Have low expectations but be appreciative when people do pull through. What’s interesting is that the people you least expect are the most generous.

How long did it take to shoot each episode of My Roomates an Escort?

We did a block shoot and shot the whole series in 6 days. We ended up with a few pickup days.

How much PR & marketing was there leading up to the release of My Roomates an Escort?

We had $10k left we saved for marketing. There was a very strategic social media scheduled where we pre-planned our posts for every single day.

What was the web series filmed on?

We shot it on a Canon C300. I directed the series and come from a performance background so I don’t know a lot about lenses. Our director of photography helped and collaborated with us a lot. I kept it pretty simple. It was a very efficient set but super fun.

How did you get sponsors for your events?

Katie is really good at writing emails but we also found that going in person is successful. Getting a personal introduction is also helpful.

What did you learn from shooting My Roomates an Escort?

Build your own success.

What’s next for the series?

We are taking meetings. It’s doing what we hoped it would do and grabbing network interest. Our dream would be to have a half hour comedy but we are proceeding with guarded optimism because a lot of things would have to line up for that to happen. We are just going to keep asking people to give us money until it works. We just want to be paid to write and create our show.

Jared Cohn was born in New York and is an avid writer and director. Jared graduated NYIT with a B.F.A in communication arts and works in production while continuing to hone his craft as an actor and filmmaker. He’s also a spiritual person who says he believes in karma.

Jared has quickly racked up 22 directing credits, including Jailbait, Evil Nanny and Born Bad in part due to his relationship with The Asylum, a full service production company. We talk to Jared about his latest film King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable, which is an independent film that stands out from the pack. With a slim budget, unique story-line and CGI visual effects to rival the big boys, Jared continues to prove himself as a director worth watching.

Added Bonus! Jared also talks about his future film that will surely be his biggest project to date. He’s producing Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash.

Watch How to Become A Film Director in Hollywood with Jared Cohn

Interview Highlights with Director Jared Cohn

What brought you to Hollywood?

I’ve been out in Los Angeles for 14 years. I originally came out as an actor and did 30+ movies, TV shows and commercials. Then I started writing and slowly transitioned behind the camera. Now I’m a behind the camera guy and it’s been working out much better. I think that was the universe’s way of telling me to stop acting.

The acting definitely helped the film making. Everything happens for a reason.

How does being an actor effect the way you direct?

Communicating with the actors in a way that they understand better. There’s a lot of technical directors that don’t understand the acting side. They refer to me as an actors director but you still need to know the technical side of things. That’s what I went to school for. When I started directing I was good with the actors but I didn’t know anything about cameras and lighting. I went to the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) in West Babylon.

What was your first movie as a director?

My first film was self-financed. I took out my life savings on a horror movie that made no money. I ended up doing some work with The Asylum as an actor on Sharknado. I wrote a script to act in myself and they asked me if I wanted to act or direct it. I’m glad I decided to direct it because it was a big movie for Lifetime and I’ve since directed 10 movies for The Asylum. They gave me my break in this crazy industry.

How did you start your relationship with The Asylum?

Acting. I had acted in four movies for them and that’s how I got to know the producers and was able to get them the script. I will always remember that phone call while I was actually in Long Beach Long Island and I was a plane the next day. That was one of the best experiences of my life shooting that movie, Born Bad. It still plays on Lifetime.

I have three movies coming out in May on DVD and VOD including the horror movie Evil Nanny. I try to stay active, an object in motion stays in motion.

How did you get involved with King Arthur & The Knights of the Roundtable?

The writer of Sharknado, Scotty Mullen who is also the casting director at The Asylum, wrote it and we shot it in Thailand. It was produced by The Asylum. It’s a fun, off the wall movie, with giant robots and sword fighting. It’s a wacky take on the King Arthur story if you don’t take it too seriously. It was a tight schedule and budget but I’m familiar with that world. We finished shooting in about 12 days.

What was shooting a film in Thailand like?

At this point I’ve done three movies in Thailand. You have a language barrier but the key personnel of each department speak and relay the info to the crew. Every time I go out to Thailand I end up eating something that fucks up my stomach.

I was walking down the street in Thailand and I pulled out like 4 movies I directed out of cardboard bin.

How integral was the CGI and Special FX to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?

The Asylum team has 15 guys in house doing visual effects and animation.  At the time it was head up by Joe Lawson. They are well oiled machine that does everything from composites to 3D modeling. It’s a full in house studio.

There is a learning curve to shooting VFX sequences. We did some green screen shots. I learned a lot shooting Atlantic Rim.  You shoot something then you have to unstack it. After you make a few mistakes, the VFX guys yell at you. Having a VFX supervisor on set can sometimes stifle creativity because they want you to lock every shot off. They can motion track the sequences but its more work for them.

The most important thing with shooting visual effects is being able to visualize it and explain it to the actors and the crew. One day it just clicks.

How important is pre-production with a tight shooting schedule?

Pre-production is even more important than production. If you get your pre-production on point then your production runs smoothly. If your pre-production isn’t on point then your shoot will be a disaster. On King Arthur the final sequence was the hardest to map out.

Now when I do movies, if it’s a basic scene with two actors talking I’m not making shot lists or story boards. I used to and then you do it enough to learn what you need on set. I like to design shots on set with the actors and keep the camera moving.

When you’re doing crazy action scenes with very specific shots that you need, then it’s important to write a shot list.

Who did the fight scene choreography for King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?

We had a great stunt team, local guys, and one of the actors who played Merlin helped choreograph some of the action. When they weren’t filming I had them practicing because you can’t put together a cool fight on the day. We spent as much time as we could working out the fight scenes.

What was the budget and production like for King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable?

It was about $250,000. We shot on a Red Scarlet and had some other toys like a crane dolly. I don’t think we did any handheld shooting.

In Thailand, they shoot a lot of Bollywood movies, so there are some good production services. It’s different how they do it though. Every light comes with a crew guy and that’s his job to move the light. There’s a lot of gear to rent for camera and lighting packages and actually that’s the most expensive thing. It’s not the labor or crew rates, it’s the equipment rental.

Story is more important than the gear. You could have a $100 million dollar movie  with a terrible story and it’s going to be a terrible movie and you could have a $100 thousand dollar budget with a great script and make a great movie. It always starts and ends with the story.

What is the distribution plan for King Arthur & The Knights of the Roundtable?

It will be available May 2, 2017 on DVD and VOD. It’ll be transactional VOD first to get as much juice as possible before going to streaming VOD but it really depends on the deal. Every deal is different.

What did you learn from shooting King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable?

The biggest takeaway was the choreography from the fight scenes that we had. I put as much time in as we had and it wasn’t enough time. The next movie I did, Locked Up, had a lot of fight scenes it and I made sure they were choreographed before production.

I learned more about visual fx and interactive lighting as well. You grow as a film maker and get more confident. When I first started directing compared to now it’s worlds apart.

Download the episode to hear Jared Cohn talk about his most recent film in pre-production

Street Survivors, The True Story of the Lynyrd  Skynyrd Plane Crash