Don At The Women Texas Film Festival 2017

Howdy, howdy, howdy!
Not normally the way we open a weekly show here at the Clubhouse Podcast, but this is
a different weekly show than we normally do.
Welcome!
This season 8, episode 8, weekly episode 411, you can believe that, welcome.
I know it's Labor Day weekend, it's the 3rd of September in the year of our lore 2017,
we hope you're having a great holiday.
My name is Rob, I'm the executive producer of the Clubhouse Podcast and this could be one
of the most original episodes we've ever done, now that I'm thinking about it.
It's a Don Solo adventure, but Don's not here.
I know this all sounds very, very confusing, and I'm going to clear it up for you real
quick, welcome.
We're so glad that you've chosen to take some time out and listen to our little show.
Normally you're one stop shop for all things pop culture, but today we're going to be focusing
on a film festival, you guys know we love doing film festivals, and Don got the opportunity
a couple of weeks ago to do some interviews at the Women Texas Film Festival, right here
in Dallas.
You got to meet with some actors, some filmmakers, some producers, and a great film festival,
put them by some great friends of the show who we're big fans of.
So what we're going to be doing is, I'm going to be playing some of the interviews that
he did with people in this deal, we're going to be talking a little bit about each film
in between, or at least I will, because I'm the only one here.
But we wanted to make sure that we brought all this stuff to you, because it's really
cool when we get to hang out with people with film festivals and talk to people, and the
fact that Don got to interview some great people, it makes it even better.
This is a really, really a lot of fun interviews you're going to hear, we're going to spend
some time together, we're going to listen to interviews together, the first one we're
going to go right out of the gate, we're going to get right into this thing, with a film
called If You Only New, that's a short, very interestingly done.
You're going to hear from Alison Unger, director producer, and some of the cast Tiffany
Hopper, Becky Nitschke, and Ella Williams.
So let's just go ahead and get right into it.
We got four lovely ladies in front of me, okay, so I'm going to let them introduce themselves
and what project they're here for.
Yeah, hey my name's Alison Unger, I'm the writer, director, producer at If You Only New,
I'm in the cast, Becky Nitschke.
I'm also in the cast, my name's Tiffany Hopper, also in the cast, Ella Williams.
Alright, so we have the director and three of the cast members here, right how long is
the film?
It's about eight minutes.
Okay, so it's a short, okay, so I'm going to try to make the questions even, what's the
film about?
It's about OCD, and a lady is graduating from college, and it's a party to celebrate
that, and the struggles that she goes through, and I'm an OCD neighbor, so what's your role?
I am the girl with OCD, I'm a real girl, yes.
Alright, oh it's out of place over there, oh yeah.
Okay, what's your role, Miss?
I'm a annoying girl scout, so I'm just trying to get her checked, but they keep breathing
out right in front of me.
Were you trying to sell cookies?
No, I was trying to collect my check because I'm previously sold in those cookies.
Oh, okay, so you sold the cookies now, you're a debt collector, I love that.
A girl's been out debt collector, we are good, okay, alright, so how long did this film
take to actually produce, film wise?
That's a great question.
So, we will, we filmed over two days.
Two days?
Sometimes we see two weeks, three weeks on the short, was it like, did you get any sleep
any of you?
No.
No.
And the main thing of this film, we filmed the majority of it in one take, so it's a lot
of rehearsing, we actually got the final take.
So, one take?
Yeah, one take.
And how much editing did you have to do after that, didn't it?
Not a lot.
Well, how long was the original take, and this is eight minutes you said?
Yeah, so I mean, we just mainly, we had one small edit cut in the beginning, and then
we had about six and a half minutes, it's all in one take.
Wow.
But there were about 30 people on the set, about 30 people moving around, in and out, in and out, in and out.
It was a lot more rehearsing, and then the final day, we got like a final take, like five, thirty, it was awesome.
It was like, we had a very specific amount of time where we could shoot to get the right light, and it was like ten minutes, and we got the perfect hit.
No, it was awesome.
It was like, this is it, we have to do this.
We shouldn't have the trucker cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut.
You can't be ten to get 30 people on the set.
Yeah, I mean, that's unheard of.
But you thought you were happy, you're okay.
So how many festivals has this been at?
So this is actually the first one.
This is the world premiere?
This is the world premiere.
Woohoo!
The world premiere.
And where's it go from here?
So I've actually been accepted into the Flicks by Chicks, which is another festival here in Dallas, and then I've submitted to a bunch of others, so it's just a waiting game at this point.
And what's your goal for the film?
I'm really just to bring awareness.
Like I said, I initially started this with a full length feature, but I'm not sure that I really want to pursue that footage.
I just like how the short turned out.
I think it kind of has some message show.
I'm really just trying to set this point.
And what's in the future for all four of you?
Good year.
More shorts, and eventually a feature one day.
Okay.
Anything in the line, Mike, for you?
Oh, yeah.
I believe you just had two of the producers for Civic Duty.
I'm in that with the idea.
Oh, okay.
I have a couple of things coming up right now, so I'm excited.
And for you?
I'm a professional auditioner.
So just lots of auditions.
Waiting for those calls, you know?
Now, this is my only short film.
I hope to do get more involved in acting and labor.
So here's the one question.
Shameless self-promotion.
Shameless clogs.
We love them.
We love them.
Promote, promote, promote.
Let's hear it.
It's everything.
Social media, where they can find a film, everything about it.
Anything coming up?
What's here?
Right.
You want to check it out?
Or what? If you only knew, you can go to the Facebook page.
Oh, yeah.
Then you can search at IYOK Short.
Okay.
That's it.
You have a website or anything?
Oh, yeah.
Becky Nitsky.
Check me out on IMBB and Facebook.
And wherever else, I can put my text.
Okay.
Tiffany Hopper, you can find me on Facebook.
My Instagram is Tipper Tigger.
My agent, John Colonylts, he at Caledis.
Uh-uh.
Uh-uh.
No.
No.
She's somewhere on the me.
She has a Facebook page maybe.
We'll leave it maybe.
Maybe.
Okay.
Yeah.
We'll leave it at that.
All right.
Thank you so much for your time.
We wish you luck.
Thank you so much for your time.
All right.
Again, this is some of the interviews that Don was able to do for us at the Women Texas Film Festival.
A lot of stuff going on.
We've got a lot of interviews to get to, so we're going to keep on moving.
Next up, we're going to be talking, or Don's going to be talking to Sarah Adams and Maggie
Ruth Austin.
They are the executive producers, writers, and the lead actors in a short film called Service
Elevator.
And if you're like me, getting trapped in an elevator, probably not the best thing for you.
I've got a little bit of claustrophobia, and I guess maybe if I'm by myself, it's not that bad.
But if it's an elevator full of people, Lord only knows.
So let's see what they have to say about their film, Service Elevator.
Uh-uh.
So the Service Elevator came about, Sarah, and I were trying to come up with a stage production
of two people that could never possibly, like they would just total opposites,
comic challenges, and how they would get stuck together.
And then as we were writing, we decided, oh, this is really fun.
It might be interesting as a short instead.
So we adjusted it, and then shot it, filmed it all in one day, put it together, and yeah.
Now we're here.
Well, how long is the film?
The film itself is a little over eight minutes.
But still, you did it all in one day.
Absolutely.
Because we've seen some shorts that take week, two weeks, three weeks.
How long did you do it all in one day?
We're hustlers.
So we have a tight crew.
And it's just Maggie and I who were acting in it.
And since we've rode it, we know exactly the beats we need to hit.
So it consolidated the shot list for great deal.
Okay.
So we streamlined the free production and then actually on set, it made it very efficient.
So all the filming done in one day, how long did it take to edit and everything from that?
We were edited probably in wraps in a week and a half, two weeks,
because we're up against a deadline.
Okay, so that was real rush and everything.
How long was the original shoot and you said the finished product is about eight minutes?
You said?
Okay.
So our original we were doing it for the stage.
We'd already gotten like 15 pages into a script and it was only a quarter of the way done.
Okay.
And then we were like, wait a second, this is going to be a short cut it in half.
Cut this, cut that and try to make the most impactful story.
So for the Women's Texas Film Festival, you're here right now.
Is this the premiere or has this been around out a little bit or?
We have screened at two festivals prior to this.
We had our Texas premiere at the USA Film Festival early in April.
Okay.
But this is our first all female festival that we're really, really excited to be part of,
because as female filmmakers, it's amazing being able to support other extremely talented women in the business.
Alright, so from there, where does the film go from here?
And what are your goals for this film?
What do you want to do with this film?
Do you want to get it out there?
I mean, do you want to get this like with a major studio?
It'd be like an intro to somebody.
You tell us.
That is a great question.
I think our initial intention was just to do it to be seen.
And this short was created specifically for a short.
We don't have any grandiose plans to make this into a feature or a series.
However, if someone wants to, we're not going to post it.
A 24 year listening.
What this does do for us is we currently have another short that just wrapped post production as well.
So this is kind of like a stepping stone for then our next short that will be coming out next year.
And what's that one called?
That is called Civic Duty.
It's a comedy about a small town jury group.
Now, is that a short also?
How long does that be?
Roughly degest to me?
It is a short also.
It'll be a little over 10 minutes.
And then this one I'm actually directing.
Okay.
And Maggie is our star.
We both co-wrote it and produce it as well.
Okay. Well, we're in favor of seamless self-promotion, seamless plugs.
Alright, please tell us.
Facebook sites, websites, everything.
Where you're going.
The whole thing.
Give us a doll.
Well, we have a website, the monthly junk.com.
That's our production company.
And then you can also follow us at the monthly junk on Instagram.
Facebook.com, backslash, the monthly junk.
Basically the monthly junk, Google search it.
And we should come up.
Is that a monthly junk one word?
Monthly junk.
Monthly junk.
Okay.
Monthly like not weekly or daily, but monthly.
Alright.
Anything else you want to say?
We'll talk about this film.
Anything.
Don't get stuck in an elevator.
Okay.
Eight minutes might see a lot of time.
Alright.
Thank you so much for your time.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Don doing a great job for us at the...
At the Texas Women Film Festival.
Or Women Texas Film Festival.
I apologize on that.
I can't read sometimes.
But we're playing some of the interviews.
Actually, all of the interviews that Don did at the Women Texas Film Festival this year just happened recently.
Want to remind you you are listening to the Clubhouse podcast.
Normally we're live every Sunday night seven Eastern for Pacific.
But we're off for a couple of weeks.
But we still wanted to give you guys some content to listen to and hear from some great filmmakers that Don got to talk to.
One of the cool things about film festivals is the fact that there's so many different kinds of films.
There's a little something for everybody.
And that's kind of shown in this next interview that Don did with Sophia Woodward,
who's part of a film called The Liliths Awakening.
Check this out.
How long is the film?
Roughly a length.
Roughly 80 minutes.
And what is the film about?
The plot.
Alright.
There's a small town girl.
My character.
She's working for her father and his gas station.
She's in the Loveless Marriage.
At one night, the mechanic and her father's gas station kind of jumps on her and her car takes her promise to meet him at the woods that night.
And that sparks the dark side within her to kind of come out.
And her vampire is at home.
Vampires?
Did you say vampires?
Vampires.
I'm already hooked already.
Okay.
Alright.
And how long did it take to actually film the picture itself?
It was like the time of the filming for this film.
It was within like between 22 and like 25 days or so.
Really?
They got it not fast.
About three or four weeks and they got that full film.
Okay.
And one was a film done with the production roughly.
Oh, by the end, the whole thing was finished.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, when did they film in filming and the filming in the production was about a year ago, two years ago roughly?
Yeah, we finished production.
We had our first like private screening about February of 2016.
So just over a year.
Okay.
And where does the film go from here?
Do you got any other festivals or anything else?
We do.
Yeah.
It's going to be in Mexico City.
It's just coming Friday, the 25th leg leave.
And then it's also going to be in Virginia in the beginning of September.
Now, are you trying to get a distribution on this film and everything like that with one of the major studios?
Or you just want to keep it kind of still, you know, at the film festival kind of circuit?
Or what's the goal you'd like to see for this film?
Well, I'm the elite actress, so I don't involve myself too much with the politics of it.
But I would love to see it in theaters as possible.
And I think the director who is pushing really hard, you're super motivated to get this out there.
So we'll also just see that in pretty sure.
So what brought you to this film?
Let me just say I want to do this film.
Well, I was cast without having read much of the script.
And I just knew that it was like the, just to the story.
And then it had like vampires.
You were in vampires, aren't it?
It was black and white.
It's going to be sounding very artistic.
And then the character that I would play would be very powerful.
Like essentially coming into her own strength.
So that drew me to the character.
Any other things you have coming up?
Any other films, projects, anything you have coming up in the future?
Well, once I get back to Iowa where I'm currently residing.
There's going to be another shoot date for me for an art film.
I'm doing one of the directors of the program.
David Lynch Master's in film program there.
And then after that we'll see what happens.
Okay, we believe in shameless sub-promotions, shameless plugs, the whole gamut.
Let's hear everything.
Talks about everything, come everything, all sites, everything, come up from up from up from up.
Oh, well, thank you, okay.
So I actually would love to go to these premieres that are coming up.
And I have to fundraise to get there.
That's how I've got to this one.
And I have a great success in the past going on a multiple.
There were one of the different countries.
So I have a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds to be on the board.
And how can they find that on GoFundMe?
The keywords or search for that?
Yeah, it'd be J. Sofia's premieres.
It's just letter J. Sofia's snow apostrophe and premieres.
Okay, is there any other websites you want to promote?
Any other social media sites that you like to promote?
Yeah, I'm on Instagram, also J. Sofia Woodward.
And then I have a website, J. Sofia Woodward.com.
Thank you so much for your time.
We wish you success on this big time.
Thank you for everything.
Thank you very much.
That was Sofia Woodward talking about Lilith's awakening as part
of the Women Texas Film Festival 2017.
In this episode, we're taking you through all of the interviews
that Don got to do.
We didn't get to do a live show.
We couldn't get our schedules lined up.
I was actually out of town.
So Don actually went to the Women Texas Film Festival
and interviewed filmmakers, actors, producers,
the whole mind, just like we do in a normal film festival,
any other film festival we do.
This is just one's a little bit different because we didn't get to do it live.
But we wanted to bring you all these interviews anyway.
But coming up next is an interview with a writer and actor
of a film called Legs.
Her name is Aaron Davidson.
And it's a pretty interesting short film.
Check it out.
My name is Aaron Davidson and I'm here with Legs.
I am the writer of Legs.
And I also acted in the short film.
Okay, so you see short film.
How long is the film?
It's 14 minutes long.
14 minutes.
Okay.
So how long did it take to produce the film in the film?
The filming took two days.
Two days, so that's fast.
Yeah, really efficient.
Yeah, yeah.
Because sometimes we see in two weeks, three weeks, four weeks.
You did this in two days on the production then.
This was, I had nothing to do with the production.
All I did was write it.
And obviously I acted in it.
This is all thanks to my crew and Nadie Hicks, the director.
Okay, so question.
What's this film about?
This film is about a young girl who is being pressured by not only her mother but society
to get her legs removed and replaced with totally impractical prosthetic limbs.
Normal working healthy legs?
Yes.
So let's get rid of the natural legs and put, let's be hip and put processed legs on.
Exactly, exactly.
And how did they come up with that?
Well, it's on the film.
To me, the story is about being trapped.
It's about feeling trapped by society, cliques, family, you know, anything.
And so you kind of take that as a metaphor.
But I mean, also at the same time, you know, you never know what can happen in the future.
And how many festivals has this been at so far that you're aware of?
This is the first one.
This is a world premiere.
The Women's Texas Film Festival, world premiere of legs.
So this is going to be real nervous on the crowd reaction on this.
You know, my heart, when I screamed earlier today, my heart was beating out of my chest.
I was like, oh my gosh.
So how was the reaction to it?
It was great.
I had so many people come up and they wanted to talk to me about it.
The audience was laughing at the right parts to be laughing at.
It was so exciting.
So is there, tell us about your career.
What you've done, what you're up to next, that kind of thing?
Well, I graduated in 2015 with a theater degree.
And I, right now I'm a florist.
Okay.
I love it.
Okay.
But yeah, this is really inspiring me to start writing again and start.
I'm looking at some of my older stuff and maybe, you know, renovating it.
Taking a little look at it.
So what's your ultimate goal of acting?
My ultimate goal of acting?
I would love to teach or maybe do like a drama therapy?
Really?
Yes.
I have to have the Oscar, but actually teach and give it, oh, that's incredible.
Thank you.
All right.
So how can people see this film if they want to be able to see it?
I am not sure.
Okay.
All right.
Because it's, you know, it just, this is the first film festival that it's been asked.
Yeah.
We're trying to keep it under wraps for the time being because it could compromise.
It's placed in other film festivals.
Okay.
So yeah.
We're totally about shameless self-promotion, shameless plugs.
You name it.
Go for it.
Everything.
Plug, plug, plug, plug.
Okay.
If you want to, if you want to contact me, the best way to contact me would be through Instagram.
My Instagram is tiny, the chick.
And I have an Etsy.
I sell my paintings.
Okay.
All right.
Yeah.
It's Aaron Davidson Art.
And for the film is their website for the film or your company?
There is a Facebook page for the film.
Facebook page, which is.
Legs short film.
Legs short film on Facebook.
All right.
And maybe there might be some day where there might be a link to see it.
Maybe.
Okay.
All right.
We'll keep our fingers crossed for that one.
We wish you the best.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you.
Okay.
Always so great to hear Don having fun and the people that we interview having fun at all of the film festivals that we work with.
And again, this is Don working at the Women Texas Film Festival for us, getting some interviews on WAC so that we can bring them to you the Empire as you are listening to the Clubhouse podcast.
Live every Sunday night, seven Eastern for Pacific, your one stop shop for all things pop culture.
We hope you're enjoying the Labor Day weekend.
And coming up next week, we've got another interesting show for you because I'll still be out of town on vacation.
Coming up on next week's show, we're going to replay for you the very first episode that we ever recorded of this show years and years and years ago.
It comes from July 13, 2010.
So if you want to hear how this whole thing got out of the gate, trust me, we didn't come out of the gate swinging.
It took a little while for us to get our feet on, but it's always good to go back and listen.
So come back next week.
Make sure that you subscribe on your favorite podcasting app, but we're not done yet.
We're barely halfway there.
We got some more interviews coming up.
Another great thing about film festivals are documentaries.
If you know anything about me, you know I'm a huge fan of documentaries.
I watch quite a few.
I think part of it is as I'm getting older, I want to know more about true stories.
Well, next up is the director, one of the subjects, actually two of the subjects from the documentary, it's criminal.
Director, Sigma Taylor, Patty Hernandez, who runs a certain program involved with this film and Charlotte Gunderson, who's from local right here in Dallas.
What we really need about the organization that's worked within this documentary.
Because it talks a lot about a prison life.
And at the screening at the Women Texas Film Festival, part of the funding from the organization to help put this particular documentary together,
more than 30 women and their families were brought to this screening paid for so they could experience it with the director.
And one of the persons running the program and just people involved.
But we're going to let them tell you about it.
Here we go.
We're going to let them introduce themselves because it's an audio medium and the film that they're here for tonight.
Charlotte Gunderson, I'm Sigma Taylor, I'm the director of its criminal and Charlotte is in its criminal to documentary.
And I'm Patty Hernandez and I'm the person that run the program telling my story.
Okay, so this is here tonight at the Women's Texas Film Festival.
Is this the premiere or how many film festivals has this film been at so far probably?
We've been at about six film festivals, maybe six or seven film festivals.
This is definitely our Texas premiere, our Dallas premiere, our probably Southern United States premiere.
Okay.
If we ignore Los Angeles.
So how long is the film?
The film is 78 minutes.
And what's the film about? Tell us this story.
Sure.
Its criminal is a feature documentary that's about a Dartmouth College class that takes students to a jail in Unity, New Hampshire,
where they work with incarcerated women to write and perform a play that's about the lives of the incarcerated women.
Okay, so this is real life, true story, this is real footage, nothing doctor or anything like that.
Absolutely not.
And what's your hope for this film when somebody sees this and they come out, what do you want somebody to get out of this film?
I think it can be different for each person because everybody brings their own window and their own experiences to the film.
I hope that when they walk away from the film, they walk away a little more open-minded about everybody.
I think we all bring stereotypes and we put people in boxes whether we put a Dartmouth student in a box or whether we put our incarcerated woman in a box.
We have stereotypes that we bring and a large part of the film is about saying let's look at each other, let's look at each other for our strengths and our vulnerabilities and how we can work together.
You've done a couple of features in the past, one like 2011, two, so this is going to, how long did you spend on this film?
Everything like that, let's share the story on that.
Oh boy, long time, so we shot in 2010 and one of the reasons we shot in 2010 was because Ivy isn't here, one of the other professors was going on sabbatical for two years.
So I either had to shoot 2010 or wait till 2012 and as a filmmaker that would make me really nervous to wait that long because so much can change.
So I took the opportunity even though I wasn't quite finished with distributing my last film circuit streams.
So that took a little while, so we shot and then it was a hard film to fundraise for and so I spent a lot of time getting small grants and we moved forward and it fits and starts until we finally just pushed it over the end line.
How long is the production from, how long to how long in this film does this documentary go?
It's over a month, over a year.
God, it's 10 weeks.
It's a Dartmouth College summer term, so we started in June and we finished in September.
Alright, so what do you want with this film? Do you want to get this in production with a, maybe a company like A24, get the word out, what's your goal with this film?
What's your ultimate, what would you want for this film?
It's political, there's a new ad called a dignity for incarcerated women ads that's been sponsored by four senators.
If this film can help that ad get passed, my mission is done.
Okay.
And if it can get seen on public television, that's where we're aiming for on Amazon Netflix iTunes.
Basically getting eyeballs on the issue and getting people to just take, hopefully they get caught up in the personal stories and then maybe when they look at a paper and they're reading about incarceration issues,
they'll see Charlotte's face right and they're going to see Leica's face.
They're going to see somebody and they're going to care.
So, were you in the film, were you at the prison at the time?
Yes, I was.
Okay, tell us anything you want to tell us about your story in that situation.
What an amazing journey from start to end.
I was incarcerated and I was going through an opiate withdrawal.
So, I took the class as a way to keep myself busy and I was very timid and shy and terrified of myself in the world.
And Patty helped me to open up and embrace myself in my own story and other women's stories.
It was just amazing, it was beautiful.
So, you're very happy with the product, I take it?
Yes, okay.
So, where does this film go from here then?
From here, we'll go to some other festivals and then we'll start and we're also starting to screen on college campuses.
And then we just got distribution in China.
Really?
So, are you going to be going to China?
No.
Oh, okay.
The film will.
Okay.
Anyway, hey, I got to go to this one.
And if there's someone who's interested in helping us distribute it,
it's our website is itiscriminal.com.
So, we're looking for distribution now.
Okay, it's all three of you.
Shameless self promotion, shameless plugs, we love, we love, we love it.
I'm going to start off with you, start off with you, go ahead.
Any Facebook site, website, anything, social media, you want to get the word out?
No, well, there's a, it's criminal on Facebook.
Okay, go ahead.
It's been a website on Facebook.
Okay, for you.
Okay, if anybody wants to get a hold of you.
It is criminal.com.
That's the best thing.
Telling my story.
Telling my story.org.
Okay.
Is, is the website of the organization, which is the program itself.
Okay.
Well, okay.
Well, I honestly wish you the best with this.
Congratulations to you, seriously.
Anything else out to the empire?
Well, if we can get more equal justice in our country,
I think that would be a pretty fantastic development for everybody.
Alright, I appreciate it.
Thank you for your time, Milly.
I'm sorry.
Great work from Don, as he's getting all these interviews done for us,
so we can cut him together and play him for you all at one time,
as he was hanging out at the Women Texas Film Festival 2017
just a few weeks ago.
Again, we hope you're enjoying your Labor Day weekend.
We hope maybe this helps enhance that a little bit,
so you can hear some great things from some great filmmakers.
Let's keep this thing moving.
Coming up next is,
we've got the writer director, the visual effects supervisor,
and two members of the cast of a short film
called the importance of sex education.
Kind of an interesting concept,
but I much rather let them tell you about it.
I'm just a guy narrating this thing.
They can tell you about it.
About a 12-year-old girl who finds out her mother's pregnant
is set in 1976,
so she doesn't have the internet.
So she has...
She affixed from today big time.
I was five years old at that time.
I know what you're talking about.
Okay.
Yeah, so she sets out to figure out how the babies are actually made,
you know, with the resources that she has.
This is in the backwards country and stuff like that.
You can say?
Well, it's in the south.
In the south.
Okay.
Didn't it down Manhattan?
There's a few woods around stuff like that.
Okay. All right.
How long is the film?
It's just under 15 minutes.
And how long did it take to do the production alone on that?
Just the production on sale?
Yeah, the filming.
It films that.
We were there four days.
Four days.
It was pretty fast.
Yeah, usually we've seen some where it's two months sometimes
on some of these shorts and stuff like that.
Four days.
Did you get any sleep at that time?
You know, we did all right.
It was a lot, a lot of pre-production.
We were doing that for months.
So that by the time we got there, you know, we were ready to go.
Go, go, go.
Strictly scheduled stuff like that.
All right.
Now, how many film festivals has this been at so far?
It's actually showing three times this week.
Oh, this week alone.
Okay.
So what's the ultimate goal for this film?
You know, for this film, I would love to find some kind of online distribution.
Something like Netflix or something like that or Amazon possibly or something.
Yeah, exactly.
You know, I don't really know what that distribution is going to be at this point.
I said, I've had a lot of people asking, you know, when do I just see it again?
Is it going to be online?
And I'm like, yeah, I hope I really hope so.
I think we'll probably wrap up the festival circuit.
Like at the end of this year or early 2018, probably more likely.
I got a question for all for you.
Same one.
What brought you into this film?
Let's say, let me just say, I want to do this film.
I know what this is going to be.
Well, you know, it's my idea.
It was my script.
I won some awards with the script.
And so at some point, you know, I guess I'd written the script thinking it's just going to be a script.
And then when it got really good response, I was like, I want to make it.
And I just became obsessed with it.
I need to make this film.
For you.
I knew it was going to be successful.
Whatever Elizabeth writes it.
No, seriously, she has degrees in creative writing.
She knows how to make a story with the beginning, a middle, and an end.
And that's a very difficult thing for a lot of filmmakers to do.
So I know that if she's writing something, it's going to be gold.
And we already knew that ahead of time because she had written the script and was already winning awards with the script alone.
So making a film out of that was going to win.
So I already knew what the script was.
Because I liked it.
I thought it was really funny.
And I thought it had a lot of good opportunity for visual effects, which is what I was involved in.
And what about you in this film?
I was working with an acting coach who gave me some ideas of the types of roles that suited for me.
And one of those being preachers.
So I saw this posted.
Well, here's an opportunity.
And I jumped at it.
And Elizabeth was kind enough to cast you.
I'd say you have a look for too.
I know where I go media.
You have a look for it.
That tone of mannerism.
I see it.
I'll be typed.
I'll be happy to be typed.
It means work.
For you.
What about you?
Honestly, it was the plot.
It was really interesting.
Like I hadn't seen any type of film or short film like this before.
It's a subject that not a lot of people want to go into.
And I was just really happy that I was able to be a part of this project.
We are totally in favor of shameless self-promotion, shameless plugs.
Promote, promote, promote.
Let's hear it.
Any websites you name it that you want?
My production company is orphaneddingbat.com.
My personal website is lillizbethpowers.net.
And I really want to make my feature script as a follow-up to this short.
So if anybody has funding and ideas or wants to-
Go fund it!
Here for you.
I'll put it on myself.
Yep.
She wants self-promotion.
If you like adventure blogs, you can check mine out.
It's where is Jamie going to blogspot.com.
Any websites or anything you want from Facebook?
Joel Fox with 2Xs.com.
And I'm on Facebook.
And just look me up there.
For you?
Just my name on IMD.
I love it.
All right.
Thank you so much for your time.
Yeah, we're looking forward to this.
Thank you so much.
Again, from the importance of sex education that was writer-director lillizbethpowers.
Visual effects supervisor Jamie going.
And Joel Fox and Tristan Tears who are both in the film as well.
We are playing for you all the interviews that Dom was able to do.
At the Women Texas Film Festival just a few weeks ago.
As we're kind of taking a little bit of a vacation.
But that doesn't mean we can't give you guys stuff to listen to in the meantime as well.
We're going to be back live in studio.
I believe the date is correct.
It is Sunday, September 17th, which the following week will be no mercy.
So it's-
We're full speed ahead all the time.
We want to provide the empire with everything.
And make sure you're subscribing on your favorite podcast app.
So you can get all the extras that we do as well when we do our iTunes exclusives.
And if you are subscribing on your favorite podcast app.
Make sure you like us.
Make sure you're rate us.
Make sure you review us.
Get the word out.
Tell everybody you know about this show.
As we continue on coming up next.
Another short film.
A couple of people involved.
Leticia Megiana standing in for director Beatrice Bellina.
And cast member Paul Mitchell Wright.
Talking about a film called Imaginary Love.
Check out this interview that Don took care of before us.
The premise is a woman.
It's about a woman who has had a trauma.
A sexual trauma in her life.
And her process as she goes through to process it.
And you know, find some healing in it.
So is this a real emotional film if our short would you say?
Interestingly enough,
Beatrice is a great job of finding humor in everything.
And also bringing a twist to everything.
So you start off with a parade of objects and shadows.
And it makes the audience laugh.
And then all of a sudden you start realizing,
oh, this is a little bit more serious than we thought.
And then it goes on from there.
But the audience really has a connection with it.
And it's very, very powerful.
So how long did it take to film that actual filming of this?
They filmed it over a period of a few months.
But yeah.
But they both have full-time jobs in the film industry.
So that they were working.
They were coming back and working, coming to shoot,
looking at stuff, who want to make it just right.
And Beatrice is very meticulous with her detail.
And so she wanted to really,
or like shoot one.
And also, she and her husband, Jeff Peterson,
they live on a farm outside of Fredericksburg.
And so they are also farming.
And so that's why it also took a long time
because they film and farm.
And some of the elements in the film are from the farm.
And I know for sure she told me that one of the,
like the door that's in the film,
it came from her house, from her childhood days.
And when it were renovating it, she wanted the door.
She brought it back to the farm, put the door in,
and that's part of the inside of the film.
So what brought you into this film?
What made you say, I want to do this part?
Well, I met Beatrice on the set of revolution,
television strip.
And I had a day on it, just around that.
And so she was a script supervisor for that series.
And so then we developed a relationship.
And then I knew that she lived out or heard that she was living
out in Fredericksburg.
And so I met them in town.
They told me about a feature link script that she's written
and she wants to produce.
But she said, in the meantime, I want to do this short.
And we could use some help.
Would you help us?
I'm so sure.
I'm so happy to help you.
And so where does this film go from here?
Well, it's actually been requested after the viewing today
to submit to the film festival,
the International Film Festival in Boseman, Montana.
And so I'm going to happily tell Beatrice,
hey, you got to submit, because this is going to be a great one.
I'm actually raised in Montana.
I know Boseman also went, oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Ever not.
Yes.
Born Wyoming, Montana.
Awesome.
All right.
All right.
So from there, we believe in Sheamus' self-promotion,
Sheamus' plugs, everything like that.
Promotion, you name it.
Let's hear it.
Okay.
I am working on and almost finishing this feature film called
Sanitatum.
It's being shot in Houston.
It was directed by female director, Michelle Moore.
So I want to give a big shout out to Michelle Moore,
everybody here, her name, and to look out for this film.
It should be going into submission in the festivals
in late September, starting, and then October, and so on and so on.
All right.
And the website, say if you want to plug in.
Yes.
For Beatrice, she's on Tumblr right now,
and you can find her at Farming and Filming on Tumblr.
And my name is Latissia Magagna.
I'm an actress, and I'm at Beatrice on a small movie called
All She Can.
And then we also work together on the Sun with Pierce Brosdon.
So you can watch me there.
But most of all, you can get ahold of Beatrice on filming and farming on Tumblr.
All right.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Dawn out there doing work for us, interviewing cast members,
producers, filmmakers at the Women Texas Film Festival.
Coming up next, I think this may be the first time this has ever happened,
where an interview is longer than the film that the subject is being interviewed about.
And that's kind of all I want to talk about,
because I want you to really hear this from the mouth of the director writer Rudy Servantes,
as he talks about his film,
that's my boy.
How long is the film?
It's 15 seconds.
Well, I don't think you'll get too many complaints about this film being too long.
Yeah, no, it's a 15 second micro short,
and it's screened earlier this afternoon,
and people seem to really like it.
Well, what's the pot about in under 15 seconds or less?
It's about a boy, a baby, who's being fed his favorite dish.
Okay, he's being fed.
So is this a real life, or is this acting, or is this a real film?
I mean, it's live action.
Live action, or is this like a fictional?
Yeah, it's like a dark comedy, it's live action.
Okay, I got to ask this since it's 15 seconds long.
How long did it take for the production filming of this scene?
It took us a couple of months of pre-production,
and broadcasting of the child and everything,
and then it took a whole day of filming,
and then after that it was like three or four weeks of editing.
For 15 seconds.
For 15 seconds, yeah.
Okay, so where has this film been so far?
Is this Vermeer or is this...
No, it's actually screened at about 13, 14 festivals.
It's screened in Berlin.
It's screened at the final girl's film festival in Berlin.
It's screened in Belgium.
It's screened in Canada and Vancouver.
It went in a ward in Portland for the Portland film festival.
All right, so where's the film go from here?
From here, yeah, I'm just waiting on some other film festivals,
and then once it's done, we're working on another film next month,
and it's going to be another 30 seconds and maybe two minute film.
So it makes you want to do this film.
I mean, what was the...
What brought you to this?
What was the traction to this?
Yeah, there's this film festival in Canada.
It's called the 15-second horror film challenge.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, so I saw it online, and I called my crew up,
and we watched the films for the previous year,
and I was like, yeah, I think we can do this,
so I called them up, and it's like,
I think we can do a 50-second movie.
So we did it, and then as a joke,
just kind of jokingly sitting around in my house,
I was like, you know, I'm going to submit it to other film festivals,
not thinking it was going to get in,
and now here I am 13 festivals in.
All right, so what was the biggest challenge of this film?
Oh, working with a baby.
Working with a baby.
Man, yeah, working with a baby.
Yeah, he was really nice, he was awesome,
he was really unpredictable,
and then trying to get the makeup,
because we have a practical effect,
so the makeup artist is trying to get everything going with that.
Okay, so any future projects coming up,
you want to talk about?
Yeah, I got a movie that we're working on,
it's called The Science Bear,
and it's about a girl who has her dad
help her with The Science Brothers.
All right, so we believe in shameless self-promotion,
shameless plugs.
Promotion, tell us, tell us everything.
What sites, everything, you two aim it.
You can find my blog.
You can find me on Bimio,
Rudy Cervantes, find me on Instagram,
I have my photography,
and upcoming film festivals that were a part of,
you got to find me on Facebook.
All right, thank you so much for your time.
Thank you.
See, it took longer,
probably like nine times longer
than that film is,
for they talked about it,
but we'll let filmmakers talk as long as they want to.
Kind of we pride ourselves on that on this show.
We love letting people promote their things,
because again, it's done keeps saying,
we are all about shameless self-promotion,
as Don did some work for us
at the Women Texas Film Festival.
Let's keep this thing moving.
We've got two more interviews for you.
This next one's kind of cool,
because coming up,
we're going to talk about a film called
Quality Problems,
with director, actor,
co-producer, Brooke Purdy,
and Collette Freeman,
who's also a co-producer.
This was the film that closed the festival.
It also won the award for best feature.
Now, this interview
is kind of special to Don,
and you're going to,
now he said it in the beginning,
but I cut that out
because I wanted to kind of keep you in suspense.
He kind of has a special connection to these filmmakers,
and you're going to find out why here in just a minute,
as Brooke Purdy and Collette Freeman
talk about quality problems.
My name is Brooke Purdy,
and I am the writer and co-director,
and I am featured in the movie
that's closing tonight's festival,
called Quality Problems.
There's so many words in there.
And I'm Collette Freeman.
I'm one of the producers on Quality Problems.
All right, so what's the film about?
It is about a family,
a week in the life of a family,
dealing with all kinds of family problems,
but also cancer.
Rest cancer comes up in this,
and they have to deal with that too.
But it is a comedy about cancer.
Comedy about cancer.
Okay, and how long is the film?
It's feature length.
It's 90 minutes.
90 minutes.
And how long did it take to actually film the production
of the film?
How long did that take?
Interesting.
So we were dealing with kids,
and we had to keep our day jobs,
and it's super low budget.
So we did three weekends over the summer
at one location,
and then we came back.
We proud-funded.
And then we shot for two short work weeks in the fall.
So it was about 20 days.
Was that last year,
2016?
2015.
2015.
Okay.
How many festivals has this film been at so far?
This is the fifth festival,
and we have three more festivals coming up,
and we're still waiting to hear from a bunch more.
This is the beginning of the festival circuit.
Yeah, okay.
And where's it go to next?
Next, we, my husband and I,
Doug Pretty, the co-director,
and we are going to Hell's Half Mile
and Bay City, Michigan.
Okay.
And then a couple of the producers are going to
Breckenman's Colorado.
Okay.
Alright, so what do you want people to get out of this film?
You're a vision.
And with somebody who leaves this film,
that will touch this person how?
The message you want to get across to everything.
What?
Overall, everything.
So from this film,
my main, I love movies,
and I love going to movies,
and I love being touched.
I love being moved,
not in a creepy way.
Like, I love being moved emotionally.
That's what I want.
I want a film that's going to make me feel something.
Yeah.
And so, in this one,
there's a lot of laughs,
and a couple, like,
tears as well.
So, I would love for people to be moved by it.
And, you know,
all the better if they are a cancer survivor
or know someone in their family,
but just so long as they're entertained.
Brooke Pretty has a very,
very distinct and special voice in her writing.
So, it's almost guaranteed that you'll laugh,
you'll cry, but mostly you'll feel.
It will be a film that you walk away
from remembering long after you've seen it.
And what was the hardest part about this film?
Making should be anything.
You tell me,
what was the hardest thing about this film?
The hardest thing about this film?
The biggest challenge for you.
Challenge was, I mean,
it was flawless,
it was amazing,
and everybody got along.
I'd say that one of the challenges was,
there's a very emotional scene
that I act in with my son,
and he is very emotional.
So, kind of splitting,
it was very, like,
split personality.
Part of me is looking at it as a director.
Part of me is acting with him in the scene,
and I want to show up.
And part of me just wants to hold my kid
and say, you know,
it's okay.
Stop crying.
It's okay.
And so, that was one of the harder moments.
But it was just,
that's a blip.
Like, the whole thing was pretty much sunshine and rainbows.
Like,
yeah, pretty sorely,
I feel like we were super lucky
that there were no big obstacles or conflicts.
Honestly, our biggest challenge
is going to be getting distribution,
because oftentimes the gems,
the little films fall,
beneath the cracks,
and it's about getting this
into the right viewership.
The hands of the people can really make a difference
and get it out,
so it can be seen by Maslowty.
Fox, search light,
824, you'll listen into this one.
We've reviewed a lot of your films.
Okay.
Yes.
Speaking of which,
if you'd like the big six,
this is right up your alley.
Okay.
And lastly,
we're here for Shameless,
and our show,
Shameless Self-Promotion,
Shameless Pugs.
Yes.
Pug, Pug, Pug, Pug, Pug, Pug.
What's here?
We're the finest sites,
upcoming stuff,
upcoming events,
upcoming projects.
You name it.
Well, upcoming,
we are actually Collette and I,
co-write quite a bit of stuff,
and we are working on our film
that we hope to shoot next year
in San Antonio,
called Miles Underwater.
Come to our website,
qualityproblemsfilm.com.
We're on Facebook and Instagram.
We have lots of things coming up in the hopper.
This is a Facebook site,
the same thing, quality problems.
Quality problems on Instagram,
and Facebook,
and quality problems,
film is our website.
Okay.
All right.
Anything else you want to plug?
Go Steelers!
Okay.
All right.
Thank you for your time, ladies.
Thank you so much.
Did you catch that?
Did you catch that a little bit at the end?
I'm sure Don could not have been happier
at the end of that interview.
So, you know,
hey,
we always say about Steelers fans.
The Steelers travel better
than any team in the league.
And we talk about those kind of things
around our normal show,
when we cover all things pop culture
every Sunday night,
seven eastern four Pacific.
We do broadcast live on you stream,
but make sure that you subscribe
to this show on your favorite podcast app,
because you get a lot of extra stuff
that we don't do for the live audiences
when we review films
and we review stage productions.
And sometimes we just do weird stuff
that we just want to put out there,
because we can.
It's the internet.
What do you end up?
We got one more interview,
and it was the last interview
that Don conducted,
while he was hanging out
at the Women Texas Film Festival 2017,
just a couple of weeks ago.
And we're,
he's going,
right now you're going to hear
from Ashley Atwood,
who is the star and producer
of Mimi's Misadventure.
Here you go.
Gone Fort Bond, I go.
Back for one last interview
at the Women's Texas Film Festival.
I'm here with a lovely lady in front of me,
audio media.
So she's got to introduce herself.
Hi, I'm Ashley Atwood.
My Misadventure.
And what did you do on the film?
I produced and starred in it.
Okay, and how long is the film?
It's 11 minutes and 39 seconds to be back.
So it's a short film there?
Yeah.
Okay, so the thing is,
how long did production take on that film?
To actually film?
The actual production is,
we did it in three and a half weeks.
Really?
Yeah.
Did you sleep at all?
No.
Actually it was cast
in another project at the same time.
So I'd shoot the other project during the day
and then came and did overnight on Mimi.
Back for it, back for it.
Mine's there.
Mine's there.
A couple of naps.
I think I have like two or three hour naps in between.
Okay, so what was Mimi
the film about?
What's the plot in the film?
Mimi was kidnapped at 13 years old
and sold in a sex trafficking.
Ooh.
Yeah.
So it's a very, very,
politically charged subject that we talked about.
But she is one of the lucky ones that escaped
and I think she has a lifelong vendetta
trying to get back at the man that did this to her.
So her life is pretty crappy,
but she embraces it
and as well as it with a bunch of sarcasm and dry humor.
Did they try to make it into a third?
This could be a feature like.
Well, we want to make it into a series.
Oh, I see.
Yeah.
So you are on the right path.
But there are lots of misadventures
that we won't need to get into.
And so we're turning it into a series.
So what brought you to this film?
What did you say,
hey, I wanted to work on this one.
We created it.
I got tired as an actress waiting for really awesome roles
on my way, even looking for them.
I don't always land the auditions.
And so I grabbed my friend and then called me
Rudy Romack and said, hey, let's make a movie.
We sat down at a coffee shop and we brainstormed
and we came up with a meeting
and I'll leave this adventure.
So he took that film,
wrote a script,
and a couple months later,
she wrote it.
What was the hardest,
the biggest challenge for this film for you?
Besides raising money.
Besides raising money.
Not doing two films at a time and all that.
Well, that's a blessing.
I'm never going to complain about that.
Other than raising money,
I think it was,
you know what?
Everything really ran really smoothly.
I think the biography could have been the hardest thing
to make sure the camera read it well.
But I had a great team.
And everything went really smoothly.
Wearing two hats at one time on set was a little difficult.
But I brought some, some PAs on board
to kind of handle all the permissible stuff
when I was at Mimi,
with my Mimi hat on.
And so for the most part,
it was pretty good.
Oh!
We did have somebody have a allergic reaction
to peanuts on our very present.
P.A. to peanut butter fill pretzel.
Oh, watch out.
Yeah, and then he had to go home.
And so we were down our gaffer all night.
And so that was tough.
So yeah, what's the move coming up for you in the future for you?
Besides working on the series, Mimi,
I am working on another short film
to push for a feature called Gordard.
It's in San Antonio about the anti-immigration laws
that are coming about.
And then I've got a couple of series
that I don't think I can talk about yet.
Web series that I'm also a pretty questioner.
And we believe totally,
Shema's self-promotion,
Shema's clogs,
the whole thing.
Let's hear it.
Well, if you want to follow me on social media,
I would love it.
Ashley at with Biz,
that's B-I-Z,
and Chobis.
But I always plug anything that I'm going to.
So come see my movie out there
or anything else in the movie.
All right, all right.
So we want to thank you for your time.
Anything last words to the Empire?
Oh, come and enjoy the movies out here.
They've got some great stuff.
So thanks for listening
and thanks for paying attention to me.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Great work by Don.
Thank you so much, brother, for getting out there.
And doing some interviews for the Empire to hear about
from the Women Texas Film Festival, 2017.
We want to thank them for having us out.
Maybe next go around.
We'll be able to do a live broadcast.
We just couldn't get our schedules lined up this time around.
But we're so proud of the film scene in Dallas
and how welcoming they are to everybody
and everybody behind the scenes
that does so much work
to make these film festivals happen.
And if you haven't been a part of a film festival,
whether you're here in Dallas
or anywhere where the Empire reaches around the world,
do yourself a solid.
Go check out a film festival.
There's so much fun.
You get to see it.
Sometimes you get to see movies
that haven't even been able to get to distribution yet.
And then later in the year,
when people are like, ooh, that movie looks really good,
you can be like, yeah, I saw it like six months ago.
What?
Catch up. Get on my level.
And plus you get a chance to have Q&As with filmmakers
and with actors and with producers
and you get to learn about the process.
It's a really neat atmosphere.
And if you haven't done one,
put one on your agenda.
And if you have put another one on your agenda.
Because there's a lot of them to go around.
And we're going to bring you as many of them in this town as we can.
Because we love covering film festivals.
We love hanging out with the Empire.
And again, thanks to Don for getting out there
and doing these interviews so that we can bring them to you.
Don't forget, next week,
we're going to be turning back to hands of time.
As I'll be in the studio,
maybe I'll have a guest.
I don't know.
I haven't decided how we're going to do this yet.
But we're going to rewind the clock to July 13, 2010.
As we play for you,
the very first episode of the Clubhouse podcast,
when it wasn't actually called that.
If you've been with us long enough,
you remember the original name of this show.
I'm not going to give it away.
You're going to want to tune in next week.
And just here, I've been granted,
this whole thing is a train wreck normally anyway.
But to see where it came from,
to where it is,
a little over seven,
a little over seven years later,
we have so much fun on this show
and we thank each and every one of you
for listening in every week.
Make sure you give us all the feedback you can.
But how do you do that?
Well, that's why we have the plugs.
Make sure you visit our website,
www.theclubhousepodcast.com.
Find out everything you need to know
and some stuff you don't.
You can follow us on social media.
We would greatly appreciate that.
Our Twitter handle is at ClubhouseShow.
Just look up the Clubhouse podcast.
All three words in that order
or you will wind up somewhere else.
You can follow me on social media.
I'm cool with that.
Everything is yes, that Rob Irvin
that has spelled E-R-V-I-N.
My normal co-host for the show is Chad Womack.
You can follow him at ChadN-P-G-6-9.
The guy whose voice you've heard besides mine.
Don Ford.
He's our official fact checker.
Don Don Goat.
It's F-A-N-D-O-N-G and then a bunch of O's.
But you can also email him
how we can come do a live show for you.
Whether you're doing a film festival
or a grand opening or whatever.
Email him.
Don at theclubhousepodcast.com.
You can email me, questions, comments,
concerns, somebody go pound sand.
I'm Rob at theclubhousepodcast.com.
Chad is Chad at theclubhousepodcast.com.
Charlotte Parker is on Pinterest
because we are morally obligated to say that.
And since Don's out of town,
F-A-N-D is holding it down at the home front.
Make sure you join us live every Sunday night,
seven Eastern Four Pacific.
I mean, not this week or next week because we're on vacation.
But when we do, you'll know.
You're one stop shop for all things pop culture.
And subscribe on your favorite podcast app.
Get all the cool stuff.
So until next time for the Empire, I'm Rob.
Clubhouse is closed. It doesn't mean we can't say
hi to Brittany Palmer like we do every week.
What's up?