1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,480 Hey Robb, what's the biggest thing you've ever stolen? 2 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:05,200 I stole an entire college campus one time. 3 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:06,800 When did you build the shrink ray? 4 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:09,840 Well, I can't disclose that information. 5 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:12,800 Otherwise, I won't be able to steal any more college campuses. 6 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:24,400 Hello and welcome to the Indie Film Lodge, a podcast about the nuts and bolts of independent filmmaking from the bottom up. 7 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:25,200 I'm Matt. 8 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:30,800 And I'm Robb and today we're going to be talking about locations, how to get them and when to steal them. 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:35,440 And to give us some firsthand experience today is our guest, I, uh, 10 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:36,640 let's keep you right. 11 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:40,320 Robb, it says here that you are today's guest. 12 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,600 It's fine. I finally, finally, finally made it onto the show. 13 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:48,560 Hey, hey, the guest list for this place was so enormous. 14 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:54,560 We have indie filmmakers of all ilks knocking down our door and yet somehow you got the inside track. 15 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:56,880 So, uh, Robb, what movie did you make? 16 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,600 I made a movie called Merry Heistmas. 17 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:05,680 Merry Heistmas. Very cool. What is, give me the 30-second pitch on Merry Heistmas. 18 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:12,160 Uh, Merry Heistmas is about a small time crook who finds out that a rich jerk has a diamond at a Christmas party. 19 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:17,840 So he hatches a plan to form a Christmas caroling group in order to infiltrate the party and steal the diamond. 20 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:24,480 Uh, the only way he can do this though is with the help of his estranged college-age daughter who doesn't know that that's what they're doing. 21 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,160 So then they go and they, you know, do stuff. 22 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:31,440 Then they go and they do stuff. 23 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:32,240 Do stuff. 24 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:34,560 It's a pretty fun, it's a pretty fun Heistmas. 25 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:36,960 I'm not just saying that because you're here and we're friends. 26 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:41,520 It gave me real big Hudson Hawk vibes this movie. 27 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,640 Yeah, there's definitely the beginning for sure. 28 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,520 So what were your inspirations for this movie? 29 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,560 Like, you wrote and directed this thing? 30 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:50,960 Right? 31 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:51,440 Yeah. 32 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:56,000 So what did you, what are three sources of inspiration you have? 33 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:01,680 Because I know nothing is created in a vacuum, or maybe there was, but what inspired you along the way? 34 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:04,960 Well, I've been inspired to make the a filmmaker. 35 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,160 I'm first and foremost. 36 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:08,080 By my, uh— Robb. 37 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:09,280 Robb. 38 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,080 Nobody cares about why you're a filmmaker. 39 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:15,040 We care about how do you make this one? 40 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:19,280 Well, I think every Heist movie now is somewhat inspired by Ocean's Eleven. 41 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:20,640 Right? 42 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:21,040 Sure. 43 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,480 I feel like half of the films out there are inspired by Ocean's Eleven. 44 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:28,160 Not a lot of the, not a lot of people eating random things in this movie. 45 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,040 No, because we don't have that kind of budget. 46 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:36,560 So I was inspired by Ocean's Eleven Heist movie stuff. 47 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:37,200 Like fun. 48 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:42,640 Like the way that the Heist is presented is sort of inspired by Ocean's Eleven. 49 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:49,680 I was inspired by the movie that I made before this with my, with Todd Norwood, who directed it. 50 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:51,280 Gap Weekend. 51 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:53,520 That inspired me on the way to shoot the movie. 52 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:58,000 And pretty much dictated how we were going to shoot the movie. 53 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,520 And you weren't inspired at all. 54 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:01,520 There's so many fun sweaters in this. 55 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:03,920 So you weren't inspired by any Christmas movies. 56 00:03:03,920 --> 00:03:05,120 The whole process. 57 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:06,960 You're like, just heist movies. 58 00:03:06,960 --> 00:03:07,680 Not a single Christmas movie. 59 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:08,880 Yeah, just heist movies. 60 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:10,000 I love Christmas movies. 61 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:14,800 I actually really like even, well, like is a, is a strange word. 62 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:16,560 I appreciate Hallmark movies. 63 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,840 But I, I mean, I love Christmas movies in general. 64 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:22,400 I love Christmas and Christmas movies. 65 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:25,360 But the Christmas movies that I like are some of the older ones. 66 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:29,200 You know, I kind of think of it. 67 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:30,240 It's a Wonderful Life. 68 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:30,960 Of course. 69 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:32,800 It's actually one of my favorite movies of all time. 70 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,200 And it just happens to be a Christmas movie. 71 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,200 And but I really do like Christmas movies. 72 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:44,560 And isn't there some Christmas in When Harry Met Sally? 73 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:46,800 Another movie that has inspired me. 74 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:49,200 I actually, actually, not yet seen it. 75 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:50,400 Like, he meaning to. 76 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:51,120 Keep trying to give it to me. 77 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:52,080 I like to watch it with me. 78 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:53,440 She's like, I don't know. 79 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:54,560 I don't trust that Billy Crystal. 80 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:57,920 Oh, it's, it's one of my favorite movies of all time. 81 00:03:57,920 --> 00:03:58,400 Yeah. 82 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,240 It's really, really, really good. 83 00:04:00,240 --> 00:04:01,360 I can't wait to watch it. 84 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:03,840 I just, every time I'm like, hey, babe, you want to sit down and watch this? 85 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:04,240 Yeah. 86 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:09,440 But yeah, also, so you weren't inspired by Christmas movie. 87 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:16,160 But you know, movies rarely just appear in our brains or in front of us or, 88 00:04:16,160 --> 00:04:19,440 or on our screens and especially independent ones. 89 00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:23,840 There's a big journey between the blank page and the silver screen. 90 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:30,560 Regardless of the pictures, there's three events I feel that are universal to every movie 91 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,000 that gets made between inception and the premiere. 92 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:42,560 And so this is our terribly entitled section called OPM, the obsession, the pivot and the miracle. 93 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:48,960 So what about Merry Heistmas, excuse me, made you want to take the plunge? 94 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:53,440 What, was it about the script or what specific scene did you just have to see on the big screen? 95 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:54,880 Like, what, what was it? 96 00:04:54,880 --> 00:04:55,440 You tell me. 97 00:04:55,440 --> 00:05:00,160 Well, I like the premise of the movie a lot. 98 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:05,120 When I thought of it, originally, it wasn't a Christmas movie and it wasn't Christmas carolers. 99 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:05,760 That's weird. 100 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:07,680 It was called Merry Heistmas and didn't have all this. 101 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,960 Yeah, it was like, why didn't I think about Christmas? 102 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:12,400 That was called Band of Thieves. 103 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:13,200 Yeah. 104 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:21,680 And it was people who formed a band to get into a party, an exclusive party in order to steal a diamond. 105 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:23,040 But they played instruments. 106 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:23,840 They played a band. 107 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:27,760 And in that movie, which had a larger budget in my mind, 108 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:32,240 most of the movie was them learning how to be a band. 109 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:36,080 Like, they would level up through these gigs. 110 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:39,040 You know, they would have an open mic and then they would do something else. 111 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:43,440 And they actually was a, at one time it was a series in my head, like a web series. 112 00:05:43,440 --> 00:05:46,320 And so every episode would be them, like leveling up. 113 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:50,240 They'd open mic and then they'd get maybe a bar mitzvah gig. 114 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:56,160 And at all those gigs, they would like try to do something criminal, like steal a thing. 115 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,040 Like, it was practice for the robbery or practice for the band. 116 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:03,920 Which is a great premise also, but a little beyond what I can do 117 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:06,880 with the budget that I did Heistmas with. 118 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:13,440 And so then I thought, well, like, you know, music, I have to have all these instrumentalists and all this 119 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:15,600 instruments and it becomes a big thing. 120 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:19,360 So I came up with the idea of Christmas carolers. 121 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:20,720 And it's like, well, Christmas party. 122 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:21,920 I mean, I Christmas movies. 123 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,040 So Christmas carolers, they go to the party and nobody has to carry an instrument. 124 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:26,880 They're just themselves. 125 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:29,680 And it could be something that I could shoot. 126 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:31,840 Like I could figure that out. 127 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:35,920 So instead of leveling up through the gigs over the course 128 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:40,160 of a long movie, they had to go out and recruit kind of like in Ocean's Eleven. 129 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:41,520 There's the Ocean's Eleven thing again. 130 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:42,560 They had to go out and recruit. 131 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:44,320 And so like, what would they do for recruiting? 132 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,680 And again, because of my budget, I was trying to keep things simple. 133 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,320 And maybe I kept things a little too simple at times. 134 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:52,480 That was the idea. 135 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:54,960 I wanted to see them go out and recruit people. 136 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:58,960 I like the idea of shooting a little, that opening robbery, 137 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:02,240 which changed a lot from the inception of my mind to what we shot. 138 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:03,760 Even though I think it turned out pretty good. 139 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:08,080 You know, it's my mind, the budget's way bigger than reality. 140 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:09,840 So I had to do some changes. 141 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:11,120 Well, I got it. 142 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:13,040 Well, so I guess, how did you pivot then? 143 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:14,400 And I don't know if this is your big pivot. 144 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:16,000 If you have a different big pivot, I want to know. 145 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:21,040 But at what point did you decide like it's going to go from a band of robbers to 146 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:21,840 Christmas caroling? 147 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:23,040 Like why Christmas caroling? 148 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:26,160 Well, because Christmas caroling, because I had sung in college, 149 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:27,680 you know, I'm a singer. 150 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:30,240 And we would do gigs. 151 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:33,360 And I thought, you know, it doesn't have to be Christmas carolers. 152 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:35,600 But I was like, well, a Christmas party. 153 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:36,640 Make a Christmas movie. 154 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:39,360 I wanted to do a movie at a holiday. 155 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:40,880 I like the idea of doing that. 156 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:42,240 It's easy to sell. 157 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:43,760 It's easy to market. 158 00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:45,360 It's easy to conceptualize. 159 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,920 You know, and it's identifiable. 160 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,080 It already has some things built into it. 161 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:52,400 So then once I figured out that they could be singers, 162 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:54,160 you know, like, barbershop or something, 163 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:55,360 I kind of toyed with. 164 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:58,080 But then I was like, well, Christmas caroling would be a thing. 165 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,720 I didn't know anything about Christmas caroling at the time. 166 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,600 Don't. 167 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:08,320 I mean, it's much easier to buy a traveling gang of Christmas carolers 168 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:10,080 than it is a barbershop quartet. 169 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:10,960 I mean, it's not. 170 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:14,000 Unless you're making the Hall & Oates biopic. 171 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:15,680 I don't see those guys as criminals. 172 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:18,960 I mean, you shouldn't see Christmas carolers as criminals either. 173 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,760 But I mean, it does make a lot more sense 174 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:23,520 for them to be Christmas carolers. 175 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:24,880 I was like, oh, well, there's that. 176 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:25,760 But, you know, I wasn't... 177 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:28,240 I don't want to jump to the end of the story here. 178 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:30,800 But I didn't know anything about Christmas caroling other than 179 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:34,080 singing in jazz choir and going to like old folks homes 180 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,480 and singing Christmas music for old people. 181 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:38,960 I didn't realize what Christmas caroling would entail. 182 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:40,160 But I had an inkling. 183 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:42,960 Sorry, this is just a thing that I will know. 184 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,280 Because I know that you do Christmas caroling. 185 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:47,200 I don't know if you want to call it professionally, 186 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:48,480 but I will say professionally. 187 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:49,520 Oh, it's professionally. 188 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:50,480 I mean, it's... 189 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:53,280 So, did you not start singing professionally 190 00:08:53,280 --> 00:08:54,960 until you were making the movie? 191 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:55,760 Because that's wild. 192 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:57,440 I didn't start until before I made the movie. 193 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:00,240 Yeah, I so I had this movie in my pocket for a while. 194 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:01,920 Well, more than seven years. 195 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,320 Because I started Christmas caroling seven years ago. 196 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:06,000 Crazy. 197 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:06,960 It's been a long time. 198 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:09,120 So, that was the big pivot of the movie. 199 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:11,200 Actually, it was turning it into a Christmas movie. 200 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:12,160 From its conception. 201 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:14,640 I mean, there's, again, every step we took was a pivot. 202 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:18,400 But the big pivot early on was turning it into a Christmas movie. 203 00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:20,160 And I, which I really was excited about. 204 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:21,520 Because I really do like Christmas. 205 00:09:21,520 --> 00:09:23,280 I listen to Christmas music all year long. 206 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:24,800 I'm one of those type of people. 207 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:25,440 Gross. 208 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:27,200 Everybody else thinks it's gross. 209 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:28,560 But I really like it. 210 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:30,880 And so, if you want to talk about the miracle, 211 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:32,160 that was sort of it. 212 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:34,400 We have mutual friends, you and I, 213 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:35,760 Matt and Beth Newcomb. 214 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:36,160 Sure. 215 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:38,000 I was at their house one day for a party. 216 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:39,920 And mutual friends were there. 217 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:41,600 And we'd met these people over and over again. 218 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,080 And one of them casually mentioned 219 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:45,360 at one of the parties, 220 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:47,840 her Christmas caroling group that she owns. 221 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:48,640 And I said, "What? 222 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:50,320 You own a Christmas caroling group?" 223 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:51,280 She said, "Yeah." 224 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:52,640 I said, "Like, one that pays?" 225 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:53,440 And she's like, "Yeah." 226 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:55,360 I said, "Do you need any other carolers?" 227 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:57,520 And she said, "You can come and audition for me." 228 00:09:57,520 --> 00:09:58,320 So I did. 229 00:09:58,320 --> 00:09:59,680 And that was seven years ago. 230 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:01,440 And I was like, "Well, hell, I'll do that." 231 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:02,960 Because now I have this movie. 232 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:05,360 And I could learn a thing or two about Christmas caroling 233 00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:07,200 and put it in this movie. 234 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:09,760 And maybe I could meet some people who Christmas carol 235 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:11,520 and they could also be in the movie. 236 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:12,640 Well, that's crazy. 237 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:14,480 Did you mean carolers who were in your movie? 238 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:16,560 Yeah, all the people in my movie are people I carol with. 239 00:10:16,560 --> 00:10:17,040 Oh, shit. 240 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:19,040 Even the people who don't sing. 241 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:19,600 That's awesome. 242 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:19,920 Yeah. 243 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:21,120 I mean, this is Los Angeles. 244 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:22,160 We're all actors. 245 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:23,040 I'm not an actor. 246 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:23,840 I just, 247 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,880 I'm just a complete ham when I'm in front of some kind of media. 248 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:27,680 Shit. 249 00:10:27,680 --> 00:10:28,480 But no, that's great. 250 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:30,320 I mean, I think that's really the thing, right? 251 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,560 It's a good lesson that whenever you're doing something, 252 00:10:32,560 --> 00:10:34,320 you should tell people because you never know 253 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:35,920 who has some kind of connection. 254 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:38,960 But also, like, you know, you never know what you're going to run into. 255 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:40,640 That's why I always like asking what the miracle is. 256 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:42,400 Because there's always, there's always a thing 257 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:43,840 that shouldn't have happened. 258 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:44,560 But did. 259 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:47,440 You know, bumping into a bunch of carolers 260 00:10:47,440 --> 00:10:49,920 who also wanted to act or could act is crazy. 261 00:10:49,920 --> 00:10:50,560 That's awesome. 262 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:51,040 Yeah. 263 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:53,360 And the movie, movie is great. 264 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:54,320 It's super fun. 265 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:55,520 I really enjoyed it. 266 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:56,720 I've seen it a couple of times now. 267 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,360 And yeah, I'm really taken with the interplay 268 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:02,400 between the actors and the overall scope of it. 269 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:05,120 And, you know, of all those things, 270 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:06,240 blew me away about it. 271 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,720 Was the production value was right there. 272 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:11,520 You talk about how this movie was shot for, you know, 273 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:12,320 it was shoestring. 274 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:14,240 Shot for a shoestring. 275 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:15,360 Shot on a shoestring. 276 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:16,320 On a shoestring. 277 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:16,960 There you go. 278 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:18,560 Shoestring if we were lucky. 279 00:11:18,560 --> 00:11:21,120 But there's scenes at the Long Beach Pier. 280 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:23,680 There's some on major college campuses. 281 00:11:23,680 --> 00:11:27,360 You seem to have shot all over town. 282 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:30,160 But you did so without the budget exploding. 283 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:33,520 So that's why I really wanted to do a deep dive 284 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:35,280 on how you did it. 285 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:37,280 Your advice for somebody in the midst of their own 286 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:38,080 filmmaking journey. 287 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:40,560 And generally what to look out for. 288 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:43,840 So there's multiple scenes at the Long Beach Pier. 289 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,000 And so I guess my first question is 290 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,280 how much did the permit cost to shoot at the Long Beach Pier? 291 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,800 I'm sure that the permit to shoot in Long Beach costs something. 292 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:54,080 But I don't know what it is. 293 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:56,400 I know I know how much it costs. 294 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:57,360 I know. 295 00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:59,920 I know it's very hard to believe. 296 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:01,360 But we just kind of shot. 297 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:03,600 Yeah, we just kind of went down there and shot stuff. 298 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:04,640 Well, how did you shoot stuff? 299 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:07,040 and not get stopped by the cops? 300 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:10,240 Because I've worked on movies before where you step out of line. 301 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:12,640 You hear the stories about Baywatch and Venice. 302 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:16,480 Those guys are getting stopped even though they have permits. 303 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,720 So how are you able to avoid the fuzz? 304 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:22,480 Well, the Baywatch people have, you know, a lot of movies have things like 305 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:23,840 crew. 306 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:25,200 Sure. 307 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:26,640 Cars. 308 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:30,400 They're not just like five people walking around. 309 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:35,040 I think I see five of us walking around the pier with a little wagon. 310 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,360 I had a wagon full of like snacks and 311 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,640 I guess I really want to take a quick sidestep. 312 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:41,760 How big was your crew? 313 00:12:41,760 --> 00:12:43,040 There's two people. 314 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:44,240 Two people in the crew. 315 00:12:44,240 --> 00:12:45,440 Yeah, including me. 316 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:46,240 Including me. 317 00:12:46,240 --> 00:12:47,040 Well, I was in it. 318 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:47,440 Yeah. 319 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:49,120 So, and they were running camera. 320 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:53,280 And I guess, well, I guess we had three some most of the time. 321 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:55,280 Because Jeremy, my friend Jeremy helped us out. 322 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:56,720 Well, a nice friend helping you out. 323 00:12:56,720 --> 00:12:58,720 He was also in it. 324 00:12:58,720 --> 00:12:58,960 Yeah. 325 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:00,960 He was, uh, he played Legbone. 326 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:01,920 Oh, nice. 327 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,240 The guy who doesn't get the part. 328 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:06,960 So he helped us out too, but he wasn't there for Long Beach. 329 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:09,920 Long Beach, we went down in November. 330 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:12,800 I looked up when they'd start putting out Christmas decorations. 331 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:13,600 Sure. 332 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:17,200 And so we went down there then for three days and just 333 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:19,840 kind of, we all went down in a van and like I said, 334 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:22,480 hauled a wagon around and just kind of shot around. 335 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:25,200 So you shot around, you have one guy with the camera. 336 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,320 So I understand how that could be easier to conceal. 337 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:29,120 What about mics? 338 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:30,080 How do we hear all these people? 339 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,440 Or do you just, do masterful ADR the entire time? 340 00:13:33,440 --> 00:13:35,040 We just, just AI it now. 341 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:36,560 I say AI. 342 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:37,600 Give us a voice. 343 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:38,720 And it does. 344 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:40,560 No, we have a lot of lav mics. 345 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:42,400 The ones I use are these Tascams. 346 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:44,160 You can see them, but nobody else can. 347 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:46,240 I still have my character's name, 348 00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:47,440 stickered on it. 349 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:50,720 They are really, really, really amazing. 350 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:54,880 So the downside of them is that you can't monitor them 351 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:55,920 while you're using them. 352 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:57,920 So you have to check them every once in a while, 353 00:13:57,920 --> 00:13:58,800 make sure they're rolling. 354 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,120 And you have to be careful about where you put them. 355 00:14:01,120 --> 00:14:04,800 But honestly, if you're, if you're even halfway careful 356 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:06,800 about where you put them, they're good enough 357 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,640 that you with modern technology can clean up the audio. 358 00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:12,240 And they sound really good on their own. 359 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,760 I mean, they sound like lavaliers, but aren't they lavaliers? 360 00:14:15,760 --> 00:14:17,200 They are lavaliers, yeah. 361 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:18,400 But the mics, they're really good. 362 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:20,400 They're about 200, well, who knows now? 363 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:23,120 They're probably about $240 a piece now. 364 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:27,200 So they all record locally in some kind of digital format and then you? 365 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:29,200 They record on their own little cards, 366 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:32,560 little micro SD cards, and then you have to pull them off of there 367 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:33,760 and sync them up. 368 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:35,280 I have a Bluetooth add-on on them, 369 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:39,120 which I think will jam a signal if you wanted to time code it. 370 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:40,480 But to be quite honest with you, 371 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,520 the way we shoot, I don't trust that the time code will work. 372 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:45,840 So I just like, you know what, screw it. 373 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:48,160 Just give me some claps, I know or not. 374 00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:50,560 I'll just have to, I mean, doing it today actually. 375 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:53,680 I'm syncing footage by reading lips. 376 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:55,200 Or how do you mark your scenes? 377 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:56,000 We don't. 378 00:14:56,000 --> 00:14:57,040 You do them. 379 00:14:57,040 --> 00:15:00,000 I'm doing all the posts, so I can only yell at myself. 380 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:01,040 Yeah, I don't mark it. 381 00:15:01,040 --> 00:15:01,840 I have no idea. 382 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:05,040 And in fact, there's definitely, you know, 383 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:06,560 what's the word I'm looking for? 384 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:07,360 Pitfalls? 385 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:08,400 It's a trade-off. 386 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:09,520 It's a trade-off. 387 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:11,600 Trade-off, to shooting this way. 388 00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:13,760 And this way is you keep it rolling. 389 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:18,240 These things can record like eight-hour audio files if you wanted them to. 390 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:19,520 I don't recommend it. 391 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:21,520 So you'll come back from the shoot. 392 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:24,320 You've got all your little clips from your cameras. 393 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:26,320 We had two cameras. 394 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:30,480 And then sometimes four-hour audio files 395 00:15:30,480 --> 00:15:34,320 that you're just like, OK, where in this audio file is the scene? 396 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:35,680 Oh, it's about here. 397 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:36,960 And so then you have to sync it up. 398 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:38,240 Hope that it works. 399 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:41,200 I'm syncing up some footage that we also shot in a long beach a couple months ago 400 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:45,040 that's so windy that it won't sync automatically 401 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:46,720 because the camera audio is just-- 402 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:47,680 [GRUNTS] 403 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:49,760 Oh, sure. 404 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:51,040 Sure. 405 00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:54,560 So I have to read lips and like, I think he said this thing here. 406 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:55,760 And I think that's in this part-- 407 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:58,560 it's taking me a long time and it's a pain in the ass. 408 00:15:58,560 --> 00:15:59,760 But it sounds good. 409 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:00,160 Sure. 410 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:00,800 It's done. 411 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:01,760 It sounds really good. 412 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:04,000 But it's still cheaper than getting a permit. 413 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,120 A permit or a whole other person to run like a boom 414 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:08,720 or to watch your audio. 415 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:10,560 So the actors are kind of in charge. 416 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:12,800 And they don't-- I mean, they're not always great about it. 417 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:14,080 But I mean, you've heard the movie. 418 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:15,120 It sounds good. 419 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:15,920 It sounds great. 420 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:18,720 But was there ever a moment that somebody forgot to record? 421 00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:19,880 Or lots of times. 422 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:20,400 Yeah. 423 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,040 So did you just do regular ADR for those? 424 00:16:23,040 --> 00:16:25,120 Or were you able to grab it from other mics? 425 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:27,200 I'd grab it from the other mics. 426 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:28,720 The mics are good enough. 427 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:30,440 And I tell the story a lot. 428 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:31,280 So it's kind of dumb. 429 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:34,480 But when we did Gap Weekend, the movie Gap Weekend, 430 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:35,360 they shot a scene. 431 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:39,280 I wasn't there next to the ocean sitting in a picnic table. 432 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:41,640 And it's two actors sitting next to each other at a picnic table. 433 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:43,280 But they're literally on the beach. 434 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:45,520 And his waves crashing as much noise. 435 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:49,200 And her, the actor's mic wasn't on. 436 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:52,800 And her, the actor's mic wasn't on. 437 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:54,560 from the person sitting next to her. 438 00:16:54,560 --> 00:16:57,000 And that's what you'll hear in the movie. 439 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,200 This was before we had Adobe Enhanced and all that kind of stuff. 440 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:00,720 Sure. 441 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:03,400 So the lavalier is good enough that I didn't hear the ocean. 442 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:04,400 But I heard her lines. 443 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:05,760 And I could crank them up. 444 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:07,080 And I could clean them up. 445 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:08,160 And so they're in the movie. 446 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:12,760 And I guess you mentioned Todd's movie earlier about how it inspired you. 447 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:15,600 How did it inspire you the way you shot this? 448 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:18,160 Was that also shot without permitting? 449 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:19,000 Yeah, he shot this. 450 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:20,800 So he did this first. 451 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:23,040 But when I came on set for that movie, 452 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:25,760 I wasn't involved with any of the pre-production or any of that stuff. 453 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:27,440 I was just on there to be an actor. 454 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:31,360 And I came on set and we all had the lavalier mics, and Art, 455 00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:33,320 His friend Art, who was starring in the movie, 456 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:35,480 was running 'cause he does audio stuff. 457 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:37,360 And so I mic'd myself up. 458 00:17:37,360 --> 00:17:38,840 And they had a guy with a boom, 459 00:17:38,840 --> 00:17:42,000 but he clearly didn't have any clue what he was doing. 460 00:17:42,000 --> 00:17:44,440 And I knew that boom audio was going to be garbage. 461 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:45,040 I could just tell. 462 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:47,280 I'm sitting there watching it going, OK, all right. 463 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,840 Well, I hope these lavalier mics work because that's not going to. 464 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:53,840 And when we got done, I listened to it. 465 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:57,000 I offered to do the post-production because I saw something in the movie. 466 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:00,640 And I wanted-- since I do post-production, I really wanted it to be good. 467 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:02,000 I was like, this could be good. 468 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:03,280 And actually, he said movie. 469 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:03,880 So I did it. 470 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,160 And I was like, man, these audio-- these mics are great. 471 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:09,640 And they're shooting in locations where I tell this story a lot too. 472 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:12,280 They're shooting at a-- they went into a wine bar. 473 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:16,160 And they're doing a scene at the bar in this tasting room. 474 00:18:16,160 --> 00:18:18,600 And the bartenders, like every once in a while, 475 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:21,280 come up and talk to them because they had no idea. 476 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:26,040 They were shooting a scene, literally right in front of them. 477 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:27,400 And not like a dark bar. 478 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:28,600 It's a wine tasting room. 479 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:29,600 People everywhere. 480 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,400 I had to go in and post and blur some faces. 481 00:18:32,400 --> 00:18:35,200 But I was like, man, if they can do that, 482 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:36,920 we can do anything. 483 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:41,080 In the next movie, we shot before Heistmas, which I'm just finishing now. 484 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:45,640 We shot downtown at, like, a grand park right outside the police station, 485 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:47,000 right outside City Hall. 486 00:18:47,000 --> 00:18:51,200 And cops walked out and they looked at us and they went, what's going on over there? 487 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:53,160 And just left us alone. 488 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:56,040 I'm like, oh, we should-- wherever it happens on Heistmas. 489 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:57,720 Shooting on the campus. 490 00:18:57,720 --> 00:18:59,240 Campus police rolled past. 491 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:02,280 Did one of those things where they come up and they start rolling real slow. 492 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:07,280 I go, fuck, OK, guys, if they stop us, you guys look young enough, 493 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:10,080 you're students, Natalie, this is your movie. 494 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:12,120 You're making a student film. 495 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:13,440 But then they just kept going. 496 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:17,520 I was like, OK, I mean, I did look up the film teacher's name just in case. 497 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:18,040 That's great. 498 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:20,240 I mean, it's a good lesson of like-- 499 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:22,520 I can only really speak for my own experience. 500 00:19:22,520 --> 00:19:25,160 But when I had the dreams of being a filmmaker, 501 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,200 and it was the idea of having the huge crew, you know, 502 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:34,680 you want the sound team of 16 and the camera up and a DP and a gaffer 503 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:39,800 at a grip in the huge grip truck with all kinds of things and the video village and all that. 504 00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:43,840 But all of that adds up and becomes a way bigger footprint. 505 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:49,040 And with the cameras being so small and microphones being so portable, 506 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:53,080 you can kind of shoot anywhere if you're smart enough about it, 507 00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:57,480 which is a real boon to everybody who's down to a business owner. 508 00:19:57,480 --> 00:19:58,200 So-- 509 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:01,200 And in reality, like, it sounds like, oh, well, now they're just being sneaky. 510 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:03,000 But we're not bothering anybody. 511 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:06,360 Nobody's in the movie who isn't supposed to be in the movie. 512 00:20:06,360 --> 00:20:11,400 And nobody-- we shot on that campus right out in front of the executive, you know, 513 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:12,800 the main office-- 514 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:13,320 Right. 515 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:14,480 --for the daytime scenes. 516 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:16,640 We're just sitting at clearly shooting a movie. 517 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:23,560 Yeah, I mean, I think every great independent feature has some kind of cheating element to it. 518 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:30,880 And there's a moment in the graph of the budget where you get enough money where you can start doing stuff. 519 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:37,000 But as you start adding people to the production, 520 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:42,000 the amount of free stuff you can get kind of plateaus. 521 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:47,600 And if you come in with a huge crew, you're going to get-- 522 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:48,760 you're going to have to pay for it. 523 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:51,120 And not just the wages of the people you're with, 524 00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:54,560 but you're going to have to pay the places to put you up. 525 00:20:54,560 --> 00:20:57,160 And they can make sure their things are protected. 526 00:20:57,160 --> 00:21:01,040 But you know, film is meant to be dangerous. 527 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:03,520 And, you know, like, go shoot it. 528 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,720 The worst that happens is they say, hey, stop. 529 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:07,040 And they kick you out. 530 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:08,040 Right. 531 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:08,760 You'll figure something else out. 532 00:21:08,760 --> 00:21:12,320 I mean, it's-- I shot-- and somebody's backyard in Burbank. 533 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:17,280 And they shut down the production because they didn't have a permit to shoot in Burbank. 534 00:21:17,280 --> 00:21:19,920 And that was-- that was on private property. 535 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:21,200 That they owned. 536 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:23,240 Burbank is notorious, though. 537 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:24,400 Like, they're the worst. 538 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:25,840 But they're going to get you no matter what. 539 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:27,840 So like, yeah, you can make it work. 540 00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:31,920 I mean, that's part of the miracle of making movies. 541 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,040 I did want to ask you really briefly, 542 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:37,000 before I get into shooting indoors, because I 543 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:38,600 do want to ask you about shooting indoors. 544 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,600 It's the actors. 545 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,520 So were you giving them sides every day? 546 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,400 Were you-- how hardcore were you about the script? 547 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:48,840 Because everything feels pretty naturalistic 548 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:50,000 in their performances. 549 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:52,760 And I don't notice any jarring cuts as we're 550 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:56,200 going between actors and scenes. 551 00:21:56,200 --> 00:21:57,600 How did you keep your continuity straight? 552 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:01,480 And how did you prepare the actors to do this? 553 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:03,160 When you shoot this way, continuity sometimes 554 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:05,840 can be a battle in post. 555 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:06,840 Yeah. 556 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:08,880 I mean, try to keep it on set. 557 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:11,120 And some actors are just like-- 558 00:22:11,120 --> 00:22:14,160 I don't know if they've got a fetish for it. 559 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:17,000 Some actors love continuity. 560 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,960 Like, they'll do the same thing over and over and over again. 561 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:21,200 I'm not one of those people. 562 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:22,200 Sure. 563 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:22,960 I can't do it. 564 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:27,440 Those like theater actors are always pretty strict 565 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:29,360 in their movements and all that. 566 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:30,760 You're a stage guy. 567 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:31,480 Yeah, I was. 568 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:32,080 Yeah. 569 00:22:32,080 --> 00:22:32,960 But not anymore. 570 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:35,320 Now I like to be free. 571 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:38,360 If anybody's improvising, it's me in the script. 572 00:22:38,360 --> 00:22:41,360 And that's partly because I don't remember my lines, 573 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:42,600 even though I wrote them. 574 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:43,400 Of course. 575 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,440 But those guys just were good about it. 576 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,720 They were the professionals and you were the amateur. 577 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:48,800 And I was the problem. 578 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:51,440 I mean, I was trying to direct at the same time. 579 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:53,200 But I don't know. 580 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:55,080 I never bothered to ask them. 581 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:56,240 I don't know why. 582 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,040 I just knew that they would do it. 583 00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,400 Like, Amy, who plays Dizzy, I just knew she's 584 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:03,360 going to get her shit together. 585 00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:05,240 Natalie, super talented. 586 00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:06,520 She's going to have her shit together. 587 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,280 Ken, he's missed her responsible. 588 00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:11,400 Kian, he's Mr. Responsible. 589 00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:12,880 Then I will fuck up in Tanya. 590 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:15,840 She will kind of fuck up a little bit because the stakes 591 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:16,800 are a lot lower for us. 592 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:17,960 We don't have anything to prove. 593 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:19,480 It's our movie anyway. 594 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:23,120 Plus, being loose like that, I'm sure it drives other directors 595 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:24,120 crazy. 596 00:23:24,120 --> 00:23:25,360 I'm sure it drives Todd crazy. 597 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:27,600 But I just can't do it anymore. 598 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:29,320 Can't put me in a box. 599 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:31,840 I can't memorize my lines beforehand. 600 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:33,600 I middleize them. 601 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:34,880 You need to go a couple times to the scene. 602 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:35,880 I got it. 603 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,480 Well, so did you ever have a moment where you needed to adjust 604 00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:42,120 their performance or adjust your performance? 605 00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:43,960 Are you giving notes while you're trying to shoot this thing 606 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:44,800 undercover? 607 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:48,720 Well, so most of the notes would be for when we were shooting 608 00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:52,520 not undercover, like when we had time. 609 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:55,200 But even some of the times, there was a lot of direction 610 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:56,200 that went into a scene. 611 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:58,360 There's a scene in Heistmas that we shot right outside 612 00:23:58,360 --> 00:23:59,920 of the Long Beach Civic Center. 613 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:01,760 And it was all dressed up for Christmas. 614 00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:03,400 There was a thing going on. 615 00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:05,480 And you could pay money to get into part of it. 616 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:11,640 So they had security gates and metal detectors and stuff 617 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:12,140 like that. 618 00:24:12,140 --> 00:24:14,720 And we found a little corner where we could see all that 619 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:16,240 in the background. 620 00:24:16,240 --> 00:24:17,800 But we were off the beaten path. 621 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:19,680 But we were standing next to a lot of decorations. 622 00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:23,520 So there's this giant lit up deer in the back of the scene, 623 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:25,080 which is what we lit the scene with. 624 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:26,720 We just lit the scene with whatever. 625 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:28,040 We stood next to the deer. 626 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,200 And we were able to shoot a whole bunch of takes 627 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,320 of that just without anybody bothering us. 628 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:33,600 I mean, if they're going to bother us, 629 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:35,560 at one point during that scene, there 630 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:40,920 was a fucking flash mob of literally 100 fucking kids 631 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:43,960 on motorcycles and scooters and e-bikes that just 632 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:45,240 swarmed the fucking place. 633 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:46,760 I believe it was called a gang. 634 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:47,600 Yeah. 635 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:48,840 I don't know if they call themselves a gang. 636 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:50,280 It was kind of scary. 637 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:52,520 They took the whole fucking place over. 638 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:54,120 And they were there for about 10 minutes 639 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:55,560 until they finally got ran out. 640 00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:56,360 Or they just left. 641 00:24:56,360 --> 00:24:57,440 They got tired of it and left. 642 00:24:57,440 --> 00:24:59,040 So we had to stop for that. 643 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:00,800 And it's like, they're not going to bother us 644 00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:04,200 with a couple cameras freezing our ass off in the corner, 645 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,320 shooting some intimate little scene. 646 00:25:06,320 --> 00:25:09,120 And we're just going to care. 647 00:25:09,120 --> 00:25:11,000 Let's see a scene about-- 648 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:12,240 it wasn't a love scene. 649 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:13,440 A love scene makes it sound like you're-- 650 00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:14,640 It was a break up scene. 651 00:25:14,640 --> 00:25:16,880 It wasn't that kind of movie. 652 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:18,320 Listen, and there's nothing wrong with that. 653 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:19,360 Shoot that kind of movie. 654 00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:21,080 But it's not the movie that you made. 655 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:21,600 Yeah. 656 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:23,880 And we don't have intimacy coordinators, things like that. 657 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:26,360 So you're trying to keep things contained 658 00:25:26,360 --> 00:25:28,200 and not noticeable. 659 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:29,080 You shoot outside. 660 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:29,960 How are you setting up lights? 661 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:31,800 So you're bringing around a portable generator 662 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:34,960 or a low LED lights with a big sun gun attached. 663 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:36,800 What are you doing for lights and scenes 664 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:37,880 that you need lights for? 665 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:40,120 We are using the lights that are already there. 666 00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:43,400 So we would find locations where there would be lights. 667 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:45,480 And now Google is perfect for this. 668 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:46,880 So a good example. 669 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:49,520 I mean, there was a ton of lights outside the Civic Theater. 670 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:51,800 It's lit up like daylight with all the shit 671 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:52,520 that was out there. 672 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:54,880 So these little-- the Sony cameras that we're using, 673 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:56,080 which are really good in low light, 674 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:57,440 they would have no problem. 675 00:25:57,440 --> 00:25:58,440 But you find a street light. 676 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:03,280 You find a store light that I found something down in the harbor. 677 00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:06,280 And I looked on Google Maps and checked where the street lights were. 678 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,280 OK, we could-- there's parking spaces that nobody's 679 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:10,120 going to use at night. 680 00:26:10,120 --> 00:26:11,000 We'll go there. 681 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:12,920 We'll shoot the scene under these street lights. 682 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:15,520 We'll have the harbor in the background just for something. 683 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:17,520 And it'll be the exterior of our wine bar. 684 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:19,520 And nobody bothered us there. 685 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:22,760 Couple cars came drove by and looked at us funny, 686 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:23,600 but that was it. 687 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:24,960 We did have one light. 688 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,920 It was a little light the size of a cell phone. 689 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,480 And we lit the first-- the opening scene of the movie, 690 00:26:30,480 --> 00:26:32,200 Mike shot some lights through the window. 691 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,520 But that was-- that's all the lights we used. 692 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:35,280 That's incredible. 693 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,000 And it's another testament to how powerful these-- 694 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:39,880 these new fangled digital cameras are. 695 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,880 Especially the Sonys, the FX3 and the a7S III. 696 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:44,320 Those Sony's will do anything. 697 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:45,120 Sure. 698 00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:46,800 I remember hearing the stories of when 699 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,880 I remember hearing the stories of when 700 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:52,680 they were shooting Swingers, that they shot Swingers on 16, 701 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:55,000 They'd wrap pillows around it because they're so loud. 702 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:57,040 But that's how they go shoot these scenes. 703 00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,880 And now you go shoot at the Dresden tonight 704 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:03,680 and probably sneak in there with an iPhone and figure it out. 705 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:05,800 I could shoot a scene in the Dresden right now. 706 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,160 And they probably, if they weren't paying attention, 707 00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:09,800 they'd have no idea. 708 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:11,120 Which is incredible. 709 00:27:11,120 --> 00:27:13,800 It's an incredible time to be able to do this. 710 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,280 But speaking of shooting indoors, if you're not 711 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:19,720 shooting at the Dresden, you did shoot at a winery. 712 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,080 So that seemed like a real location, not one that you stole, 713 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:23,760 unless it was a really, really-- 714 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,320 Unless it was a set of oblivious bartenders. 715 00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:29,000 That was the most expensive set we rented. 716 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:30,920 So we rented through Peerspace. 717 00:27:30,920 --> 00:27:32,600 And that was the most expensive one. 718 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:35,560 The main area one we rented was the house, 719 00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:37,240 that Legbone's house. 720 00:27:37,240 --> 00:27:40,040 And then in the back, they had that garage that we shot in. 721 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:41,240 So that was the same place. 722 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:42,880 Incidentally, those people are the same people 723 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,000 who rented the studio to the Obsession movie, which 724 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:46,840 I haven't seen yet. 725 00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:48,640 But those are the same people. 726 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:50,800 And I'm sure their asking prices 727 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:52,240 are going to go up after obsession. 728 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:53,160 But they were really great. 729 00:27:53,160 --> 00:27:54,040 They were awesome. 730 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:54,560 That's amazing. 731 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:57,160 They were very flexible and very nice. 732 00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:58,640 So that's where most of my budget went, 733 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,760 was to those few locations that we rented. 734 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,400 But in those sets, were you setting up 735 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:06,600 the same kind of lights, or were you just going off 736 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:08,240 of the practicals there, too? 737 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,200 Well, the garage had-- 738 00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:12,480 I don't think we did any practicals in the house. 739 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:16,040 We may have turned on one light LED light panel, maybe. 740 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:20,160 And in the garage, they had hanging lights up above. 741 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:22,600 And then Mike had his little fill light. 742 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:24,080 So we turned on the lights in there. 743 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:26,080 And then at one point, we dressed it with Christmas lights. 744 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:28,840 And those cafe lights put out a lot of light. 745 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:31,120 Nice ambient glow. 746 00:28:31,120 --> 00:28:32,800 Yeah, because the whole Christmas tree lot 747 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:37,320 was literally just lit by those lights you see in the shot. 748 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:37,820 Sure. 749 00:28:37,820 --> 00:28:38,920 There's nothing else. 750 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:39,960 There's no other lights. 751 00:28:39,960 --> 00:28:40,840 It's just the cafe light. 752 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:42,760 By the way, where did you find a Christmas tree lot 753 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:44,880 in November that you shot at? 754 00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:47,720 The one in the back of Matt and Beth's house. 755 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:49,480 That's incredible. 756 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:50,480 Every time I see that, it's that. 757 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,320 I know this story, that it's our friends' backyard. 758 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,640 But man, it looks so good. 759 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:58,840 It looks like a full Christmas tree lot. 760 00:28:58,840 --> 00:28:59,440 And I'm-- 761 00:28:59,440 --> 00:28:59,960 I'm always like-- 762 00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:00,800 I'm always like-- 763 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:02,040 Yeah. 764 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:04,960 It's a incredible production design. 765 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,200 Whoever your production designer was deserves a raise. 766 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:08,680 I should. 767 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:09,440 I'll give him one. 768 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:10,960 Yeah. 769 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:12,480 He just has lots of raises. 770 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:13,720 So then just to recap. 771 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,280 So while you're shooting in these public locations, 772 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,320 you just kind of kept an eye open for cops 773 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:20,960 and you figured out a story ahead of time. 774 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:23,080 Was there any space that you went to your shoot at that? 775 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,160 You're like, oh no, we can't do this. 776 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:26,480 Or you had a bail early. 777 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:28,880 Or you just scuttled as you got there 778 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:32,000 because it seemed too busy or not busy enough, I guess? 779 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:33,920 No. 780 00:29:33,920 --> 00:29:34,600 Well, here's the thing. 781 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,000 I'm a nervous person about this kind of stuff, 782 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:38,880 because I don't like confrontation. 783 00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:41,640 So I'm really worried about it every time. 784 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:43,840 I'm like, oh god, oh god. 785 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:45,320 And I get kind of stressed out about it. 786 00:29:45,320 --> 00:29:46,920 Like, shoot, let's go. 787 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:48,000 Fucking, let's go. 788 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,200 We're going to go, guys, before somebody comes and tells us 789 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:50,960 to get out of here. 790 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:52,000 And nobody ever did. 791 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,400 But we got to go, go, go, go, go, go. 792 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:55,160 We're going to shoot like this. 793 00:29:55,160 --> 00:29:56,120 We're going to shoot like this. 794 00:29:56,120 --> 00:29:59,640 Because I don't necessarily know how we're going to shoot it 795 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:00,480 until we get there. 796 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,560 Some of the spaces we just wandered around and stumbled into. 797 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:04,160 It's like, what? 798 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:05,040 Get something here. 799 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:05,760 Get something here. 800 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:07,960 So there's a big montage in the middle 801 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,280 where we're carol around town. 802 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:12,720 That was all shot on the same day, where we just-- 803 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:16,520 we literally just-- we watched for miles just walking around. 804 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:18,440 And since these real Christmas carolers, 805 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:19,520 we don't hear it in the movie. 806 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:21,880 But we would actually just bust out a carol. 807 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:22,400 Sure. 808 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:23,480 OK, we're going to sing Jingle Bells. 809 00:30:23,480 --> 00:30:25,760 We're going to sing 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen.' 810 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:26,600 We're going to whatever. 811 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:27,880 So we just would sing. 812 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:28,880 We all knew the music. 813 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:30,200 We'd all been doing it for a while. 814 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:31,400 But nobody ever kicked us out. 815 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:33,600 But I was worried every single time. 816 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:35,480 The college was the closest we got. 817 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:37,680 And even though they just didn't give a shit. 818 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:38,680 I guess not. 819 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:39,800 I hope they don't give a shit now. 820 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:41,800 Because I mean, technically, they could probably 821 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:42,840 say something about it. 822 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:43,120 I don't know. 823 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:47,080 I think it would be hard to prove damages after the fact 824 00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:48,560 of all you did was shoot on the sidewalk. 825 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:49,560 So you know-- 826 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:50,360 Well, they just-- 827 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:52,280 So if you want to shoot for free in a location, 828 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:53,880 just don't blow anything up. 829 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:54,600 Right. 830 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:55,560 Yeah, don't hurt anything. 831 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:57,800 Don't be like, you guys are the ones that broke that tree. 832 00:30:57,800 --> 00:30:58,160 Right. 833 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:00,280 It's funny, too, because we shot that college 834 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:02,800 and that's the one thing that I'm worried about. 835 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:05,040 Is ever is that somebody from the college 836 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:06,400 is going to be like, what the fuck? 837 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:08,160 You guys didn't have permission to shoot here. 838 00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:10,560 And again, we didn't disrupt anything. 839 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:11,640 Nobody even cared. 840 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:12,400 Nobody cared. 841 00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:14,520 But I was in the Sherman Oaks Film Festival. 842 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:16,240 And we didn't have a very big audience. 843 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:18,920 And afterwards, there was a Q&A. 844 00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,040 And there was a group of three people in the back. 845 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:21,880 And they stood up. 846 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:24,640 What's your connection to the college? 847 00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:26,840 I don't have one. 848 00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:28,160 I just found it on Google. 849 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:29,480 I was like, this looks good. 850 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:31,080 We went to school there. 851 00:31:31,080 --> 00:31:33,040 I go, OK. 852 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:34,520 You don't know anybody there? 853 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:35,600 I'm like, no, we don't. 854 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,200 Oh, it was really cool to see our school in your movie. 855 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:39,960 We were all very excited about it. 856 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:40,880 It's like, well, that's cool. 857 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:41,960 But it's like-- 858 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:43,760 I mean, it's Long Beach City College. 859 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:45,000 What are the chances? 860 00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:46,640 Honestly, I thought it was UCLA. 861 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:48,040 No, it's Long Beach City College. 862 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:49,200 Well, hey, that's good for them. 863 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:50,280 It's almost free advertising. 864 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:50,800 Almost. 865 00:31:50,800 --> 00:31:52,360 Yeah, you should go to Long Beach City College. 866 00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:53,720 It was a very beautiful campus. 867 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:54,240 Very beautiful. 868 00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:55,800 Nobody there is going to give you a hard time. 869 00:31:55,800 --> 00:31:56,760 Yeah, they're all chill. 870 00:31:56,760 --> 00:31:57,560 Super cool. 871 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:02,000 So Robb, as time's kind of running low here, 872 00:32:02,000 --> 00:32:04,120 So I wanted to land this plane. 873 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:05,960 The whole process is incredible. 874 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:07,880 A lot of great tips, a lot of great things. 875 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:11,760 Do you have any other advice, either that you give yourself-- 876 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:14,080 if you go back in time to give yourself advice, 877 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:17,080 or give your future self who's listening to the podcast, 878 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:20,120 give them advice about shooting their first feature. 879 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:21,680 What would be that piece of advice 880 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:23,640 would make the process easier in the long run? 881 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:25,200 Sure, I got a couple of things. 882 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:33,840 If you're going to have Christmas carolers, do have a boom mic. 883 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:36,880 Don't just use the lavs because it's harder to edit. 884 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:39,120 I wish I had a boom mic for when we sang. 885 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,120 I also wish we would have known, because there's 886 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:42,480 a couple songs we didn't. 887 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:45,920 I'm faking the arrangements in post. 888 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:49,120 I'm arranging music to what we kind of faked it on the set. 889 00:32:49,120 --> 00:32:51,560 And so I wish I would have had those arrangements done 890 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:52,320 beforehand. 891 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:54,240 So do your homework before you go shoot. 892 00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:55,080 I'd say, yeah. 893 00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:56,040 It's good advice. 894 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:57,120 Have all your arrangements. 895 00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,200 But the big one-- here's the biggest one 896 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:01,680 from this movie, because we did lose a location, 897 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:03,280 because it was given to us as a favor. 898 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:05,760 If you're going to accept a location as a favor, 899 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:08,680 make sure that your relationship with the person 900 00:33:08,680 --> 00:33:12,160 who you're getting that favor from is tight, like Matt and Beth. 901 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:13,760 They'd probably get mad at us. 902 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:14,920 They probably were mad at us. 903 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:16,520 But they weren't going to kick us out because they're 904 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:18,720 good people and they're good friends. 905 00:33:18,720 --> 00:33:20,400 But we had another location that we lost, 906 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:22,200 and he just got tired of us being in there. 907 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:24,720 And it really fucked up the schedule. 908 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:28,960 So make sure that you have control of the locations 909 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:31,440 or that you don't need that location. 910 00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:32,200 Do you know what I mean? 911 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:34,640 Don't make your production dependent 912 00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:36,920 on that particular location. 913 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:38,120 I didn't have a backup. 914 00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:39,560 I had one option. 915 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:42,480 I mean, I had to pivot after we lost the location 916 00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:43,760 and shoot some of it in my house. 917 00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:45,600 But luckily, we shot the majority 918 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,280 of what we needed to at that place in the four hours 919 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:49,320 that we were allowed to be there. 920 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:50,200 Don't bank on a miracle. 921 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:50,520 Yeah. 922 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:51,760 And favors are great. 923 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:55,680 But favors can be taken away as easily as they're granted. 924 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:57,280 So be very careful. 925 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:00,080 But luckily, he let us come back and shoot a few pickups. 926 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:01,840 So we were able to pick up a couple scenes 927 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:03,520 that the movie needed. 928 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:04,960 And so that was nice. 929 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:06,600 But it was a big thing. 930 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:07,720 I would have rent-- 931 00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:09,480 if I had to do it again, I'd rent that location. 932 00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:10,680 Oh, yeah, because money-- 933 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:13,320 the nice thing about money is that once it exchanges hands, 934 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:15,880 it changes the relationship from this is nice. 935 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:17,160 And they can pull it back at any time 936 00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:19,000 to, well, there's a contract written. 937 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,360 And it's tough because it cuts both ways. 938 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:22,660 Yeah. 939 00:34:22,660 --> 00:34:25,120 I'd spend $1,500 to not have the stress 940 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:26,600 that I had for that. 941 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,480 And so the stolen locations, we don't control either. 942 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:31,240 But like you said, somebody kicks you. 943 00:34:31,240 --> 00:34:32,600 Yeah, you just go someplace else. 944 00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,360 We'll do it over there. 945 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:39,880 Well, so I mean, that's all I got, Robb. 946 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:40,560 Thank you so much. 947 00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:41,960 You've been wonderful. 948 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:44,040 And I hope everyone goes out to see your movies. 949 00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:45,240 Where can they find it? 950 00:34:45,240 --> 00:34:47,080 And where can they find you? 951 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:49,680 They can find me on social media if you have to. 952 00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:54,560 Everything's @RobbPadgett, R-O-B-B, P-A-D-G-E-T-T, 953 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:55,400 like everything. 954 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:56,920 The extra B is for best. 955 00:34:56,920 --> 00:34:58,440 Yes, the best. 956 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:01,600 I guess Instagram threads-- 957 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:03,040 one of those threads type people. 958 00:35:03,040 --> 00:35:05,520 You're the guy on threads. 959 00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:09,920 And you can see Merry Heistmas on many, many streaming 960 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:12,560 platforms to be awesome. 961 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:15,160 There's a platform called Christmas-- 962 00:35:15,160 --> 00:35:16,040 I can't think of it now-- 963 00:35:16,040 --> 00:35:17,720 but there's Christmas streaming platform. 964 00:35:17,720 --> 00:35:18,880 That's really cool. 965 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:19,640 They were good to us. 966 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:22,080 Do you have a physical release for Heistmas? 967 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:24,800 There's a purely futuristic digital stuff. 968 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:27,320 It's all future-- well, I did this under a SAG 969 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:28,440 under-$20,000 budget. 970 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,640 So I can't sell copies of the movie. 971 00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:33,480 So it's all AVOD. 972 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:36,200 So anything that's advertising based-- 973 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:38,560 but we're streaming on like 14 different platforms. 974 00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:39,480 So that's great. 975 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:42,440 Merry Heistmas, so we're pretty easy to find. 976 00:35:42,440 --> 00:35:43,440 And it's great. 977 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:44,600 I think everybody should check it out. 978 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:45,800 It's a great hour and a half. 979 00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:48,680 To watch with a fam, I don't think there's too many swears 980 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:50,040 or whatever in it. 981 00:35:50,040 --> 00:35:51,040 Not that it matters. 982 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:52,040 I think that's the worst-- 983 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:53,840 Yeah, that's the worst swear word in the movie. 984 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:56,640 I would show it to my kid, but she doesn't like too much 985 00:35:56,640 --> 00:35:57,480 jibber-jabber. 986 00:35:57,480 --> 00:35:59,240 And the movie's all jibber-jabber. 987 00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:01,320 So yeah, it's all jibber-jabber. 988 00:36:01,320 --> 00:36:02,600 That about does it for us. 989 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:04,640 So if you have any questions about filmmaking, movies, 990 00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:10,480 in general, you can always email us at indiefilmlodge@gmail.com. 991 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:12,640 We'd love to hear from you. 992 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:15,200 And we may feature your question on a future show. 993 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:17,040 In the meantime, tell your friends about us. 994 00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:20,120 And remember that the only thing holding you back is you. 995 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:23,000 So get out there and definitely shoot your feature. 996 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:23,600 I'm Robb. 997 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:24,600 I'm Matt. 998 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:25,680 And we'll see you next time. 999 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:26,680 Yeah, yeah. 1000 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:30,160 [MUSIC PLAYING] 1001 00:36:30,160 --> 00:36:34,120 [MUSIC PLAYING] 1002 00:36:34,120 --> 00:36:36,120 [Music]