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LIVE Filmmaker Interviews from the Tacoma Film Festival PART 3
Michele Noble and Farnell Newton invite us into the world of their film, "The Yellow Sponge is the Dish Sponge," as they share their experiences at the Tacoma Film Festival. Discover how the seemingly ordinary act of cleaning becomes a profound exploration of relationship dynamics, enhanced by the festival's welcoming atmosphere. Michele's unique approach, including breaking the fourth wall and selecting introspective settings, keeps the audience engaged from start to finish. Farnell's musical touch adds a layer of comedic flair, perfectly meshing with Michele's vision to create a harmonious blend of humor and seriousness.
We also have the pleasure of chatting with B, the director of "Donut Boy," who brings his own unique take to the festival. B opens up about the trials and triumphs of filming in Tacoma, with its iconic landmarks like Mount Rainier providing a stunning backdrop. The local vibe and challenges of unpredictable weather add an exciting element to the narrative. Through B’s storytelling, we get a glimpse of the creative process and the local community's synergy with the film.
Rounding out the episode is a celebration of the festival's standout films and unforgettable moments. From the striking visuals of "Fish Monger" to the innovative storytelling in "How May I Help You?" there's no shortage of creative inspiration. We recount the twists and turns of filming on location, the meticulous planning for safety, and the collaborative efforts that brought each film to life. Join us as we reflect on these artistic endeavors and look ahead to future features and collaborations on the podcast.
We are now joined by Michelle Noble and Farnell Newton of. The Yellow Sponge is the Dish Sponge, which is kind of a tongue twister to say three times in a row Thank you both so much for joining us on the show today.
Speaker 3:Thank you for inviting us.
Speaker 4:Coming off a lively kind of discussion here down in the lower lounge at the grand cinema during the Tacoma film festival. First I want to ask you guys this question what has been your impression of Tacoma so far and the film festival? Because I know, michelle, you're a Los Angeles native. I know I'm not sure about.
Speaker 3:Portland, oregon.
Speaker 4:Okay, so how familiar are you with the area and your impressions of the film festival first off well I.
Speaker 3:This film festival was recommended to me by several of my friends and they said you have to apply, you know. So we were really stoked when we got in and it's been great. I love the community, I love the surroundings and the you know the city is is terrific, but the the film festival has really been taking care of all the filmmakers and the audiences are really loyal and enthusiastic, so we're looking forward to our screening tonight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I love Tacoma and the Northwest, just like Portland in many ways, and this is my first attending of a film festival, like hanging out. I'm a musician and music person so I'm used to going to music conferences, so this is my first time really just shaking so many filmmakers, filmmakers hands and directors and such, so I'm having a blast that's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Uh, michelle, I wanted to ask about the film how important is cleaning to you? How much of of you are in these characters that we see on screen?
Speaker 3:I feel everyone's on, you know, everyone's a part of these characters on screen. I, yes, I relate to jason no one really likes to admit this, because jason is the more messy one that's, uh, you know, caught in this horrible thought of, like, is the yellow sponge really the sponge? And so. But I, yes, it's not important to me to clean, but I thought that this was such a clever way of getting into people's relationship, the dynamics of that, and to really do something that people can relate to, because when we've screened the film before, people have come up and I've heard a lot of cleaning stories that are hilarious that's really neat.
Speaker 4:How? How did it go when it came to location scouting? Because the house is such an important part of this film, because it is centered around so much cleaning, were you thinking I have to have a bathroom that looks a certain way, I need to have a kitchen that looks a certain way. What was that process like?
Speaker 3:yeah, I mean, bixby, elliot wrote the script and when he gave it to me, um, he's a queer filmmaker and I said, you know, I really want to use your house because I had been up in Paul's, in his home, and Paul is really good at decorating everything. So when we had the art director come in, they thought we had already dressed it and it's really a lot of what Paul lives with. So Paul makes me live with. So, yeah, it was really important for us to pick a place. That, yes, very important for us to pick a place.
Speaker 3:That, yes, very important for me to have a certain bathroom and a certain thing, because I, I really wanted the, the notion of reflection. So there's a lot of mirror shots and a lot of things that give this idea of introspection or reflection, or you know. So me, you know my ideas of that. I mean how I pitched it to Bixby first when I read it is I would like to do a John Cassavetes movie, but as a comedy. So this idea of this really intense argument, but it's over sponges. So I kind of thought about how would john cassavetes film this? But you know, and so it's woman under the influence, with sponges that's a great comp.
Speaker 1:Uh, in the film you have a bit of like fourth wall breaking uh that kind of almost throws you on your head as an audience member, because it it it comes pretty late into the film and, uh, I was just kind of wondering what was the thought behind that decision, um, and, and why you chose to go with that format.
Speaker 3:I think I wanted to do something that really gave the audience the idea that now you thought you knew what you were going to see, and I wanted to sort of settle them into this idea of like, yes, it's this, it's what you know, this cleaning, and then when you break the fourth wall, it's like, uh-, what is now? Anything can happen. Now you're talking, you know, I don't know where this is going. I thought I knew where it was going, but where is it going? And I wanted to sort of put them on their heads on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I also love how it makes the audience, because because they're talking straight to the audience when this happens and makes the audience kind of turn around and look at themselves too right and ask ask questions, uh, of themselves and and their cleaning habits and or rituals or whatever yeah, I, I kind of thought we, we sort of thought we'd do everything in it.
Speaker 3:You know we would do standard comedy and then we would do. You know, we try everything a little improv, a little this, a little that, um, because I like to mix it up and I thought you know what better format?
Speaker 4:you know you're doing a short, you know, like hey you have some aspect ratio changes, sort of with some flashbacks. Yes, yes, everything we decided to do.
Speaker 3:Uh, I thought it would be good idea to do 16 millimeter and do this idea where you know, I I thought if we just did an argument through the whole thing, you'd either hate these two people, get tired of these two people, and then I thought, you know, I want to show a little bit of their relationship so that you're secure in knowing that there's love between the two of them and I just in 16, I thought it was a great idea to kind of give that, you know warmth to it and you immediately know that you're somewhere else.
Speaker 3:You know you're at this other time, I don't know.
Speaker 1:It worked really well because it is you know kind're at this other time, I don't know, it worked really well because it is, you know, kind of portrayed as memories, right, and it does give you a sense of you have more stake in this relationship because you do see these happy moments throughout the film.
Speaker 4:There's also subtle little things with the set dressing that give us a glimpse into this couple's life. At first it almost is like what kind of party are they hosting? You see like the Oscars written on some cards that are in the background or a decoration there. And then you see happy 10 year anniversary. So what sort of backstory are we, as an audience member, supposed to have with these characters? What's your idea for them?
Speaker 3:I think for them it's like that I like to go in flashing to those little flashes of their relationship.
Speaker 3:So you see that they started out together and then they continued and that there is a little bit of a May-December relationship and that there is a little bit of a May-December relationship and just that, but there's affection from both people and kind of sentiment, and so their place is really beautifully decorated in kind of their travels and their kind of love of kitschy stuff, and it's not so precious. It's sentimental in the sense that it's a love story, but not sentimental in that they don't really know each other. But then that's the twist, because how did how did eric not know what jason was feeling at that moment? You know, and I think his surprise when he says you know, sorry, I think that's that's when you you see the depth of, of how we we go about relationships, where it's like we're on, we're deeply in it and deeply rolling through it, and then all of a sudden it's like whoa, stop, wait, I have to take care of this person that's saying these things.
Speaker 4:Well, I give you so much credit for making this film that I think perhaps two years ago could have been perceived as simply another movie about germs and about cleaning and be tied directly to the pandemic, whereas now we're a couple of years removed. There's no mention of really a virus or sickness outside of this house. There's nothing like that that ties it to it. Was that an intentional direction? Intentional direction, uh, directive from you to the actors? Was that something that was just conveyed in the script where, like this is not going to be a quote-unquote pandemic movie?
Speaker 3:yeah, well, I think, uh bixby, like I love when he says you know, this is an argument that his husband, paul, and he have all the time about cleaning, and that he wanted to win the argument, which is why he wrote the script, and that's one that's a big way to win the argument and I thought, yes, so I don't.
Speaker 3:I think, um, you know, I think every relationship, whether you're have a roommate relationship, or you're in a marriage, or you're in whatever, has this aspect to it. I don't, I, you know the um it would have been, you're right, it would have been so much of a pandemic thing if we had done it before. But I think, um, I think this is a conversation that that I know I have had.
Speaker 2:We all have.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 4:Weekly yes, weekly Going back years. Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 3:When this one woman came up to me and she's like this, destroyed my relationship and now I'm finally in a good relationship. And you know, and I was the one you know, I was the sponge keeper, the keeper of the sponges.
Speaker 4:And I'm like, wow, okay, all right. Well, I'm glad you've worked through it, but it was awesome.
Speaker 3:You know, it's like wow, keeper of the sponge. I don't know that could be the sequel.
Speaker 4:Title of the sequel.
Speaker 2:Keeper of the sponge Sequel yeah.
Speaker 3:But I loved involving Farnell in this because doing the music, because I thought the music was a really important part of it too, and I've seen a lot of short films that just sort of ignore music, and especially comedies that don't really involve a lot of really interesting music.
Speaker 4:During this discussion too. You mentioned sound as well, and so, for now, I'm curious how much of sound and music is a marriage to? Curious, how much of sound and music is a marriage to you? How much are you thinking about when you're trying to come up with a composition for a film? What kind of notes are you guys exchanging? What's this partnership like?
Speaker 2:I mean Michelle, michelle had a clear vision, definitely on what she wanted and and gave me great notes. Because I love that, because then it gives me a direction ahead. And you know, sometimes some people they don't give you any notes, they're just like I just want you to do you. But I'm like that doesn't mean it's going to really complement your vision. What is your vision? Why did you make this film? What are the intentions you want to relay, or the feelings and such? You want to relay or the feelings and such. So when she gave me her like you know, uh, summary of how she wanted the film to go, I was like, oh, this is great, I could easily put this here, put this there, put this there. And then I was like, oh, was a couple laying together in a bed. I said I have this song called it takes two to funk and it's perfect and and it, it, you know it brings in the movie and it ends the movie and such.
Speaker 1:And you know we just I mean we love each other, she loves my music and, trust me, so it it worked out pretty well how important is it to to know exactly what genre of film to to match the music to that genre, or do you think that really any any sort of music could, could be played, anything?
Speaker 2:yeah I mean, that's the thing about music. I mean, I my day job is I work at a music licensing company where I pitch music for uh, brands and and things, so really almost anything could fit anywhere. But you know, you know, I was thinking like, oh, this is a comedy. You know, like what is what is more comedic than funk music? I mean, if you ever listen to Parliament Funkadelic, it's like it's funny, it's serious, and but it's always a good time.
Speaker 3:So you know we, we really, yeah, it was easy to work with Farnell because, you know, I I was thinking of funk and then he said funk and I'm like, yeah, it was easy to work with Farnell because, you know I was thinking of funk and then he said funk and I'm like yeah, we're going down the funk train.
Speaker 2:But easily I could have put anything else in there. I could have put classical music, I could have put jazz, we could have put anything else in it. But I was like, you know, you got an interracial couple. You know, and especially when theial couple, um, you know, and especially when the dancing comes, you're like, oh no, he's dancing to something funky so he might he might yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:What music was playing on the set, or? Or was it just?
Speaker 2:we did beyonce and I think I put some different music in there, but then, um, but they wanted it to sound more lively and so they took basically the same song. Uh takes to the funk, but they took a live version off of youtube and slid it in there, so it worked as well. So you know, just trying to read the characters and what, what do you think they're listening to? What do you think they're listening to? What do you?
Speaker 3:think they're enjoying as well. I'm super detailed, though, so not all the folks I work with love my pages and pages of notes, but Farnell does, so that was really good.
Speaker 1:That's a really good skill to have to be organized. Pages of pages of notes are always welcome on my sets.
Speaker 3:Better than the alternative right this is like the one of the. You know, it's really cool when I look at the film. This is like I think the only film I've worked on where, as a director, where I literally got my shot list like everything I wanted, you know, and I was like, oh wow, this is really cool because everything I really wanted, that dolly at the end I really I, you know, I really wanted it to look like that. I really wanted you know there was, you know, the punch bowl.
Speaker 3:I really wanted but, I really wanted certain things, you know, and I wrote it up that way. Talked to the dp, said you know, this is what I want to do, how I want to do it, and um, and we did it. And same thing with the music. I'm so happy with the music, it's what I talked about. So happy with the acting, the writing I, I mean, I'm really pleased with it's not one of those things where you say, oh god, I wish I had gotten that.
Speaker 1:I wish that had worked out it sounds like a very smooth production which, again, very rare to come across. I don't know whether it was totally smooth, but it's always a quick step, but it was three days, and whether it was totally smooth but it's always a quick step, but it was three days and so it was good.
Speaker 4:There's so many more questions I want to ask you. I want to know more, though, about the actors and their relationship, and what sort of intimacy coordination you approached them with. What kind of relationship did they maybe have before the filming? Did they meet on set? What was that like? Because there's a lot of trust that has to happen between these two actors in this film.
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. That's Bixby Elliott who wrote it. It plays Jason and Bixby and I had worked with Alexander Lambie before on a feature, and so when we were thinking about, when we were discussing actors, I said, really, it has to be someone you have chemistry with, it's got to be someone that you have a relationship with and someone who could relate to this.
Speaker 3:And so we approached let me call him Lambie, and he, he calls himself Lambie, and, and we approached Lambie and he immediately said yes, and, and so we're. They're all really close friends and Lambie's gay and so that's you that made. I thought that was really important for the two actors to be queer, and so they had great chemistry and we tried to just keep it, talk through it and just say exactly what we're going to do. So nothing was going to happen without everyone knowing. So the kissing and the you know the intimacy stuff, you know we had lots of conversation about that, but Lambie was all in and Bixby's, you know we all discussed it before. So nothing happened on the day where someone wasn't like completely, you know, comfortable, comfortable and everything Calling for something that's not on the day where someone wasn't like completely, you know comfortable, comfortable and everything.
Speaker 4:Calling for something that's not on the page.
Speaker 3:No, and I don't believe in like um doing improv with that, where someone's just going to grab you or kiss you or you know, move into something in the area because it's really important. And also what? Why would you do that? And I love them together as a couple. People have asked me if they are a couple.
Speaker 4:They're very endearing together.
Speaker 3:I thought it was a couple when I first saw it before the music was on it, and I think, too, we wanted to do something with. You know, there's a lot of queer films that don't really show older gay folks and that, you know, in different body types and different ages and different you know, different cultures and stuff. So we wanted to try to do all that.
Speaker 4:I commend you for the execution because it comes across not only as sentimental but funny. I I hope every single box that you set out to check feels like you did it, because in watching it and I'm sure you can't wait to watch it with a live audience later it plays in the shorts block. So congratulations on the film and for bringing it's going to be playing in the pride short block and so I'm sure in seeing it in conversation with those other films, you know, I hope it just feels like you set out to accomplish what you wanted to.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. That means a lot. Yeah, I really love seeing it with a live audience, because what people laugh at is hilarious.
Speaker 2:The reactions of certain cleaning with things. They're like oh no, there's lots of talk back to the film.
Speaker 1:There's lots of like no. I think it kind of invites the audience to do that because it is such a close subject to any human cleaning and cleanliness, but also being in a relationship and navigating those cohabitating space.
Speaker 3:I was surprised that so many young people. But then I realized oh, roommates, you're on it well.
Speaker 4:Thank you both so much for joining us here on the microphone to talk about the film.
Speaker 3:Congratulations once again thank you so much for joining us here on the microphone to talk about the film.
Speaker 4:Congratulations once again. Thank you so much. All right listeners, we are now pleased to be joined by Bea, the director of Donut Boy. And also, I don't know, what do you call yourself? Are you the co-co-co-co-co-lead as the gas station?
Speaker 3:attendant.
Speaker 4:I spotted you in there. I spotted you in there.
Speaker 3:That was good.
Speaker 4:But thank you so much for joining us here on the microphone and for bringing Donut Boy to the Tacoma Film Festival.
Speaker 5:Thank you no thanks for having me. It's so much fun to be at home and sharing this film with the Tacoma crowd.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's screened. Let's see. We're recording this on Saturday afternoon. It's screened Friday night at the Blue Mouse Theater in the Pacific Northwest Shorts block An incredible block, your film kind of anchored right in the middle of it. How was that for you watching it with the hometown?
Speaker 5:Well, you know, like you put in specific things in the film specifically for certain people, and a lot of the stuff that was put in this film was specifically for Tacoma as well. You know, like there's I put in stuff for the Cambodian Americans, but definitely like uh, tacoma, you know, and and it's so like uh gratifying to to hear the crowd react to those moments and it's just like yeah, okay, cool, we got it.
Speaker 4:So that's great. You know Well, yeah, I mean some of the stuff you know your ambitions to shoot, like, to shoot outside, to shoot a landscape shot. You can't fake that Like. There's ways you know you can make Atlanta look like Los Angeles. You can do these different things like that. If you're going to shoot Tacoma like you wanted to do in the intro of this film, you got to come do it in Tacoma. So what was that like?
Speaker 5:So, like we we had. So I'm from USC and we have to do everything within the scope of the school and the schools basically what they allow us to do. And we found out that you know they were they allowed us to go shot there. Um, actually went out of state to shoot somewhere else besides california or besides that 50 mile radius that they make us shoot stuff, and so when we found out that we can go to tacoma, um, we were like, well, at first I was trying to look for a stock footage of tacoma you know, and there's not very many other than the bridge falling yeah, yeah in the 40s.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah in the 40s. Yeah, I should have put that one in there.
Speaker 5:Yeah exactly, and so we were like nah, man, we need Mount Rainier. Originally we had a line that has Mina, the character played by Joy Hanna-Park, who's from Tacoma. She says something like, oh, and Mount Rainier is like right there, you know. So we wanted Mount Rainier, definitely, and we wanted stuff that could be easily identified by the Tacoma people. Like you know 38th Street, and you know we also had shots of the train and stuff like that, the buses, tacoma Dome you know what I mean like specific shots, 11th street. You know it was we.
Speaker 5:We want all of that to to make sense for the people of Tacoma, and we spent three days here because we needed to get the morning shots. So we shot very early in the morning, but we shot originally in November in LA and so when, when we shot in tacoma, we had to postpone our shooting until like february or something. So one of our days it snowed here so we couldn't, um, we couldn't film that day because there was like snow still outside, yeah. So we waited until it melted and then filmed in the afternoon when the sun was kind of going down.
Speaker 1:So when, when something like that, you know weather that you can't control, uh, when something like that comes up on a film set, uh, or on a film shoot, how do you pivot, how do you, how do you, how are you able to? I mean, because you lost a day of shooting, right, I did you just double up the next day, or were there cuts that were made?
Speaker 5:Yeah, you would have to find creative ways to do something. But that day that morning when we woke up at like four in the morning, it was kind of still coming down and we're like, oh well, the streets are all covered. But knowing Tacoma, because you know, you lived here for so long, it's like, oh, this snow is not going to stay. So you kind of knew that it was going to go away. So we did take out one shot that we couldn't have.
Speaker 5:There was an angle that we wanted of the port of Tacoma from a different angle, and we didn't do that one because it was kind of like, you know, the sunset only lasts for like what is it? Like 30 minutes or something like that. So we were driving around Tacoma trying to get this shot. So we cut one shot but we did stop where? What was it? Kind of near here. We're like wait, wait, wait, because we just drove past the port of Tacoma. We're like, no, stop right here, set up a camera, just take this right there. We go around and we shoot stuff and then we cut things and some happy accidents happen sometimes and we just kind of go with what we got.
Speaker 4:So last night in the Q&A I heard you talk about how this was basically cut down to become like a proof of concept. A lot of other things were shot and so I'm curious when the germ for this film for Donut Boy begins and you're thinking I want this to be. You know you've already touched on there's things for the Cambodian culture. I want it to be this story of um. You know this young man trying to figure out. It's a little bit of a coming of age story. Should I go to college? There's this new relationship possibility. Do I want to be come a boxer? All these different things.
Speaker 5:How do there are all these different things? How do you start? Do you get sticky notes? Do you talk? Are you trying to figure out? How do I balance the different aspects of this story? What's that process like?
Speaker 5:Well, like when I was writing the feature version of it, um, it was for a feature class I had at school and you know the teacher we have a week to write like I don't know 20 pages or something. So it's more like kind of just like regurgitating whatever you have on page and then you'll get like pages of notes from your classmates, your teacher, and then you kind of keep that to the side. You could change them if you want on your next pass or anything like that. And yeah, it's really hard to kind of balance the many aspects of just Cambodian Americans in America, you know, and all those things like boxing and coming of age.
Speaker 5:But you know, I wanted to make a film about you know what it means to like sacrifice something, so like and get where you want. I feel like you get where you want by getting rid of something, whether or not you know it or not, and and and that's something I wanted to reflect on the film. So I guess, with that through line that theme. I kind of uh use that to to write the certain things that that will pop up in bow's life like in in the feature script.
Speaker 4:So using the rithi character to do a lot of that Right.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, that's like you know, like there's when we, when we moved here from Cambodia as refugees, we're just like you know we're. That happen in your life, can sway you in very different directions. And you know I think somebody asked me that you know Rithi character and Bo's character are very similar, so why you know, but why are they so different? And I feel like, yeah, just those little moments can really alter someone's life. I feel like, yeah, just those little moments can really alter someone's life. You know, the one I love yous, or the don't go out, the yelling, or you know, like the discipline or something, or your parents not giving you food for this moment will just change you forever kind of thing. Just because back then we don't know like how to communicate with each other. So we take things like really at face value and like, oh, our parents don't love us or oh, our parents really loved us, or you know they don't want us to hang out with our cousin, why I thought family is cool, you know stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so so how? How much of of you and your life is is in this film, would you say? I mean, obviously you know the. The age-old adage is uh you know, write what you know yeah um, and so yeah, I mean, how, how much are you taking out of your life experience into the film?
Speaker 5:yeah, it's definitely like a very personal film and, um, a lot of it has to do with my own personal experiences. But you know, I was never, you know, involved in gangs or anything like that. But my community was, you know, and so I pull from what I know through my community and you know, like we're always like one brother or one cousin or one sister away from some kind of different lifestyle, so that was very prominent in us. You know we'll go to the temple and sometimes we don't. You know someone's changed because of drugs or something, you know it's. It's kind of crazy, but we're.
Speaker 5:It is definitely like just having the community around me and being around them. So much, you see, all aspects of this community that's trying to deal. Pulled personally from what I see in, you know, my, my own, my own self, my family and then my extended family and then also people that aren't related to us. You know, from things I've heard and it's just, yeah, it's very much about the, the people of tacoma for sure is, and that's what I pulled for Donner Boy well, there's.
Speaker 4:There's vicarious trauma that we all experience through our loved ones, through the people around us that we grow up with, and I think that Tacoma, it's such a special city to set a film like this and to bring a film like this to it for a film festival, because there are so many different little cultures within our town that can relate. Whether or not they're asian, american, black, white, it doesn't really matter, because we all. It does matter, of course, right, because it's personal to you, but but I I commend you on making a film that that speaks to so many different populations yeah, yeah, I always wanted, you know, like, I feel like that, the human, humans, we all feel the same things.
Speaker 5:You know, we all want the same things. We all want to be loved, we all want to do the humans, we all feel the same things. You know, we all want the same things, we all want to be loved, we all want to do the things that we want to do. So those themes I felt, you know, I made the film very much to address humanity as a whole. I mean, I just dressed it up as Cambod americans because that's what I was very familiar with. But you know, like, I definitely see, don't avoid, you know, being like a mexican family or something like you know, anything like that, even an italian family, just, very, we can all relate to what beau is going through, because we all feel like we want to do what we want to do, but there's always something keeping us from doing it yeah, and that's.
Speaker 1:That's just such a a glaring sign of great writing oh, thank you, thank you so well done, uh uh writing this film. I I was also kind of wondering, as someone who uh is in uh film school currently, as I am uh as well what, what kind of restrictions, or were there any restrictions on these?
Speaker 5:Because this, this is your thesis film correct. This is correct.
Speaker 1:This is it. This is the final film.
Speaker 5:This is everything you learned in school, were there any restrictions or rules? You know, like the, the school honestly tells you you can make anything. Um, they just want you to make it safely.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 5:You know. So they want you. Yes, we have to get this paperwork because people need to know that you're shooting that there. Right, stuff like that, Right, excuse me. And so they just want us to make things safely. And if you come in, like pre-production is where it's at. You know, we have a scene outside with a prop gun in the dark and that neighborhood is actually not a very safe neighborhood. But you know, we try to make it safe. We're like, hey, everyone, we're making a film, we have signs out, we have police, everything you know, and and once you show usc that they, they will try to help you as much as you can within your budget to make it happen. Like you know, a fun fact is that we for that scene, the convenience store scene, I'm not going to try, I'm going to try not to spoil anything but, we initially had a drive-by there, like with a moving car and everything.
Speaker 5:So it just didn't work within our budget to do that because it would have cost us so much more money, you know, because they again they don't, it's la. So they're like we know you're making a film, so you're paying for a lot more, you know, and stuff like that. So we just had to make sure we were doing it safely and and then the school will, will help you, like they allowed us, like to come to Tacoma to shoot footage, you know, and, and, and we still had to present to them, like where you're shooting, how you're shooting it, where's your paperwork, all of that. And we gave it to them and then they were like okay, yeah, have a good time you know, so I was like all right, cool so.
Speaker 4:I I do want to ask you too about another kind of a safety question, I guess, because there's a moment in this film where, as I'm sitting there watching it, I'm thinking I can't wait to see how he approaches this certain shot, this certain scene, because in some films this could be a moment where you're kind of maybe taken out of it as an audience, and that's the boxing scene with the stunt coordination.
Speaker 4:I'm like, if these punches look like it's a 1960s Batman movie or something you know, like it's yeah, then like that's really going to detract from this incredible atmosphere that you had been building to that entire time. And that scene also intercuts with things that are happening at the convenience store and I just again commend you because it continues to build that really good atmosphere and the stakes of the movie are kind of never higher than at that moment. So what was the stunt coordination like in the boxing ring there? So we had well.
Speaker 5:first, I think in that last talk that we just had, well, first, like you know, I think in that last talk that we just had, you know, you talk about how you want to make a film within your budget, right? So, and I'm all about that, like you know, like we were fortunate to be able to raise a lot of money for this, and it's like the most expensive film I've ever made in my life and hopefully not the most expensive expensive film I've ever made in my life and hopefully not the most expensive. But it's like we found a stunt coordinator through a friend, through the associate producer, kaylee. So she introduced me to Malai Kim and he's done stunts for like big films and stuff like that. And he came in and he's Cambodian, american, you know. So he's like he's like oh, this is, you want to make a boxing film, this and that, and he's like you know what, let's just do it.
Speaker 5:You know, he took a big price cut, you know, and he was like, just pay my stunt actors. And then I was like, yeah, yeah, let's do it. And then he gave 100%. We pre-vis the whole thing.
Speaker 5:Oh wow, yeah, we pre-vis the whole thing. Oh, wow, yeah, we pre-vis not, not with a program. We actually shot it on an iphone in one of usc stages and and it's just the stunt coordinator and his assistant like going through the fight and we're and we're me and the dp was trying to find like certain angles that would give it, uh, I guess, a more realistic feel. You know, because we did want this to be realistic and then when we got to it we didn't want to compromise that. So we knew that if we're going to put in a fight scene, we have to do it right. And that's what made us go find an actual stunt coordinator. Stunt All the fighters except for the actor is a stunt person. You know, like that have done this in movies and indie films and stuff like that. You go on their credits and you're like whoa, he's on Moon Knight.
Speaker 3:You know it's like crazy yeah.
Speaker 5:And then we what else? So we had all the stunt folks and we made sure that it was done safely. Oh and then the so Bo, the main character, tyler. We had him. He's never done boxing before. So two months before shooting we put him training in boxing with the stunt coordinator one day. And then one of the faculty at USC used to be a professional boxer, so he was like, hey man, just have him.
Speaker 5:Just have him if he, if he's down, I'll train him yeah so he was training one day with the stunt coordinator, one day with the faculty amazing just like learning how to box two months before we even shot anything. So and then I remember what, going in the courtyard of usc and he's like training outside. I'm like, oh yeah, he looks, he looks a lot better now you know Cause. Again you're like, yeah, you see something that just doesn't you know immediately that it's not authentic.
Speaker 5:So we really wanted to. And then shout out to Jocelyn for cutting it. You know cause that's a lot of it too. You know hiding stuff.
Speaker 1:Sure, sure. I mean you make a film three times right, when you write it, you shoot it and and in the edit. Do you work closely with the editor, um, on your films and and and help with that vision, or do you hand it off and then give notes?
Speaker 5:We, um, so we I I always like to ask how they like to work. And Jocelyn Koo, she's also another student at the time we both graduated at the same time and she was like you know, I wanted to respect her craft in editing. She's like oh, give me like two weeks for the first pass. And I was like cool, because we're in school, school is a place to mess up. And I was like cool Because we're in school, you know, school's a place to mess up. So I was cool with that. You know, I was like all right, let's do it. And I knew she was a great filmmaker, so I wasn't worried. And then so she did her thing.
Speaker 5:And then we had sessions afterwards where we would sit down together for like six to eight hours a day. There's food and breaks and all that. So we sit in our, our editing lab the soul is just a one room with two computers and then we just go through and we'll try to, I'll give notes or something, and and then that took a couple days. And then yeah, and then we, we had to. You have to settle. So yeah, because you can cut it forever. So you have to settle because you can cut it forever. So you have to set yourself a deadline and then we set one for us and we're like all right, let's just stop.
Speaker 4:All right, I want to get you out of here on a fun one, not that this hasn't been fun.
Speaker 3:This has been a great conversation.
Speaker 4:This is one of my favorite films I've seen so far this weekend. How many donuts were ate on set? What's your favorite donut? And be honest with us. Okay, I will.
Speaker 5:I will, oh my goodness. So the donut shop we shot at also Cambodian-owned. I don't know if you know there's so many donut shops in LA and they're basically all owned by Cambodians. There's a really good documentary called the Donut King. I recommend people watching. So the donut shop that we shot at is open 24 hours, so we asked them to not open up for business when we were shooting, so we paid for everything. Literally after set that day people are going home with boxes of donuts. I swear. We were there for four days. The last day people were just like no, I don't want any more donuts, can't look at another donut.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so there was plenty of donuts eaten, but the production designer every day would pick donuts and leave them aside, and those are our production donuts. If we had leave them aside, and those are our production donuts. If, if we, we had shots of donuts, those are our production donuts. So, but we would have, like, um, I remember the first night I took home like six donuts in a box and it just sat there because no one ate it. And then, yeah, it's just and and uh and then they kept stacking.
Speaker 5:they kept stacking, yeah, and then, and then they were so generous, they were like oh, take some donuts. And then my favorite donuts of all time are Crullers.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I love Crullers and yeah, it's delicious and on set, the cinnamon roll is obviously a real cinnamon roll and it looked delicious. Delicious, yeah, it was great. Um, it was. It's also very good, but that one, that place, didn't make cinnamon rolls so you had to go to a.
Speaker 5:So we went to um another donut shop I'm blanking on the place. Uh, cinnabon, oh okay, so we got like. We got like two dozen Cinnabons just in case, because we kept cutting into it and I think Joy ate like eight pieces or something. That's a lot, because there was the door. We couldn't turn off the alarm for the door, so during takes it would go off. And then we're like, okay, we have to reset. And I'm like, can someone turn that off please? She's like eating it, spitting it out and stuff.
Speaker 5:I was like oh, my God yeah so, yeah, I love crawlers and we went through a lot of donuts. I love it.
Speaker 4:I love hearing it. Well, bea, thank you so much for taking some time out of your busy day here at the Tacoma Film Festival to talk to us about Donut Bug.
Speaker 5:Thank you so much man, it was a pleasure. I love being in Tacoma and I love being here at this festival. It was so much fun.
Speaker 4:Okay, that wraps up our 2024 Tacoma Film Festival coverage. One more thank you to all the incredible guests and filmmakers who were able to join us on the mics this past weekend. Max, we got it pretty good, don't we?
Speaker 1:We really do man, such a great weekend of meeting filmmakers, talking film and we're just. We're very lucky that we're so ingrained at the grand cinema because they are just, they're so good to us, you know, free popcorn for the weekend. It was great.
Speaker 4:Medium Dr Peppers, as far as the eye could see.
Speaker 4:Um it was, it was great. And yeah, Sunday, for those who joined us Sunday, it was it was really fun. Max and I, we kind of were entrusted to uh, keep, keep things afloat, along with, of course, wonderful staff and volunteers there at the grand cinema who help run and operate the Tacoma film festival. Shout out to Ken, shout out to everybody there making things happen, um, behind the scenes. But Sunday was a great, great way to close it out. We do want to give sort of one last recap here and some shout outs to a few films who we were unable to talk to, the filmmakers on things that we saw throughout the weekend that we didn't highlight here on the pod. So what's the first one that you want to give a little extra love to?
Speaker 1:well, I mean, I think, yeah, a film that has really struck a chord with me, that I'm really obsessed with, uh, and hopefully strong word yeah hopefully we'll uh in the future. We'll get this filmmaker on uh via zoom. I've been in contact with them over the weekend. They weren't, unfortunately. They weren't up here for the fest, but that is fish, monger, monger, fish monger fish monger fish monger by uh neil free. Uh, oh gosh, let me disney you're kind of the pod monger I am the pod monger by, uh, neil farron.
Speaker 1:Um, just I, this movie it's like, it's such, it it's so visceral, uh, it's a black comedy, uh, but then with horror elements in it with, uh, you know, it's a story about a mermaid creature. Uh, it's got great accents, uh, shot in beautiful black and white and and it just it. I really, really love this film. Uh, probably my favorite short that I've seen this year and you know, I honestly it could, it could sneak on, depending how the year it closes out, it could sneak on to the the top five list, uh, of the year.
Speaker 4:I'm, I'm just, I'm so blown away by this movie I keep thinking about you know like how would you describe this movie to someone in an elevator? And I feel like it's. It's like if you took the romanticism of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or something like that and made it, but made it into a satire of an eight 24 film.
Speaker 1:It's so good, it's seriously yeah, yeah, it's really great. I've seen it many times now and, uh, yeah, as soon as it's available, wherever you can see it, go, go check it out because I think it I think it was down at fantastic fest, I think that was its world premiere but yeah, just a just a really amazing, awesome film and just exciting filmmaking. I can't wait to see what Neil does. That's next. I honestly, after one short season tickets and and he is such an awesome and nice guy who I've been talking to and again, I hope we get him on the pod via virtual soon short which was cool to see, um one that I want to talk about the the documentary short films.
Speaker 4:That's one of my most anticipated blocks every single year, not only at this film festival but any film festival that I'm in attendance at, and so there are a few really strong documentary short films that I had the privilege of seeing. One of them is called how may I help you, and it is such a creative documentary. It's a re. It's it's a reenaction of three different customer service phone calls that took place over the course of the last three or four years, especially really heightened, um there during the pandemic, where so many folks were kind of stuck at home and having to call to get in touch, not only to help solve problems in their own life. But there's one conversation that is depicted on screen where it's clearly someone just looking for a human connection and they kind of don't want to hang up the phone with the service provider who they're talking to. So just an extremely creative way to tell a documentary narrative. The stories were sourced through not only friends and colleagues but also from Reddit pages. Call workers of Reddit gets a shout out I believe that's the subreddit gets a shout out in the credits of this film, and so during the Q&A session, the audience members just could not wait to ask the filmmaker how did you approach this?
Speaker 4:There's a certain level of anonymity that you need to maintain when you're telling a story like this. Some of this stuff is very personal, it needs to remain confidential, and it can kind of only be one way. You know you can. The director chose to only show the folks receiving the calls from the call centers, as opposed to well, there's one where you get to see I shouldn't say that there's one where you get to see the man and he's the one who's really looking for the human connection. He's kind of in a rut, but just very powerful stuff, the way that this documentary comes across so cinematic and and really impactful. So so shout out to how may I help you?
Speaker 1:yeah, and the filmmaker, uh, for that is ella harman, uh, from chicago. Uh, she was at the fest. We didn't get a chance to sit down, but again, again, I met her down there in the lounge before her screening and someone again who voiced that she would love to come on the pod and talk anything, so any sort of film subject, but I would love to have her on as well at some point. Next film I want to talk about, you know, the animation short package that played on Sunday at 11.45 am was really impressive across the board and almost like experimental in most shorts. There's a couple in here that I really liked Gatsby by Alex Seymour, who is someone who's been working in theater for a very long time in New York and then decided to dip his toe into fiction film and went into animation with his first film here called Gatsby. It's like an old school 2D cartoon, hand-drawn animation film about a camel that is trying to blaze a new path in the desert. Path in the desert. Um, a really interesting film, uh, very fun and, again with the 2d, pretty nostalgic. And then there was another film called a kind of testament, which was really again this animation. It was almost like it looked rotoscope. I wish the filmmaker was in attendance because I want to ask so many questions about it.
Speaker 1:Because it's framed at first as like this true story about a woman who finds finds a website that's like under her name that has animations based on Facebook photos of her. But then at the, at the end of the short, during the credits, it says it's written by someone and there were like many animators on it. So I think it's it's fiction. But at first you're just like whoa, is this? Is this real? Am I watching the? And the actual animations she found of herself and they go into some like strange places has a little like malignant energy to it as far as like body horror going.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, just a really, really interesting short and that's by Stefan, uh, stefan Voleman, uh, and from France too, so it's a French film and uh, yeah, if, if you have a chance to check it out, uh, I would. I would give it 15 minutes, uh and uh yeah, but the whole animation shorts um were really good. There was one other one, nubbin wood, by tim granberg, was a really cute film about a beaver who wants to be an actor and it was mock, mockumentary style and it it kind of it, had um, had moments of of his auditions over the years, like trying out for Monsters Inc and Lord of the Rings and all these different kind of prominent Kung Fu Panda like big animation movies.
Speaker 4:But him, like you know, he like paints himself black and white to be a panda right, or paints himself green to be the Hulk, and so that was really cute, uh, and very fun uh, before I get to the last one that I want to shout out, I do just want to commend the grand one more time for their variety of not only contemporary short films and narrative and documentary features from this year, but also the little wrinkle of having some repertory screenings the paris texas screening hosted by the Tacoma Art Museum, which featured a really cool presentation from Charles Peterson afterwards showcasing the photographs that Paris Texas inspired him to take, in kind of this interesting connection between himself, kurt Cobain and the film Paris Texas. That was really exciting. Then the vibe in the theater during the um silence synced presentation of Nosferatu and Radiohead was really fun. That was cool to experience with with a crowd of people. But the last, the last film that I want to give a shout out to is the short film Under Chef. This is directed by Sean McGrath and Nate Fieldson. Nate, if you're listening, we're going to try to get you on. He was somebody that we were kind of ships passing throughout the festival. I just couldn't lock down a time. But Under Chef was one of my favorite shorts from the weekend and was part of that Pacific Northwest Dramatics block that kicked off the weekend there at the Blue Mouse Theater on Friday night. Just an incredibly strong block of shorts in general.
Speaker 4:But Undershef really spoke to me as this story of grit and perseverance. If you're a fan of the FX show the Bear, you will love this short film. It is about a kitchen and the chaos the controlled chaos of a kitchen and all the things that can and will go wrong, and again, that grit and that perseverance that you need to have if you want to survive in that business that I think we have all kind of become so fascinated with and that we almost romanticize. And so this film was incredibly visceral. Just the way that the camera moved around the kitchen, the sounds. You know, the sound design on any film is so important, but especially in that kitchen when you're hearing every little stovetop turn on and water boil and sauce sizzle, everything really came together in an extreme. With extreme, I guess I would say like tactile-ness, like this was a very sensory experience watching this film, and so Undershef gets two thumbs up from me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then the last one, and I know we, we, we actually interviewed this filmmaker, uh, I on part two of this series. But if you have a chance in your local area to see Call Me Mule, go see Call Me Mule by John McDonald, Because we interviewed him before we saw the film. Seeing the film like it is, um, an extremely awesome, like cinema verte uh, picture of of this man traveling on foot with mules across california and it's, it's, it's heartbreaking, it's delightful, um, it's funny and it's it's beautifully shot and the craftsmanship behind it is is pretty amazing, uh, and you know it's, I don't know it's. If you're an animal lover, uh, there's going to be hard moments for you in it, but, uh, it's really really fantastic so, john was a great guy to get to know as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, john John's such an awesome dude, um so, and he's been making documentaries forever since the seventies, uh, so, a master at his craft. And uh, yeah, I, I was really, I was really swept up, uh, in this documentary.
Speaker 4:All right. And then once again, just our deepest apologies to those who we missed this past weekend. It was. It was an amazing time, full of screenings, q a's, events and good company and, as max mentioned, there may still be an interview or two that we record virtually with a few of the filmmakers, so please be on the lookout for that. But for now we will close the book on tff and begin to look forward to next year's festival. Can I have a film for us there next year, max?
Speaker 1:I'm hoping so. Yeah, I mean we're in pre-production on the next project, so we're putting together the team right now and getting through the first draft of the script.
Speaker 4:So yeah, Talk a little bit about, just kind of you know, how was this year's festival in this year's festival season seen through the lens now of someone who's about to graduate film school.
Speaker 1:You know it's so funny. I've actually I kind of was talking to other filmmakers about this this weekend, like it's so, it's so fun to be at these festivals and hang out and see all these movies, but while I'm sitting there in the theater watching these movies, I'm like I, like I'm, I'm tired of watching movies. I just want to go make one, like I. Just I just want to. I want to be on set, like I, I, I need to. I need to make something.
Speaker 4:Um, so it's. It's a level that's something above inspiration. I don't even know what you would call that, but that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, it's, it is, it's. Yeah, it really drives you and it does inspire you, like it's inspiration, but it's also just like I don't know. I just I have the itch I got to. So, hopefully, yes, next year I will be presenting a film, uh for for the Tacoma film fest, but but, yeah, I can't wait, can't wait to get get rolling on this next project.
Speaker 4:Amazing. All right, well, thank you so much, eti listeners, for engaging in these festival episodes. We love the opportunity to bring you insight and conversations from events like this. We will be returning to our regular studio sessions next episode, as Erica and I will be joined by special guests, sal Fratelloni, to talk about our favorite casting decisions of all time. Can't wait for you to hear that discussion, as it was great to have erica back in studio and to welcome sal onto the show. Can I uh?
Speaker 1:can I give my two cents on joker folia do? Because I think I, if I'm not mistaken this, this episode, yeah, this episode is going to be kind of centered around that film. It stinks, it stinks. It stunk from from the opening credits to all the way to the end. And you know, I think part of it is is on purpose for it to stink. But and I do think movies that stink are really important, especially in the bigger picture. But yeah, I hated it, I absolutely hated it.
Speaker 4:Amazing Love the take. Do you have any casting? Hall of Fame shout outs that you want to get off your chest as well While we got you on the mic, since you did miss that episode.
Speaker 1:Oh boy, I mean gosh, I don't know. It's really hard. It's really interesting Cause, like I was thinking about, you know, something like cast away with Tom Hanks right, like Tom Hanks is. Just, he's so perfect in that role. That movie is is something that, uh, I think is is perfectly crafted and and and the performance is is perfect, right, right, but like, could anyone do that role?
Speaker 4:could anyone? Could tim robbins do that role?
Speaker 1:yeah, right, like maybe, maybe, um. So when you're talking about like perfect casting, it, it's, it's.
Speaker 4:Could anybody else have been McCready in the thing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think so Absolutely. Oh yeah, Could Harrison Ford have done it?
Speaker 4:Absolutely. Harrison Ford could have 100% done it Right.
Speaker 1:Now, could anyone do Indiana Jones? I mean, you know Tom Selleck was so close to actually doing it. I mean you know Tom Selleck was so close to actually doing it, but is Indiana Jones the same cultural icon that he is? If it's Tom Selleck and his mustache, I don't know. It's really hard, it's really hard and I don't envy you guys for tackling this subject on this episode that I will not be on.
Speaker 4:Well, shout out to Sal Sal's, the one that brought it to our attention, and he certainly brings the fire on the episode. So until next time, please follow Excuse the Intermission on Instagram and all of us here at ETI on Letterboxd to track what we're watching between shows. And we will talk to you next time on Excuse the Intermission, where movies still matter. Bye.
