Excuse the Intermission
Alex and Max take you on a journey through film with this discussion podcast about movies.
Excuse the Intermission
Lights, Camera, Diploma: Confessions of a Mid-30s Film Grad
Stepping into the spotlight this week is our very own Max Fosberg, fresh from his graduation at Seattle Film Institute. In this deeply personal conversation, Max opens up about the transformative journey of pursuing film education in his mid-thirties—a decision that initially felt "almost silly" but ultimately proved profoundly rewarding.
The discussion reveals fascinating insights into the practical realities of student filmmaking, where location often dictates creative direction. "I think the first thing that I figured out for each idea was location," Max shares, explaining how his vampire film "Nightstock" grew from having access to a park, while other projects emerged from available spaces like a brewery. This resourcefulness represents the true spirit of independent filmmaking.
Beyond technical skills, Max reflects on how film school reshapes one's relationship with cinema itself. He now studies lighting with particular fascination, noting how flat lighting in CGI-heavy productions often diminishes visual impact compared to the masterful shadow work in classics like Sidney Lumet's "Fail Safe." The conversation explores the vulnerability required when sharing creative work, the collaborative magic of production days, and how acting experiences enhanced his ability to communicate with performers.
Perhaps most moving is Max's recognition that the relationships formed during this journey matter most. From his Film Institute cohort to the broader Seattle film community, these connections have become the true measure of success. "It's not about the movies," he reflects. "It's really about the relationships." As Max prepares for new adventures in Los Angeles, his story serves as powerful inspiration for anyone considering their own creative leap—regardless of when in life that call comes.
What makes a truly successful filmmaker? Listen as we explore how passion, persistence, and people create the foundation for meaningful work in this challenging industry.
how's it? I'm alex mccauley and I'm max fosberg and this is excuse the intermission a discussion show surrounding our very own graduate. Max triumphantly graduated film school this past weekend. So ahead on this episode, I will be asking him all the burning questions about his experience and what he'll remember most from his time at the Seattle Film Institute. That conversation up next on the other side of this break. All right, buddy we're here.
Speaker 1:You're a free man, so to speak. Congratulations. It was a big day this past weekend. You're going to have to do the best on this episode to just put your pride aside. What's all about you, Um, what is what does the moment mean to you in general? Let's start there.
Speaker 2:Wow, uh, to graduate and to have a degree, uh, yeah, it means, it means a whole lot. I think you know, um, when I started the, the journey two years ago, uh it was, it felt kind of almost silly, right, um, you know, uh, in my mid thirties, going back to school, quitting work, um, and and also like this industry right In general, can always kind of be very dreamy and, um, something that is not success is hard to, I guess, kind of calculate. Uh, in film, I would think, um, but man, it means a lot. I listen, I, I I've never been a great student, never, ever, uh, in my whole life, and so, uh, but I'm a, I think I'm a pretty good filmmaker. So this was just kind of like a perfect storm, uh, to have the opportunity to go back and continue education and then also like to really do go study.
Speaker 2:Something that I'm really into was, uh was such a delight. But, uh, it meant a lot to me and it meant a lot to my parents. I, I really wanted to, you know, make them proud and happy and uh, yeah, I, I just yeah, it meant it meant a tremendous amount.
Speaker 1:I feel like it's hard to avoid cliches in a moment like this, right, but they're cliches for a reason.
Speaker 1:All those feelings are completely valid, and I hear what you're saying about finding you have to find passion in your work, to, to, to stay motivated and to keep your endurance up during long nights, editing or whatever it may be, and we'll get to that. But when you are passionate about it, it's a lot different. Like you know, for people who are passionate about science or math or language arts, then that's going to propel them through school, and so you just had to find the right thing, and it sounds like you did.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And you know Seattle film Institute has its um, has has its deficiencies, but also your alma mater, bro, but also like it is such an affordable way to go and study film and if you are truly passionate about the art form and also the craft, right, like that's another thing that you know, it's so funny. I I received, you know, many texts and calls and cards and whatnot this past weekend and you know it's always funny to hear people be like, oh man, yeah, you know you're going to be famous, or like I can't wait to see your movie in a theater and it's just like that's, I love that. But like this is a blue collar craft, like tech, very technical industry where you know I have no, I have no want to be famous. That's not why I wanted to go into filmmaking.
Speaker 2:I enjoy being part of a team that creates something, and especially when that something is a movie. You know, I think starting this podcast what now, five years ago, you know, starting this podcast, what now, five years ago, you know, really ignited that, that love, that you and I became so close, uh, as friends, like when we first met, when we were 15, um, movies have always just been extremely, extremely important to me, and so, um, there's no, there's no angle of like. Like, yes, of course I would love an opportunity to direct a, a large feature film and, uh, and have it in theaters nationwide. That would be absolutely amazing and, you know, I hope one day I get that opportunity. Um, but more importantly, I, I think I, you want to do good work. I just want to do good work and be a good, be a good craftsman and and and an artist in in in this industry.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I have eight questions here that I have not shared with you. Uh, that, I think, will kind of take us in a linear fashion through your experience at SFI, and you can spend as long or as little a time on each question as you want. Some of them will kind of lead into the other. So, until I actually ask you about the cohort and the people who you worked with, just do your best to try to hold off, because I want to give every facet of the experience kind of its moment for you to expand upon.
Speaker 1:Sure, we'll start at the beginning and kind of talk here about the creative side, to writing and directing your own short films, which you did a handful of times here in school, along with editing a few of them. So when you look back, kind of at the earliest stages and when maybe it was that first short film assignment, coming up with creative ideas and developing scripts, things that you hadn't really done yet, you hadn't like taken ideas and put them to paper or put them to a keyboard. So did did ideas evolve in unexpected ways? What were the best strategies for you to get those ideas out?
Speaker 2:Uh, you know, it's funny when looking back at all all the films I think that I made throughout school. I think the first thing that I figured out for each idea was location, which is usually the biggest hurdle as a uh, a young indie starting out filmmaker.
Speaker 1:So you're thinking like I so before let's take.
Speaker 2:What do I have?
Speaker 1:let's take nightstock for example so, before you knew you wanted to make a vampire movie. You were like I have a park, what can I do in the park?
Speaker 2:yeah, I have a. I have a cool apartment, uh-huh, that is next door to a park that we can probably get out there and shoot without anyone bothering us, and how can I use that location? Or, like with Clogged, I have the brewery at the time right, I had the brewery space no-transcript.
Speaker 1:Right, I had the brewery space.
Speaker 2:How can I use that location? Um and unplugged. Unplugged, I think, was. I mean definitely because it was. The final project was a little bit more expansive because we're using multiple locations.
Speaker 1:The whole city was your oyster.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and, and, and, and and, and, and, and, and, and and, hopefully making that those ideas work. Um, I, I would say unplugged probably was more about the idea, but definitely those early films were all about, um, yeah, location, figuring out the location, because that is always the hardest thing to to figure out. Um, and then and then just building something around that location. Um, you know, something like Nightstock was interesting because the original, the first draft for that was way more expansive. Uh, in the, the neighborhood that I lived in, Like I wanted to try and get like some scenes on the T-Link uh train.
Speaker 2:I wanted to maybe try and use Doyle's as a bar setting for it. And I remember my this is only what our second quarter into film school. I remember my teacher, you know, giving me notes back on the on the script saying like this is really ambitious, I would, I would, I would cut it down, I would cut it down to just the park, like I think, if, if this, you know, uh, because you're you're gonna have trouble in this amount of time you have a time requirement.
Speaker 2:Yeah, getting all these locations right, because, um, which was a really really smart idea. But yeah, I think also, you know, I think, uh, it all it also ideas come from, obviously they there's a subconscious thing of what you're consuming. I think at the time I had just watched for nightstock, I just watched um addiction, uh, the 90s vampire film. I really loved how it looked in black and white and I was like, oh wow, this is a really cool take on a vampire story. And I hadn't.
Speaker 2:You know, my first film was a comedy. I love horror, I'd love to do something in horror. And then I think I was riding the T-Link one day, probably coming home from school, and, you know, kind of conjured up this idea of, like this kind of vigilante vampire that stalks you know bad people as opposed to, you know, vampires being the villains all the time. This vampire is is actually kind of a hero, vampire is actually kind of a hero, and so that idea just kind of grew from there. But yeah, I would say, definitely, starting out, it was all about location what's near me, what am I able to use and how can I build a story around that?
Speaker 1:Well, that that's really cool to hear location as as a part of really the technical learning curve that you don't maybe necessarily think of. When you're getting ready to go to film school or even watching a movie at home very casually, Maybe you start to pay attention more to the cinematography or the edit, and you know we can talk about that here with the next question. But I guess location is a good segue into it. Um, because when, when you're starting a new project or you're working on someone else's project and so much is getting thrown at you, um, were there, were there necessarily skills that came easier to you and then ones that you found more challenging? I guess we can start with location, because you did help some fellow students by going on other locations scouts and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So do you feel like that's something you have an eye for now, Like if you're, if you're driving around, if you're going through maybe a different neighborhood or a different part of our state that you haven't visited, that would look really good, or that that might. You might think that looks really good, but look, that's actually going to be a problem over there. You're not going to be able to set up lighting the way you want over here. Have you started to see things through a different set of lens?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I think so I think you know, when you're constantly trying to think of your next idea, yeah, just being out in the world, you'll see a spot or something and be like, oh wow, like that would look, that would look great, that would look great on a, on a screen but is it practical?
Speaker 2:big screen. Yeah, is it practical? I wonder, you know, could I just like show up with a camera and like in a skeleton crew and do that? Or I wonder who owns that building? Or you know one of the things for unplugged, we needed a market right.
Speaker 2:Uh, for one of the one of the sequences and I think I was out, I was out grocery shopping, uh, over in like the proctor district and driving home from the grocery store and like saw a little sign that was like you know, family market or something like that, and I just happened to go to that market and like that was really cool and like, and again that at first I was like this is, this is the ideal spot, this is where we're going to go. Like I walked in one of an old friend of mine was behind the counter, um, very exciting, uh prospect there. Of course, that that first location ended up not working, um, just due to other circumstances. Uh, but you know, but then it it kind of like, yeah, I think I, I think walking into any corner kind of space now is it's hard not to be like, okay, I would put the camera there, or you know we put lights there.
Speaker 2:There's like all the power outlets or um. You know how high are the, how high are the ceilings? Higher the ceiling. But yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that definitely has been integrated into me.
Speaker 1:So you came around to that? What other things did you maybe have to kind of come around to that? Weren't maybe as natural right off the bat?
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I think a lot of it has to do with with confidence in in your ideas and your vision.
Speaker 1:Um, probably your way around systems too, right, the editing software things that you have to get used to, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I, I think I I have made this very clear to everyone I've ever collaborated with over the past two years that like editing is just not I, just over the past two years, that like editing is just not I. I just editing is really really tough and really hard and I can do it, uh, to a certain amount, um, but uh, yeah, editing is is always going to be an uphill battle for me. I really don't like it, um, but but can do it, uh, you know, putting Putting the pen to paper. I also found that sitting down and writing a script was something I really came to Because, again, I had never really done that practice before and it's very intimidating to sit down, or it's not maybe not intimidating to sit down and write, but then to take that script and share it and get feedback and, um, I think that is like probably the once you maybe the most vulnerable you have to be.
Speaker 2:It's the most vulnerable it's the thing you have to learn to do and be okay with, and and even, and even showing films once they're done, too right, like there's there's a lot of it's it's nerve-wracking. It's nerve-wracking because you, you always want people to like what you do deep down and and, um, you know, if you do something silly or stupid or or everything you create you think is silly or stupid, or there's blemishes or it's not. It's not perfect, um, but I think that's kind of some of the some of the beauty of of it all, um, yeah, but uh, so so writing, sitting and writing is is is great and like I was able to pick that up pretty quickly as, as long as I'm like able to like, I found that if I get out of the house, like go somewhere, um, and and sit down and write, then I can, I can vomit out a draft real quick, um, but then taking that draft and sharing it with other people I think is something that I had to get really comfortable with, because it's, you know, it's kind of one of the reasons I don't listen to this podcast ever, right, like I, but I I think also that doing this podcast each week and like sharing it out with the world, even though it's it's a very it's way less informal right. You just put it out and and it's out, there it's. It's something you have to learn and something you gain confidence with.
Speaker 2:I was actually I was thinking about this today with Unplugged, which it's really interesting because I wrote that script in September, right, collective of like humans, you know, I think it has a little bit of dialogue with something like the substance or a movie I haven't seen yet, but that you speak highly of, companion um and it's so it's really interesting. That like and that and that kind of gives me confidence too, like. Oh, okay, I'm tapping into something that other people are feeling too, and I found that really an interesting experience and something that, again, will just build your confidence.
Speaker 1:So it sounds. What I'm hearing you say is you're more of a pre-production guy than a post-production guy. Would you say that's true?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, fuck post. You say that's true. Yeah, no, uh, fuck post. Uh, yeah, no, I. I really learned to love the, the pre-production, uh steps. You know the again, the, the writing of it all, the rewriting, the um, the planning, the putting together the team. You know, we always talk about those kind of movies, right, like it's, like oceans 11. You're like you want to be my assistant director? Yeah, you want to light, do you? Will you be my DP? Like you?
Speaker 1:think we need one more yeah.
Speaker 2:I think we need one more, yeah, yeah, I really, really love the pre-production and then, and then the production itself. Is I mean, is I mean just a that's? That's a real high. Especially, it's very nerve-wracking, the first like maybe 30 minutes, um, but once you get rolling and once you get, once you get into a rhythm, um, everyone's shoulders drop a little bit, yeah, and everyone's moving, everyone's working, everyone's, you know, inputting uh, opinions and and and collaborating. Um, that is, that is like a. That is another level of like fulfillment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I've seen you in the moment and you are very fulfilled in that moment. It's very apparent to anyone who's seen you work. Um, so that that part's awesome. So so, speaking of this collaborative art form here, that that goes into making a movie, you've you had the same cohort throughout your time at the Seattle film Institute. How did having that built in network of filmmakers shape your experience? Did having the immediate feedback and support system push your work in directions that you don't think it would have gone?
Speaker 2:otherwise, absolutely yeah, because you know, when you're in that kind of situation with strangers pretty much at least when you start out, you know, I, I consider all of them really close friends now but a, we were all, we were all being vulnerable, right, we were all writing, we were all sharing, we were all working on each other's projects, um, so it builds, it builds that camaraderie really quickly. I think I was really lucky with this cohort um, because I've heard from past students, other alumni or students below me, like not every cohort, it's actually very rare when everyone really comes together and like really supports each other. We had a really special group of people, I think, throughout our time there at SFI and it can be, it can be really hard and lonely if, if it's not like that, um, but yeah, I think I think that, and also you're, you're witnessing their progression as well, right, and so that that really motivated me to be like okay, like I. I see you know Zandra's first film and her second film, like the, the level of quality has gone up.
Speaker 2:Or, kevin Blackmore, you know, sorry to use your full name, kevin uh also known as dragon you, his, I remember his first film in in in quarter one. I mean, I was just, I was, I was blown away by by the quality of it, the editing, the sound like the, the cinematography, like it was insane. And I remember after we watched it, I I remember almost like I got emotional about it Cause I, I think we had just, we had just like jurored, uh, tacoma film festival, shout out to come a film festival, the grand Um.
Speaker 2:And I remember being like I just I just rated a bunch of screen screened a bunch of movies a bunch of film fest movies that are in a film fest and a big film fest, and this is might be better than all of them. Wow, at least technically.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:You know, Um and so yeah, so yeah, when you're surrounded by that, that that's always, I think, in a. You know what's the saying A rising tide.
Speaker 1:A rising tide, yes.
Speaker 2:Uh, so yeah, yeah, I think that's. I think that's. One thing that's really amazing about film school, uh, is that you are in a collective of of creative artists and like, again, everyone's going to rise together as long as you all buy in to it and and and. Then you know, you make these connections that are hopeful. Hopefully people you're going to work with, you know, for a very long time down the line and yeah, so I think, um, and yeah, so I, I think I think that was, yeah, that was, that was a really it was really special experience about going to film school.
Speaker 1:My next question, then, is I wonder if there was. I'm curious if there was ever any conversation about this or if it was maybe like an unspoken energy that you all felt um, between, between your cohort, your group there, because I feel like you were all entering this space at a really interesting time too, where now a lot of this stuff can at least be accessed maybe not learned, but accessed online. Everyone that you went to school with went the traditional film, was doing it the traditional film school route, and so how much do you think your success and the success of your cohort was tied to that in-person learning? Do you think things would have felt as rewarding as they do now if you had to do this remotely, maybe three years ago during the pandemic, or four years ago coming out of the pandemic?
Speaker 2:No, no, it would not have been. I mean, yes, you can go on youtube. You can go to youtube university and read all the books you want. Read all the books, uh, watch all the how-to videos, listen, you do a lot of that in film school. Sure, the teachers use videos all the time, um, but it's, that's going to be a very lonely experience if you do it that way. I feel like, and, and I don't think film again, making films is not something I don't think you can't do that remotely. I mean, you can do the pre-production, you can do the post-production, but like the actual filming and the production, you, you gotta, you gotta be in the same room. You gotta have, you gotta have some problems right, you have to problem solve on the go. You have to learn how to work as a cohesive group.
Speaker 1:Everyone has to understand their job and the tools that they have to make the best possible version of what you're making, yeah, and if you don't, if you only have those personal connections over Zoom, a video call with someone, it can't be, I can't imagine, the worst classes that you can take at SFI are the ones that are over Zoom.
Speaker 2:Granted, there were some fine classes, good classes that were over Zoom, but those are the ones you're not getting. You're just not getting in the most because, also like in a zoom, you know, cameras are off, mics are muted and you're listening to a lecture as opposed to in a room. You know there's energy there real discourse you're feeling energy there's. There's quiet moments where, like you can, you know. There's those small moments where, like you, become friends right like, uh, so, yeah, no, I filmmaking.
Speaker 2:You know, if, if you're gonna go the traditional route and listen, there's, there's no path, there's no actually one path that you can go, because, again, there's no path, there's no actually one path that you can go, cause, again, there's plenty of people who learned how to do it on their own, uh, whether it was YouTube or just going out and and shooting stuff, um, but I don't know, I I feel like if I were to, if I was going to do anything, um, different, like over, if I got a reset back at like, say, I'm graduating high school tomorrow and I'm I'm 18, you know, I think that's the only way you have to be young, because you would need way more time to learn every aspect on your own, if you're going to do it on your own.
Speaker 2:I see what you're saying. Like, if I were to do, if, if you know, two years ago I was like I quit my job because I was going to study film on my own, without schooling or anything a, I probably wouldn't have been able to do that, but b, uh, you know, I, I don't think. A, I wouldn't have made as many films as I've made and gotten that experience and confidence up by within two years. It would take, it would take another, probably take five or six years to actually get to a point where, like, oh, I have something that I can present and feel good about.
Speaker 1:Well it's. It's having a syllabus, it's having the accountability of not only your, your peers, but of an actual curriculum to follow Right.
Speaker 2:And it just gets you in a good habit too of like, I mean, listen, a lot of film school is showing up. If you're there, if you have good attendance, if you're there, if you crawl out of bed, you get on that train that takes you down to the bus that then takes you to school.
Speaker 1:Takes you 45 minutes north yeah.
Speaker 2:If you do that every day you're going to, you'll pass with flying colors and it's just a good.
Speaker 1:Let me give you some credit because you say that, and again, respectfully. You were invested, though Like I feel like folks could maybe do that and still not have the level of investment that you showed.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean, you do, you do have to. It's just about investing in yourself right Like why.
Speaker 2:I don't know, if you're not, if you're not invested in yourself, why would you do anything? I, I, I just yeah, yeah, that's a good point, yeah, but, yeah, I mean, but a lot of it is is just be there and a lot of that. That. That's in the industry too, like we've I've heard lots of stories from teachers or alumni or whatever, and it's just like if you say you're going to show up and you show up like you're going to get asked to come help out again, you know that stability needs to be availability.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely, you can learn. And again, like, maybe there's a, you know, there's definitely a pathway where, like you don't go to school and you just start, you know, seeking out productions and you just start showing up and people will teach you stuff you'll learn on the job. Um, I just yeah, I don't know if school felt, uh, you know the more right for me. I guess I feel like it.
Speaker 1:It is, it's, it's a very it had to have felt like a very natural progression from what we're doing here now, though, and that's kind of where I want my next question to go, because we have spent years now analyzing movies on the pod, but now that you've actually gone through the filmmaking process yourself, what aspects of a movie can you never unsee? Um, so, so like, are there any certain techniques? Or or maybe like a mistake that will immediately jump out to you? Or or think that was done this way to maybe cover something else up? Or oh, that was really smart what they did there, based off of what you now know like insider trading.
Speaker 2:I'll start with mistakes. I I have noticed that I I really notice when films use like the same shot, but for two different like if the same shot twice, right Like. I've found that I really noticed that where I'm like, oh, that is the just the exact same shot that they just used, but maybe it's like a little bit of a different reaction or something. Maybe it's a different take. A little bit of a different reaction or something. Maybe it's a different take, I think.
Speaker 2:I think also I can really tell when you're ADR in people, which is not a hard thing to tell, but there are definitely tricks to to doing using that method for, for maybe folks that don't know exactly what you're talking about with the voice, yeah, so like, if, if, if you had like, on the day of production you, you know, record a scene with some dialogue. Either audio is bad, you decide you didn't like the dialogue, uh, or you know anything, any sort of thing, where that dialogue, that audio is not usable. You would then have an act, the actor uh, hopefully the same actor come in and dub their voice to the footage, right, so you're playing the footage in front of them and then they are speaking into a mic you know, not dissimilar from our podcast mics in a studio, um, a controlled environment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to try, and to try and dub uh what, uh, what's being displayed on screen? Uh, I think so. Yeah, that I mean and you know a lot of tricks is like don't show someone's mouth If you're going to do that have the lines off screen or have the person turned or have a take where they're turned around or something like that.
Speaker 2:Um, uh, I think the number one thing I like study in films now is lighting. I think that is cause, honestly, when it if you think about your favorite films of all time live action and even animated too, but mainly live action I think the the first thing that you really love about a film is the way it looks right. Way it looks right. If you can buy into what you're looking at and it looks a pleasing way to you, then it's pretty easy to get on board with the rest of the movie. And so lighting is really, honestly, the foundation of any good movie, which is why stuff a lot of big, huge productions today are are feel less than right Because a lot of it is not using practical lighting anymore. A lot of it's just using flat lighting or they're in front of a green screen so they have to light so much of the scene to build, to get the graphics to look real in the background. So lighting is something that I really narrow in on while I'm watching a film, like I watched this awesome film the other night from 1964 called Fail Safe, sidney Lumet film. It's like the serious version of Dr Strangelove, which is crazy because it came out in the same year as Dr Strangelove, but it's all about the US and the Russians and there's a fail safe that goes wrong. And then like, so now we're flying to Moscow to bomb them and um, really great movie. Uh, but the lighting in that film is unbelievable. And you know, uh, yeah, the the way there, but yeah, the way they're.
Speaker 2:Sydney was not afraid of shadow and you know just like the harsh lines of darkness and light play so well on people's faces and I hope films get back to lighting. You really focusing on the lighting, I think it also comes down to like, you know you got filming in location too, or like at least building sets and then having practical lighting. Um, you know no more of this volume crap, because that's why marvel movies look like shit, because it's just flat or something like wicked. Uh, which I complained about the look of it, you know, this whole year, because it's so CGI, heavy in the background, that's just flatly lit. So there's no shadows, there's no texture to the light, to the image that you're seeing on screen. So lighting, I think, is the number one thing.
Speaker 1:I really, really focus on, Gained an appreciation for it.
Speaker 2:When it's done correctly, Well yeah and I mean listen, and it's so funny because, yes, directors don't really deal with the lighting. Dps have an opinion about the lighting, but it is. It is the lead gaffer, it's the grips, it's uh, you know, the key, the, the, the best.
Speaker 1:I think, best person, best person, best person, yep yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, uh, yeah, those, those folks, those are what make your films, uh, fantastic. And if, if you have a great team lighting team, people clear out.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, shout out Matthew Rush, uh, mr Gaffer, and in these parts of the Pacific Northwest. Uh, he's just, he's a, he's a real genius at lighting.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Um, yeah, shout out Matt Rush always. Okay. So so also in in going to film school there come, come. What comes with that is also a lot of film history, and you did a lot of studying, um, going into different projects, kind of talk about how the film history and going back and working through whether it's directors, catalogs, maybe stuff that we've sort of touched on here on the podcast. But then also when it came time for film discussions and how interacting with your cohort, talking about films in a similar way to what we do here on the pod, maybe felt a little bit different doing it in that academic setting.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I think this was the most surprising thing that I experienced in film school, was not? You know, not everyone was obsessed with film and film history as much as you, and I right a great like foundation foundation and like pre-schooling to school, right a pre-course like uh, under you know, studying films each week on this show.
Speaker 2:Really I felt like gave me a huge, huge foundation, or huge, I don't even want to say head start, but like uh, advantage you know, I don't know if those are the right words, but honestly, there were a lot of people in film school that didn't know about certain movies, or didn't know about directors, or didn't understand that you know about what happened in the 70s with Spielberg, coppola, scorsese, or, you know, weren't aware of Alfred Hitchcock and how many hundreds of movies he made um, or that he never won an Oscar, or um the fact that Kelly Reichardt is a master filmmaker, who's just almost no one knows about him.
Speaker 2:Yeah tiny films in Portland for the past 25 years. Yeah, I think film history and studying film, having that base of doing that for what three years before I started was, was huge and and um, I think the biggest thing I learned from studying more film history. There are so many and this is going to be so cliche because I know I get fed this all the time from Instagram and shit from Scorsese and Spielberg but there are so many amazing, monumental films that you know, starting in the sixties and backwards, and really studying those films is really how, because those are, they're so fundamental and so technically tight because of the restrictions back then and what it's just any movie from the 1900s up to the 60s. Everyone should watch more of those.
Speaker 1:Do you have any directors you want to shout out?
Speaker 2:I mean Billy Wilder, anything from him, John Ford, of course, german expressionism yeah, fritz Lang, fritz Lang, max Schreck, who was an actor, but yeah, fritz Lang lang, fritz lane, max shrek, uh, who was an actor, but, um, yeah, fritz lane, uh, any german expressionist film. I mean that to understand. That's where horror came from. That is like it's. It's a real, like high octane injection of of that type of film. Uh and yeah.
Speaker 1:I, I, I just yeah. Nothing's like watered down, it's just yeah.
Speaker 2:Einstein Uh, oh gosh, what did he do? Battle of Potemkin.
Speaker 2:Okay, I mean you know how many times that and a lot of those. It's so funny because a lot of those movies then got kind of, like you know, homaged in the seventies, which is where, like we really, you know, are now homaging of right. So it all just goes back, but film just repeats itself, really honestly, because you do, because you got to study the people that came before, and so I think that was the biggest thing, because I was aware of stuff you know, 1960 and forward, but 1960 and backwards. There are just so many amazing films and so many films that you can learn. Many amazing films and so many films that you can learn like, just like the blocking, like just go watch, um, oh, what's the rock Hudson movie? Um, all that heaven can afford, or something like that.
Speaker 1:I mean these, the, the, just yeah, go watch old movies, old, old movies, old movies, um, I I am curious if some of the techniques like because I think when you and I sit down and we talk about brian de palma ad nauseum and and people like that is there a wear and is there an awareness of something like a split screen or split diopter shot that is still taught in film school, or are those techniques more of a thing from the past that seems to be staying there?
Speaker 2:Uh, you know, split diopter didn't really come.
Speaker 1:come up there's cause you don't really see it that often in in film anymore. So I'm wondering like is something like that taught?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it's, it's not. I wonder if it's kind of more of a a thing that has to do with actual, like filming on film I bet it is actually yeah, because it's much more of a an editing technique to do with actual physical film film, whereas you know digitally, now you can control all that while you're shooting someone in the foreground, in focus and in the background, right, yeah so, um, so, yeah, no, those tricks weren't really, weren't really uh really studied at all, maybe a little bit, yeah, um, you know de palma specifically, I think you know he, his films definitely came up a couple of times in our history classes um some of the more recent names I can recall you mentioning.
Speaker 1:There are, like the steven soderbergh's, soderbergh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the night. It seems like the night because which makes sense a lot of the teachers in film school right now are gen x people so like soderbergh tarantino fincher fincher pta maybe yeah, pta those 80s, 90s people who were, who were just coming on the scene, those are the people that they were inspired by to become filmmakers right um are most of the teachers and professors, former filmmakers themselves.
Speaker 1:Oh, I wouldn't call them former. They're current filmmakers okay, you never stop making movies.
Speaker 2:You never stop making movies uh, if you're teaching, you know, if you're teaching film, you're just you're, you're did you get to see any of your now former professors work?
Speaker 1:uh gosh if they want, if they want you to buy in and be vulnerable.
Speaker 2:That's a one-way ticket, right there, yeah uh, one of my professors, noah, why, sal, he's, he's a big experimental film guy, loves that stuff. He showed a couple of his experimental films. You know, yes, absolutely my capstone, both my capstone teachers shared their work with us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you get to see that. Yeah, even you know my screenwriting teacher. She would share pieces of her writing with us. But yeah, everyone's always working. I mean, you know everyone's. There were multiple. I think there was at least one time when noah had to go to a film fest for one of his films and so class was, you know, excused or whatever um, so yeah, uh, teacher, people who teach film they're either they're.
Speaker 2:They're either working in the industry or, like my history, my film history teacher, who taught the history of Hollywood and the language of film and international cinema history you know, he's a critic, he's a professional critic in LA who is a movie critic.
Speaker 2:He just and he writes articles for newspapers and or newspapers websites and adam naiman of short of sorts, yeah, totally and has been for a very long time and has met, you know, has interviewed many famous filmmakers and, over his years, um, but then, like you know, my intro to producing teacher is a she is a working in in the industry. Or, you know, my splatter is a working screenwriter. Uh, noah makes films, um, and is a director and editor as well. So, yes, I think if you teach film you, uh, you, you are working in film.
Speaker 1:I love that. Okay, one one more here that I want to throw at you before I kind of get to our conclusion, because I can't. I can't let the people be deprived of the fact that not only were you behind the camera a ton in the edit, post-production, um, but but you were also in front of the camera a few times. What, what was that like? Cause?
Speaker 1:this isn't just like us making videos in high school anymore. This, this was. You want to talk about vulnerability. This was putting yourself out there in a way that you never had before either. So what was the acting part of this all like?
Speaker 2:You know that, yeah, the acting was uh, it's just super fun.
Speaker 1:It's super fun to be an actor, yeah.
Speaker 2:Especially when you're learning how to make films. Sure, yeah, and then you get cast in one of these student projects as a character in the film. So you know, yeah, acting is extremely fun. I'm not going to sit here and say I'm a, I'm a great actor. There is a and it's really interesting because, you know, I think, pretty much only on one of my films I worked with actual working actors, and actors are very thoughtful, they're very deep, they're very, they want to, they want to get into the character.
Speaker 2:You know they're very serious about their work. Um, and so, when I was acting in front of the camera for, you know, a couple, a couple of different projects, uh it was, it was a lot. It was a lot more play, uh, you know, but I chewing on some but I chewing on some scenery chewing on some scenery and, like you know, I don't know, I I was able to go to a place.
Speaker 2:I I was able to go to a place you know, um, there was a really great class that we took I don't know, I think it was third quarter maybe um called directing the actor, which the cohort in it was pretty much an introductory acting class where we learned, you know, the methods of of acting and then and then we had to act for each other in that class and I think that really opened up an idea of like, oh, wow, like there is, there is definitely a uh, a large, deep, uh again craft to acting.
Speaker 2:Um, but yeah, I, I really enjoyed doing the stuff I did in front of the camera. I hope, gosh, I hope I get to see some of it soon, uh, but yeah, uh, I, yeah, uh, I. Acting is really fun. And and again, I think it's a great way to learn, because another big scary thing when you're making films is is honestly talking and communicating to actors, because all they want to do is make you happy. If you're the director, all they want to do is make you happy. If you're the director, all they want to do is make you happy with what they're doing.
Speaker 2:but you have to be able to articulate articulate exactly what you want them to do, because, as actors, you know we're there. They're there to to be, to be coached, to be coached, to be told, not not like, how to read a line. Don't ever, don't, ever give an actor a line reading. Don't ever be like no. You should say it like this you have to. You have to go deeper than that. You have to be like. I want you to come up to this person like it's a, like you're 16 and you're asking your crush to the first homecoming dance of your high school career.
Speaker 2:You have to give them situations when, where, how, why. Yeah, you have to give them situations so then they can tap into that feeling. Cause that's the really interesting thing about acting is that, like, at least some of the methods, is that like, if you, if you give them a scenario like that they have trained themselves to, to go in and like scrape that emotion and that feeling from that moment in their life somewhere, or at least pretend like that moment is happening, uh, and and what they think would be the that emotion? Um, but yeah, acting is really fun. I'm, I'm always down to act. Uh, I'm actually podcast, I'm doing a little podcasting. Uh, podcast acting next weekend for a friend from school. Uh, he started doing a, a narrative.
Speaker 1:It's like a fantasy narrative um podcast you know, back in the 40s they just called these like radio shows I know I know, right, that's where we're at. That's great, though. Yeah, that'll be fun.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, yeah, a bunch of voice work yeah, a bunch of voice work, uh, which is gonna be really cool, and and again, like they're just gonna write a script and then and give me a character, and then I get to build that character.
Speaker 2:That's really fun um yeah, so that that's, that's exciting, but uh, but yeah, acting is really fun. I will say I have. So I've done a couple different acting stuff on the screen. I find screen acting a lot easier than stage acting and I've only auditioned, I think now for three different plays in my life. But most recently I auditioned for something up in Seattle and stage acting is just like a whole nother, like like screen acting is is American football and stage acting is soccer, soccer, different beast, like it is a whole different sport and, uh, like it is a whole different sport and way scarier and way harder. That kind of acting takes a lot more training, I feel like, because you really have to embody a character as like a living thing, because you're on stage.
Speaker 1:There's no cut. Yeah, there's no time for feedback. Yeah, there's no cut. There's no time for feedback.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's no cut, there's no resetting, there's no. Can I try it this way? Uh, it's like you have to like really embody whatever character you're playing, um, so that's really hard to do. But screen acting it's a lot more mechanical, it's a lot more like, and, yeah, you know you can get nervous about it's a lot more like and, yeah, you know you can get nervous about memorizing lines. But really, if, if you're, if you're committing to it, if you're committing to whatever bit you're doing, uh, you know it, it comes naturally. Uh, and yeah, screen acting's really fun. I highly recommend it, uh, especially if you want to be a filmmaker too. I think it's a great way to understand actors better and learn how to, because whatever would be helpful for you to, to learn to, to do a better job at acting is going to be, you know, in in reverse, that's going to be helpful to give to an actor.
Speaker 1:What I'm hearing you say is that and I don't think this is any great revelation but that it takes a village. And so what can you say about the Seattle and the Pacific Northwest film community that helped you get to this point that you're now at?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a really great community that you're now at. Yeah, uh, it's, it's. It's a really great community, it's. I wish I wish there was a stronger industry up here where more people could work, because there are so many talented, talented people, uh, in in the Pacific Northwest and, um, a lot of really great you know, writers, directors, actors, craftspeople and again, that community. It's just a really special thing to find that group of people who are like, yeah, I'm obsessed with this too and of course, I will be at your house at 8 am driving from Seattle or Issaquah.
Speaker 1:And when I leave at 3 am and say it's no big deal, believe me.
Speaker 2:Believe me, like there's no other place I'd rather be. And Seattle has a really, really strong community of film people and it's so funny. Every time Kaylee and I have worked with people in the past couple of months, I've worked with people in the past couple of months you know we've we'll lay in bed that night and just be like you know, because you know we're moving to LA, we're making the move and we're going to have to find a whole new community down there. Not that we don't have some people down there already, but every time we work with our Seattle people, we lay in bed at night and we're just like are we making the right decision? Wouldn't it be great if we could just make films with these people up here? For the rest, of our lives.
Speaker 1:Bring the industry up here or bring the team down there Right for the rest of our lives.
Speaker 2:Bring the industry up here or bring the team down there, right, um, like, yeah, like I, you know. Again, another shout out to Matthew Rush. Like I, I want to work with Matthew Rush the rest the rest of my life. Uh, I want to work with Lucas chapel the rest of my life. I want to work with Molly Muse the rest of my life. I, I trust them and we just support each other so much so, especially when we're on set, it's just such a good team aspect. But yeah, I just wish there was more work and maybe there will be one day. Hopefully, like you said, bring the industry here, so maybe we can.
Speaker 2:Well, and as you said earlier too, no one stops making movies, no one stops making movies Right, and to be honest, like if you're going to work in this industry, you're going to have to travel.
Speaker 1:Well, you're pioneers. Yeah, you're like going after the gold rush you got to follow the work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, but yeah, no, there's uh, if you're, if you're thinking about getting into film, uh, and this community up here it's a really strong community, it's a really welcoming community, um and again, like there are projects going on, uh and uh, I just wish, I just wish there was more, because there's really good people at what they do and I just don't think there's enough. Sandbox isn't big enough. Yeah, there's enough to go around, but yeah, man, really really good community up here.
Speaker 1:So that leads us in here to kind of the looking forward question that I won't hit you with the one I've heard you already be asked what's next? What's next what? What I'm more curious and knowing, and and you know, if listeners of the podcast want to reach out and talk to you more about it, I'm sure Max would be more than willing to chat about his journey. What? What I'm curious about is how do you think, how do you plan on applying what you've learned in film school? And and then also to second part of that, like when you do look back on this experience, maybe after the move, or five years from now, or 10 years from now, what do you think you'll remember the most? But but going back to the first part, like, how do you plan on applying what you learned the most? Because you learned the entire gambit. You learned how to do everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So how do you see that now transitioning into the workplace?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 1:I think Because, theoretically, like you would take a job doing anything, right, I mean, yeah, that's what you've been trained on or trained to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, so, yeah, my how I'm going to, I think the biggest thing and again I think it just comes back to being a well-rounded, collaborative team player and I think that's the biggest thing that you can take from film school and then plug in and and and again, because if, if you go from film school onto a big hollywood production right away, right, you're gonna get put where they need you to be, and so being able to, and so being able to wrap cable or control crowds or cater or fucking, just running and getting coffee and like, and not, not not being too proud for it, not being too, you know, above, like, like, I'm a director.
Speaker 2:I just finished film school. I've I've done 10 films in the past 10 years, two years, um, being able to go in and be part of a team and be a a a good collaborative partner, I think is is the biggest thing that I will use going forward. Whatever path that takes me on as far as like, do I go grip, gaffer lighting? Do I go, you know, uh, camera, pa, ac, dp. Do I go the director route? Do I go producing route? Do I go editing route? Screenwriting, perhaps, screenwriting. Yeah, I mean, I can't wait to find out, yeah.
Speaker 1:That part's all unwritten. Yeah, that part is all unwritten.
Speaker 2:That's the stuff you don't need an answer for, I think yeah, the biggest thing is that I just I need to get on set. I want to get on sets, I want to get, I need to meet people and I need to be a good, collaborative, positive person on set, because that is the most important thing. It doesn't matter how good you are with a fucking light or a camera. If you are a good team positive player, if you are a glue know, cause that's what film sets are made of. They're made of lots of really good glue people.
Speaker 1:Well, an opportunity is the birthplace of creativity. So you have to be in the space first, and you've done the hard work You've. You've gotten the piece of paper now that says I belong Not that you didn't already belong but, but you know what I mean? Yeah, totally, totally.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so, yeah, I hope, yeah, I think my biggest goal is to get some sort of whether it's a major studio, a small studio, a mid tier studio, somewhere with infrastructure, where I can, I can a meet lots of people, I can maybe, you know, touch every little, every department, uh, and and again, just continue to learn and grab the opportunities as they come. Yeah, and then what was the other question? The second half of it?
Speaker 1:Looking back on the film school experience. On the film school experience, what will you remember the most?
Speaker 2:It's the people, right, it's the cohort, it's, it's, um, you know, uh, one of the cohorts, gabe cooper, great filmmaker, made a just an amazing. He took bts from everybody from all the projects spanning over the past two years and, uh, and put it into a little, you know like, Um but yeah, I mean it's, it's the friendships, it's, it's the whether it's with students, teachers, alumni, people in the industry, um, it's all the the wonderful people that I've met over the over the past two years.
Speaker 1:It's just it's not about the movies. It's not the people you meet along the way. It's really yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not man. The movies are awesome and that's all our work and our goal and our craft. But, like it's really, it's really about the relationships. And yeah, you know I went bowling with the cohort last night and you know we were all talking outside in the parking lot after. You know, we were all talking outside, uh, in the parking lot after, and it's just like you know I hope we will see. You know, we're, we're going to see each other. Let's, let's make sure we see each other. You know, or talk to each other at least once a month, and we're keeping the group, the group text message, alive and um and updating each other on what we're working on and if anyone needs any help, like reach out. You know, yeah, this isn't goodbye, no no.
Speaker 2:And you know people are going. You know it's so crazy. You know we did this whole two-year thing, but people are going other places. You know Oklahoma or California or you know Canada, so it's cool. It's cool Now like we've got. Once you make a friend in film, you got a film friend for life.
Speaker 1:That's great, that's really good. Um, okay, so then, you know, I I feel like I feel like I am truly interviewing a guest right now and not my co-host, because I I have to ask you to let people know where they can find some of the, some of these projects that you've worked on uh throughout your two years there at SIF.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and again, this is the scariest part. Uh, what'd?
Speaker 1:you call it SIF, sif. Seattle Institute of.
Speaker 2:Film Could work. Could be a rival school, who knows? Maybe I'll start it. Where can you go? Search Max Fosberg on YouTube and you will see all the films up to my Capstone film plugged. I'm hoping to take that film on a little bit of a festival run.
Speaker 1:Uh, probably next year um, I'm sure some of the listeners will be in attendance at its. Some of the listeners premiere.
Speaker 2:Yes, I'm I. I am having a cast and crew, family and friends premiere this coming weekend. We are packed to the gills.
Speaker 1:I just adjusted my RSVP the other day and I was like, wow, I'm glad I did this.
Speaker 2:I'm so sorry. If you're listening to this and you want to be there and I didn't invite you.
Speaker 1:I'm so sorry. No, you invited a ton of people. Yeah, and those ton of people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and those people invited people.
Speaker 1:And the grand can only hold so many in a theater.
Speaker 2:So many, so many. So yeah, it's going to be wild, that's going to be really fun. But yeah, I think, other than that I'm keeping Unplugged offline, yeah, because I do want to try and get it into uh, some genre fests, uh around around the country and hopefully that means, you know, coming back up up north, uh, maybe in the fall, um, or yeah, fall or spring, I don't know uh and movies can play festivals forever forever in this forever forever.
Speaker 2:Uh. So yeah, hopefully you know and we'll keep you updated. Listen as soon as I know you'll know the eti listeners will know yeah, they've been listen maxi school corner, like they've been.
Speaker 1:People have been invested the the pod. The pod has kept the ear to the ground.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's really cool, it's very awesome that again it all comes back to the pod. It really does, Alex, and actually you know it even goes further back.
Speaker 2:It comes back to you know, you were probably one of my first film friends, if not my first, and just thank you so much for loving, for loving and enabling, and enabling it yeah, because I mean honestly, like you know, uh, that's, that's really the foundation of our friendship and like I remember, you know, some of the first films that we explored together and watched together, and and um, it struck a, struck a chord differently yeah, and then for us, you know, it's really cool to think about.
Speaker 2:You know, at 15 like we watched requiem for a dream together and then like we were just like, well, I guess, yeah, I guess we're film buds for the rest of our lives and and then, and then starting this podcast and what that's become, and then, honestly, you've been, you're like the guy shoveling the coal into the engine that keeps the train going, you know.
Speaker 1:I appreciate all that. That's really nice of you to say yeah.
Speaker 2:And then also, like I mean gosh, you've been on every, almost every set uh of mine.
Speaker 1:Um, I mean, I can, just I can speak for, for our entire friend group outside of the, the film Institute, friends, um, and, and the folks that you've collaborated with, but everyone who's known you for as long as they have.
Speaker 1:I mean, I posted a quick video of me, you and our buddy Tim in the car the car kind of post-graduation celebration and the amount of love that I got on that from people who we went to high school with, people who have gotten to know you over the past five to ten years. The outpouring was just so great. I think everyone knows that this is your true calling in life is to work in film, and I wouldn't have seen the reaction that I saw this past weekend and I was with you for a lot of the day and your phone's blowing up. You know people coming out of the woodwork to send their congratulations and so I think that you know again it's you always want to stay humble, but I do think that this is a time for you to be in a place of acceptance for all this praise and appreciation for what you've accomplished, because it's major man, it's awesome, and I'm just happy to be a little part of it and someone that continues to encourage and enable you in all different ways.
Speaker 1:Whether that's hey, we got to watch 10 Soderbergh films this week, or you know what, we're actually going to turn the mics around on you and I'm putting you on the spot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. Thank you for doing that. Um, uh, I, it's always hard. It's always hard for me to celebrate me, um, because I just, you know, I again, I, I it's not like I want to be famous, I, that's not why I do this Um, I just really really love film and uh, yeah, all the support I mean you know this goes out to my parents, um, and and Tim, and all the Chatter Network people, derek and Kristen, and you know everybody the support that I've gotten when I made this decision and then throughout the journey and like, and even goes back to when we started the podcast.
Speaker 2:Like, it's just, if you don't, I'm so lucky and privileged to have such a great, amazing group of of people in my life. That's the driving force. Yeah, I like film, but like, if I, if, if I liked film but didn't have any friends or family, I probably wouldn't do this. So it's it really it comes back. It takes a village, as you said earlier, and not only, not only the people who are on set, but the people who are offset and can, can sit and listen to. I mean, how many times have I come in here and and vented to you about something going on? You know whether it was at school or at a production or something.
Speaker 1:Of course, of course and think about all the filmmakers that we've interviewed at the various film festivals that we've covered and one of my a question that I am so interested in asking almost every single filmmaker is like what does your support system look like off of a film set, how? How do you come home and unpack and what does that process look like to you? Because that's where I think it not only as just someone who's a fan of film, but as someone who I know is so closely tied to an inspiring filmmaker or you know, you never know who's listening to our different episodes like that's where you can really learn things, I feel like, and so I'm so excited for you to continue this journey and to to continue to learn and live vicariously through your experiences as you venture forward experiences as you venture forward.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it will be. It will be really cool, uh, come you know, one day, if I get the opportunity to make a, a feature film, and we've got, excuse, the intermission on the red carpet, that'd be, that'd be pretty sweet oh, I get.
Speaker 1:what's the movie I'm thinking of, where, um, it's like a journalism movie and they're just like I get first right to the story, like I get first interview as much as you might want it to be entertainment weekly or the ringer or whoever I get first interview. Oh, that's great. Okay, as for what's next here on the thanks, you know what? Thank you for letting me sit down and grill you for an hour. I hope that was thank you for the idea for this, this episode, that's it's.
Speaker 2:It's really cool and if not now, when? Yeah, it's real, real special. And uh, yeah, Excuse the intermission man, we're still going to be sitting down talking film, Don't worry, Um, um all the time. And uh, yeah, I again, I, the podcast. The podcast is a big, big part of it, so it's really. I love, I love the pod.
Speaker 1:Thank you listeners, absolutely, of course, and and much like how you're saying you don't know if you would be making movies if it wasn't for the friends to show them to. We might be doing this just talking into a microphone if no one was listening. It's what we were doing before we started the pod. But you're absolutely right, like listener feedback, knowing that there's an audience, it's a huge driving force, huge. So you will be putting the official co-host hat back on next week, you're out of the hot seat and we will be doing a spring roundup of recent theatrical and streamer releases. Oh, it's been pretty dire. I know it. Listen, we might just have to call a spade a spade and and go dumpster diving a little bit uh, maybe we find some gems in there.
Speaker 1:Um, I'm not sure exactly how far we'll take this back. I think maybe mid-February to now beginning of February, which allows us to touch on a few films that we've neglected to cover, such as the Gorge. There's a couple other bigger ones out there as well, but you're right, it's been a tough time on Letterboxd recently.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's why I've been watching 1964 movies from cindy lamette, that's why I can't get off stardew valley there's no reason for me to to get off xbox right now.
Speaker 1:I'm just me and john carpenter. Um, okay, so until next time, follow excuse the intermission on instagram and the three of us, including erica, on Letterboxd To track what we are watching between shows. And we will talk to you next time On ETI, where movies still matter. Thank you.
