Just Screen It

On the show today I’m talking with James Insalaco, who made his first feature, a comedy entitled Will Reading , on a shoestring budget over eighteen months. This is one of those DIY stories of a filmmaker putting together a self-funded project with available resources and friends as cast and crew. I think this is a great way to approach a first feature, recognizing that filmmaking is hard and it t...

Today I’m talking with Jason Ragosta , who’s been working on a variety of projects at both an independent and industry level for over two decades. Most recently Jason contributed a short to Sinphony: A Clubhouse Horror Anthology . We touch on a lot of stuff here covering Jason’s rich and accomplished history, focused on his team’s experience promoting and distributing the horror anthology through...

Today I’m talking to Chris de Pretis , an East Bay filmmaker who made his first feature, Death Blood 4 , on a shoestring budget, and is on the cusp of releasing his second. Chris’ approach was to use production of his first feature as a learning experience, as opposed to a bigger budget production with equity financing or crowdfunding tying him down to larger concerns. I love this approach to film...

In this interview, Jon Gustafsson tells the story of filming and releasing his documentary, Wrath of Gods . The film follows Icelandic/Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson through the production of his ambitious historical adventure story, Beowulf & Grendel . Plagued by tempestuous Icelandic weather and unpredictable financing, the production survives by the skin of its teeth. Hired as an extra...

UK-based filmmaker Richard Mansfield has been making micro-budget horror features for some two decades. After a few early experiences with more or less traditional distribution, Richard turned to self-distribution for the rest of his movies. He’s now up to 14 of them, and still going strong. Richard’s experience is a case study in ultra low budget filmmaking, with self-financed budgets at a level...

Today I’m talking with Peter Hitchcock about making and distributing his feature film, A Song For Us . Peter, a UK native now living in Toronto, boasts a full and successful career working a variety of jobs in film and TV, but A Song For Us represents the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to make a feature film. The pleasantly understated and heartwarming narrative follows a 60s hippie as she reconn...

Allen C. Gardner has been making feature films since high school. Now in his early 40s, married with three kids to support, Allen is facing some decisions about how to make his lifelong obsession a bit more sustainable, but that’s not stopping him from charging forward. He has so many feature films to his name I couldn’t keep track of them all in the interview. What strikes me about talking with A...

On today's episode I’m talking with Lisa Downs about her experiences distributing several documentary features which she collectively calls the “Life After” series. Each documentary catches up with the actor who played the lead character of an iconic movie, giving us a look at the paths their lives followed after such a unique and transformative experience. Lisa has put out two of these movies so...

Steve Rudzinski has carved out an impressive career for himself making and distributing a wide variety of indie films. Along the way Steve leaned heavily on horror conventions to sell his movies and build a strong and loyal fan base. Through his scrappy efforts, Steve managed to get to a place where he rejects traditional distribution options in favor of releasing his films himself, and, even more...

I’m so excited to bring you this one today … it’s a long one, but I promise it’s worth it. Mark Stolaroff has been making films for over three decades, and in that time he’s seen the state of the industry and independent film distribution go through so many changes. I think that history is very important for filmmakers today to understand, because it kind of sets the stage for where distribution s...

Today I’ve got an interesting one for you, kind of breaking the formula of the show a little bit, which is normally talking to filmmakers about their distribution experiences. But in this case we’re going to spread our wings a bit and talk about film festivals … which for many filmmakers is indeed a very important part of the early distribution experience. Rebekah Louisa Smith is a film festival s...

My guest today is Samuel Calvin Morrison , an independent filmmaker based in Philly, talking about his distribution experiences with his first self-driven feature film, By Deception , and how that informed his later experiences. Sam takes us through the story of making and releasing the film, including some less-than-optimal experience with a -- dare I say it -- predatory distributor. But ultimate...

Today I’m talking with filmmaker Clinton Cornwell about many, many things. Clinton has been making films for many years now, starting out with several shorts and then working toward his first feature, 12 Months , a completely improvised narrative following the ups and downs of a couple over twelve months of their relationship. 12 Months is now on the cusp of its release. In our conversation Clinto...

My guest today is stand-up comedian and filmmaker Zack Lyman , talking about filming and releasing his two stand-up comedy shows, The Big Laugh and Zen Comedy , through FilmHub. And while we mostly focus on feature filmmakers on this podcast, the efforts and strategies Zack put in to release and promote these shows is remarkably similar. Zack and I talk about the pros and cons of FilmHub as a plat...

On this episode I’m talking with Chris Maes about releasing his sci-fi movie, Hemisphere , which was shot mostly in his basement during the COVID-19 lockdown, and is now available on Amazon , Google Play and Tubi . What Chris accomplished here is a great lesson in DIY filmmaking, where Chris conceived the movie totally based on the resources available at the time: a basement he could build a set i...

On this episode I’m talking with Cort Howell, who, along with his brother Stark, decided to self-distribute their film Mayberry Man after a less-than-optimal experience with a distributor on his previous film. Cort Howell has sage advice for any independent filmmaker seeking to navigate that line between finding a traditional distributor - whatever that means in this day and age - and self distrib...

On this episode I’m talking with the highly prolific Omegia Keeys. Omegia has built an amazing career for herself, self-financing and distributing nine features over the past decade, and still going strong. In our conversation, Omegia leads us through her distribution experiences, most of which have actually resulted in recouping her production costs, allowing for a sustainable pattern for film af...

On this episode I’m talking with Gary Smith about his first feature SkyFly , a sports comedy about a group of skydivers who face off with another group of skydivers in a battle for supremacy in the sport of roller hockey. Yep, lots of adventures and hijinks in this one. This episode is a little different from most of my past episodes in that Gary hasn’t yet put his movie out there, but that doesn’...

Today I’m talking with Paul Osborne, who’s been making and distributing his films since the late 2000s and still going strong today. Paul has so many great stories to tell here, with a really wide variety of distribution experiences that span so many of the changes the industry has gone through over the past two decades. One of those films includes his documentary about the realities of the film f...

On this episode I’m talking with Calvin McArthy of Seventh Street Productions . Over the past decade, Calvin and his team have made six low-budget horror features, and still going strong. Calvin takes us through his filmmaking journey, starting out with his roots as an actor, then shifting to behind the camera with shorts and a horror anthology feature . A few films later Calvin formed a rela...

Today I’m speaking with Michael Epstein , a Los Angeles filmmaker with several low-budget and self-described “weird” features to his and his partner’s name. Our conversation covers the beginning of his career, his varied stories and experiences distributing each of his feature films, and his current plans for his latest feature, The Once and Future Smash , and its companion throwback horror film,...

Today I’m speaking with Angelo Thomas , a filmmaker from Columbus with two features under his belt as well a number of shorts. Angelo made his first feature while in film school, The Incredible Jake Parker , about a male pop star struggling with anorexia, and followed that up with DeRosa: Love, Life, & Art in Transition , a documentary chronicling the life and struggles of a transgender artist...

Today I’m chatting with Victoria Vertuga , talking about her mockumentary found footage horror film, Lexi , about a social media influencer who seems to get stalked by some possibly supernatural forces, and the fallout that results. It’s a really cool, creepy, sometimes cringe-inducing movie made on a very very low budget during the pandemic lockdown. Victoria talks openly about her experiences ge...

Today I chat with Jason Charnick, the filmmaker behind “ Getting Over ”, a very personal documentary about Jason’s troubled relationship with his father, who led a life of crime fueled by drug addiction. This is a heartbreaking but ultimately heartwarming story about drug addiction and its impact on family, told with amazing openness and honesty. Jason brings the same kind of openness to our...

In this episode, I talk with Shawn Dawes, one of the founders of Indie Scene , a platform for independent filmmakers aiming for theatrical distribution. Indie Scene provides valuable, accurate box office data, and looks to connect independent filmmakers with theaters worldwide. In our conversation, Shawn and I talk about his early efforts getting films made both independently and within the indust...