The Viewfinder Podcast with Chris Hadley

This week, The Viewfinder Podcast welcomes writer/director Mike Nicholas, whose romantic comedy short film SEX DATE recently won both Best Film and a cash prize of $50,000 at the 2024 Louisiana Film Prize in Shreveport. Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X: @ViewfinderPod On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheViewfinderPodcast Music by Audionautix.com

Composer Elena Maro's unsettling avant-garde/jazz hybrid soundtrack for director Ferguson Sauvé-Rogan's 1950's-set drama Carriage Return powerfully surrounds the on-screen conflict between a lazy, writer's block-afflicted playwright Lane Williams (played by Jeremy Parr) and his outraged ex-writing partner Charlie Marlow (played by Carlos Sanchez), who accuses his former collaborator of stealing hi...

Peer pressure. Bullying. Family troubles. The need to overachieve. Depressed and overwhelmed by these problems, many teenagers try to solve them not through therapy and medication but through illicit narcotics, alcohol, criminal recklessness, self-harm and, sadly, suicide. However, numerous organizations, parents, teen survivors of suicide attempts and mental health experts are combating the suici...

On this week’s show I’m honored and proud to bring you my conversation with an actor, producer and inspirational speaker whose story is one of the most inspiring you’ll hear. His name is Charles D. Clark.  He’s appeared on such primetime TV hits as the Fox drama Empire, which co-starred Terrence Howard as hip-hop king Lucious Lyon, whose once-incarcerated ex-wife Cookie (played by Taraji P. Henson...

This week, actor/writer/producer Kevin Spirtas - co-star and co-creator of the Emmy, GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and Indie Series Award-winning drama AFTER FOREVER - joins us to talk about the acclaimed series' third and final season, now streaming on Amazon Prime. Watch all 3 seasons of the show on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/After-Forever/dp/B07CK6TL1P Find out more ab...

Stranded aboard a distant outer space capsule, two women discover a danger bigger than any alien in writer/director Chris Maes' claustrophobic science fiction thriller HEMISPHERE. Maes joins us to discuss the making of his extraordinary first feature film on this week's Viewfinder Podcast. Check out HEMISPHERE on Amazon and Tubi TV: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0CKDTS4MM/ref=atv...

Currently seeking funds for its production on IndieGoGo, the chilling horror film SHADOWS OF THE NIGHT is in the viewfinder on this week's show. Our guests: director/co-writer/co-producer Todd Braley, co-star/co-producer and indie horror film legend Debra Lamb, and co-writer/co-producer Itai Guberman. For more information on how you can contribute to the film's IndieGoGo campaign, visit: h...

Joining us on this week's podcast from the indie sci-fi drama DOLWA are its writer/director Alex Suszko and co-star/co-producer Jennifer Prettyman. Find out more about DOLWA on its Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DolwaMovie Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X: @ViewfinderPod On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheViewfinderPodcast Music by Audionautix.com

Today I'm honored to welcome actor and filmmaker Anike Tourse - the writer, director and co-star of AMERICA'S FAMILY, a new movie that probes America's harsh immigration policy and its impact on the country's undocumented immigrant community through the struggles and resilience of the Diaz family: a family whose lives are suddenly altered when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforceme...

This week, I’m honored to welcome Sarah Beim, the creator of the new LGBTQ dystopian thriller cataclysm.begins. Directed by Katherine Filiseta, the series is set in a world where a faceless but oppressive religious government called The Conclave mandates personal conformity and all but outlaws disagreement with its rule, the series - which is currently raising funds for its proof-of-concept pilot...

Directed by Matthew Mishory, the emotional and picturesque documentary film Fioretta is both about a father and son’s incredible search for their family’s ancestry and about how that quest links both the generationally different men - and their heritage - in extraordinary ways.  Mishory's cameras accompany avid genealogist and acclaimed lawyer Randol Schoenberg, who in 2004 represented Austria...

Joining me on this week’s show are three of the brilliant minds behind the acclaimed fantasy web series REN: THE GIRL WITH THE MARK - co-creators Kate Madison and Christopher Dane, and showrunner Neil Oseman.  The internationally popular series’ first season, which debuted in 2016 and has racked up as many fans as it has awards, is now approaching its second season with more adventures, more actio...

Continuing the review of the 2023 Louisiana Film Prize, I'm honored to bring you my chat with this year’s winner of the event’s Best Performance award: actor Cheryl Shelton, the star of writer/director Monique Derouselle's grand prize-winning short THE CANDY LADY.  In that film, Cheryl plays the titular candy lady - here named Debra. When she's not serving sweets and treats to her neighbors from h...

For the third straight year, The Viewfinder Podcast is thrilled to bring you a recap of the annual Louisiana Film Prize. Held each October in Shreveport, and with a brilliant series of short films and filmmakers competing for the event's grand prize of $25,000, the 2023 edition of Film Prize again showcased the excellence and talent of the Pelican State's independent film community.  In th...

Social media networks like Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), Snapchat and Tiktok are the top sources of information and communication for teenagers worldwide. Unfortunately, some of them have used those platforms not to connect with their peers or to track their favorite interests but to put themselves - and their friends - in dangerous and sometimes deadly situations. The dark s...

On this very special 100th episode of The Viewfinder Podcast, I'm honored to welcome back the brilliant writer/director Scott Sullivan (TRIGGER GIRL, THE UNKNOWABLE KATHRYN BONAIR, GRAVITY). This time, he tells us about his second feature-length film CHANCES, the compelling story of a troubled gang member who's given one final chance to escape from gun and gang violence - or risk losing more than...

On our last show, we examined the humorous side of horror in the zany spoof HAUNTED HOUSE OF PANCAKES. This week on The Viewfinder Podcast, we transition to horror in its most emotional and frightening form as we discuss the psychological thriller DISREMEMBERED, the latest feature produced by Chicago indie horror entertainment specialists Acrostar Films. Currently, the company is running an IndieG...

When a demonic waffle maker possesses a local greasy spoon's once-scrumptious menu of bacon, toast, eggs, waffles and pancakes on Halloween night, the diner's hungry patrons take up forks, knives and everything but the kitchen sink in a life-and-death standoff with killer breakfast food in the outrageous horror comedy HAUNTED HOUSE OF PANCAKES.  Here to talk about this deliciously diabolic...

Whether it makes you giggle, gasp, weep or tap your feet, a live theatre performance - be it of a play or a musical - is an experience that can breathe new life into everything from Hamlet to Hamilton. Across America and around the world, theatre companies of all sizes bring that experience to their communities, with each production making the most of local and regional talent on and off stage. On...

The new sci-fi musical comedy TWENTYONE21 is an exciting, immersive and entertaining audio experience where two best friends/21 year olds (Cici, played by Courtney Marie Simpson, and Funks, played by Tola Lawal) are convinced that their latest trip around the sun has bestowed upon them incredible powers. As they experience in every episode, however, those abilities frequently get them in some stic...

The Viewfinder Podcast stands in solidarity with SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America East and West as they continue to fight for better pay and better working conditions in the film and TV industries. This week, The Viewfinder Podcast is thrilled to welcome back to our show the brilliant actor and producer Gio Drasconi! In this latest interview, he tells us about some of the outstanding pro...

For American families who struggle to pay for their most important needs, getting and paying for good health care isn't just a matter of life and death; it's a matter of dollars and cents.  In director Mike Hogan's bleak thriller The Cost , this unbearable situation strikes an average yet troubled family - Penny (Sophie Howell), a mom who shares the same diagnosis of type 1 diabetes wi...

NOTE: The following interview was recorded prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike. The Viewfinder Podcast stands in solidarity with the members of SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild Of America East and West as they continue to fight for better pay and better working conditions in the film and TV industry. The funny and brilliant pairing of filmmakers Kyle Vorbach and John Horan - a.k.a. Future Boyfriends - fi...

In every language, the words we say to ourselves and to others can either heal or harm. Yet when those words are uttered on the radio airwaves, even the most provocative of personalities can never comprehend what consequences can result from their rhetoric, or anticipate who might be listening, as you will see and hear for yourself in the award-winning psychological thriller Night Voices.  Directe...

Last July, I talked to writer/director Creighton Hobbs about his latest feature film, the violent and emotional crime drama Binded By Tragedy , which you can now watch on Amazon Prime. Now on this week’s show, Hobbs returns with more intriguing behind-the-scenes memories of the film’s production, and joining him in his first major interview about the movie is one of its top stars: actor Julian Bet...