Reel Girly

I met Alex Orr (Director/writer/producer), Adam Pinney (dp/editor/writer/producer), Tony Holley (producer), Katie Rowlett (plays Denise) and Mike Bruni (plays Archie) at CineQuest 17.

Though these guys look totally normal, the film they produced seriously challenges that assumption. Made in Atlanta, the film is being courted by some distributors and reps and it’s my personal mission to tell the world about its bizarrely fascinating depravity.

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Interview with the Crew Responsible for Blood Car

Note: when you’re interviewing at a festival you don’t have any time for prep. That said this podcast is imperfect. Expect a few awkward pauses and moments of faltering speech.

Seth, one of the explorers featured in Melody’s doc, joins us a few minutes in to talk about life after the film and why the he compulsively trolls derelict buildings. Due to some theatre issues Melody was required to handle, we had to halt the interview for an unspecified amount of time. Part 2 is short but still worth the time. I’d quote it anyway.

I grabbed the filmmakers and the star of URBAN EXPLORERS during a screening of their doc at CineQuest 17.

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Part 1 of Interview with Melody Gilbert director of Urban Explorers: Into Great Darkness

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Part 2 of Interview with Melody Gilbert, director of Urban Explorers: Into Great Darkness

Note: when you’re interviewing at a festival you don’t have any time for prep. That said this podcast is imperfect. Expect a few awkward pauses and moments of faltering speech.

Boy was Lucas Akoskin popular after the premier of his film The Doorman at CineQuest 17: you’ll notice fans interrupted us mid-interview. Lucas played Trevor W. the title character. I sometimes think when I interview first time filmmakers (especially if their work is good) that the piece could be looked upon later as “the first interview of the artist’s great career.” This interview gave me one of those “first of” feelings. Yes, he is that handsome in person.

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Interview with Lucas Akoskin, star of The Doorman

As far as the director Wayne Price and the producer Brian Devine are concerned, they’re equally wonderful! They’re beguiling, and clever, and funny. This film is slated for a theatrical run in early Fall and I promise I’ll be telling you about it out from the rooftops.I grabbed the filmmakers and the star of The Doorman during their premier after-party at The Paragon.

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Interview with director Wayne Price and Producer Brian Devine, on The Doorman

I should mention: generally speaking I labor over my interview questions, but when you’re interviewing at a festival you seldom have the chance to do such homework. That said this podcast is imperfect. Expect a few awkward pauses and moments of faltering speech.

At first I thought I’d keep a blog because, like other freelance writers, I spend a lot of time pitching film write-ups to interested editors. On this interest, I’ll watch and research the films and their makers, prepare questions for filmmakers, even write feature pieces…and then not sell them. Don’t get me wrong, interest is great, but interest isn’t a sale.

So, as in the cases of clothing or coffee, an editor might like to know a bit about what s/he’s buying and as Ben & Jerry well know, samples help sales.

I sell interviews more than any other variety of write up. I work hard to prepare for these interviews and do my best to ask well-conceived questions. I thought I’d post my unsold/un-pitched interviews on this blog, particularly those acquired at film festivals.

Film Festivals are magical places. Filmmakers living the high-risk dream come to represent and explain the films they’ve poured themselves, their home equity and their credit cards into. They want distribution and they know talking to journalists helps with buzz and buzz helps their chances. This rudimentary logic equation is of no help if I (the journalist) just sit on my interviews until an editor decides (well after the distribution deal is set, btw) the piece is of interest to his/her audience. The Internet moves quickly. I haven’t figured out how to maximize this blog thing yet, but one thing I know is I’m not helping anyone by waiting to start it.

So there it is.

I intend to offer courtesy alerts to the filmmakers I include on this blog and include links to work I’ve done. If I’m lucky, I’ll engender some discussion with the filmmakers I’ve spoken to about their works and mine. Additionally, I’m alerting Griffin and Apple (I know, they’re way bigger than me). You see, I record my interviews on my iPod using a griffin iTalk accessory and absolutely every interview I conduct begins with 10-90 seconds dedicated to questions about the “magic tool” we’re talking into. The publicity has to be good for someone - let’s hope it’s me!

Thanks for attending and I hope the podcasts, as informal as they are, interest you.

Link friendly! Link often!
xo
Sara Schieron
Your friendly neighborhood film journalist