Lights, Camera, Diploma: Confessions of a Mid-30s Film Grad

Send us a text

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.

Support the show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
how's it?
I'm alex mccauley and I'm maxfosberg and this is excuse the
intermission a discussion showsurrounding our very own
graduate.
Max triumphantly graduated filmschool this past weekend.
So ahead on this episode, Iwill be asking him all the
burning questions about hisexperience and what he'll
remember most from his time atthe Seattle Film Institute.
That conversation up next onthe other side of this break.

(00:27):
All right, buddy we're here.
You're a free man, so to speak.
Congratulations.
It was a big day this pastweekend.
You're going to have to do thebest on this episode to just put

(00:48):
your pride aside.
What's all about you, Um, whatis what does the moment mean to
you in general?
Let's start there.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Wow, uh, to graduate and to have a degree, uh, yeah,
it means, it means a whole lot.
I think you know, um, when Istarted the, the journey two
years ago, uh it was, it feltkind of almost silly, right, um,

(01:18):
you know, uh, in my midthirties, going back to school,
quitting work, um, and and alsolike this industry right In
general, can always kind of bevery dreamy and, um, something
that is not success is hard to,I guess, kind of calculate.

(01:41):
Uh, in film, I would think, um,but man, it means a lot.
I listen, I, I I've never beena 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 aperfect storm, uh, to have the

(02:02):
opportunity to go back andcontinue education and then also
like to really do go study.
Something that I'm really intowas, uh was such a delight.
But, uh, it meant a lot to meand it meant a lot to my parents
.
I, I really wanted to, you know, make them proud and happy and

(02:24):
uh, yeah, I, I just yeah, itmeant it meant a tremendous
amount.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
I feel like it's hard to avoid cliches in a moment
like this, right, but they'recliches for a reason.
All those feelings arecompletely valid, and I hear
what you're saying about findingyou have to find passion in
your work, to, to, to staymotivated and to keep your
endurance up during long nights,editing or whatever it may be,

(02:50):
and we'll get to that.
But when you are passionateabout it, it's a lot different.
Like you know, for people whoare passionate about science or
math or language arts, thenthat's going to propel them
through school, and so you justhad to find the right thing, and
it sounds like you did.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Yeah, yeah.
And you know Seattle filmInstitute has its um, has has
its deficiencies, but also youralma mater, bro, but also like
it is such an affordable way togo and study film and if you are

(03:26):
truly passionate about the artform and also the craft, right,
like that's another thing thatyou know, it's so funny.
I I received, you know, manytexts and calls and cards and
whatnot this past weekend andyou know it's always funny to
hear people be like, oh man,yeah, you know you're going to

(03:47):
be famous, or like I can't waitto see your movie in a theater
and it's just like that's, Ilove that.
But like this is a blue collarcraft, like tech, very technical
industry where you know I haveno, I have no want to be famous.

(04:09):
That's not why I wanted to gointo filmmaking.
I enjoy being part of a teamthat creates something, and
especially when that somethingis a movie.
You know, I think starting thispodcast what now, five years
ago, you know, starting thispodcast, what now, five years
ago, you know, really ignitedthat, that love, that you and I

(04:31):
became so close, uh, as friends,like when we first met, when we
were 15, um, movies have alwaysjust been extremely, extremely
important to me, and so, um,there's no, there's no angle of
like.
Like, yes, of course I wouldlove an opportunity to direct a,
a large feature film and, uh,and have it in theaters

(04:54):
nationwide.
That would be absolutelyamazing and, you know, I hope
one day I get that opportunity.
Um, but more importantly, I, Ithink I, you want to do good
work.
I just want to do good work andbe a good, be a good craftsman
and and and an artist in in inthis industry.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Okay, so I have eight questions here that I have not
shared with you.
Uh, that, I think, will kind oftake us in a linear fashion
through your experience at SFI,and you can spend as long or as
little a time on each questionas you want.
Some of them will kind of leadinto the other.

(05:35):
So, until I actually ask youabout the cohort and the people
who you worked with, just doyour best to try to hold off,
because I want to give everyfacet of the experience kind of
its moment for you to expandupon.
Sure, we'll start at thebeginning and kind of talk here
about the creative side, towriting and directing your own

(05:58):
short films, which you did ahandful of times here in school,
along with editing a few ofthem.
So when you look back, kind ofat the earliest stages and when
maybe it was that first shortfilm assignment, coming up with
creative ideas and developingscripts, things that you hadn't
really done yet, you hadn't liketaken ideas and put them to

(06:20):
paper or put them to a keyboard.
So did did ideas evolve inunexpected ways?
What were the best strategiesfor you to get those ideas out?

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Uh, you know, it's funny when looking back at all
all the films I think that Imade throughout school.
I think the first thing that Ifigured out for each idea was
location, which is usually thebiggest hurdle as a uh, a young
indie starting out filmmaker.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
So you're thinking like I so before let's take.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
What do I have?

Speaker 1 (06:51):
let's take nightstock for example so, before you knew
you wanted to make a vampiremovie.
You were like I have a park,what can I do in the park?

Speaker 2 (06:59):
yeah, I have a.
I have a cool apartment, uh-huh, that is next door to a park
that we can probably get outthere and shoot without anyone
bothering us, and how can I usethat location?
Or, like with Clogged, I havethe brewery at the time right, I

(07:21):
had the brewery spaceno-transcript.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
Right, I had the brewery space.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
How can I use that location?
Um and unplugged.
Unplugged, I think, was.
I mean definitely because itwas.
The final project was a littlebit more expansive because we're
using multiple locations.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
The whole city was your oyster.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, and, and, and, and and, and, and, and, and, and
and, hopefully making thatthose ideas work.
Um, I, I would say unpluggedprobably was more about the idea
, but definitely those earlyfilms were all about, um, yeah,
location, figuring out thelocation, because that is always

(07:56):
the hardest thing to to figureout.
Um, and then and then justbuilding something around that
location.
Um, you know, something likeNightstock was interesting
because the original, the firstdraft for that was way more
expansive.
Uh, in the, the neighborhoodthat I lived in, Like I wanted

(08:18):
to try and get like some sceneson the T-Link uh train.
I wanted to maybe try and useDoyle's as a bar setting for it.
And I remember my this is onlywhat our second quarter into
film school.
I remember my teacher, you know, giving me notes back on the on
the script saying like this isreally ambitious, I would, I

(08:42):
would, I would cut it down, Iwould cut it down to just the
park, like I think, if, if this,you know, uh, because you're
you're gonna have trouble inthis amount of time you have a
time requirement.
Yeah, getting all theselocations right, because, um,
which was a really really smartidea.
But yeah, I think also, youknow, I think, uh, it all it

(09:06):
also ideas come from, obviouslythey there's a subconscious
thing of what you're consuming.
I think at the time I had justwatched for nightstock, I just
watched um addiction, uh, the90s vampire film.
I really loved how it looked inblack and white and I was like,

(09:27):
oh wow, this is a really cooltake on a vampire story.
And I hadn't.
You know, my first film was acomedy.
I love horror, I'd love to dosomething in horror.
And then I think I was ridingthe T-Link one day, probably
coming home from school, and,you know, kind of conjured up
this idea of, like this kind ofvigilante vampire that stalks

(09:53):
you know bad people as opposedto, you know, vampires being the
villains all the time.
This vampire is is actuallykind of a hero, vampire is
actually kind of a hero, and sothat idea just kind of grew from
there.
But yeah, I would say,definitely, starting out, it was

(10:16):
all about location what's nearme, what am I able to use and
how can I build a story aroundthat?

Speaker 1 (10:24):
Well, that that's really cool to hear location as
as a part of really thetechnical learning curve that
you don't maybe necessarilythink of.
When you're getting ready to goto film school or even watching
a movie at home very casually,Maybe you start to pay attention
more to the cinematography orthe edit, and you know we can
talk about that here with thenext question.
But I guess location is a goodsegue into it.

(10:46):
Um, because when, when you'restarting a new project or you're
working on someone else'sproject and so much is getting
thrown at you, um, were there,were there necessarily skills
that came easier to you and thenones that you found more
challenging?
I guess we can start withlocation, because you did help
some fellow students by going onother locations scouts and

(11:07):
stuff like that.
So do you feel like that'ssomething you have an eye for
now, Like if you're, if you'redriving around, if you're going
through maybe a differentneighborhood or a different part
of our state that you haven'tvisited, that would look really
good, or that that might.
You might think that looksreally good, but look, that's
actually going to be a problemover there.
You're not going to be able toset up lighting the way you want
over here.
Have you started to see thingsthrough a different set of lens?

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Yeah, yeah, I think so I think you know, when you're
constantly trying to think ofyour next idea, yeah, just being
out in the world, you'll see aspot or something and be like,
oh wow, like that would look,that would look great, that
would look great on a, on ascreen but is it practical?
big screen.
Yeah, is it practical?

(11:51):
I wonder, you know, could Ijust like show up with a camera
and like in a skeleton crew anddo that?
Or I wonder who owns thatbuilding?
Or you know one of the thingsfor unplugged, we needed a
market right.
Uh, for one of the one of thesequences and I think I was out,

(12:12):
I was out grocery shopping, uh,over in like the proctor
district and driving home fromthe grocery store and like saw a
little sign that was like youknow, family market or something
like that, and I just happenedto go to that market and like

(12:32):
that was really cool and like,and again that at first I was
like this is, this is the idealspot, this is where we're going
to go.
Like I walked in one of an oldfriend of mine was behind the
counter, um, very exciting, uhprospect there.
Of course, that that firstlocation ended up not working,

(12:52):
um, just due to othercircumstances.
Uh, but you know, but then itit kind of like, yeah, I think I
, I think walking into anycorner kind of space now is it's
hard not to be like, okay, Iwould put the camera there, or

(13:13):
you know we put lights there.
There's like all the poweroutlets or um.
You know how high are the, howhigh are the ceilings?
Higher the ceiling.
But yeah, yeah, yeah, I thinkthat definitely has been
integrated into me.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
So you came around to that?
What other things did you maybehave to kind of come around to
that?
Weren't maybe as natural rightoff the bat?

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Well, I mean, I think a lot of it has to do with with
confidence in in your ideas andyour vision.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Um, probably your way around systems too, right, the
editing software things that youhave to get used to, yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I, I, I think I I have
made this very clear to everyoneI've ever collaborated with
over the past two years thatlike editing is just not I, just
over the past two years, thatlike editing is just not I.
I just editing is really reallytough and really hard and I can
do it, uh, to a certain amount,um, but uh, yeah, editing is is

(14:20):
always going to be an uphillbattle for me.
I really don't like it, um, butbut can do it, uh, you know,
putting Putting the pen to paper.
I also found that sitting downand writing a script was
something I really came toBecause, again, I had never
really done that practice beforeand it's very intimidating to

(14:45):
sit down, or it's not maybe notintimidating to sit down and
write, but then to take thatscript and share it and get
feedback and, um, I think thatis like probably the once you
maybe the most vulnerable youhave to be.
It's the most vulnerable it'sthe thing you have to learn to
do and be okay with, and andeven, and even showing films

(15:10):
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 oreverything you create you think

(15:30):
is silly or stupid, or there'sblemishes or it's not.
It's not perfect, um, but Ithink 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 isis is great and like I was able
to pick that up pretty quicklyas, as long as I'm like able to

(15:53):
like, I found that if I get outof 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 thentaking that draft and sharing it
with other people I think issomething that I had to get
really comfortable with, becauseit's, you know, it's kind of

(16:15):
one of the reasons I don'tlisten to this podcast ever,
right, like I, but I I thinkalso that doing this podcast
each week and like sharing itout with the world, even though
it's it's a very it's way lessinformal right.
You just put it out and andit's out, there it's.

(16:36):
It's something you have tolearn and something you gain
confidence with.
I was actually I was thinkingabout this today with Unplugged,
which it's really interestingbecause I wrote that script in
September, right, collective oflike humans, you know, I think

(17:04):
it has a little bit of dialoguewith something like the
substance or a movie I haven'tseen yet, but that you speak
highly of, companion um and it'sso it's really interesting.
That like and that and thatkind of gives me confidence too,
like.
Oh, okay, I'm tapping intosomething that other people are
feeling too, and I found thatreally an interesting experience

(17:29):
and something that, again, willjust build your confidence.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
So it sounds.
What I'm hearing you say isyou're more of a pre-production
guy than a post-production guy.
Would you say that's true?

Speaker 2 (17:40):
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, thewriting of it all, the rewriting
, the um, the planning, theputting together the team.
You know, we always talk aboutthose kind of movies, right,

(18:01):
like it's, like oceans 11.
You're like you want to be myassistant director?
Yeah, you want to light, do you?
Will you be my DP?
Like you?

Speaker 1 (18:09):
think we need one more yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
I think we need one more, yeah, yeah, I really,
really love the pre-productionand then, and then the
production itself.
Is I mean, is I mean just athat's?
That's a real high.
Especially, it's verynerve-wracking, the first like
maybe 30 minutes, um, but onceyou get rolling and once you get

(18:33):
, once you get into a rhythm, um, everyone's shoulders drop a
little bit, yeah, and everyone'smoving, everyone's working,
everyone's, you know, inputtinguh, opinions and and and
collaborating.
Um, that is, that is like a.
That is another level of likefulfillment.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Yeah, I mean, I've seen you in the moment and you
are very fulfilled in thatmoment.
It's very apparent to anyonewho's seen you work.
Um, so that that part's awesome.
So so, speaking of thiscollaborative art form here,
that that goes into making amovie, you've you had the same
cohort throughout your time atthe Seattle film Institute.

(19:17):
How did having that built innetwork of filmmakers shape your
experience?
Did having the immediatefeedback and support system push
your work in directions thatyou don't think it would have
gone?

Speaker 2 (19:29):
otherwise, absolutely yeah, because you know, when
you're in that kind of situationwith strangers pretty much at
least when you start out, youknow, I, I consider all of them
really close friends now but a,we were all, we were all being
vulnerable, right, we were allwriting, we were all sharing, we

(19:50):
were all working on eachother's projects, um, so it
builds, it builds thatcamaraderie really quickly.
I think I was really lucky withthis cohort um, because I've
heard from past students, otheralumni or students below me,
like not every cohort, it'sactually very rare when everyone

(20:13):
really comes together and likereally supports each other.
We had a really special groupof people, I think, throughout
our time there at SFI and it canbe, 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'rewitnessing their progression as

(20:38):
well, right, and so that thatreally motivated me to be like
okay, like I.
I see you know Zandra's firstfilm and her second film, like
the, the level of quality hasgone up.
Or, kevin Blackmore, you know,sorry to use your full name,
kevin uh also known as dragonyou, his, I remember his first

(21:06):
film in in in quarter one.
I mean, I was just, I was, Iwas blown away by by the quality
of it, the editing, the soundlike the, the cinematography,
like it was insane.
And I remember after we watchedit, I I remember almost like I

(21:27):
got emotional about it Cause I,I think we had just, we had just
like jurored, uh, tacoma filmfestival, shout out to come a
film festival, the grand Um.
And I remember being like I justI just rated a bunch of screen
screened a bunch of movies abunch of film fest movies that

(21:48):
are in a film fest and a bigfilm fest, and this is might be
better than all of them.
Wow, at least technically.

Speaker 1 (21:57):
Right.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
You know, Um and so yeah, so yeah, when you're
surrounded by that, that that'salways, I think, in a.
You know what's the saying Arising tide.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
A rising tide, yes.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
Uh, so yeah, yeah, I think that's.
I think that's.
One thing that's really amazingabout film school, uh, is that
you are in a collective of ofcreative artists and like, again
, everyone's going to risetogether as long as you all buy
in to it and and and.
Then you know, you make theseconnections that are hopeful.

(22:33):
Hopefully people you're goingto work with, you know, for a
very long time down the line andyeah, so I think, um, and yeah,
so I, I think I think that was,yeah, that was, that was a
really it was really specialexperience about going to film
school.

Speaker 1 (22:51):
My next question, then, is I wonder if there was.
I'm curious if there was everany conversation about this or
if it was maybe like an unspokenenergy that you all felt um,
between, between your cohort,your group there, because I feel
like you were all entering thisspace at a really interesting
time too, where now a lot ofthis stuff can at least be

(23:13):
accessed maybe not learned, butaccessed online.
Everyone that you went toschool with went the traditional
film, was doing it thetraditional film school route,
and so how much do you thinkyour success and the success of
your cohort was tied to thatin-person learning?
Do you think things would havefelt as rewarding as they do now

(23:34):
if you had to do this remotely,maybe three years ago during
the pandemic, or four years agocoming out of the pandemic?

Speaker 2 (23:41):
No, no, it would not have been.
I mean, yes, you can go onyoutube.
You can go to youtubeuniversity and read all the
books you want.
Read all the books, uh, watchall the how-to videos, listen,
you do a lot of that in filmschool.
Sure, the teachers use videosall the time, um, but it's,
that's going to be a very lonelyexperience if you do it that

(24:02):
way.
I feel like, and, and I don'tthink film again, making films
is not something I don't thinkyou can't do that remotely.
I mean, you can do thepre-production, you can do the
post-production, but like theactual filming and the
production, you, you gotta, yougotta be in the same room.
You gotta have, you gotta havesome problems right, you have to

(24:25):
problem solve on the go.
You have to learn how to workas a cohesive group.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Everyone has to understand their job and the
tools that they have to make thebest possible version of what
you're making, yeah, and if youdon't, if you only have those
personal connections over Zoom,a video call with someone, it
can't be, I can't imagine, theworst classes that you can take

(24:56):
at SFI are the ones that areover Zoom.

Speaker 2 (24:58):
Granted, there were some fine classes, good classes
that were over Zoom, but thoseare the ones you're not getting.
You're just not getting in themost because, also like in a
zoom, you know, cameras are off,mics are muted and you're
listening to a lecture asopposed to in a room.

(25:19):
You know there's energy therereal discourse you're feeling
energy there's.
There's quiet moments where,like you can, you know.
There's those small momentswhere, like you, become friends
right like, uh, so, yeah, no, Ifilmmaking.
You know, if, if you're gonna gothe traditional route and
listen, there's, there's no path, there's no actually one path

(25:40):
that you can go, because, again,there's no path, there's no
actually one path that you cango, cause, again, there's plenty
of people who learned how to doit on their own, uh, whether it
was YouTube or just going outand and shooting stuff, um, but
I don't know, I I feel like if Iwere to, if I was going to do

(26:05):
anything, um, different, likeover, if I got a reset back at
like, say, I'm graduating highschool tomorrow and I'm I'm 18,
you know, I think that's theonly way you have to be young,
because you would need way moretime to learn every aspect on

(26:25):
your own, if you're going to doit on your own.
I see what you're saying.
Like, if I were to do, if, ifyou know, two years ago I was
like I quit my job because I wasgoing to study film on my own,
without schooling or anything a,I probably wouldn't have been
able to do that, but b, uh, youknow, I, I don't think.
A, I wouldn't have made as manyfilms as I've made and gotten

(26:49):
that experience and confidenceup by within two years.
It would take, it would takeanother, probably take five or
six years to actually get to apoint where, like, oh, I have
something that I can present andfeel good about.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Well it's.
It's having a syllabus, it'shaving the accountability of not
only your, your peers, but ofan actual curriculum to follow
Right.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
And it just gets you in a good habit too of like, I
mean, listen, a lot of filmschool is showing up.
If you're there, if you havegood attendance, if you're there
, if you crawl out of bed, youget on that train that takes you
down to the bus that then takesyou to school.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Takes you 45 minutes north yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
If you do that every day you're going to, you'll pass
with flying colors and it'sjust a good.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
Let me give you some credit because you say that, and
again, respectfully.
You were invested, though LikeI feel like folks could maybe do
that and still not have thelevel of investment that you
showed.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, you do, you do have to.
It's just about investing inyourself right Like why.
I don't know, if you're not, ifyou're not invested in yourself,
why would you do anything?
I, I, I just yeah, yeah, that'sa good point, yeah, but, yeah,

(28:23):
I mean, but a lot of it is isjust 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 alumnior whatever, and it's just like
if you say you're going to showup and you show up like you're
going to get asked to come helpout again, you know that

(28:45):
stability needs to beavailability.
Absolutely, absolutely, you canlearn.
And again, like, maybe there'sa, you know, there's definitely
a pathway where, like you don'tgo to school and you just start,
you know, seeking outproductions and you just start
showing up and people will teachyou stuff you'll learn on the

(29:06):
job.
Um, I just yeah, I don't knowif school felt, uh, you know the
more right for me.
I guess I feel like it.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
It is, it's, it's a very it had to have felt like a
very natural progression fromwhat we're doing here now,
though, and that's kind of whereI want my next question to go,
because we have spent years nowanalyzing movies on the pod, but
now that you've actually gonethrough the filmmaking process
yourself, what aspects of amovie can you never unsee?

(29:38):
Um, so, so like, are there anycertain techniques?
Or or maybe like a mistake thatwill immediately jump out to
you?
Or or think that was done thisway to maybe cover something
else up?
Or oh, that was really smartwhat they did there, based off
of what you now know likeinsider trading.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
I'll start with mistakes.
I I have noticed that I Ireally notice when films use
like the same shot, but for twodifferent like if the same shot

(30:17):
twice, right Like.
I've found that I reallynoticed that where I'm like, oh,
that is the just the exact sameshot that they just used, but
maybe it's like a little bit ofa different reaction or
something.
Maybe it's a different take.
A little bit of a differentreaction or something.
Maybe it's a different take, Ithink.

(30:37):
I think also I can really tellwhen you're ADR in people, which
is not a hard thing to tell,but there are definitely tricks
to to doing using that methodfor, for maybe folks that don't
know exactly what you're talkingabout with the voice, yeah, so
like, if, if, if you had like,on the day of production you,

(30:58):
you know, record a scene withsome dialogue.
Either audio is bad, you decideyou didn't like the dialogue,
uh, or you know anything, anysort of thing, where that
dialogue, that audio is notusable.
You would then have an act, theactor uh, hopefully the same
actor come in and dub theirvoice to the footage, right, so

(31:22):
you're playing the footage infront of them and then they are
speaking into a mic you know,not dissimilar from our podcast
mics in a studio, um, acontrolled environment.
Yeah, to try, and to try and dubuh what, uh, what's being
displayed on screen?
Uh, I think so.

(31:43):
Yeah, that I mean and you knowa lot of tricks is like don't
show someone's mouth If you'regoing to do that have the lines
off screen or have the personturned or have a take where
they're turned around orsomething like that.
Um, uh, I think the number onething I like study in films now

(32:05):
is lighting.
I think that is cause, honestly, when it if you think about
your favorite films of all timelive action and even animated
too, but mainly live action Ithink the the first thing that
you really love about a film isthe way it looks right.

(32:28):
Way it looks right.
If you can buy into what you'relooking at and it looks a
pleasing way to you, then it'spretty 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 alot of big, huge productions

(32:54):
today are are feel less thanright Because a lot of it is not
using practical lightinganymore.
A lot of it's just using flatlighting or they're in front of
a green screen so they have tolight so much of the scene to
build, to get the graphics tolook real in the background.

(33:17):
So lighting is something that Ireally narrow in on while I'm
watching a film, like I watchedthis awesome film the other
night from 1964 called Fail Safe, sidney Lumet film.
It's like the serious versionof Dr Strangelove, which is

(33:42):
crazy because it came out in thesame year as Dr Strangelove,
but it's all about the US andthe Russians and there's a fail
safe that goes wrong.
And then like, so now we'reflying to Moscow to bomb them
and um, really great movie.
Uh, but the lighting in thatfilm is unbelievable.

(34:04):
And you know, uh, yeah, the theway there, but yeah, the way
they're.
Sydney was not afraid of shadowand you know just like the harsh
lines of darkness and lightplay so well on people's faces

(34:33):
and I hope films get back tolighting.
You really focusing on thelighting, I think it also comes
down to like, you know you gotfilming in location too, or like
at least building sets and thenhaving practical lighting.
Um, you know no more of thisvolume crap, because that's why
marvel movies look like shit,because it's just flat or
something like wicked.
Uh, which I complained aboutthe look of it, you know, this
whole year, because it's so CGI,heavy in the background, that's

(34:59):
just flatly lit.
So there's no shadows, there'sno texture to the light, to the
image that you're seeing onscreen.
So lighting, I think, is thenumber one thing.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
I really, really focus on, Gained an appreciation
for it.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
When it's done correctly, Well yeah and I mean
listen, and it's so funnybecause, yes, directors don't
really deal with the lighting.
Dps have an opinion about thelighting, but it is.
It is the lead gaffer, it's thegrips, it's uh, you know, the

(35:38):
key, the, the, the best.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
I think, best person, best person, best person, yep
yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Um, uh, yeah, those, those folks, those are what make
your films, uh, fantastic.
And if, if you have a greatteam lighting team, people clear
out.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah, shout out Matthew Rush, uh, mr Gaffer, and
in these parts of the PacificNorthwest.
Uh, he's just, he's a, he's areal genius at lighting.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
That's awesome.
Um, yeah, shout out Matt Rushalways.
Okay.
So so also in in going to filmschool there come, come.
What comes with that is also alot of film history, and you did
a lot of studying, um, goinginto different projects, kind of
talk about how the film historyand going back and working

(36:28):
through whether it's directors,catalogs, maybe stuff that we've
sort of touched on here on thepodcast.
But then also when it came timefor film discussions and how
interacting with your cohort,talking about films in a similar
way to what we do here on thepod, maybe felt a little bit
different doing it in thatacademic setting.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Well, yeah, I think this was the most surprising
thing that I experienced in filmschool, was not?
You know, not everyone wasobsessed with film and film
history as much as you, and Iright a great like foundation

(37:10):
foundation and likepre-schooling to school, right a
pre-course like uh, under youknow, studying films each week
on this show.
Really I felt like gave me ahuge, huge foundation, or huge,
I don't even want to say headstart, but like uh, advantage

(37:30):
you know, I don't know if thoseare the right words, but
honestly, there were a lot ofpeople in film school that
didn't know about certain movies, or didn't know about directors
, or didn't understand that youknow about what happened in the
70s with Spielberg, coppola,scorsese, or, you know, weren't

(37:54):
aware of Alfred Hitchcock andhow many hundreds of movies he
made um, or that he never won anOscar, or um the fact that
Kelly Reichardt is a masterfilmmaker, who's just almost no
one knows about him.
Yeah tiny films in Portland forthe past 25 years.

(38:16):
Yeah, I think film history andstudying film, having that base
of doing that for what threeyears before I started was, was
huge and and um, I think thebiggest thing I learned from

(38:39):
studying more film history.
There are so many and this isgoing to be so cliche because I
know I get fed this all the timefrom Instagram and shit from
Scorsese and Spielberg but thereare so many amazing, monumental
films that you know, startingin the sixties and backwards,

(39:05):
and really studying those filmsis really how, because those are
, they're so fundamental and sotechnically tight because of the
restrictions back then and whatit's just any movie from the

(39:28):
1900s up to the 60s.
Everyone should watch more ofthose.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Do you have any directors you want to shout out?

Speaker 2 (39:36):
I mean Billy Wilder, anything from him, John Ford, of
course, german expressionismyeah, fritz Lang, fritz Lang,
max Schreck, who was an actor,but yeah, fritz Lang lang, fritz
lane, max shrek, uh, who was anactor, but, um, yeah, fritz
lane, uh, any germanexpressionist film.

(39:58):
I mean that to understand.
That's where horror came from.
That is like it's.
It's a real, like high octaneinjection of of that type of
film.
Uh and yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
I, I, I just yeah.
Nothing's like watered down,it's just yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
Einstein Uh, oh gosh, what did he do?
Battle of Potemkin.
Okay, I mean you know how manytimes that and a lot of those.
It's so funny because a lot ofthose movies then got kind of,

(40:47):
like you know, homaged in theseventies, which is where, like
we really, you know, are nowhomaging of right.
So it all just goes back, butfilm just repeats itself, really
honestly, because you do,because you got to study the
people that came before, and soI think that was the biggest
thing, because I was aware ofstuff you know, 1960 and forward
, but 1960 and backwards.
There are just so many amazingfilms and so many films that you

(41:10):
can learn.
Many amazing films and so manyfilms that you can learn like,
just like the blocking, likejust go watch, um, oh, what's
the rock Hudson movie?
Um, all that heaven can afford,or something like that.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
I mean these, the, the, just yeah, go watch old
movies, old, old movies, oldmovies, um, I I am curious if
some of the techniques likebecause I think when you and I
sit down and we talk about briande palma ad nauseum and and
people like that is there a wearand is there an awareness of

(41:46):
something like a split screen orsplit diopter shot that is
still taught in film school, orare those techniques more of a
thing from the past that seemsto be staying there?

Speaker 2 (41:57):
Uh, you know, split diopter didn't really come.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
come up there's cause you don't really see it that
often in in film anymore.
So I'm wondering like issomething like that taught?

Speaker 2 (42:08):
Yeah, no, it's, it's not.
I wonder if it's kind of moreof a a thing that has to do with
actual, like filming on film Ibet it is actually yeah, because
it's much more of a an editingtechnique to do with actual
physical film film, whereas youknow digitally, now you can

(42:30):
control all that while you'reshooting someone in the
foreground, in focus and in thebackground, right, yeah so, um,
so, yeah, no, those tricksweren't really, weren't really
uh really studied at all, maybea little bit, yeah, um, you know
de palma specifically, I thinkyou know he, his films

(42:51):
definitely came up a couple oftimes in our history classes um
some of the more recent names Ican recall you mentioning.

Speaker 1 (43:00):
There are, like the steven soderbergh's, soderbergh.

Speaker 2 (43:03):
Yeah, the night.
It seems like the night becausewhich makes sense a lot of the
teachers in film school rightnow are gen x people so like
soderbergh tarantino fincherfincher pta maybe yeah, pta
those 80s, 90s people who were,who were just coming on the

(43:24):
scene, those are the people thatthey were inspired by to become
filmmakers right um are most ofthe teachers and professors,
former filmmakers themselves.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
Oh, I wouldn't call them former.
They're current filmmakers okay, you never stop making movies.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
You never stop making movies uh, if you're teaching,
you know, if you're teachingfilm, you're just you're, you're
did you get to see any of yournow former professors work?

Speaker 1 (43:48):
uh gosh if they want, if they want you to buy in and
be vulnerable.

Speaker 2 (43:53):
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, lovesthat stuff.
He showed a couple of hisexperimental films.
You know, yes, absolutely mycapstone, both my capstone
teachers shared their work withus.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,you get to see that.

(44:15):
Yeah, even you know myscreenwriting teacher.
She would share pieces of herwriting with us.
But yeah, everyone's alwaysworking.
I mean, you know everyone's.
There were multiple.
I think there was at least onetime when noah had to go to a
film fest for one of his filmsand so class was, you know,

(44:38):
excused or whatever um, so yeah,uh, teacher, people who teach
film they're either they're.
They're either working in theindustry or, like my history, my
film history teacher, whotaught the history of Hollywood
and the language of film andinternational cinema history you

(45:02):
know, he's a critic, he's aprofessional critic in LA who is
a movie critic.
He just and he writes articlesfor newspapers and or newspapers
websites and adam naiman ofshort of sorts, yeah, totally
and has been for a very longtime and has met, you know, has
interviewed many famousfilmmakers and, over his years,

(45:23):
um, but then, like you know, myintro to producing teacher is a
she is a working in in theindustry.
Or, you know, my splatter is aworking screenwriter.
Uh, noah makes films, um, andis a director and editor as well

(45:44):
.
So, yes, I think if you teachfilm you, uh, you, you are
working in film.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
I love that.
Okay, one one more here that Iwant to throw at you before I
kind of get to our conclusion,because I can't.
I can't let the people bedeprived of the fact that not
only were you behind the cameraa ton in the edit,
post-production, um, but but youwere also in front of the
camera a few times.

(46:11):
What, what was that like?
Cause?
this isn't just like us makingvideos in high school anymore.
This, this was.
You want to talk aboutvulnerability.
This was putting yourself outthere in a way that you never
had before either.
So what was the acting part ofthis all like?

Speaker 2 (46:25):
You know that, yeah, the acting was uh, it's just
super fun.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
It's super fun to be an actor, yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
Especially when you're learning how to make
films.
Sure, yeah, and then you getcast in one of these student
projects as a character in thefilm.
So you know, yeah, acting isextremely fun.
I'm not going to sit here andsay I'm a, I'm a great actor.

(46:54):
There is a and it's reallyinteresting because, you know, I
think, pretty much only on oneof my films I worked with actual
working actors, and actors arevery thoughtful, they're very
deep, they're very, they want to, they want to get into the
character.

(47:14):
You know they're very seriousabout their work.
Um, and so, when I was actingin front of the camera for, you
know, a couple, a couple ofdifferent projects, uh it was,
it was a lot.
It was a lot more play, uh, youknow, but I chewing on some but
I chewing on some scenerychewing on some scenery and,
like you know, I don't know, I Iwas able to go to a place.

(47:36):
I I was able to go to a placeyou know, um, there was a really
great class that we took Idon't know, I think it was third
quarter maybe um calleddirecting the actor, which the
cohort in it was pretty much anintroductory acting class where

(47:57):
we learned, you know, themethods of of acting and then
and then we had to act for eachother in that class and I think
that really opened up an idea oflike, oh, wow, like there is,
there is definitely a uh, alarge, deep, uh again craft to

(48:21):
acting.
Um, but yeah, I, I reallyenjoyed doing the stuff I did in
front of the camera.
I hope, gosh, I hope I get tosee some of it soon, uh, but
yeah, uh, I, yeah, uh, I.
Acting is really fun.
And and again, I think it's agreat way to learn, because
another big scary thing whenyou're making films is is

(48:44):
honestly talking andcommunicating to actors, because
all they want to do is make youhappy.
If you're the director, allthey want to do is make you
happy.
If you're the director, allthey want to do is make you
happy with what they're doing.
but you have to be able toarticulate articulate exactly
what you want them to do,because, as actors, you know
we're there.

(49:05):
They're there to to be, to becoached, to be coached, to be
told, not not like, how to reada line.
Don't ever, don't, ever give anactor a line reading.
Don't ever be like no.
You should say it like this youhave to.
You have to go deeper than that.
You have to be like.
I want you to come up to thisperson like it's a, like you're

(49:30):
16 and you're asking your crushto the first homecoming dance of
your high school career.
You have to give them situationswhen, where, how, why.
Yeah, you have to give themsituations so then they can tap
into that feeling.
Cause that's the reallyinteresting thing about acting
is that, like, at least some ofthe methods, is that like, if

(49:53):
you, if you give them a scenariolike that they have trained
themselves to, to go in and likescrape that emotion and that
feeling from that moment intheir life somewhere, or at
least pretend like that momentis happening, uh, and and what

(50:13):
they think would be the thatemotion?
Um, but yeah, acting is reallyfun.
I'm, I'm always down to act.
Uh, I'm actually podcast, I'mdoing a little podcasting.
Uh, podcast acting next weekendfor a friend from school.
Uh, he started doing a, anarrative.

Speaker 1 (50:34):
It's like a fantasy narrative um podcast you know,
back in the 40s they just calledthese like radio shows I know I
know, right, that's where we'reat.
That's great, though.
Yeah, that'll be fun.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
So, yeah, yeah, a bunch of voice work yeah, a
bunch of voice work, uh, whichis gonna be really cool, and and
again, like they're just gonnawrite a script and then and give
me a character, and then I getto build that character.
That's really fun um yeah, sothat that's, that's exciting,
but uh, but yeah, acting isreally fun.
I will say I have.
So I've done a couple differentacting stuff on the screen.

(51:11):
I find screen acting a loteasier than stage acting and
I've only auditioned, I thinknow for three different plays in
my life.
But most recently I auditionedfor something up in Seattle and
stage acting is just like awhole nother, like like screen

(51:34):
acting is is American footballand stage acting is soccer,
soccer, different beast, like itis a whole different sport and,
uh, like it is a wholedifferent sport and way scarier
and way harder.
That kind of acting takes a lotmore training, I feel like,

(52:01):
because you really have toembody a character as like a
living thing, because you're onstage.

Speaker 1 (52:03):
There's no cut.
Yeah, there's no time forfeedback.
Yeah, there's no cut.
There's no time for feedback.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
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 likereally embody whatever character
you're playing, um, so that'sreally hard to do.
But screen acting it's a lotmore mechanical, it's a lot more
like, and, yeah, you know youcan get nervous about it's a lot

(52:26):
more like and, yeah, you knowyou can get nervous about
memorizing lines.
But really, if, if you're, ifyou're committing to it, if
you're committing to whateverbit you're doing, uh, you know
it, it comes naturally.
Uh, and yeah, screen acting'sreally fun.
I highly recommend it, uh,especially if you want to be a
filmmaker too.
I think it's a great way tounderstand actors better and

(52:50):
learn how to, because whateverwould be helpful for you to, to
learn to, to do a better job atacting is going to be, you know,
in in reverse, that's going tobe helpful to give to an actor.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
What I'm hearing you say is that and I don't think
this is any great revelation butthat it takes a village.
And so what can you say aboutthe Seattle and the Pacific
Northwest film community thathelped you get to this point
that you're now at?

Speaker 2 (53:20):
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 astronger industry up here where
more people could work, becausethere are so many talented,
talented people, uh, in in thePacific Northwest and, um, a lot
of really great you know,writers, directors, actors,

(53:49):
craftspeople and again, thatcommunity.
It's just a really specialthing to find that group of
people who are like, yeah, I'mobsessed with this too and of

(54:10):
course, I will be at your houseat 8 am driving from Seattle or
Issaquah.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
And when I leave at 3 am and say it's no big deal,
believe me.

Speaker 2 (54:23):
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 haveworked with people in the past
couple of months, I've workedwith people in the past couple

(54:44):
of months you know we've we'lllay in bed that night and just
be like you know, because youknow we're moving to LA, we're
making the move and we're goingto have to find a whole new
community down there.
Not that we don't have somepeople down there already, but

(55:13):
every time we work with ourSeattle people, we lay in bed at
night and we're just like arewe making the right decision?
Wouldn't it be great if wecould just make films with these
people up here?
For the rest, of our lives.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
Bring the industry up here or bring the team down
there Right for the rest of ourlives.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
Bring the industry up here or bring the team down
there, right, um, like, yeah,like I, you know.
Again, another shout out toMatthew Rush.
Like I, I want to work withMatthew Rush the rest the rest
of my life.
Uh, I want to work with Lucaschapel the rest of my life.
I want to work with Molly Musethe rest of my life.
I, I trust them and we justsupport each other so much so,

(55:50):
especially when we're on set,it's just such a good team
aspect.
But yeah, I just wish there wasmore work and maybe there will
be one day.
Hopefully, like you said, bringthe industry here, so maybe we
can.
Well, and as you said earliertoo, no one stops making movies,
no one stops making moviesRight, and to be honest, like if

(56:11):
you're going to work in thisindustry, you're going to have
to travel.

Speaker 1 (56:14):
Well, you're pioneers .
Yeah, you're like going afterthe gold rush you got to follow
the work.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but yeah, no, there's uh, if you're
, if you're thinking aboutgetting into film, uh, and this
community up here it's a reallystrong community, it's a really
welcoming community, um andagain, like there are projects
going on, uh and uh, I just wish, I just wish there was more,

(56:41):
because there's really goodpeople at what they do and I
just don't think there's enough.
Sandbox isn't big enough.
Yeah, there's enough to goaround, but yeah, man, really
really good community up here.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
So that leads us in here to kind of the looking
forward question that I won'thit you with the one I've heard
you already be asked what's next?
What's next what?
What I'm more curious andknowing, and and you know, if
listeners of the podcast want toreach out and talk to you more
about it, I'm sure Max would bemore than willing to chat about

(57:17):
his journey.
What?
What I'm curious about is howdo you think, how do you plan on
applying what you've learned infilm school?
And and then also to secondpart of that, like when you do
look back on this experience,maybe after the move, or five
years from now, or 10 years fromnow, what do you think you'll
remember the most?
But but going back to the firstpart, like, how do you plan on

(57:40):
applying what you learned themost?
Because you learned the entiregambit.
You learned how to doeverything.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
So how do you see that now transitioning into the
workplace?

Speaker 2 (57:50):
Yeah, that's a good question.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
I think Because, theoretically, like you would
take a job doing anything, right, I mean, yeah, that's what
you've been trained on ortrained to do.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so, yeah, my how I'm going to, I
think the biggest thing andagain I think it just comes back
to being a well-rounded,collaborative team player and I
think that's the biggest thingthat you can take from film
school and then plug in and andand again, because if, if you go

(58:31):
from film school onto a bighollywood production right away,
right, you're gonna get putwhere they need you to be, and
so being able to, and so beingable to wrap cable or control

(58:56):
crowds or cater or fucking, justrunning and getting coffee and
like, and not, not not being tooproud for it, not being too,
you know, above, like, like, I'ma director.
I just finished film school.
I've I've done 10 films in thepast 10 years, two years, um,
being able to go in and be partof a team and be a a a good
collaborative partner, I thinkis is the biggest thing that I

(59:18):
will use going forward.
Whatever path that takes me onas 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?

(59:39):
Screenwriting, perhaps,screenwriting.
Yeah, I mean, I can't wait tofind out, yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
That part's all unwritten.
Yeah, that part is allunwritten.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
That's the stuff you don't need an answer for, I
think yeah, the biggest thing isthat I just I need to get on
set.
I want to get on sets, I wantto get, I need to meet people
and I need to be a good,collaborative, positive person
on set, because that is the mostimportant thing.

(01:00:09):
It doesn't matter how good youare with a fucking light or a
camera.
If you are a good team positiveplayer, if you are a glue know,
cause that's what film sets aremade of.
They're made of lots of reallygood glue people.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
Well, an opportunity is the birthplace of creativity.
So you have to be in the spacefirst, and you've done the hard
work You've.
You've gotten the piece ofpaper now that says I belong Not
that you didn't already belongbut, but you know what I mean?
Yeah, totally, totally.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
Yeah, and so, yeah, I hope, yeah, I think my biggest
goal is to get some sort ofwhether it's a major studio, a
small studio, a mid tier studio,somewhere with infrastructure,

(01:01:10):
where I can, I can a meet lotsof people, I can maybe, you know
, touch every little, everydepartment, uh, and and again,
just continue to learn and grabthe opportunities as they come.
Yeah, and then what was theother question?

(01:01:31):
The second half of it?

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Looking back on the film school experience.
On the film school experience,what will you remember the most?

Speaker 2 (01:01:39):
It's the people, right, it's the cohort, it's,
it's, um, you know, uh, one ofthe cohorts, gabe cooper, great
filmmaker, made a just anamazing.
He took bts from everybody fromall the projects spanning over
the past two years and, uh, andput it into a little, you know

(01:02:00):
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 thewonderful people that I've met
over the over the past two years.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
It's just it's not about the movies.
It's not the people you meetalong the way.
It's really yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
It's not man.
The movies are awesome andthat's all our work and our goal
and our craft.
But, like it's really, it'sreally about the relationships.
And yeah, you know I wentbowling with the cohort last
night and you know we were alltalking outside in the parking
lot after.
You know, we were all talkingoutside, uh, in the parking lot
after, and it's just like youknow I hope we will see.

(01:02:50):
You know, we're, we're going tosee each other.
Let's, let's make sure we seeeach other.
You know, or talk to each otherat least once a month, and
we're keeping the group, thegroup text message, alive and um
and updating each other on whatwe're working on and if anyone
needs any help, like reach out.
You know, yeah, this isn'tgoodbye, no no.

(01:03:10):
And you know people are going.
You know it's so crazy.
You know we did this wholetwo-year thing, but people are
going other places.
You know Oklahoma or Californiaor 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 (01:03:34):
That's great, that's really good.
Um, okay, so then, you know, II feel like I feel like I am
truly interviewing a guest rightnow and not my co-host, because
I I have to ask you to letpeople know where they can find
some of the, some of theseprojects that you've worked on
uh throughout your two yearsthere at SIF.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
Yeah, and again, this is the scariest part.
Uh, what'd?

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
you call it SIF, sif.
Seattle Institute of.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
Film Could work.
Could be a rival school, whoknows?
Maybe I'll start it.
Where can you go?
Search Max Fosberg on YouTubeand you will see all the films
up to my Capstone film plugged.
I'm hoping to take that film ona little bit of a festival run.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
Uh, probably next year um, I'm sure some of the
listeners will be in attendanceat its.
Some of the listeners premiere.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
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 (01:04:50):
I just adjusted my RSVP the other day and I was
like, wow, I'm glad I did this.

Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
I'm so sorry.
If you're listening to this andyou want to be there and I
didn't invite you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
I'm so sorry.
No, you invited a ton of people.
Yeah, and those ton of people.

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
Yeah, and those people invited people.

Speaker 1 (01:05:07):
And the grand can only hold so many in a theater.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
So many, so many.
So yeah, it's going to be wild,that's going to be really fun.
But yeah, I think, other thanthat I'm keeping Unplugged
offline, yeah, because I do wantto try and get it into uh, some
genre fests, uh around aroundthe country and hopefully that

(01:05:30):
means, you know, coming back upup north, uh, maybe in the fall,
um, or yeah, fall or spring, Idon't know uh and movies can
play festivals forever foreverin this forever forever.
Uh.
So yeah, hopefully you know andwe'll keep you updated.
Listen as soon as I know you'llknow the eti listeners will

(01:05:53):
know yeah, they've been listenmaxi school corner, like they've
been.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
People have been invested the the pod.
The pod has kept the ear to theground.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
Yeah, it's really cool, it's very awesome that
again it all comes back to thepod.
It really does, Alex, andactually you know it even goes
further back.
It comes back to you know, youwere probably one of my first
film friends, if not my first,and just thank you so much for

(01:06:24):
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 andlike I remember, you know, some
of the first films that weexplored together and watched
together, and and um, it strucka, struck a chord differently

(01:06:46):
yeah, and then for us, you know,it's really cool to think about
.
You know, at 15 like we watchedrequiem for a dream together and
then like we were just like,well, I guess, yeah, I guess
we're film buds for the rest ofour lives and and then, and then
starting this podcast and whatthat's become, and then,
honestly, you've been, you'relike the guy shoveling the coal

(01:07:10):
into the engine that keeps thetrain going, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:07:14):
I appreciate all that .
That's really nice of you tosay yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
And then also, like I mean gosh, you've been on every
, almost every set uh of mine.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
Um, I mean, I can, just I can speak for, for our
entire friend group outside ofthe, the film Institute, friends
, um, and, and the folks thatyou've collaborated with, but
everyone who's known you for aslong as they have.
I mean, I posted a quick videoof me, you and our buddy Tim in
the car the car kind ofpost-graduation celebration and

(01:07:47):
the amount of love that I got onthat from people who we went to
high school with, people whohave gotten to know you over the
past five to ten years.
The outpouring was just sogreat.
I think everyone knows thatthis is your true calling in
life is to work in film, and Iwouldn't have seen the reaction
that I saw this past weekend andI was with you for a lot of the

(01:08:10):
day and your phone's blowing up.
You know people coming out ofthe woodwork to send their
congratulations and so I thinkthat you know again it's you
always want to stay humble, butI do think that this is a time
for you to be in a place ofacceptance for all this praise
and appreciation for what you'veaccomplished, because it's

(01:08:31):
major man, it's awesome, and I'mjust happy to be a little part
of it and someone that continuesto encourage and enable you in
all different ways.
Whether that's hey, we got towatch 10 Soderbergh films this
week, or you know what, we'reactually going to turn the mics
around on you and I'm puttingyou on the spot.

Speaker 2 (01:08:53):
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you for doing that.
Um, uh, I, it's always hard.
It's always hard for me tocelebrate me, um, because I just
, you know, I again, I, I it'snot like I want to be famous, I,
that's not why I do this Um, Ijust really really love film and

(01:09:14):
uh, yeah, all the support Imean you know this goes out to
my parents, um, and and Tim, andall the Chatter Network people,
derek and Kristen, and you knoweverybody the support that I've
gotten when I made thisdecision and then throughout the

(01:09:39):
journey and like, and even goesback to when we started the
podcast.
Like, it's just, if you don't,I'm so lucky and privileged to
have such a great, amazing groupof of people in my life.
That's the driving force.

(01:10:03):
Yeah, I like film, but like, ifI, if, if I liked film but
didn't have any friends orfamily, I probably wouldn't do
this.
So it's it really it comes back.
It takes a village, as you saidearlier, and not only, not only
the people who are on set, butthe people who are offset and
can, can sit and listen to.

(01:10:24):
I mean, how many times have Icome in here and and vented to
you about something going on?
You know whether it was atschool or at a production or
something.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
Of course, of course and think about all the
filmmakers that we'veinterviewed at the various film
festivals that we've covered andone of my a question that I am
so interested in asking almostevery single filmmaker is like
what does your support systemlook like off of a film set, how
?
How do you come home and unpackand what does that process look

(01:10:55):
like to you?
Because that's where I think itnot only as just someone who's
a fan of film, but as someonewho I know is so closely tied to
an inspiring filmmaker or youknow, you never know who's
listening to our differentepisodes like that's where you
can really learn things, I feellike, and so I'm so excited for
you to continue this journey andto to continue to learn and

(01:11:17):
live vicariously through yourexperiences as you venture
forward experiences as youventure forward.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
Yeah, yeah, it will be.
It will be really cool, uh,come you know, one day, if I get
the opportunity to make a, afeature film, and we've got,
excuse, the intermission on thered carpet, that'd be, that'd be
pretty sweet oh, I get.

Speaker 1 (01:11:39):
what's the movie I'm thinking of, where, um, it's
like a journalism movie andthey're just like I get first
right to the story, like I getfirst interview as much as you
might want it to beentertainment weekly or the
ringer or whoever I get firstinterview.
Oh, that's great.
Okay, as for what's next hereon the thanks, you know what?

(01:12:00):
Thank you for letting me sitdown and grill you for an hour.
I hope that was thank you forthe idea for this, this episode,
that's it's.

Speaker 2 (01:12:07):
It's really cool and if not now, when?
Yeah, it's real, real special.
And uh, yeah, Excuse theintermission man, we're still
going to be sitting down talkingfilm, Don't worry, Um, um all
the time.
And uh, yeah, I again, I, thepodcast.
The podcast is a big, big partof it, so it's really.

(01:12:31):
I love, I love the pod.

Speaker 1 (01:12:32):
Thank you listeners, absolutely, of course, and and
much like how you're saying youdon't know if you would be
making movies if it wasn't forthe friends to show them to.
We might be doing this justtalking into a microphone if no
one was listening.
It's what we were doing beforewe started the pod.
But you're absolutely right,like listener feedback, knowing
that there's an audience, it's ahuge driving force, huge.

(01:12:55):
So you will be putting theofficial co-host hat back on
next week, you're out of the hotseat and we will be doing a
spring roundup of recenttheatrical and streamer releases
.
Oh, it's been pretty dire.
I know it.
Listen, we might just have tocall a spade a spade and and go

(01:13:16):
dumpster diving a little bit uh,maybe we find some gems in
there.
Um, I'm not sure exactly how farwe'll take this back.
I think maybe mid-February tonow beginning of February, which
allows us to touch on a fewfilms that we've neglected to
cover, such as the Gorge.
There's a couple other biggerones out there as well, but

(01:13:38):
you're right, it's been a toughtime on Letterboxd recently.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
Yeah, that's why I've been watching 1964 movies from
cindy lamette, that's why Ican't get off stardew valley
there's no reason for me to toget off xbox right now.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
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 watchingbetween shows.
And we will talk to you nexttime On ETI, where movies still
matter.
Thank you.