Film Fights With Friends
Best Podcast at the 2024 Dramatic Action Awards! What do you get when you mix movies, fights, & friends? You get the FILM FIGHTS WITH FRIENDS podcast! Paul and Steve are career martial artists, stuntmen, and filmmakers who co-founded Breakfall Studios in 2015. In this action filmmaking podcast, they take to the airwaves with an industry guest each episode for a deep dive into a singular fight scene from a film or television production. THE HOSTS: STEPHEN KOEPFER Stunt performer, filmmaker, renowned coach and martial artist. Stephen is the head coach and owner of NY Combat Sambo in NYC. As an independent filmmaker, he has produced and directed several documentaries and short films that reflect his passion for collaborative storytelling. PAUL VARACCHI Martial artist, stunt and motion capture performer, celebrity chef and has worked extensively in television production in various roles from PA to department head. At the age of 8 Paul’s dad took him to see Robocop and the rest is history! ® Film Fights With Friends, LLC
Episodes
Creating a television show is no easy task. The vast majority of television pilots, even the great ones, do not result in a series being produced. It is a labor of love and dedication to the craft of storytelling. Jamie Kilstein is an actor, comedian, podcaster, jiu-jitsu black belt, creator, and star of Blue Belts, his first scripted television project. In this interview, we dig into Blue Belts, what it took to get the pilot...
Hank Bedford is the co-writer and director of Eugene the Marine, a genre-bending horror giallo film starring Scott Glenn, Jim Gaffigan, Shioli Kutsuna and Annette O’Toole. The film premiered at the 2025 Oldenburg International Film Festival to standing ovations and high praise for Scott Glenn’s performance, a performance Glenn has called the best of his career. This is Bedford’s second feature film, his first being the cr...
Clay found his way into unit photography when Zack Snyder gave him a chance to shoot Watchmen. That lucky break has led to nearly 20 years of work, including Sucker Punch (2011), Man of Steel (2013), 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), Suicide Squad (2016), Justice League (2017), A Star is Born (2018), I am the Night (2019), and Rebel Moon Parts One and Two (2023/24). His enthusiasm has never waned. While his credits include big-budget ...
With a background in AMA motocross racing and competitive gymnastics, Kevin Rogers has been pursuing a career in the stunt industry since 2005. Soon after, in 2006, he started working at Drivers East. With countless hours of practice and an intensely competitive spirit, he has earned the reputation as a car and motorcycle specialist. His professionalism and experience have helped him achieve an ever-growing list of over 200 film, t...
Returning guests Becca GT (S1 Ep1) and Hugh Fitzgerald (S1 Ep4) return to join Paul and Steve and rip into what some of our favorite and worst remakes are! What constitutes a remake? Can a television show truly be a remake of a film? Can a film accurately remake a TV show? Is a reboot a remake? Is a spin-off off a remake? What films should never be remade? Join us and find out what these industry insiders really think about some of...
Lauro David Chartrand-Del Valle has a remarkable film and television career spanning over 35 years. Having journeyed from an internationally recognized Stuntman, Coordinator, and Fight Coordinator on epic films like The Last Samurai and War for the Planet of the Apes, to directing, writing, and producing, Lauro is deeply involved in all facets of filmmaking. His work has been recognized with multiple Leo Awards, a UBCP/ACTRA Award,...
With nearly 20 years of experience as a performer, Tara Macken has worked as a stunt performer, fight coordinator, stunt coordinator and action director. Tara is a 5 time SAG Award nominee for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture (The Batman, Avengers: Endgame, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Avengers: Infinity War and Furious 7), a 2 time nominee for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemb...
UFC standout turned Director, Keith Jardine, and Tait Fletcher (The Mandalorian) sit in on Film Fights with Friends to talk time loops, horror, and Jardine’s directorial debut, Kill Me Again. Written and directed by Jardine, Kill Me Again tells the story of Charlie (Brendan Fehr - Roswell, Final Destination), a notorious serial killer known as the Midnight Mangler, who finds himself trapped, reliving the same violent night over and...
Michelle Waterson-Gomez is an American former mixed martial artist, actress and stuntwoman who has competed across various organizations including Strikeforce and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). She is the former Invicta FC Atomweight Champion. Between 2013 and 2014, she was ranked the No. 1 women's atomweight fighter in the world. Waterson-Gomez holds a black belt in American freestyle karate and has also trained in wush...
In this episode of Film Fights with Friends Steve and Paul share some of the crazier stories from their stunt careers including getting trolled after an appearance on a notorious Saturday Night Live sketch, improv gone wrong on The Punisher, calling out the leaker of Ray Donovan fight footage, a cautionary tale about working on friends’ passion projects and more!
MENTIONS:
SNL Safelite Sketch: https://vimeo.com/247846876
Joining Film Fights with Friends is Dr. Paul Heinzelmann, a physician, former clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and Producer/Director of Safe Sets: Dying to Work in the Film Industry - a feature length exploration of systemic issues impacting the health and wellbeing of film workers. This critically important documentary weaves together candid interviews with technicians, union representatives, public health exp...
Mark Stanton-Kelly is a London based fight coordinator, stunt performer and lead stunt double with all round onset experience and skills. Mark is experienced and known for his ability to shoot and edit previz for feature films and television. He has a varied background in martial arts, is experienced in actor training and teaching fight choreography. Among the numerous productions Mark has coordinated fights for are Black Mirror, T...
Avaah Blackwell is a multilingual actor and versatile stunt performer. Classically trained in Europe, Blackwell began her career as a performer after graduating from Prague Film School's "Acting for Film" program at the top of her class. She has appeared in such productions as The Handmaid’s Tale, What We Do in the Shadows, 12 Monkeys and The Umbrella Academy. Avaah is most noted for her continued presence in the Star Trek universe...
Tom Denier Jr. is a five-time IATSE Make Up and Hair Stylist Guild Award and four-time Emmy Award nominee. He has taken home two guild awards for his work on Saturday Night Live. Tom has worked on such noted productions as FX’s Pose, which garnered him a 2021 Emmy nod, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), The Holdovers (2023), Werewolves Within (2021) and You Were Never Really Here (2017). Perhaps some of his most graphic and brutal fi...
Tim Gallin began his quest to perform in feature films and TV after attending CW Post College on Long Island, NY. His first professional job came by way of the Gong Show in August of 1978. He was a contestant on an Elvis Presley special because Chuck Barris was a fan of The King. After seeing his old high school football coach, Vic Magnotta performing in Taxi Driver, Tim picked up the phone and gave him a call. Magnotta was a stunt...
Riley Stearns is an American Filmmaker based in Los Angeles. His film balance on the edge of real and surreal, often focusing upon darker characteristics of the teacher – student relationship. Riley has written and directed Faults (2014), Dual (2022) and his most noted feature The Art of Self Defense (2019) starring Jesse Eisenberg. Riley is a long-time martial artist himself who holds a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Our inte...
In this bonus episode, we look at set safety and whether the historically ‘cowboy’ culture of film sets truly permits a culture of safety. All through our first season, guests from various television and film departments repeatedly raised concerns about set safety. We dove into issues ranging from stunts, rigging, child performers, general safety, and firearms. One common thread that appeared again and again was the fact that one m...
In the season one finale of Film Fights with Friends, Steve and Paul sit down to review the best moments from their first 25 shows. The plan suddenly changes when episode 2 guest Joshua Todd James (screenwriter - Take Cover, Pound of Flesh) returns to crash the party and turn the spotlight on our hosts. Joshua assumes the host chair and probes our co-hosts with a revealing interview you won’t want to miss!
FILM FIGHTS WITH FRIEND...
Military historian and weapons and armor expert Scott Boyett joins Film Fights with Friends for a comparative analysis of three films, depicting different time periods, from historic, tactical, technical, and theatrical perspectives. On the dissecting table are LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1992), WAY OF THE GUN (2000), and MOSUL (2019).
Scott is a consultant for the film, television, and gaming industries. He grew up in a family of antique...
As a stunt double for Taryn Manning in the slasher horror film BLOODLINE KILLER (2024), Kristen Murphy joined an incredible stunt team to brought some complicated fights to the screen. Kristen is a professional dancer turned stunt performer. She began working in TV and film at a young age, since being signed for commercial dance at 18 years old. A native New Yorker, born and raised in Long Island, Kristen was fortunate enough to be...
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