Ep 203: Emmy-Winning Filmmaker Alexis Neophytides: Capturing the Heart of Human Stories

Episode Transcript
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(00:05):
You are listening to the IFH podcastNetwork. For more amazing filmmaking and screenwriting
podcasts, just go to ifhpodcastnetwork dotcom. Welcome to Filmmaking Conversations with Damian
Swaby. Listen to conversations with awardwinning filmmakers, directors from the Golden Age
of television, and creatives from theindie film community who continue to inspire the

(00:31):
next generation of filmmakers. And nowover to your host, Damian Swaby,
Alexi, how you doing today?I'm good. How are you? I'm
great. I'm great. So happythat you're able to do the podcast for
me. I really appreciate it afterwatching your work and understanding more about you
from visiting your website, It's anabsolute pleasure to have you on Filmmaking Conversations.

(00:56):
Thanks so much for having me,Alexi. From what I've seen,
you've had a divert us journey fromstudying at Brown University and the New School
to create an acclient documentaries. Canyou share what initially drew you to the
art and power of documentary filmmaking.Yeah, it was a bit of a
meandering journey. I guess I wasstudying biology and science in university and then

(01:25):
I always wanted to be in thearts. So after graduation I was acting
for a while, and then Ibecame a little bit I wasn't getting much
work, and I was disenchanted withthe idea that you had to wait around
for people to kind of give youwork, And at the same time was

(01:47):
really interested in documentary and real peopleand telling their stories. So I started
making some of my own stuff,and then I went back to grad school
to the new school. Making documentaryfilms, you can sort of explore all
these different things that you're interested in. Really, so I always think whatever

(02:09):
neandering path you take to get theirworks, I mean that sounds great,
very similar to myself as a formeractor. The whole waiting around and helping
your agent calls and offers you agreat audition, coming up a great casting,
but you know it might not bea great cast and you might not
get anything at all. So insideme, I was like, I have

(02:30):
to do something. I can't livelike this, And of course I needed
money as well, as we dolive in a capitalist society. Yeah,
there's definitely that element, But whatdo you think makes you yourself be the
type of person who just can't sitaround like other than the things I've said
regarding acting and then becoming a documentaryfilmmaker, well, a lot of what

(02:53):
you said, for sure. Andalso I just wasn't feeling very fulfilled and
I wanted to make things and Ilove talking to people and hearing their stories,

(03:13):
and it seemed like a good combination, yeah to me. So I
tried it out and I really likedit. What was the first documentary you
made and what was that process likefor you. The first thing that I
made that I think I was proudof, let's say, because I did,

(03:34):
you know, I did a bunchof like little little things leading up
to that was probably my grad schoolthesis film, which was about a father
and son pigeon racing team. It'scalled Coney Islands for the Birds. That
was a, you know, areally fun story, but it was about

(03:54):
community and how you can form acommunity around something so seem late random to
other people and have it bring somuch meaning to your life. And I
really loved getting to explore that.Your recent work, Fire through Dry Grass

(04:15):
presents a how and yet inspiring lookinside a nursing home during the COVID nineteen
pandemic. How did you manage totell such a personal and impact impactful story
amidst the challenges of the pandemic,and what message do you hope audience will
take away from it? So thatfilm was also a bit of a mean
during journey that I think, likeprojects sort of evolved that way in documentary

(04:41):
filmmaking. Sometimes you meet someone andit leads to something, that leads to
something. So the film takes placeon Roosevelt Island. Which have you been
to New York? Yes, evento New York. It's in the East
River. It's a tiny little island. I don't know. Some people live
in New York and they have neverheard of it. But I grew up
there, and I love of RooseveltIsland. I talk about it to anyone

(05:08):
who will listen to me. Soa former professor of mine, actually from
grad school, had moved to RooseveltIsland and she met this group of guys
who were residents at the long termcare center on Roosevelt Island nursing home,
and one of them was teaching himselffilmmaking, and so she was giving him

(05:30):
some advice on projects. And thenhe got a grant to work with a
professional filmmaker, and she knew Iwas from there, and she thought that
we would hit it off. Soshe introduced us, and he had me
over and interviewed me for the job, and we hit it off, and
so he hired me. So Iwas mentoring him in filmmaking. His name

(05:53):
is dressed Jay Molina, and Iwould go there and he wanted to make
a film about the group that hewas a part of and the guys who
called themselves the Reality Poets. Theywere writing poetry about their lives and going
around and talking to people, talkingto kids and other people about gun violence

(06:14):
and choosing gun violence prevention. Mostlyit centered around that at that time.
And so I was helping him onthat project for many months and some other
things, and then the pandemic hitand everyone got locked inside the nursing home.

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Things were looking really grim. Iwas super worried about him. One
of his fellow Reality Poets passed awayactually, and yeah, we were really
worried. And then at some pointthey early on in the pandemic, they
the nursing home moved the patient intoa shared room divided by curtains who had

(06:59):
COVID and had come from He hadcome from a hot spot in the city
that everyone was like talking about andJay was trying to get the administration to
move the patient because he has underlyingconditions, and they wouldn't. They weren't
separating patients essentially, And he calledthe woman, also a Roosevelt Island resident,

(07:19):
who who had started the group thathe was a part of, and
she said, Jay, you're afilmmaker, Maybe we should make a film
about this, about what's going onbecause nobody, nobody knew what they were
going through. Was so confusing toget information for everyone, for them in

(07:42):
particular, and they invited me to. Then Jay called me and he invited
me to co direct this with him. So at first we thought we were
making this is a very long answerto your question. So Jay called me
and I said yes right away becauseI was super worried about him. And
then we thought we were making ashort film really to get out there so

(08:05):
people would know what was going oninside of the nursing home. And then
as we were working on it,things weren't getting better. The pandemic kept
going on. At some point,even well into that first year of COVID,
after we got or after they gotvaccines, they were still confined inside.

(08:26):
And then it was really an epidemicof loneliness and things were just continuing.
So we kept filming together. Iwould film from the outside through the
gates, or film the Reality Poetsthrough the windows and the rest of the
city going about returning to normal life. And Jay and his friends inside the

(08:50):
facility were filming inside with GoPros andphones, and then we were recording all
of their zoom calls and they reallystarted a movement while they were locked inside
for over a year. Wow.So to get back to this specific question
of how we actually made the film, it was really difficult, but all
of us were you know, likeI'm sure yourself, Like we were all

(09:13):
living on lockdown. So we're doingeverything remotely anyway. So we worked with
our editors remotely. We found thiswonderful animator to work with remotely, and
we use a lot of cloud storageI could imagine, yeah, a lot.
So when you make a documentary likethat, what do you learn from

(09:33):
it? Personally? Oh? Ilearned so many things from making this film
and from the Reality Poets themselves.It was a very collaborative project. So
Jay and I moving into a codirectorship, co filmmaker relationship from mentor to

(09:54):
mentee had its own things to learn, you know, like how to sort
of shift that power dynamic of someonebeing your teacher into being your collaborator.
And for me to really try tostill be a mentor but also listen to

(10:15):
what he wants and wanted and whathis aesthetic preferences were and try to figure
out how we could merge both ofour ideas about things. Was really challenging,
and I learned a lot, andthen I learned a lot from the
other reality poets too. When Iwas saying that it was very collaborative project,

(10:37):
all the guys in the group wereinvolved in the film. One of
the main participants in the film isalso our co producer. Another one was
very involved in the music. Hedid a couple of songs, and our
composer used some of his beats also, and then another one helped with some

(10:58):
of the graphics. The end graphicscard is his design. And then he
also, along with another reality poetwho had moved out of the nursing care
facility, worked with our animator tocreate the poster design and some of the
key art, and everyone was givingthe feedback on all of the cuts,
which was a really wonderful way ofworking very sometimes difficult at times because you

(11:26):
know, I'm you're not used toshowing so many or at least I wasn't
so many cuts along the way andbeing open to feedback because it's really messy
for people who don't know how tomake a film or don't not know.
Yeah, for people who don't haveexperience making a film, it might be
confronting. Like I know, oneof the participants in particular was really like

(11:48):
not into the animation that we weredoing at first, and I kept being
like, it's not gonna look likethat when it's finished. It's not gonna
you know what I mean, It'llcome along, but stuff like that.
But it was also really great becausewe were making a film that was authentic
with all of our voices in it, or as authentic as one can make

(12:09):
something that you're ultimately crafting, butsomething that felt true to what was going
on. I think the challenge ofthat during the pandemic was really that you're
making a film while you're still goingthrough the trauma of it all, So
how to like not re traumatize allthe participants as they're watching this stuff that
just is almost happening in real time. Was difficult that we ended up getting

(12:33):
mental health counselors, you know,to sort of work with everyone while we
were going through the process. Andcan you name one challenge in particular you
had being mental to collaborate in withthe mentee. Maybe it was the dance
around trying to find our a sharedaesthetic for the style of the film,

(12:56):
because we really have different things thatwe like. He likes big blockbuster type
things. I'm not opposed to abig blockbuster film itself, but it's not
the kind of stuff that I'm interestedin making. So that was difficult because
sometimes also Jay, you know,there's a reason he lives inside of the
nursing home. He's he needs medicalsupport. So sometimes he'd be really tired

(13:24):
or not feeling well, so he'dbe like, oh, that's fine,
just because he was tired, insteadof really digging into what he what he
wanted. So it was up tome then just sort of then maybe be
like, oh, maybe we'll waita couple of days and come back to
this and revisit it again, becauseI think that he might actually not be

(13:45):
fine with it. So trying tonavigate that was was probably the biggest challenge.
And are you happy with how thefilm has been received. You.
Yeah, yeah, I am,and I think we all are. We
feel like, you know, thewhole group, it was, as I
said, a big collaborative project.Yeah. I think we're all very very

(14:11):
happy without how it came out,and feel like I mean, I always
feel like, Okay, if Iwent back, would I redo this a
little bit differently? And that alittle bit differently. Sure, I'm always
going to feel like that, butI think we feel like we really achieved
something. And now the the group, the Reality Poets and the group they're

(14:33):
part of called Open Doors are reallytaking the film and running with it and
using it for the activism that they'redoing that was really born while we were
making the film and moving into theworld of adolescents with your documentary that they're
thirteen? How did you approach capturingthe universal yet unique experience of coming of

(14:56):
age across different cultures? And Imight I say, I really really enjoyed
watching Ethan. Oh did you?Oh good? Yeah, we'll get into
that, but okay, sorry Iinterrupted you before you got chncensa. Oh
no, no, that's okay.I'm so glad. Thank you for letting
me know. He's terrific. Hereally is. For that film, I

(15:22):
started off really small, knowing thatI just didn't have a lot of money
up front, so I knew thatit was going to be the kind of
thing that I was sort of makingand fits and starts, which actually worked
for this film because I worked withI have a longtime collaborator, Traina Rodriguez
that I work with that I've workedwith for years. We went to grad

(15:43):
school together actually, and she wasmy editor and the other producer on You're
Thirteen. So we would talk about, you know, every few months when
I would film some more thirteen yearolds, we talk about what else we
wanted, you know, where elseI should go, where else I could

(16:03):
look, what other issues we wantedto talk about. And how did I
go about it? I think Istarted off with a Google search and I
found Ethan. He was like thefirst one. And then also with with
some young people that I knew Ihad already. I knew land In already,
and I knew Awa. She wasone of my students. Who is

(16:26):
I don't know if you've seen thefull film, probably only saw Ethan,
but yeah, okay, So soI started with I think I must have
started with Awa because I knew heralready and we had a relationship and we
had a lot in common because Ialso grew up in the city and was

(16:48):
like playing in high schools like shewas at her age, and like the
pressure of all that I could reallyrelate to. Yeah, I don't know.
Does that answer your question how Igot started? Yeah? One of
the things while watching it, Ithought to myself, what was the inspiration
behind making this film? And itlooked to me that it may have taken

(17:11):
quite a long time, just becauseof the nature of having to find and
speak to so many thirteen year oldsand what were their parents thinking when you
said, Hey, I'm a filmmaker, can I document your out? How
did that all work out? Soit started because I was teaching documentary filmmaking
to this age group for many years, and as I'm sure you know,

(17:34):
they're like thousands of amazing documentary films, but there aren't that many that are
actually told through the voice of youngpeople themselves. So I, you know,
my students would watch documentaries and wetalk about them or whatever. But
I always felt like, oh,wouldn't it be great if there were more
things that they could directly relate to? Someone their own age with. And

(18:00):
so when I had a lull inthis other project that I was making,
Neighborhood Slice, I was singing aboutwhat I wanted to do, and I
really wanted to make a film thatI felt could be useful and that I
hadn't seen before. I'm not sayingthat it's like you've never seen a film

(18:21):
like you're thirteen, You've seen many, but for me, like from that
point of view, really is whatI wanted. And I wanted it to
be feel cinematic and like artistic orwhatever that means to me, I guess,

(18:41):
because I also think that there area lot of things that are made
for young people, that are madein a certain way that plays to what
older people think young people want.Oh okay, that made sense. Yeah,
And I wanted something that was positive, that showed different things that young

(19:03):
people were going through that they couldthen use to facilitate conversations afterwards. And
then as I was making the film, I realized this was my favorite year
of my life. Well, Imean, there have been others, but
it was a very i would saybig year for me. And you know,
a lot of things happened in thatyear. I think it's I would

(19:26):
also see this in my students likeyou. Really they would start out one
way and then by the time theywere leaving at the end of the year
really transformed in terms of what theywere interested in and thinking and even how
they looked. Often. So doyou mean sorry that just to make it
clear to me and maybe the audience, do you mean thirteen that the age

(19:47):
of thirteen was a big year foryou or the big year for you was
making the documentary? Thirteen was abig year for me? And why was
that a big year for you?It was the last year that I was
in school with all of my bestfriends, and I feel when I look
back on that time, it wasreally special, and I think it was

(20:07):
a year for me also when Istarted to think about what I wanted to
be like as I stepped into adulthood. And also, as you see in
the beginning of the film, it'sa year that I lost my diary.
Yeah, so that was a bigdeal. And the parents, how did
they react when you said you wantedto make this documentary sort of different ways?

(20:30):
You know, there are some folkswho didn't want to be a part
of it, but all of theones, Yeah, I've never really worked
with anyone who I've had to convinceto be a part of a project.
It's not thanks, it's not reallysomething I'm interested in doing. I think
it's a real partnership when you werefilming someone and they are being filmed,

(20:55):
and I think anyone should want todo it, you know, and everyone
has their own reasons for doing things. So I think a lot of what
a lot of these parents had incommon was that they listened to their kids,
and if the kids wanted to doit, then they had family conversations
and thought about it and obviously talkto me. And I think it helped.

(21:18):
I'm sure it helped that I wasa teacher at the time. You
know, I was teaching, youknow for many years, so I had
experience with young people also. Yeah, and then it was just you know
a lot of conversations. For Ethan, his family was so nice. I
know, they were really deliberating andthey were like, Okay, well why
don't you come out and we'll meetyou. And you know, I love
them now, I mean I stillhang out with them sometimes and Ethan,

(21:44):
you know, I was just foundit remarkable. When I was thirteen,
I was you know, watching Transformers, eating icycles, messing around. Oh
right, you have them in America, but it's something it's basically Rice Chrispies.
You know Rice Krispies, right series. Yeah, but it has like
these kind of marshmallows. Ah,yes, Krispy Tree. Oh yeah,

(22:08):
it's basically Okay, so what arethey called again, Mark ricyclescycles? Okay,
yeah, and I think yeah,they're made by ke Logg's as well.
So yeah, I was been messingaround and things like that, and
you know, playing Nintendo. Soseeing this kid on screen literally wanting to
be a politician. What he isa politician? I guess. And I've

(22:30):
noticed the Glenn back book as well, And I thought at thirteen, I
wouldn't be able to comprehend the ideaof reading a Glenn back book. So
tell us a bit about him,a bit more about him, because I'm
intrigued how he became so political inthe first place. His family's not political
at all, so it just reallycame from him. In fact, I
don't know, did you watch theshort. I think you watched the short,

(22:53):
right both, maybe? Okay,So you learn in the short that
his dad had never voted before,actually before he went and voted for his
son, So it came from him. I think when he was interested in
it from a very young age.I don't know how, but he remembers
when he was five he had Ithink it was like a Lincoln birthday party,

(23:14):
where like he was dressed up likeLincoln and they had that that was
the theme any thing. Yeah,So I can't say like because he couldn't
pinpoint really like what it was.But I think he found his thing and
he would he he's now studying,he's in college, he's in university in
DC, in Washington, d C. So we'll see where that goes.

(23:38):
And do you think a character likehim or any of the other characters you'll
revisit in the future and maybe seewhere they are when they finished college or
Julius is lobbying me to make anew film about them all. I told
him, if he can get mefunding, I'm all for it. Yes,
I would like to, But Ithink for me, this film is

(24:04):
more like a time capsule kind offilm. Like there was a reason I
didn't want to like put an endingon it where you see where they are
now, because I felt like Iwanted to keep it contained into this one
year and keep that feeling that youhave, or the feeling that I was
hoping to create of this age withall of the ups and downs and finding

(24:30):
the universal themes within all of thesefar flung people. So I don't know
if i'd make necessarily a follow upwith all of them, but yes,
I would love to see what's goingon. I mean, I am still
interested in these benchmark or what Ithink are benchmark ages. In order to

(24:52):
get into grad school. I thinkI made a film about turning thirty,
soh yeah, I mean it wasterrible, but okay, I don't know.
I think there's something about like havinga specific time in your life to
just take stock of what's going on. That's that I think it's interesting and

(25:15):
I agree with you. I certainlydo. You have loads of interest in
films and topics and ideas, whichI love obviously. So what are your
benchmarkages? Oh gosh, that's atough one for me. There's definitely you
know, I think becoming an adultat eighteen in the UK is very a
big thing. I think twenty fiveis a benchmark because you're in a situation

(25:36):
where you're young, but you're notkind of young and you know it's thirty
is there for you to see?And I think thirty probably a time when
you, just my opinion, youreally really have to get certain things together
or you could really, really reallypay for it, whereas maybe in your
twenties you can still eat ri cyclesand play Nintendo for you don't have any

(26:03):
ricycles there at the desk. No, no today, I'm too old now.
But those are my kind of benchmarks. And from what I've seen with
family and certainly with some friends whomaybe don't address the benchmarks, they may
suffer for it in certain ways.We can't be young forever, unfortunately.

(26:26):
And in your fabulous documentary Neighborhood Slice, you showcase the resilience of New Yorkers
in the face of gentrification. Whatis documenting these community narratives taught you about
the spirit of the city And howdo you choose the stories you want to
tell? That's a good question.So I made this show with my longtime

(26:48):
collaborator who I was talking about before, Trina Rodriguez, and we were both
interested in capturing a kind of NewYork that we felt was disappearing. All
of the mom and pop shops andthe folks that have lived places for a
long time that we're getting pushed out, and we'd see it happening, you

(27:15):
know, a lot, and itjust continues, you know, as big
box stores come in and you knowhere, I don't know what it's like
in London, but we have alot of empty storefronts. Yeah, New
York do. Yeah, yeah,I don't know. There's something kind of

(27:37):
similar to me in the idea ofcapturing thirteen, like this time capsule of
thirteen as to like capturing these almostpioneers in their neighborhoods of New York who
have managed to keep the spirit andthe culture of their whatever, their thing

(27:57):
is alive in the midst of allof this change. And so how do
we choose the people? You know, it depends on the neighborhood, and
it depends on the neighborhood sort ofhas all Each neighborhood in New York sort

(28:18):
of has its own journey, andthey can be really distinct, and there's
always something similar, like a waveof gentrification pushes this, you know,
pushes and it starts with like maybepeople looking for a better life who are
moving over from a certain place inthe twenties, thirties, whatever, blah

(28:40):
blah blah, and then there's likea wave of artists and then the artists
get pushed out for this reason blahblah. Yeah, but each one has
a different flavor, so it reallydepends on the neighborhood, and we try
to talk to local people who cantell us who the real people are that
have made a difference, so thatwe're not just telling stories about kind of

(29:03):
famous people. It's more stories aboutthe real people who have lived there.
So when you make a documentary likethat, they feel quite personal and intimate
in certain ways, and you haveto be real yourself with the people you're
dealing with. Do you have alarge crew do you know? I never
have a large crew. I mean, one day I'd like to try and

(29:26):
test it out, But for NeighborhoodSlice, Trina and I would do everything
ourselves, so I think that's wherethe intimacy comes in, like sound and
then we both be shooting, andthen we did have some other editors that
we worked with, and then Trinais an amazing editor too. She edited
Dear thirteen and Ethan. Oh.Are we talking about lave mics or did

(29:52):
you have aboot loves? Okay?Yeah, Otherwise it would be hard to
like be well, we will alwayshave like a little shotgum mic on it
camera and then we use lobs andstuff, but we don't do we don't
use lights or anything for interviews forthat show. And I think considering how
two women band we are, itlooks really good. Yeah, But you

(30:18):
know, I mean, I thinkthat there's a trade off in intimacy when
you're when you're working on something andyou can get especially when it's like folks
who aren't maybe used to getting filmedso much, and you you want to
share this experience with them where you'rereally listening to their life story and they're
feeling open and safe enough to tellyou all of the ups and downs and

(30:45):
things about that that it's helpful tobe small and nimble. Is there a
particular piece of feedback that gave youor a moment from the audience that watched
the series that has resonated with youdeeply? That show in particular, because
it's on local public television here,We've gotten so many amazing notes from people

(31:07):
about that that I've never really hadthat experience before, but people just really
love the show and resonate with it. I think there's something. I think
there's something that we all feel inseeing the mom and pop places go away.

(31:34):
And I think people really appreciate havingtheir the local history captured and getting
to know the residents and other neighborhoods, and getting to know other neighborhoods because
there are so many and they're allso different in New York. Yeah.
So for this particular, I meanjust I can't think of one specific comment,

(31:56):
but it's like an overwhelming like thingthat we we feel like we did
something good by capturing it. Yeah. And you mentioned earlier about teaching and
beyond filmmaking. Obviously you've dedicated timeto developing programs and teaching students throughout the
New York throughout New York. Howdoes your work as an educator and mental

(32:17):
influence your filmmaking. I haven't beendoing much teaching lately, but I was
working with Jay before, mentoring jbefore, who is my co director on
Fire Through Drag Grass, and iAwa was my student who was in Dear

(32:37):
thirteen. And I think it justit's hard to separate different things that you're
doing in your life, at leastfor me, you know, I think
in the work that I was doingwhere I was teaching Awa and younger people
courage. I really just came tolove that year of life and reflect on

(33:02):
my own year of life when Iwas thirteen, and it totally inspired that
film. I think my teaching thereand the work that we're doing on it
now. Like now, both filmsjust recently came out, so now I'm
working on the impact campaigns for bothof them. So oftentimes, like after

(33:24):
you make a documentary film, ifthere's some sort of social issue or like
educational something that you want to dowith it, you raise money and you
have an impact campaign and it's basicallyto use the film as a tool for
social change or education or advocacy,what have you, depending on the project

(33:45):
to get it out there in theworld for all of those different things.
So for Fire through Dry Grass,we actually have quite a robust impact campaign
going on with dedicated impact producers,and it's going to be taken over by
Open Doors and the reality poets soonso that they can take the film and

(34:06):
use it as they want in theirwork. And for Dear Thirteen, the
reason that I wanted to make thisfilm in the first place was really to
use it as an educational tool.So now what we're doing is developing an
educational guide with all sorts of activitiesand stuff that are inspired by the film,

(34:28):
so that we can share it withyouth programs and schools and stuff and
they can use pick and choose whatthey want to do with it in conjunction
with watching the film. Excellent.That sounds very very interesting that you're able
to do that. I haven't spokento many filmmakers on this podcast that have

(34:49):
been able to do that, andI'm approaching the episode two hundreds, so
wow. Cool. And you havehad your projects back by institutions like Sundance
Foundation and ITVS, which is somethingthat is no small feat. Can you
offer insight into the process of secureand support and partnership for your films and
how crucial these collaborations have been inbringing your documentaries to life. It's really

(35:15):
hard. Actually all three of thoseare for Fire through Drag Grass and we
had a really it was a veryinteresting film to work on in that as
the film was developing, people startedgetting People were very interested in it.
I think they were interested in thestory and they were also interested in the

(35:37):
filmmaking team as a story that wasreally told from the inside out. Which
is something that funders are interested inseeing more of now. I think so
we felt like it kind of magicallyhappened that we were getting interest, and

(36:02):
then you know, once you getone thing, then people hear about you
and it's easier to get more.And I think, particularly in raising money
for films, it's always hard toget those first few grants because it's so
daunting to reach a million or whatever, like little one, you know,
whatever your budget is, it's sodaunting. And maybe people don't want to

(36:25):
give money if they think that theirmoney is just not you know, if
you don't have a plan to raisethe rest of it. But I think
people were so kind of moved andinspired by the reality poets and what they
were going through in the movement thatthey were building that we got a lot
of support. And I shouldn't justsay it's that. We also had a
lot of amazing support from the communityand great other folks on our team,

(36:54):
like our other producers. Her nameis Jenni Lee Brewster, a really terrific
writer, And I think that that'ssomething that people don't talk about a lot
in terms of raising money, issort of how to distill the message of
your film down and all of thevoices of the different folks on your team

(37:15):
into one cohesive voice that speaks topeople who will who will give you money,
and who will open those doors.And that was very important for us,
I think, and being able to, yeah, have a have a

(37:36):
cohesive voice. Yeah, that wasn'tjust a cohesive voice in the film like
that I was worried about, youknow what I mean, finding that that
I was talking about before, butthat was also like written on the page
for people to see and respond tothat way. And so this was the
first time that I've ever worked onit on a team like this and and

(37:57):
gotten a lot of those big backings. Third, we did end up getting
like some some good backing at theend of the film, but it was
after almost after we had put thefilm together. And I think it was
because it was a hard project forme to talk to and explain at first,
and it was in the making ofthe film that it really understandable.

(38:20):
And what can we see from younext? Ah? Well, can we
see next? Well, Trina andI are working on some more neighborhood slice
episodes, Okay, more of those, and then I'm got to you know,
percolating some other ideas. Great.Great, well, I hope I'll
be the first to out those otherideas and hope we can watch those as

(38:40):
well. And thank you so muchfor coming on the podcast. I really
appreciate you taking the time to talkto me, and I hope this beats
you soon you too, Thank youso much. It was great to meet you.

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