September 30, 2025 • 37 mins
Nicole Jones-Dion, a screenwriter, director, and producer, shared her unconventional path into filmmaking, beginning in the world of video games and comics before moving into film. Known for her work on projects like Tekken 2, Dracula: The Dark Prince, and the SyFy thriller They Found Hell, she has built a career in genre storytelling that blends sci-fi, horror, and action. Her persistence paid off after writing more than fifteen spec scripts and seizing opportunities to rewrite and adapt existing material, which she says makes up most of Hollywood screenwriting.
Nicole’s approach emphasizes discipline, structure, and character-driven storytelling, ensuring her projects are both creative and marketable. She also found success with crowdfunding, raising nearly $20,000 for her short horror film Debris, which explored the legend of a cursed samurai sword. The campaign’s popularity proved the power of a strong concept and led to festival recognition. With her directorial debut Stasis and other projects in development, Nicole continues to explore stories that challenge audiences while entertaining them. Her journey demonstrates the importance of adaptability, hard work, and never stopping the pursuit of growth as a filmmaker.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.
Nicole’s approach emphasizes discipline, structure, and character-driven storytelling, ensuring her projects are both creative and marketable. She also found success with crowdfunding, raising nearly $20,000 for her short horror film Debris, which explored the legend of a cursed samurai sword. The campaign’s popularity proved the power of a strong concept and led to festival recognition. With her directorial debut Stasis and other projects in development, Nicole continues to explore stories that challenge audiences while entertaining them. Her journey demonstrates the importance of adaptability, hard work, and never stopping the pursuit of growth as a filmmaker.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
You are listening to the ifh podcast Network. For more
amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to ifhpodcastnetwork dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Indie Film Muscle Podcast, Episode number eight
twenty two. Cinema Should Make You Forget. You're sitting in
a theater, Roman Polanski.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Broadcasting from the back alley in Hollywood. It's the Indie
Film Hustle Podcast, where we show you how to survive
and thrive as an indie filmmaker in the jungles of
the film biz.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Indie Film Huscle Podcast.
I am your humble host, Alex Ferrari. Today's show is
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That's film bizbook dot com. Enjoy today's episode with guest
host Dave Bullis.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
On this week's episode of the podcast, my guest is
a screenwriter, producer, and director co wrote Tech and two.
She eccessfully crowdfunded her film Debris, and now she's working
on a ton of other stuff which we're going to
get into on the show with Nicole Jones Dion. Hey, Nicole,
thanks a love for coming on the show.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Oh thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
You know, it's my pleasure to Coole because I think
you're the first person who have had on who is
also a member of the Screenwriting You Alumni series. I'm
pretty sure you are the first person. Oh cool, Yeah,
it's uh yeah. I don't know why I haven't had
anybody else on there yet on here yet, excuse me,
because you know, it's that that group is always doing
(02:35):
great things. And one of the reasons I wanted to
have you on here is because every time I turn around,
you're always up to something new. You're you're always creating
some great content. So that's why I wanted to have
you on. I think everyone could learn a lot from you.
So just to get started, you know, just learning more
about Nicole Jones Dion, I wanted to ask, you know, Nicole,
(02:56):
what made you get started in screenwriting and the film
industry in general.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
You know, it's funny because when I moved to La
oh God, a long long time ago. I don't want
to exactly how long go give away my age, But
when I moved out here, I my intention was never
to get into films or screenwriting.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
It was to get into the video game industry.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
So I started out working in video games and then
I kind of segued into comics and then the stories
I was coming up with.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
People were like, oh, the great movies, and I was like, oh,
that's such a clichet.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
I don't want to be that shade Hollywood screenwriter. And
you know, flash forward and here I am. So I
think because I started out working in that comic book
and video game space, a lot of my my cream
plays and the genres that I'm naturally drawn to are
are these like, you know, fun sci fi action or
you know, horror, you know, just just these really fun
(03:43):
fanboy type projects. And you can see that in the
films that I've done, you know, if you look at
you know, like Dracula the Dark Prince, which we did
John Voight, that's a very even though it's a Dracula film,
it's more of a fantasy epic, you know, sword and
sorcery type take on the Dracula missos. And then tech
In two, which is based on the video game series.
You know, I kind of got that gig, you know,
(04:04):
directly through a Dracula and then also because I had
that tie with the video game industry and.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
You know, and then writing for the Sci Fi Channel.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
Which I did last October, I did an original film
for them, which aired as part of their Thirty Days
of Halloween series that was called They Found Hell. And
now I'm I'm transitioning into directing and I just directed
my first feature which is called Stasis, which is another
sci fi kind.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Of action films. But it's funny.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
A lot of people think of me primarily as a
horror writer, but my genesis of my career in the
start of it is really more in that sci fi
video game type space.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
So did you find that, you know, the video game industry?
You know, I actually made a project for the video
game industry kind of sort of And what I found
is when I reached out to them, a lot of
them were kind of leary, always about going and making
things you know about you know, uh uh, you know,
different projects because of you know, X, Y and Z.
(05:04):
So I want to ask, you know, Nicole, did you
find it it's harder or easier? And I know this
is that's a very run stroke. Did you want its
harder or easier in the video game industry to get
your foot in the door than it is the film
and TV industry?
Speaker 5 (05:19):
I think, I mean it changed. The video game industry
changed a lot since I worked in it. I mean,
just to kind of put it in perspective. When I
was doing it, it was during that weird time when
they were doing live action video games. So it was
almost like a two short adventure movie that was.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Kind of a friend. So now I'm dating myself, people will.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
Know that era and uh and at the time, and
that ended up being a failed experiment because you ended
up with all the cost and expense of making a
movie plus all the cost and expense.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Of making a video game. And so they got away
from that really fast.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
And now with you know, the way that the computer
graphics have advanced, it's like you're getting like these amazing
photo realistic results without having to do like a live
action shoot. But I would say because of the costs
involved in video games, it's definitely easier to do films because.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
You can go out and shoot a little movie on
your iPhone.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
Now. Whereat with video games, you know, you've got programming
and and and and the solid modeling and the video
you know, all the tepee that that's intrinsic as part
of that process.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
I think it is the harder not to crack, especially now.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
You know, you know, I remember all of those live
action video games too. I think there was one called
fox Hunt, and I remember, you know, trying renting those games.
I'm thinking to myself, this can't be the future ken
it and uh yeah, I remember that era where everyone
was doing at least everyone had one. There was someone
called Psychic Detective. I remember that one.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I mean there was kind of the big one with
Mark Hamill was.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah, I remember that one too.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Yeah, weird, It was a weird time. I think a
lot of people kind of try to forget that that
era even existed.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Yeah, I remember that so well. Uh so, you know,
you went to the video game industry and you know,
you tried your hand at that, and I agree with
you completely. The video game industry has changed immensely because
I have friends who work in the video game industry,
and you know, even when I was pitching some of
my projects, things have changed even five from five years ago, now,
you know, I mean, and now look at us now, Nicole,
(07:14):
Pokemon Pokemon Go is the new uh you know, the
new craze. And they're they're they're making a mobile nes
system for sixty bucks and you know, I'm sure that's
going to be a number one best seller as well.
So it's like the retro now is, you know, making
a whole uh everything stickleholds. I'm trying to say, yeah, no.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
It's amazing, it's amazing. I mean, an augmented reality is
such a fascinating thing.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
I'm trying to avoided the Pokemon Go phenomena just because
I had this addictive personality and I know, once I
get sucked in that did I'm done. There goes my
productivity for the rest of my life. But I did
play Ingress, which is a platform that it was based on,
and and I think augmented reality is just fascinating. The
gameplay experience is really really interesting. And yeah, I think
(07:57):
there's it could be the way of the future, at
least way of the future.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
For right now. It's a fun little trend. I'm definitely
keeping an eye on it.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
I mean, uh, Nintendo's market value went up like seven
billion dollars a weekend just based off this one game alone.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
So yeah, it's it's an exciting time.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
It's exciding time for to be in video games, film, TV, anything,
because it's just the wild West right now, you know,
with all the new cable outlets and Netflix and Who
and everybody doing all this original content. It's it's it's
interesting because the rules are all changing and they're changing daily,
and it's like trying to keep you know, you don't
you can't even chase trends anymore because the trends are changing.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
So it's like trying to figure out, you know, to
have to get one step ahead of that curve and
and stay ahead of the rest of the flock. You know.
It's fun time.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, and even with crowdfunding, you know, I noticed all
the video games now or we're just being crowdfunded because
they were you know, basically they company would say, hey,
we can't take a chance on these video games, so
that you know, the developers you know, would go out
and they would go make, you know, raise funds on Kickstar.
And I was shocked at seeing some of the prices,
you know, some of the amounts that they were raising
because I was thinking of myself, Wow, you know these
(09:06):
you know, I'm granting you these are the head developers,
you know, and they're coming out and saying, you know,
this is us doing this. But but still, you know,
I was a little shocked that they were getting the
the the amount that they were Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Well, because a lot of these the video game companies.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
A lot of the board game companies too, are using
crowdfunding almost as a way of doing pre sales for
the product.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
It's also as a way to test. Thanks could you do?
I do a lot of work now with Sean Cunningham.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
This is the creator Friday the Thirteenth, and they just
did a big crowdfunding campaign for the Friday the Thirteenth
video game, which they just previewed at EAT three a
couple of weeks ago. And the gameplay looks amazing. So
if you're a fan of I'm gonna go do a
little pitch here. But if you're a fan of a
Friday the Thirteenth franchise, this looks really cool.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well, and I'm a huge brand of it, so I
can't I can't wait for the video game, by the way.
But anyways, we know, you know, as we we follow
your career, I know, you know, you obviously transfer uh
you know, translated out of out of video games and
he started doing doing more feature films.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
So how did you get you know, attached to writing
you know, Dracula the Dark Prints that one.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
It was such a long.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Story, but I had met where to begin.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
So I had written an adaptation of an image graphic
novel called The Scribbler, which I'd done for Kicktart Entertainment.
They went on to do Wanted with Angelina Julie and
James mcilvoy, and so at the time they were going
around shopping my script, approaching different directors, and one of
the directors that they had introduced me to as a
possibility was this gentleman by the name of Perry Tail.
(10:42):
And then the writer's strike happened and that project ended
up never going anywhere. But Perry and I stayed in
touch over the ears, and we collaborated on a bunch
of projects. And he had been approached with, you know,
the possibility of writing and directing this Dracula film, and
he's like, I need help with the script. Do you
want to come on board? And I was like, absolutely, dude,
you're my guy, you know, And so we we worked
(11:04):
on Dracula together, then we worked on Tech and together,
and then he just produced my first feature film. So
it's one of these ongoing, you know, long term relationships
show It's one of the things with this industry It's
all about building relationships, finding champions who are willing to
go out there and you know, put their necks out
for you, and you making that really good first impression,
(11:24):
and then that'll it'll just carry. You can build a
creaer out of that, or at least get your foot
in the door.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
So when you got your foot in the door, were
you mainly doing like script out of pats or did
you come in with already having some of your own
original material already written?
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Oh gosh, I had probably at the time I did.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
Dracula, I probably had at least fifteen specs already on
the shelf that had won various contests and had been optioned.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Nothing that had actually gone into production at that point.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
So with Dracula and Tech and those types of things,
those were all writing assignments that I was brought on
to either fixing fisting scripts or develop ideas from.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Scrip with the producers.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
Yeah, but I would say that Stasis, which is the
script the Future that I just wrote and directed, is
the first time I actually pitched an idea. I was
hired to write my original idea. Everything prior to that
had been somebody else had an idea or had an
existing script that needed work, which is what ninety percent
of the industry is is developing other people's stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
So before you know, you wrote Drag, before you came
on the project of Dracula, you had written fifteen spec scripts.
So my question then is, Nicole, how did you find
the time to write fifteen spec scripts?
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (12:32):
You just do it.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
You just.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
I have no life, and I think I mentioned I
have an addicted person at company. So instead of once
I actually had to give up video games, I had
to give them up coul Turkey, which is really hard.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
And but one of the things I.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Used to fill the void then is I just I
just write. I write constantly. I write every day all
the time. I have no life. I have no real
family out here in La I mean, I have my husband,
but all my family's back East, so I don't have
a lot of the normal day to data distractions that
other people have, and I can just immerse myself completely
in my work, which is fine.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Because I love it.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
So, you know, just speaking about your work, you know,
could you deal with just a glimpse and you know
into your process, you know, is there a certain time
of day you write, is there anything any sier special
rituals you go through just to get sort of put
yourself in that in that writing mindset.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I tend to.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Because I'm kind of a night out and I get
because I tend to write things that are darker. Anyway,
I work better at night, which kind of sucks good
if you're working vampire hours, it's hard to associate with
the real world.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
But yeah, and as far as rituals, I don't really
have any rituals.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
I do have a treadmill desk that I use just
because sitting is is not good for you all day.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
But I like working on that, and yeah, I just
do it at night. It's like something about when the
sun goes.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
Down, that's when my creativity is at it's it's peak.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
So do you do you subscribe to any method like
the USC sequencing method, you know, like you know the
three X structures say the cat. Do you do you
subscribe to any of these of these methods?
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I do kind of a blend. I do Save the
Cat with you know what Christo.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
Called the many movie method, which is essentially the sequencing method.
I kind of do an overlay of the two.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
The event A lot of the structuring tools they're all
very similar.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
There's a lot of overlap anyway, and if you just
look for the things that they have in common, I
would say those are the things to focus on.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
You know.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
It's like they all have turning points and act breaks
and inciting incidents, and.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
There's there's some subtle differences.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
But I found that by using Fath the Cat with
a mini movie method, that seems to cover most of
the bases.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Yeah, I've noticed there is a lot of overlap too,
especially with the USC sequencing method and Chris MANI movie method,
you know, but I think Chris so to me, I
really do like that many movie method, and I find
that that, you know, breaking in eight sequences really does
help me sort of plan out the movie, if you
know what I.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Mean, right, And it breaks the down into these smaller,
bite sized chunks.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Who it's not so daunting.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
So when you're first starting out, you're not looking at
a blank page and thinking, oh my god, I have
to write ninety or one hundred and twenty pages. Now
it's like, oh no, I just have to get to
the next sixteen pages. And that's a lot more manageable
I can do, you know, fifteen pages in a day
or two and then you're like okay, and then we
go on to the next day.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
So when when you're sitting down to write, you know
you sort of what what do you sort of need
before you write? Meaning do you need to sort of
outline this heavily or write even a treatment, or do
you just sort of get a starting point and just
sort of a map from there.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
I'm a huge fan of outlining and advance, and I
think this is a really good skill set, especially if
you want to be a working writer in Hollywood, because
a lot of these producers and I'm just going to
hire you to write the script, They're going to need
to see outlines, They're going to need to see treatments
in advance.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
It's it's a skill you're going to have to learn.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Se may as well practice those muscles while you know
you're working on your own specs. For me, I'm so,
I do have this one thing where it's like I
can't write a script until I do you know what
it's called?
Speaker 4 (16:00):
And it's this weird hang up I have.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
So I have to start with the title, and it's
so dumb and the title will change, but I have
to have it leave the title and then and then solid,
solid log line. I always refer back to my log line,
So I'll first things first, I write the title, I
write the log line, and then I start breaking out
the bare bones of it, you know, doing like the
breaking it up into the four acts, one act, the
first half of the second act, second half of the
(16:21):
second act, and then the third act, at least having
like a sentence for each, knowing what that.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Backbone is for the story.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
And then I'll start getting deeper into that they have
the cat or the mini movie breakdown.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
But yeah, I have to have.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
At least at least the three or four page outline
flash treatment before I'm comfortable.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Starting actually writing the script.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
You know, something I found out recently is something where
I basically I can't write unless I can build the
movie and then break it down again, you know what
I mean. Like it's sort of building and rebuilding, building
and rebuilding, and because I don't know why, but I'm
terrible with titles anymore, like titles to me, you know
what I mean, Like I just if I don't know
(17:05):
the title, what I do is I just sort of
go past, because I'll end up obsessing over the title
and all the like you know, I can't figure out.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
What it is. Spend a day looking up for titles.
Also another thing I get hung up on. This is
just my weird little brain. I have to know what
my characters' names are, and names have to ask significance
to the story somehow, which you know this is.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
I can't just call them John and Jane. It's like
they have to have a meaningful name.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
I don't know, it's just my own little quirk, I guess.
But yeah, and for me, if I going back to
that log line, even like if I start to write
and it's not feeling like it's something's not working out,
go back to that log line.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Not always because my sanity check. It's like, is this.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Because you want to make sure it's high concept and
marketable and you can sell it and people get it,
and just as few words as possible.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
And if I start to stray.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
From that log line, I go back readjust course and
then dive back in.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah, you know, I often too, where I just put
in like you know, like you know, guard A guard B.
You know, I'm just trying to fly through it. But
I think you know, your method has a lot of
validity to it because characters suggest plot, and you know,
if you have a character and just sort of map
that character out and everything, you know, he or she
would dictate, you know what they do, you know what
(18:18):
I mean, because for instance, you know, a a upbeat
you know, you know, uh, you know, law bidding citizen
is going to handle problems differently than you know, maybe
somebody you know, you know born and they you know,
they they've decided to take a criminal life, if you
know what I mean. And they both had to, like,
you know, get something from somebody that each have incredibly
different methods of how to how to get that thing
from that person.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Yeah, and one of the things I'll do too. And
I'm sorry, I can't remember which book.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
I got this from, but when you're when I'm looking
at the outline for the story, it's like you break
it down.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
By plot, and then I'll go through and I'll and I'll.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Split it out and say, Okay, what are my three
major characters doing in each of these sequences? And you
always you have your protagonist, your antagonist, and it too
whoever the emotional character is. Sometimes it's a love interest
or a best friend or a mentor. But make sure
that each of them is doing something in every scene.
And the other thing to keep in mind is if
you want to have a compelling story, the antagonist is
(19:13):
the hero of his own story, so they need to
be doing something in opposition to the protagonist every time.
And so that's I'll break it down and I'll say,
I'll have the plot and then like a one fentance
description about what each my my protagonists, my antagonists, and
my emotional character are doing in that scene as well,
and that helps them.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
In character arcs and theme. You know, having a theme
is also very important.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
And that's a kind of a controversial topic because I
know some people have different definitions about what seem is,
but you know, it's just some sort of statement about
the universal human condition, you know, working that and that's
where that emotional character usually comes in, helping resonate, you know,
to become a change agent, to bring your protagonist from
wherever they are at the beginning of the film.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Show through their character arc to the end to that
changed person at the end. And you can figure all
that out in the outline.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
It's so much easier to do it in the outline
stays and write your whole script and then realize, oh,
nothing changed or.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
It doesn't have the heart that it needs.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
I'd much rather do all that work up front, in
the outline stage, when it's easier to fix and see
and see those problems.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Yeah, and you're you're you're ready too, because you know,
as I've found, you know, and reading other scripts and
you run my own scripts. The antagonist is sort of
the person leading the film because they're the sort of
the ones you know, in a superhero movie, that's the
superhero you know, meets the antagonist when the antagonist launches
their plan, you know what I mean, like and you
see that in the Avengers movies, So the antagonist and
(20:50):
even in horror movies like you know, Fire the Thirteenth,
Jason's the one sort of you know, going through the film,
and he's taken out these teenagers one by one up
until one of them finds, you know, oh my gosh,
where's my friend that they go look for they find
our dead body. Then Jason springs and attacks again here
stuff like that. You find the antagonist really is sort
of the engine of the whole story.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Yeah, and that's why you.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
Have to spend much time developing your antagonists as as
you do your protagonist, and you know, and make them real,
flesh them out. Don't don't come up with the two
dimensional you know, mustache twirling villain. It's like, give them
a goal and a motivation and a reason for doing
what they're doing, and just you know, be evil for
the sake of being evil. Okay, sometimes you can get
away with that, but I think sympathetic villain, at least
(21:33):
empathetic villains are are always much more.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Powerful and much more effective.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Yeah, very true. And you know you touched on theme.
You know, I was talking to another write about this
about whether the theme should be one word. I've also
heard theme should always be a question, you know, you know,
what would you do to achieve your goal? You know,
big question mark at the end there, you know, because
I've seen you know, like you were saying, you know,
it's always a statement about the the human condition. And
(21:58):
some people will have said, well, it should be a
quotquestion that the movie answers, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Yeah, I mean I don't.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
I don't have like absolute you know, when it comes
to theme, it's like, yeah, sometimes it takes a form
of a question. Sometimes it's a statement. It just has
to be something universal and that everyone can relate to.
And I would also caution against, you know, writing from
a soapbox. You know where you're you're you have an
agenda that you're trying to preach down onto people. I
(22:25):
think that usually fall flat in the in the telling.
It's I think it's much better to take something like
a universal theme and then explore it from different angles
and maybe leave the ending ambiguous. It's like, what is
you know, like raise this big question, but then maybe
there are several answers and this is just one of many,
you know, And and the attack And I think in
the in the best stories, the antagons and the protagonists
(22:46):
are both trying to achieve the same theme, I guess,
or approach that same theme, but from different directions.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
And you know, maybe you agree with it, maybe you don't,
But at.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Least now it'd opened a thought provoking conversation about who
we are as humans and that sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
I don't know, kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Yeah, I think that is an excellent way to put it.
And you know, because you know, I think when we
when when we when we get better I think, you know,
as I've realized too about when we get better at
certain things, like you know, for instance, you were talking
about writing the treatment in the outline, there's a skoes
you need to have. And that's also something that I've
realized too, is that you know, as we the more
(23:25):
the more of what we do, the better we get
at it.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Uh, that's usually a rule. Uh you know, a rule
fulm so this speak. And so when we when we're
writing a theme or treatment, or even when we're writing
you know, the script itself, We're we're always trying to
get better at doing those fine details. And that's that's
a trick of screenwriting though, because we're always trying to
put all these different skills together, you know what I mean,
building a world, building a character, writing compelling action lines,
(23:49):
writing compelling stories. You know, it's it's and themes and
all that stuff. That's why screenwriting, I think is so
challenging at the end of the day.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
Yeah, and there's always room to grow, there's always room
to new to learn new things and trying news gills.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
I'm always trying to get better. I'm never you know,
I've had four.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Films made and a fifth one that's in post production
right now. And I'm not an expert. I don't claim
to know it all. There's always things out there to
learn from other people, read script from professional writers who
are better than you, and push yourself.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
To get to that next level because there's always room
to grow.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Absolutely, and speaker of some of those movies. You know
you had Tech and two because you use revenge. You
know that movie came out in twenty fourteen, so you know,
you know, how did you get you know, how would
usual you get board that project?
Speaker 5 (24:35):
Well, it was the same people who had done Dracula,
so it really my Dracula was like was like a
proving ground and then they're like, oh, well, we'd like
to bring you, We'd like to invite.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
You back for Tecan.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
And Tecan had its own unique challenges because originally our
vision with that one was we wanted to do something
that was very, very true to the video game and
very true to the fan, because the director who was
attached at the time was like a huge TECHU fan,
very passionate about it, and we pitched them this awesome,
awesome thing, and that's not what they wanted to do.
They wanted to do something different, and so there's been
(25:05):
some a little bit of pushback from the tech and
community because they're like, this isn't really a tecond movie,
and I'm like, dude, I wish you could have seen
the original treatment because that was it was awesome. Then
you know, maybe someday that movie will get made. It's
just in this case, the producers wanted to do something
a little different. So we at the end of the day,
I'm just a hired gun.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
You know, you'd give them what you You're there to
make the producer happy and give them what they want.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
So yeah, yeah, you know, I agree with that completely.
You know, that's why you know, I have had friends
in simple situations and you know, at that point, yeah,
you you know, like you just said, you realize you're
the hired gun. You know, the producer. It's whatever. You know,
since they hired you, you're you know, you have to
deliver what they're looking for, you know. And I have
friends who are who've had similar situations when who are
(25:48):
trying to always force the issue and you know things
didn't go well. Let's just say that, Nicole.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Yeah, it's like, you know, you have to remember if
you're writing a spec that's yours, you can do whatever
you want. But if you're writing for someone else and
you and your job then is to take their vision
and make the best possible version of that vision. You know,
even if you don't necessarily agree with the vision that
that's not what you're there for.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
I mean, you can raise objections or whatever, try to,
but at the end of the day, you work for them.
It's their idea.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
Give them the best possible version of their idea that
you can.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yes, yeah, I concur And you know, speaking of your projects,
we actually should moved and talked to you about Debris,
which is, you know, your short horror film. You know,
you actually raised just about twenty thousand dollars on Indiegogo.
You raised three hundred and thirty percent over your goal.
So I have to, you know, ask us, you know,
I have to ask you know, can you just give
(26:42):
us a little bit about what debriss about? And I
want to ask you too about you know, your crowdfunding campaign.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Yeah. Yeah, Debris was really funny because it was the
first time I tried to do crowdfunding and I was like, oh,
I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
We're gonna this. This is going to be a mess.
So I only originally asked for.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
Five thousand, which wasn't going to be nearly an to
get the film made. But I'm like, I don't, you know,
I don't know if I'll be lucky if I get that.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
And then the fact that we were able to raise
you know, almost twenty was mind blowing.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I mean it got to the.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Point where I'm like, well, who all you people, and
why are you giving me money? I don't understand. And
I wish I could.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
I wish magic formula wives so I could like replicate
it at will. And I've done another craft funding campaign
since then for another short film called Death Date, which
is also successful, but.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
Not the same runaway train that Debris was.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
And I think the difference is Debris just had this
really cool concept, like a really high concept that people
resonated with.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Into The concept behind.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Debris is in the aftermath of the Fukushima tsunami, you
had the.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Curse down on his luck.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Trikor Hunter is out with a metal detector on a
California beach and finds a curse Samurai sword that's washed
up on the beach from the Tukushima tsunami wreckage and
then he brings it home and the bad things happened.
But I think by having this, you know, there's.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
People love Damma.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
There's a huge like cult following, I guess, just around
Samurais and the fact that the story itself was based
on ourn actual Japanese legend, and there's been a variety
of films made in Japan about this particular store and
the bad things that happened to the people who own it.
But I thought this was kind of an interesting to
put Couden nowt like East me Sweat. You have this
very ignorant American finds a sword, doesn't realize it's dangerous,
(28:21):
and then why yeah, as his life slowly unravels.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
So yeah, we made the short film and it I
think it's been in probably all god over.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
It's been in over a dozen festivals like genre festivals,
been nominated for a bunch of awards, won a couple
of awards, And so with that one, now I've I'm
trying to turn it into a feature if possible. So
I've written a future version of the script, going out
to different producers and if I can find someone who'd
be interested in tackling the subjects on a broader on
(28:51):
a bigger scale, because there's interest. I think it's I
think it's a project that people like and would be
like to see more of, you know.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
More of this story, more of the sword, and make
it bigger.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Is that online anywhere for everyonet to check out?
Speaker 5 (29:06):
The trailer is a field online Because it's still technically
in the festival circuit, I can't release the film itself.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Well, probably we'll.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
See where things are at by the end of the year,
but I think we'll probably finish our festival run.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
By the end of the year and then maybe we'll well,
either release.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
We're also looking into getting distribution deals internationally, so it
might be available on I don't know, video on demand
or something TV, whatever markets are available out there.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Cool, you know, yeah, I definitely think there was a
market for something like that. And you know, when I saw,
you know, how much by the end, I saw how
much this was, how much this is raising because I
think I donated five dollars to this or can't re
your market under my pleasure because I you know, I
checked on I checked it. I checked on it a
couple you know, a couple of weeks later, and I
(29:51):
saw well, you know, this is almost ending, and I
was like, wow, Nicole is killing it. I was like,
well three past their goal, I mean, and I thought,
you know.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Either somebody a huge contact list or somebody, well, I said,
you know, somebody did something right, you know somewhere. You know,
either you have a massive contact list. You you know, you
have a rich, very rich relative. It donates you know,
money into it.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
Oh wait, I have no rich relatives.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
I wish.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
No. This was definitely like the Bernie Sanders of the
crowd funny campaign. It with a lot of small donations,
you know, and they did to add it up over time.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
And No, it was.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
Really phenomenal just to watch the response to this idea
and this little film. It was really gratifying and it
gave us a lot of confidence that we were making
a story that people wanted, you know, the people wanted
to see, and that resonated with people and ye know,
and at the end of the day, that's really what
it's about, you know, telling stories that people want to
hear and maybe make them think a little bit along
(30:55):
the way.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Yeah, I concur and you know, obviously you know that
the concept was popular as well as you were saying,
and you know, there's always a crowd for an audience
for horror of any kind, you know what I mean.
There's always gonna be an audience for horror.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Well, and it's funny because you know, the when I
was doing all the research for Debris and then the
feature link script for Debris, I stumbled on this other
Samurai story and so I'm like, okay, I have to
write this when it's true story set in Fuel, Japan.
And that was a script that ended up winning the
Grand Prize at the Palm Street Films.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
Okay, if you're writing competition. So it's like I went
to my little Samurai phase, I guess, and it's it's
it's great. I love it. I love action films. I
love martial arts films.
Speaker 5 (31:41):
And so it's like I also I always coughd in
writers about you know, pigeonholing, because Hollywood will pigeonhole you.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
And I'm like, you know what if this.
Speaker 5 (31:50):
Is a whole I got stuck in, It's what I
wouldn't mind living in because I just love that space
so much.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Yeah, and you actually by the way, congratulations because you
just did you just did win the Palm uh Palm
Palm Street competition. I always was it on Monday, I
believe or tuesdays.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
They just announced the winners like Monday or Tuesday of
this week. Yeah, so that that's that's very new.
Speaker 5 (32:10):
And you know, and that was kind of interesting because
I don't normally enter contact because I'm a genre writer generally,
and and those unless it's a genre specific competition, don't
do well in these broad mainstream contests. But in this case,
because it was it was actually an action drama, you know,
set in feudal to pant with Samuraise and Pingis and
it's just like a you know, all kinds of blood
in action. Uh hey, you know, this one might actually
(32:32):
the standard chance and and then it ended up winning
the Grand prize.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
So that was really gratifying.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
So you know, I know you can't talk too much
about it, but so I wanted to ask, obviously, is
you know, what what upcoming projects that you what upcoming
projects you're working on that you can actually talk about,
if any if any easy to talk about.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
I mean, well, let's see, so there's my my feature
film that I directed Stacis, which is currently amp post.
We already have distribution lined up for that, which is
really exciting to So that film is supposed to be
ready for as Sand which is in November, and that's
kind of at the Ya sci fi film. It's been
called Terminator for teens, so if you like time traveling
terminator type things, you know, check it out when it
(33:12):
comes out.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
I think that'd be really cool.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
What else I'm working, I'm right now, I'm trying to
raise money for my next feature, which is a horror
script that's based loosely on actual events.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
So I don't want to get too much away of
that that but that one, in fact, seems like a
phone with you.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
I have a call with.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
The producer for that, so that'd be nice to get
that started production before the end of the year. And yeah,
what else, I'm just you know, I always got things
going on.
Speaker 5 (33:43):
We're still in post production on Death Date, which is
the other short film that I did after Debris.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
It's a meeting with my editor next week. We're going
to try to lock picture on that soon. And I
don't know, I mean, you just gotta.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
Multiple irons in the fire, you know, waiting for something
to hit just keep on chugging.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Yeah, and that has excellent advice to Nicle. Before we go,
I have one Twitter question come in okay, and that
was Nicole, what do you look for when you're deciding
to be involved with a particular project?
Speaker 4 (34:16):
That is always a million dollar question?
Speaker 5 (34:18):
Right.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
It's like it has to it has to appeal to
me at some level.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
I don't know. It's hard to say. I'm because I
have this genre background. I love what I guess if
it were literature, if it called speculative fiction, basically Twilight
Zone types.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
Things that appeal to me personally are things that really
cool twists at the end, or are just thought provoking
in some way.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
I love like old sci fi from like the seventies
and eighties, when there was like some sort of like
social message, but it was buried within the context of
the film, you know what I mean, Like with Story
Lent Green and Planet of the Apes and logans around
those types of films I really like from a sci
fi perspective. On the horror side, I'm drawing more towards
(35:04):
what I call hidden realities, so less flashers, more paranormal,
more occult, more.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
Supernatural type stuff. Uh, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
I did have to something that's cool, like if it
could be made into a video game or comic book.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Chank, that is are I'd like it because that's where.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
That's my world, that's where.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
I come from. Uncle. Very cool. You know, it's been
a pleasure having you on. And before I go, I
just want to ask Nicole, where can people find you
out online?
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (35:35):
I'm on Facebook.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
You find me on Facebook. If you like weird news,
then totally follow me on Twitter. I'm at navars n
O v A R I S.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
I post all kinds of wacky, weird news stories, conspiracy theories,
and every now and then I'll toss in a screenwriting kip,
just you know, for good measure.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (35:54):
But that's and I'm on LinkedIn too, but mostly I
like I live on Facebook and Twitter, so that's a
good place to look for me. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
I saw the tweet you just put out on Natural
predicts the end of Western civilization.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Yeah you all love Yeah stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
Let's talk with this stuff into the world stuff, conspiracy theories,
killer virus is gonna wipe out humanity.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
If you like that stuff, follow me on Twitter. It's
full of it.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Nicole. I want to say thank you so much for
coming on and I wish you the best of luck
with everything, and I will see you in the Screenwriting
You Facebook group and well you know we'll be chat
in screenwriting there more. And you know, if you ever
need anything, please let me know.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
Awesome, Thanks so much, David.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
It is great.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
I want to thank Dave so much for doing such
a great job on this episode. If you want to
get links to anything we spoke about in this episode,
head over to the show notes at any film uncle
dot com Forward slash eight twenty two and if you
have it already, please head over to Filmmaking podcast dot com.
Subscribe and leave a good review for the show. It
really helps us out a.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Lot, guys. Thank you again so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Guys, as always, keep that hustle going, keep that dream alive,
Stay safe out there, and I'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Thanks for listening to the Indie Film Hustle Podcast at
indiefilm hustle dot com. That's I N D I E
F I L M h U S T l E
dot com.
You are listening to the ifh podcast Network. For more
amazing filmmaking and screenwriting podcasts, just go to ifhpodcastnetwork dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to the Indie Film Muscle Podcast, Episode number eight
twenty two. Cinema Should Make You Forget. You're sitting in
a theater, Roman Polanski.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Broadcasting from the back alley in Hollywood. It's the Indie
Film Hustle Podcast, where we show you how to survive
and thrive as an indie filmmaker in the jungles of
the film biz.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
And here's your host, Alex Ferrari.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Welcome, Welcome to another episode of the Indie Film Huscle Podcast.
I am your humble host, Alex Ferrari. Today's show is
sponsored by Rise of the Film Entrepreneur How to turn
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That's film bizbook dot com. Enjoy today's episode with guest
host Dave Bullis.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
On this week's episode of the podcast, my guest is
a screenwriter, producer, and director co wrote Tech and two.
She eccessfully crowdfunded her film Debris, and now she's working
on a ton of other stuff which we're going to
get into on the show with Nicole Jones Dion. Hey, Nicole,
thanks a love for coming on the show.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
Oh thanks for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
You know, it's my pleasure to Coole because I think
you're the first person who have had on who is
also a member of the Screenwriting You Alumni series. I'm
pretty sure you are the first person. Oh cool, Yeah,
it's uh yeah. I don't know why I haven't had
anybody else on there yet on here yet, excuse me,
because you know, it's that that group is always doing
(02:35):
great things. And one of the reasons I wanted to
have you on here is because every time I turn around,
you're always up to something new. You're you're always creating
some great content. So that's why I wanted to have
you on. I think everyone could learn a lot from you.
So just to get started, you know, just learning more
about Nicole Jones Dion, I wanted to ask, you know, Nicole,
(02:56):
what made you get started in screenwriting and the film
industry in general.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
You know, it's funny because when I moved to La
oh God, a long long time ago. I don't want
to exactly how long go give away my age, But
when I moved out here, I my intention was never
to get into films or screenwriting.
Speaker 4 (03:10):
It was to get into the video game industry.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
So I started out working in video games and then
I kind of segued into comics and then the stories
I was coming up with.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
People were like, oh, the great movies, and I was like, oh,
that's such a clichet.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
I don't want to be that shade Hollywood screenwriter. And
you know, flash forward and here I am. So I
think because I started out working in that comic book
and video game space, a lot of my my cream
plays and the genres that I'm naturally drawn to are
are these like, you know, fun sci fi action or
you know, horror, you know, just just these really fun
(03:43):
fanboy type projects. And you can see that in the
films that I've done, you know, if you look at
you know, like Dracula the Dark Prince, which we did
John Voight, that's a very even though it's a Dracula film,
it's more of a fantasy epic, you know, sword and
sorcery type take on the Dracula missos. And then tech
In two, which is based on the video game series.
You know, I kind of got that gig, you know,
(04:04):
directly through a Dracula and then also because I had
that tie with the video game industry and.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
You know, and then writing for the Sci Fi Channel.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
Which I did last October, I did an original film
for them, which aired as part of their Thirty Days
of Halloween series that was called They Found Hell. And
now I'm I'm transitioning into directing and I just directed
my first feature which is called Stasis, which is another
sci fi kind.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Of action films. But it's funny.
Speaker 5 (04:32):
A lot of people think of me primarily as a
horror writer, but my genesis of my career in the
start of it is really more in that sci fi
video game type space.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
So did you find that, you know, the video game industry?
You know, I actually made a project for the video
game industry kind of sort of And what I found
is when I reached out to them, a lot of
them were kind of leary, always about going and making
things you know about you know, uh uh, you know,
different projects because of you know, X, Y and Z.
(05:04):
So I want to ask, you know, Nicole, did you
find it it's harder or easier? And I know this
is that's a very run stroke. Did you want its
harder or easier in the video game industry to get
your foot in the door than it is the film
and TV industry?
Speaker 5 (05:19):
I think, I mean it changed. The video game industry
changed a lot since I worked in it. I mean,
just to kind of put it in perspective. When I
was doing it, it was during that weird time when
they were doing live action video games. So it was
almost like a two short adventure movie that was.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Kind of a friend. So now I'm dating myself, people will.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
Know that era and uh and at the time, and
that ended up being a failed experiment because you ended
up with all the cost and expense of making a
movie plus all the cost and expense.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Of making a video game. And so they got away
from that really fast.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
And now with you know, the way that the computer
graphics have advanced, it's like you're getting like these amazing
photo realistic results without having to do like a live
action shoot. But I would say because of the costs
involved in video games, it's definitely easier to do films because.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
You can go out and shoot a little movie on
your iPhone.
Speaker 5 (06:07):
Now. Whereat with video games, you know, you've got programming
and and and and the solid modeling and the video
you know, all the tepee that that's intrinsic as part
of that process.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
I think it is the harder not to crack, especially now.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
You know, you know, I remember all of those live
action video games too. I think there was one called
fox Hunt, and I remember, you know, trying renting those games.
I'm thinking to myself, this can't be the future ken
it and uh yeah, I remember that era where everyone
was doing at least everyone had one. There was someone
called Psychic Detective. I remember that one.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
I mean there was kind of the big one with
Mark Hamill was.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah, I remember that one too.
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Yeah, weird, It was a weird time. I think a
lot of people kind of try to forget that that
era even existed.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Yeah, I remember that so well. Uh so, you know,
you went to the video game industry and you know,
you tried your hand at that, and I agree with
you completely. The video game industry has changed immensely because
I have friends who work in the video game industry,
and you know, even when I was pitching some of
my projects, things have changed even five from five years ago, now,
you know, I mean, and now look at us now, Nicole,
(07:14):
Pokemon Pokemon Go is the new uh you know, the
new craze. And they're they're they're making a mobile nes
system for sixty bucks and you know, I'm sure that's
going to be a number one best seller as well.
So it's like the retro now is, you know, making
a whole uh everything stickleholds. I'm trying to say, yeah, no.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
It's amazing, it's amazing. I mean, an augmented reality is
such a fascinating thing.
Speaker 5 (07:34):
I'm trying to avoided the Pokemon Go phenomena just because
I had this addictive personality and I know, once I
get sucked in that did I'm done. There goes my
productivity for the rest of my life. But I did
play Ingress, which is a platform that it was based on,
and and I think augmented reality is just fascinating. The
gameplay experience is really really interesting. And yeah, I think
(07:57):
there's it could be the way of the future, at
least way of the future.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
For right now. It's a fun little trend. I'm definitely
keeping an eye on it.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
I mean, uh, Nintendo's market value went up like seven
billion dollars a weekend just based off this one game alone.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
So yeah, it's it's an exciting time.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
It's exciding time for to be in video games, film, TV, anything,
because it's just the wild West right now, you know,
with all the new cable outlets and Netflix and Who
and everybody doing all this original content. It's it's it's
interesting because the rules are all changing and they're changing daily,
and it's like trying to keep you know, you don't
you can't even chase trends anymore because the trends are changing.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
So it's like trying to figure out, you know, to
have to get one step ahead of that curve and
and stay ahead of the rest of the flock. You know.
It's fun time.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Yeah, and even with crowdfunding, you know, I noticed all
the video games now or we're just being crowdfunded because
they were you know, basically they company would say, hey,
we can't take a chance on these video games, so
that you know, the developers you know, would go out
and they would go make, you know, raise funds on Kickstar.
And I was shocked at seeing some of the prices,
you know, some of the amounts that they were raising
because I was thinking of myself, Wow, you know these
(09:06):
you know, I'm granting you these are the head developers,
you know, and they're coming out and saying, you know,
this is us doing this. But but still, you know,
I was a little shocked that they were getting the
the the amount that they were Yeah.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Well, because a lot of these the video game companies.
Speaker 5 (09:16):
A lot of the board game companies too, are using
crowdfunding almost as a way of doing pre sales for
the product.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
It's also as a way to test. Thanks could you do?
I do a lot of work now with Sean Cunningham.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
This is the creator Friday the Thirteenth, and they just
did a big crowdfunding campaign for the Friday the Thirteenth
video game, which they just previewed at EAT three a
couple of weeks ago. And the gameplay looks amazing. So
if you're a fan of I'm gonna go do a
little pitch here. But if you're a fan of a
Friday the Thirteenth franchise, this looks really cool.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Well, and I'm a huge brand of it, so I
can't I can't wait for the video game, by the way.
But anyways, we know, you know, as we we follow
your career, I know, you know, you obviously transfer uh
you know, translated out of out of video games and
he started doing doing more feature films.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
So how did you get you know, attached to writing
you know, Dracula the Dark Prints that one.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
It was such a long.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Story, but I had met where to begin.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
So I had written an adaptation of an image graphic
novel called The Scribbler, which I'd done for Kicktart Entertainment.
They went on to do Wanted with Angelina Julie and
James mcilvoy, and so at the time they were going
around shopping my script, approaching different directors, and one of
the directors that they had introduced me to as a
possibility was this gentleman by the name of Perry Tail.
(10:42):
And then the writer's strike happened and that project ended
up never going anywhere. But Perry and I stayed in
touch over the ears, and we collaborated on a bunch
of projects. And he had been approached with, you know,
the possibility of writing and directing this Dracula film, and
he's like, I need help with the script. Do you
want to come on board? And I was like, absolutely, dude,
you're my guy, you know, And so we we worked
(11:04):
on Dracula together, then we worked on Tech and together,
and then he just produced my first feature film. So
it's one of these ongoing, you know, long term relationships
show It's one of the things with this industry It's
all about building relationships, finding champions who are willing to
go out there and you know, put their necks out
for you, and you making that really good first impression,
(11:24):
and then that'll it'll just carry. You can build a
creaer out of that, or at least get your foot
in the door.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
So when you got your foot in the door, were
you mainly doing like script out of pats or did
you come in with already having some of your own
original material already written?
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Oh gosh, I had probably at the time I did.
Speaker 5 (11:41):
Dracula, I probably had at least fifteen specs already on
the shelf that had won various contests and had been optioned.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Nothing that had actually gone into production at that point.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
So with Dracula and Tech and those types of things,
those were all writing assignments that I was brought on
to either fixing fisting scripts or develop ideas from.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Scrip with the producers.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
Yeah, but I would say that Stasis, which is the
script the Future that I just wrote and directed, is
the first time I actually pitched an idea. I was
hired to write my original idea. Everything prior to that
had been somebody else had an idea or had an
existing script that needed work, which is what ninety percent
of the industry is is developing other people's stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
So before you know, you wrote Drag, before you came
on the project of Dracula, you had written fifteen spec scripts.
So my question then is, Nicole, how did you find
the time to write fifteen spec scripts?
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (12:32):
You just do it.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
You just.
Speaker 5 (12:34):
I have no life, and I think I mentioned I
have an addicted person at company. So instead of once
I actually had to give up video games, I had
to give them up coul Turkey, which is really hard.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
And but one of the things I.
Speaker 5 (12:46):
Used to fill the void then is I just I
just write. I write constantly. I write every day all
the time. I have no life. I have no real
family out here in La I mean, I have my husband,
but all my family's back East, so I don't have
a lot of the normal day to data distractions that
other people have, and I can just immerse myself completely
in my work, which is fine.
Speaker 4 (13:04):
Because I love it.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
So, you know, just speaking about your work, you know,
could you deal with just a glimpse and you know
into your process, you know, is there a certain time
of day you write, is there anything any sier special
rituals you go through just to get sort of put
yourself in that in that writing mindset.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I tend to.
Speaker 5 (13:22):
Because I'm kind of a night out and I get
because I tend to write things that are darker. Anyway,
I work better at night, which kind of sucks good
if you're working vampire hours, it's hard to associate with
the real world.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
But yeah, and as far as rituals, I don't really
have any rituals.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
I do have a treadmill desk that I use just
because sitting is is not good for you all day.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
But I like working on that, and yeah, I just
do it at night. It's like something about when the
sun goes.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
Down, that's when my creativity is at it's it's peak.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
So do you do you subscribe to any method like
the USC sequencing method, you know, like you know the
three X structures say the cat. Do you do you
subscribe to any of these of these methods?
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I do kind of a blend. I do Save the
Cat with you know what Christo.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
Called the many movie method, which is essentially the sequencing method.
I kind of do an overlay of the two.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
The event A lot of the structuring tools they're all
very similar.
Speaker 5 (14:21):
There's a lot of overlap anyway, and if you just
look for the things that they have in common, I
would say those are the things to focus on.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
You know.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
It's like they all have turning points and act breaks
and inciting incidents, and.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
There's there's some subtle differences.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
But I found that by using Fath the Cat with
a mini movie method, that seems to cover most of
the bases.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Yeah, I've noticed there is a lot of overlap too,
especially with the USC sequencing method and Chris MANI movie method,
you know, but I think Chris so to me, I
really do like that many movie method, and I find
that that, you know, breaking in eight sequences really does
help me sort of plan out the movie, if you
know what I.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
Mean, right, And it breaks the down into these smaller,
bite sized chunks.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Who it's not so daunting.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
So when you're first starting out, you're not looking at
a blank page and thinking, oh my god, I have
to write ninety or one hundred and twenty pages. Now
it's like, oh no, I just have to get to
the next sixteen pages. And that's a lot more manageable
I can do, you know, fifteen pages in a day
or two and then you're like okay, and then we
go on to the next day.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
So when when you're sitting down to write, you know
you sort of what what do you sort of need
before you write? Meaning do you need to sort of
outline this heavily or write even a treatment, or do
you just sort of get a starting point and just
sort of a map from there.
Speaker 5 (15:35):
I'm a huge fan of outlining and advance, and I
think this is a really good skill set, especially if
you want to be a working writer in Hollywood, because
a lot of these producers and I'm just going to
hire you to write the script, They're going to need
to see outlines, They're going to need to see treatments
in advance.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
It's it's a skill you're going to have to learn.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
Se may as well practice those muscles while you know
you're working on your own specs. For me, I'm so,
I do have this one thing where it's like I
can't write a script until I do you know what
it's called?
Speaker 4 (16:00):
And it's this weird hang up I have.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
So I have to start with the title, and it's
so dumb and the title will change, but I have
to have it leave the title and then and then solid,
solid log line. I always refer back to my log line,
So I'll first things first, I write the title, I
write the log line, and then I start breaking out
the bare bones of it, you know, doing like the
breaking it up into the four acts, one act, the
first half of the second act, second half of the
(16:21):
second act, and then the third act, at least having
like a sentence for each, knowing what that.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Backbone is for the story.
Speaker 5 (16:28):
And then I'll start getting deeper into that they have
the cat or the mini movie breakdown.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
But yeah, I have to have.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
At least at least the three or four page outline
flash treatment before I'm comfortable.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
Starting actually writing the script.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
You know, something I found out recently is something where
I basically I can't write unless I can build the
movie and then break it down again, you know what
I mean. Like it's sort of building and rebuilding, building
and rebuilding, and because I don't know why, but I'm
terrible with titles anymore, like titles to me, you know
what I mean, Like I just if I don't know
(17:05):
the title, what I do is I just sort of
go past, because I'll end up obsessing over the title
and all the like you know, I can't figure out.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
What it is. Spend a day looking up for titles.
Also another thing I get hung up on. This is
just my weird little brain. I have to know what
my characters' names are, and names have to ask significance
to the story somehow, which you know this is.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
I can't just call them John and Jane. It's like
they have to have a meaningful name.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
I don't know, it's just my own little quirk, I guess.
But yeah, and for me, if I going back to
that log line, even like if I start to write
and it's not feeling like it's something's not working out,
go back to that log line.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Not always because my sanity check. It's like, is this.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
Because you want to make sure it's high concept and
marketable and you can sell it and people get it,
and just as few words as possible.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
And if I start to stray.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
From that log line, I go back readjust course and
then dive back in.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Yeah, you know, I often too, where I just put
in like you know, like you know, guard A guard B.
You know, I'm just trying to fly through it. But
I think you know, your method has a lot of
validity to it because characters suggest plot, and you know,
if you have a character and just sort of map
that character out and everything, you know, he or she
would dictate, you know what they do, you know what
(18:18):
I mean, because for instance, you know, a a upbeat
you know, you know, uh, you know, law bidding citizen
is going to handle problems differently than you know, maybe
somebody you know, you know born and they you know,
they they've decided to take a criminal life, if you
know what I mean. And they both had to, like,
you know, get something from somebody that each have incredibly
different methods of how to how to get that thing
from that person.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Yeah, and one of the things I'll do too. And
I'm sorry, I can't remember which book.
Speaker 5 (18:44):
I got this from, but when you're when I'm looking
at the outline for the story, it's like you break
it down.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
By plot, and then I'll go through and I'll and I'll.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Split it out and say, Okay, what are my three
major characters doing in each of these sequences? And you
always you have your protagonist, your antagonist, and it too
whoever the emotional character is. Sometimes it's a love interest
or a best friend or a mentor. But make sure
that each of them is doing something in every scene.
And the other thing to keep in mind is if
you want to have a compelling story, the antagonist is
(19:13):
the hero of his own story, so they need to
be doing something in opposition to the protagonist every time.
And so that's I'll break it down and I'll say,
I'll have the plot and then like a one fentance
description about what each my my protagonists, my antagonists, and
my emotional character are doing in that scene as well,
and that helps them.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
In character arcs and theme. You know, having a theme
is also very important.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
And that's a kind of a controversial topic because I
know some people have different definitions about what seem is,
but you know, it's just some sort of statement about
the universal human condition, you know, working that and that's
where that emotional character usually comes in, helping resonate, you know,
to become a change agent, to bring your protagonist from
wherever they are at the beginning of the film.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor,
and now back to the.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
Show through their character arc to the end to that
changed person at the end. And you can figure all
that out in the outline.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
It's so much easier to do it in the outline
stays and write your whole script and then realize, oh,
nothing changed or.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
It doesn't have the heart that it needs.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
I'd much rather do all that work up front, in
the outline stage, when it's easier to fix and see
and see those problems.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Yeah, and you're you're you're ready too, because you know,
as I've found, you know, and reading other scripts and
you run my own scripts. The antagonist is sort of
the person leading the film because they're the sort of
the ones you know, in a superhero movie, that's the
superhero you know, meets the antagonist when the antagonist launches
their plan, you know what I mean, like and you
see that in the Avengers movies, So the antagonist and
(20:50):
even in horror movies like you know, Fire the Thirteenth,
Jason's the one sort of you know, going through the film,
and he's taken out these teenagers one by one up
until one of them finds, you know, oh my gosh,
where's my friend that they go look for they find
our dead body. Then Jason springs and attacks again here
stuff like that. You find the antagonist really is sort
of the engine of the whole story.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Yeah, and that's why you.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
Have to spend much time developing your antagonists as as
you do your protagonist, and you know, and make them real,
flesh them out. Don't don't come up with the two
dimensional you know, mustache twirling villain. It's like, give them
a goal and a motivation and a reason for doing
what they're doing, and just you know, be evil for
the sake of being evil. Okay, sometimes you can get
away with that, but I think sympathetic villain, at least
(21:33):
empathetic villains are are always much more.
Speaker 4 (21:35):
Powerful and much more effective.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
Yeah, very true. And you know you touched on theme.
You know, I was talking to another write about this
about whether the theme should be one word. I've also
heard theme should always be a question, you know, you know,
what would you do to achieve your goal? You know,
big question mark at the end there, you know, because
I've seen you know, like you were saying, you know,
it's always a statement about the the human condition. And
(21:58):
some people will have said, well, it should be a
quotquestion that the movie answers, if you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (22:02):
Yeah, I mean I don't.
Speaker 5 (22:04):
I don't have like absolute you know, when it comes
to theme, it's like, yeah, sometimes it takes a form
of a question. Sometimes it's a statement. It just has
to be something universal and that everyone can relate to.
And I would also caution against, you know, writing from
a soapbox. You know where you're you're you have an
agenda that you're trying to preach down onto people. I
(22:25):
think that usually fall flat in the in the telling.
It's I think it's much better to take something like
a universal theme and then explore it from different angles
and maybe leave the ending ambiguous. It's like, what is
you know, like raise this big question, but then maybe
there are several answers and this is just one of many,
you know, And and the attack And I think in
the in the best stories, the antagons and the protagonists
(22:46):
are both trying to achieve the same theme, I guess,
or approach that same theme, but from different directions.
Speaker 4 (22:53):
And you know, maybe you agree with it, maybe you don't,
But at.
Speaker 5 (22:55):
Least now it'd opened a thought provoking conversation about who
we are as humans and that sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
I don't know, kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Yeah, I think that is an excellent way to put it.
And you know, because you know, I think when we
when when we when we get better I think, you know,
as I've realized too about when we get better at
certain things, like you know, for instance, you were talking
about writing the treatment in the outline, there's a skoes
you need to have. And that's also something that I've
realized too, is that you know, as we the more
(23:25):
the more of what we do, the better we get
at it.
Speaker 4 (23:28):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Uh, that's usually a rule. Uh you know, a rule
fulm so this speak. And so when we when we're
writing a theme or treatment, or even when we're writing
you know, the script itself, We're we're always trying to
get better at doing those fine details. And that's that's
a trick of screenwriting though, because we're always trying to
put all these different skills together, you know what I mean,
building a world, building a character, writing compelling action lines,
(23:49):
writing compelling stories. You know, it's it's and themes and
all that stuff. That's why screenwriting, I think is so
challenging at the end of the day.
Speaker 5 (23:55):
Yeah, and there's always room to grow, there's always room
to new to learn new things and trying news gills.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
I'm always trying to get better. I'm never you know,
I've had four.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Films made and a fifth one that's in post production
right now. And I'm not an expert. I don't claim
to know it all. There's always things out there to
learn from other people, read script from professional writers who
are better than you, and push yourself.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
To get to that next level because there's always room
to grow.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Absolutely, and speaker of some of those movies. You know
you had Tech and two because you use revenge. You
know that movie came out in twenty fourteen, so you know,
you know, how did you get you know, how would
usual you get board that project?
Speaker 5 (24:35):
Well, it was the same people who had done Dracula,
so it really my Dracula was like was like a
proving ground and then they're like, oh, well, we'd like
to bring you, We'd like to invite.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
You back for Tecan.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
And Tecan had its own unique challenges because originally our
vision with that one was we wanted to do something
that was very, very true to the video game and
very true to the fan, because the director who was
attached at the time was like a huge TECHU fan,
very passionate about it, and we pitched them this awesome,
awesome thing, and that's not what they wanted to do.
They wanted to do something different, and so there's been
(25:05):
some a little bit of pushback from the tech and
community because they're like, this isn't really a tecond movie,
and I'm like, dude, I wish you could have seen
the original treatment because that was it was awesome. Then
you know, maybe someday that movie will get made. It's
just in this case, the producers wanted to do something
a little different. So we at the end of the day,
I'm just a hired gun.
Speaker 4 (25:23):
You know, you'd give them what you You're there to
make the producer happy and give them what they want.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
So yeah, yeah, you know, I agree with that completely.
You know, that's why you know, I have had friends
in simple situations and you know, at that point, yeah,
you you know, like you just said, you realize you're
the hired gun. You know, the producer. It's whatever. You know,
since they hired you, you're you know, you have to
deliver what they're looking for, you know. And I have
friends who are who've had similar situations when who are
(25:48):
trying to always force the issue and you know things
didn't go well. Let's just say that, Nicole.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Yeah, it's like, you know, you have to remember if
you're writing a spec that's yours, you can do whatever
you want. But if you're writing for someone else and
you and your job then is to take their vision
and make the best possible version of that vision. You know,
even if you don't necessarily agree with the vision that
that's not what you're there for.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
I mean, you can raise objections or whatever, try to,
but at the end of the day, you work for them.
It's their idea.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
Give them the best possible version of their idea that
you can.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Yes, yeah, I concur And you know, speaking of your projects,
we actually should moved and talked to you about Debris,
which is, you know, your short horror film. You know,
you actually raised just about twenty thousand dollars on Indiegogo.
You raised three hundred and thirty percent over your goal.
So I have to, you know, ask us, you know,
I have to ask you know, can you just give
(26:42):
us a little bit about what debriss about? And I
want to ask you too about you know, your crowdfunding campaign.
Speaker 5 (26:47):
Yeah. Yeah, Debris was really funny because it was the
first time I tried to do crowdfunding and I was like, oh,
I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
We're gonna this. This is going to be a mess.
So I only originally asked for.
Speaker 5 (26:57):
Five thousand, which wasn't going to be nearly an to
get the film made. But I'm like, I don't, you know,
I don't know if I'll be lucky if I get that.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
And then the fact that we were able to raise
you know, almost twenty was mind blowing.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I mean it got to the.
Speaker 4 (27:08):
Point where I'm like, well, who all you people, and
why are you giving me money? I don't understand. And
I wish I could.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
I wish magic formula wives so I could like replicate
it at will. And I've done another craft funding campaign
since then for another short film called Death Date, which
is also successful, but.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
Not the same runaway train that Debris was.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
And I think the difference is Debris just had this
really cool concept, like a really high concept that people
resonated with.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Into The concept behind.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Debris is in the aftermath of the Fukushima tsunami, you
had the.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Curse down on his luck.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Trikor Hunter is out with a metal detector on a
California beach and finds a curse Samurai sword that's washed
up on the beach from the Tukushima tsunami wreckage and
then he brings it home and the bad things happened.
But I think by having this, you know, there's.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
People love Damma.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
There's a huge like cult following, I guess, just around
Samurais and the fact that the story itself was based
on ourn actual Japanese legend, and there's been a variety
of films made in Japan about this particular store and
the bad things that happened to the people who own it.
But I thought this was kind of an interesting to
put Couden nowt like East me Sweat. You have this
very ignorant American finds a sword, doesn't realize it's dangerous,
(28:21):
and then why yeah, as his life slowly unravels.
Speaker 4 (28:24):
So yeah, we made the short film and it I
think it's been in probably all god over.
Speaker 5 (28:31):
It's been in over a dozen festivals like genre festivals,
been nominated for a bunch of awards, won a couple
of awards, And so with that one, now I've I'm
trying to turn it into a feature if possible. So
I've written a future version of the script, going out
to different producers and if I can find someone who'd
be interested in tackling the subjects on a broader on
(28:51):
a bigger scale, because there's interest. I think it's I
think it's a project that people like and would be
like to see more of, you know.
Speaker 4 (28:59):
More of this story, more of the sword, and make
it bigger.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
Is that online anywhere for everyonet to check out?
Speaker 5 (29:06):
The trailer is a field online Because it's still technically
in the festival circuit, I can't release the film itself.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Well, probably we'll.
Speaker 5 (29:13):
See where things are at by the end of the year,
but I think we'll probably finish our festival run.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
By the end of the year and then maybe we'll well,
either release.
Speaker 5 (29:19):
We're also looking into getting distribution deals internationally, so it
might be available on I don't know, video on demand
or something TV, whatever markets are available out there.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Cool, you know, yeah, I definitely think there was a
market for something like that. And you know, when I saw,
you know, how much by the end, I saw how
much this was, how much this is raising because I
think I donated five dollars to this or can't re
your market under my pleasure because I you know, I
checked on I checked it. I checked on it a
couple you know, a couple of weeks later, and I
(29:51):
saw well, you know, this is almost ending, and I
was like, wow, Nicole is killing it. I was like,
well three past their goal, I mean, and I thought,
you know.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
We'll be right back after a word from our sponsor
and now back to the show.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
Either somebody a huge contact list or somebody, well, I said,
you know, somebody did something right, you know somewhere. You know,
either you have a massive contact list. You you know, you
have a rich, very rich relative. It donates you know,
money into it.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
Oh wait, I have no rich relatives.
Speaker 4 (30:24):
I wish.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
No. This was definitely like the Bernie Sanders of the
crowd funny campaign. It with a lot of small donations,
you know, and they did to add it up over time.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
And No, it was.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
Really phenomenal just to watch the response to this idea
and this little film. It was really gratifying and it
gave us a lot of confidence that we were making
a story that people wanted, you know, the people wanted
to see, and that resonated with people and ye know,
and at the end of the day, that's really what
it's about, you know, telling stories that people want to
hear and maybe make them think a little bit along
(30:55):
the way.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Yeah, I concur and you know, obviously you know that
the concept was popular as well as you were saying,
and you know, there's always a crowd for an audience
for horror of any kind, you know what I mean.
There's always gonna be an audience for horror.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (31:11):
Well, and it's funny because you know, the when I
was doing all the research for Debris and then the
feature link script for Debris, I stumbled on this other
Samurai story and so I'm like, okay, I have to
write this when it's true story set in Fuel, Japan.
And that was a script that ended up winning the
Grand Prize at the Palm Street Films.
Speaker 4 (31:31):
Okay, if you're writing competition. So it's like I went
to my little Samurai phase, I guess, and it's it's
it's great. I love it. I love action films. I
love martial arts films.
Speaker 5 (31:41):
And so it's like I also I always coughd in
writers about you know, pigeonholing, because Hollywood will pigeonhole you.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
And I'm like, you know what if this.
Speaker 5 (31:50):
Is a whole I got stuck in, It's what I
wouldn't mind living in because I just love that space
so much.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Yeah, and you actually by the way, congratulations because you
just did you just did win the Palm uh Palm
Palm Street competition. I always was it on Monday, I
believe or tuesdays.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
They just announced the winners like Monday or Tuesday of
this week. Yeah, so that that's that's very new.
Speaker 5 (32:10):
And you know, and that was kind of interesting because
I don't normally enter contact because I'm a genre writer generally,
and and those unless it's a genre specific competition, don't
do well in these broad mainstream contests. But in this case,
because it was it was actually an action drama, you know,
set in feudal to pant with Samuraise and Pingis and
it's just like a you know, all kinds of blood
in action. Uh hey, you know, this one might actually
(32:32):
the standard chance and and then it ended up winning
the Grand prize.
Speaker 4 (32:35):
So that was really gratifying.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
So you know, I know you can't talk too much
about it, but so I wanted to ask, obviously, is
you know, what what upcoming projects that you what upcoming
projects you're working on that you can actually talk about,
if any if any easy to talk about.
Speaker 5 (32:50):
I mean, well, let's see, so there's my my feature
film that I directed Stacis, which is currently amp post.
We already have distribution lined up for that, which is
really exciting to So that film is supposed to be
ready for as Sand which is in November, and that's
kind of at the Ya sci fi film. It's been
called Terminator for teens, so if you like time traveling
terminator type things, you know, check it out when it
(33:12):
comes out.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
I think that'd be really cool.
Speaker 5 (33:15):
What else I'm working, I'm right now, I'm trying to
raise money for my next feature, which is a horror
script that's based loosely on actual events.
Speaker 4 (33:25):
So I don't want to get too much away of
that that but that one, in fact, seems like a
phone with you.
Speaker 5 (33:29):
I have a call with.
Speaker 4 (33:31):
The producer for that, so that'd be nice to get
that started production before the end of the year. And yeah,
what else, I'm just you know, I always got things
going on.
Speaker 5 (33:43):
We're still in post production on Death Date, which is
the other short film that I did after Debris.
Speaker 4 (33:47):
It's a meeting with my editor next week. We're going
to try to lock picture on that soon. And I
don't know, I mean, you just gotta.
Speaker 5 (33:55):
Multiple irons in the fire, you know, waiting for something
to hit just keep on chugging.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Yeah, and that has excellent advice to Nicle. Before we go,
I have one Twitter question come in okay, and that
was Nicole, what do you look for when you're deciding
to be involved with a particular project?
Speaker 4 (34:16):
That is always a million dollar question?
Speaker 5 (34:18):
Right.
Speaker 4 (34:18):
It's like it has to it has to appeal to
me at some level.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
I don't know. It's hard to say. I'm because I
have this genre background. I love what I guess if
it were literature, if it called speculative fiction, basically Twilight
Zone types.
Speaker 4 (34:33):
Things that appeal to me personally are things that really
cool twists at the end, or are just thought provoking
in some way.
Speaker 5 (34:42):
I love like old sci fi from like the seventies
and eighties, when there was like some sort of like
social message, but it was buried within the context of
the film, you know what I mean, Like with Story
Lent Green and Planet of the Apes and logans around
those types of films I really like from a sci
fi perspective. On the horror side, I'm drawing more towards
(35:04):
what I call hidden realities, so less flashers, more paranormal,
more occult, more.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
Supernatural type stuff. Uh, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 5 (35:16):
I did have to something that's cool, like if it
could be made into a video game or comic book.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
Chank, that is are I'd like it because that's where.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
That's my world, that's where.
Speaker 3 (35:24):
I come from. Uncle. Very cool. You know, it's been
a pleasure having you on. And before I go, I
just want to ask Nicole, where can people find you
out online?
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (35:35):
I'm on Facebook.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
You find me on Facebook. If you like weird news,
then totally follow me on Twitter. I'm at navars n
O v A R I S.
Speaker 5 (35:43):
I post all kinds of wacky, weird news stories, conspiracy theories,
and every now and then I'll toss in a screenwriting kip,
just you know, for good measure.
Speaker 4 (35:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (35:54):
But that's and I'm on LinkedIn too, but mostly I
like I live on Facebook and Twitter, so that's a
good place to look for me. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
I saw the tweet you just put out on Natural
predicts the end of Western civilization.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Yeah you all love Yeah stuff like that.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
Let's talk with this stuff into the world stuff, conspiracy theories,
killer virus is gonna wipe out humanity.
Speaker 4 (36:12):
If you like that stuff, follow me on Twitter. It's
full of it.
Speaker 3 (36:17):
Nicole. I want to say thank you so much for
coming on and I wish you the best of luck
with everything, and I will see you in the Screenwriting
You Facebook group and well you know we'll be chat
in screenwriting there more. And you know, if you ever
need anything, please let me know.
Speaker 5 (36:32):
Awesome, Thanks so much, David.
Speaker 4 (36:33):
It is great.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
I want to thank Dave so much for doing such
a great job on this episode. If you want to
get links to anything we spoke about in this episode,
head over to the show notes at any film uncle
dot com Forward slash eight twenty two and if you
have it already, please head over to Filmmaking podcast dot com.
Subscribe and leave a good review for the show. It
really helps us out a.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
Lot, guys. Thank you again so much for listening.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
Guys, as always, keep that hustle going, keep that dream alive,
Stay safe out there, and I'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Thanks for listening to the Indie Film Hustle Podcast at
indiefilm hustle dot com. That's I N D I E
F I L M h U S T l E
dot com.
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