Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Daniel McQuade: Minimalist but Creative!
45 Plays9 months ago
With me this week is Actor and Director, Daniel McQuade!
We talk about his film production company DM Productions and his upcoming film A Malevolent World, balancing his acting and directing with a day job and his creative approach to marketing his films. We also discuss Inception and the….somewhat high….price he’d pay to work with Christopher Nolan.
Find Dan and DM Productions on Instagram.
Find me on TikTok and Instagram.
Show Art is by Craig Pearson.
Theme Music is 'Silent Movie 91' by Sascha Ende.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:09
Speaker
Hello and welcome to What Makes you Tick, a conversation podcast where I, Ryan Watson, talk to North East artists, that's actors, writers, directors, filmmakers, or anyone else that piques my curiosity about what they do, how they make it work, and the media that inspires them to do that work.
00:00:22
Speaker
Today on the podcast I have Daniel McQuade. Hello. Dan does all sorts. He's a writer, director, an actor. He runs an independent film production company, DM Productions, where he's responsible for a number of films like a small sum to pay, PEDS.
Film Projects and Improvisation
00:00:37
Speaker
Internal Vacancy, and the upcoming a Malevolent World, which we'll talk about more in a minute, because everyone who's on my podcast is in that film. He also attends acting classes at Actors Forge, which is important for anyone playing the What Makes You Tick drinking game, because that is also something that is mentioned a lot.
00:00:58
Speaker
So, Dan, thank you for coming on the show. Have I missed anything? No, no, no. That that sums it up. Okay, that's good. I always like to check just in case. So, as I mentioned, ah was very interested to talk to you when I was like, I'm going to start a podcast.
00:01:13
Speaker
But also, thought it was kind of important because everybody else I'm talking to has been in your film. so Before i start asking you about the back your background and everything, do you want talk a bit about a malevolent world? Yeah, sure. So it was originally i wrote the screenplay as an actual script with actual dialogue in 2023.
00:01:34
Speaker
ah in twenty twenty you're free But then at the time, i was just making films by myself. So I didn't really know people. So I was like, right, I'm just going to bench this until I know people.
00:01:45
Speaker
And then ah went through about two years just getting to know people, making films. Then this year, I was like around about March, I was finally like, yes, let's just do it. But I'm not making it scripted. I'm making it improv.
00:01:57
Speaker
So it was mainly just to save some effort on my end. But also, it's a nice little old unique film for people to challenge themselves um and really push themselves to the limit on.
Production Challenges and Benefits
00:02:10
Speaker
So I thought it was nice to do something different because, you know, zombie films tend to hit the niche genre, the niche action and niche dialogue all the time. And I thought, let's switch it up a bit and let's do it improv. But let's focus on the realism and reactions to a zombie apocalypse.
00:02:27
Speaker
Let's not go straight into the action straight away like World War Z z sorry or let's not focus on post-apocalyptic side straight away. So it was that kind of mixing in lab sort of thing, making it just a realism and reaction factor to the film that I thought would give it the different edge that it would have to other zombie films. So...
00:02:52
Speaker
I just worked on it for about a month, doing revisions, and then finally got it locked in. And then we were like, right, how are we going to approach this? How are we going to do it? We're going to make it a short film and we started crowdfunding straight away. And i was like, yeah, great. This is going to be easy. 20 page scripts.
00:03:07
Speaker
um We'll get it done in about two weekends or so. Dope. and we We filmed the first weekend, as you know, and it was 52 shots. That totaled up to 30 minutes.
00:03:18
Speaker
So we're already past the short film runtime. So it's now a feature film. So it's just been, let's just take it day by day. Let's not do big weekends all at once.
00:03:30
Speaker
Let's just do one day at a time. And yeah, it's it's good. We have a current cast of 41 with around about two more to join. So maximum cast of 43 unless we do reshoots.
00:03:41
Speaker
So it's a big cast, little crew, but it's a big film. So, you know, we're making it the best. It's, yeah, it's probably, it's my most exciting film yet. um I'm really, really proud of it. And the footage we got so far is incredible, but we're still a long way from getting it done.
00:03:56
Speaker
No, it's ah definitely an experiment gone well so far. I think well when we were shooting it the other week. um Oh, because I'm in it. I don't know if I mentioned that. I'm in it. um I was so impressed by... it 41 people over the weekend the other weekend? Or is that including the people going in? So we had 21 people.
00:04:17
Speaker
actors the weekend apart from anything else it was just a really impressive organisational theme yeah so the problem we had was that we were very under crewed we still are because we had another production going on the same weekend that had crew members that I asked to be on this film but they said oh they were busy or something oh I was like okay that's fine turns out they were on that production that was filming the weekend as well so not to blame anyone but you know it's fine it's not about competition it's all about um making the community um very engaging and uh making the best possible films and putting them out there so
00:04:55
Speaker
I mean, it was a good weekend from what we did. But yeah, it's nothing much to say about the film other than me just cracking on with it. I didn't realise you'd actually written dialogue initially for the for the film. I mean, did it did it hurt to get rid of any of the dialogue or did that make things easier? No, no, no.
00:05:13
Speaker
That made things so much easier for me.
Passion and Networking in Filmmaking
00:05:15
Speaker
Because when you normally me go about pre-production... in doing shot lists. You normally have to do shots that are going to adhere to the dialogue. So you're going have to do multiple takes from one bit of dialogue. Whereas improv, yeah, I did multiple takes of the same shot, but I was telling actors just to keep note of what you're saying and do it again in that take.
00:05:33
Speaker
but I'm keeping up what you're seeing as well. With improv, most of the takes could just be a one-ers and that's what we did in that weekend was just we did a lot of one-ers and that was for all the dialogue bits. The action bits we wanted it to be bit fancy and got the steady cam out and did one-ers as well but mainly with the dialogue bits it was just keep it a one-er, do one or two takes maximum and it's turned out fine in the edit so far so it was a nice little strategy we added there.
00:05:58
Speaker
Saved some time definitely. So I guess to to to rewind a bit, can you tell us about your background? about how How long have you been into to filmmaking? I know you do acting as well. which Which one came first?
00:06:11
Speaker
Yeah, so it all started I was like 11. I would tend to write stories. so i was like I was quite into English at the time um because we did a lot of creative writing in English. So, I was on my holidays and I would have a notepad and would just sit on the veranda of a caravan and just write stories about random stuff and none of them got turned into films today, but it's fine. Just all way through secondary school, I wanted to do film studies but I kept on getting turned down because I had to do compulsory French.
00:06:41
Speaker
So I tried dropping out of French to get into film studies, but then they said, no, you've got do double PE instead. And I like, oh, you're joking me. That seems like complicated... So I got out of French. I got out of French.
00:06:55
Speaker
that was the but That was the biggest win of my life. But had to do extra PE. You had to do extra PE. I don't understand the requirements for getting into this film study. It's funny because they had plenty of space in back of the class.
00:07:08
Speaker
But, you know, it's fine. I got over it. So then, yeah, i went to try and do film studies in college. But then the parents are like, oh, no, you've got to do proper job. You've got to do sports. You've got to engineering. and So I on and did engineering.
00:07:22
Speaker
Dropped out of them for like a year into the course each. And then I said, oh, I'm just going to work full time. Little do they know, I'm actually going to pursue a film career on the side. So I just, I worked full time and then started just making films in my bedroom with my iPhone and ah ring lights that has like a phone attachment to it.
00:07:40
Speaker
That's where, they're on YouTube now, but it's called a series called The Network. And you'll see that most of them are filmed on an iPhone and they're a bit shaky and they've got like mostly in my room.
00:07:51
Speaker
So then eventually invested in electric bike to go to work. But I started using that electric bike to go to like the local like woods and everything. started filming films in their woods and just more and more added to that network series where I did like one massive feature film where it's just all me. There was no other actors, just all me. It's a story based around one man with multiple personalities inside and I thought that's great because I can just play multiple characters.
00:08:16
Speaker
Don't need any cast of crew because can do it myself. I'm pretty well equipped with this. So I did it and yeah, just that spirals out of control into 20 films and then That was three feature films in there.
00:08:29
Speaker
And then eventually I met um an actress in Beamish Museum when was at the Beamish Museum. And they told me to go to these places like Newcastle Film Club, Neffsok, try and go to the Actors Forge, go to acting schools in Newcastle.
00:08:44
Speaker
And yeah, this is where it all started. I just eventually got to meet people and then they wanted to bring me on as crew and doing acting stuff. And
Acting vs Directing Preferences
00:08:50
Speaker
theyre just they were just dabbling all the way through the years until the theatre. where i've got a little bit of experience now i've got four feature films on my record about be five and yeah it's i'm not doing pretty bad um it's steady but it's it's something yeah wow that's like that's amazing i think i'd always assumed you'd uh you'd gone to like you need to study film or something like that because it's a pretty impressive operation you're running with a with a film production and with dm productions yeah it's literally the definition of building up from scratch if you can't meet people try and do it yourself come with different ways and then eventually get to meet people and then that'll just put you into liftoff pretty much and you go from there but it's just being finances is the problem all the way through and this year finally had a stable job so i've been able to go to the actors forge and i'm just trying to further my act further because that's what i want to do mainly because i don't mind directing and writing but
00:09:42
Speaker
By all means, I do not enjoy it because it is very stressful and it's a lot of money coming out the bank. So acting is where I want to go it's cheaper and it's easier.
00:09:53
Speaker
That's just this year you've started going to the Actors Forge. Yeah, yeah. You were in the network. It was pretty much just you, did you say? Yeah, so the network is the film series. um I didn't i didn't um and didn't go to any acting schools. I didn't go to any unis before that.
00:10:09
Speaker
I just got my iPhone, just started making these films, and then just made it franchise called The Network. And then that started in 2022. But before that I started doing like edits on YouTube of fight promos and movie trails and edits and that sort of stuff.
00:10:24
Speaker
That was 2020 because that was like lockdown so thought I could keep busy in lockdown. It was kind of consequence free until we got out lockdown where people were like, oh this guy's a fraud, you know he's doing edits of trailers, he's not actually making trailers himself. i'm like oh Jesus Christ, doesn't matter. No, but I mean, that's how everything works now, isn't it? Like, people hack websites and become huge developers, like... Exactly, but it's like, at the time, there was, like, a YouTube channel called, I can't remember what called, Screen... something, um...
00:10:52
Speaker
so like They make AI trailers and they make people fall for trailers and they get paid for AI stuff. Whereas I was doing something similar, but I wasn't doing AI. I was just clearly stating, like, find me a trailer in the title.
00:11:03
Speaker
And people get so sensitive about it. So I was like, I'm not, YouTube's not for me. I'm not going to do it. I'm just going start making films by myself. And then that's how that started.
Creative Process and Marketing Strategies
00:11:12
Speaker
ah Yeah, you've got to got have humble beginnings.
00:11:14
Speaker
Yeah, maybe it's just a lesson and never put in anywhere, anything anywhere where people can comment on it. Exactly, yeah. Because people just become the worst. Fly from Eleven World, the aim is to get it on streaming platforms so you don't get comments on there. Yeah. So, yeah that's the goal.
00:11:32
Speaker
Yeah, no, I don't know. Even even things like Instagram, it's like you just see. My Instagram's just all Dragon Ball Z videos, but it's just people having the stupidest arguments, and you can't look away from it, but also I'm like, I don't care about Dragon Ball Z enough to to get this angry yeah about anything anyone could possibly say. Nah, it's not worth It's what's like I've taken acting as well. It's like in directing, it's like people will comment on my films saying like sarcastic stuff, like saying, oh, this is groundbreaking. This is so bad. Oh, this is amazing. I just don't care because I've been on YouTube where i've had about 250,000 comments aimed at me being bad comments. And I'm like, yeah, this is not like, ah this doesn't affect me this much because I've been there, i've done that.
00:12:15
Speaker
And that's why I'm taking in acting and directing. It helps us because I don't let criticism go to me. like i take I critique from like stuff like that people like Dan in the actor's force, because obviously that's to help me get better.
00:12:28
Speaker
But any like criticism that comes from anyone outside that is just purpose, mainly just to try and get someone down, it's like i I don't really care. It's not even worth giving attention to. Yeah, i think there's a big difference in there between, like, oh, this is shit, and like like the sort of stuff that Dan does, which is...
00:12:46
Speaker
In a way, that's almost like it's almost the point of going to the Actors Forge is to receive that criticism and to be told what you can do. I mean, everyone wants to just get up and do something and be told that's what amazing in first time. But it's like actually what's more useful is to be told maybe you can like approach it this way or maybe you can approach it this way.
00:13:05
Speaker
and Yeah, definitely, yeah. I'm quite interested, though, because you say um you'd like to get towards acting, because directing is a lot of work. But you always seem to have, like, three or four things going on at once. We mentioned PEDS, which you'd said before we started recording were a bit an experiment. But also, I don't know if I've understood it properly, but I think I remember you putting on Instagram, I've got a new idea for a short film, and within a few days you seem to be making it or something.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah. and and yeah I get it up and running, yeah. Yeah, it's the thing about me is I get really passionate about it and I can't really stop myself sometimes. Like, PEDS was... It's a film about dartboards. Can you tell us what PEDS stands for? Oh, PEDS. So, in the real world, it stands for Performance Enhancing Drugs, whereas this film, it stands for Performance Enhancing Darts.
00:13:53
Speaker
There we go. So, it's a very stupid film. I make plenty of stupid jokes in there and it turns into like, it's meant to be ad but it turns into like a horror but it's very zany and it's very like cringey to watch.
00:14:09
Speaker
So it's like like to do like sort of horrible films in my bedroom because it's like consequence free. It's like it's deliberately shit but it's funny to watch because of how bad it is.
00:14:19
Speaker
yeah just I just had a dartboard and I played darts in spare time and just I don't have to like the proper range because it's very close together so I'm not really good at darts but I think I am yeah it's just I try and find stuff in my room I just try and record it and see if I can make a film out of it and if I get a script I'll take okay I'll do it it's possible it's just I like to get things done you know and's way they did Now, that this year, I'm doing a Malevolent World.
00:14:44
Speaker
I'm doing a short film called Love Yourself, and then there are two films that I've got on my production company this year left to do, and then I'm doing no more, because the big one I've got left is Resurgence, which is the big feature film that concludes the network, and it's got multiple cast members in as well, so that's a big one that we're in for the 2027 release, so I've got to put all my attention and work on that, so I've done Malevolent World and Love Yourself.
00:15:07
Speaker
but After that, I'll be be going a short break from making films and just do acting, try and gain the age and just try and go for it. I guess I'm wondering about the Actors' Forge, but specifically, you seem to know lot of people already at the Actors' Forge before before joining, which I'm sure other people did know people, but you seem to like know everything.
00:15:28
Speaker
and one Yes, so that's because i directed them more. I've written films. Like, Small Summer Pay, I knew half the actors forged from that film because they were interested in it. And some of them go, like, Wednesday and Thursday classes. Yeah, one of them's in a Saturday afternoon.
00:15:44
Speaker
and then Internal Vacancy, unless you literally cast, like, a cast of, like... 11 people or something and it all came from the actors forge and that's how I got to know everyone and then it was just things like being films of people as well like as as you get to know people they've got films wanting and they want to have you as an actor in this and it was just saying yes to them and I just got to know more more people. I mainly got to know crew through Newcastle Film Club but um the actors, yeah, I got from Actors Forge and just working outside with them.
00:16:11
Speaker
So yeah, it's networking for How is it? Because obviously it's a big change in relationship. you've You've gone from sort of directing people to it's sort of like a change of power dynamic once you're suddenly acting with people and people who are maybe more experienced at doing that. I haven't really noticed any shift in it to be honest. It's more of a Because when I'm directing, I'm not really being like a stern director who wants to get things done. I'm still being an actor, but I'm being like that actor who's like alongside the other actor. So I'm not incredibly biased towards the actors. I still like remain fair between actors and crew.
00:16:48
Speaker
But I do have a little bit of leeway for the actors because I know how hard it is myself to be in front that camera. So always find it important to try and engage with actors by being an actor instead of being a director because it puts them at ease, it makes them more comfortable and it delivers the best take.
00:17:05
Speaker
It's like with The 11th World, I know improv is very difficult and I'm awful at improv myself. But I know that if they just keep it simple, just remember what we've been taught in places like the actors fall, is just take your mind off and just be the character and just let it flow. That's what I say to them. And honestly, it went really well.
00:17:24
Speaker
And so i find it important just to kind of not cross that line between being a full-on director and full-on actors, kind of be in the middle for now. But then eventually I'm going to choose, am I going to be an actor? Am going to be a director? So that deal will come soon. but You seem so fully motivated by just passion and just telling a story.
Work-Life Balance in Filmmaking
00:17:41
Speaker
And a few people have mentioned not studying film or studying something else and switching to film. And in some ways, I almost think it feels like that's done done you better. It's sort of like it allows you to be motivated by passion instead of Like, I studied ah i studied media, and and while I was always was quite interested in it, it was script writing specifically, I was always quite interested in it, but, like, the weird sort of structure, and it's, like... Yeah, it's what I think about going away to study stuff, like media courses and, like, filmmaking, is that I'd rather not do it because...
00:18:13
Speaker
It'll feel like a chore to do it. Whereas if you do it from a place in your heart where it's coming from passion, where you want to actually do it and do it for passion, it feels so much better. And the longevity of you doing it is just increased because ah feel like it will become very tiring at some points. Either way, it's a very tiring industry. But studying like for years and years, day after day after day,
00:18:35
Speaker
i would get I would get sick of it and I wouldn't want to do it. That's why I dropped out of college twice because like I tried to do things I wanted to enjoy, but I just didn't enjoy it because it got too strenuous, got too repetitive.
00:18:46
Speaker
Whereas filmmaking, I've done it from scratch and it feels damn good to do it from scratch because I haven't had that pressure of having to meet deadlines and everything to...
00:18:57
Speaker
just to write an essay pretty much, whereas the deadlines I've had to meet is just to get the film out, but they're self-inflicted deadlines. But yeah, no, I think it's ah so much better to do it from passion instead of going to study, because, I mean, I know quite a bit, but that's from watching, like, videos and watching films and all that.
00:19:14
Speaker
That's how I've learned. I damn had to have someone tell me all this and that. Yeah, I don't think you need necessari to necessarily go and study unless you want to get a really good paying job, but... you can still get really good paying jobs for not studying. You've just got to have a lot of passion and dedication to it.
00:19:28
Speaker
I think when youre when you study, for example, film, it's it is something you have to do. and and And personally, I think what I found is after uni, I found it hard to motivate myself. Even though I enjoyed it, it wasn't necessarily passion driven anymore. It was like, I've just studied three years and I need to get a job in this. And then that killed a lot of like passion for it. That makes sense. And it's sort of only, it says I've got a bit older and the rest of the world's been.
00:19:53
Speaker
I've gone back to being interested in some of that. No, yeah, yeah. It's plenty you plenty of time left to do things as well. Like, I'm 22 and I do feel this pressure to get somewhere by 25. But then it's like, I know I've got plenty of time to do it. So it doesn't matter if I don't make it by 25 as long as I keep on doing it.
00:20:12
Speaker
Because eventually if you keep on doing it, will get you somewhere. And that's just a system model I'll go by. just just just It's like Nike, just do it. Yeah, I think as well...
00:20:23
Speaker
I'd say it's quite hard sometimes to, it's goingnna it's hard in yourself to get to a point where you feel like you've made it. But sort of in terms of what other people see, definitely what I see when I speak to you. And almost a similar thing came up when I spoke to Rob yesterday, you know, Rob Carr, who does the screen acting at the Fortress. I think he's someone who, looking at him, I'm like, he's made it. He does this as his job and things. But he had all sorts of things about where he wants to be. And it's almost like when I talk to Rob, I'm like, this is the guy. But it's it's hard to to feel that in yourself. Do you have any sort of marker for will allow you to feel like you've made it? When I get a paid job consistently, because I've done paid jobs for like little £60, my highest paid job was technically like
00:21:09
Speaker
£100 for the agent fees involved but yeah like once I'm at a place where consistently getting paid jobs then that's when I know I've made it Like, I don't consider, like, being, like, in Hollywood making it, because many actors in Hollywood have, like, expressed a lot of, like, disinterest in working in Hollywood, because it's horrible, apparently.
00:21:29
Speaker
And they were always told about taking breaks, wanting a normal life and everything, so... For me, yeah, it nice to be to be on, like, a big Hollywood film. Great, yeah, absolutely, but... For me, making it is just getting paid jobs consistently and making it a career, regardless of the level you're at.
00:21:44
Speaker
That sort of is very fitting with this vibe I'm getting. You just seem to want to want to do this stuff and be able to do it as a meaningful part of your yeah life. Absolutely. I had one more question about DM Productions, which is the marketing stuff you do. I'm always really impressed by the just sort of the the the things that you do to...
00:22:02
Speaker
to put the word out about your films, um like with Malevolent World, even just the way you did the casting, which was terrifying as someone who applied to be in it. So what you did is you had people send in self-tapes, but you didn't tell us. You didn't tell us by email if we were in the film.
00:22:17
Speaker
You did a live stream and we found out by watching the live stream whether we were going to be in your film. I guess what were the what was the thought process behind doing
Inspirations and Self-Care
00:22:24
Speaker
it that way? I'm trying to always be different from other production companies in the area. I don't want to be known as the one who copies off this guy or this person or this woman or this person.
00:22:34
Speaker
It's more about i want to be so different and be more engaging and have a little bit more fun with it because I know like the time with my production company is limited so it's I want to try and do as much fun things I can.
00:22:49
Speaker
I was always going to cast everyone who applied from 11th world so it was keeping that a secret from people who actually applied was difficult so then i thought right i want to try and do a different cast announcement because i do lots of graphic design and that's how i normally do cast announcements i thought let's switch it up a bit let's um let's do a live stream and let's not tell the actors the whole idea was terrifying and i can understand that like imagine not knowing you're going to get a roll or not, but you have to sit through and hour live like an hour live stream just to see if you got roll or not.
00:23:23
Speaker
And I thought, yeah, it's very risky and I definitely won't be doing it again. But the main factor was just, I wanted to elevate that feeling of success. a success I feel like if you're not knowing you're going to get it and you have this feeling of tension that, oh my God, what if I'm not going to get it? What if someone else going to get it?
00:23:40
Speaker
And then you see your headshot pop up and you see your name pop up with a character name. It's such a good feeling. um I was speaking to some of the cast about it and they were like, oh my God, was sitting there terrified. And I was like, oh my God, we're going get it. And was like, got it. I screamed and I was like, that's exactly what I wanted. wanted everyone to be so happy about it.
00:23:57
Speaker
I mean, it wasn't fun for me because I tried to do a live stream across multiple platforms. I YouTube, Instagram, Facebook is what I wanted to do. YouTube worked perfectly.
00:24:08
Speaker
Instagram... I don't know if it did work perfectly, but when I clicked on the live stream, I had the whole thing zoomed in. So I couldn't see if it was working or not. So I was just sitting there shaking. i was like, might have just failed at this. Is this like a massive PR disaster?
00:24:24
Speaker
And then Facebook just wouldn wouldn't work at all. And i was like, oh, fantastic. So yeah, I tried to make do with I had. And was sitting shaking all the way through. It was like I was being cast in it and I didn't know who was getting cast.
00:24:36
Speaker
In the end, it did turn out, well, I asked people if they could see it on Instagram. they're like, yeah, we could see it. And i was like, thank God. But yeah, definitely not doing it again. So when I announce Wave 2, the cast from 11th World, I'm just going to do a normal graphic design, I think.
00:24:51
Speaker
But yeah, not never do that again. Well, you know, I feel like it was a it was a good experiment. And i think like you say, it really because I was saying it were terrifying, but also like to me, it really created like a sense of investment in this film. Like if you get an email saying you're in something, you're like, yeah, that's exciting. And then you panic a bit and then you kind of. Yeah. But but it it seemed to create like a really nice vibe around the film and it I felt invested in the process really early on. and so when when When I try to do the marketing for the productions, it's always to try to keep it different from people, like I said. Obviously, with The 11th World, the trailer drop I'm going to do is going to be very, very different to normal trailer drops.
00:25:31
Speaker
The poster, yeah, the official poster drop going to be different. The whole, i do plan way ahead. Like I'm talking like months in advance doing something. I plan for marketing because have tried multiple ways of doing marketing the past.
00:25:47
Speaker
and one way seems to work and it's just keep it minimal but keep it different just keep it just a minimalist but experimental approach that's how you get more eyes on it i did have to pay for advertising on the crowdfunding video which i tried to keep entertaining as possible and that totaled in around about 12 000 views um on one platform and then about another 5 000 and another So it did bring more eyes on the project. So that was the one time I'd ever pay for marketing on something because it's expensive.
00:26:22
Speaker
But the rest of the times, it's just trying to reach audiences that have no idea who I am. But you've got to keep it intriguing enough for them to want jump on it.
00:26:33
Speaker
So it's just try and keep it fresh and keep it different from each thing you do. It's difficult, but this it's part it. Do you just sort of come up with these these sort of ideas yourself? You know, you mentioned the trailer drop's going to be a bit different. Or is that from... ah Because, for example, ah you seem to be one of the few people I know who watched the entire Avengers chairs.
00:26:53
Speaker
Chairs do! And I guess I'm wondering, it seems like yeah you're quite invested in in that stuff for other films. I mean, does that play a part in... I always look at how Marvel and DC and like James Bond and other a big franchises do trailers.
00:27:13
Speaker
Because I always try and see what's the most like beneficial way to do something. But I'm not copying and pasting them. I'm just taking inspiration. Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that. No, no, no. Because the next point is, the only time I've probably ever copied and pasted something is Avengers Chairs Day.
00:27:29
Speaker
With the Millen World livestream, I thought, oh, if we livestream a cast reveal like Avengers does, that might work. So, the inspiration came from that, but it's not exactly a copy and paste.
00:27:40
Speaker
Oh, okay, right. um That's, ah yeah, no, that's that that's funny that, ah yeah. Oh, I feel good that i made the connection. I did sit through all all that, unfortunately. It was about seven hours or something. I sat through was on a day off.
00:27:53
Speaker
I was like, I saw Chris Hemsworth's chair, and i was like, what, is this four four And then, the last Kirby game, it was like, oh no, it's Avengers, okay, but What's happening here? We're just having chair show And then every 15 minutes or 30 minutes, whatever it was, there would be a music player and they would come up with a name.
00:28:11
Speaker
And I was so i invested in it. I couldn't turn it off because I heard the theme and I was like, i know who this is. It's going to be this guy. It's to be this woman. And then it was awesome. was like, And and bo like, um what am I doing with life? I'm sitting for seven hours getting excited over a chair, over a name on it. It's like, yeah, I'm sad. Definitely. I'm definitely sad.
00:28:29
Speaker
I don't think it's sad. I mean, I feel like I feel like a ah can i can't do that with Avengers. Yours was not seven hours long. It wasn't seven hours long. No, no, That was what I wanted make different, yeah. That was a lot easier to watch. It was half an hour at most.
00:28:43
Speaker
And I thought, that's good. That's good peak time for it. you know Half an hour, keeps people invested. I'll do every five minutes intervals. It pretty much is Chairs Day, but shorter, yeah. I guess what I'm trying to say is like a it's interesting to so ah use those ideas for inspiration because because obviously it does create like a like a feeling of investment. That's sort of what I thought about the Malevolent World thing. and Like I said, I'd definitely rather watch the Malevolent World one than the Avengers one.
00:29:09
Speaker
but Not just because I show up in it. That's what I appreciate most of about like Marvel and other big production companies and all that is because they come up with ways to keep people invested. And like I take like a lot of inspiration for my filmmaking from them because say they are the blueprints. like As much as people hate them, you can't deny what they do is successful. like They've built this.
00:29:31
Speaker
And they are the blueprint for many people to do big productions and everything because they they they have the blueprint. Yeah, I've said that a million times. They are the blueprints.
00:29:41
Speaker
Like, it's... Unfortunately, how it is. But, you know, it's all about just not copying and pasting and just taking inspiration. Like, you're allowed to that. But copying and pasting... I had one other question before we do some Inception talk. Really, I'm just quite interested in sort of how you balance doing your your filmmaking and the acting stuff alongside having a day job. Acting at the minute is... It's on the sideline, but...
00:30:06
Speaker
I'm still active. So any job that offers, like any job I get offers for acting, I'll say yes, as long as I've got plenty of notice. I've did a lot of different things this year. I wanted to try and just mix it up this year. So that's always on the sideline. And if someone comes up to me and says, oh, do you want to do want to that? I'll say yes.
00:30:23
Speaker
But just doing like a full-time work. I'm meant to be on an eight-hour contract. I'm meant to do two days a week. Two four-hour shifts a week. But I do about a minimum of 32. So let's get some money in to be able to fund it. That's great. But it's just getting home and having that like desire to try and do some film work.
00:30:43
Speaker
It can be very difficult. so So it's why... If I'm on the early morning shift and I finish at 12, that's when I get all my film stuff done. It's so... Like, directing stuff after it is very horrible pre-production because you have to all this paperwork. have to shot lists. have get calls to you to prepped. You have think about what props you're going need everything. It's very grueling and it takes, like...
00:31:05
Speaker
lot of time to do so the only thing i'd enjoy doing after work would be script writing because that's when i could just listen to music and every film music i don't listen to normal music because it puts me off i always listen to film soundtracks because it gets me a creative zone and i find that when i do that i get through so much more but when i just do normal pre-production stuff it's so boring it's so grueling like it is awful so it's I always try and keep a fair balance, but I never miss any deadlines for anything. I never go under prepped into issues.
00:31:37
Speaker
I always make sure it's to get it done. And my day is off. That's when I try and do it. But unfortunately, when you're balancing out acting, work and directing stuff, you've got to concede one thing.
00:31:48
Speaker
And that one thing for me was going to the gym and keeping active. I now go the gym once every month. Whereas I used to go once a week. So it's just because I don't have the time to you because I've got directing stuff to do. I've got acting stuff.
00:32:00
Speaker
I think when I eventually fizzled out directing and then do more acting, I'll have more time to go to the gym. But it's just, yeah. The one thing I've got to be very careful of is burning out. Like if you ask everyone in the industry who does like directing and pre-production stuff, they will say they burn out a lot.
00:32:18
Speaker
I've had ah lot of burnouts in the past two years and I've had to take breaks. with So like this week, I'm just like, I am taking a break because I've got my driving test coming up and I don't want to burn out and be all like distressed about my driving test.
00:32:33
Speaker
So like this week, what I've been doing is I've been, I bought all the Saints Row games on the Xbox I've been trying and play through them. Oh, nice. And then that's all my days have been. Like I'm not going to gym.
00:32:44
Speaker
I'm just, I'm just sat down, Lie on my Xbox all day and then, yeah, that's it. That's why we're relaxing, you know? Yeah, it's really important to do that. Like, um but you've just had a crazy busy weekend and that's like, in some ways, your reward, especially when you're not at a stage where you're making real money from it. is like It's like your reward is you do something, you've got through something and and you get to do that now. So that's the thing I find. Like, that weekend...
00:33:14
Speaker
is so like big scale because there's so much on the line because we had all these big steadicam stuff going on we had all these actors we had all this cast and crew it was so stressful to think about in the back of my head but i didn't really think about it too much so i was losing a lot of sleep i didn't sleep for a month thinking about that weekend and then when i got it done when i it was successful i instantly started sleeping again it was like it's this existential thing you have when you come to a shoot that you're directing the spearhead and that if something goes wrong, it could total the whole thing.
00:33:45
Speaker
i think it's just very important to take a lot of time for yourself because if you don't, you will burn out. And like I said, when you are directing, it does become very stressful existentially.
00:33:55
Speaker
And it's it's so crucial. I can't recommend enough to people just to make sure you take time for yourself and don't think about filming or anything for like a whole week or two and then get back on your feet and get back to it it's yeah it's so important one of my uh literal favorite times of my entire life were one of my first sort of jobs were i worked on a an arts festival it was like sort of an internship and we spent all summer my building up to it and then it was the last week of october and it was just this week of just like you literally just couldn't sit down like you know it was you'd get up at
00:34:31
Speaker
six in the morning go to town be in all these different venues go to bed late and then it was suddenly the the week after and you were like what do i do now but it was the first time i'd earned decent money in my life so i bought a ps4 and i just played uncharted and chart an assassin's greed and it was just like this amazing that actually took me through till christmas yeah it's like i got through all uncharted and lockdown just absolutely played the hell out of them Then I got God of War for my PS5, and I've played about 50% of it, and I've had that PS5 for like, what, three, four years now, and I'm still in complete God of War. I weirdly find this with everything on PS5. I've just, like, I played Spider-Man, finished Spider-Man, and I've not finished anything else. Oh,
00:35:14
Speaker
When Spider-Man comes out, I get that done in two days. and it does that's and that's ah That's a requirement. And then I go through and I play new game plus on every single one. So I get that done in two days as well. no, it's okay.
00:35:25
Speaker
I've not quite gone to the new game plus. Yeah, but other games, I just like ah don't have the attention span to do it. read Hogwarts Legacy there, and i've been mean I pre-ordered that for no reason, because I've only played five minutes of it, and I haven't played it fully yet. Yeah.
00:35:39
Speaker
It's, yeah, a game, and like, i don't have time for it unless it's a week off, and I want the attention span to be able to do it. It's like, I just want to buy new games and play new games. Like, oh, it's awful. ah I've got a Switch 2 this week. ISO, yeah. my I've been trying to record this podcast, though, so I feel like I've not... ah I've been sort of playing Mario Kart here and there, but i feel like I've come to know my Switch 2 properly.
00:36:05
Speaker
ah um Okay, so I don't want to keep you for more more than an hour. So very quickly, I like to ask people um about a film or piece of media that is important to them in some ways, partly because it's nice to remind me to re-watch or watch new things, and partly because i think it's important understanding the relationship between things people like and the things people make. So you said Inception is your favorite film.
00:36:31
Speaker
Oh yeah. Inception came out when I was about 19. 2010. It was Christopher Nolan's first film after The Dark Knight. And I was 17 when that came out. And that was literally made for people who were 17. So ah to me it was like, whoa, this is the next film by this guy. But you're 12 years younger than me. You would have been about, what, like five or something?
00:36:51
Speaker
Seven? Yeah, I think I'm seven. Yeah, so is it something you watched at the time or is it something you've come to later on? no I didn't watch it at the time. um little Little young me wouldn't have understood it at the time.
00:37:04
Speaker
I watched The Dark Knight at the time, and ah it was my favourite film for, like, years. It's still over in top five, definitely. I only watched Inception five years ago, and I struggled the first time watching because my attention span was awful, and i was like, I don't get this, I'm not watching. And then i was like, there's just this a feeling.
00:37:21
Speaker
i was like, I need to go back and watch it. Something's drawn me to it. And I went back and watched it and I just fell in love with it understood it. And I was like, this is so peak. Like, this is of the greatest films ever made. so And from that day, I've seen the film 15 more times and it's on a Blu-ray I'm going to watch it again sometime soon as well. I just love the film so much because of the pacing, the cinematography, the score, the directing, the acting, everything about it is so good and the concept, it just motivates me to like try and come up with something different because k Christopher Nolan, he's my favourite director because he does it differently from other directors. His films are different concepts that haven't been done before.
00:38:05
Speaker
I seen the, when went to the World Series Fantastic Four in the cinema the other week, the Odyssey trailer came on before it, and i got chills so badly. it was, I was like, oh, it's so, like, he's one of these, like, directors who will go down in history forever as one of the most iconic characters.
00:38:23
Speaker
the most experimental directors like I went to see Oppenheimer and I was shook at the end and was so good I went to see Tenant no I didn't I saw Tenant on streaming none of us saw Tenant what was the other one Interstellar sorry ah ah zero and sella sorry In the Cell was the one I went to see. i didn't go see Ted Nancellate in the Cellar.
00:38:46
Speaker
and Saw that best cinema experiences ever. Inception is my favourite because it's just how many times I can watch it and be so yeah excited by it and get goosebumps. And so how it motivates me as a creative as well.
00:39:00
Speaker
Because it he gives you the inspiration to just go over and do different things. yeah It's the film that's going to never, ever be defrawn as number one.
00:39:10
Speaker
I don't care what film comes out. like Inception's always going my number one. I'll live and stand by that. It is a great film. I remember even just like the casting announcements for it and it was like, this is going to be a good film. It's so good.
00:39:24
Speaker
I think I find with Christopher Nolan, i love the way does things that are so big, like obviously with all the IMAX and stuff, but it's it's like a different kind of big, you know, to to a lot of blockbusters. is like The lack of CGI is what makes me drawn to him as well. He's so practical and I love practical filmmaking. like Matt Rees is another director as well.
00:39:45
Speaker
His practical filmmaking for the Batman is just jaw-dropping. It's so good. Yeah, I just love directors who keep it practical. I don't want to be someone who's too critical of Marvel films, but I think a fair criticism is in Marvel films. Sometimes it's like people are not even in the same room. It's such a difference watching things. like like I loved Oppenheimer. and I think I'd then went back and watched Tenet and Dunkirk after Oppenheimer because I'd miss um missed the last few because I watched Interstellar when I hung over and it they gave me some existential issues and I stopped watching. I stopped watching Mr. Van Oelen for a few years.
00:40:19
Speaker
That's class. I love that. I mean, yeah, like, Dunkirk's... Dunkirk's one I've watched the least. I've watched that once. But I think this is because I'm not really drawn to war films as much.
00:40:30
Speaker
i think I'll have to watch Dunkirk at some point, because I love the way they do... He does the storytelling on that. He does three different perspectives. Like, it's chapters in a way, but it's all connected in the end. It's like, oh... And they all go at different time. It's like...
00:40:45
Speaker
three can't remember yeah the different time periods is it or they so like a day a week and an hour or something like yeah i have to re-watch it but it's like it's i'm weird what he does is incredible and ah yeah i i definitely once i realized it was sort of more about it was more about like the consequences of of that fight more than the actual big battle itself won't it yeah the actual execution of it were a lot more interesting than than the definitely i heard world war one and i'm like oh i i mean yeah the only ones i haven't seen from christopher nolan though the prestige and moment um oh both are great um yeah i've not watched for since about 2007 but that were a great film that were like especially at the time that were like batman and wolverine are in the same thing yeah it's it's on melissa blu-rays it's just getting through the list of blu-rays and buying them um
00:41:38
Speaker
But when I get it, won't watch it. Yeah, when he got knighted, I was like, had a tear my eye. I do have an attachment to Christopher Nolan because he's just, he's one of those directors that I'm always going to look up to forever. And if I got to work him one day, that'd be, I mean, I'd probably just die from all the serotonin. Like, it's generally, I'm just dropped dead there. I'd be like, can't handle it.
00:42:00
Speaker
but yeah ah feel I feel like that might be a good ah a good place to leave it Christopher but ah if he dies he's responsible Look, you've got to have a role model in life and generally he's up there. Yeah. No, I mean, you know, I can't imagine and many people wouldn't enjoy working for Christopher Nolan. He seems like a good dude as well.
00:42:25
Speaker
Thank you for talking to me. Absolutely, yeah. Do you have anything you'd like to plug and could you tell us where people can find you? Honestly, I'm not really one to plug myself, but... um am i have an Instagram, DM Productions. and You can find all the updates on films there.
00:42:40
Speaker
ah My Instagram says Daniel McRae. I tend to post a lot of weird stuff on there, like monologues. They're quite weird. But, yeah, I mean, honestly, I'm out there, you know.
00:42:52
Speaker
I'm not very good plugging. I don't like to plug, but it is what it is. I'm scared of even asking people to plug. I'm like, just saying the word plug. I'm like, do I? Have I earned this? Have I earned this? No, no, it's fine. Yeah. I mean, my social's out there. yeah umm I'm not difficult find.
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah. Feel free to, but I'm not too fuss. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you for talking to me. Thank you for me. Appreciate
00:43:16
Speaker
What Makes You Tick is hosted, produced and edited by me, Brian Watson. Thank you to Craig Pearson for designing the show logo. The theme music is Silent Movie 91 by Sasha End. Thank you once again to Dan for speaking to me for this episode. Join me next week for my conversation with founder and president of the Newcastle Film Club, Samantha Castro, or keep an eye on At Makes You Tick Pod on TikTok or Instagram for a sneak preview early next week.
00:43:39
Speaker
Thanks for listening.