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Joshua Waller: Midlife Crisis at the age of eighteen!
43 Plays1 month ago
This month on What Makes You Tick? I have Writer, Director and Producer Joshua Waller!
We talk about:
- Josh’s time studying and the impact that studying his MA had on his film making and work ethic
- The films he’s made with his production company Rillachimp Productions such as ‘Out with the old, Mimicry, The Outsiders and King Karkinos: Terror from the Deep
- We also talk about the giant crab puppet featured in King Karkinos: Terror from the deep
- AND we talk about the challenges of ‘wearing multiple hats’ that come with being a director, writer AND producer.
- Josh also talks at length and on multiple occasions about ME! In such a way that makes me say ‘I’m not sure how to deal with compliments (but that is much appreciated). Future guests….More of that please!!!!!!
Theme Song: Adam Sams
Show Logo: Craig Pearson
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'What Makes You Tick' and Guest Joshua Waller
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello and welcome to What Makes You Tick. This is an interview podcast where I, Ryan Watson, speak to actors, writers, filmmakers and a range of other artists from the northeast of England and sometimes beyond about what they do, how they make it work and the media that inspires them to do that work. On today's episode, I'm speaking with Joshua Waller.
00:00:36
Speaker
Josh is a writer, director and a filmmaker who has directed shorts like Collusion and Out With The Old. He's also currently hard at work on Mimicry, King Carcanus, Terror From The Deep and a sentimental dreamer and outsider, which may or may not feature a voice cameo from
Discovery and Recognition of the Podcast
00:00:51
Speaker
a certain podcast host. Josh, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me, man. I appreciate it Yeah, it's nice to have you here. um i We mentioned just before recording, but you first got in touch after Jack's episode. I think that was kind of like the early days, so it was nice when to to have someone who I just didn't know in any way be like, I listened to your podcast.
00:01:09
Speaker
No, man. like it's i'm big and and like I say this to everybody. I'm big into giving people their flowers, and I think it takes... It takes a lot to do anything and to start anything and just put stuff out there. So when I saw that Jack was, because like we mentioned just before recording for anyone who wasn't here, um we talked about like with Jack, when Jack came on out with the old, it was like a big and big project for me. It was my first master's project, um but it was Jack's, I think, first main role.
00:01:39
Speaker
I think something like that. Um, so it's whenever Jack's in something, I'm like, oh, okay. I want to, you know, let's see how Jack's getting on. Uh, so that's when I stumbled across the podcast and thought, oh, this is, this is pretty good. This is, you know, this is a guy who's built it from the ground up.
00:01:53
Speaker
Um, so when I listened to the episodes, i was like, this is, this is great, man.
Networking and Talent Recognition in the Film Industry
00:01:57
Speaker
And it's such a, it's such a good thing that you've got going where you're celebrating people in the Northeast and you're giving people a platform to talk about what they're doing and talk about films and stuff. Um, which obviously everyone loves to do.
00:02:10
Speaker
So, Yeah, good job, man. It's a great idea and you've you've killed it so far. Thank you. That's really nice. I think actually, similar to what you're saying in with Jack and sort of following where he is, I think one of the nice things is because I try and get, you know, as i've I've spoke to people like Craig Conway who are obviously a bit bit bigger but then it's also quite nice because it often is like the first time the person I'm speaking to has done any kind of interview and it is quite nice to to to be able to offer that to to somebody as well yeah no 100% like i think it's it's really cool as well because
00:02:43
Speaker
with, with a lot of filmmaking in particular, it is letting people know what you do. Um, so there's people who I want to work with who I've just seen through putting stuff on Instagram, putting stuff on Facebook and I'm like, Oh, but you know, that's awesome. I didn't know they did that.
00:03:00
Speaker
And then out of nowhere, you know, you work together and you make some, so yeah, it's, it's sick. And I think like I've listened to, i can't remember how many I've listened to. Um, but I'm, I'm going to gush about the podcast for a bit. Yes. I approve.
00:03:12
Speaker
You've got a really nice like balance of... you kind of ah Just from talking to you before and that, you've got like quite a comfort and presence when it comes to talking to people. So I think bringing people in who've never had these kind of interviews before, you've got a good kind of... I don't know i don't know what the word is, but like an entry-level position where someone's coming in and they're talking about their work for the first time, which can obviously be quite nerve-wracking. But you've got a really good way of...
00:03:36
Speaker
when I've listened to the other episodes, you're really direct, you're really comforting, you're quite friendly. And I think that helps people to talk about their stuff more because you're giving them kind of a soft entrance to be like, go on, talk about your work, have a bit of a laugh on, and then you know the hour's gone by and everyone's had a good time.
Personal Growth in Podcasting and Filmmaking
00:03:55
Speaker
um And so far, I haven't heard a bad episode yet. ah Maybe when this one releases, I'll change my mind. but Oh man, this is so much fun. No, that's that's so lovely. Thank you. i You know, um like like many people, I have no idea how to react when people say nice things about me, but I really appreciate it. Me neither, man. I'm still yet to learn that. We can we can make art, but we can't quite take compliments yet. Maybe that is why. Maybe that is why.
00:04:20
Speaker
Yeah, that might might actually be the case. ah Yeah, I think one of the key things when I was first thinking about that, and it was, like I listen to a lot of podcasts. I listen to a lot of film podcasts and comic podcasts, comic books, not comedians. And I just love listening to people talk about stuff. And to me, those are kind of like, especially with the comics writers, like I'm a huge comics person. And those are like the the biggest people in the world, except to a lot of people. That's like, who's, I'm just looking at my shelf, who's Matt Fraction or someone else? But it's kind of like almost like taking that approach, like talking to people as if they are the biggest thing in the world, because everybody is in in in their own way. And I think everybody wants to be asked about the stuff they do. Oh, one who especially filmmakers. Filmmakers are so big. Like the number of times I've done interviews just in my head where people are like, Ryan, tell me about this wonderful idea. I'm glad I'm not the only one. It's everybody is the thing. It's everybody. Everybody does it. You've got to be well-versed in it, though, especially for when we all hit the red carpet at one day. that's the That's the big one of it. I think there's also some, though, in ah because generally I'm quite a shy person. i This is becoming a me interview more than a you interview. We'll stop talking about me in a second, but ah this is my process.
00:05:33
Speaker
No, go ahead. Honestly, like it's it's interesting to hear it, man. So go ahead. But generally, um I feel like I'm quite a quiet unreserved person and person. So initially when starting, I was thinking, well, will I be any any good at this? But it's just, it's also like something about with doing acting courses and all sorts of over the last few years going like, actually, don't matter don't matter if the first few are rubbish, like just keep doing it. And then you find, you kind of like find you good as as you go. And you kind of learn like, actually, you're not, you're not,
00:06:01
Speaker
whatever limited reserved person you believe yourself
Challenges in Independent Filmmaking
00:06:04
Speaker
to be. No, but that's exactly it. Like I had it as well. Like for years, I didn't, this is probably a really good segue into the, um, the personal way, but for like years, I never, i never felt like I could write and produce my own film without sitting down and having money or sitting down having that. And that, that stopped me for years for just making stuff. And it's kind of the fear of, I don't want to make something in it to be bad.
00:06:27
Speaker
And then have it released to the world and everybody thinks I'm a failure and I'll never make a film again. And it it really does. That's why I never knock anyone for uploading stuff or no matter how bad it is, no matter how, how, you know, bad the sound is, how bad the grade is, whatever. I think it's so important for anyone who's a creative to just take that first step and to just have an iron, in like tough iron skin and just say, fuck it. Like going drop a film.
00:06:54
Speaker
People might not watch it. People might watch it. but you i need to do that for me like whenever i release a film whenever i make a film and like finding out i can just make my own films and do my own stuff was really eye-opening and i i give a lot to that to the masters i did so i did my masters at the northern school of art i did three years at northumbria first year was covid so that just put me straight on the back burner um that's when i focused on screenwriting so my three years at northumbria gave me the ability to kind of focus on screenwriting to make my writing as tight and as compact as possible and then took a year out and did my master's so when the master's hit it felt like make or break it felt like i was slipping I hadn't made any films I hadn't really worked on many apart from Sentimental Dreamer which was you know still in post-production and I just thought like this is this is my chance I can either go in there now and
00:07:46
Speaker
change who I am because I was really like you were saying I was really shy really anxious I didn't want to talk to I hated networking um and then what as soon as the masters started I just started blooming and suddenly I can network with people I love networking now um I like messaging people that I've never spoke to in my life and saying I know we've never spoken but i really I really like your art I really like what you do that sort stuff um and most of it is shouting in the void most people are like ah yeah sick who's this random guy messaging me um but I just think like it matters it it matters so much to celebrate everybody and I think
00:08:23
Speaker
when everybody's lifted off the ground, everyone raised, it just does wonders for everybody. So having creatives raise other creatives and prop them up and give them their flowers is so important to every industry. It's not just film.
00:08:38
Speaker
um It's like podcasts. It's, you know, in-person interviews. It's, ah physical artwork whatever it is in in in any capacity even like poster designers and stuff uh which i know you know some some people i know help hold them to different values whatever um but i think it's so important to just prop people up in in the northeast especially but as a whole just propping people up and giving them credit for just doing it man like just doing it is the hardest part of any creative sphere because you're putting a part of yourself out there
00:09:11
Speaker
and letting the world see this grotty little ball of like hairs and lollipop sticks and shit and hoping that somebody sees the vision that
Creative Collaboration and Constructive Criticism
00:09:21
Speaker
you've got. um I don't know how we started this. I just started rambling. To be honest, you've done you've done the amazing thing where you've ah you've started answering the first question. Oh shit, okay. No, no, it's a good one.
00:09:33
Speaker
But you're totally right though. I um you know i went to this screenwriting event last weekend. Yeah. And one of the things they said, um they were like, it's not a competitive industry, which then they kind of like stumbled because they were like, but it is competitive, but it's not competitive. like And it's is we're not like but not all competing on a personal level with each other. Any competition comes. It's more from the other end. It's more the people making the decisions. Oh, yeah. they're They're judging a competition that's not necessarily happening, but they're sort of...
00:10:07
Speaker
on a person to person level, like people are generally actually quite supportive. And even if like, even if you you show someone an idea and and it's not the the the strongest idea or not the best idea, like,
00:10:20
Speaker
If someone tells you that, that the motivation's not usually to be like, you are rubbish. The motivation's to be like, think about this, think about how you can... And it's still very hard to hear, but it's also, it's quite a nice, it is quite a nice, nice thing though. It took me a while when I started as well to kind of, like, I've got a couple of really good friends that I'll give a shout out to. MJ Murray, Jake, Carpenter, two of the most like important people, not just in film, but in my life. they They really helped me kind of understand that gap between when somebody's been a ah dick And when somebody is being constructive and I think it is, it's the way that you kind of voice that whenever i I like getting, I like getting feedback. I want to become a better director. I'm very ambitious. I'm very determined to be the best i can be, but I'm not going to do that by just doing it myself and never trying to learn. Um, so I was asked, I asked, I'm very, I work quite closely with actors, um, as opposed to tech, like technical, um,
00:11:14
Speaker
So I always like to know, okay, crew-wise, how can I improve? but Actor-wise, as an actor-to-director relationship, how do I improve? What more do you need from me? what Where do I need to kind of fill those gaps in?
00:11:26
Speaker
um which it's just going to help. And I think once you kind of shave those first couple of constructive criticisms off and you learn to not take them to heart, it's so easy to just hear what people are saying.
00:11:38
Speaker
um It doesn't mean they're right, but, you know, it it can be anything. Like there's there's people who've suggested with, I won't talk too much about it because we're going to about it later, but there's people who've suggested ideas for films and stuff like that.
00:11:52
Speaker
that I personally don't want to make because it's not my style. It's not a story I connect with, but if that connects with them, I'm happy to help them. like um I produce projects that I don't, I produce projects that I creatively don't want to do, but just helping people make their projects,
00:12:10
Speaker
brings me a lot of pride and it makes me happy. um It's difficult because producing is horrible um and I haven't slept in weeks, but, you know, it's it's a part of the process. You've you've got a kind of, you've got to kind of adapt to okay this story isn't mine and this constructive criticism is coming from somebody who um
Art vs. Artist Debate with Examples
00:12:31
Speaker
is giving me genuine advice because they believe that it's going to make me better or make the projects better so not taking it to heart so important and like what you were saying about the screenwriting we're competing quote-unquote in in terms of there's five of us in a room one of us is getting in the job the other four aren't but
00:12:47
Speaker
you we aren't competing because you aren't writing the same stuff I am and I'm not writing the same stuff you are. We don't make the same films. We don't make, we might make the same genre. We might make the same kind of stories, but,
00:12:59
Speaker
the stories you tell are specific to you no matter what, that everything's so original, everything's an original concept because it's coming from someone original. Everybody's different. But yeah, i think i think that you get a vast majority of the Northeast creatives understand that. I mean, in it's in in end any industry, you're going to get the same thing.
00:13:18
Speaker
um Some people ah going to take it to heart. Some people are never going to understand kind of the difference between constructive criticism and well this guy just doesn't like my film or whatever but i think i think when you when you do get those first couple of like oh here's what i would do if i were you you don't even have to listen to them but just hearing it and having that first kind of barrier broken of oh okay this is this is advice whether it's good or bad um it's just it's just so important it's like it's so important in any creative sphere oh i don't want to mention the person the quotes from because uh they've been revealed to be a bad person
00:13:51
Speaker
But there were a quote from an author that I once very much liked where they'd said something like, if someone tells you there's something wrong that you should maybe think about, they're probably right. But if someone tells you exactly what's wrong and exactly how you should change it, they're nearly always wrong. And I feel like that's that's the difference. it's like It's like constructive criticism is think about this. Non-constructive criticism is you're wrong. Do this. Yeah.
00:14:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's really that's really good, actually. I'd never thought of it, but yeah I think that that does make a lot of sense. Yeah, um but yes, that's my that's my ah my old my old obsession with Neil Gaiman. It was from Neil Gaiman. We don't like him anymore. He's bad. He's bad, but before before he was revealed to be so, I spent a lot of time reading Neil Gaiman. Listen, like that's that's such a difficult... like it's such a difficult conversation to have because like, I'm, I'm a, I'm a big Tarantino fan. So wise, I'm a big Tarantino fan. Um, but obviously his personal politics and his personal beliefs and how he's acting and stuff like that.
00:14:54
Speaker
It's so difficult to kind of split the art from the artist. And nowadays with all this stuff coming out from films from like the nineties or the two thousands, and you find all this improper behavior, um,
00:15:06
Speaker
You do have to kind to go, yeah, ah really I really, love Pulp Fiction. I love Django. I love Inglourious Bastards. But the guys are not a great person. um but you can i think you can still I think you can still appreciate the art. I haven't quite figured the answer out yet. But that's what I'll stick with for now.
00:15:22
Speaker
Yeah, it's a weird one. like there's There's certain people I fully will will not engage with, and then there's certain people where, like like similar, like Tarantino, I'm like, yeah I watched Inglourious Bastards for the first time the other week, and was like, good film, liked it. Yeah, yeah. some it's a bit dodgy, like he chokes Diane Kruger, so...
00:15:42
Speaker
he won sir tarantino Tarantino's hands around um Diane Kruger. Really? yeah. He said he wasn't choking properly. You see, that's in some ways, that's almost the next thing I was going to say about it, actually, is like the reason I don't even like to mention Neil Gaiman anymore is because I was so into like Sandman comics and stuff when i were back when I wrote Union things. And it's like it's almost like...
00:16:06
Speaker
when you get... It's all very parasocial, but when you get like more of a personal connection with someone's work, it kind of... like Harder when when stuff comes out about them. For me, I've always liked Tarantino's films, but I didn't know the stories about choking someone because I've just never gone deep, I guess. Yeah. ah No, I get that. And it's almost...
00:16:25
Speaker
in some ways it's almost about your personal connection to to someone's work and how far. at least At least for me, I think. at least for me i think where Yeah, I don't know. But also, it's it's a very tough subject, and I don't know how we... It's really dangerous one to be talking about 80 days in the podcast. I'm like, why did i quote why did I have to bring up this stupid Neil Gaiman quote? It is. This is the thing. But that that's that's the core of the issue, isn't it, though? it's Yeah, it's the asterisk, isn't it? And it becomes difficult to parse.
00:17:02
Speaker
um
Educational Background and Career Influences
00:17:03
Speaker
Moving on. yeah um So I usually start asking about ah my guest's background. You've talked a little bit about it. So you're studied film or script writing at uni.
00:17:16
Speaker
Northumbria, yeah, I did. um It was film and television production at the time, which has now been combined, I think, just into film and TV. And then I did the Masters in Arts Practice, specialising in film, which is a mouthful, um at the Northern School of Art, which was one of the greatest things I've ever done in my life. Yeah.
00:17:36
Speaker
And I think that's where minor rant, because I know you haven't finished your statement, like, I think sometimes people get so caught up in, well, you don't need to to uni, you need to go to film, you don't need to do that. But for me, with that Masters, it wasn't the degree that was the most valuable thing, it was...
00:17:52
Speaker
what I managed to do and what I started to learn and everything. It was a massive, massive metamorphosis for me personally um because I went from a guy who'd never made never made a project myself from the ground up.
00:18:04
Speaker
I'd jumped to direct something down in Manchester, which was Sentimental Dreamer. um But it was the only time I directed anything that wasn't my mates in my house with my iPhone. So kind of jump making that jump from amateur to probably still amateur, but kind of elevating the level of production, learning the network, learning to...
00:18:23
Speaker
kind of appreciate every part of it and and be really excited to be around people who wanted to do the same thing. And I think that's massively important in any industry. But film as well. I think surrounding yourself by people who are as determined as you and support your ideas is so, so important to any production. So I studied film script writing, but it was basically a a film production course.
00:18:47
Speaker
Well, it was called Swoop, right? And I found it really difficult to do anything after university, ah like sort of film related. I guess really what I was quite curious about is is exactly what you're talking about, sort of that feeling of doing something in a university environment and what what takes you from...
00:19:05
Speaker
doing that in a controlled environment where like your motivations kind of your grades, even if, even if you spend a lot of time saying, i'm I'm really interested in this, but it's still the primary motivation is someone is going to tell you off if you don't do it. yeah um Even if they're not that strict at you, but what, what takes you from,
00:19:23
Speaker
from that to being somebody who can go out into the world and be presumably pretty, pretty self driven in, uh, sort of bringing about these, these projects. Um, cause I assume that you're not massively wealthy and just, uh, able to easily.
00:19:40
Speaker
i mean, I'm in a very, that's a great question, by the way. out That's a, that's an amazing question. Um, i will I'll start off by saying i'm not from like I'm not from a working class background, but I'm not from the ultra elite. um you know nobody's put me I have no connections in the film industry. I'm the first in my family to like go to uni and do a master's and stuff.
00:20:00
Speaker
um i've I've got a good foundation with my parents. like My dad is massive in... just supporting me and and making sure that, like, as I still live at home, which I'm not ashamed to say, because the and the world at the moment is a brutal place. um But, like, my my dad worked really hard to be able to give me kind of... To give me a chance at something more important than...
00:20:24
Speaker
you know okay well you can pay the you need to pay the bills that's always been instilled i do need to pay the bills um and i need to you know i need to keep my cover my own bills cover my own car and stuff like that but like i've never had a penny from in it towards any of my films i've never i never would ask for money off my parents for my films ah because that' that's not me making my films. That's not me learning how crowdfund. That's not me doing it myself.
Journey of Independent Film Production
00:20:51
Speaker
that's and not and no That's not me dissing anyone who's using that money in the Northeast or anywhere, um because power to you making films is hard. whether you've got make Having the budget makes it slightly easier by maybe 0.01, but I'm in a very, very lucky position where um My dad worked really hard to get me where I am. My dad's worked really, really hard to give me a kind of a good a good upbringing, but teach me the right things as well, I think.
00:21:20
Speaker
um Because i think it's... it's it's important to to understand that like, I'm not, I haven't worked at all to be able to live in a house where I do in a nice area and not have to worry about like whether, you know, the the bills are going to be paid whether the lights are, I'm insanely lucky to be able to say that.
00:21:39
Speaker
And I'm crazy lucky that that's led to me doing film um because that's just kind of given me a good, a good start. But this isn't, this isn't a podcast about my dad. This is a podcast about me. Um,
00:21:50
Speaker
but yeah, I think just to answer your actual question rather than talking about my upbringing. Um, yeah, I think, i think with the, with the masters, the masters was an excuse for me to make films. Um, and it was an excuse for me not to, I worked a part-time job. So me paying the bills was working once or twice a week and then have my student loan cover whatever I needed to cover.
00:22:11
Speaker
Um, And I think it really gave me a chance to just try anything. So um Without With The Old, it was the first one I did. It was was written, produced and everything like that within, i think, six weeks. And we got the insanely talented ah cast and crew we did with like Jed Purvis, Jack Henry, um as you know the the main stars that.
00:22:36
Speaker
ah But even still, that was the the first time I'd done that. So there's there's a lot of rough edges around that where... you know, we we were rushing to try and get stuff done. I didn't really have any much prep time or anything like that.
00:22:47
Speaker
um So then for the next one, it was like, okay, well, we need a bit more prep time. um The university has loads of sets and stuff like that. So I thought, well, my next course, I'm not making a big film because the Masters works in, you know, the second module, you can build something in your last module.
00:23:01
Speaker
So I knew I wanted to do something huge, which was ended up being mimicry, which we'll definitely go on to. um But that kind of, it was, it was just a drive to make films. And I don't,
00:23:13
Speaker
I don't have a drive to make films for money and I don't have a drive to make films because I want to pad the IMDB credits. I want to make films because I enjoy making it and being on a set and being a director and taking something from this room where I sit in and the lights are dark and it's two o'clock in the morning and I'm frantically typing away at creating fake characters and scenarios in my head.
00:23:38
Speaker
Um, To be able to take that from the computer screen to an actual set or take it to the post-production is so important. um And it just means it really, it feels like I'm at home and it feels so comfortable and it I feel so natural in it.
00:23:55
Speaker
that there is no there is no real kind of, well, I need to do this. Like you said about the grades thing, there was the even at uni, the the masters, there was no, I need to do this for my grade. It was, like i need to make this film because I need to make the film.
00:24:10
Speaker
And the grade is kind of an excuse to make the film. um So over the course of my masters, we did... um Out with the Old, we did um King Karkonos, which is kind of, we're taking a while on that because it's a lot of green screen. And it was this crazy good crab puppet made by um Connor Thompson, who is one of the most talented people I've worked it with in this industry so far. that That's going to take a while to get off the ground just because it's so tedious with green screen and making everything move and stuff. We did, um but for that as well, just as a little side note, the uni has all these sets that the students build that don't get filmed in. And for me, that was like, why would you put the money into, why would you put the money into a set and not filming it? and That conf confused me. So I just started going and asking people, oh, would it be okay if we filmed in this set? So what's that? Sorry. Is that like people doing set building as their course? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the, the uni has like first year, second year, third years who make props. They make costumes. They make sets.
00:25:12
Speaker
Um, so I went around and walked and saw all these people making these really cool sets. Um, And we filmed on an oil rig one for King Carcanos, which was done by like this guy called Sam. ah Crazy talented. He did amazing. He did a ladder with a mirror. So it looked like an infinite ladder, which we got a really nice shot of that.
00:25:32
Speaker
One day I'm hoping and to get King Carcanos out if I can. It's such a tough project. um We did Collusion, which obviously dropped, I think, December last year. um We filmed that. um It's really talented set designer called Zoe.
00:25:46
Speaker
um She absolutely killed it, man. Like it was so detailed and I was desperate to filming it for ages. um But she that she never got back to me. i um I'll laugh about it with her now. um She never got back to me after our first message day. And then we had two weeks to go from nothing to completed script and film in one day because they were tearing it down. So we had to write the script, cast everybody, get the crew and get filmed within a five hour period. And we did. And that's, you know, collusion is kind of,
00:26:16
Speaker
Proof that you can just do anything, even on limited time. You can, we, you know, we rushed everybody into a set. We put it there, put some lights up, whatever, and we made a film out of it. Again, still like the university is, it's such a good place to just learn everything. And it gives people who may not have had chances to become you know, mainstays in local shorts or anything, the chance to go, okay, what's it like to be on a short? What's it like for my, what does my work look like?
00:26:45
Speaker
Because that's, at the end of the day, that's what we're all here for. Nobody's making the sets to not have them in films on the film and television. Of course, you know, we've got actors who want to act um and then they need it. They need the experience. I need the experience. You've got sound guys or lighting guys who need the the credits and stuff like that.
00:27:04
Speaker
So why not? it's It takes like five hours out of somebody's day. I get to write a script and if people like it, then they work on it. But then post-universe, so I graduated, unofficially graduated last September. It was kind of this middle ground of, i need to find a job.
00:27:18
Speaker
i can't just like I can't just make films because I don't have the money to make films. um And i need to pay my bills. So I just ended up working for a little while and then want to to lead to outsiders. ah The last project we'd done was mimicry before outsiders, which was a huge project. And it just wiped me out. And it was such a, it was such a cursed production that,
00:27:40
Speaker
we needed i needed that little buffer i think it was important for me to have a little bit of a break uh which then led to outsiders so with outsiders which was the most recent project we did obviously may or may not have a cameo from somebody in this call outsiders was kind of this started as you know we can film in one location we can have three actors and i can get some local students or whatever to to make that and then After I wrote the script and after I started getting people involved in it, it became really apparent to me that this was more of a project than just filming. Like, i think i think it's a special project in terms of it went from being something that we were just filming in someone's house. I mean, we filmed in someone's house anyway, but, you know, just filming a couple of people one afternoon, whatever, not really just making a film to get back into it.
00:28:27
Speaker
And I was like, okay, well, the actors are really responding well to it. The crew really like it. and We have this you know the crazy, crazy juggernaut squad ready to go for it. I think I should put more into it because everybody's putting more into their end. So the film needs to be a bigger film.
00:28:44
Speaker
ah So that's that's what led to Outside has been this kind of... It started and as just this, I need to get back on the horse. I need to get another film. um I need to, learn you know, maybe i need to learn how to direct again, because that's a fear that that, that was a fear that I had after doing all the stuff at the eat li them the, like the masters was, I haven't written anything in a while. I hadn't directed in a while. And I thought, oh my god I'm going to be so rusty. I'm going to, I've forgotten everything. I don't know how to direct or whatever. But again, that's how it works. We find the right people and you find people who find the source material in the script and
00:29:20
Speaker
really interesting and said, do you know what, this is just this is a script that deserves more budget. This is a script that deserves more energy, more time. And I'm really proud of what we did. I'm really excited to get it out there and to show everybody. But it was just, it it's a weird thing because what to go back to the drive that you were talking about,
00:29:37
Speaker
I have a drive to make films. Like I have a drive to make projects. I have a drive to to do it because it it's the greatest thing in the world for me. And it's the only thing that I, it's the only thing I've ever done where I've got as high as I have. I don't do drugs. I very rarely drink. My only vice is Monster Energy, which is a terrible you know sponsorship to throw in the middle of a pod. That's worse than all of them. That's worse than them. Yeah, no, it's bad, but I can't help it, man. But the the high you get, it I don't, like I said, never done any drugs or anything, but I imagine the high of those drugs never match the high of i get when I drive back from like a film set.
00:30:18
Speaker
Because you've got this kind of, holy shit, we've done it. And we spent three months planning it, and we spent three months thinking about it, and anything could have gone wrong. And we've got a team of 15 to 25 people who have just committed to your idea.
00:30:33
Speaker
out of their own time we don't have the budget now to pay people i would look i would love nothing more in this world than to be able to turn to my set designers and my producers and my editors and say here's 500 quid spend the week making that film i would absolutely love to do that but we obviously don't have the finances but it's just the high you get on the on the back end of a film and seeing what you you wrote three months ago in your head, read out by actors and seeing the shots that you planned and wondered if they'd look good on ah on my hard drive and seeing them on my computer or in practice and practicing grading and stuff like that with them is, it is it's just an unmatched high.
00:31:14
Speaker
um It's what probably the worst addiction I've, it's my worst addiction, which is saying something. I understand though, it's this idea that it's like come from your head and other people are,
00:31:26
Speaker
I don't know sort of how you are with things, but we may, i always assume anything that comes from my head is useless and terrible. And then you show it to someone else and then they take it seriously. And then it's, it's, wow, that's not useless and terrible. And that's actually something that people have tried seriously. And, ah you know, I've never worked, well, I've never been in charge of any, any large productions or anything, but I imagine that's just, again, as a ah a similar feeling times for,
00:31:54
Speaker
A hundred? crazy. It's all these people have come together to to work on something that's come from your brain that you've sort of directed. And, you know, i'm sure there's I'm sure there's mishaps along the way, but there is what literally anything, and it's been successful. That's that's a a great feeling.
00:32:14
Speaker
I think just just doing it like... I used to sit there and I used to be, when I, when I first decided to go to film at like 18, I hadn't done any film before. I didn't have any family in film. Um, it was probably like, it was like 2018. It was probably worst year of my life. Um, so I felt my A levels. I was totally lost. And I had like what most people would describe a midlife crisis at the age of 18.
00:32:37
Speaker
And it was like, well, what am I going to do? What do I enjoy doing? What do I enjoy? What feels natural? um And ah I don't know how I'd never landed on doing film before because I loved film. But from that moment and just the idea of being able to make my own stuff, just the idea of being able to make your own stuff and writing like with outsiders, outsiders, characters that are in my head. I sound like a lunatic.
00:33:00
Speaker
I'm messaging people about killing people and whatever. be talking about guns and shit because of the script I've wrote. And i feel like i'm but I feel like I'm losing it. But when when we did... So with Outsiders, it's very loosely inspired by a game called No, I'm Not Human.
00:33:16
Speaker
I don't know if you've heard of it. I don't think so. if you If you haven't seen it, you definitely should go and check it out because it's so cool. I can't talk too much about why it's inspired, it but it's loosely inspired by that. And I just thought, like, an alien invasion...
00:33:29
Speaker
combined with the main character having to deal with the fact that his wife's not home and to kind of set up this world of the apocalypse is quiet because there's no sirens, there's no fire and there's no major apocalypse.
00:33:43
Speaker
is really haunting. And it was an idea that a lot of people, when they read the script, that was the first thing they jumped to, the kind of the difference between how most apocalypses are, doing something a little bit out the grid. I'm not the first person in history to make a quiet apocalypse. Like, I'm not i'm not a revolutionary in that regard.
00:34:00
Speaker
But I think just having people read a script like that and have this weird world of how... That is pretty scary for the characters to experience, and that would cause paranoia and stuff. I try to be really cryptic to not give away the plot details, but, like, that was just such a... Seeing people's reaction to a world that I'd made up was awesome, and seeing, like, seeing all the amazing actors that we had on it kind of pick it up and say, you know what? This character's really important. This is, this is you know, this character...
00:34:30
Speaker
is so interesting because this. um that's such a That's such an amazing feeling to to hear people's reactions to characters you've made up. And when people want to play the character you've made up, that's such an honour.
00:34:44
Speaker
And it just it just feels amazing, man. It's such a high. I'm wondering, with um as i we're looking through the films you've done, some of the really... interesting me about them is it seems to be quite common an element of the the only word i can think to use is supernatural i don't mean like ghosting i mean like there's aliens there's sea monsters um and this was something that i always struggled with uh at uni because it were always go smaller go smaller and and while i appreciate smaller stories and quite enjoy know i went to watch i went to watch the drama the other day with rob patterson and that were actually very good but
00:35:19
Speaker
like also it's really exciting like to do aliens to do sea monsters to do those things that was something that i always want to do my answer were um to get into writing radio drama that became my thing for a few years because i was like oh you don't need to you don't need a budget really need to do anything for that well i guess what what i'm so curious about is how how you approach doing that like obviously with outsiders it's there's this huge story but it's confined to a small space and as you mentioned there's a lot of a lot of silence so it is it's suggesting those things while also telling i guess like i guess like i guess really what i'm asking is how how do you tell a story of something huge but focus it on something that's both achievable and relatable That's another great question, man. That's such a, that's a, that's a really interesting question as well, because it was something that like when I did screenwriting as well, I hadn't directed. So when you're a screenwriter who hasn't directed, you either get caught in, I don't know how much this is going cost. So I'm going to scale it back the whole way or you get caught up in, well, I'm just going write whatever because I'm a writer and that's what I want to do.
00:36:28
Speaker
Um, when I started making my own stuff, that's when it became, how is this going to be
Creative Process and Storytelling in Films
00:36:34
Speaker
viable? um So with with King Karkonos, Jake Karpner, who I mentioned earlier, suggested me like, because we're both massive Godzilla fans. ab grew up watching the old Japanese ones. Never understood a word because I was like eight.
00:36:49
Speaker
um But just seeing these giant creatures attack each other was just amazing to see it. And it has such a special place in my heart. um and jake countenna approached me and said oh i've got this guy who was connor thompson who's making a um a giant crab kaiju do you want to direct that film and i was like obviously i want to direct why would i not want to direct that film so then i met connor uh was kind of when when i first met connor it wasn't confirmed that i was doing anything i i kind of went in with a pitch and me and connor just like got on really well and we both bonded over our love of
00:37:23
Speaker
like kaiju films in all capacities and talked about ideas and stuff. But that kind of set the story up because I knew I was working with a foot and a half crab monster and I knew it needed to be green screen. We had this kind of pre-bit in the oil rig where you've got two characters who are talking about the situation going on and then you show the situation so a really good example and we i haven't talked about it enough for this but mimicry was mimicry was such a huge project and like i can't watch it now because it's really rough around the edges for me because i've seen every aspect of that film but mimicry is uh we covered my brother in prosthetics my younger brother benjamin waller who's not an actor by trade whatsoever ah but he's 65 quite lean and we wanted the creature to kind of be gangly and i thought that getting someone who wasn't an actor
00:38:13
Speaker
to play a gangly creature that didn't know how to walk, didn't know how to be human, was a lot easier than getting an actor in who would try to kind of act like a creature that's gangly.
00:38:25
Speaker
So kind of writing that was, I knew I wanted to be big. and i'm a big I'm a big horror fan. i don't know if anyone can tell because it's basically all I do. um But I'm a huge horror fan. I grew up on all these horror films like The Thing and stuff like that. And The Thing was a huge inspiration on Mimicry.
00:38:44
Speaker
But we just, it it was going from what's viable here. So when we talked about what we were going to do for Mimicry and I had MJ Murray produce and help me write it for the Masters, we decided to go with this kind of I really enjoy human characters. I really enjoy this kind of exploration of how people react to the world around them.
00:39:08
Speaker
And with Mimicry, we have the setup that the main character is totally out of her comfort zone. um She's not, you know, totally, um again, trying not to spoil too much. Main character played by Molly Lloyd James, who's a crazy talented actress. No, she goes into this party with um all of this stuff going on. She's got a bit like drama. She's got um it's it's sort of a boiling pot and then you throw in this creature that, you know, sets everything on fire, kind of, not literal, but, you know, that kind of, when the tension's boiling inside and then you introduce the creature, everything gets elevated a little bit. But with Outsiders, Outsiders is probably...
00:39:47
Speaker
the hardest film I've had to kind of adapt to in terms of what's viable here. Because when we did Outsiders, we have you have to kind of keep everything compact, but still give people a viewing of what the world's like out there. And a big inspiration for Outsiders as well was talking about like,
00:40:05
Speaker
how people consume media, how people take sources and stuff like that. This is this is a minor spoiler, but it's it's really early on in the film. And Yuzanka talks about how they can't wear jewellery, and that's like an easy tell for how you can 100% tell an outsider from a non-outsider. But that isn't as black and white as...
00:40:24
Speaker
You'd think, you know, people wear fake jewellery. If people aren't wearing jewellery, does that make them an outsider? It elevates all these questions and just gives... It gives people an idea of what that story is and who these characters are and what the world is without having to go outside and say...
00:40:41
Speaker
here's this guy, here's this, here's this, here's this. You're kind of setting the story up through, you know, the main character in any film is almost like a vessel for the audience. So as you discover that information, he discovers the information. And it was played by a good friend of mine and a crazy talented actor called Leon Robson, who does such a good job in Outsiders of playing a guy whose wife isn't home, who is paranoid constantly. And it just that elevation of...
00:41:10
Speaker
how the world gets on and how long they're in that flat for and how difficult it is to deal with the acknowledgement that the world you lived in doesn't exist anymore. There's ways around telling the story where you can, ah you can tell that story without having to have the budget.
00:41:26
Speaker
um It would be nice. And if there was a budget for outsiders to make the world outside a bit bigger, um I would, I would have done it. But I think you also lose, you lose a bit by making the world of outsiders bigger than what it is because the world of outsiders that we've so we've told so far is come entirely compact in that black so having the unreliability of what actually is out there what's it like out there and not having the audience know for certain kind of makes that a little bit you know paranoid for everybody as well but i think the important thing for me is and i'd recommend this to anyone who screenwrites and is looking to make the film write what you need to write first
00:42:05
Speaker
and then find a workaround. if you can If you can write something, now obviously if you're doing a zombie film and you write a giant scene with a herd of zombies, that's going to be fairly expensive. But there's ways to work around that. If you want to put in, if you want to put the right crew in place and you want to get the right actors and the people respond to the script,
00:42:24
Speaker
you'd be amazed at how much you can do with so little. So I'd suggest to anyone who wants to write and who wants to kind of make an original story, who wants to expand the world a little bit, just do it.
00:42:35
Speaker
just just ah Just go for it. if if you If you're producing it yourself, you'll find a workaround. It's just getting them wheels in motion. Get the car moving. you could If you need to turn around ah an obstacle when you get to it, you turn around it. but There's no point worrying about an obstacle that's you know, two miles down the road when you've not set off yet.
00:42:54
Speaker
You want to worry about it when you get a little bit closer. You can know it's there. I'm not saying don't just drive straight towards, you know, traffic in the A19. But if you know there's traffic in the A19, there's no point in not setting off. You might as well just go and find a solution.
00:43:07
Speaker
And if you don't find a solution, you've still made it down the road anyway, and you know for next time. There's... there's so much to learn from just doing. It's like what we said earlier, just making art, just making a film, even if it's two your mates in a room, just chilling, doing nothing, and then one of them shoots the other one. You can just do anything.
00:43:25
Speaker
um And one of the things that, like, um the I do most of the casting for my own projects. Sometimes that I tend not to, depends how busy I am. But one of the things I've always found is, from From a director's point of view, when we do the casting, when I cast an actor, you don't always cast an actor based on the best work that looks the best.
00:43:44
Speaker
There was a really, really talented actor I worked with on Sentimental Dreamer called Tommy Leonard, who's amazingly talented. And the reason we cast him in that film, that was it was Rob Maxwell produced it. He's a guy down in Manchester. You know, amazing producer, gave me the chance to kind of direct for the first time. And he put a lot of faith in me. And I'm really proud of what we made for that. But Tommy put in, Tommy had like a spotlight page and on his spotlight page, he had the same thing that a lot of people do, which is, you know, here's my serious roles, here's my serious roles.
00:44:10
Speaker
At the very bottom, we had one in his show reel that was m this kind of gimmicky thing where he was going in for a job interview and, you know, the job center told him that he couldn't get a job or something. i don't know the story personally. But I just found his kind of dry, witty humour was exactly what we're looking for in the character. And when I spoke to him about it, he he talked to me and said, that was just something he filmed with his mates. And they never expected anything to come of it. And they never expected... It was never going to go to festivals. It was never a plan for them to do that.
00:44:37
Speaker
But just having that there was the make or break difference between whether we went with him or whether we didn't. Because as soon as I saw that, I took it to Rob and we said, this is this is the guy. This is the guy who is going to play this character.
00:44:50
Speaker
because that's what sold me. And I think it's so interesting as well, because actors want to show their best work and they want to show, everybody does, I want to show my best work, but sometimes people respond to art differently. And if they see something a little bit different and a little bit original, even if it's a bit janky, even you just filmed it in a garage somewhere and the lighting's not great.
00:45:13
Speaker
people can find diamonds in that rough really easily.
Casting and Role Balancing in Filmmaking
00:45:17
Speaker
um And that's why it's so important to just make stuff and just throw it out there. Don't be afraid to to just be honest to yourself and be loyal to what you're making. Because if nobody sees it, who cares? But if somebody sees it and says, you know what?
00:45:32
Speaker
I like that guy's script. I like the way that guy delivers that line. I think this guy can play this character that I've wrote that nobody else can. And then that's it. And before you know it, you work with bunch of people that you've never worked with before.
00:45:44
Speaker
And they like you and you get on with them and all of a sudden you're you know you're a part-time actor because you're doing all their projects. And then that interests you. And new people and new people. We've worked with such a variety of people just off people who know people who've jumped in do a favour and all of a sudden they're mainstays.
00:45:59
Speaker
ah To be fair, I think it's it also kind of highlights this this idea that if you only want to be seen at your best, you're almost like an unreliable narrator about yourself because there's plenty of things that I do, that we all do, that we feel shy or embarrassed about, that other people see and the they think...
00:46:18
Speaker
that person's amazing. Like how I wish I could be like that. And I guess it kind of, it does apply with, with the acting example you you're given. Like there's plenty of acting that an individual person might go, this is not my best where someone goes, damn, that's actually amazing. I want, I want that person in there.
00:46:35
Speaker
So, yeah, that's a really interesting thing. We're kind of coming towards the end. There's one question I really wanted to ask you before we got on to the wrap-up stuff. You've mentioned a little bit producing being the most difficult, least preferred, not your favorite part of the job. Yeah, kind of. I guess because you write, you direct, you produce. Delineate is the word I've got written down here. Between do you sort see it as one big thing? And sometimes you need to do director responsibilities, sometimes writer responsibilities. Or do you have an actual sort of mental process for separating the responsibilities? You hit me with the banging questions here. Yeah, no, I think...
00:47:18
Speaker
it's it changes so i was on a shoot yesterday with my good friend mj murray for her master's project um and i produced that so i had like a couple of weeks to get actors to get crew and to kind of fix everything together um and the difficulty from producing is i'd i'd my my favorite thing to do is to be creative i am at the end of the day that's what that's what i am um i am a creative um So I really enjoy thinking, okay, how am I going to get the performance out the actors? How am I going respond to them? That sort of stuff. What am I going to write down? And producing tends to be a lot of logistics on my end. That's most of what I do. um it does it It does sometimes feel like it's one giant lump sum of going...
00:48:06
Speaker
right, okay, need to organise this, need to organise this. We have a really talented set designer called Eve Gowan who, when i wasd when I was producing Outsiders, I wanted to work with Eve for ages and I thought Outsiders was such an interesting...
00:48:21
Speaker
kind of production design because we had the main character is living in his granddad's old flat with his fiance. And over the course of the film, the flat starts to deteriorate, which is a really interesting thing, I think, for a production designer to production design um and to set design because you get mold on the walls, you're getting bits of carpet torn up and stuff like that.
00:48:45
Speaker
um And she responded really well to that and she did such a good job on Outsiders. Um, but that is kind of where that the directing and the producing clip in together. Um, because as a producer, I need to find somebody who fits what I'm looking for. Um, even if I don't, even if I just want to work with people, sometimes they might not be the right fit for the film or they might not be the right fit for the style or they're not free.
00:49:10
Speaker
Um, So there is a middle ground of being like, I want to creatively get someone in who matches the rest of the film, who matches the the point of the film. But also I want to direct and I want to not have to worry about that. So when you get somebody in like, you get someone in like Eve Gowan to set design, can just leave her to it. And I know that I've got enough trust in her ability to do what we talk about. The hard part of producing for me is we've had it happen a couple of times. We've had a couple of films where we've, you know, we've been short for time and we need to get somebody in. And a lot of a lot of people do just jump in. So I tend to do a lot of call outs on Instagram for crew, for opportunities and stuff like that, because it's one of the best places to go.
00:49:50
Speaker
And I'm big into work with new people, which is why that's the enjoyment I get out of producing speaking to new people and reaching out to people I've never spoken to before to work with them, to give them like, not to give them a chance. Cause that's, you know, that's not what I'm doing. I'm getting who I think is the right for the role. Like with you and the radio, uh, spoiler alert for anyone who's made it 55. May or may not be, may or may not be. May or may not be. I needed somebody who would suit that voice. You've got the voice for radio sounds. I mean that in a complimentary way, not how most people. I mean, it is a compliment when you've spent the best part of the last year doing a podcast. You know, it's like, yeah, okay, I'm doing the right thing.
00:50:28
Speaker
Getting told you have a voice for radio. I think, yeah, i think it's ah it's a face for radio. It's face for radio is the problem, yeah. But I knew I wanted to celebrate the Northeast, and I thought getting somewhat like getting you in who's the Northeast and you know, you, you, you're closely related to the radio is the way I word I thought that was a nice little, we're getting the right person for the role.
00:50:54
Speaker
We're also getting nice little little Easter egg for anyone who knows you, knows the podcast and goes, ah, yeah, that's cool. That's a cool little, you know, cool little cameo. Um,
00:51:04
Speaker
So it doesn't break that immersion. And that's that's where the producing and the directing kind of loop together. Sometimes you work and so as a producer, sometimes you work in logistics. Most of the time you work in logistics. So I have to work out how everyone's getting to set, which I don't enjoy doing because that is difficult. And I'd like to sit there and just be like, yeah, guys, we're going go for the shot or whatever but and let somebody else stress.
00:51:28
Speaker
But I also know that I need to do it because I need, I couldn't rest otherwise. And I know that if I do it, it's done. um And one day I'd like to find a producer. i mean, MJ Murray's a really good producer. um And she did a lot, she did a decent, like a lot for outsiders. She did so much for Mimicry as well.
00:51:45
Speaker
But I'd like to find someone one day who enjoys producing. um But I think I've got a higher chance of winning the lottery than someone who enjoys producing.
Executing Creative Visions and Future Projects
00:51:53
Speaker
um But they all they all link together. I mean, as a writer, you... As ah as a writer, a director, producer, when you write, you know what you're going to shot what your shot's going to look like.
00:52:03
Speaker
And as a producer, you know how expensive... You have an idea how expensive the film's going to be you know you need More people means more travel, means more food, means whatever. So they kind of all work in tandem sometimes.
00:52:15
Speaker
And then other times, you organise and shoot and stuff. that's not That's not a writer's job. That's not fun for a writer to... say, yeah, you're all just going to in this car and we're to get you from here and everybody is going to come from this way and stuff like that.
00:52:28
Speaker
um But they they kind of do work together sometimes and other times they couldn't be further apart, I think, is the way to answer that. That makes sense. I guess even with something like a writer, that it's like there's an element of something you were talking about before where it's like if you if you do have that responsibility as a writer,
00:52:44
Speaker
that might affect how you write the script. And that is that's both a good thing and a bad thing, I guess. It's sort on one hand, it's restraining your ideas. But on the other hand, it's sometimes good to have your ideas restrained. Yeah, no, 100%. And I guess that applies in in other situations. um But yeah, um that there's loads I want to ask you about. But ah ah i'm ah yeah, this has been pretty good too. And if you just ah towards the end, I always ask if there's ah a show or a film or something that you you've watched or that's important to you generally that you want to just quickly, quickly talk about. Oh, that's a tough one. um What's the first one that comes? I don't want to talk about Pulp Fiction or anything. I feel like that's done to death.
00:53:28
Speaker
I don't know. Um, I would say, i would say outsiders. ah no Um, no, I don't know. I mean, like I love, I love the original alien. Uh, I love the thing. I love Pulp Fiction. I love Predator.
00:53:41
Speaker
Uh, and I think they do have a, a lot of them do have this kind of lasting effect. Um, with things like, like with alien, the last and effective alien on my appreciation for practical arts and stuff like that.
00:53:54
Speaker
Um, it's such an important film. And I think just as a quick one, cause haven't talked about it, but I'm going to just throw this in. I think in ah in an age where people are sat on computers, not making films, but they want to generate stuff with AI. Um, I'm very anti I'm very, I like doing it in camera.
00:54:11
Speaker
Um, I'm 50, 50 on green screen, but it's better than AI. Um, I think in an age where people are just doing that and people are getting not lazier, but more prone to using generative AI in posters or concept art whatever, I think,
00:54:29
Speaker
with something like the original alien and all the other films I've mentioned, having that practical element and showing what you can do as humans is so important to this art form.
00:54:40
Speaker
um And I think like, I think some of the posters that you get in the Northeast now, not the generative AI ones, they're shit, but some of them are really original um in terms of what they've done. They've, they've gone somewhere, taken a photo or something, and it's worked really nicely as a poster.
00:54:57
Speaker
Um, and I think it's so important to, to be practical and it's so important to platform people who can do things physically. Um, that I think the original alien is what I'm going to leave you with because that, that film masters the art of scaring the shit. I mean, I was like 10 when I watched it, scared the shit out of me.
00:55:16
Speaker
Um, But it's a practical puppet. It looks amazing. and The actors are all committed. And some of the shots in the film are beautiful. And the poster's great as well. um And they did it all without AI. And that's my final sign-off message for the podcast. Yeah, Yeah. No, down with ai I did actually mean to ask you a lot about it. My last note is literally, Mimicry, the horrors of Gen AI. Yeah, yeah. yeah um Yeah, it's relevant to us. That was a big inspiration for Mimicry was...
00:55:46
Speaker
creating a creature. I didn't want to be hammy and be like, like, here's AI's in the villain. But we made a creature that was pretending to be human, that was covered in extra fingers and mimicked people's voices. That's very good. I like the extra fingers. thing Yeah. but My brother wasn't too happy about the ol of glue and whatever it was we put on him for that. um But I'm happy with what we got and that's the main thing. Well, ah thank you for talking to me. ah Do you have anything you'd like to plug and can you tell us where we can find you?
00:56:16
Speaker
Ooh, well, first of all, thank you for having me. And second of all, you can find me on my Instagram, which I think is Joshua underscore Wallace seven. It's the main thing I use to communicate with people. You can find my films, which I think we've got two so far in the mimicry trailer on the Rillichimp Productions YouTube channel, which is where most of my projects get
Closing Remarks and Upcoming Content
00:56:36
Speaker
put on. And I'm going to quickly plug everyone from outsiders, everyone from mimicry, everyone from out with the old collusion.
00:56:42
Speaker
King Karkonos and i think I'm forgetting Sentimental Dreamer everybody who I've worked with as a cast and crew have been amazing and they're a massive part of why I do what I do and I think they're all so amazingly talented and I haven't I wish I could have sat for an hour and mentioned every single person that I worked with and just plug them because It is amazing to watch people work and it is amazing for me to see cast and crew working to such a high level um without being paid just off pure determination. I have such admiration for the talents of every everyone I've worked with.
00:57:17
Speaker
um so i'll plug i'll plug that i'll plug that uh outsiders is uh due to have its private premiere um in the middle of june which obviously you're invited to because you may or may not be in the film um so you're well you know that that's that's going to be huge um i think going to try and do uh mimicry should release at some point soon um if in ideal world festivals are a pain in the ass. Um, so we'll see. Um, but yeah, I think just as, as a last one, I'd like to plug, um, you and the, and the podcast. I think you do such a good job of, um, platforming people. And I think it's so important to have a shared industry where platforming people who,
00:58:01
Speaker
are talking about their stuff for the first time and are talking about their passion projects and talking about what they do is so important to anything. And and in otherwise you're shouting into the void. So you've given people that, that ability, I'm going to say a platform again for the fourth time, um, giving people that platform to voice what inspires them and voice what they do is massive. And it's so important. i have such admiration for what you do and what you've created. um And I really look forward to seeing how far you can take this because I do think this there's a massive amount of potential in this podcast, um which you've hit crazy heights so far. So well done for you on that. um Thank you.
00:58:40
Speaker
But yeah, that's me pining for part two. And I'll leave the podcast on that. Come back anytime. I will i will absolutely come If you want to do an hour just talking about talking about how great I am, I'm fine. I want to. No, thank you. Thank you so much. It's been is been great. Yes, I will. I will see you later. Thank you. Okay, cool. Thank you.
00:59:01
Speaker
What Makes You Tick is hosted, produced, and edited by me, Ryan Watson. Thank you to Adam Sams for the theme music and to Greg Pearson for the show logo. Thanks again to Josh for speaking to me for this episode. The next episode of What Makes You Tick will be available on Wednesday, the 3rd of June. Keep an eye on at MakesYouTickPod on Instagram for an early preview. Thanks for listening.