This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:04] Robert Peterpaul: Welcome to the Broadway Podcast Network.

[0:06] Samantha Tuozzolo: Be a part of it.

[0:08] Robert Peterpaul: Broadway.

[0:11] Samantha Tuozzolo: Hey everybody. I'm Robert Peterpaul.

[0:13] Samantha Tuozzolo: And I'm Samantha Tuozzolo.

[0:15] Robert Peterpaul: We are here at the fourth annual Bridgeport Film Festival.

[0:19] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yes, BFF with my Broadway Podcast Network, BFF.

[0:23] Robert Peterpaul: Woo-hoo!

[0:24] Samantha Tuozzolo: Founded by our other Broadway Podcast Network, BFF.

[0:27] Robert Peterpaul: That's a mouthful.

[0:28] Samantha Tuozzolo: Jason A. Coombs.

[0:30] Robert Peterpaul: Oh.

[0:30] Samantha Tuozzolo: And we are talking with all the filmmakers, all the creatives being honored today.

[0:34] Robert Peterpaul: It has been so inspiring.

[0:36] Samantha Tuozzolo: So inspiring, so fun, and I always love when we do a secret surprise carpet together.

[0:40] Robert Peterpaul: I mean, it's definitely not a secret.

[0:41] Samantha Tuozzolo: But it has been a surprise.

[0:42] Robert Peterpaul: I had to put my sunglasses back on.

[0:44] Samantha Tuozzolo: It definitely has been a surprise.

[0:47] Robert Peterpaul: Yes, no, I love coming to this festival. I've been here with Jason every year for the past four years, and it's grown so much, and I'm so proud of him.

[0:57] Samantha Tuozzolo: And it just inspires everybody to, you know, you can do anything if you really work hard and put your mind to it and focus.

[1:03] Robert Peterpaul: So I love that. Is there one piece of advice that has stuck with you today from the people we've talked with?

[1:07] Samantha Tuozzolo: Well, a kindness advice that I've received a lot today was, you know, collaboration and like including the people in your community in your work, which is kind.

[1:19] Samantha Tuozzolo: If you meet somebody and you work with them and then you do a project and you like bring them along, it's definitely kind, and I think that's important as an artist.

[1:25] Robert Peterpaul: So that is the piece of advice. Circling us. There's a five circumstance. How about you? Any advice or anything you've taken away?

[1:32] Samantha Tuozzolo: Someone who said when I was asking your question, which was I kept butchering, I'm like, what's one word that comes to mind when you think of filmmaking and your love for it?

[1:40] Robert Peterpaul: I think you're amazing.

[1:41] Samantha Tuozzolo: I'm trying my best.

[1:41] Robert Peterpaul: I think you're amazing.

[1:42] Samantha Tuozzolo: And he said experimentation, experimenting, which is also something we all hear in college. Am I right?

[1:48] Robert Peterpaul: But I love that because it's all about making mistakes, trying new things, and I think that's being creative. It's just putting yourself out there.

[1:55] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah, with no fear, with no fear.

[1:56] Robert Peterpaul: No fear.

[1:57] Samantha Tuozzolo: Cheers to that.

[1:58] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah.

[1:58] Samantha Tuozzolo: We're cheersing.

[1:59] Robert Peterpaul: We're cheersing and we're in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

[2:04] Samantha Tuozzolo: Definitely check out BridgeportFilmFestival.org.

[2:08] Robert Peterpaul: And Art of Kindness Podcast and Survival Jobs.

[2:11] Samantha Tuozzolo: A podcast.

[2:11] Robert Peterpaul: And the whole BroadwayPodcastNetwork.com.

[2:14] Samantha Tuozzolo: We want to be a part of it.

[2:15] Robert Peterpaul: The Theatre Podcast featuring Alan Seales.

[2:17] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah, that's a great one.

[2:19] Robert Peterpaul: And Sam and Rob, we're out.

[2:21] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[2:21] Robert Peterpaul: Okay, the tables are turning.

[2:23] Samantha Tuozzolo: Oh yeah, you hear it all.

[2:25] Robert Peterpaul: Oh my gosh, we're here with the man of the day, the man of the hour himself, Jason A. Coombs, the founder of the Bridgeport Film Festival. Hi, Jason.

[2:30] Jason A. Coombs: Hey, Rob. Hi, Samantha.

[2:36] Robert Peterpaul: We're like double teaming with the double mics.

[2:38] Samantha Tuozzolo: Double mic, but my drink ain't spiked.

[2:40] Jason A. Coombs: Oh, I love it.

[2:41] Robert Peterpaul: Thanks for being on the red carpet.

[2:43] Jason A. Coombs: Anything for you, Rob.

[2:45] Samantha Tuozzolo: We're so happy to be here. This day has been amazing. And it all really comes from you. You're the mastermind behind this. How are you feeling?

[2:52] Jason A. Coombs: I am super excited to be here. I am amazed that we've been able to do four days this year. It's been a little hectic, but we're loving it. We have multiple venues in Bridgeport and Fairfield, and a lot of people are just really happy to be. The energy is just really great. So I'm super grateful.

[3:08] Samantha Tuozzolo: Jason, I'm always so impressed by you juggling so many things. For example, your podcast, which I'm a co-host of, Survival Jobs: A Podcast, for example, also like producing documentaries on Netflix. Can you share some words of advice for people who want to do it all on how you keep afloat?

[3:27] Jason A. Coombs: I think, you know, I think for me personally, I just love to be part of things, and I can't sit still, and I love that I guess I'll be an artist and live an artist's life the best way I can. So if that's something you want to do, then I don't know, just make it happen for yourself. Like just put what you want, like envision it, right? I think we always talk about manifestation on our podcast. Really envision it and go for it.

[3:50] Jason A. Coombs: It's really funny because, oh bless you.

[3:52] Samantha Tuozzolo: Bless you.

[3:52] Jason A. Coombs: We were like last January, we were like planning early days of the film fest. We were like, we want to have a kickoff party on Thursday night at Park City Music Hall, and things got super busy, and then we didn't like plan it, and then like two and a half weeks ago, someone was like, Hey, we want to do a party at Park City Music Hall, come join us. We have the night open. And like that was like a manifestation, and that happened. So here we're here.

[4:12] Samantha Tuozzolo: Wow. That's so beautiful. It all comes from you.

[4:14] Jason A. Coombs: Yeah, you're so amazing.

[4:15] Samantha Tuozzolo: I didn't rewrite everything you just said. The king of the manifesting.

[4:18] Jason A. Coombs: Look at it in the mirror.

[4:19] Samantha Tuozzolo: It's a lot of help. Like all these people have been super helpful. Like you cannot have done it without all of them.

[4:23] Jason A. Coombs: Well, you know what's going on. And the podcasters that are here this year. So well, and the filmmakers that have come through, a lot of them have said they have met people from your film festival and then gone on to work with them, which I think is really cool to hear.

[4:34] Samantha Tuozzolo: Before we let you go inside, I know you gotta kick things off. We're asking everybody one word, making a little compilation here. That kind of encompasses, it's really not a real question. Encompasses filmmaking. Like, what's one word you think of when you think of your drive and your creative process and your love for it?

[4:54] Jason A. Coombs: And Sam can hit that baby.

[4:55] Samantha Tuozzolo: Oh, yeah, it's collaboration, baby. You cannot do it alone. You need a team. You need people who believe in you, who believe in your idea, who want to make stuff, who want to collaborate. It's collaboration.

[5:07] Jason A. Coombs: That sounds wrong if I say what you're gonna double team.

[5:09] Samantha Tuozzolo: Can you start out, please, by introducing yourself? Because we are a podcast network and no one can necessarily see you. So you can just say your name and why you're excited to be here today.

[5:15] Ethan Paulo: Oh, yeah. Um, my name's Ethan Paulo. Um, I'm excited to be here. I'm here with my thesis film, Sock Quiz. So bringing it here, it's a little animated musical comedy. Um, it's about a girl named Carolie. She um has trouble with math, and her sock puppet comes to life to teach her. It's really fun. I had a lot of fun making it. I made it with um my friend Navea, who's actually in New York right now, so she couldn't make it, but yeah, it was a lot of fun. I'm very happy to be here.

[5:43] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah, Sock Quiz. I need to watch that right now.

[5:46] Robert Peterpaul: Well, this is the fourth annual Bridgeport Film Festival. Our dear friend Jason founded this festival. It's so amazing what he's done. Have you been in the film festival circuit with this film, or is this your first one? And can you tell us a little bit about the craziness of the film festivals?

[6:00] Ethan Paulo: Yeah, um, I've been in the festival circuit for a little bit now. A few weeks ago, I was just in Hamilton, New York, um, doing that. That was really fun. Um, so it's I mean, I just graduated in uh what May.

[6:12] Samantha Tuozzolo: Okay, so we've...

[6:13] Ethan Paulo: Oh, thank you so much. Congratulations.

[6:14] Ethan Paulo: Yeah. So um the festival um circuit's been like kind of new, so this is only like my second or third one in person, but I've really enjoyed it so far. I mean, it's great to come out and meet people and like do stuff like this. I love getting to talk to people. I love talking.

[6:26] Robert Peterpaul: So listen, we have podcasts, so we get you. Maybe you can get a podcast on the Broadway Podcast Network.

[6:31] Ethan Paulo: Or hello.

[6:33] Robert Peterpaul: I love that. Yeah, that's amazing. We can't wait to see your film. Like we said, we are here with the Broadway Podcast Network. One of our podcasts is actually co-hosted by this lovely gem of a human. It's called Survival Jobs.

[6:44] Samantha Tuozzolo: And we'd love to know if you've had a survival job to kind of like fuel your creative passion that comes to mind.

[6:51] Ethan Paulo: Oh, I mean, while I was at school, I was working as they call it a render wrangler. So in the animation world, um, wrangling is like you put something through a computer, it like applies the lights, it applies the textures, it makes it look really cool, and then you get it back, and it breaks a lot because it's a lot of computer work. So while I was at school, like animating and drawing these cartoons and like having fun on the side, I was basically like an IT department. So like I would go to work and um I would have like students like send me stuff, and it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of kind of stressful though, too, sometimes. So that was my survival job, just to kind of get me through college to help pay for everything, you know, which like I would go, I would do these little cartoons, and then um I would like go into this dark room, this lab. I would sit at the computer, and then people would send me stuff, and I would just like kind of like untangle it.

[7:34] Samantha Tuozzolo: So not the dark lab.

[7:37] Ethan Paulo: The dark lab, the dark web. I'm locked out of my computer, I might need to email you later on, I'll let you know.

[7:41] Robert Peterpaul: Uh yeah, so Rob were tagged to me and just giving each other the love. Rob's podcast is called The Art of Kindness. You know, as an artist in the industry, sometimes it can be a little like mean or cutthroat. What do you implement into your art making that could be a nice kindness tip to share with fellow artists who are listening?

[7:59] Ethan Paulo: Oh, well, I mean, I always love to include like you know, friends and also people I don't really know. Um, when I was making this, I had a friend um back in Ohio, Iko, and he is um he does a lot of composition music, and so when I like needed a composer, I reached out to him, I was like, Hey, I'm doing my thesis film, I need some help, you know, getting the music arranged. I'm not good with beat making. And he was like, I got you. So um we worked together on that, and then like I said, my friend Nivea, she's the voice of Caroly, she's um in New York, she's also an animation student. She was great to work with, and then I mean, I also wanted to loop in some people I hadn't worked with before.

So, like, I went online, I found a voice actor named Mike, Mike Braviti, he plays Pesakris. That's the sock puppet character. And it was um, yeah, it was just like a lot of fun getting to work with them. We did stuff over Zoom, I would like send them feedback, they would get back to me. So, I mean, for me, it's always just like the community you're around, you know, like people you know, people you don't know, and just kind of trying to build the connections that way.

[8:54] Samantha Tuozzolo: For sure. And lastly, sorry, Rob, it's your turn, but I'm cutting.

[8:57] Robert Peterpaul: Oh no, do whatever you want to do.

[8:58] Ethan Paulo: Maybe not, lastly, but in one word, what do you hope audiences walk away from your film with?

[8:58] Ethan Paulo: A big old smile.

[9:06] Ethan Paulo: I mean, that's really it. It's just a it's a it's only like three minutes. It's a cutesy little short, but I mean I put a lot of passion into it. It's based off a lot of like childhood shows I watched, you know. So I really just want people to like walk in, watch it, smile a little bit, and then you know, be on their way. That's really all I hope for.

[9:21] Samantha Tuozzolo: So I hope we can see it soon.

[9:24] Ethan Paulo: I think we are gonna be able to.

[9:26] Robert Peterpaul: How can everybody else at home? Is there a way?

[9:28] Ethan Paulo: Um right now, because it's in the festival circuit, it's not online, but soon enough it's gonna be on Vimeo and then YouTube eventually. So hopefully soon it'll be available for everyone to see.

[9:37] Robert Peterpaul: But is there a social media Instagram handle people can follow it on?

[9:41] Ethan Paulo: Um, @SockQuiz on Instagram or @TheCornIsCalling, which is my Instagram. So either way.

[9:48] Samantha Tuozzolo: Thanks for chatting with us.

[9:51] Ethan Paulo: Yeah, I love that. Enjoy the festival. Congratulations Ethan again. Nice to meet you.

[9:56] Samantha Tuozzolo: Um, we'll just have you start out by introducing yourself and saying what brought you here today and why you're excited to be at the Bridgeport Film Festival.

[10:03] Carla Guzman: Okay. Yes. Well, my name is Carla Guzman. I am well, this is my debut as a filmmaker and mainly an actor.

[10:10] Carla Guzman: Debut, congratulations.

[10:12] Samantha Tuozzolo: Congratulations.

[10:13] Carla Guzman: Yes, I'm mainly an actress, so this is my first time like getting involved into like the whole thing about like film, and my short film is a five-minute horror short film. It's a horror film, and I'm very happy and grateful to be here in the Bridgeport Film Festival. This is actually my second festival ever.

[10:30] Robert Peterpaul: Uh so I'm I'm still really excited and very nervous to be here, but I'm really like happy and proud that you have like all these opportunities, you know, it's really nice.

[10:43] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah, we're so happy for you. Can you give us the log line of the film really quick? Like a little power film.

[10:46] Carla Guzman: Okay. Well, first, like the main topic is about witchcraft. That's like the main spell.

[10:54] Robert Peterpaul: Happy Friday the 13th to us.

[10:57] Carla Guzman: Exactly. Yeah. So it's about a woman who is struggling to survive when she discovers the truth about her grandma, uh her grandma. Because the grandma, she didn't know what the grandma was doing witchcraft. Like she was practicing witchcraft like all her life. And when she finds out about that, it's like so much stuff starts to happen around. Like she starts to see stuff, to hear stuff. So it's so much crazy stuff going on, very interesting, very dramatic.

[11:26] Samantha Tuozzolo: Sounds like really a bar out.

[11:28] Robert Peterpaul: It does. We love spooky seasons.

[11:33] Carla Guzman: Okay. Um can you tell us a little bit about what inspired you to make this? Where did this idea come from? What are you passionate about about it?

[11:41] Carla Guzman: Yes. Uh well, I grew up in a Catholic family in Mexico. So we have so much stories, so much stuff going on with like all this dark part of the, you know, like witch and like uh ghosts and demons and stuff like that. So I grew up listening to so many stories like from my family, from friends, like all over like the country. And that motivated me to like create my own story. Actually, my short film is not inspired by a true life story, but it has like some details that are inspired by true stuff. Like the grandma was inspired by someone else's grandma, not gonna say the name who, but like someone else's grandma.

[12:23] Robert Peterpaul: So sorry.

[12:24] Carla Guzman: Yeah, no.

[12:25] Robert Peterpaul: Someone else's grandma.

[12:25] Carla Guzman: So it's like it was just really interesting to take those like those little details into the film. And as a as an actress, that was as a filmmaker. As an actress, it was always my dream role to play a horror film. So I was like, well, what better way to write my own film and do my own stuff, like write something that I know I'm gonna like, you know.

[12:48] Samantha Tuozzolo: I think that's a huge theme, especially at film festivals. It's like, well, this is what I wanted to do, so I had to create it for myself. Um to piggyback off of that, kind of, uh, this is all gonna be on the Broadway Podcast Network. My dear friend Rob has a podcast called The Art of Kindness.

[13:04] Carla Guzman: Oh, shout out, you know, yeah.

[13:05] Robert Peterpaul: The industry is a little bit tricky sometimes. People are tired, they're not super nice. Do you have a tip of kindness that you implement into your artistic life that you can share with us?

[13:16] Carla Guzman: You know, like I'm always about like be kind because you don't know like what people is going through, you know, like don't be mean. Like we are all here learning, like this is everyone's first life, you know. So like there's so much room for acceptance, like so much room to make feel others like they can belong somewhere. So it's like about like kindness, like just be kind to everyone, like that's the thing.

[13:43] Robert Peterpaul: I love that. And I believe that's the central theme of witchcraft, right? Is do no harm.

[13:47] Carla Guzman: I may be wrong, but I think do no harm.

[13:50] Robert Peterpaul: I no fact check me.

[13:52] Carla Guzman: Yeah, especially in witchcraft, because like you know, like it says people said that once you do like a witchcraft job, karma's coming back for you. So, like, just don't do bad stuff.

[14:01] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah. Well, sometimes people can do bad things to people in their day jobs. And Sam over here, my friend, and Jason, who you know, who founded the festival, they have a podcast on the network to shout them out called Survival Jobs.

[14:16] Carla Guzman: So I would love to know if you have a survival job or have had a survival job in the past that you feel like either really fueled your creative energy or maybe maybe thwarted it.

[14:27] Robert Peterpaul: Like an actual job you mean?

[14:29] Carla Guzman: Yeah, like a day job.

[14:31] Robert Peterpaul: Well, I recently graduated from college for acting school.

[14:34] Carla Guzman: So congratulations, but what like basically my job like currently is just like acting.

[14:39] Robert Peterpaul: I'm taking all kind of like acting stuff, like commercials, uh short films, feature films, music videos.

[14:46] Carla Guzman: So that's like my job job right now. But I want to get more into filmmaking, like try different like sides of like backstage and everything, like PA, DP, AC, just whatever can keep me the experience.

[14:59] Robert Peterpaul: Do it all. Get that perspective.

[15:01] Carla Guzman: Yes. Uh and before we let you go, can you share with us just one word to describe why you choose to be a filmmaker?

[15:11] Carla Guzman: Dreams.

[15:12] Robert Peterpaul: Dreams.

[15:13] Carla Guzman: Dreams.

[15:14] Robert Peterpaul: Thank you so much. Congratulations. Happy Friday the 13th with the spooky movie.

[15:22] Robert Peterpaul: Real quick, sorry to say that was the last thing. Can you drop an Instagram handle or somewhere people can catch up with you and keep up with the film, how to watch the film?

[15:32] Carla Guzman: Okay, the double mic. So my Instagram is Carla Guzman underscore X.

[15:38] Carla Guzman: And you can see my website, Carlaguzman.net. You can find all my information there, resume, portfolio, everything.

[15:45] Robert Peterpaul: Perfect. Check it out, people. Check to check it out.

[15:49] Robert Peterpaul: Hi. Welcome to the fourth annual Bridgeport Film Festival. We're gonna go down the line. If everyone could please introduce themselves, let us know what film you worked on, I assuming it's all the same, and let us know what role you played in that film.

[16:00] Chris Richards: You want to start over there, Rob? Let's kick them off.

[16:02] Chris Richards: Sure. I'm Chris Richards. I was an actor in Higher Lows and an actor in uh Spray Away.

[16:08] Christopher F. Costa: Oh my god! Double duty!

[16:10] Christopher F. Costa: Hi hello Spray Away! Uh my name is Christopher F Costa. I'm an actor and producer for An Ending and an actor in Hot Idiot.

[16:18] Kent Bell: Nice. And Kent Bell, and I am a director and co-producer on Higher Lows.

[16:24] Robert Peterpaul: So we have how many different films that we're chatting with here?

[16:27] Chris Richards: Four?

[16:27] Robert Peterpaul: Two.

[16:28] Chris Richards: Seems like two or three.

[16:30] Kent Bell: Well, we're the same. We had Higher Lows and then another one, and then we're gonna be a little bit more.

[16:34] Chris Richards: And then speed.

[16:35] Kent Bell: I think there's three we talked about.

[16:37] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, yeah. Can we count how many people are here today? I don't even know.

[16:40] Chris Richards: Yeah, there shouldn't be math.

[16:43] Kent Bell: We don't do math in the film.

[16:44] Chris Richards: We don't have math, we just have silly questions. Uh like, as a creative in a filmmaker, we're asking people here today what's one word that keeps you going? The first thing that comes to your mind.

[16:56] Christopher F. Costa: Wait a minute. From like hang from like the word that comes to mind is money, which does money, money, money, money, money, money.

[17:03] Chris Richards: It's already in the compilation.

[17:04] Christopher F. Costa: Yeah, oh, sorry. Sorry, in the social media compilation. Uh for filmmaking from a film, love.

[17:09] Christopher F. Costa: I mean, I guess that comes to mind for, you know, because you love what you do.

[17:12] Chris Richards: That's nice.

[17:13] Christopher F. Costa: Yeah, I love that. Great. I was gonna say uh collaboration because we just started doing things together, and now we find ourselves here with multiple films, and it feels like the overlaps are just I don't know. It's just collaboration.

[17:23] Chris Richards: It's just we've been really fortunate to have each other and make these projects together.

[17:28] Robert Peterpaul: I love that. So what's the question again?

[17:31] Chris Richards: The question is what is the one?

[17:32] Christopher F. Costa: I don't know, honestly.

[17:33] Chris Richards: I blacked out one word that keeps you going as a filmmaker, why you choose to be an artist, why you choose to work in film? What is the one word?

[17:38] Christopher F. Costa: It's a really hard assignment. I'm telling you, nobody else has aced it today. You guys are coming out of here.

[17:42] Chris Richards: Yeah, we're trying to make a little compilation. Fun.

[17:45] Christopher F. Costa: It's fun.

[17:46] Chris Richards: That was two words, but we'll forgive you.

[17:48] Christopher F. Costa: It's fun.

[17:48] Chris Richards: We'll give you a chop the list.

[17:52] Christopher F. Costa: Is that money?

[17:54] Chris Richards: No, I listen. At the end of the day, you need it to survive, okay? Speaking of surviving.

[18:00] Robert Peterpaul: Oh, speaking of surviving, we are here with the Broadway Podcast Network, and we each have shows on the network. Her show with Jason, who you might know, who founded the film festival, is called Survival Jobs, which is the connection here for this corny transition.

[18:13] Robert Peterpaul: I would love to know if any of you have a survival job that you still have or had in the past that you'd like to share as kind of you could provide sort of the ultimate hack for a survival job for people out there that need one, or you could share a story of maybe caution and warning.

[18:28] Chris Richards: Yeah.

[18:29] Christopher F. Costa: Why am I first?

[18:30] Chris Richards: Okay, we'll start on this.

[18:31] Christopher F. Costa: Okay, we're passing that.

[18:33] Chris Richards: Who has a survival job?

[18:34] Christopher F. Costa: So survival jobs. So Higher Lows got started because during COVID, I worked at a blood bank because there were no jobs, there was no production, there was no commercials being made.

[18:44] Chris Richards: So the inspiration for the film was I would go on these job sites to get blood from strangers, and I'd ride in these vans that oftentimes had the Cadillac converter stolen, and we would just go to these drives, collect blood from strangers, and ride around Virginia in these beaten-up, battered vans, and you can make a little money of it. You can volunteer, and that was what got me through COVID.

[19:09] Christopher F. Costa: Was the blood in the van?

[19:11] Chris Richards: Yeah. There's an episode of Grey's Anatomy where they're in a plane and the blood goes everywhere. Did that ever happen?

[19:16] Christopher F. Costa: Spoiler alert, Sam.

[19:18] Chris Richards: No. It's it's safe. It's a safe, it's a reputable. It's it listen, it's not a it's not a blood bank you get off Craigslist or anything. It's a reputable association.

[19:24] Christopher F. Costa: I just don't want to name Broadway now. Uh but it's a it's a good organization. And that's a that's a job. If you if you want to uh in between gigs, go work at a blood bank or go give blood and work there at the same time.

[19:39] Chris Richards: Thank you. I love that.

[19:41] Christopher F. Costa: Um work the customer service jobs for as long as you can until it's too soul crushing. So I hopped around from like catering to hotels to restaurants, and eventually I was like, I'm gonna learn some new skill sets and learned how to edit film.

[19:52] Christopher F. Costa: And so now I work part-time for my director friend's YouTube channel doing comments and editing, and it's flexible, and I'm like, learn more skill sets, like branch out, because you never know what you're gonna like and what's gonna what you're gonna like be sick of eventually.

[20:05] Chris Richards: Yeah.

[20:06] Christopher F. Costa: Love that.

[20:06] Chris Richards: Yeah, and and do you have one you want to share?

[20:08] Christopher F. Costa: No pressure, because we got to.

[20:09] Chris Richards: Sure, sure.

[20:10] Christopher F. Costa: I I highly recommend and loved being an executive assistant.

[20:14] Chris Richards: Oh, an EA.

[20:16] Christopher F. Costa: Yeah, yeah. Uh I think it requires good soft skills and hard skills, and then um, you know, uh problem solving, uh, it it expands your skill sets as you guys were talking about.

[20:27] Chris Richards: Um, and uh, you know, uh for me, for me that's my version of cater waitering, you know.

[20:31] Chris Richards: Yeah, cater waitering, that rhymes.

[20:33] Christopher F. Costa: Well, speaking of skill sets, maybe a different skill set of tips that we're looking for.

[20:39] Chris Richards: Exactly. So, you know, the entertainment industry can be kind of cutthroat, people are tired, we're trying to make it, and it's money and it's tiring. Sometimes you go crabby, tired, not so nice.

[20:51] Robert Peterpaul: So, Rob's show on the network is called The Art of Kindness. We're looking to spread kindness throughout the entertainment industry. Do you have a kindness tip that you implement in your everyday life, but specifically your creative life that you can share with the listeners?

[21:05] Christopher F. Costa: Yeah, absolutely. If you are a producer on a project, and you have let's say it like a reasonable budget or even like a small budget, it goes a long way to just ask people what they like and if they have preferences.

[21:22] Christopher F. Costa: And if you feed people well, you know that it that goes a long way. I would just say like if your project can have some decent food and not complete crap the whole time, that goes a long way with people.

[21:34] Chris Richards: So feed people that's my that's my kindest kind of advice. Just feed people well.

[21:38] Christopher F. Costa: Yes. Feed them and feed them well.

[21:39] Chris Richards: I'm all the way on the other side of this line so I get the tail end of things and I heard that my eyes lit up. I'm also chewing gum.

[21:47] Christopher F. Costa: I'm hungry all of a sudden I know.

[21:49] Chris Richards: I would say honestly is treat people uh as an equal I remember being in a room and the director was like well what do you think and they looked at me with this look that was like oh we are on the same level so like everyone has a job and just just stay on the same page.

[22:00] Christopher F. Costa: We all have different skill sets and different jobs that we're bringing so like treat everyone the same equal level.

[22:05] Chris Richards: Gorgeous. I love that.

[22:06] Robert Peterpaul: Alright my friend Third times the charm. Or or three strikes you're out I uh I'm gonna steal this from um Stephen Colbert there was an interview he did in uh uh GQ where he had just taken over I think it was the late show and um they talked about this very very aspect and uh apparently he has this as a quote above his uh desk uh where he says at every moment we are volunteers and I think that's such a nice thing to think about and keep in mind so every moment of your life every person that you're talking to you're sort of volunteering your best self to that moment and sort of show up right like I thought that was so wonderful to to kind of adopt and think about, and I'm not always perfect about it, but just if you can keep that notion in mind of like, you know, you don't have no idea what anyone else is going through.

[22:52] Chris Richards: Let's all volunteer to show up, bring our best selves, give them the benefit of the doubt, treat them with kindness.

[22:56] Christopher F. Costa: So it's so generous.

[22:58] Chris Richards: I can confirm it's there. I did a comedy sketch on his show, and he's a very kind soul.

[23:02] Christopher F. Costa: Yes.

[23:03] Robert Peterpaul: That's amazing. Well, I think we we've taken up enough of your time with the stuff. Yes, this is amazing. Before we get on the count of three, can the three of you at the same time say one word?

[23:12] Chris Richards: Again, we love the one-word game, of what you hope people walk away from your film with, even though they're all different films. Pick the one you want.

[23:17] Christopher F. Costa: Uh okay. Are we ready? One, two, three.

[23:24] Chris Richards: Joy.

[23:24] Christopher F. Costa: Entertainment.

[23:25] Kent Bell: Love.

[23:26] Robert Peterpaul: You were a little delayed, but we'll forgive you.

[23:28] Chris Richards: Food, food.

[23:29] Kent Bell: He said food.

[23:31] Robert Peterpaul: Thank you all so much. We came with a PR bell. Congratulations.

[23:34] Chris Richards: Thanks. Appreciate it.

[23:35] Kent Bell: Yeah, it was nice. I thought it was funny.

[23:37] Joey Lafrance: My name is Joey Lafrance. I'm the writer and director of The Next Bells.

[23:41] Brendan Mascherino: Yeah, my name is Brendan Mascherino, and I'm the director of photography of The Next Bells.

[23:46] Robert Peterpaul: Can you tell us about The Next Bells?

[23:47] Joey Lafrance: The bells are going off in my head. I need to know more.

[23:50] Joey Lafrance: Yeah, sure. So it's a musical short film about a girl who's waiting on a medical diagnosis, and she's starting to spiral out of control and push her friends away.

[24:01] Joey Lafrance: And so she just has to learn to live in the moment and just be present in her own life.

[24:07] Joey Lafrance: And we told it from a point of view with this musical flair on it to add a little bit of spiciness to it and fun.

[24:15] Brendan Mascherino: So we like spiciness. Anything you want to add? Any other spicy ingredients?

[24:19] Brendan Mascherino: I think what separates uh The Next Bells from many musicals, especially you see at a student level, is the fact that it was shot entirely on 16 millimeter film, which uh you know, comes at a large cost, but it also comes at such an ambition for every single dancer, every single costume designer, every single production designer, me as a director of photography, and Joey to be on their A game.

[24:43] Brendan Mascherino: And uh, we really had to just like sit down, take weeks and weeks and months and spend time on exactly what we are gonna be shooting to save money and not waste time.

[24:52] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, that's a great skill to learn, especially early on. Uh speaking of not wasting time, I want to get you guys inside. A random funny question I thought of because we're at the Bridgeport Film Festival BFF. What is the BFF to your inspiration? Is there is there like something that always makes you feel creative, something that you go to when you're sort of stuck?

[25:09] Joey Lafrance: Start with you.

[25:11] Joey Lafrance: Especially for The Next Bells. Jacques Demi's film The Young Girls of Rochefort was what really inspired me for this film.

[25:19] Joey Lafrance: And so if I'm ever feeling down or have writer's block or something, I'll just put that on and I'll be inspired.

[25:26] Robert Peterpaul: Ah, very smart.

[25:27] Brendan Mascherino: I always like to have scripts open when I'm writing too and just like read a page and then go back.

[25:31] Joey Lafrance: Yeah, I mean, you know, I'll say some of the cliches like turning back to other cinema is great. Listening to music is great.

[25:36] Brendan Mascherino: But I think really recently I've been turning to ShotDeck and looking at reference frames from other films and getting inspiration when I'm reading a script, what imagery stands out and speaks to you because definitely trusting your gut on like what's actually gonna work, I think has helped me tremendously.

[25:55] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah. That's incredible. Both great advice. The last question I'll ask you one of the podcasts on our network is Survival Jobs. Actually, it's Jason's podcast who founded the film festival, and Sam, who's right next to me right now.

[26:05] Robert Peterpaul: So I'll ask you both what has a favorite survival job been for you, something you've done to kind of like fund the creative journey.

[26:14] Brendan Mascherino: Like you have one, so I'm bringing it to you.

[26:17] Joey Lafrance: I mean, I was just telling somebody this, but right after film school, you know, we're all finding these jobs to try and save up our our pennies to go off and move somewhere, and my survival job is shooting weddings in the meantime.

[26:29] Joey Lafrance: And it's a fun job. You're you're thrown into the fire with where's the sun gonna be positioned so I can get this couple looking, you know, looking nice, and it makes you think about what you're shooting and where the lighting is without having to put a light anywhere, you know.

[26:43] Joey Lafrance: Unlike when we're shooting on film, and you have to know exactly where every single light is. It helps you train your eye a little bit, so that's a survival job for me.

[26:52] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, that's amazing. And there's something cool to knowing it is a fleeting moment. You don't really get a take two necessarily. You know?

[26:57] Brendan Mascherino: Yeah.

[26:59] Joey Lafrance: I would I would say that as well. And I guess this is not exactly what you're asking, but I I think also if we're anyone as a creative, it's important to have those jobs to supplement yourself.

[27:09] Joey Lafrance: But I think you really need to survive the best as a creative if you're like still being creative amidst all those other jobs and making sure that you're just remembering why you're doing what you're doing and just keeping the main thing the main thing.

[27:24] Robert Peterpaul: So that's great. Just showing up.

[27:26] Joey Lafrance: And you both showed up here today, and we're glad you did. We can't wait to celebrate you. It was great to meet you. Have fun.

[27:29] Brendan Mascherino: Thanks.

[27:33] Joey Lafrance: Thank you. Well, let you know where this ends up. I don't know where, but Tyler Rockwell.

[27:41] Tyler Rockwell: I'm a student filmmaker, and I uh directed Oceans 14, which is premiering tomorrow.

[27:47] Robert Peterpaul: Amazing. Can you tell us a little bit about the film?

[27:49] Tyler Rockwell: So uh we made it last year. Um it's a film that a good friend of mine wrote, and I was brought on to direct it, so shot it in a day.

[27:57] Tyler Rockwell: First time working with like a full dedicated crew, so it was a lot of fun to make.

[28:00] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, that's amazing. We got the poster right here. I'm gonna hold this up. It is not a George Clooney sequel, just so everyone knows.

[28:06] Tyler Rockwell: It seems like it's much more fun in my opinion.

[28:09] Robert Peterpaul: Uh we're at the Bridgeport Film Festival, which is BFF, so I'm asking people kind of a cheesy question. What is the BFF to your inspiration?

[28:15] Robert Peterpaul: Like what kind of gets you feeling really creative?

[28:20] Christopher F. Costa: I'm actually a big history buff. So I like taking history classes and kind of learning about different things that have happened before. That inspires a lot of storytelling that I like, because I like a lot of more politically minded things.

[28:34] Samantha Tuozzolo: And it probably grounds it in reality.

[28:36] Christopher F. Costa: Yes, I love it. Particularly, I'm a big sci-fi guy as well. So I love grounded sci-fi too and more realistic history stuff. Sci-fi, the Marvel movies, action movies, those are kind of our Shakespeare today, like these big epics, maybe not written the same, but so we are a podcast network. We have, well, I have a show on the network, and then Sam and Jason, who founded the festival, have one. Theirs is called Survival Jobs. So I'm gonna ask you today, have you had sort of a day job or survival job so far that's fueled your creativity, something you've done just to kind of get by?

[29:10] Unknown speaker: I mean, I'm still currently in school right now. I'm a freshman at NYU Tisch. So, but this summer I worked at an outdoor concert venue, so you meet a lot of different people that way. And so I've kind of, you get like a sense of like the nomadic part of going on tour from a lot of different musicians. So I think there's something interesting there to explore one day.

[29:30] Samantha Tuozzolo: That is interesting. Getting all parts of the world.

[29:33] Unknown speaker: Yeah, I mean, you notice as well, because a lot of people come there and, you know, come to a town that's completely different from theirs, and so you hear what it's like there and you hear what their experience has been with multiple different places, towns, cities, and all that. So it's really interesting to hear, actually.

[29:45] Samantha Tuozzolo: That's amazing. That's kind of something we explore on my podcast, which is called The Art of Kindness. So it's all about kindness and the arts and entertainment and people trying to make the world a better place everywhere. And so I'll ask you, do you have a kindness tip? Something that you would want people in the world to do? It can be inspired by your film, perhaps, on their own corner just to make the world a little brighter.

[30:04] Unknown speaker: I mean, just like remember people's names, say hi to people as well. Just treat everyone like your best friend, really. That's a good way I like to meet people is just act as if we're friends already.

[30:14] Samantha Tuozzolo: I like that. You're like your BFF, and we're at BFF, and you're gonna have the best time. Please tell everybody also where they can check out your film, or if it's not available yet, you know, how they can find you and support you.

[30:19] Unknown speaker: It's not available yet, but I'm currently working on a website. Hopefully that'll be out soon.

[30:30] Samantha Tuozzolo: Okay. We'll see.

[30:30] Unknown speaker: Nice. So all your information also I'm sure will be on the Bridgeport Film Festival site, so you could check it out there.

[30:35] Samantha Tuozzolo: Thank you. It was so nice to meet you.

[30:36] Unknown speaker: You too. Have fun.

[30:37] Samantha Tuozzolo: Thank you very much.

[30:38] Unknown speaker: Of course. Um, my name is Nicole Perelli. I am the director and producer of May Day, um, what happens when the heroes need saving. Um, it's just a student film that I did when I was in college, and it kind of just turned into more once I graduated. And the film is set in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It's about Bridgeport firefighters specifically. And I thought that if it's about Bridgeport, I have to put it in the Bridgeport Film Festival.

[31:05] Samantha Tuozzolo: We're so glad you're here. I have the urge to scream May Day, but that's like you shouldn't really do that in public, honestly. But I like the theme.

[31:11] Samantha Tuozzolo: Well, you told us a little bit about the film. Since we're at the Bridgeport Film Festival, I'm asking people what their creative BFF is. So, like, what gives you inspiration when you're kind of having writer's block or whatever it is?

[31:25] Nicole Perelli: Oh, this is a good one. Thought it was silly, BFF. Uh, this is gonna be so corny, but I think just like you're not gonna find inspiration if you're just sitting and doing nothing in your house, kind of. So if you're having a writer's block or any inspirational block, I think the best thing to do is just get out, walk around. Um, I know when I was in college doing this film, you know, the start of my film wasn't what was intended originally, you know, and I had come back home for I think like some sort of break, and my dad had talked about because my dad's a firefighter. Um, that's how I kind of got the inspiration from this film, and something that he said kind of like created a light bulb in my brain. And it's like if you're not going out and finding that inspiration, then you know.

[32:16] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[32:16] Nicole Perelli: Well, thank you to your dad, and thank you to you for spotlighting firefighters. My brother's a firefighter, so I know how they really risk their lives for everybody, and it's important to tell those stories. Uh shifting gears a bit, on the Broadway Podcast Network, Sam and Jason, who founded the film festival have a show called Survival Jobs.

[32:32] Nicole Perelli: Oh, yeah. And so we're asking people do you have a survival job or have you had a survival job in the past that sticks out to you?

[32:39] Nicole Perelli: Uh, it can be a bad experience, a good one, whatever you'd like to share.

[32:43] Nicole Perelli: Hmm. I think I can say, shout out to anyone that works in food service. That's a survival job. That was one of my first jobs working at a bar in my hometown in Shelton. And definitely a lot of interesting characters that would put you in a state of survival mode, if you would say.

[33:03] Samantha Tuozzolo: Oh no.

[33:04] Nicole Perelli: Well, Shelton represent, and I'm glad we're not there right now. We can move to my podcast, which is The Art of Kindness, and I focus on people in the arts who use their platforms to give back and make the world better. So I'd love to know, do you have a kindness tip, something tangible? I know these questions are all over the place. Something tangible um that people out there can do in their own corner to make the world a little brighter.

[33:24] Nicole Perelli: Ooh. Um, I oh, uh one great thing that I've been doing lately is give someone a compliment. It's the easiest thing. If you see someone like that you're interacting with, you like their hair, their nails, anything, just say it. Because like it'll just like make you feel better that you said it to them, and then like it brightens their day, and maybe it's something that they didn't think about that was a feature that they liked about themselves, and it's just like great to like do it.

[33:53] Samantha Tuozzolo: I love that. And that's, I love your glasses. I've been looking at them, they're so bright and beautiful and fun. Uh, and I'm sure your film will be just as fun when everybody's watching it on the inside. I can't wait to see it. Thank you and congratulations.

[34:04] Nicole Perelli: Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Thank you so much. Nice to meet you. Have fun.

[34:08] Bob Chelle: So if you could just start out by introducing yourself and saying why you're here and why you're excited to be here today at the Bridgeport Film Festival.

[34:14] Bob Chelle: Uh, my name is Bob Chelle. I'm here with the film Because I Love You. And uh met Jason at another film festival. And uh, he just seemed like a great guy and seemed like he had something really cool going on here. And uh thought, let's submit, see if we get in. And we did, and I'm here.

[34:31] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah, so happy to be here.

[34:33] Bob Chelle: I love that. Well, because I love that. Can you please tell us a little bit about the film? We'd love to learn more.

[34:36] Bob Chelle: Okay, Because I Love You. It's basically a tale of jealousy or classic tale of jealousy. Uh, with one caveat, there's kind of a Hitchcock twist at the end. Um, it's uh, what seemingly looks like a happy couple, a fiery relationship. Uh, everything's all well and good until the husband suspects her of having an affair with a coworker. And wrong decisions are made.

[35:07] Samantha Tuozzolo: Okay.

[35:08] Bob Chelle: Yeah. So I'm telling you without giving it away.

[35:10] Samantha Tuozzolo: No, I like that. I can't wait to see it now. I'm ready. I'm in the zone for this film. Since we are at the Bridgeport Film Festival, I thought a fun question to ask would be what is your creative BFF or sort of what inspires you when you're having moments of writer's block or creativity being kind of rare.

[35:26] Bob Chelle: Wow, that's actually a really good question and I don't know if I have an answer to it other than, I mean for me the creative process is always, I have, you know, I'm married, she's also my co-producer. I always approach it with whatever idea comes into my head and rises to the surface of all the other stuff that's in there.

[35:48] Bob Chelle: You know, because I always have a lot of ideas for stories but the one that keeps rising to the top is the one that we try to tackle because for some reason it's coming to the top so there must be a reason for that.

[36:01] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[36:02] Bob Chelle: Um, we have, we've done all our projects that way so far.

[36:06] Bob Chelle: Oh, drone down. Oh no, and uh there's a dead drone. Um, the drone hit a telephone pole. Oh no, I hope it's okay. So yeah, that's, we just approach it that way, just try to, you know, let whatever's in your head kind of take over your process.

[36:27] Samantha Tuozzolo: I like that. I think Stephen King said that notebooks are where good ideas go to die. So instead of writing it down maybe just chase it.

[36:33] Bob Chelle: Exactly, I agree. I completely agree and you'll find out along the line whether it's a worthwhile project or not. And if you're gonna do any project, and I've told this to many people, you better like what you're gonna do because it takes a lot of money, takes a lot of time, and it's not easy.

[36:49] Samantha Tuozzolo: No.

[36:50] Bob Chelle: Um, so you have to really be passionate about the story you want to tell.

[36:53] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah.

[36:54] Bob Chelle: Um, and uh subsequently my wife, uh well I no I can't say that I'll have to say that after.

[36:59] Samantha Tuozzolo: Oh, okay, all good, all good. Yeah, cliffhanger, we'll be on a cliffhanger here.

[37:04] Bob Chelle: Uh, so we are recording with the Broadway Podcast Network today. Jason, who you of course you know and Sam have a show on the Broadway Podcast Network called Survival Jobs.

[37:13] Bob Chelle: I did not know that but I know now. It's pretty fun, it focuses obviously on survival jobs. So have you had a survival job in the past that sticks out in your mind as sort of being the quintessential one that helped you kind of get along?

[37:25] Bob Chelle: Well, the complete survival job at first was a bartender but quickly realized that as a bartender you do drink more than you should and you go to after hours places more than you should. So it was sort of detrimental for a daytime career.

[37:40] Bob Chelle: Yeah, I shifted over to, I just started designing and building furniture which gave me the finance and the time to make my own schedule which is, you know, made it easier to go on auditions, made it easier to make films. Um, so that's, that's not really a survival, it's like actually a job. I mean that's really unique and amazing and kind of good advice because you want something that's flexible and you're being creative still and you're kind of telling stories like, you know, furniture tells a story.

[38:10] Samantha Tuozzolo: And that's the most important part for me, the was the fact that if I wasn't working as an actor or making our own films, at least I was doing something creative.

[38:20] Bob Chelle: Yeah, and I think that's the, I think it's the curse of any artist really because you feel useless unless you're creating something. Whatever that is. I mean it happens for some people, it could be making breakfast or making dinner. But you have this need to want to create things and try to satisfy people.

[38:40] Samantha Tuozzolo: Um, and it is, it's a curse to a certain degree.

[38:42] Bob Chelle: But a blessing.

[38:44] Samantha Tuozzolo: Like you can make the Mickey Mouse pancakes, or you can start on your screenplay at 6 a.m. Um, what you're talking about is the reason why I started my podcast, which is it's right there, The Art of Kindness, that's why I'm pointing to it.

[38:54] Bob Chelle: Um, and so I'll ask you in that vein.

[38:56] Bob Chelle: We need the advertising.

[38:58] Samantha Tuozzolo: Um, do you have a kindness tip, something tangible that you would like people out there to do on their own corner just to make the world a little bit brighter?

[39:05] Bob Chelle: Ah man, just be nice to one another. I, my motto's always been treat people the way you want to be treated. Uh, you know, it goes a long way. No one wants to be treated like they're less than.

[39:18] Bob Chelle: Um, I don't care what color your skin is, I don't care what your religion is, I don't care who you are, what your beliefs are, it makes no difference. We're all the same. Underneath, we're all the same, we all want the same things. So just be kind. Just be kind to people, be nice to people. It doesn't, it's so much easier to be nice than to be mean or have anger toward people. It just takes too much energy.

[39:42] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah, and it's actually better for you. There's literal science behind it.

[39:45] Bob Chelle: So you might as well be kind. It's what unites us.

[39:48] Samantha Tuozzolo: And today we're united in the name of film. I cannot wait to see your film. It was so great to talk to you.

[39:53] Bob Chelle: Thank you.

[39:53] Samantha Tuozzolo: Have fun.

[39:54] Bob Chelle: Um, so we're talking with the Broadway Podcast Network today.

[39:57] Unknown speaker: Okay, this is mostly for the Bridgeport Film Festival, so it'll be on their social channels and newsletter. Um, but you know Jason, obviously.

[40:05] Unknown speaker: Uh he has a show on the network, so it'll probably be on his podcast too.

[40:09] Unknown speaker: So it's mostly audio. This is Alan. He's shooting video for social.

[40:12] Unknown speaker: Uh, but since the emphasis is audio, I would love you could just start out by introducing yourself and saying why you're excited to be here today.

[40:20] Lorna James-Rodriguez: I can hear you.

[40:20] Unknown speaker: Oh, why I'm here today.

[40:22] Lorna James-Rodriguez: Yeah, introducing yourself and saying why you're excited to be here today.

[40:25] Lorna James-Rodriguez: Yeah. So hi, my name is Lorna James-Rodriguez. Um, I'm a filmmaker, and I know Jason, he also asked me to be one of the judges. Um, I'm really excited to see the films. I saw a few that I had to judge for, and they were amazing.

[40:40] Lorna James-Rodriguez: So I can't wait to see the others. Yesterday at the Meet and Greet, I met some of the other filmmakers that are in this. I don't have a film in this this year, but hopefully next year, but you know, that's what's going on with me. I'm very excited to go inside and see the rest of the films. They sound amazing. Based on the ones I've already seen, because obviously as a judge you have to watch them. They were really good.

[41:06] Lorna James-Rodriguez: And I know that Jason said he had submissions from, I don't remember how many countries, but I couldn't believe how many countries he had submissions from.

[41:14] Samantha Tuozzolo: Yeah, he's amazing.

[41:15] Lorna James-Rodriguez: I love your voice. I love listening to you. I could listen to you talk all day. Usually I have podcasts on here.

[41:19] Samantha Tuozzolo: Uh, we can talk afterwards.

[41:21] Lorna James-Rodriguez: Yeah, we could talk after. As a judge, I'm wondering, because I've sort of been in a similar position sometimes, and I feel like it can sort of inform your creativity, right? Because like when you're judging and watching all these other amazing stories, sometimes it reminds you to maybe like get out of your own head about certain things. Have you learned anything from this experience?

[41:38] Lorna James-Rodriguez: Um, I think one of the things that was very interesting was the lighting. I really was into the lighting on some of the films, and it was just interesting the choices.

[41:49] Lorna James-Rodriguez: So I'm looking forward to meeting some of the filmmakers to ask them why did you choose that particular lighting? What were you trying to say? Because obviously it's my interpretation of what they were trying to say, so I don't know if I'm right or wrong. So I'd love to be able to chat with some of them to see why did you make that choice? Why did you do that shot?

[42:06] Samantha Tuozzolo: Um, because as a filmmaker myself, I know I don't want to always look at it through my eyes. I want to see what their thought process was.

[42:28] Robert Peterpaul: Creativity. That's the one that always comes to my mind too. So I love that. Now, if you know Jason, I told you he has a podcast on the network. It's called Survival Jobs. It's over here somewhere. Um I'm asking people on behalf of him and Sam, our friend over there. Do you have or have you had a survival job that you found either was the ideal situation for you as an artist or maybe wasn't? So sort of a story. A job that you okay, go ahead. Oh, a job that an artist would do or creative person would do to kind of like fuel everything else. So it a lot of people are actors or waiters stereotypically.

[43:04] Unknown speaker: Okay. Um I once worked in a group home.

[43:08] Robert Peterpaul: Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. Um hopefully they won't hear this. I I I disliked I disliked most of it to be honest. Um fortunately or unfortunately, I was very good at it, so they really liked having me there. But I was always in a fight with myself of yes, I'm good at this, but I cannot start relying on this because this is not where my heart and my passion is. So I always had that fight with myself because yes, the money was decent, but I almost feel like I would rather be broke and do what I want than have the money and be unhappy.

[43:45] Robert Peterpaul: Yes. I no, I share that philosophy. I I think it's more important to be happy. And I'm glad you had the awareness to get out of that, and I think that's kind of great advice for people listening. My podcast on the network is The Art of Kindness. I just keep pointing to them. Uh so it focuses on kindness and the arts. So the last question I'll ask you is do you have a tangible kindness tip? Something you would like people out there to do on their own corner to hopefully make the world better all together.

[44:10] Unknown speaker: Well, I find that if you're kind to people, kindness will come back to you, not necessarily from the person that you're kind to, um, but from somebody else. And I have a t-shirt that I tend to wear. I actually had it on today, which says be kind. And so even if I don't speak to someone, they can at least see what my message is, which is just be kind. Whether that's being kind to me, being kind to yourself, being kind to others. Um it's a great philosophy, and I find that you can get the message across with your words, but also with your actions.

[44:44] Robert Peterpaul: I love that actions sometimes speak louder than words too. Thank you so much. It was great to meet you. Uh so my name is David Fontaine. Um I have a film in the festival called Scene One, Darkness Through a Window. Um, this is my first festival with this film. Um, so this is all pretty new to me and super exciting and a little nerve-wracking. Um my film is an animated piece. I made it uh as my senior thesis film for college. Um it's kind of exciting. There's not a lot of animated pieces at this festival.

[45:15] Unknown speaker: Um so hopefully it stands out in a good way uh because of that.

[45:20] Robert Peterpaul: That's amazing. Can you tell us what it's about? Give us a little log line.

[45:23] David Fontaine: Sure. Um, post apocalypse um a young woman is captured by a group of outlaws and is forced to escape. And she may or may not have some superhuman abilities.

[45:38] Robert Peterpaul: Ooh, I'm sold. I can't wait to see it. Here at the Bridgeport Film Festival, we're asking all the creative people like yourself, especially filmmakers do you have one word that keeps you going?

[45:51] David Fontaine: I think I'll do tours.

[45:55] Robert Peterpaul: Okay, we'll let you cheat. Comfort zone.

[45:57] David Fontaine: Comfort zone.

[45:58] Robert Peterpaul: We can hyphenate that.

[45:59] David Fontaine: Yeah, yeah. Minus the space.

[46:03] Robert Peterpaul: As in, never stay in your comfort zone.

[46:07] David Fontaine: I always try to push myself, try new things. I think if you're staying in your comfort zone, then you know you're not growing, and it's gonna be hard to go anywhere with what you're doing. So I always try to keep that in mind. Um as like, I don't know, kind of just like a motto for myself.

[46:26] Robert Peterpaul: I love that. Live in the discomfort, they say. So I think that's perfect. You know, to tie our friends at the Broadway podcast in here, Jason, who you might know who runs the film festival, and Sam over there, they have a podcast together called Survival Jobs. Now I know you said you just got out of school or in school, uh, but do you have a survival job or have you had one in the past that you just want to give a shout out to?

[46:47] David Fontaine: Sure. Um I have yeah, I've got a nine to five, so to speak. I work at Mohegan Sun Arena as a um food and beverage supervisor. Um my best friend is here. Um he's also my boss. BFF, Bridgeport Film Festival, best friend.

[47:03] Unknown speaker: Um, then if he's your best friend.

[47:07] David Fontaine: He's the best, yeah.

[47:08] Unknown speaker: Yeah, that sounds like it is.

[47:09] David Fontaine: It is as far as a nine to five job goes that's not filmmaking, it's the best I could ask for, to be honest. So I I'm very grateful for that.

[47:18] Robert Peterpaul: That's awesome. Work with your friends, I think that's good advice. Yeah. My podcast on the network is The Art of Kindness. So I try and spotlight people in the industry who use their platforms to give back and make the world a little better, because I think our industry and the world could use a lot more of that. Do you have like a tangible kindness tip? Something you would want listeners out there to do on their own corner just to make the world a little bit brighter.

[47:38] David Fontaine: Put away your shopping carts after Yes!

[47:42] Robert Peterpaul: No, um you're actually not the only person that said that.

[47:47] David Fontaine: Yeah, I believe in it. Um I think just you know, be open to other people's ideas and collaborating. I that's something even I struggle with is letting go of control. I'm a bit of a control freak with my films, so I think you know letting go of that, letting pe other people bring their own ideas and and have some kind of ownership in it as well, uh really goes a long way. And obviously, film is collaborative. It's it's you can't do it alone.

[48:13] Unknown speaker: Um I tried and I had I had a lot of help uh with my film uh right before the deadline.

[48:19] David Fontaine: So yeah.

[48:20] Robert Peterpaul: That's great advice. I've learned that as an actor too, with self-tapes. It's like you'd have the ultimate control, but then you miss being in person because there's just some kind of discomfort magic there that you can't replicate.

[48:30] David Fontaine: Yeah, it's not the same.

[48:31] Robert Peterpaul: It's not the same. And you know, I get that completely. Uh the last question I'll ask you before you get inside and enjoy yourself is since we're at the Bridgeport Film Festival, BFF. I know your BFF is here, but what is your creative BFF? Like what gives you inspiration?

[48:46] David Fontaine: The probably my my favorite thing, my favorite piece of art and and the inspiration for my film is The Last of Us. The series of video games. There's there's nothing in this world that's bet better written and better acted to me. It's just such a masterpiece. Um tonally, it's so dark and but it's so human at the same time. It's just um I I kind of always go back to that. I sometimes I have a hard time separating myself from it and trying not to just do the same thing because I love it so much. But yeah, I obsess over it.

[49:28] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, I can't wait to see your film. Congratulations. It was so great to meet you. Have fun.

[49:32] Carrie Vishwanathan: Thank you. My name is Carrie Vishwanathan, and I'm a director. I directed a film for the festival called Guess Who's Beaming to Dinner. And uh what I found what I find exciting about being at the Bridgeport Film Festival is that I get to meet a lot of cool filmmakers, some of which I've actually collaborated with, you know, from from meeting them. Like last year, um uh I met I met someone named uh Rob LaMacha who then became my cinematographer for um for the film that we were screening uh this year.

[50:00] Robert Peterpaul: Oh wow.

[50:01] Carrie Vishwanathan: Um so yeah, you never know who you run into and who you end up collaborating with. Um and also just meeting a lot of like I mean, there's just a there's there's a lot of great people here, a lot of talented people, a lot of great networking, a lot of great films, a lot of really talented people. Like I'm really surprised and delighted when I see like how movies can like make me laugh in ways I didn't think could make me laugh or cry in ways I couldn't I I never would have thought movies could make me cry.

[50:27] Robert Peterpaul: Well, I love I love what you bring up too about meeting people here and networking and then working with them. I think it's so cool to hear those stories. And we're so happy to have you here again today. Can you give us a little bit of a a glimpse at your film? You said uh guess who's beaming to dinner? I'm thinking there's an there's an alien involved. I mean, give me a little bit of uh Okay, good.

[50:42] Carrie Vishwanathan: That's a good title then it made me think of the right thing. Without giving anything away, uh the movie centers around an alien that has dinner with an Earth couple.

[50:53] Robert Peterpaul: That's the pitch.

[50:54] Carrie Vishwanathan: Ooh! Um it's succinct, I like it.

[50:56] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah.

[50:56] Carrie Vishwanathan: Uh I'll break it down a little bit. He's an alien ambassador who's trying to create some political, not political, but trying to just create some intergalactic uh political bonds or whatever we call it with Earth. And so an astronomer decides to host a dinner and invites the alien ambassador over to have dinner. And um it's a fish out of water story, so stuff kinda could maybe possibly go wrong. I don't know, you'll have to see the film.

[51:20] Robert Peterpaul: We screened the film a few hours ago, so if you want to check out the film, um it's running in the Bridgeport Film Festival website. Right.

[51:26] Carrie Vishwanathan: Um it's six minutes long, it's a nice little binge watch. It's really funny. A lot of people have reacted very positively to it. I'm super proud of the film. Funny bit of trivia. It actually started off as a uh 48 hour film. You know about it.

[51:40] Robert Peterpaul: Oh, in New Haven?

[51:40] Carrie Vishwanathan: Yes.

[51:41] Robert Peterpaul: Yes, I did I've acted in some of those.

[51:42] Carrie Vishwanathan: Yeah. They're they're they're they're an insane time crunch to say the least. But it's fine. They're a lot of fun.

[51:46] Robert Peterpaul: Um this one in particular was a lot of fun. Everything actually went super well. I don't know who to look at.

[51:52] Carrie Vishwanathan: Oh, you can uh you can look at me and or you can you can look at both.

[51:55] Robert Peterpaul: Um think of that as a third friend.

[51:57] Carrie Vishwanathan: Okay.

[51:57] Robert Peterpaul: Third friend. Who's less important?

[51:59] Carrie Vishwanathan: Yeah. Just kidding.

[52:01] Robert Peterpaul: Um probably more important.

[52:02] Carrie Vishwanathan: My whole thing, yeah, right. So, like when we made the film, it was actually a pretty smooth shoot, and I've done a few of these before, so I was actually more prepared on what to do, but like the writing went well. Um, the actors were phenomenal. Like one of our actors is actually the co-writer of the film, Austin Case. Shout out to Austin.

[52:18] Robert Peterpaul: Oh, cool.

[52:19] Carrie Vishwanathan: Um, he crushed it. And we were actually writing the film as we were like trying to prep for the actual day shoot. So, like we shot we made that film in two days. We shot it all in one day.

[52:27] Robert Peterpaul: Wow.

[52:29] Carrie Vishwanathan: Um, and it went pretty smoothly, and I ended up liking the film so much that I just thought, you know what? This deserves a little bit more love and attention. I think we need to make it better. I think we need to remaster some of the visual effects, George Lucas style.

[52:42] Robert Peterpaul: Um, all in all, I'm really happy about how it turned out, and I'm actually thinking of expanding it more into a web series with that same alien character.

[52:49] Unknown speaker: Oh amazing.

[52:49] Robert Peterpaul: I can't wait to see it. So as a creative as a filmmaker, we're asking everybody what's one word that keeps you going or sort of has inspired you or is the reason why you do what you do? Just like what's the one word that comes to mind when you think of being a filmmaker?

[53:04] Carrie Vishwanathan: Yeah, we're going to be able to do it. Experimentation.

[53:07] Robert Peterpaul: Oh, that's a good one. No one said that.

[53:09] Carrie Vishwanathan: Yeah.

[53:10] Robert Peterpaul: Can you expand on that?

[53:12] Carrie Vishwanathan: Sometimes you just want to try stuff out, even though if you're not sure if it's gonna work or not. Um and sometimes you just might bump into a situation where you have to be um how do I say this? Like if you're working in a low budget and you have to cut corners, sometimes you run into those situations and you have to think a little bit outside of the box or outside of your plan. You end up coming up with really cool stuff.

[53:33] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah.

[53:34] Carrie Vishwanathan: Sometimes and then other days you're like straight up like, you know what? I don't I don't want to shoot the scene this way. I want to shoot it this way and do some crazy shit. And will it be good? I don't know, but I wanna I'm gonna try it anyway, you know.

[53:43] Robert Peterpaul: I love that. That's such great advice. Embrace the discomfort, embrace the mistakes, embrace the experimentation.

[53:49] Carrie Vishwanathan: I don't think it is necessarily discomfort, so to say. I think you could be comfortable as long as you just kind of know that stuff might change last minute, and if you're okay with that, then I don't really see filmmaking as a discomf comfort, to be honest.

[54:00] Robert Peterpaul: Oh, yeah, no, not maybe not the filmmaking, but sort of like I guess I think it was an actor walking into an audition or things like that. Some of his creativity comes with discomfort, and I feel like that leads to the great stories. I was just talking about this with someone, which is probably why I brought it up.

[54:14] Carrie Vishwanathan: Um but congratulations, I can't wait to see your film. Thanks for being here, and it was great to see you again.

[54:20] Edith Boyle: Hello, welcome to the fourth annual Bridgeport Film Festival. Can you please introduce yourself and let us know what film you're here for and what your role was with the film?

[54:29] Edith Boyle: Sure. My name is Edith Boyle. I'm president and CEO of Life Bridge Community Services here in Bridgeport, and our film is balancing the narrative. Antonio Esposito was the producer and cinematographer on the project.

[54:41] Robert Peterpaul: Amazing. So can you tell us a little bit about the film?

[54:45] Edith Boyle: Sure. We worked with Bridgeport Youth to develop a mural on the side of our building based on Martin Luther King Jr.'s six principles of nonviolence. Beloved community is what the mural says. But most importantly, the purpose of the mural, you know, there's a lot of statistics in Bridgeport about some of the challenges that exist here. And it's also important, we felt for students to really highlight what they love about their community as well, which is where the balancing the narrative comes in.

[55:13] Robert Peterpaul: That's really awesome that it's going to be here at the Bridgeport Film Festival and so special to the to the city. Thank you so much. So what was your um favorite part about working on this film?

[55:22] Edith Boyle: Uh this was a unique unique one for me because it took uh you know between six to eight months, uh, a lot of visits to the classroom where the kids were you know working on you know building the mural in the classroom until you know finally uh they applied it to the to the wall that it's on. So it was cool to kind of not just, you know, it was cool to break it up and visit uh often and look at footage during the week and see what we got and then you know be able to slowly you know put it all together. Um yeah, it was it was a fun, it was fun. Usually I work a lot in the commercial world, so things are sometimes very quick, turn and burn. So it was fun to really let something marinate and and build out a you know a greater story.

[55:57] Robert Peterpaul: Totally. So, you know, a lot of times at the festivals, it's it's hard with budgets and schedules and getting everything going. So, what was the biggest challenge for you in the process of creating this film?

[56:08] Edith Boyle: Yeah. Well, like Antonio was saying, it it was a longer project. It took six months for the youth to complete the mural, and so the part of the film is just really watching them through the process. And so keeping students engaged, keeping them excited about the work. And then obviously the Christian Doe is just the very end when they see, and you can see it, it's right down the road. They did such a beautiful job and very rewarding, but the length keeping people engaged that were featured in the film, I think for us was the biggest challenge.

[56:39] Robert Peterpaul: That's amazing.

[56:49] Robert Peterpaul: You know, it's here, and I think that if you give, you know, if you give people an opportunity, they could do a lot of cool stuff.

[56:56] Robert Peterpaul: Amazing. So we're gonna be airing this audio on the Broadway Podcast Network, my podcast with Jason, the founder of this festival shout out, he's so incredible. Our podcast is called Survival Jobs. So before you guys were making films and killing it, do you have a survival job that you can share with us?

[57:12] Edwin Escobar: Oh, interesting. Um, well, you know, I started cleaning hotel rooms and waiting tables. Um, started as a clinician and worked my way up as a mental health clinician, eventually made my way to CEO. But I think all of us sort of have those um beginning stages of our professional life, and uh yeah, that's that would be mine.

[57:31] Robert Peterpaul: I love that. Uh and now another podcast on the show that we're gonna release this on is our friend Rob right behind us. He does a podcast called The Art of Kindness. You know, a lot of times in the artistic industry, people are not so nice, it's a little cutthroat, but there's also such a gorgeous side of the community. Do you have a kindness tip that you can share with us that you implement into your life and into your art?

[57:51] Edwin Escobar: Smile at everyone you see.

[57:54] Robert Peterpaul: I love that. Okay, and lastly, um, before you go, on the count of three, can you give us together one word that you are inspired from from being a filmmaker? It's gonna be fun. Okay, ready? And a count to three and you do at the same time. Ready? One, two, three.

[58:14] Edwin Escobar: Love it.

[58:14] Robert Peterpaul: Thank you guys so much. Congratulations. Thank you for being here at the Bridgeport Film Festival.

[58:20] Robert Peterpaul: Hi. Hi, Director Escobar. I'm gonna let you introduce yourself, but I'm thrilled to see you at the fourth annual Bridgeport Film Festival. So I did just give away your name, but can you please introduce yourself to everyone and let us know what film you're here working on?

[58:33] Edwin Escobar: Hi, so uh my name is Edwin Escobar. I'm a filmmaker from Bridgeport, and my film uh Followed is showing on Sunday on the 2 p.m. block.

[58:42] Robert Peterpaul: And who's this?

[58:44] Edwin Escobar: This is my daughter Olivia.

[58:49] Robert Peterpaul: It's not, it's not, it doesn't taste good, this mic, I promise. It's so beautiful to see you here with your daughter because one of the film festivals, I interviewed you for a virtual QA, and you were in the parking lot of the hospital and she was just born. So how cool is that now that you're here with her? What does it mean to bring your daughter around the arts and to expose her to an artistic life at such a young age?

[59:11] Edwin Escobar: So, you know, obviously we want to let our kids follow their own path, but until they can make their own decisions, uh maybe they'll pick up and do more than you did, or maybe you maybe use that route to find another way um to to be a good human, to be a creative. Uh but she's grown as much as the festival's grown.

[59:29] Edwin Escobar: Yeah. Um I saw Jason yesterday, and he was um, you know, he has multi-venues. I was like, this could be South by Southwest.

[59:38] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah.

[59:39] Edwin Escobar: So I'm watching the festival and my baby grow. So it's kind of like a dual dual duality of creation and growth. So it's awesome.

[59:50] Robert Peterpaul: That's really cool. Can you tell us a little bit about your film this year and what inspired you to create it?

[59:54] Edwin Escobar: So um last year we had Left. Left was a uh a film that I was able to raise money for for the first time. Uh we won the uh Viewers Choice Award. So I challenged one of my actresses or any one of my actors to write something. You know, it's a little shorter, seven pages. We had an actual, you know, profit from when we did the premiere, so it was like let's put it to good use. So uh Maria Reeds, which you probably end up here a little later, she wrote something very personal. Um so she met me halfway with the challenge and then we shot it and that's Followed, which is based on a real story. Still a thriller, still on my, you know, my psychological thriller, but um it's, it's, it happened in real life.

[1:00:36] Robert Peterpaul: Wow. Um can you tell us a little bit about how long it took you from conception to completion of this film? You know, a lot of times with independent films and low budget films, sometimes you gotta like do it really quick or looking for the money. So can you tell us a little bit about the process?

[1:00:51] Edwin Escobar: So when she um she followed all my directions, she never wrote anything before. She sent me the uh screenplay. I cleaned it up a little bit and we got to casting, which we have this group of actors that we just keep going back to. It's like a little theater company, mine is the theater, right? Um and we did a little rehearsal, but we got it done in one day. Yeah, uh a 14-hour day nonetheless, but um, you know, I can say that I'm really good at scheduling, using every day and night hour, uh, without exhausting uh the crew or or the talent. Uh but everybody was more than happy because this is one of our own. And you know, I encourage you to write. She actually did and um, you know, people speak and say they're gonna do a lot.

Um and until you do it, you know, it but it's, it's, it's really nice to have another writer because I'm a cinematographer at heart. Um I kind of write out of necessity, but um it was a very emotional process too because it's something that happened to her and reliving it and retelling it, it was something that almost uh it was kind of very real, but it was a healing process as well for her.

[1:01:58] Robert Peterpaul: That's really beautiful, and that's really like why we do art, while we do art. Um so this is the, we're with the Broadway Podcast Network this year. Uh our friend's podcast, Rob over there. He has a podcast called The Art of Kindness. You know, sometimes the arts industry can get a little cringy and mean. So what do you implement in your artistic journeys that could be some words of kindness or something kind that you do when you're creating films?

[1:02:25] Edwin Escobar: So, um I mean the first thing is is consideration. Um there are actually ways to get things done with uh with consistency and discipline without being bossy, right? Like yeah, you raise the money, you pay people or you give them equity, um and you have certain expectations. I think that comes to judgment when it comes to casting and um and just creating a rapport with the people. So uh with Left, uh part of the budget went to having a few dinners together, almost like company culture type of thing. I don't come from the corporate background, but I know that it can be a morale booster, so that way when you have scenes with other actors that you just met, you know, you create this like little bit of like, hey, you know, you're important, dress up, come on, have dinner.

My investors approved. There was a hefty check. But it was a good dinner, good food. Uh one of my good friends, Damon Day was the chef. And they lent us the uh their private room to do our official last reading before we actually film. So it's um, you know, treat each other well, trying to create that kind of uh kindness and uh also an open space where people can talk about more than just the creative process. Uh you know, people go to different things. I'm not gonna put anybody out there, but out of 10 actors and that, you know, something's bound to happen, and there was a lot of us that were there for someone uh where they were going through something. And uh it's like almost like we were there a whole life, even though we just met him uh maybe 10-15 days before that.

[1:03:56] Robert Peterpaul: That's so beautiful. And lastly, uh leave us with one word why you choose and continue to choose to be a filmmaker.

[1:04:03] Edwin Escobar: So I that is the I've told stories in many ways, and this is like where I that it feels like home. Uh so you know, I've done it through music, I've done it through uh just cinematography, uh doing a lot of music videos, uh helped artists do it. But um now I want to tell my stories, right? Um, and I mean this is what I'm meant to do.

[1:04:25] Robert Peterpaul: Love that. Well, congratulations, it's always great to see you and chat with you, and can't wait to see your film. Thank you. Appreciate it. And uh there's some a hundred and what, a hundred and ten films we got? A lot of films this year, guys. Great company. Thank you so much. Always good to see you.

[1:04:40] Robert Peterpaul: Hi. Hi, welcome to your third Bridgeport Film Festival. You said can you please introduce yourself to everybody who's just listening and let us know what film you're here with?

[1:04:50] Brian Russell: Yeah, my name is Brian Russell. I am a writer and director. My film this year is Silver Sizzle.

[1:04:55] Robert Peterpaul: Congratulations. Now you said this is your third time at the Bridgeport Film Festival. What keeps bringing you back to this particular festival other than being local?

[1:05:03] Brian Russell: Well, I love this festival. I mean, we're in a uh really great downtown. You've got a lot of nice stuff going on. You know, just a mile away from the Klein here, the Klein's historic venue. And honestly, the people here are amazing. Like I love the people. I love the filmmakers that I've met. I love Jason Coombs.

[1:05:18] Robert Peterpaul: I'm sure.

[1:05:19] Brian Russell: I love Jason Coombs too.

[1:05:21] Robert Peterpaul: That's right, everybody loves him.

[1:05:22] Brian Russell: Uh woo! Sorry, I hope I didn't blow your eardrums out. Anyway, um, yeah, it's just a really fun time, and there's really great movies here. And uh, you know, I love the my first favorite thing is to make movies. My second favorite thing is to go to film festivals, and this is a great one.

[1:05:38] Robert Peterpaul: So you're just living your best life.

[1:05:40] Brian Russell: That's so great to hear. Um, so you are a seasoned filmmaker, you do it a lot. What inspires you to keep getting f to keep creating films?

[1:05:51] Brian Russell: Well, what inspires me, I think the first thing I would say is that for some reason I just can't not do it. And what I found is that the more I make movies, the more I write, the more I direct, the more ideas that come to me. Uh I used to think like I have no ideas, I don't have any stories to tell, and now I have so many stories to tell that I can't stop myself. Like I don't know how to shut my brain off. Uh so and it's often things from real life that inspire me. I read something, I see something, you know, I'm sitting in a diner somewhere and I overhear a conversation, you know, I read a newspaper article, and it sparks an idea. You know, and that keeps life going and keeps life so filled.

[1:06:29] Robert Peterpaul: Um, so we're gonna be airing this audio on the Broadway Podcast Network. My podcast is called Survival Jobs a Podcast. I maybe asked you this in the past, not sure. Uh, do you have a survival job before you are, you know, making films like on the reg that you can share with us?

[1:06:43] Brian Russell: Yeah, well, my survival job is like tangential to this. I am a freelance DP, video producer, writer, director, and I mostly do corporate videos. Uh I do a lot of nonprofit fundraising videos. Um, you know, being an artist at times can be very hard. Uh, what do you do? What do you implement into your art and into your artistic process? That's something kind, that's a kindness tip that you can share with everybody.

[1:07:08] Brian Russell: Well, kindness? What is that? Is that a thing? That doesn't even exist anymore, does it?

[1:07:13] Robert Peterpaul: Well, we're trying to get it too.

[1:07:15] Brian Russell: Well, I think I guess I would say if I am to introduce a kindness into my work, it is in creating like a fun set. It is inviting people to work on my films who might not be filmmakers actually. Uh I'm currently writing uh a new film with a guy who came to me. He's like not that much older than me, but he's sort of like late in late career life, I guess you'd say, and he loves movies. And he's been now working on my films for the last three years, and it's amazing to have him on set. And he actually came to me recently and he pitched me an idea, and I will say I get pitched ideas every week for people who say, I got a great idea for a movie. And most of the time, their idea may be good, but it's not for me.

And this idea was great. And now Roger and I, his name is Roger Granis. Roger and I have been writing this new film, and you know, we're midway through uh, you know, I don't know exactly what draft it is, but we're midway through a hot, you know, a big rewrite, and it's coming out really great, and I'm super excited about it. And I think the idea of including people who want to do this or want to be exposed to this, uh, I don't know, I guess that's a kindness. Is that a kindness?

[1:08:21] Robert Peterpaul: Yes, it definitely is a kindness.

[1:08:23] Brian Russell: Um, and lastly, you've been making films for a long time. In one word, I know it's hard, but in one word, can you tell us why you continue to choose to be a filmmaker?

[1:08:34] Brian Russell: Yeah, that's a good idea. I think art will change the world.

[1:08:36] Robert Peterpaul: That's more than one word.

[1:08:38] Brian Russell: That's okay.

[1:08:38] Robert Peterpaul: That's okay. I loved it. Thank you so much. It's so good seeing you again. Thanks for...

[1:08:42] Robert Peterpaul: Hi, welcome to the fourth annual Bridgeport Film Festival. Can you please introduce yourself and let us know what film you worked on and what your role was in that film?

[1:08:52] Kyle Kostenko: All right. So I'm Kyle Kostenko. I did Smirks, I did the Love You to Death video. It's for my friend Smirk, it's a music video.

[1:08:59] Robert Peterpaul: Yes. Fun. Now you were just saying before we started rolling that you just got into film. Can you talk a little bit about how you came into this and what drew you to this industry?

[1:09:11] Kyle Kostenko: So I started off as a photographer. I've been one for about five years. And I just started getting more serious about videos. So I did one in about April, and then I decided to submit it.

[1:09:22] Robert Peterpaul: Amazing. And look, it paid off. You're here at the fourth annual Bridgeport Film Festival. Uh, can you tell us a little bit about the music video? Uh what's the story behind it, the creative process? Give us the tea.

[1:09:33] Kyle Kostenko: So we shot it in a diner and at a dive bar that we all go to. Um the premise is a little I don't want to say psychedelic, but basically a girl is upset for whatever reason. Maybe her boyfriend broke up with her at a party. And she's sitting down moping in the diner, and then the artist comes out of nowhere as almost like an apparition, but he's a solid person, but almost like an apparition, and he cheers her up slowly. Progressively throughout the video, and then at the end she turns away and he's gone. Almost like uh almost like a figment of her imagination.

[1:10:08] Robert Peterpaul: You know, that's what I was just gonna say. Can you tell us a little bit about the creative process? You know, sometimes with film festivals and you know, lower budget projects, it's a little bit more of a struggle. Uh so can you talk up a little bit about the creative process and what the struggles were?

[1:10:24] Kyle Kostenko: So it was a pretty grueling uh time making that. But started out one of my friends actually wrote the initial stuff, and I actually came in and fleshed everything out, and from there we storyboarded it. We had it down to uh where we would have the camera at what point with timestamps and everything like that. Um but the biggest part was definitely shooting it.

[1:10:46] Christopher F. Costa: We were under a big time crunch in the diner, so those dang diners.

[1:10:53] Robert Peterpaul: Um, they let us continue shooting.

[1:10:57] Christopher F. Costa: Shout out, what was the diner?

[1:10:58] Robert Peterpaul: Uh, it was 50s Famous 50s Diner in Bridgeport.

[1:11:01] Christopher F. Costa: Shout out to the Famous 50s Diner in Bridgeport and Total Tavern in Black Rock in Bridgeport.

[1:11:06] Robert Peterpaul: Shout out, shout out.

[1:11:08] Christopher F. Costa: Um, so we're gonna be airing this on the Broadway Podcast Network.

[1:11:11] Robert Peterpaul: We have a couple of podcasts affiliated with these interviews.

[1:11:14] Christopher F. Costa: One of them is called Survival Jobs.

[1:11:16] Robert Peterpaul: So do you have a survival job that maybe you had in the past or one that you currently have that sort of fuels your artistic life?

[1:11:23] Chris Richards: I was an Uber driver for like six months.

[1:11:26] Chris Richards: I was, I was a maniac.

[1:11:28] Chris Richards: I had a rental, it was electric. I would do it all night long.

[1:11:31] Chris Richards: I would like fall asleep in my car at four in the morning when it was charging.

[1:11:36] Robert Peterpaul: Oh my god.

[1:11:36] Chris Richards: Yeah.

[1:11:37] Robert Peterpaul: What was your Uber rating?

[1:11:38] Chris Richards: I was a 4.99.

[1:11:40] Robert Peterpaul: Okay.

[1:11:42] Chris Richards: Like 2500 trips in six months.

[1:11:44] Robert Peterpaul: That's pretty good.

[1:11:46] Chris Richards: A hardworking man.

[1:11:48] Robert Peterpaul: 4.99, we love to hear it.

[1:11:50] Christopher F. Costa: Uh, so the artistic industry sometimes can be a little stressful, a little cutthroat. People sometimes are tired and are crabby.

[1:11:58] Chris Richards: Tough to deal with.

[1:11:59] Christopher F. Costa: Tough to deal with. Being kind is really important.

[1:12:01] Robert Peterpaul: And another one of our shows really promotes being kind. So do you have a kindness tip or something you implement in your everyday life that you can share with us?

[1:12:10] Chris Richards: I would say just understanding everybody's got a lot of stuff going on and having grace with people. Don't let them push you around, but have some understanding of where people are coming from.

[1:12:19] Robert Peterpaul: Love that.

[1:12:20] Christopher F. Costa: And I know you're new to the filmmaking business, but in one word, why are you choosing to work in this industry?

[1:12:27] Chris Richards: Um, in one word.

[1:12:31] Chris Richards: I mean, I could say creativity, but that's kind of basic.

[1:12:34] Chris Richards: It's not. I don't know. Let's say vision.

[1:12:37] Robert Peterpaul: Beautiful.

[1:12:38] Chris Richards: Vision.

[1:12:39] Robert Peterpaul: Vision.

[1:12:40] Christopher F. Costa: Thank you for chatting with us. Congratulations on your first film festival.

[1:12:44] Robert Peterpaul: Is this your first film festival?

[1:12:45] Chris Richards: First one I've ever been to, first one I've ever submitted to when I got selected.

[1:12:49] Robert Peterpaul: The Bridgeport Film Festival stole your film festival virginity.

[1:12:53] Chris Richards: Yes.

[1:12:53] Robert Peterpaul: Thank you.

[1:12:54] Chris Richards: Smirk, he's in Hawaii. He couldn't be here today.

[1:12:56] Robert Peterpaul: Shout out to Smirk.

[1:12:57] Chris Richards: He's a music artist.

[1:12:59] Robert Peterpaul: Thank you so much. Enjoy the festival.

[1:13:01] Chris Richards: Thank you.

[1:13:02] TJ Sullivan: Hi, welcome to the Bridgeport Film Festival. Can you please introduce yourself and let us know what film you worked on and what your role was in that film?

[1:13:10] TJ Sullivan: Sure. My name's TJ Sullivan. Um, I worked on the animated short that's here called, um, what is it called now?

[1:13:18] TJ Sullivan: It's called, uh, A Mother's Day Short Tale series.

[1:13:21] TJ Sullivan: CJ's like, guys, I don't know what the film is.

[1:13:24] TJ Sullivan: I love that.

[1:13:25] TJ Sullivan: I, um, I, uh directed it, but I also drew the whole thing.

[1:13:28] TJ Sullivan: Um, it started out as I wanted to do something for Mother's Day to put out there on the web, and I ended up doing a bunch of shorts on it.

[1:13:54] TJ Sullivan: Illustrate, thank you. So what came first? What passion of yours came first, directing or illustration?

[1:13:54] TJ Sullivan: And, um, some friends had actually seen it, and one of the guys offered to help, uh, on the last short I did, the final one that you'll see, um, offered to help write the score for it and my daughter did one of the voices in it and so it's kind of was a personal, yeah, it meant a lot, means a lot.

[1:13:54] Robert Peterpaul: So you directed it and also drew it.

[1:13:54] TJ Sullivan: Yeah, I was trying to find the proper word to say when you draw, uh, illustrate it.

[1:13:54] TJ Sullivan: Um, illustration and animation actually. I started out as a CG animator and then from there got into directing.

[1:13:54] TJ Sullivan: Um, I worked for, uh, DreamWorks for a while directing on, uh, Race to the Edge for them and some stuff for Warner Brothers, um, and Lucasfilm for a little while doing some directing on there, so I kind of worked my way through that, which it's been a fun experience.

[1:14:24] Robert Peterpaul: That's definitely so cool.

[1:14:25] TJ Sullivan: So are you actively in the film festival circuit? Can you talk a little bit about what your experience has been like? I know the film festivals out there are so many and they're all very different and crazy.

[1:14:35] TJ Sullivan: So tell us a little bit about what your journey's been.

[1:14:37] TJ Sullivan: Sure, sure, yeah. This is actually my first entry into the film festival circuit. I've been coming here for a few years, but this, welcome back, it's a great festival.

[1:14:46] TJ Sullivan: I mean, Jason's put together such an amazing, and his crew have put together such an amazing experience here.

[1:14:52] TJ Sullivan: Especially having come from LA, this is great to have something like this in the community here and to bring all that talent that's around here together for this.

[1:15:02] TJ Sullivan: But this is the first one I've done. I submitted for the first time this year and was able to get in, which has been great, and I'm hoping to do more, so it's definitely been a learning experience and it's been really fun so far.

[1:15:11] Robert Peterpaul: Amazing. Can you tell us what was the biggest challenge in the creative process for creating this film?

[1:15:18] TJ Sullivan: Uh, time. Time was the biggest thing.

[1:15:20] TJ Sullivan: You know, trying to work it in between, you know, that work-life balance.

[1:15:23] TJ Sullivan: Um, and like I said, the first one I was doing kind of just to get out there on the web and as I went, kind of did more and more.

[1:15:30] TJ Sullivan: I got more into it and it got more detailed and more elaborate.

[1:15:32] TJ Sullivan: So I kind of kept having to pull myself back and kind of go, you haven't, this is the time you have to finish this.

[1:15:37] TJ Sullivan: Let's try and get this done and get it out there for Mother's Day.

[1:15:40] TJ Sullivan: Um, and it was just the amount of drawing kind of that I had to do and I was working with someone I worked with before that helped, uh, Joanna Stein, who helped me on the writing part of it and the dialogue side of it to kind of help flesh it out.

[1:15:52] TJ Sullivan: But, um, yeah, and the editing of it, bringing everything together with the sound effects and the music and, um, that was again time-consuming, but the whole process was just a lot of fun.

[1:16:02] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah.

[1:16:03] TJ Sullivan: Um, so I have a podcast with Jason actually on the Broadway Podcast Network. It's called Survival Jobs.

[1:16:06] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, so do you have a survival job that you can share with us before you were, you know, illustrating and directing for DreamWorks and creating all of your own work?

[1:16:08] TJ Sullivan: Um, okay, I'm trying to think about this now. I did work at the Disney Store. That was a, I was a greeter at the Disney Store.

[1:16:26] Robert Peterpaul: In New York City?

[1:16:27] TJ Sullivan: No, in Connecticut here.

[1:16:28] TJ Sullivan: Where was the Disney Store? West Farms Mall up near New Britain.

[1:16:32] TJ Sullivan: Yeah, I was a greeter for several years.

[1:16:35] TJ Sullivan: I was trying to break into animation and I'm like, Disney Store, I can get into Disney, then I actually love the thought process there.

[1:16:43] Robert Peterpaul: It's really cool you're still like in the realm of where you want to be. Amazing.

[1:16:48] TJ Sullivan: So, um, I had to do, welcome to the Disney Store, welcome to the Disney Store.

[1:16:51] Robert Peterpaul: You got it down.

[1:16:52] TJ Sullivan: Yeah.

[1:16:52] Robert Peterpaul: Good job.

[1:16:53] TJ Sullivan: Uh, so my co-host here today, Rob, uh, also has a podcast on the Broadway Podcast Network called The Art of Kindness.

[1:17:00] Robert Peterpaul: This has been my spiel today, but you know, like especially in the artistic industry, in the entertainment industry, sometimes people are not the kindest.

[1:17:08] TJ Sullivan: Um, do you have a kindness tip that you implement into your artistic journey that you can share with us?

[1:17:15] TJ Sullivan: Yeah, I think so.

[1:17:16] TJ Sullivan: Um, collaboration, being open to ideas.

[1:17:19] TJ Sullivan: I mean, as a director, you have this is my vision, this is how I want to see this go.

[1:17:23] TJ Sullivan: But there's happy accidents everywhere, and a good idea can come from the smallest thing, can come from anyone.

[1:17:28] TJ Sullivan: So it's being open to that and being receptive to, and don't just shut people down, you know, because what's gonna happen is you're gonna start having this back and forth dialogue and just come up with something even more amazing than you thought was possible before.

[1:17:41] TJ Sullivan: And everyone's gonna have, everyone's gonna have a good time doing it if you're open to that.

[1:17:45] Robert Peterpaul: I love that.

[1:17:46] TJ Sullivan: Uh, and can you please leave us with one word, uh, to describe why you choose to be a filmmaker or work in the artistic industry?

[1:17:55] TJ Sullivan: Just one.

[1:17:56] TJ Sullivan: That's a lot of pressure.

[1:17:58] TJ Sullivan: Um, body can really actually do just the one word.

[1:18:01] TJ Sullivan: Yeah, it's not money.

[1:18:05] TJ Sullivan: I, it passion.

[1:18:07] TJ Sullivan: Passion, passion for the, uh, passion for getting your idea out there, you know, for the medium.

[1:18:13] Robert Peterpaul: Well, thank you so much.

[1:18:14] TJ Sullivan: Congratulations.

[1:18:15] Robert Peterpaul: We can't wait to see your film.

[1:18:17] TJ Sullivan: But before you go, do you have a, uh, thank you by the way?

[1:18:19] TJ Sullivan: Do you have a, uh, Instagram handle where people can keep up with your, with your short and how they can watch it?

[1:18:25] TJ Sullivan: Yes, it's, uh, at TJ Hypensullivan, uh, dot com is my, is my, uh, handle.

[1:18:31] TJ Sullivan: Or actually, my handle on Instagram is TJ underscore Sullivan underscore I I I.

[1:18:36] TJ Sullivan: My website was TJSullivan.com.

[1:18:39] Robert Peterpaul: I was gonna say, pretty, pretty creative to do dot com on Instagram.

[1:18:42] TJ Sullivan: It will really confuse people and fun.

[1:18:45] Robert Peterpaul: Thank you.

[1:18:46] TJ Sullivan: Enjoy the festival.

[1:18:47] Robert Peterpaul: Yeah, awesome.

[1:18:48] TJ Sullivan: Bye.

[1:18:49] Brendon Lemon: Hello and welcome to the fourth annual Bridgeport Film Festival. Before we get started, can you please introduce yourself?

[1:18:55] Brendon Lemon: Let us know what film you worked on and what your role was in that film.

[1:18:58] Brendon Lemon: Yeah, my name is Brendon Lemon. I am the writer and sometimes PA of Ivy's Dream.

[1:19:05] Brendon Lemon: You know, I find that a lot, especially in the film festival world. It's like I am the director, writer, actress, DP.

[1:19:11] Brendon Lemon: You gotta wear a lot of hats.

[1:19:12] Brendon Lemon: You're like, uh, there's not a lot of, not a ton of budget in the indie short film scene.

[1:19:17] Robert Peterpaul: I know that well.

[1:19:19] Brendon Lemon: Uh, can you give us a quick pitch about what your film is about?

[1:19:22] Brendon Lemon: Yeah, Ivy's Dream is a short about a woman who, after grieving a terrible loss, uh, finds it almost impossible to get back to living with her family and all the terrible consequences that that entails.

[1:19:38] Brendon Lemon: She falls into alcoholism, and finally, now, right at the time of the film, right in the movie, her and her husband are finally having a talk that they've put off for a long time about it.

[1:19:49] Robert Peterpaul: Okay.

[1:19:50] Brendon Lemon: Um, was this what attracted you to this piece?

[1:19:54] Brendon Lemon: Uh, I'm gonna be honest with you.

[1:19:55] Brendon Lemon: I just wanted to write an amazing part for my very good friend Maggie Alexander, who produced and starred in the movie.

[1:20:01] Brendon Lemon: So if you go watch it, you'll see her, and she's, let me tell you, can I drop an F bomb on this?

[1:20:06] Brendon Lemon: She's fucking awesome.

[1:20:08] Robert Peterpaul: Holy shit, dude.

[1:20:09] Brendon Lemon: I know that was two for one.

[1:20:11] Brendon Lemon: But it was very good.

[1:20:12] Brendon Lemon: She did a great job.

[1:20:13] Brendon Lemon: She was fantastic.

[1:20:14] Brendon Lemon: She's hilarious in it.

[1:20:15] Brendon Lemon: No, she's not hilarious.

[1:20:16] Brendon Lemon: It's a very serious subject matter.

[1:20:18] Brendon Lemon: Everything you just said to me doesn't scream hilarious, but it's great.

[1:20:22] Brendon Lemon: She's a female Will Ferrell.

[1:20:24] Brendon Lemon: No, I'm kidding.

[1:20:25] Brendon Lemon: It's, uh, it's a very serious, but she does a very good job.

[1:20:27] Brendon Lemon: And I wanted to write a good part for her, so if you're watching this, listening to this, as an actor or actress, and you want, uh, somebody to write you a very good part, reach out to me at Brendon Lemon on all socials.

[1:20:39] Robert Peterpaul: I love that.

[1:20:40] Robert Peterpaul: I'm about to start following you, okay.

[1:20:42] Brendon Lemon: Um, that, uh, thank you, Sam.

[1:20:45] Robert Peterpaul: You're welcome.

[1:20:46] Brendon Lemon: Um, I've been asking a lot of folks today for kindness tips, and everybody's sort of saying sort of what you just said about, you know, working together, being collaborative, like holding each other up.

[1:20:56] Brendon Lemon: Do you have another kindness tip that you can share with us that you implement into your artistic path and journey?

[1:21:01] Brendon Lemon: Yeah, this is a great question.

[1:21:03] Brendon Lemon: Uh, get your ego out of the way.

[1:21:05] Brendon Lemon: I think that the more you can not make it about you, and I know that everybody, this sounds like an echo to everything you've just said from everybody, the more you can make it about making other people look good, the absolute better it's gonna go for you and for everybody.

[1:21:20] Robert Peterpaul: I love that.

[1:21:20] Brendon Lemon: So the example, this whole interview was just me trying to make you look good, which if I'm honest, is difficult because holy shit, right?

[1:21:29] Robert Peterpaul: And I don't think that was kind.

[1:21:31] Brendon Lemon: Okay, guys.

[1:21:33] Brendon Lemon: Okay, Mr. Lemon over here.

[1:21:35] Brendon Lemon: Hello?

[1:21:36] Brendon Lemon: I said it positively.

[1:21:37] Brendon Lemon: I meant like, how can I improve on perfection?

[1:21:39] Robert Peterpaul: Okay, you're forgiven, I guess.

[1:21:42] Brendon Lemon: Um, so this audio is gonna be streamed on the Broadway Podcast Network.

[1:21:45] Brendon Lemon: I have a podcast with Jason Coombs, who founded this festival called Survival Jobs.

[1:21:50] Brendon Lemon: Before you were writing parts for friends and, uh, you know, creating films.

[1:21:53] Brendon Lemon: Do you have a survival job that you can share with us?

[1:21:56] Brendon Lemon: Uh, I feel like every job I've had has been a survival job.

[1:21:59] Brendon Lemon: It's like every single job I've ever had.

[1:22:01] Brendon Lemon: Uh, I've been, I've had 37 jobs in my life, which is nuts.

[1:22:06] Brendon Lemon: I'm 38.

[1:22:06] Brendon Lemon: That's almost a job a year.

[1:22:07] Robert Peterpaul: Have you actually counted, or did you just pull that out of your, like, is that real or is that fake news?

[1:22:13] Brendon Lemon: I, uh, that no, that's totally real.

[1:22:14] Brendon Lemon: I've had 37 different jobs.

[1:22:16] Brendon Lemon: I've been everything from a janitor to a, I used to do, I, I actually the craziest survival job I've ever had, maybe, is that in Boulder, Colorado, in order to make ends meet, I was one of the guys who came in to like a school and did like a safety presentation in an auditorium full of children about crosswalk safety.

[1:22:36] Brendon Lemon: And I got paid to do that, and I did it four different times, and it was a total nightmare every time.

[1:22:42] Brendon Lemon: Because it's like, and I'm, by the way, a stand-up comedian.

[1:22:45] Robert Peterpaul: Like that's really had no clue.

[1:22:47] Brendon Lemon: You're not funny at all.

[1:22:48] Brendon Lemon: You're not doing, you're not doing bits in this interview at all.

[1:22:51] Brendon Lemon: I just, I literally, I first of all I appreciate that.

[1:22:54] Brendon Lemon: I'm trying to become dramatic actor.

[1:22:56] Brendon Lemon: But I, I really have never had an audience quite as bad as an entire auditorium full of 12-year-olds.

[1:23:02] Robert Peterpaul: Well, like it was non-stop heckles.

[1:23:05] Brendon Lemon: Um, thank you so much for chatting with us today.

[1:23:08] Brendon Lemon: You already dropped your Instagram handle, so is there another way folks can keep up with this film if they want to see it once it's out of the film festival circuit?

[1:23:15] Brendon Lemon: Yeah, that's great.

[1:23:16] Brendon Lemon: You can follow it on Ivy's Dream on, uh, Instagram, and we, you know, if you check it out there or reach out to us, happy to send you a screener.

[1:23:23] Brendon Lemon: And, um, I just, you want to thank me.

[1:23:26] Robert Peterpaul: Sam, I want to thank you.

[1:23:27] Brendon Lemon: I want to thank you, and I want to thank everybody.

[1:23:30] Brendon Lemon: That's Alan Seales, the founder of the Broadway Podcast Network.

[1:23:33] Robert Peterpaul: This guy, Alan.

[1:23:34] Brendon Lemon: I've been, you know, honestly, I was wondering if it was him.

[1:23:37] Robert Peterpaul: I know.

[1:23:37] Brendon Lemon: I know.

[1:23:39] Brendon Lemon: That's why he has sunglasses.

[1:23:40] Robert Peterpaul: Alan?

[1:23:40] Brendon Lemon: It's him.

[1:23:41] Brendon Lemon: He has to hide his identity.

[1:23:43] Brendon Lemon: You guys don't know it.

[1:23:43] Brendon Lemon: Here, turn the camera around and take a look at Alan's needs right now.

[1:23:46] Robert Peterpaul: Alan likes to stay off camera.

[1:23:49] Brendon Lemon: This has been a blast.

[1:23:50] Brendon Lemon: What, how many people have you interviewed?

[1:23:52] Robert Peterpaul: Today or in my whole life?

[1:23:53] Brendon Lemon: Today.

[1:23:54] Robert Peterpaul: A lot, maybe 20.

[1:23:56] Brendon Lemon: Maybe, maybe between.

[1:23:57] Brendon Lemon: She's not even slowing down.

[1:23:59] Brendon Lemon: Keep them coming.

[1:24:00] Brendon Lemon: Um, you hear that, Entertainment Tonight?

[1:24:03] Brendon Lemon: I'm available for hire.

[1:24:05] Brendon Lemon: E Entertainment Television.

[1:24:07] Robert Peterpaul: Sam is right, she's right here.

[1:24:09] Brendon Lemon: I'm here for you.

[1:24:11] Brendon Lemon: Right and available.

[1:24:12] Brendon Lemon: Before you head out, with one word, can you tell us why you choose to live a life in the arts and why you choose to be a filmmaker?

[1:24:22] Brendon Lemon: It's a hard assignment.

[1:24:23] Brendon Lemon: Nobody ever can do just the one word.

[1:24:25] Brendon Lemon: Let's see if you can.

[1:24:30] Brendon Lemon: Thank you, Mr. Lemon.