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[0:16] Robert Bannon: Hi, Adam. How are you doing? Welcome to the round table. My name is Robert Bannon. I'm so excited to be here. You're on Broadway World or over here on the Broadway Podcast Network. And I'm excited to talk. I'm scared of aliens, Adam.

[0:27] Adam Finberg: Oh, don't be.

[0:28] Robert Bannon: Why?

[0:29] Adam Finberg: What if they come after I talked to you?

[0:31] Robert Bannon: They're gonna come to my house tonight. Well then it was a pleasure meeting you for this post. Everybody, we're talking here about Star People, and congratulations, Adam. You wrote and directed. This is your first feature narrative film?

[0:45] Adam Finberg: Uh yeah, it is. It is my first feature narrative.

[0:49] Robert Bannon: So tell me, where did the idea come from and what was the journey like to write it?

[0:54] Adam Finberg: Um that's a great question. But uh it started, I guess you can say because I grew up in Phoenix and the Phoenix lights were just a big event that happened in 1997 where thousands of people saw these strange lights in the sky across the state. Um, and it just always kind of stuck with me. I knew some people that saw them, and it it uh it just seemed like always like a great jumping off point for a story. Um and then I also I did a lot uh I recorded a documentary called The Business of Recovery, where I learned a lot about the addiction treatment industry and met a lot of people that were struggling with addiction, and that definitely influenced me in the characters that I wrote for the story.

[1:34] Robert Bannon: Well, you one thing to write it, it's one thing to have the idea and be inspired by 1997 and the events that happened. It's another thing to get it financed and then cast and put out. So how many years have you worked on it and what's the journey been like for you?

[1:50] Adam Finberg: Excuse me. Um the journey, it's been a few years, it's been a multi-year journey for sure. I mean, uh, you know, I had I had some false starts in my directing career early on, but uh, you know, I think in during the COVID era, uh, myself and I'm sure a lot of other people sort of reevaluated their options and what they wanted to do with their life from that point on, and I really decided I needed to give this uh give us another try to get a feature gone. So that was kind of what started that process, I guess you could say. And and listen, the film is coming out on July 25th, it'll be in all major cities like New York, and then it will be on demand on Amazon, Apple, and all major platforms starting on August 12th.

[2:31] Robert Bannon: So when you describe it, tell me a little bit about the cast. I mean, Kat Cunning is a superstar, and you have a whole bunch of all-star people that are in this film. So tell us how does the casting work as a director and a writer? Do you have input? Do you have a casting director?

[2:46] Adam Finberg: Well, of course they have input. I mean, as a director, I mean, that is the biggest choice you're making is the cast. Um the process works. I mean, I had the casting directors who work with me basically to help filter out and find people who would fit kind of what I'm looking for, but ultimately there's a lot of people I need to go through and uh find find my Claire. I mean, when I found Kat, it was it was kind of an amazing experience since I had written the script. It was finally seeing the lines delivered and feeling like this is the person was a really cool moment, I guess you could say for me. And um, you know, once I had Claire, then I was able to figure out the rest of the cast. And it was always for me just finding the best talent I could find um that also had the right chemistry that was believable to create the sibling relationship uh in the film.

And also Eddie, uh I don't know if you know Eddie who played Ricardo, um, Adriana is his real life daughter who plays his daughter in the film. They I when I cast Eddie, he told me about his daughter, and I watched her audition by her, and I just thought she was perfect, and also it was an actress, so you know. How great it all really kind of came together.

[4:00] Robert Bannon: What would you explain the process was like to film it? Where'd you shoot it? How many days was it? Was it something quick? Did you have a spirit period of time to get this together?

[4:10] Adam Finberg: Um it was wait, hold on, I gotta change my headphones on you really quick. I just realized my AirPod battery just died, but I had my backup ready.

[4:19] Robert Bannon: You're pro.

[4:20] Adam Finberg: You're right, he's that's a that's a director right there, everybody. Wait, wait, sorry. Uh wait, talk. Let me hear you say something.

[4:30] Robert Bannon: Sure.

[4:31] Adam Finberg: Okay, here I I can hear you. You can hear me.

[4:34] Robert Bannon: Yeah, no, no, no, it's all good. Um, so um the locations and the time you were saying.

[4:40] Adam Finberg: So it was all shot in the Phoenix area. Um the mountain locations that were like remote were all in this uh superstition mountains, which are just kind of like southwest of the Phoenix area. Um it was at this ranch called the Quarter Circle U Ranch. Um, but I mean we had to go on this dirt road. I actually busted a tire on one of the location scouts and had to repair. I mean, it was like it was like out there, but it was also close enough that we could do it. Um I had to do it pretty fast. I mean, it's an indie film. Uh I had 14 primary days of shooting, which is I know not very much. Um, and uh that was it. I mean, a lot of it was just I had to make decisions um uh you know on the fly about uh you know where I was you know how I was gonna fit all this stuff in with like as each day you're always fighting against the sun going down or fighting against the end of your day.

[5:41] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. Well, guess what? Spoiler alert, you made it happen and it's coming out. So you did it. You made it happen. It's all it's coming out, and people go is this like a fun, like movie. I'm gonna hang out on a Friday night and repeat some watch. Is it what of what is this? How do you describe the genre? What what are we gonna see?

[5:59] Adam Finberg: Um, well, it it's a it's sci-fi thriller drama, I guess, because there's like it's not entirely a thriller, but it's also not entirely a drama. Um it's a movie that's gonna make you think and have an experience, I think. I mean, we premiered it at uh Dances with Films uh Festival. Was the only screening it's had so far, and that that audio and we had like almost we had like 300 people in room and it was an experience to see the film with everyone. Um, and I think a good movie should be an experience. So I hope it is it. I hope if you watch it on a Friday night you'll have a you'll have an experience.

[6:36] Robert Bannon: Well, what's so interesting about looking at your career, I mean your documentary work and and your commercial work and the things that you've done, you seem you're a very politically active, you know, filmmaker, and you you have your work always has a message, and I mean it's been featured on television shows and political shows, and and people always have something to say. Is there some kind of theme you want us to take away from this idea? It sounds fun, it sounds aliens, it sounds what's going on, but are you you're trying to get some you're trying to be sneaky with us, you're trying to get something out of this.

[7:07] Adam Finberg: Uh I don't think there's anything particularly sneaky about it. It's for for me, the film is I mean, I'm not trying to make any political statement. It's really about human connection and embracing, you know, embracing our shared humanity. You know, um the idea of fear is very common in uh UFO films. It's easy to have a scary alien, but it is also easy to be afraid of of people that we don't know about the strangers. But um the idea with this film is that embracing humanity is kind of the only way forward. Um, and that is how we find growth.

[7:48] Robert Bannon: And there you go. I mean, that sounds pretty uh on point and needed uh at this time. We all need to embrace some humanity out here in the world. So what can we do? What can we do to spread the word? What can we do to watch it? How what's the best way for us to go about it? If we're in New York, we should go see it in the film, in the theater.

[8:05] Adam Finberg: Yeah, well, this Friday, July 25th, uh, it's in the uh handful of Phoenix area theaters, and it also is in New York City at the Cinema Village, if you're in New York City. Um it'll be in LA Lemmley uh uh Royal on August 8th for a week there, and then it'll be on Video on Demand on August 12th, and wherever you are in the US, you'll be able to see it.

[8:29] Robert Bannon: So we have no excuses. No matter where you are in the US, there's no excuses. You could pull it up right on your TV, or if you're in those cities, make sure that you check it out. What was your journey to film being a filmmaker? I saw that you moved from Phoenix to Southern California and you went to school for this. Was there someone or inspiration or a film or something that made you say, like, I want to be in this business?

[8:49] Adam Finberg: Oh, it's not any one thing. I I've been messing around with my for family's video camera since I was like a kid, and I think it just is something that it's sort of naturally happened. I was always like telling stories with it. Um but yeah, I was in LA for 20 years and went to the AFI's directing program and uh lived out there for a while and I loved it, and now I'm actually based in Phoenix again. I am out here where we filmed.

[9:13] Robert Bannon: And that's so cool that you brought this film to Phoenix, so you get to really do it at home in in the neighborhoods that you live in and grew up in.

[9:21] Adam Finberg: Yeah, well, it wasn't quite my neighborhood, but it was but it was out in nearby, superstition. And it's in the actual location where this like in the area where this actually this event happened. There was some of it was very close for sure. We'd filmed some in the South South Mountain Park, which is just south of downtown Phoenix, and it was very close to where a lot of the lights were seen.

[9:40] Robert Bannon: Yeah. Well, I'm intrigued. I mean, well, everyone's been, you know, I'm from New Jersey, so everyone was convinced that the drones oh last summer were, you know, UFOs and people were seeing things and lights and what is going on is the government hiding things. I think I'm not gonna sleep tonight because of this, Adam. I'm just letting you know.

[9:55] Adam Finberg: Well, as long as it makes you think. That's all. It makes you feel like you had an experience, and I feel like I've done my job.

[10:04] Robert Bannon: Well, uh I think you did your job even with this interview. So then I'm gonna make sure that when I see the film, I'm excited about it. Everybody I'm really excited. Everybody, July 25th in major cities. Make sure you see Star People, and then starting on August 12th, it will be streaming, it'll be on demand. You can get it on Amazon, Apple, and all the major platforms where you get and check out your movies. And we're gonna shout out you, Adam, and we hope for the next film. This is the first full length feature, but it's not gonna be the last. No way. We've got a lot more work to do, so we'll be following and then spreading the word. Thank you so much for spending some time with us today.

[10:37] Adam Finberg: Thank you, Robert. Pleasure meeting you.