GS: What was the inspiration for your film?

RT: It was actually born out of our theater company’s 72 hour film festival we started this summer during lockdown. We usually do a theater festival called Oberon’s 24/7 where we gather 21 actors, 7 writers and 7 directors together on a friday evening, three actor names are drawn of of a hat as well as a director and writer. We are grouped up and talk for an hour. The writer hen has till morning to write a short play and the actors and director rehearse all day and put it up in random order in front of an audience exactly 24 hours from the first meeting on Saturday night.  We just adapted the same concept for this and extended 48 hours for post production. The meeting took place in zoom and the writers sent the scripts the following morning. The actors were charged with filming themselves or who they were quarantined with and one member of the team was to assemble all the footage and finalize the film for exhibition with in 72 hours. The films were not to exceed 3 mins in length and shot on nothing but a smartphone. Those were the only rules. It was a great deal of fun and the quality and content widely varied. It a first for a lot of people. We ended up doing three rounds. So a total of 21 films came out of it. So, at least some kind of creativity was born out of the madness we all want through.

GS: When did you conceive the idea for your film and how long did it take before it was realized?

RT: I guess the rather long winded answer to the previous question answered this one lol.

GS: What was the most challenging aspect of working in a short film format?

RT: Keeping it under the 3 minute mark was the most challenging part for this particular project, given the rules in place.

GS: What was the most challenging aspect of your production?

RT: Working with the third partner, due the fact that he was in LA and we were in NY. We had to meet over zoom and design the shots as such that he was able to do them himself, while being in front of the camera. No assistance was permitted do to the rules. The actors had to film themselves or each other if they were quarantined together. Then him dropboxing the footage turned into a chore to download.

GS: Do you have any advice for first-time filmmakers?

RT: Dive right in and don’t worry about what you think you can or cannot accomplish.  If you’re developing something with a writer, make sure you tell them not to limit their ideas to what they think you might be able to pull off, filming  wise or in the miracle of post. Let them write what they want (or you write what you want) and worry about HOW to pull it off later. 9 times out of 10, you’ll find a way to make it work.