Making Pondo with Jessica Stone

 In this episode we talk to Jessica Stone. Jessica played the character "Roman Witch" and was an Associate Producer in "The Love Song of William H. Shaw."

Love Song Trailer

TusCon Link

Kidco Trailer

"How We Made A Live-Action Comic Book Feature Film in Tucson" panel, Tucson Comic Con, 2019

Love Song IndieGoGo video w/ Autumn

Stop Making Sense Trailer

The History of Future Folk Trailer

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Making Pondo and Talking Pondo. Talking Pondo is a podcast where we pick up two movies each week and talk about them in Making Pondo is a podcast where we talk to people we've made films with and we discuss all their experiences on set. Today on Making Pondo, we talk with Jessica Stone, our associate producer on the love song of William M show. And we're back. Back once again.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

So Marty, who do we have with us this week?

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Well, uh, as we mentioned, we uh finally at long last have Jessica Biscuit Stone with us today. Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Thanks for thanks for showing up for us, Jackson. We really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Oh, it's my pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Uh super excited to have you on. So normally we start off, Marty, we start off with a basic question of you know, how did you meet Pondo? How did you get involved with us? Tell us a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Okay, well, it was at Tuscon, and it was the weekend of your premiere of Revenge of Zoe. And of course, I didn't know anything about it at the time, but uh our beloved Jeff Knotkin. Um I guess he really fancied the costume that I was wear wearing at Tuscon. And so it was a good one. Yeah, he corner he cornered me three different times over the weekend and gave me a business card and said, You gotta come see the premiere, you know, Revenge of Zoe premiere. And uh so I did. I I was there actually to meet one of my favorite authors from like a long time from back in my college days, uh, a guy named Joe R. Lansdale. And um, so you guys took backseat to that. I I I actually missed the first premiere because I was busy, you know, at uh Joe's panel, but I made it to the Sunday premiere, you know, or second premiere, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

Not offended by that at all. Not offended by that at all.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

It was an incredible, incredible weekend overall, and it was capped off by seeing the premiere, loving the film, and really also being amazed by how friendly you guys were afterwards, you know, during the signing and everything. And you know, you invited me to the after party dinner. Um so yeah, it was just like I kind of felt like I found some of my own people, and it was really um just an instant click, I think, with everybody. So um yeah, that was my my first experience meeting all of you guys.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Jeff does seem to have a nose for like-minded people and talented people. He just seems to know so many talented people, and it's uh I'm I'm glad that I'm glad he spotted you in Pig Jack because you were you you did so much later, it wasn't even funny for us. And yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

Well, Jeff is a great patron of creative people too. He's really good at putting like minds together, so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

Yeah, I agree. Then the next thing you know, you're associate producing and acting in the next movie. How how did that suddenly happen?

SPEAKER_03 3:29

Well, you know, that's actually another Jeff story. Um, well, it was a Jeff and Cliff story because uh uh that's right. You guys were in um Las Vegas for one of the showings of Revenge of Zoe at one of the Yeah, it's a Silver State Film Festival, yeah. Right, right. And so apparently you had some time to kill and you were shopping at some old thrift stores and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

And yeah, it was uh it was a um uh it was like it just all the old cast-offs from all the old casinos, plus just random stuff. So like they had an entire back room full of um costumes that had been, you know, on the floor of the sands or the mirage or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 4:21

Right. And uh Jeff told me that he came across this costume that was on a dummy, but it was kind of hanging off, you know, slanted and not quite put on right, but there was something about it that just really caught his eye. And he just kept going back to it. And um he apparently you were kind of getting impatient with him. And uh and said, you know, it's not like you don't know somebody who can uh you know probably wear that costume and knows how to do costume stuff to fix it up.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

And you can fix it up, yep.

SPEAKER_03 4:56

Right. And uh and he and he's you know, his version of the story was that yeah, yeah, that um but I still was staring at it and kind of not really making my mind up. And then you came back and said, Look, if you if if Jessica likes this costume and it fits her and she's will you know and she's interested, I'll put her in the movie if you buy this costume. So I and that was what pushed him into buying it. And then um and then uh it was funny because he sent me some excited text messages with pictures and everything from that weekend. But for some reason, our phones have never connected well. Like he'll send me pictures and I'll never get them. I'll send him messages with pictures and I and he won't get them. Some of he's on a Mac or an iPhone and I'm on an Android. I don't know why, but so it was like a week or two later that I finally got in touch with him, and he was like, Oh my gosh, I you know, I I was so frantic. It's like, why didn't you respond? It's like I never received them. So he sent me the pictures and I was so excited over the moon. And um, and uh so then I remember going over and kind of trying on the costume just to see if it would work, and we were just excited about it. It was perfect, it was just this awesome kind of um well, we've been calling it the Roman witch, yeah, but it's you know, it was very not a typical, like I would never imagine something like this being a showgirl costume.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

No, it yeah, it was like a I don't know, it was like a weird mix of Roman and Greek or something. It was just fantastic, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Yeah, and and but it definitely was a showgirl costume because it had the Velcro like uh you know, easy off throwaway, yeah. And um, and it was an an interesting um experience just trying to figure out where all the parts went because it came in like four, I think, four different parts. It had the headpiece and draperies and then the arm pieces and then the man, you know, and the skirt or whatever. But um, but yeah, that was a lot of fun and um and I was thrilled to death with the idea of being in the movie. And I thought, you know, I thought it was just gonna be a like fly by, like I'm in a scene passing by. But no, Cliff, you gave me speaking parts.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yeah, we turned you into we turned you into like uh one of the weirdos that he he encounters at the con, which which I thought was I mean, we we got this great costume, you look fantastic in it. I think what sold it for me was that staff you made with the glowing ball. Oh yeah. That's that's got to be you're you're really an excellent craftsman when it comes to that type of stuff. Like you really are good at that. And so I was just like, let's put it like I don't want to waste this. Some quality stuff, let's put it in the film as much, you know, as long as possible. So that's why you got lines and that's why we put you on film.

SPEAKER_03 7:56

And that was the first time I've ever acted.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Oh, great.

SPEAKER_03 8:00

Um, well, I you know, I thought like, you know, I couldn't, it was only a few lines, and I was terrible at remembering my lines and getting them in order. I it took us two hours to to film that bit.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Yeah, yeah. I remember we had to make you remember we had to make you run behind the camera and then stay because we were doing the thing where we're tracking Billy sideways, you know, he's you know, his side, his profile, and then you boom, he runs into you again. And in the outtakes, you can in the outtakes you can hear your costume jingling at your time, which is fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 8:35

Yeah, it was covered in beads, so of course it was like trying to tiptoe quickly and get over there quickly enough to be in the right position. It was fantastic. But it was so much fun though. I mean, it was really fun watching you guys film that weekend because I had never really seen an on-action kind of you know film set um before, and and then to actually participate was just a blast. It was pr super, super fun. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Well you were b well, I mean, you were big. Uh uh for I mean Love Song was I mean, you have you need to pat yourself on the back. You have a lot to do with the fact that that we pulled that movie off the way we did. Oh yeah. Well, you know, I think for everything too. I mean, I mean, well, local the two locations alone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

Yeah. I fell in love with the idea of the film and uh, you know, especially being part of it. I was invested at that point. Like, like I got to be in it now. I'm like, well, I really I loved working with you guys, and I remember I think I said to both of you and to Jeff and whoever, you know, um, if there's anything that I can possibly do to help out, let me know. And so you put me to work. And uh, you know, um it was yeah, we so we had to find some sets. We needed to the two houses um for because we had just right, we had to set up the houses, and it turned out we used the house that I was living in at the time, and my uh best friend who lived across the street, her house. And um yeah, and that was perfect because it was easy to just walk across the street between the scenes and remember running back and forth with cameras and lights and just okay, we're over here now.

unknown 10:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

And it was really fun um setting up both houses and moving all the parts around and getting the, you know, like we needed the bedroom in my house and the living room in my house. I think part of the kitchen.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Yeah, we we used the we used the living room, the kitchen. We de you I mean you guys took hours just setting up. Yeah, we shot the bathroom. You guys took hours setting up the purple bedroom, which was fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Yeah, my bedroom looked fantastic. I didn't change much after that. It was like I like what we did on that one wall with the hanging and everything, that pretty much stayed as it was. And um perfect. And then I just I also remember when my with my living room, the first night that they that the guys got the lighting all set up, and I was like, I want this light forever. It was like the it made my living room look so warm and inviting and cozy, and I was just like, my house has never looked like this at any time.

SPEAKER_02 11:31

But that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 11:33

Yeah, and uh, and then we used the back porch and front porch of Marnie's place and um or pottery wheel. And the pottery wheel and my oh that was the other thing. Like you had the prop list.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Yeah, oh that's true.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Um that I remember t telling Marty, he was like, Where where are we gonna get a pottery wheel? I'm like, I don't know. And then here you come with like, I know somebody's got a pottery wheel. And I was like, see, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 11:58

Yep, and we had the pottery wheel, and oh, I also remember when we were um when you guys were scouting this the sets, and Marty came over and he saw Marty's place, and what was the poster that she Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

The poster was for Kidco. And Kidco was the first film set that I was ever on when I was like eight years old. It was an extra for two days because they shot that here in in town in Tucson back when there was a lot of things going on, old Tucson stuff. Obviously not a Western, but to it's so weird to walk into that house and see that poster and be like, uh, did you hang up? Because you thought I was coming in here just to screw with me. And she's like, No, it's my favorite movie. It's like, I guess we're in the right place. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

And I had never even I've never even heard of the film, but it was just it was just there, you know, there were lots of little synchronicities like that, or little things that um throughout the filming that just seemed to go really well, or really um, I guess everything ji was is it jibed or jibed together?

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Jibed, jibed, jibed. I think jibed.

SPEAKER_03 13:13

Anyway, it it it all just it all fit together, it all works. Like it's almost like the universe was pushing us together to make this film.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

And we we snuck you into the film several times. I mean, we snuck you in as Space Frenzy, we snuck you in as the Roman Witch, and I uh I mean, geez, you're yeah, you you dressed the nuke the comic book store. Good.

SPEAKER_01 13:35

Oh, she's also uh an extra throughout Tuscon in a definition of the city. That's right. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

Yeah, um, and yes, because we were we had to fill in the the room for um one of the scenes we needed a bunch of of spectators and oh in the other scene too, but as yourself.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

So really like five times, I think you're more than anybody else. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

I I didn't even realize that because I knew I was uh you know the extra for the crowd, and I had a fan in front of my face and I was wearing a costume for that. And then I was in the space frenzy costume was in the bookstore uh or comic comic shop, and um I had a I had a mask so that you couldn't and a wig and everything so nobody would know that it was me again. But uh yeah, that's uh that's really funny.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

And you were the lint roller operator.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

That's the one that people oh that's right, yeah, at the very end, as yourself. You're just there yeah, you're just there lint rolling Billy.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

That's so good.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

That was that was fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

So you're not in that you're not in that house anymore?

SPEAKER_03 14:50

No, no, unfortunately the uh the the owner uh was very was was old and she passed away and her kids had to sell all of the properties uh you know uh as stipulated in the will. So I actually had an unexpected move this past um February, March, and um had to very quickly find a place. Yeah, it wasn't fun, but um, you know, it happens. I do miss that house. I miss there was an owl in this you remember the big eucalyptus tree in the backyard that just towered over. There was there were two hawks and an owl that lived in that tree. And I've just I've I've seen the hawks hunting around in the neighborhood, and the owl would talk to me at night. Or, you know, he he probably wasn't talking to me, but I took it, I answered back.

SPEAKER_01 15:49

Yeah, I mentioned it because uh that's another in the long line of places that we have shot at that is no longer the location anymore. It's like either the business is gone or people don't live in the house. It it seems to happen, I mean, uh every time. Uh there's only a couple places from our old movies that are still the same business or person's house. I mean, of course, time moves on and this happens, but it's like there goes another one. At least we don't have to do reshoots because we're not getting back in there. Yeah, Charlie changes business. Yeah, I just drove past them. Nothing, nothing in the old Charlie's place. The people that took over just empty building. Yeah, crazy. That's terrible.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

But I mean, to have those two locations right across the street from each other, and we're running back and forth with cameras getting this shot here. I mean, it couldn't have been better.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Yeah, yeah, picking picking broken pottery out of your front yard. Yes. Can we break this stuff in your driveway? We promise we'll pick it up.

SPEAKER_03 16:49

Yeah, I found bits of that for months. You know, tiny little bits.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

There was no way we were gonna get it all, but we tried. Uh thinking on that Vegas um that that was uh thinking back on that, I I sort of goaded Jeff into buying that costume. Uh, because he I kept going, just buy it. You know, just just buy it. We'll figure out a use for it. It's a great costume, it looks great, just buy it, buy it. And then I'm and then that's the my last one was we'll put Jessica in it. She'll look great in it. And he was like, that's what we'll do, and he bought the dang thing. It was hilarious.

unknown 17:23

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 17:24

And I had to do I actually ended up having to do quite a bit of work to that costume to get it. Um, I don't know how old it was. We we were really trying to place the uh the date of it, but the there were certain materials that were used that made me think it was maybe not seven, it was probably closer to the like maybe the eighty late eighties or not um something ninety.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

I want to say the guy said the store said it was eighties, like late eighties.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

But that would fit. But I had to re-glue the beads on there was a lot of bead there was a bead trim that was around everything, and I had to re-glue a lot of that. And um and I also sure uh shored up some of the um the Velcro in bits to so that everything stayed on. Yeah, but uh it was actually in surprisingly good condition. Um it was a great looking costume.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

I mean, like I said, with that staff, it was just a great looking costume. It's it's um yeah, really good.

SPEAKER_03 18:21

Yeah, that staff was a lot of fun to make too. I um really kind of I was inspired by the costume to to do the staff, and I wanted to make something that didn't look like it, you know, she wasn't a wizard or anything like that. And I didn't want to do a typical crone staff or anything, but um going on that like a witch's staff from a video game or something. Well, it was going more from the theme of okay, I you know, people say I think you called it a ro the Roman witch, and I was like, you know, it does look kind of Greek or Roman, the costumes. So I'm gonna make something that kind of is reminiscent of that. But I didn't make it I didn't want an eagle on a staff, but I kind of looked at some of the styles of that, and I created something out of foam, and then I added the LEDs inside the base of that foam, and then I put um it was a smart it was one of those Christmas spalls that uh you know from the crafting store, and I put spray painted inside with and glue glittered it inside so it was all shimmery and um that's so cool. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It made it look like it looked like faux bronze is what I made it look like.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

But glowing with like a green glow is so cool. Um so did you what was your experience like with us, you know, like as um being on camera? How how did you, you know, I I I normally ask actors about like what kind of direction they like from direct you know, feedback they like from directors. So but I I know you just kind of worked with us on films, so you know what was that like? Did did we give you good feedback? Did you feel like you were you knew where you were going, or were you just flying blind?

SPEAKER_03 20:01

Uh no, you guys did an excellent job of um coaching me and you know making sure, you know, you told me which way to look and how to how to interact with the camera, being in your face and not looking at the camera. And um and you were extremely patient with my with me when I was flubbing my lines over and over again, trying to, you know, remember the right order to say things the right way. And I also want to say that you were also very um open to my feedback of what my lines consisted of, because there were a couple of things, a couple of tweaks that I thought would sound a little bit um so well, more natural for the character as well, because my take was that this was a gaming geek girl who you know is into live action role play and um was trying to invite Billy into her group because he just you know he looked like he'd be a good a good candidate for her gaming group. And so that was the that was what I that's how I approached the character. And uh so yeah, I was just really I was really appreciative of just everything, all the the way everybody, you know, kind of coached me and guided me, and Cliff, especially you, uh, you know, letting me know what to, you know, how to change something, and your instructions were always very clear. So I never really I was I never felt like I didn't really know what you were referring to. You know.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

That's good. Like I've said in other in I think in other podcasts, it's being on the other side of the lens, you never can tell, right? Like oh, I I w I got it. I like what I got, but do they feel like they also got it, right?

SPEAKER_03 21:49

Yeah. Yeah. I also um even like on when it was really s when everybody was under a lot of stress, like the night that we did the the shoot behind the bar the um the liquor store. That was a really long night and it was cold and everybody was tired and it was getting towards the end of the the shoot you know the time allotted for us. So it was like two weeks straight of just lots of late nights and working hard and I just remember um I could see how tired and exasperated you were like I remember the the helicopter going by like repeatedly and circling the police helicopter circling looking for for you know yes so somebody was running from the cops like two blocks from our chute. Right. And so the police helicopter just goes and goes and goes and um but but even then you are you handled it you know and and um we don't have any other choice you know we're not we're not leaving we're not leaving without the chute without the footage so right the funny thing is is we then have to wait for it to be silent so we can get the take so later we can add artificial background sounds the whole thing doesn't make any sense that's hilarious. Oh I also remember a comment that Marty you said this was at the when we were at the other doing the very final shoot at the new comic shop John's comic shop and um you made a comment about oh you're not wearing those noisy boots because I was I was I wasn't a fad of wearing I have these cowboy boots that are like my favorite boots. And I would tiptoe I was trying so hard to tiptoe but apparently you cannot tiptoe in you know cowboy boots.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

No yeah that those things echo that's hilarious. And and a good part of the the filming in that first section of you know that two weeks that you we did most of the filming of the film um I was wearing those boots and I was working on I was doing the um I what do you call it the clapper the yeah the slate slate the slate the slate yes and so of course you know you say you know you do the clack and then tiptoe out of the scene my it's it's I always love putting people on the slate who haven't done anything before because they're always you know you because you tell them and and it's it's pretty straightforward once you do it a few times right like oh okay I pointed at this camera clap you know I say the thing I pointed at the other camera I do it and then I get out of here but the you know the first couple times that you do it it's always fun to watch them because they're timid and they're looking at you like did I do that right like yeah no get out of the way come on yeah that was a lot of fun though yeah the love song of William H.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Shaw scene 75 take one action click what you wouldn't say action you know click and then you'd hear but not always just if you know we had like a hardwood floor or something.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

And if there was any sand on the floor at all or on the on the gravel concrete it would grind by the you know because I was tiptoeing but even well and that that room was that room was just that was a live room that like the everything bounced in that room too like the echo was just out of control so I'm sure that was part of it.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

So you said that you you kind of came up with the backstory for your witch character and that's kind of like a natural actor thing to do. So uh out of all the different things to do on a film set, you know, acting or set decoration or location scouting you know just to mention a few of the things that you did I'm like jotting down notes like oh costume designer we gotta put her in the credits for that too what what uh would you most be interested in doing on further film projects what what was the uh the occupation that caught your interest the most all of it all of it yeah I loved I love so I have ADD and I like lots of variety and lots of different things lots of different problems to solve puzzles you know those on a film set and uh so yeah there was a it just felt like I was I felt useful I felt like I was able to help even if it was to go get somebody a bottle of water or um just to stand by on set and see if anybody needed anything to be able to do that um as well as to be able to set the scene or if you needed somebody to run the slate or you know yeah all of it you you fit on the set like it was like I mean first time at producer and you're you know you're set design you're set dressing with Jeff you're you're you're part of the art department you've helped with locations and then when you're on set you're out of the way you're doing exactly what you you're where you need to be you're out of the way you're easily reachable and you're working it was it was perfect.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

I mean it was like uh it's like she's been here the entire time where where where were you the last 10 years by the way come on well you know I'm on other films.

SPEAKER_03 27:19

Well I'm happy to participate in anything you guys do in the future uh oh we've we've we've got some stuff coming up excellent excellent because I really and you know I don't know if I would want to be on just anybody's film crew but because I know you guys have said that there was some special magic that seems to happen on your crews that are not necessarily typical.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Jeff particularly has said that before I we've been told by people that work with us that our sets aren't I don't want to say they're not spectacular they're just not normal like there's not a lot of the normal stuff that goes on sets there's not a lot of infighting there's not if once this once this shoot you're gonna see me and Marty blow up at each other that's the big fireworks probably you know some sort of argument. But other than that I mean it's pretty mellow we you know we have actors show up when that that aren't slated for the day just to kind of watch what we're doing. That's I've I've been told that's not normal. So it's it yeah I I like to just I like to create a team and a family and and I feel like because everybody's wearing so many hats and we're all pushing towards the same goal it tends to make a it tends to make a bond.

SPEAKER_03 28:28

Yeah I would I would say so and you know I remember uh before I was even part of the crew um there was a few months after I had met you guys there was I think it was at um Tucson Comic Con and I ran into Marty and Jeff and and um it was uh Bradford and Christina is that yeah Brad um I don't remember if I don't remember Christina but I do remember um uh Nate was there. Oh yeah yeah yeah and there were a few people that maybe popped in and left and you were doing the panel and I went to I went for the panel but I remember there was this afterwards um when it was time to just wander around and explore Comic Con you you paused for a photo opportunity with the cast and Marty said to me get over here you're part of the group now you're part of our family and I just felt like like because I was just gonna be out of the way again and uh you know that pretty much I think that pretty much sealed it for me and uh so it was very exciting to later be um have the opportunity to be able to participate in the film and just be able to do all the things that I got to do.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Well I'd like to I mean I've I've Marty and I have said this over and over again and we'll continue to say it. You and Jeff brought so much to the picture because we don't we we're so busy and we don't have I don't I can't I can't A I can't sew B there's no way if you put me in a room to say dress this artistically so it looks good I'm gonna be like uh I can light it but it takes a it takes somebody with a mind to do that type of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

I feel like you and Jeff really added a lot you know oh I remember one of those first mornings where I think we were having a read through at Charlie's store. Yeah and then we all went and had Mexican food afterwards and it just I just remember ideas starting to click and it was like okay this is going to be a good group of you know five or six of us here yeah I just pleasant memory one of the things that was that was a fun day Eric was there too yeah Eric Eric joined us for food um one of the things that I think also that I noticed is being able to find things find resources find props find bits and like I don't know where Jeff found it but remember when we were doing the promo video shoot and he found he found I think it was a buffalo hide for to go because we were doing uh you know we were doing some kind of a set where we had a throne and um yes and uh we needed to make it look like it was a wild kind of um what would you call it viking not Viking but it's kind of a warrior scene and we took my living room chair and and I put some faux fur on the living room chair draped it a certain way and then added a s a foam skull in one place and just we we set it all up and um you know but I I am a crafter so I had a a foam skull.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Of course you did that's I mean and honestly I remember meeting you and saying wow your costume looks great this is at Tuscon the first time when we remember we're all sitting around the table on the second level I think this was after we had we we all just met and we're talking about your costume and you're telling me how you well oh I made this and um put it together and I made this thing and I crafted this thing and I'm like yep um we'll need that you know like somebody who can do the type of you know I that let's bring that person into the mix and heck Jeff you know and and you know Jeff's got art great art sense too so it was it was a perfect marriage for the art department and it worked great.

SPEAKER_03 32:37

Well I didn't realize I was being interviewed at that time for but for future potential work.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

I'm I'm bad about that if I see if I see somebody who's talented about that my first thought is hmm I wonder how we can use them in the movie. I wonder how we can it's it's a it's it's it's the it's the the curse of like an indie filmmaker.

SPEAKER_03 32:54

You're always thinking I can do this for cheap the the most challenging thing for me and the thing that I've realized I'm just this is just not for me is um the Indiegogo campaign Jeff and I were working on the you know getting the campaign you know trying to set something up and I have a background in graphic design but I don't have a marketing you know background and I did I didn't know really how to make something that would draw people to to see something. You know I mean it's easy to look at stuff and say well I like how this looks and seems very inviting to me but when it came down to trying to do it it was actually the hardest thing and I finally told Jeff I I don't think I can help you because this is just beyond my skill set. You know give me something physical to manipulate and I'll craft the heck out of it.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

But yeah I I mean marketing is uh honestly tough I think it's probably one of the toughest ends of the business in general is mark is it's it's hard to market yourself it's hard to create marketing materials you know that's a really special skill set and I I really really admire people who can do it because I sh I I I struggle with it.

SPEAKER_03 34:15

Yeah it's there's it definitely takes a special mindset and I definitely did not have that mindset.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

So I don't I don't blame you. No we did finally launch that and it was you know fairly successful. We made running some money off of it so well it was such a bad time.

SPEAKER_03 34:36

I mean it was in the middle of the pandemic and um I mean we filmed at the beginning of the pandemic so like we were I remember we fin we actually shut down a few days early because we had to we had people who had to fly to their homes.

SPEAKER_00 34:54

We had actors that lived elsewhere and had to get home before they shut the air airports down and and there were actors that were there were actors that were just like this is we've we've gone to the limit of what I'm willing to do here. You know like I I'm not my this is the limit of where I'm willing to put myself health wise and risk wise. And we've got to respect that.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

Yeah exactly and uh you know we we did the masks and the clean you know the hand sanitizer and everything but um but yeah it was it was such a actually I will say that I'm so glad that I that we did what we did right before the pandemic because that was without that highlight of those two weeks filming that would have been the beginning of a really dark dark it was yeah I mean it was it was the thing that I could look back and say well at least I had this experience before going into complete isolation and going into you know the the lockdown and and the the fear of what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 35:57

So I'm gonna pause for two seconds here because I want to make sure everything's okay.

SPEAKER_01 36:02

Don't worry about this I can cut all this out you're back you good yeah that was a weird hiccup it just yeah yeah it just dumped you but you're back okay all right so sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you Jessica I just want to make sure we were there well there he goes again all right well maybe he'll need to turn his video off too then I guess maybe maybe you turn off your yeah yeah I would try that weird okay yeah that is very weird all right well let's just uh let's give it twenty or thirty seconds to make sure we're okay and then we'll jump back in um good conversation so far so far Jessica thank you you're you're bringing back a lot of great memories yeah actually just I guess you guys are sparking a lot of those memories because stuff that I haven't necessarily I did I was trying to think about what what what I was going to talk about a little bit and I was like um I don't know it's fantastic um it was good that we went through with shooting in early March because like you were saying you know it helped me get through the lockdown time period too at least I had you know some footage to edit and remember that oh yes we have something to focus on through this yeah and um well for me of course I just went back to working and luckily I was uh you know my company I was lucky enough to be able to continue to work and you know being being in QC for for software it was easy for us to create a remote environment for people to you know we we we already had something in place but we made it more robust so I was able to work from home and uh which I still work from home two to three days a week.

SPEAKER_03 37:46

So I work I go into the office two to three days and then you know the other so it's it's it's nice to be able to do that. I love being able to because sometimes I work late and I don't like to leave uh you know drive at night or things like that so it's easier to work longer hours at home um but I also like having the interactions with people at work.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

So yeah it's a bit of a trade-off yeah but it it's funny I re remember during the pandemic how I it was I was really happy to be a kind of um an introvert because I'm I was not really phased by being alone in my house um but I did I did find that when I would go into the office when things started to loosen up again I was so excited to see people it was it gave me a new appreciation for actually being around folks but um hey it's that guy I didn't like but I can stand now because it's good to see him because it's a human being in person and then 10 minutes pass and you're like oh yeah yeah that's good I'll go back home so obviously you're a very creative person uh and I know film is kind of a relatively new thing but what's your main creative outlet? Is it is it a lot of the things that you brought to the film I'm guessing that um no actually it's completely different.

SPEAKER_03 39:27

Uh so uh because of the pandemic I haven't had any reason to do anything with costumes. In fact I've packed up my costumes when I moved and I'm considering selling some stuff because I haven't sewn and I haven't really felt oh no I mean I'll still do special things from time to time but it doesn't it's not the passion that I had at the time and of course that will change like if I get if if I find something that inspires me I'm gonna go after it. So you know if that bring comes up I'll make something costume wise again. But I've been doing a lot of small crafts I've been doing a lot of um miniature things which I used to do little things I I've done some matchbox dioramas that are just tiny little shadow boxes. I did those a few years ago and just just with found things and then um I guess part of the isolation was me watching a lot more YouTube and I started finding all of these amazing crafters online that were making dioramas and and um and demonstrating how to do things. And so I have basically kind of gone through a crash course of how to do miniature crafting things from everything from like model scale scale model railroad stuff to dioramas and things for for role playing games. I'm just starting to learn how to build and make tiny things um and it's so fun it's addicting it's relaxing it's been very therapeutic um especially w during the move because that was so stressful and once I I literally I moved into the new place I unpacked my bedroom I unpacked my crafting bench and all of my stuff and the kitchen and that was pretty much it for a few months. I didn't unpack a lot of other things they just were in boxes and I just spent all my time crafting um as as therapy and um just a lot of fun super fun. You're an artist that's what that is that's called that's called doing art well it it is yeah I mean it is it's it's finding some new creative out and but it's just so fascinating to make miniature versions of things that are around you in real life like little buildings or you know how do I make doors how do I make these little windows or um and there's so many neat tricks and I've gotten better tools I've gotten I've learned how to do things that I won't go into here because you guys your eyes would cross but it's just so a little too in uh you know too many details but so much fun for me definitely um I I definitely nerd out that's fantastic do you um do you have uh this is my question I ask everybody because I'm I'm I'm in I'm I'm writing a um screenplay based on a band right so uh I've become fascinated with not necessarily musicals those are I like those but movies that are you know heavily based in music or about music do you have a do you have like a particular film like that that you like? Well yes actually um so one of my most favorite films of music like live band playing music is Talking Heads Stop Making Sense. Oh that's a good one that film I saw that film in the theater when I was a child because my mom went to a rated R movie and the only G-rated movie was was that and there was a claymation guy on the or something I think the poster had some it just looked like it was something that a kid would watch and so I remember of course it was lost on me because I was probably like eight years old and I remember sitting in the theater the whole time going when are the cartoons gonna start you know but I I have a feeling that somehow it that film and the music probably directed my taste in music without me even realizing it. And and I was lucky enough a couple of years ago a few years well before the pandemic um the the Loft did a showing of of Stop Making Sense and I got to go and see it and I was practically in tears. I was so enchanted by it again. It just just it's just phenomenally done and I've watched it a couple of times Since then, because it's just it's masterful the way that they did it.

SPEAKER_00 44:06

Yeah, that's a this that's the one where he's doing the arm waving, right?

SPEAKER_03 44:10

Yeah, he he his suit the suit gets bigger and bigger and bigger. He keeps coming out, and it's a bigger suit, uh, with massive shoulders and the sleeves hang down, and that you know. Um yeah, another music musical film that is kind of an indie film um that I really, really loved was uh The History of Future Folk.

SPEAKER_00 44:36

Oh, I haven't heard of this one. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 44:37

That so that film it's a it's a trip, it's a riot. It's about aliens who come to Earth to destroy the planet and they encounter music which their alien culture doesn't have, and particularly they encounter um bluegrass music and they start playing blue they they form a bluegrass band.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_03 45:01

And it is the songs are great, they're hilarious, they're fun, and it's a real band that decided to make a film, and that's what they did. Interesting. So it's a bit it's I definitely recommend watching it. It's a great, it's a great movie.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

Something that you mentioned, you said uh your parents were in an R-rated movie, and so you went to the only G-rated movie. So do you come from the time where your parents were like, you're going to this movie, we're going to this movie, and we'll meet you when it's over.

SPEAKER_03 45:29

Um, well, I think I I did. Yeah, to some to some extent. I mean, uh so it was it was just my mom. I mean, she was, you know, my parents divorced when I was very young. So uh um, but she was I I guess she was dating. I didn't realize that she was dating because she never really, you know, made that explicit to me. But she was out with with a friend that I had, you know, I just thought he was one of our friends. And uh, but yeah, she sh they went to see I don't know what they went to see, but they um I was too young for it, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:05

I I I I think that's a common thing for I I don't hear it as much from people nowadays, but like when we were it was the eighties, it was the early 80s, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:12

It's the early 80s late 70s, you know.

SPEAKER_00 46:14

Yeah, like I remember I remember they wouldn't let me go see Orca or some movie, I can't remember. It's like some one of the and they made me they put me in Greece, or I think I am I may have those years, I'm sure, completely wrong, but that's about right. Yeah, well, I mean I mean as far as the probably the movies coming out at the same time, but there I I can clearly remember not getting to go to certain movies and being pushed into others while they went to see things that I actually really wanted to see.

SPEAKER_03 46:40

There was one time that my mom actually couldn't find a babysitter and went on another date and they just had nothing else, no other option, because they were going to they went to this old theater in my hometown that was basically just an old um I guess Broadway sort of play theater, and they had converted it into one big movie theater and it had food and it was a lot like Dilof, but with just only one screen. And um, so I got to see Revenge of the Nerds before I was that way before I was old enough to get what was going on there.

SPEAKER_00 47:19

That's so funny. We just went to Mad Monster last year and met Lewis from uh the head one of the head nerds and ogre and um we got to meet them. They were they were very, very nice people. It was quite fun.

SPEAKER_03 47:32

It's funny because I can picture their faces still just from that. I don't think I've seen that movie in ten years or more.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

Filmed in Tucson. Yeah, I like this. Oh really? Yeah, filmed at the end of the scenes, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:47

I think I remember reading about that and thinking maybe I should watch that movie again, but I don't know that I actually did.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

I don't know. So I think for some people it holds up, and for others you're like, ooh.

SPEAKER_03 48:01

You know, I'm I'm always surprised at the movies that were filmed around here. Um and I started to kind of explore films. Um, there was one that was filmed years ago. It was an old black and white film. Oh gosh, no, I'm not gonna remember the name of it. But it was such a great film. Uh you'll have to cut this piece out. I totally totally forgot the name of this film. But it was an excellent, excellent film. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 48:32

Did we do you have a any do you have did we cover any all your questions, Marty? I think you may have.

SPEAKER_01 48:36

Well, let's see here. Uh, do you have any favorite moment from the sets?

SPEAKER_00 48:41

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:42

Oh I all of them.

SPEAKER_00 48:48

I feel the same way.

SPEAKER_03 48:50

It's hard to it's really hard to pick because there were just so many great times. Like I remember watching when we were filming some of the scenes um with Eric and um oh gosh, I forgot her name.

SPEAKER_00 49:05

Sarah.

SPEAKER_03 49:06

Sarah, yeah. Um there was one scene that was very poignant, and at the end of it, I mean I was in tears a little bit, just sitting there. Why it was so well done. Um and there was you know was it the kid scene? Was it the talking about yeah, the baby?

SPEAKER_00 49:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:28

That one was just it was very poignant, and it just it really tugged at me. And um that's so there was a lot of there was a lot of great acting in Sarah Nail on that. Um I just remember being kind of blown away at all of the different scenes that I was a par party to that just the the excellence of acting that kind of happened and the and also just the rapport, like you said, uh just being on set. I enjoyed just sitting there waiting sometimes, you know. It was the time to to sit down and relax, and you're hanging out with your buddies and you know, having some snacks or whatever, and then you get up and go and rush around and do all the things again. Um, it was neat watching how films are put together. Like I didn't realize until I watched you guys that you would film a certain scene from different angles over and over again. You know, you try different things just to get something that would work or just to get the right flow of you know, the actors, what that their lines or whatever it might be. And um so it was just really amazing to, I guess that's called B-roll.

SPEAKER_00 50:40

Yeah, I mean, yeah, we shot we shot some B-roll. I think yeah, coverage is what we call it. There's also there's also times where we where you get because we don't always have access to our sets ahead of time, you know, we plan out the shot and then you get there and you go, Oh, the the geography of this room isn't really the same, the layout of this room isn't really what we were expecting. And so you have to kind of go into troubleshooting mode and figure out how you're gonna shoot the scene, you know, like okay, we'll do our master here and then we'll do a close-up and then we'll do something here and that type of thing.

SPEAKER_03 51:07

Yeah. I I also really enjoyed watching how you guys had you guys had a lot of extras, you know. I mean, of course there was the Tuscon event, which was a big group, but then there was also the the co um the comic store, the first comic store, which was um Isle of Games. And and that was really fun. I got to have one of my best friends and co-worker uh got to be one of the extras in the scene in in one of those scenes. And I just loved like he surprised me. I was like, wow, he did such a great job. He's really funny. I knew he would be, but he he went above and beyond what I had seen. Because we used we play a lot of, you know, we're part of a gaming group and we would play games and um and he would do a lot of characterizations and stuff in the games, but he just took it even further. It was just awesome. So yeah, it just really there's so many tiny moments, little bits and pieces that I can remember, and just that really like I'll treasure those memories.

SPEAKER_00 52:18

I I I that's that's the stuff that I wish I had a better memory, right? So I could recall them all instantly, because I agree with you. I like it. It's all it's all good, right?

SPEAKER_03 52:27

Well, you know, that's what happens when when the movie comes out and it finally goes for sale, and you know, I'm gonna buy it, and then I can watch it and I'll be able to remember those memories because I'll remember what was going on behind the scenes in these scenes, and I cannot wait to see the film all put together. I just I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_00 52:48

It's it's it's coming out. I think it's coming out pretty good. Marty, you'll have to bring me in here, but I think it's probably it's probably our best film.

SPEAKER_01 52:55

Oh, it definitely is, yeah. I I don't think there's any doubt. I mean, it's nothing, no disparaging of our previous, but you should get better with each, and I feel like we hit another level with this one. Yeah, yeah, I agree. And you know, if you're happy on set when you're just waiting to do stuff, then you belong on a film set because most of it is waiting, and a lot of people can't handle that. But you're you're enjoying the waiting. See, you you you found your calling.

SPEAKER_03 53:24

Well, you know what? Call me up. I'm here.

SPEAKER_00 53:30

I love that. I love I love being in the middle of the work and then just kind of you kind of look up and you look around, and everybody's doing something. You know, maybe somebody's chilling with a bottle of water, the audio engineer is maybe taping somebody up with a mic, and then you know the actors are running lines over here, and you're in your thing, and and you realize it's all gonna coalesce in just a minute in front of a camera. It's really fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

So I had one more question for so before we wrap up. And I think it's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 53:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:59

Where does the name biscuit come from?

SPEAKER_00 54:04

We don't have to. Yes, our audience can understand why they would call you biscuit.

SPEAKER_03 54:08

So uh it is it's a fun story. Um, when I it goes it goes back to my early college days. Um, one of my best friends in college was well, first of all, he was a master at naming things. He he really had a alliteration down a master namer. And he, for instance, he he liked to play pool and he had named his pool cue toddler turkey neck. Don't know why, don't know where that came from, but it just rolled off the tongue, and I still remember it to this day, and it's been more than 20 years. Um, but one of the things that we would do is we would watch uh a lot of the late night wrestling shows. We watched WWE, but our our preference was like extreme championship wrestling, and you know they had like the the explosions happening outside of the thing, and they'd throw thumbtacks out on the field or on the TNT Nitro and all that stuff, yes. Yeah, I mean it was it was beyond that. I mean, it was like it was the it was the low, well it was kind of low, it was low budget compared to the big you know network programs, but and it literally you had to wait until like 3 a.m. to watch it because that's when it aired. Because it was it was pretty violent, but it was hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 55:30

But anyway, we're not gonna ask what you guys are doing up at 3 a.m. Well, get into some kind of crazy trouble getting it.

SPEAKER_03 55:38

Being in college, being young college people, not sleeping. But um, so anyway, he were his dream was to be a wrestler, and he decided that I was gonna be his you know bikini clad sign girl that would walk around. And so his wrestling name was gonna be Horace P. Love Shaft, and I was gonna be his sidestick, sidekick Lucy Lovebiscuit.

SPEAKER_00 56:03

Oh, I love it. That's that's actually oh that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 56:07

So yeah, Lucy Lovebiscuit is the and I kept kept that name.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

That's fantastic. I got you. So that's I it's the weirdest thing when you introduce yourself and you're like, call me biscuit. And I was like, okay. I mean, I guess that's fine.

SPEAKER_03 56:22

So the second part of that is that when I got married, my my husband was from England and he had to have everything shortened, nicknames and everything. And of course, in England, biscuit is the equivalent of a cookie, it's not not the kind of and so he started calling me biscuit, and that's so he was the one who actually gave me the biscuit because he couldn't bother to say Lucy Lovebiscuit. And that wasn't really a nickname. Lucy Lovebiscuit was more of a you know, that's a persona name, a you know, a cosplay name, maybe, but it's not a nick a nickname. So biscuit became my nickname, and um, yeah, so that's the story.

SPEAKER_00 57:01

I I never knew until now, and I'm glad I do. That's a great story. And now you know the rest and now you know the rest of the story. Um, Jessica, thanks a million for showing up for this. We really appreciate it. Um, I haven't seen you in so long, so it's really good to get to see you again and talk to you. You look like you're doing great, and I'm I'm I'm hoping you're well and all that. And um the film should be early next year, and as soon as we've got an option, as soon as we got a way for you to watch. I think we're I think Marty we're talking about a watch party, maybe, right? Yeah, that I think that would be kind of cool. You know, that would be cool. Watch it. Just host it over Zoom or something and have everybody ch just jump in and we can watch it all together and you know throw things at the screen in Rocky Horror style if we want to.

SPEAKER_03 57:46

I would I would I don't even know if we're doing if Tuscon would be an option, but I sure would love to see it premiered at Tuscon to kind of come full circle to um to how I met you guys and got started.

SPEAKER_00 58:01

We're going to um I think we're going to do a sneak this this year, and then next year we're gonna show it because we don't, we we just it's not gonna be ready.

SPEAKER_03 58:09

No, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 58:10

It's quotes, but just not a hundred percent. And we're like, well, let's just do a hundred percent. But we might prep prep like you know, like a like a clip or something to show or something, some kind of presence.

SPEAKER_00 58:22

A trailer, a sneak a sneak, something like that. Yeah, we want to give we we definitely want, I mean, we want it we wanted to show there this year so badly. It's just it didn't happen. Post-production just took longer than we expected.

SPEAKER_03 58:34

Well, yeah, everything's taken a lot longer with the times being what they are, but but that's gonna make it even sweeter when it's finally there and ready to see.

SPEAKER_00 58:44

So it's come a lot better here for it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's the the extra time is really benefiting the film. Yeah, it's it's definitely it's it's helping it. So I mean, give it just gives us more time to make sure it's tweaked where we want it to be.

SPEAKER_03 59:01

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 59:06

Well, Jessica, again, thanks so much. Um I think we're gonna go ahead and end the podcast, right, Marty? Yeah, I think so.

SPEAKER_01 59:13

You have anything you want to plug? Or we always ask our guests if they want to plug anything.

SPEAKER_03 59:19

Uh no.

SPEAKER_00 59:20

A site for Lucy Love Biscuit?

SPEAKER_03 59:22

No, no, no, I don't have anything like that. I'm I'm not uh I'm like I said I'm an introvert. I just kind of I like to be you know involved in stuff, but not you know not the center of attention. Exactly. Yeah. Well that's what support staff.

SPEAKER_00 59:39

You were you were perfect on the set for that then. That was exactly it. Um well okay. Well, Jessica, thanks again. We really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_03 59:47

Thank you. It was such a delight to be able to talk to both of you again and just share all the memories and you know, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 59:54

Yeah, and we'll see, and again, we'll see each other, we'll see each other soon at some point. And uh, if we don't do it, we're not gonna do it this year, but next year when we premiere it, I I'm in I I get the feeling I'll be out there all get together. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:06

Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:07

All right. All right. I'll see you later, guys.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:11

Bye.