This week's episode features the incredibly talented actor, writer, and director, MARC MENCHANCA. Marc was one of the first directors to ever hire me as a cinematographer, bringing me on board to shoot his debut feature, THIS IS WHERE WE LIVE. Marc wrote, directed, and starred in the film back in 2013. It played SXSW in competition and then went on to a small theatrical run. That film was the starting point for a long friendship and frequent collaboration over the years. Marc was one of the...

This is the third episode in the WGA inspired mini-season. A break from the usual "Directors on Directing," this season is focused on the granular mechanics screenwriting. Each of these conversations were recorded as a part of a remote writer's group that I ran in early 2020. Though they weren't ever intended to be released publicly - given the WGA (and now SAG) strikes, I thought it would be a small act of solidarity to bring our attention back to the work that goes into the creation of the...

This is the second episode in the WGA inspired mini-season. A break from the usual "Directors on Directing," this season is focused on the nuts and bolts of screenwriting. The second episode features BRADLEY JACKSON, another co-writer on my debut feature, STAGES. Bradley also co-wrote my short film, THE HEIGHTS. But, once again, these two projects are just one of many other credits under Bradley's belt. His first produced screenplay, INTRAMURAL, a comedy about Intramural football, starred...

This is the first episode of our WGA themed mini-season. Born out of an early pandemic writer's group, these conversations were part of a months long writer's group for directors who were writing their own features during the lockdown. Each week, I brought on a different guest to speak about writing and scripts from their perspective. While these conversations weren't intended for public release, given the current WGA strike and the broader conversation about the significance writers have in...

We're back! Not for Season 2, which is currently in production, but rather, a short mini-season that emerged out of a writers group that I ran back in the early days of the lockdown in 2020. Every week, around 30 filmmakers would gather on zoom as I interviewed writers, directors, actors, and cinematographers about their own experiences with writing, reading, or breaking down scripts for production. Then our guest would leave and we would split into smaller groups to each work on our own...

Nearly every one of these episodes has a *Recorded in 2020* as a disclaimer in the show notes. So - the obvious question: why in the world did it take so long to put these conversations out?? The short answer: I got stuck. And getting unstuck was a multi-step process. First, my friend Jake McMullen came alongside me and began editing the episodes and generating the original music. Anna Remus came along to help put a schedule to the process. And suddenly, the episodes were done and...

Ricky Staub is an incredibly talented writer and director who has spent the past decade+ running a production company in Philadelphia called Neighborhood Film Co. Neighborhood, beyond being an accomplished and successful commercial company, also runs an apprenticeship program in which they hire one formally incarcerated person on their staff per year and train them in the art of film production. It's an incredibly inspiring program and one that has had a meaningful impact in the lives of...

This episode is a continuation of my conversation with Jonathan & Josh Baker [TWIN]. Specifically, we dive into some of the hard-won learnings that they discovered while making their first feature film, KIN. Making films is trial by fire and the debrief after the dust settles is such a critical component to growing as a director. It's a rare thing to be able to be a part of such a candid and open conversation about the highs and lows of bringing a feature to life. Huge thanks to...

A conversation with directing duo, TWIN. Jonathan and Josh Baker are Australian-born identical twins who have been creating incredible work across both film and commercials. Their first feature, KIN, was a studio feature based on their short film, Bag Man. It is an amazing debut - ambitious and original in a world clogged with pre-existing IP. We spoke about their start in commercials, betting on themselves, what lessons they learned from their first feature, and how they plan to continue to...

Nikyatu Jusu is on the most compelling and dynamic filmmakers that I've had the pleasure of meeting in the past few years. We were introduced by a mutual actor/friend and after seeing her enigmatic short, SUICIDE BY SUNLIGHT, I knew she was destined for massive projects. When I began the process of recording these interviews, she was my very first call. Thankfully she agreed and took a break from writing her debut feature, NANNY, to come sit and talk with me in studio for a conversation...

This episode is a continuation of my conversation with Bassam Tariq. We pick it up where we left off last week, specifically beginning with the production of his first narrative feature, MOGUL MOWGLI. I would *highly* recommend watching that film as context for this episode. We dive quite deeply into the highs and lows of the process of making that film, working with actors, and trusting your intuition even when it gets difficult. Again, I couldn't be more thankful for Bassam's honesty and...

For the next conversation in this series, I couldn't think of a director I was more eager to speak with than Bassam Tariq. Bassam is on of the most thoughtful, truthful, and talented directors that I've had the chance to meet. We speak about his journey into filmmaking as a Muslim kid in post 9-11 America, his documentary feature THESE BIRDS WALK, and the evolution of his work from documentary into narrative as he prepared to make his debut feature with Riz Ahmed, MOGUL MOWGLI. We recorded...

There is no more fitting a way to kick off this series of interviews than to speak with the idiosyncratic directing duo, The Daniels - two of the most interesting filmmakers working today. We speak about their beginnings, their unique approach to creating a camp-like environment on set, learnings from their first feature, Swiss Army Man, and the myriad challenges of getting a singular piece of work made. This episode was recorded in the spring of 2020 while The Daniels were in...

Welcome to The Process Dispatch. Conversations with directors about directing feature films. What began as a plan to record and release episodes in quick succession somehow became a multiyear process. As a result, the first five episodes of this podcast, all recorded in the summer of 2020, have become a time capsule of sorts - recorded before this season's directors released the work you likely know them for. But there is something special about speaking specifically to process *before*...