1 Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?

I was twelve when my folks bought me a camcorder.

We were living in a house built by Frank Lloyd Wright’s apprentice —

Me wanting to create probably had something to do with that.

Graduating high school, I gave film school a try —

They wouldn’t have me. 

Manual labor was the next best thing.

I became an arborist, I was paid in cash at the end of each day.

I took that cash and paid some actors (both featured in Girlpower).

We made the ugliest little feature. I’d cut trees in the morning and drive to LA to shoot my feature at night.

That film lead to me landing a gig as an editor for reality TV.

Not much has changed, my films are still self funded.

2 What was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there?

I met a girl.

She had bandaids on her fingers…

I started to think about a petty crime thriller.

Cat burglars became attractive. 

Wanted to shoot that world through the lens of realism. 

Wrote a feature about this girl that cases lovers apartments with the intention of burglarizing them.

I couldn’t afford the feature, so I shot the first six pages instead. 

Shorts are hard, I don’t write em — and it shows. 

I like features — y’know, full stories, that’s what I write.

3 What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And generally what part of the creative process do you enjoy the most?

The biggest challenge I faced was knowing that I didn’t have the funding to complete this film.

The shoot was a breeze and the product plays like velvet. Girlpower was supposed to keep going, maybe one day it will.

I live to write, everything after is pretty fun too.

4 What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?

I watch a lot of shit — I know the Safdies’s follow nobudge so I’m gonna say “Uncut Gems” —

Yo! Josh & Benny, watch my flick and fund my feature!

Love your Chinese Bookie “reimagining” —

5 What’s next for you?

I’m just being an all around bad boy —

I wrote this feature — 

The King of Diamonds —

It’s a psychological thriller — 

An ex-con believes that a stash of stolen diamonds are hidden in the house of an old movie star. 

The faded star has got a young protege —  

They play mind games disguised as acting exercises.

The script was nearing development when COVID struck. 

Oh well…

Shooting a music video for the song “Fever Dream” by Scarlett on Sunday…

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https://vimeo.com/animalnoise

IG: @animal.noise