5 Questions with Ryan McGlade

The tale of the poetic incinerator employee and his showbiz mentor is today’s NoBudge premiere. We asked “On Showbiz” director Ryan McGlade where it all comes from, and where he goes to write poetry and be sad…

1) Where is this location, and what sparked this idea?

We shot this in Ozone Park, Queens, in the area near the racetrack. I found the incinerator building on Google Maps, and the flooded area on a "weird NYC locations" blog. The locations lent themselves well to a sort of post-industrial vibe, and I wanted to make a short about someone who is struggling to live up to their own personal embodiment of "showbiz." For me, at least, there's always been a kind of Jiminy Cricket in my head who represents the Platonic ideal of a filmmaker, and sometimes they haven't been very helpful.

2) Can you talk a bit about your cast? And what was your process in working with them?

Murray Hill, who needs no introduction, was in one of my earlier shorts, “Human Resources,” and I had wanted to make something a little more improvisational with him for a long time. I went to college with Jeremy and wanted to cast him in a movie for a while as well, and I thought that he'd have great chemistry with Murray. In terms of the process for this short, I wrote up a very basic set of beats before we shot it, and then we shaped the story and the characters more thoroughly as we went along. They're both amazing improvisers, and it was a treat to see the immediate rapport that they had with each other. We shot it basically in chronological order, which was essential in retrospect  because it made it a lot easier to build to a reasonable emotional climax.

3) Did you yourself ever go weird places and write poetry?

Yeah, I would sometimes write poems and stories in my basement when I was younger. There was this back closet where my parents stored all of our board games, and that was an ideal place to sit in the dark and reflect on things. I wish I wrote more poems in the woods or near garbage dumps or something, though. That's one of my goals for this year.

4) What’s a movie you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you think lives up to its hype?

“The Ascent” (‘77) and “Paddington 2” ('18)

5) You have new projects on the horizon?

I have another short, called “Bennifer,” which I've sent out to festivals and will hopefully premiere online later this year. Next month, I'm shooting a new short in Pennsylvania, called “Harrison City” (which is the town where we're going to shoot it). I'm also finishing up the edit and the sound design of another improvisation-heavy project, a feature-length film called “Larry Larissa Linda,” and writing two other films that hopefully we'll make relatively soon, a feature called “I Was Born to Destroy Your Face,” about competing DIY plastic surgeons, and a short called “Ingrown Neck,” about a marriage shaken by the titular health condition.

Contact Info

Email: ryan.r.mcglade@gmail.com

Website: http://www.ryanmcglade.com/

Social Media

IG: @ryan_mcglade

Twitter: @ryanmcglade