The cringeworthy and increasingly unsettling “Small Talk,” by director Tavis Putnam, follows a young man in Winnepeg and his awkward attempts to reconnect with a childhood friend. We asked Putnam how it began, the fine line between funny and creepy, and what’s next for him…

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

I’ve spent my whole life in the weird little Emerald City of Winnipeg, Manitoba (home of Guy Maddin, birthplace of Beck Hanson’s dad, and the stomping grounds of a teenaged Neil Young!!!). I grew up with regular visits to Blockbuster, and was lucky enough to have parents who let my older sisters and I watch a wide variety of stuff. My mum and dad would usually talk to us about certain aspects of a movie, if it was maybe a little too sophisticated for us, which I appreciate so much now. Looking back, my parents probably just wanted to watch whatever it was they wanted to watch, and figured their kids were down for pretty much anything, as long as it wasn’t X-rated, or something. My sisters and I were TV addicts, so we were definitely down for pretty much whatever was on offer. I remember a friend telling me when we were kids that he wasn’t allowed to watch The Simpsons, and thinking that that was so strange.

In terms of wanting to make my own films, I can’t think of one specific watershed moment, other than watching Full House as a kid, and having my mum tell me that there were people called “Writers” and “Directors” who worked with the actors, and were actually maybe even more responsible for Full House being so darn funny than the Olsen twins and Bob Saget were. Then I saw The Royal Tenenbaums, and Napoleon Dynamite, and was introduced to really, really artsy and ironic movies. Then I saw The Puffy Chair a few years later, and realized that people could make watchable movies with equipment available at Future Shop. Then, a few years after that, I watched Punch Drunk Love after a depressing first year of university in which I got Ds in various Humanities courses, and realized that I wasn’t going to be able to avoid wanting to make movies, and that I should just admit it already. Then I waited another four years or so to really get started. And now I can’t stop.

2) What was the inspiration for this project - what was the first thing that came to you, and how did you build up from that?

The idea for Small Talk came from that strange, uncomfortable moment that always comes up whenever you run into an old friend (or worse, an acquaintance): “We should hang out sometime!” But you both know you never will, even if you sort of want to. Then I thought it would be funny if one person actually really did want to
hang out, and was going to actively make that happen, and soon. Then I wrote the script, and realized that the main character was essentially the exact same character that I had played in my last two short films, (Really Great Friend and The Funny Part—which can both be found on my YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc1usH49QYqVWTGZH7tTsOQ) “Ross St. Clair,” who is essentially an exaggerated, textbook extrovert who has real trouble making friends. I find that so tragic, yet hilarious, which maybe sounds cruel. To be so hard-wired for constant socializing, yet not being able to hold down a friendship... Plus, I am awful at making small talk in real life, so this is my way of working through it—by playing a character who could potentially go all day making nothing but small talk.

3) It’s a fine line here between awkwardly funny and creepy. Can you discuss how you envisioned that line, and the shifts you wanted to take your audience through? 

I love cringe comedy. Maybe because I feel like my whole life has been one big cringe-worthy mess. I also love films that could really go either way, in terms of being creepy/sad/scary, or just really funny, depending on the person watching it, or even someone’s mood. My favourite films and shows are often simultaneously horrifying, and hilarious. I think There Will Be Blood is a perfect example of a movie that can make you laugh at the same time as it’s making you feel kind of sick. (“I’m going to bury you underground, Eli!” is a great example, I think). Also, people like Sacha Baron Cohen and Nathan Fielder have had a big impact on my sense of humour (Nathan was on a TV show in Canada before Nathan For You called This Hour Has 22 Minutes, where he had a very NFY-esque segment called Nathan: On Your Side which I saw for the first time when I was 15, and which made me feel seen, as a terminally-sweaty, socially-uncomfortable, barely-pubescent little
boy with an undeserved sense of comedic confidence).

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

I loved Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma, and Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade. Both are unabashedly emotional, yet retain quite a bit of humour. I like to think that I have pretty eclectic taste, but most of the films that I really love are very much great examples of classic Realism, I guess. Where you are subtly introduced to some semblance of a plot, yet the characters really drive the story. Everything feels grounded in reality, yet the film is not afraid to break away from “what would happen,” in order to explore “what could happen,” when the story calls for it.

Also, I saw Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart recently, and loved it as well. Very different movie from the other two, in a way, but a great example of an extremely well done broad comedy. I love when a movie plays with clichés, and Booksmart was able to acknowledge that certain clichés can be fun, but that it’s even more fun to do something slightly different with them. I will watch pretty much any high school movie, for some reason, but that one is an instant classic.

5) What’s next for you?

I made my first post-school short recently, and am just about finished the picture edit. It’s called The Possessive, and it’s about the ramifications of a grammatical error made in an important professional email. It’s the first thing I’ve made in a while that I’m not also acting in, so that was a nice change. My dad and sister are in it, as are a couple of friends. I’d love to get into some film festivals in the States, like Slamdance
or something, but we’ll see.

I also recently finished writing a couple of episodes for a true crime TV show called Cruise Ship Killers that will be premiering on one of those Outdoor Living-type channels soon. It’s my first professional screenwriting job, so I’m pretty excited about it. My dad is an extra in one of the episodes I wrote, (episode 5) so that’s also
really, really fun and cool!

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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tavis.putnam