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

Carmen - I'm from Chicago where I started doing improv and sketch about 10 years ago. I'm now in Brooklyn where I mostly focus on stand up and writing and acting for film. The first time I got interested in filmmaking was after seeing Dazed and Confused and Goodfellas in high school. I knew I wanted to do something but it just took me 10 years to finally get involved with writing and performing.

Whit - Also from Chicago. I fell in love with movies as a kid, comedies especially, but it wasn't until college until I saw production as a career path. After college I did sketch and improv in Chicago while working day jobs in production. Those two worlds naturally started to coalesce into shooting sketches and shorts with friends.

2) What was the initial idea for this project and how did it evolve from there?

Carmen - We made a short film last year called "I'm Killing It!" We wanted to make a follow up but with covid we found that difficult so we just pulled together our resources that could add production. They included Whit's house and kids. I loosely wrote Single Dad based on experiences of when my brother and I would visit our dad as children.

Whit - Yeah, we talked in April and May of this year about our next project together and we had a fun idea, but it felt too risky and dangerous to execute in that part of the year. Then, into the summer we considered what was feasible to safely produce without potentially exposing ourselves and a crew of people to Covid. This idea sort of naturally arrived from those restrictions.

3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And the easiest part?

Carmen - The biggest challenge was working with a five year old and two year over about a 2.5 day shoot. They don't want to act, they just wanna mess around and eat candy. We felt bad for asking so much of them but they delivered and are definitely the highlight of the film along with Karolena. The easiest part was having the autonomy to do whatever we want on Whit's property, including launching a drone into the air.

Whit - I think both hardest and easiest were the boys. We originally planned to shoot it all in a day, but after shooting the first scene with them, their arrival at the door, Carm and I decided to let them (Really Clark, the 5 year old) be a part of the decision making so it felt more fun. Once we did that it felt really easy to get genuine moments from them, which is what we felt like were the most fun and surprising things to include.

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

Carm - Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock. I loved the simplicity - one set, one man's point of view, and suspense that lingers the duration of the film. It's very relatable in these quarantine times.

Whit - I'd never seen It's A Wonderful Life until last Saturday. I loved it for its patience and the way Frank Capra set up his pins throughout the film to knock them all down in George's time with Clarence. Ten out of ten, would recommend this classic film.

5) What’s next for you?

Carm & Whit - We just made a short film with John Reynolds, called The Mayo Bubble. John is vulnerable after getting dumped by his girlfriend and shat on by his family. Carmen sees him as low hanging fruit to join his Mayo Bubble which is essentially a pyramid scheme. It has a fun touch of Christmas spirit as well. Also, Whit has to cut a PG version of Single Dad to show his kids.

—

Carmen: IG: @Carmenyescarmen | Twitter: @ Carmchristopher

Whit: http://whitconway.com/

IG: @Whitneychristopher | Twitter: @Whitconway