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

ER - I started making films on my camcorder as a kid, including an extremely controversial pitted prune commercial with the tagline, "Prunes, they go right thru ya!" as we dropped one in the toilet. I still think of it as my best work yet. From there, I got into performing and video production in high school, college, and moved to NYC to pursue acting after graduating. I got deep into improv, sketch comedy, and then found my reps. After a few years of acting, I started to want more and more creative input. I loved working with directors like Jeff Huston (Embalming Fluid) who brought the actors into the filmmaking process early on to create characters together via improvised and semi-scripted rehearsals. I’ve been taking a page out of his book ever since.

SD - Similar to Emma I was goofing around on camcorders and my old Logitech web cam with friends, piecing together pure masterpieces on critically acclaimed  imovie. These videos never saw the light of day, RIP Super Nerds, but making them was what really enforced what I wanted to do. I always believed I was going to go to film school but began acting in high school and that followed me to college where I studied acting and directing at Marymount Manhattan College. I’d been messing around with comedy, making music videos and been jonesing to get back into directing film but had been directing primarily theatre so when emma came to me with the idea it seemed like the perfect time to dip my toes back into filmmaking. 

2) What’s the backstory here - what was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there?

ER - I got really into film photography and started shooting friends. I met Harry (Muse) at his twenty four hour theater festival called 24, that he hosts scantily clad with a Foster’s in hand. I began shooting him during breaks at the festival and our Artist and Muse characters were born out of making fun of ourselves and the greater NYC art scene as a whole. We call these characters, ‘art world trash’. They went to art school or are only friends with people who did and say words like ‘clout’ and ‘juxtaposition’ a lot. I liked the idea of actualizing the worst art opening I could think of. It was so much fun to celebrate the arbitrary nature of artistic taste, how we define ourselves by the art we like, and what one can get away with under the guise of ‘artistic expression’. I wanted to address the biting competitive nature that poisons the artistic well. We started building the script structure and back story from continually riffing in character then I’d write and embellish. We marketed the shoot like a satirical play with a film crew and shot it in one weekend.

S D- Emma is by far the mother of this project. I like to think of myself as the stepdad who eventually adopts the children as his own. She had been working really hard on getting all the details together and I was really inspired by how much work she was putting in and wanted to help her out. She had been looking for someone to direct it since she already was acting in it, writing it, and curating a whole exhibit so I was excited to help her shape what she already had. We had been working together for a couple months on smaller projects and just like shooting the shit as friends do and so it made sense for me to hop on and direct. Also so much of it was improvised and we were working with our close friends who are comedians and also incredible improvisers so it was really fun to just play around and see the chaos play out. 

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

ER - The biggest challenge of the film was establishing a safe space on set. Most of the audience wasn't sure what was real and what wasn’t. To add to the fire, the cast brought it to our attention that a known abuser showed up and upset all of us minutes before we began shooting! Thankfully, we all band together to ask this person to leave. We have to hold each other accountable! For me, it was a lesson on being clearer about on set boundaries to everyone involved. On the flip side, it was really touching to see everyone deliver the best take of the shoot (that is the final cut) directly after putting out that fire. 

SD - The biggest challenge was definitely having to advocate for our cast, crew and audience when a known abuser entered the space of a show that’s all about sexuality and nudity. Especially in the post-me too movement where majority of us involved had discussed our own personal accounts of sexual assault, it was extremely frustrating and triggering. The premise was heavily improvised and already features heightened fights and chaos so it was hard to balance that with the real deal. I directed MJ KAUFFMAN’s Sensitive guys in college which is all about addressing sexual assault in liberal arts colleges and how many abusers aren’t held accountable and the difficulty around advocating for yourself when so much of society sides with abusers so it really hit home to be encountering it in another space. It would have just been another victory for this abuser if they got in our way so I was really grateful for our cast and how they spoke up and supported one another to eventually kick this person out and continue what we were there to do. 

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

ER - That’s an incredibly difficult question! The Favourite was... dare I say...a favorite. I think I’ll forever be channeling Olivia Coleman’s fearless performances in everything she does. I’m a bit of a sucker for a good period piece.

SD - I had been waiting for Alma Har’el and Shia Labeouf's  Honey Boy for over a year and when it came out I saw it 3 times in the movie theater, which is excessive but damn what a way to tell a story. I love how they played with time to emphasize how trauma plays throughout a person's time. And the subtle details throughout the film that add to relationships between the characters. Not to mention the actors choices and dialects to sound so much like Shia really knocked my socks off. Was also really happy to see the production designer on Honey Boy, JC Molina, did theatre and production design at my high school and he’s incredible and deserves the world!!

5) What’s next for you?  

ER - Only responding if you call me ‘the Auteur’ from now on. More writing, directing, acting and a narrative podcast!

SD - More goofing off!! Been auditioning and directing and collabing with buddies which is the dreamiest thing I can be doing. Currently acting in our friend Manning Jordan’s play The Brewery that goes up at Dixon Place on the 6th, come one and all!

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Emma Rogers:

https://emmarogers.squarespace.com/

IG: @emrogering

Twitter https://www.facebook.com/emrogering

Sofia Dobrushin:

IG: @ohsofritas https://www.facebook.com/sofia.dobrushin