5 Questions with Kat Toledo
1) Can you talk briefly about your background, and how you first got interested in filmmaking?
I first got interested in filmmaking in high school. I saw an ad for a short film contest in a magazine and it got me thinking about what kind of films I’d make. I started renting a bunch of movies from the library and started to write my own stories. I then studied filmmaking in community college, visited the ATA in San Fran, and learned a lot working in the rental department at Kim’s Video.
I’d make videos as gifts for friends here and there. Then I forgot about film for a bit because I got into live comedy. I would once in a while make a sketch video, but at that point I was mostly writing and performing for the stage.
2) What’s the backstory here - what was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there?
There was an online show that I wanted to pitch to and around that time I was watching a bunch of my friend’s foot fetish videos and thought it’d be funny if the feet were characters in a world with a story. I thought of the title, Toe Hoes, and developed it from there. Then I saw that Borscht Film Festival was looking for scripts to commission for their film festival. I sent them what I had for Toe Hoes, they liked it and helped me make it.
3) What was the biggest challenge in making this film? And generally what part of the creative process do you enjoy the most?
Writing the synopsis was embarrassingly hard. Having to write synopses and artist bios in general are my personal hell. Editing was a challenge too. I hadn’t done any real editing in a while so I had to relearn everything as I went, luckily I had a couple great editors to help me out.
I really enjoy building worlds, from creating characters to actually building the sets. I like preparing as much as possible so then I can just focus on directing, which I love. Working with actors and exploring how much funnier we could make a scene run is fun. Being able to depend on a skilled crew is a great feeling. I was amazed at how willing the cast and crew were to make Toe Hoes with me, especially since we basically didn’t have any budget.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
I watched Good Time (2017) recently and I really loved it, probably because of that emo Iggy Pop song at the end. Seriously though, it was a really strong film that looked amazing and made me feel something. I don’t know, anti-hero stories really do it for me and the soundtrack is amazing.
5) What’s next for you?
More films! I’d love to make Toe Hoes a serial. I’ve been working on a couple TV scripts that I want to develop. Direct videos for friends. I just want to keep making stuff, perform, and have fun.
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http://kattoledo.com
IG: @Kat_Toledo
Twitter: @kat_toledo
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