5 Questions with Matt Porter — NIGHTY NIGHT
1) What have you been up to since we last spoke in April of last year?
Since April, I’ve been continuing to work freelance as a writer and director, including directing a music video for Phoebe Ryan, making a new sketch for my sketch series that I co-create called Good Cop Great Cop, and co-showrunning a little end of the year TV special for the SyFy channel. I also attended five weddings.
2) What’s the backstory here - what was the initial idea and how did it evolve from there?
I’ve always been someone who struggles to fall sleep. Sometimes it just happens, but most of the time, it doesn't. So, when there was a brief moment a few years ago when I thought I might have to do an overnight sleep study, my immediate thought was: “what if I can’t fall asleep?” I called multiple sleep labs, and all of them assured me that “sooner or later, everyone falls asleep.” This did not make me feel better. Ultimately, my insurance wouldn't cover the overnight study and so I instead did the “take home” version of the test, in which you attach a bunch of wires to yourself and then go to sleep in your own bed (it luckily came back negative). Either way, this experience is what inspired the idea. I also just loved the strange aesthetic of those little cheap-looking hotel rooms that they set up for the sleep studies, often hidden somewhere on a sad hospital floor or in a bland office building. Once I began writing, I also started to realize it was a film about loneliness, existential fear, and human connection. And of course, forest animals.
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?
The biggest challenge was probably the schedule. We shot it all in a single day, and while it was mostly two locations, our “control room” location was across the street from our “sleep room" location. This meant that we only had an hour or so at the end of our very long day to move across the street, set up, and film everything we needed there. Luckily, the location and our crew were very nice and accommodating, and Zach Cherry is always great in every take, so we were able to get it done. With respect to your second question, I genuinely love most aspects of the process, but I’d say I probably enjoy the shoot and the sound mix the most. The only part I don’t enjoy is that time period when the cut is very close but not quite done, and you’re starting to lose perspective on how to make it better.
4) What’s a film you’ve seen recently, new or old, that you really loved and why?
I recently re-watched “The Squid and the Whale,” which I hated when it first came out. A lot of people really like it so I decided it was worth revisiting after I saw “Marriage Story” and loved it. This time around, my experience was completely different! I think I was just not quite in the right part of my emotional life and my adulthood to appreciate that film when I first saw it, and this time around, I was in exactly the right place. I found it fascinating to be so acutely aware of how my own growth over time changed my relationship to a piece of art.
5) What’s next for you?
I am still writing a feature and hoping to finish up a draft soon! I’m also hoping to make some more web sketches, which is always a fun way to continue to work my creative muscles and create something new while simultaneously working on other projects that take much longer to come to fruition.
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IG: @mrmattporter
Twitter: @I_am_MattPorter