We talk with our panel about online video production news sources and all the great things they have been providing the video industry.
Panelists
Transcript from Talk
Nicole Matarese:
Hello, everyone. Happy Wednesday. Welcome to our webcast crew talk brought to you by shoots.video, our video production community directory and resource. I’m your host today, Nicole Matarese. And I’m glad to be here with you. Just a little bit about me for those who are interested. I was born and raised on long island which you could hear in my accent, probably I’ve lived in New York city and Los Angeles. And I now live in the central valley of California. I am a producer writer, actor host, and someone that just at the end of the day is passionate about video production storytelling. Now today on shoots videos, crew talk. I have a great round table here of amazing filmmakers. I’ll let them introduce my themselves. Michael, how’s it going today?
Michael Bergonzi:
Good, good. How are you? I’m doing pretty well. Thank you having me on.
Nicole Matarese:
Yeah, thanks for coming on, Michael. So you were talking a little bit before about what you do and I’d love for you to tell the audience. It sounds really interesting.
Michael Bergonzi:
Yeah, sure. So I’m basically a critic of not so much films, but of like audio books, like audio dramas, that kind of thing. The close knit close commercial can make would basically be the old time radio dramas, like, you know, like forties and thirties, that kinda thing. So yeah, basically read them doing that for about 10 years now. So
Nicole Matarese:
Very cool. Nice. We’ll have to, we’ll have to talk more about that later and, and, you know, you’ll have to tell us where we could find you. Cool. So thanks so much. Zoe, how’s it going today?
Zoe Esser:
Doing Well, thanks for having me on really looking forward to getting to know guys and helping the community. As she said, my name’s Zoe ser I’m based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, so, you know, currently it’s dark outside. But yeah, I am a associate producer and studio manager for a company called current resident or production house in the cities. And we just to have a grand old time doing every, anything from hand modeling to all the fun stuff was feature films, documentaries, all the great stuff.
Nicole Matarese:
That’s awesome. And I love your wreath in the background. I have to say festive and happy. Love that. Thank you. So cool. Cool, Zoe. So, so mark, how are you today?
Mark Elias:
I’m doing great. Yeah, my name is Mark Elias. I’m an actor and writer. And then just by default of like doing indie films, I’ve become a producer. So I I’m great. I mean, I’m from I grew up in Philadelphia, but I’ve been living in Los Angeles for too long now. You know, I started out as an actor built credit to acting and then transitioned into creating high web from web series of short films to features. So I’m just cracking away at the next project and wrapping up the for you one.
Nicole Matarese:
That’s awesome. Good for you. That’s great to hear. I’m also in California, as I mentioned before I was in LA and I’ve moved just a few months ago. So Denise, how are you doing today? Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Denise Powers:
Great, Nicole, thank you so much for having me. My name’s Denise Powers I’m here in Phoenix, Arizona. I’m usually based in Paris, France, but I came in for the holidays to see family. I’m primarily a writer and director of fiction films. I’ve done three shorts. I’m working on the next couple projects and I’ve got cross your fingers. I’m negotiating to option book to adapt it into a to adapt it into a, a long feature film. And yeah, and I also do some other work on the side, you know, like writing and producing, directing for various groups, including Blair. So
Nicole Matarese:
Nice. Great to hear. So it’s really nice to meet you all nice to all like talk about the community and everything. So before we get into questions for each other and just get into our conversation, I do wanna let the audience know that you could ask us questions right now during the webcast. You could ask us questions whenever you like, just go ahead and send it over in the chat or in the Q and a box. And we will do our best to answer your questions as we go on through the chat. So, yeah. So, Denise, I have a question for you actually starting off because you mentioned that you an independent filmmaker based out of Paris, France and now your, your fiction shorts have been screened at over 50 festivals worldwide. Congratulations you’ve produced and directed for various international NGOs. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? I’d like to hear about that a little bit more?
Denise Powers:
Yeah, well like I said I’ve, I’ve made my films in France, so it’s a little bit different. I think the, in it is in the United States, there’s more of since I didn’t go to film school I am very much kind of self-taught and, you know, we do have a public financing system for short films that doesn’t really exist in the United States. So a there are ways to apply for grants. They’re very competitive but, but you can do it. And so it’s, it’s a, it’s a way to, you know, to really kind of learn and develop and to grow find your voice, develop as an artist and, and learn, you know, what you’re doing. The work that I’ve done for NGOs, I did some shooting gauge ODI, which is kind of a think tank in the United Kingdom. And I went to Ethiopia for that, and that was a lot of fun. None of the circumstances were like, <laugh>, I thought they would me before I showed up and the people I was working with the client didn’t really know some of the things I needed to have lockdown before I got there. So a lot of surprises, a lot of improvisation it was, it was a lot of fun, but very challenging circumstances,
Nicole Matarese:
Such as the world of independent filmmaking. Sometimes I feel like right, you could all probably relate where sometimes it’s like, oh, okay, we’re thinking on our feet today, this way. Like, what’s the like Marcus, see, you’re smiling. Can you speak to that a little bit from your experience?
Mark Elias:
I, I mean, I think I’m always a believer in that, like a budget of restrictions, like create really, they give you an opportunity to, to have a creative solution, you know? Hmm. I think it, it is kind of, I mean, I started out making two web series just to like boost my career and it was like, you just had no money. So you like, how’s a way to make something. What’s a way to make something funny that literally requires, you know, the two of you in, in, in an apartment or something. And then I might like made my first short film that we shot on Hollywood Boulevard, which you need permiss to shoot on. And we just found a way to steal shots in a way that seemed natural. And I mean, our budget was $500 for the entire thing, so wow. You just kind of, to me, it’s like, I don’t, I don’t look at a budget and get freaked out.
Mark Elias:
I crowdfunded two features that both were made for 50,000, you know? Congratulations. That’s amazing. Thanks. Yeah. I mean, it’s a, it’s a ton of work. Don’t get me wrong. But to me, it’s what there is. There’s no, there’s no fear in like there’s only this much money. It’s like that creates a great opportunity to tell a compelling story with, you know, three locations or something where you’re only, Hey, I’m only gonna be able to really have, have four actors. Actually the script kind of gets better because it forces you to be more creative and like dive deeper into the characters and, and have the emotions drive the story instead of like these plot points or something. Yeah.
Michael Bergonzi:
Sort going off that definitely I definitely agree with that as a critic, pretty much. You hear a lot of critics saying like, you can do so much, if you do so much, a little, I guess you get the more, get more benefit. And if you just think, dig into portal, I guess, so to speak. So yeah, this would be a good idea to do that. Feel like more like be small and intimate rather than like they exposed to, I guess, indie films, I guess can tell. So
Mark Elias:
I think, I mean, if anything is the other way, if you look at it from the other way, you can throw, you can’t throw money at a bad script. Exactly. It’s some psych, as I’m saying money, doesn’t make it. So you might as well start with the great script and deal with the restrictions from the start and then yeah. Let that turn into something unique and in and itself. Right. Like exactly. Exactly.
Michael Bergonzi:
Yeah.
Nicole Matarese:
Yeah. Love that great theories. Yeah. Yeah. As a, and it’s interesting too, because as an independent, like, I’m, I’m similar to you mark, where, you know, my, my background is acting and writing and then I found myself producing as I, as I gain more and more experience there. And especially, you know, over the past year or so with lockdown and things are different. It’s like, okay. Like I found myself needing to get creative in a different way or eyes with my art in a different way. I mean, including webcasts like this right. Where we’re all connect still connected, just virtually. So Zoe, I see you’re nodding. Can you speak to that a little bit too, about what, what you do in, in your work as a independent filmmaker too?
Zoe Esser:
Yeah. so I actually graduated film school in college. Amids the heat of the pandemic, so right at the beginning of it and as a young filmmaker, you know, coming out, like, how do you get started? Obviously there’s no networking events there there’s no real job openings. So in order to really get out into the industry and our community as a whole, I had to go, you know, do the nitty gritty of all right, what production companies are around me, what production companies are around the world that are well known that, you know, you might have people that would want to discuss the industry. So, you know, things like this, if you’re on here, you’re doing well already. <Laugh> but yeah, networking was super difficult and, you know, getting into the industry in that realm. Luckily my company, current resident was the first one that, you know, got back to me and we’ve been making history since <laugh>.
Nicole Matarese:
Oh, good, good. Well that’s well, that’s, that’s great to hear. Let me, do you mind if I ask you, so did you go to film school in Minneapolis, in the city that you’re in?
Zoe Esser:
I didn’t, yeah, I did stay in the state. I went to Minneapolis or not Minneapolis, my goodness Minnesota state university S up by Fargo, North Dakota. Okay. Yeah. Right there on the border.
Nicole Matarese:
Very nice. So what you were, what you said about what, you know, how you graduated film school amongst COVID and in lockdown actually transitions well into our topic today of online news video, because what else are we all doing other than, you know, Googling things about the, the industry and learning more? I found myself trying to pick up more hobbies. Like I’ve become more interested in film photography over the past few years. Yeah. And I really am kind of a cellular film nerd. So reading about digital, you know, how we’re shifting digitally is interesting to me and all that stuff. Could any of you speak to sort of your experience with either finding work via online news sources or learning maybe a new skill or, or anything kind to that?
Denise Powers:
Well, I, I definitely you know, the sheets video crew talk was really kind of a great thing for me during lockdown and, and I’m not getting any kind of promotional consideration for saying this, but but it was, it was really nice to like Zoe was saying it was impossible to network. I was kind of caught in a situation where I was, it was between moves. And so I didn’t have a place to go. I was kind of between con and it was just a real kind of lifesaver to have this here. And every one of these that I attended, I always, you know, met somebody interesting that I followed up with or learned something interesting, or it opened me up. Like, I, I went to one like on virtual VR kind of shooting, which is not something that I do or something that I’ve really thought of doing, but you know, what the heck spend an hour learning about it, and maybe that will stimulate new ideas and things to think about.
Denise Powers:
And you know, and I’m starting to see more calls for proposals for, you know, scripts that are written for VR and, and, you know, so it’s if you don’t know anything about the technology, you don’t really know how really, to, to write for it in a way that makes good use of it. So it was interesting to have that introduction to it and to at least have like a sense of what resources to go to. So I think, I think things like this are really actually quite valuable and, and were really helpful to me.
Nicole Matarese:
I agree. I mean, I, yeah, I’ll speak about my own experience briefly. I found out about this a few months ago as well. And I was like, oh, this is great. I could still meet people in the industry. Right. Like, I I’m just at my, just at my house. <Laugh> like, this is great. This is a great way to continue to network. So have you all found Michael, have you found, you know, I know you’ve review dramas, have you found situations like these to be beneficial as well for, for networking or growing your business or growing your, your show?
Michael Bergonzi:
Yeah, somewhat. Recently I have not been doing as much, like, but like to due to school schooling ever. Basically I’m a journalism student at university of Illinois. And basically I had to do that for this semester over now, but luckily, luckily graduating about a month or two, but basically I’m hoping to get some things done over. I, I have like an old interview with like the star war, radio drama people or editor, I guess the editor star with radio radio drama Richard Toscan that’s this is true. That’s true. That, and the <inaudible> of Eberts that comment second there.
Nicole Matarese:
Wow. The college that you’re at, Roger Ebert went there. Yeah,
Michael Bergonzi:
Exactly. Yeah, yeah. That same one. Yep. Nice. basically, so anyways what’s the saying the like it… <Laugh>
Nicole Matarese:
Yeah, I do have a question. So you’re so you said you’re at the university of Chicago. Is that, I mean, sorry, the university of Illinois is that outside of Chicago?
Michael Bergonzi:
Yeah. It’s the one, not it’s other one, not Springfield, not Chicago. The other one, so yeah.
Nicole Matarese:
Oh my gosh. You’re like gonna be the Roger Ebert of the tomorrow.
Michael Bergonzi:
<Laugh> I wish, but yeah, <laugh>,
Nicole Matarese:
I’m gonna stay on your good side in case I make a movie and, you know,
Michael Bergonzi:
That’s just, it’s definitely my fear at least of like, you know, there’s like so much of like custody or like critics or some, some must push critics, I guess, that it’s sort of like, do you really wanna push these button at all? Or kinda thing? Like I’m really okay. Guy go be wrong with, I guess, so it depends on like, yeah, go
Nicole Matarese:
Ahead. No, my bad Michael. So, so you’re talking about, you know, kind of, of the CRI critic world do you find yourself really checking in on websites for online news sources to kind of know what to talk about or what PE what, what the buzz is about? Like I know right now a popular thing is, is Spiderman. Like everyone’s talking about Spiderman that new movie. So do you try to try to do that?
Michael Bergonzi:
Yes, I do that with the, with my niche or niche or whatever wanna call it. I usually use Twitter and like Facebook, basic social media, that kind of stuff. Keep up audio drama world, I guess. I friends help people on Twitter that basically are like, probably bigger than me in terms like followers, I guess, but for the most part it’s basically just the it’s like doing research, I guess, like, Hey, is this topic, is this like is this com or this take on the audio drama is gonna be, you like, try to like market it, I guess in some way, mm-hmm, <affirmative> like, if there’s way to combine, combine the two together, or let’s say have two audiograms that are both on like politics, I guess I try to group ’em together in some way. Other, other than that, it’s basically just like I get like requests, I guess, a lot. So it’s basically email like saying, Hey, let’s look, it’s my drama. I’d say yes or no right now I’m closed right now. But for the request request line, I guess. But when I open, open up, it’s basically just like a nonstop daily, like reviews and requests, I guess, to like listen to like either the series, like the hours and hours of audio drama, that kind of thing. So it’s sort of like a, it’s definitely not commitment. Yeah.
Nicole Matarese:
Yeah. You know, it’s hard to navigate those things sometimes, but it’s, they’re beneficial. The online news sources, like when I was living in LA I found myself trying to find out what, like I’m a writer, right. So I was trying to find out what, what, what are studios looking to buy? Or what’s like a hot show right now, which is always challenging because you follow something topical might be outta style by the time your script gets produced. Mm-Hmm <affirmative>. But, but it was beneficial to at least know, or like when an agent buy something like this or, or something like that, mark you’re in Los Angeles. Could you speak to anything in that real, like looking, you know, keeping an eye out on the LA sort of entertainment industry.
Mark Elias:
Yeah. I think it’s kind of one of the, is things where it’s tough. I think you, like, somebody told me recently I was talking to a production company. Cause I was pitching this one project and they were saying, oh, well, you know, the right now what’s hot is like this, like Ted lasso, Creek type of stuff. And I think it’s tough. Like, I don’t think the following a trend if you’ve got something or it makes sense to write something like that. Like, that’s your thing then. It’s great. You better capitalize on it right now. But for me, I’m like, I don’t like Creek. I watched four seasons of it and I was like, I don’t this isn’t I, I just don’t. I don’t, you know, it’s definitely not something I’m gonna try and write because it’s a trend right now. That’s hot.
Mark Elias:
It’s more like, let’s just keep doing what you’re good at. Keep developing yourself and your voice. And it will, it will come around at some point, you know, like it’s I think, oh yeah, it’s tough. It’s like, it’s tempting to be like, oh, well that’s hot right now. And I get it. Like the part of it is just, we’ve gone through a pandemic to me. I’m like, people want something that is not intellectually challenging and probably makes ’em feel good and they can relax and really grasp that escapism that some things give you I’m on board with that. We’ve all, everybody here’s come through the pandemic. So we’re all probably like, yes, I will definitely watch that. I don’t care what it, it is. Send it to me. I want to feel good. But you know, that’s just having your finger on the pulse of what’s going on, you know, and there’s a year from now, there’ll be something else that’s happening.
Mark Elias:
And we’re all gonna sort of vibe off that. So some things, I guess, you just hold onto and it’s a great, it’s a great writing sample. And maybe if you hold onto it, somebody will buy down the road. But for me, I’m like, I’m gonna hitch, I get more to the stuff that I know that I’m good at and I want to keep working on because it’s kind of, it’s, it’s a not kind of, it is a long road, you know, it’ll take mm-hmm, <affirmative>, I’ve been raising money for this current feature for a year and a half. Now, like when the pandemic started, I was like, well, the show that I was on stop filming, nothing new was filming, there was no audition. So I just started doing a rewrite and started reaching out to invest online and pitching them. And you know, so that’s the only thing that I could do and whatever the hot topic was, then it really didn’t matter. I was like, I’m just gonna keep writing what I wanna do next. And so that’s kind of where I, I just stayed on that path to till today where I’m at now. Nice,
Nicole Matarese:
Nice. Well, staying true to yourself in this business too, is, is absolutely, you know, the thing to do too, right? Like, like, like, like what you said, like who cares what’s in, on trend right now, right? Something because you care about it because you like it. Denise, could you speak to a similar type of idea? I mean, you’ve, you’ve been in film, vegetables worldwide. That’s, that’s amazing. Which kind of your experience with like distributing or writing something, maybe the industry is looking for that’s on trend or maybe just sticking to, to something that, you know, you write because you like it.
Denise Powers:
Well, I, I would just say everything that, that mark said, actually, because I mean, you can, you can only be you and everything just takes so long to get into production that, you know, if you try capitalize on something, that’s, that’s cool now you know, it’s, it’s gonna be years before that comes up. And by that time, everybody will have moved on to something else that you really can’t. I, I just don’t think that’s ever a way to go is you, you just need to focus on your projects and you know, in terms of, I, I, I find it almost kind of, I, I guess one of the questions I wanted to ask to the other panelists, I, I kind of, I find it if we’re talking about the, how to stay abreast of anything, whether it’s technological developments or what’s hot and story making or storytelling or something like that, I am just kind of overwhelmed by the number of emails in my inbox.
Denise Powers:
That every time I search for something online and I end up getting, you know, then I, I don’t know how it happens, but I have a new newsletter and mm-hmm, <affirmative> all of them. Oh yeah. Interesting. And I think, oh, that’s interesting. I don’t wanna delete that yet. And then that happens <laugh> and then by the end of the month, I’ve got like 600 emails that haven’t been read. And I, it’s just, it’s kind of crazy making, to be honest. And, and I really, I don’t like, I, I don’t like following industry buzz because I don’t really, first of all, I’m in France, so thankfully I don’t have to follow it that closely, but I, I find it, it dentes me and I find that it just, it becomes about the, I don’t know. Yeah. It just becomes about who’s doing what mm-hmm, who’s getting ahead in some, you know Hmm.
Nicole Matarese:
It’s a good
Denise Powers:
Point. Yeah. It’s not a contrast, you know, like, all you can do is kind of focus on your own thing. And so I, I think in, in that sense, it, it’s good to be aware of what’s out there and who, who the people are that are, are signing things or that are, are, are good people to talk to or something like that. But, but I also feel like it’s important to protect yourself from a certain amount of that too, because you just, you can’t be outside of yourself all the time and you could literally spend all your life following that without getting your own work done. Like
Mark Elias:
It’s, that is so true. That is. So it just pulls you, that stuff pulls you away. And then like what you, that you stay true to what you’re doing in yourself. And you just focus on that and you make your own headlines. Like, it’s so easy to get distracted by seeing all those other things. I that’s, I’m a hundred percent in agreement with like, I mean, what you just said, you couldn’t have said it better.
Michael Bergonzi:
Yeah. Look, comparing yourself to other people is just like, not the way to go in this, this kinda industry. I guess it’s very much like trying to prove yourself, I guess, around the, then look at it, look too late. I wanna hear that rather than saying I wanted out with someone else that never, I wanted be like, as successful as this person. I guess you just go for it, I guess, and go look, Hey, I wanna improve myself today. I wanna focus on this thing instead, make this better at this thing rather than make myself better, because I wanna be better like, than this person, I guess not conditional. He said so. Yeah.
Nicole Matarese:
You know, it’s oh, I’m sorry. Zoe, were you gonna say something like, oh no, I was
Zoe Esser:
Disagreeing. <Laugh>
Nicole Matarese:
You’re good. <Laugh> I was just gonna say no, it’s you, you all make a great point. It starts to become a, a keeping up with the Jones’ type thing, which isn’t what we all set out here for anyway. But, but sometimes, you know, someone could get wrapped up in it. So, so this did inspire a question when you were over saying, you know, it’s, it’s, it is competitive. It, it is a competitive industry, obviously. So how do you make yourself stand out? I mean, I know a portion is that is like, let’s just be true to ourselves, which I’m on board with. Do you do anything else to try to make yourself stand out to let’s say agents or studios or marketers or, or whoever?
Zoe Esser:
Heck yeah. You always gotta, you know, stand out a little bit. Nice. One of the things that I found helped a lot when starting network, especially with companies in the area and then people in general, like broad aspect was saying, thank you, you know, cause this in this industry, time is money, man. And even just taking two minutes of your time to say thank you for five minutes of someone, else’s really makes a big difference. And you know, like it, it, people appreciate it. And now myself, even being a producer and managing a studio and working with contractors on the daily people just saying, thank you in passing, or even a quick email after the shoot has gone by means the world. And it all it’ll get you the jobs continuing forward. Hmm.
Mark Elias:
I mean, if anything, great sharing gratefulness is so rare in the business that, I mean, look like from that standpoint. Totally true. Also the other standpoint of like, if you’re running a project, I’m sure again, I’m sure Denises can say the same thing, but like running a project is like, or being number one on the call sheet is you set the tone, right? So, I mean, if I’m standing there saying I’m grateful everybody for being here today for this shoot, then that kind of trickles down. There’s I mean, that’s, that’s such a huge thing. It’s a small thing. It doesn’t cost you anything, but it, it, it keeps, it changes. The attitude makes people want to, you know, remember that they’re there to create art. I just think the other thing too is like, you, you don’t, I don’t, I don’t know if it’s trying to stand out as much as like, do what you do best.
Mark Elias:
Like, I have a affinity for this sort of like Charlie chaplain, black and white world. And I made a short film where I played chaplain and it was like a black and white chaplain film and it played some festivals. And then three years later it was like, I got in front of David Fincher who was cast his latest film, or he needed a character to play Charlie chap. And so stuff like that, you just don’t know nice, but do the things that you do best, and that will come to light light at some point you just can’t expect immediate gratification.
Nicole Matarese:
That’s a good point. It takes time. It really does something. I’m sure you all could kind of speak to. Yeah. It takes some time to yeah. Get there everything. Yeah.
Denise Powers:
And just, it’s always a longer road than you think it’s going to be and things pay off or don’t pay off in, in ways that you wouldn’t think. So. I mean, I, I just kind of returned to live networking events in the fall. Oh, nice. And I, is that happening in states yet or not? Well,
Nicole Matarese:
I don’t, I’m not sure as of recently, I won’t get into that, but that’s just, I’m not sure let’s leave
Denise Powers:
At that. <Laugh> no. And for me, like, you know, networking in France is really kind of complicated cuz people don’t do it. Like they’re, it’s interesting. I mean, one thing that when I was in LA is if you just kind of stand somewhere, people will eventually talk to you. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> and if you stand and you look like you own the place, they people think you do, you know, like <laugh>, people are very sensitive to like power dynamics. And if you just like stand their like confidence, it just it’s like a magnet it’s really funny. And that does not work in France at all. And so, you know, I finally screwed up my courage last week, you know, and, and you know, when it introduced myself to somebody said, you know, I really loved your project. I thought, you know, she was doing a pitch for a project. I said, yeah, I think you were right on top of it. It was great. And you know, you’re bringing up issues that nobody’s talking about, you know, I really, really hope that it gets funding and she’s like, oh, okay, thanks. Well, have a nice day <laugh> and then she just
Nicole Matarese:
Like, thanks for nothing. Yeah.
Denise Powers:
I was like, okay, well that got off tickets, you know, it’s just, oh my gosh. And it’s, it was, it was not, you know, I wasn’t looking for anything from her. It was just more of a like, hi, I think you’re doing really interesting work. And I, to me, if somebody comes up to me and says, Hey, I think you’re doing really interesting work. Like I wanna talk to that person. Cause
Mark Elias:
I mean, I think you approach somebody genuinely like that, and that’s not nine times outta 10 that people actually appreciate it getting blown off. Like that is such like a that’s like, so, you know,
Denise Powers:
<Laugh>, mm-hmm <affirmative> but it happens, you know? And, and that’s the kind of thing that, you know, maybe a few years ago, would’ve just kind of like sent me home and, you know, and so I had to kind of, you know, get up the courage to, you know, contact people who were, were actually producers, you know, this was just like kind of more of a, you know, colleague to colleague kind of thing. But this, you know, then I was talking to some producers and since then have followed up from, with emails and out of all of those, you know, two people responded to say that they had, they had received my email and the other ones didn’t respond at all. You know? So it’s it’s a, it’s a lot of work and a lot of rejection and a lot of, yeah. You know, <laugh>, it’s, it’s just a lot of, not fun. Sometimes.
Nicole Matarese:
Denise, I am curious what brought you to Paris. So, so you’re from the states originally. Yeah. What made you decide to go there as opposed to like LA or New York or yeah. What led you to Paris?
Denise Powers:
Yeah, I, I just, I was, I wanted to kind of change my life and so I had just gotten Italian citizenship, so I wanted to live in Europe and nice. So I, I picked France and it was in France that I started making films. So all of my experience really is, is there you know, so I didn’t really think about going to LA when I made the move, cuz I wasn’t into that at that point, but oh,
Nicole Matarese:
Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. Zoe, how about you? What, what, what led you to Minneapolis? I think you mentioned your from that area or, or maybe I’m misremembering, but can you tell us what led you to where you are?
Zoe Esser:
Yeah, no, I was born and raised in St. Paul. So technically we’re known as the twin cities St. Paul and Minneapolis, we kind of hold hands over the river. But yeah, I grew up here and decided, you know, instead of seeing in North Dakota where it was more of an advertising commercial base that I wanted to move to Minneapolis, where there was a little bit more of a creative aspect to film, especially now since we have our tax act and can take measures using that, which is great. But yeah. Since I’ve gotten here, there’ve been a lot of opportu from, you know, both the advertising side, the short narrative didn’t even know music, videos were really a thing, but they’re huge here in the cities. And I love ’em, <laugh>, they’re short narratives that you can you know, get really creative with in terms of lighting and cinematography and like contractors take the reins and it’s super cool to see what they come up with.
Nicole Matarese:
I’m unfamiliar with the tax act. Is that related to, to film in, in Minneapolis?
Zoe Esser:
No. It’s just like, you know how LA they give you a percentage of tax back on any of your prospects or, you know, like New York or anything like that, Minneapolis and Minnesota it as a state, they didn’t really have one. I see it was minuscule, but yeah, so our legislator just passed all of the fun stuff for a higher bid, which is great.
Nicole Matarese:
Okay. That is great to see a lot of people maybe going towards Minneapolis over the next two years, like kind of how, how it land of it came the spot, you know, know yeah. It’s interest. Yeah. Interesting. How parts of the country are just becoming new hubs for, for filmmaking. It’s, it’s really interesting to see for sure. So mark, what, what you might have mentioned before, what brought you to Los Angeles? You’re from Philly originally of course it’s, you know, acting and everything, but what made you decide LA is the city I wanna pursue this in,
Mark Elias:
It’s kind of a crazy story. I mean, I didn’t really know, like I think, I think generally growing up in Philadelphia, you kind of play sports and nobody knows you can do other things. <Laugh>
Nicole Matarese:
Yeah, I know what you mean. <Laugh>
Mark Elias:
And I was very, like, I was originally like creative oriented and, and, and enjoyed writing as a kid and got into graphic design, cuz it seemed like a visual sort of medium where you could make money. And, you know, I had seen as a kid, I saw Goodwill hunting and was like, God, what a great movie like I’m I can like, that’s a role that I very much identify with and saw a lot of James and started giving myself like a film history of like Dustin Hoffman was amazingly like different in all these roles that he was playing when he was younger. And then, and so I kind of always knew that. And then I thought, oh, maybe movie title sequences would be fun to get into. But interesting. I had a friend that had moved to Santa Monica and so I left school and was like, I I’m gonna go, just see what’s what LA is like and got a job.
Mark Elias:
And then I just started studying, acting at a couple like a reputable Playhouse and started learning. I didn’t know anybody here, so I didn’t, you know, I didn’t know what a hit shot was. I didn’t know what auditions would be like. And so I had to start, you know, I did short films, I did student films, I tried networking and some of those like really bad networking things that they tell you, you should go to. And they’re never, always just a bunch of actors. I mean, you just learn, that’s just, it’s just, you fail just like, go ahead and keep, keep failing. And then you sort of get in the door and TV shows and then you, you know, then I got on like a big Fox show about two years ago. And so that was kind of a big stepping stone, but in the meantime it was like a decade of like, okay, you can do your own stuff. So I made two web series, made a sure, I crowdfunded two features. And then now it’s like fundraising actual money to make an actual feature. So it’s like this whole progression for me that was starting for day. One of like, this is what I think I want to do. Like I gotta figure it out, you know?
Nicole Matarese:
Yeah. Wow. Sounds really fulfilling. I mean, now you’re, you’re you’re fundraising for future film. I mean, in layman’s terms, my question is what’s that like, I mean, I wanna hear more about that, you know, you know, I’m like, I’m what if, what if I wanna do there? What if our audience wants to do that someday? What’s what’s that like?
Mark Elias:
I mean, I hope the audience has a rich uncle that can write a page, write a check <laugh>
Nicole Matarese:
We all, we all, yeah. We all hope for that.
Mark Elias:
I don’t, I think that for me, it’s the benefit of being on a high profile show that a lot of people have maybe seen her at least heard of, but the thing that really is just like, I just started making a spreadsheet well, okay. When the pandemic happened, we all thought it was gonna be two weeks of quarantine. So you watch six hours of TV a day for two weeks, and then they’re like, just kidding. It’s gonna be indefinite. And so at that point I was like, I just started a spreadsheet of like reaching out to like any kind of angel investors or sort of like investor lists I could find and pitching this story and saying, Hey, I’m on the show, this story, this story means a lot to me it’s it has some commercial appeal, blah, blah, blah. And I just kept going and I just started doing almost a hundred a day.
Mark Elias:
And so that, you know, it’s been a year and a half of me almost a year and a half of me pitching PE out to people to pitch. And, and then I got in a zoom with them and I tell ’em, Hey, this is what the plan is. You know, these are the, these are the pitfalls, these are the risks, but we’re gonna do this. And then they either they either say yes or no. And then you kind of stack it up and you go, okay, well now I’m almost at this number. And then, you know, as, as we mentioned with Minnesota, every state tax incentive, except for California, pretty much, but you know, we, if we’re looking at Oklahoma now Oklahoma’s overflowing and, and Utah, the tax credits are gone because of Disney shows and wow Montana doesn’t have any because the Yellowstone show has sucked all that up.
Mark Elias:
So we’re, it looks like we’ll be shooting outside of Toronto in and outside of Toronto. Canada will shooting in Canada, probably in March for this next one. As investors are, you know, beginning to wire their actual investment money to the LLC account. So it just, you know, for me, it’s been, it’s been a learning curve cause I was like, I’ve never pitched investors before. I beg people for 50 or a hundred dollars to make a movie for 50,000. And now I’m like our budget’s close to a million and we’re getting to that point. It’s just, it’s been a huge learning curve because a year and a half ago, I didn’t know how to get on a zoom and pitch anybody, anything I’m like, I’m an actor, you know? Yeah.
Nicole Matarese:
Oh my gosh. Well, this is great knowledge because it’s certainly, they, I did not know. And maybe our audience didn’t know I know Denise, you’ve been like, I, I keep bringing up the film festival circuit. I’m so impressed that you’ve done so worldwide. Are, are you, have you gone through a similar process as mark, is yours a little bit different? What’s, what’s kind of your, your story with getting, getting your movies made?
Denise Powers:
Well, I, I came out of, what’s known as the keynote movement, which isn’t really very well known in the United States, but it’s pretty strong in Canada and Europe and the, the motto of that, which I’m probably gonna get wrong, but it’s, it’s due, what is it it’s do well with nothing do better with a little, but you know, the most important thing is to do it now. So make your film now. So the budget for my first film was seven euros and that was to buy a packet of cigarettes <laugh> and the second film, you know, was shot over a weekend and you know, that budget was I about 500 euros, I think. Nice. And then, and then the one that’s right in fact is, has a, has a screening tonight in Brazil of all places. Awesome. <laugh> yeah.
Denise Powers:
That was a little bit more expensive just because you know, that that was a, a casting crew of like 50 people. And we shot over five days and ran into some cost over runs with transportation and parking and things like that. But but again, you know, everybody was working for, for free contributing their time and their money. And I guess you know, that’s really not that easy to do in the states. I mean, really it’s, it’s one of the things that I’m thankful for having in France is that, you know, we have a healthcare system where your job is not attached your healthcare. And so people don’t have to cover those exorbitant expenses. And we also have something called the system of intermittent. So artists, creative artists who in the system like actors are on an automatic it’s kind, it’s like an unemployment regime that, that kicks in as soon as they don’t have paid work mm-hmm <affirmative> and that allows them to take unpaid work that they find creatively more fulfilling, so they can take, you know, commercial work to pay the bills, but then if they want to get a lead role in a short film, that’s not really gonna pay them anything that can be attractive also because they at least can afford to do that.
Denise Powers:
It’s not foregoing work in a way. So yeah, so I guess for me, it’s more about convincing people about the strength of a project and why they should support it. And I guess if I, when I next make the step, like mark has to, you know, talk to individual investors or to do crowd funding, it’s, it’s really about building a sense of connection and passion to the project and enable people to support something that would be important to them.
Nicole Matarese:
Very nice. Very nice. Congratulations to you both. That’s certainly not an easy fee, so good for you. Zoe can you talk a little bit about your, your avenue are you familiar with, with this part of filmmaking or you kind of been a different realm? I know you just graduated film school, so you’re early. Yeah, but
Zoe Esser:
I’m a little bit of both. So obviously I’m with mark, I’ve done, you know, the, oh, can I have 50 to a hundred bucks to create this student short film and to touch on your love of actual physical filmmaking with non digital, but cutting splicing, all of it together. <Laugh> in class we actually had to make a short film with actual 18, you know, millimeter. It was great. I learned a lot, you know, lots of digital respect <laugh> after that. Yeah. Right. But the funding for that was crazy expensive because, you know, you have to get it processed and everything like that. So not only asking friends and family, but like surrounding businesses and, you know, starting to reach out like that. And now obviously as, you know, an associate producer, mainly we have people coming to us for things to help fund them, which has been super cool.
Zoe Esser:
So I’ve done, like, I think one music video that was a like week long shoot up till three in the morning, everyone donating their time super amazing work that’s gonna to be coming out. And then a short film as well that we did. That’s a screen adaptation that we had a writer from LA come and ask us if, you know, with his director friend, if we wanted to help fund it and get it off the ground. So they could pitch it to some studios and stuff out in LA. So small like projects like at are amazing. And, you know, like the funding obviously now on the other end is super great. Cause I get to vet scripts and, you know, help my community in terms of, you know, making their dreams come true. So it’s awesome. And I mean, for like writers like mark and Denise, like just keep writing, keep smiting <laugh> mm-hmm <affirmative> it are gonna get picked up at some point because you’re amazing individuals and I mean, you’re gonna learn more. You do it.
Nicole Matarese:
That’s awesome. That’s great to hear. So Michael, I know your, your avenue is a bit different than, than marks Zoes and Denises first of all, I hope you write us all great reviews one day after hearing all of us talk about this stuff <laugh> and, and, and does, and my question for you is does this, you know, relate to your, your expertise as a, as a, as a critic and, and you know, kind of how you research things online and, and things like that.
Michael Bergonzi:
I, Hmm, trying to think the question now like, like what do you mean by that? I guess what do you mean? I guess? Yeah.
Nicole Matarese:
What do you mean? Yeah, like, I, I guess, like I don’t mean to some you here or anything, but like, as a audio drop you’re build, you know, you’re building your brand as a critic. I’m not sure if you look for investors sort of for a show you have, or your critics or, or, or if you’re looking to distribute it like to, to a large market, I, I would like to kind of just hear your experience about growing your, your brand. Yeah,
Michael Bergonzi:
Sure. Basically it’s, it’s definitely a numbers game. Like, as we I’ve been handing out a lot recently basically the I have, like, I have like some sponsors I guests, I have that sponsor the, from my podcasts. Nice. like one of them was like the podcasts, another podcasts from like person, the woman who did human Thrones, like the some star character, I guess, like she did, did podcasts over amazing balloons, that amazing Williams, that character actress the
Nicole Matarese:
Same. Oh, that’s awesome. So basically
Michael Bergonzi:
Like, definitely. So basically I pointed her podcast for about a month, month or so, whatever got whole bucks, not very much or whatever, but so it’s, it’s better. Nothing, I guess. Cause basically it’s just putting yourself out there, like we saying, number game, like you get reject them more often than you get accepted, I guess. And so that’s the same as like, that’s pretty much the univers, I think in terms of industry, whether you’re a critic, whether you’re a producer, whether you’re a like writer, I guess, so. Yeah.
Nicole Matarese:
Awesome. Awesome. so we’re going to wrap up soon enough here. I wanna remind our audience that you could ask questions if you’d like, feel free to ask in the chat or a Q and a I do wanna ask you all our panelists and wonderful guests today. If you guys have any questions for me, for each other, now it’d be a great time to go ahead and get those out there.
Denise Powers:
It was wondering, do people have favorite sources of news favorite? Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Nicole Matarese:
People magazine. No, I’m kidding. I know <laugh> kinda, or
Denise Powers:
I, I could share mine. I, I do like I, I do like no film school. I like no film school to, for a bunch of reasons. They break down things that we’ve seen, you know, like how they, how it was done. You know, it’s just kind of a nice combination of you know, gear, but also visual storytelling. Right. You know, and since, like I said, since I didn’t go to film school, that’s my film school kind of, you know, and also I rely a lot on Sundance lab Institute I think has some really, really good stuff and they have excellent master classes also, and many of them are
Nicole Matarese:
Oh, good to know. Yeah. Really good to know. Huh. Yeah. I mean, I love, I mean, I love shoots video love bla media. Red shark news is another good one. As far as just like news on what’s going on in the industry, I do like entertainment weekly. I do. <Affirmative> and so those are my favorites. Yeah, those are good ones too. Creative cow, no film school, Reddit, student filmmakers. I mean, I find myself on Twitter, a lot kind of just looking for the latest news out there. So
Denise Powers:
Super intimidated by Reddit. It’s
Nicole Matarese:
A lot, I mean,
Denise Powers:
I think I’m the wrong demographic or something. I, I just, like I hear about these people that like Reddit is their go-to thing and I’m just like, it terrifies me every time I see something on Reddit I’m like
Mark Elias:
Dive into a chat or something. Right. Like, isn’t it that more like that I’m on board with you? No film. School’s great. The Sundance collab thing is great. I occasionally will scroll through deadline or variety just because I’m like, let’s sure not missing anything huge, but yeah. My day generally starts with the creative. So if I wake up and sit down and can write or, or work on some acting material, that’s really relevant to me, that’s like the that’s the most important thing is the creative. I think you have to honor honor your CRE your creative juices. And so I kind of, if I don’t then I don’t, but I usually start the day that way and then get into the news a little bit later when it’s time for a break. Right.
Denise Powers:
Mm-Hmm <affirmative>
Nicole Matarese:
Yeah. I’m on board with that. What is
Denise Powers:
Filmmakers? Can someone talk about that?
Nicole Matarese:
I’m sorry, what was your question? What
Denise Powers:
Is the filmmakers?
Nicole Matarese:
I believe that’s another resource. I don’t, I’m not too familiar with it. It was just came in from the audience, but I believe it’s another resource of how to find online news about, about the industry. Yeah. I
Denise Powers:
Like, I, I like creative Kyle for a while. I, I haven’t used it recently for some reason. It’s another one of the, as things in my inbox that drives me crazy. <Laugh> that I, I don’t wanna subscribe, like I don’t wanna hit unsubscribe because I’ve found them really useful, but I just find it kind of overwhelming. And I like also I haven’t taken one in a while, but Linda, Linda. Oh. With a lot LinkedIn thing. Yeah. The classes, if you’re looking to, you know, like I usually, I look for these things when I’m editing something mm-hmm <affirmative> and I often have a lot of time elapse in between editing projects. And so I forget a lot of stuff and I need to like brush up and see some tutorials and, and things like that. And so creative cow is good for those really, like, how do I, you know, like how do I, you know, get you know, this audio file translated into some other version so that I can use it in this other film editing program and you things like that. I’m really super good with that kind of thing. And, and I think Linda is good for that too.
Nicole Matarese:
I agree. I just I’m laughing to myself cuz before what you said about Reddit is exactly how I talk about TikTok. I don’t know if and of you were on there, but I I’m like what is all of this? But I know that’s like all the rage as far as like every topic goes, so I I’m sure I would get on there, be like I like filmmaking and then I, the algorithm would recommend all these wonderful things to me. But I don’t, I just, I haven’t been able to get on TikTok. So that’s my, that’s why I crossed it.
Mark Elias:
If you’re gonna go on, I mean, my advice is like buckle up. Cause you’re gonna go down a rabbit hole cause you just keep you’re like, wait, what? And then you just keep going and it’s you look up? It’s like, that’s an hour, that’s an hour. That’s an hour I could have been. Exactly.
Nicole Matarese:
Yep. I’m like, so yeah. I, I don’t know, mark. I don’t know if I I’m with you. I don’t know if I have the time for that or if I, or if I’m ready for, for that, like I use, I use Twitter and Instagram so much already. I’m like, do I need another <laugh> thing? Mm-Hmm <affirmative> oh, and there is there was a question from the audience here for, for Denise do you use avid or premier pro to edit or another program? And if anyone wants to jump in and answer this question too feel free to, to
Denise Powers:
Go for it. Hi Charlie, thanks to your question. I do not use avid I know that’s it used to be the industry standard, certainly in television. I don’t know if it still is. It probably still is. Maybe Zoe knows. And you know, I, I don’t use premier pro just because the license for the Adobe, the creative cloud is pretty expensive. So I got into final cut pro I a while ago and I stuck with that, but you know, I’m now making the transition to DaVinci tools. Oh, which any of you who are looking to get into doing your own editing, it’s really quite a powerful program. That’s good to know.
Nicole Matarese:
Even
Denise Powers:
A really is free stuff is really nice. Yeah. I, and, and, you know, and the thing is, is like most of the interfaces are, are I, in fact final cut pro is making all these changes that are really super annoying, like, like changing the razor blade into scissors. So now when you’re like trying to make a cut, like you can’t really see, like, it’s really clear what is your blade where it’s gonna cut, but like with the scissors, you kind of like, <laugh> on that. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> so I’m like, why did they like have to make this change? They made
Mark Elias:
A couple of really big jumps, like in different versions, not, not just this past one, like you’re talking about, but before that too, where I was on board for a little while, and then it was like, I I’m gonna use iMovie. Cause I got like five minutes to finish this, you know? But that,
Nicole Matarese:
Yeah, <laugh>, that was, that was me for the longest time until my IMO stopped working on my computer. And now I don’t know. Now I might try this DaVinci program, which I didn’t know about. That’s good to know. It’s a,
Denise Powers:
It’s a big learning curve. But if you already know how to use final cut pro or premier pro cuz those interfaces are pretty similar and they have similar shortcuts and similar, you know, bells and whistles that you can find. You just have to look for them in different places. But yeah, I think, I think I’m gonna start really kind of transitioning over to DaVinci tools. I mean, there’s never a good moment to do it because you, you know, you’re, you’re always in a hurry to finish something and you’d rather finish it with the thing that, you know, than the thing that you’re learning, but good point. But you know, given that the color correction is done and the DaVinci, it’s kind of nice to have that, that, that production stream already going in that direction. I think that’d be nice.
Nicole Matarese:
Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your question, Charlie. Okay, so we should start wrapping up here. I wanna go around and just ask if any of you have anything you wanna promote or if you wanna promote your social media, feel free to Michael, why don’t we go ahead and get started with you? What are you working on?
Michael Bergonzi:
Sure. So I’m currently editing, editing the, with the star editor. <Inaudible> mentioned before, after that I have won with like an independent like theater company, I guess. So lack of a better word. Cause VO repertory theater, I guess I, these what are called nice. I’ve also got some contact, some got after that I’m gonna work on a interview with someone who’s app like out application, like a phone app kinda thing for like a fiction podcast, I guess. So he’s basically a a <inaudible> film festival, visual selection, I guess for 20, 20, 20, 20 or 21. Exactly. But yeah. Recently I guess, but basically my, you find me on audio drum reviews.com Twitter at sorry, in audiodramareviews.com. Find me on Twitter at audiodramareviews.com there. And Facebook at audio, my digest. So yeah, it’s my pretty, my biggest social right there, I guess. So. Awesome.
Nicole Matarese:
Thanks. Cool. So mark, how about you? What what do you wanna promote from your social media or anything?
Mark Elias:
Yeah, I mean I’m on Instagram at @markelias, super easy. First name, last name. Really I’m looking to tie up the rest of the funding for this feature. We’re gonna shoot in March and then the next one down the pike has been it’s been about two drafts in, so I’m kind of setting up a pipeline and anybody that’s interested in, in you even not just investing, but learning about how it works in the world of any film. And I dare to say I’m probably possibly an expert at it now. I don’t know. I definitely know what I’m talking about, which is different. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> yeah. That’s I mean, that’s anybody that wants to figure out if they can get it, wants to get into financing or just learn more about indie film I’m I can talk, I can talk about it forever now.
Nicole Matarese:
Awesome. Oh my gosh. I’m gonna tune in. I definitely wanna know more about indie film. I could never know enough. Right. so cool. Denise, how about you, what’s going on with you next?
Denise Powers:
Well, like I said, I’m working on a couple of shorts right now trying to get those into production. And if you want to follow me on Instagram, I’m at @Dpowersfilm and I’m on Facebook as me. But I think there’s a lot of people with my name actually, which it’s kind of depressing. I’m also on LinkedIn. I’m, I’m on Twitter, but like, I don’t actually know how to use it and so I don’t ever post anything. So so I use it to get notifications from other people, but, and, and I’m not and TikTok <laugh>
Nicole Matarese:
Neither, obviously that’s like, that would be me in TikTok. I would make one just be like, okay, just let it sit there. <Laugh> I would love it. Love it, Denise. So Zoe, how about you, what’s going on next with you?
Zoe Esser:
Yeah. currently our production and post house is in a lot of postproduction. We just finished up a couple campaign with the Minnesota film and education board. Let’s see what else. We’ve got a huge music video slash short film coming out that we worked on. Super cool. That’ll be on my socials. And then one really cool thing that we just found out today is that we won a Cleo award for a documentary that we did for Veo health and submitted it to their cannabis award festival. So we got an award with that. So we’re really excited. If you wanna look me up I will throw my stuff in the chat. My name, title, everything, but my website would be currentresident.tv and then contact email is below or in the chat. My socials. It’s just my name. Zoes, I’m a really simple person. <Laugh>
Nicole Matarese:
Nice. Oh, I love it. You guys, I hope you all become super famous after this or, or somewhere. So thank you all so much for coming on the show. I’m your host today? Nicole, Matt east. Thank you so much to everyone that tuned in. You could follow shoots video on any social media. You’d like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, whatever. We’ll see you next time. I’m from Blare Media host producer, and I’d like to thank the wonderful guests so much for coming on the show. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you everyone so much. Thank you so much. Thank you, Nicole for facilitating.
Nicole Matarese:
Thank you. It was my pleasure. My pleasure.
