1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 [MUSIC PLAYING] 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:06,840 Told you he is, folks. 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:08,640 It's so time. 4 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:10,920 People pay good money to see this movie. 5 00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:12,560 When they go out to a theater, they 6 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,080 want cold sewage, a hot pop plorn, and no monsters 7 00:00:16,080 --> 00:00:17,400 in the projection booth. 8 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,240 Everyone pretend podcasting isn't boring. 9 00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:21,040 Then it'll arms. 10 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,040 [MUSIC PLAYING] 11 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:28,040 [MUSIC PLAYING] 12 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:40,640 You ready? 13 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:41,440 Yeah. 14 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:42,880 All right. 15 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:47,640 Tell us everything about the greatest shot you ever took. 16 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:50,040 [MUSIC PLAYING] 17 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,040 [MUSIC PLAYING] 18 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:54,640 I'm Roger Sharp. 19 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:56,240 I've always wanted to be a right. 20 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:57,440 Why, girlfriend? 21 00:00:57,440 --> 00:00:58,040 boyfriend. 22 00:00:58,040 --> 00:00:58,720 Demorse. 23 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:00,560 Actually, you should be happy. 24 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:02,440 You finally wrote something important. 25 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:03,360 So you're single. 26 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,440 Welcome to GQ. 27 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,640 If you've also got drinks, actually, I have a date. 28 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,960 This probably sounds weird, but I play it in ball of all the time. 29 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:13,960 Help me focus. 30 00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:15,800 Are you any good? 31 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:16,840 Wow. 32 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:20,840 It may be the thing that I invest at. 33 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:22,400 Why are they taking the machines? 34 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:23,600 We got busted. 35 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:27,160 It never even occurred to me that the game was illegal. 36 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:31,200 But for over three decades, Pinball was banned in New York City. 37 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:32,800 I want to show this city council members 38 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:34,520 that they've had it wrong for all these years. 39 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:35,440 Oh, you're a border? 40 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:37,680 I just have a question about the Pinball Banser. 41 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:41,040 Somebody keep these damn kids away from me. 42 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:43,560 We're going to set up a hearing at we'd like you to come into testify. 43 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:45,560 You're going to play Pinball at City Home. 44 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:47,760 I want to redeem the game. 45 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:48,800 [MUSIC PLAYING] 46 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:50,160 That is a game of chance. 47 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:52,080 That is a game of skill. 48 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:53,080 Well. 49 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:55,080 [MUSIC PLAYING] 50 00:01:55,080 --> 00:02:06,400 Dear folks, welcome to my special episode of the Projection Boot. 51 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:07,560 I'm your host Mike White. 52 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,400 On this special episode, I spoke with Austin and Meredith 53 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:13,840 Bride, all about their feature film debut, Pinball, 54 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:15,680 the man who saved the game. 55 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,080 You're going to hear from Austin first, then Meredith, 56 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,920 and off we go when I help you enjoy this interview. 57 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:25,240 You guys have been working now for a while over 15 years. 58 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:27,920 Can you tell me a little bit more how you kind of got into film making 59 00:02:27,920 --> 00:02:30,560 and what that process was like for you? 60 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:32,960 We were both comedy nerds growing up. 61 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:34,680 We watched a lot of British comedy. 62 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:37,680 We tried our hand at some really terrible sketches 63 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:39,480 when we were little somewhere out there. 64 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,920 There's a cassette tape that we made of like a Star Wars parody 65 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:45,280 that I just hope never sees the light of day. 66 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:46,560 Went to college. 67 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:48,960 She's about as a university here in Virginia. 68 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:50,880 And I started doing theater. 69 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,920 I did a lot of theater, including a sketch comedy show 70 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:56,000 that I put on in the student theater. 71 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,120 And then when we got out of college at different times, 72 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:01,400 we're both of a set of up working 73 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:03,560 at a public access television station. 74 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:05,440 And I knew how theater lights worked. 75 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:07,960 So I basically knew how TV lights worked already. 76 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,960 And got hired and with that came a key 77 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:14,360 to get into the building after hours. 78 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:19,120 And so all of my improv comedy friends from college 79 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:23,120 and from DC, we would go in in the middle of the night 80 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,680 and make silly videos for something called Channel 101, 81 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:30,680 which was started in LA by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrobs. 82 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,400 There was a channel 101 in New York as well. 83 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:34,960 And the idea was to make 10 minute-- 84 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:37,120 there are five minute television shows. 85 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:39,720 And so we had a couple of series on that. 86 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:43,840 And eventually we had families, but we decided 87 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:47,400 that we need to up our game and be better at this than we were. 88 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:49,200 We did some 48 hour film festivals. 89 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:50,760 We did very well with those. 90 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:56,640 And we kind of stumbled into a couple of short films 91 00:03:56,640 --> 00:03:58,920 that we shot in LA with an actual crew. 92 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:01,160 For the first time, we had an actual crew. 93 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:03,400 It wasn't just us holding the boom poles. 94 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:04,800 And we kind of got hooked. 95 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,760 MPI original films saw our first short 96 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:09,920 and signed set to do another one, 97 00:04:09,920 --> 00:04:14,120 which was called the PCK, which had a very good festival run 98 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:15,320 during the pandemic. 99 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,080 So lots of Zoom festival calls. 100 00:04:18,080 --> 00:04:19,320 But it did well enough. 101 00:04:19,320 --> 00:04:23,240 It opened a Tribebeca short program. 102 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:26,120 And they gave us MPI original films, 103 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:28,000 gave us another shot to make a feature. 104 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:28,920 Here we are. 105 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,280 So those in crowd-friended of yours were, 106 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:34,200 would they populate things like defenders of Stan? 107 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:34,800 Oh, yeah. 108 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:36,000 That's all of them. 109 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,720 Those are my college buddies, 90% of the people in that 110 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:41,160 are my college friends. 111 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:43,320 And the other 10% were my friends. 112 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:44,280 That's true. 113 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:46,640 Who had a sweet galactic costume. 114 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:47,120 True. 115 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:47,640 Yeah. 116 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:50,360 So when you guys are working as a, 117 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,160 if I know that your credited is both writers and directors, 118 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:56,000 but how do you develop the work? 119 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:56,840 Orally. 120 00:04:56,840 --> 00:04:57,840 Yeah. 121 00:04:57,840 --> 00:04:59,160 Wow. 122 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:03,400 We tend to essentially write the same things. 123 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:04,960 So we will talk a lot. 124 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,960 We will outline once we come up with an outline. 125 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:10,400 We sort of know how the story is going to proceed. 126 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:12,600 We'll then separate, go to our offices. 127 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:14,880 Each of us will write the script separately. 128 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:19,320 And then we will come together and trade the scripts with a highlighter. 129 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:23,280 And we will highlight everything on the other person's scripts that we found funny, 130 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:25,240 or that we particularly liked and enjoyed. 131 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:26,480 And then we'll trade again. 132 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:27,920 So now I have my script back. 133 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:29,760 And with a different color, I'll highlight everything, 134 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:31,560 really, that I thought Austin missed. 135 00:05:31,560 --> 00:05:35,080 And they will just discuss it and depending on 136 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:39,760 impending due date or just how close the scripts are, 137 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:41,760 we may do that multiple times. 138 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:44,960 And that's what happened with a piece of cake. 139 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:47,960 And that's what happened with this film with Pinball. 140 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:53,440 We wrote full scripts, 100, 120 page scripts, 141 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:58,800 and individually and then discussed and switched things out. 142 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,600 It's a great, it's an inefficient process, 143 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:06,160 but it's really helpful in the sense that if I get stuck on a scene, 144 00:06:06,160 --> 00:06:07,360 I just don't like it. 145 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:08,360 It seems boiler play. 146 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:10,280 I'm just not excited about it. 147 00:06:10,280 --> 00:06:13,560 I'll quickly write something so I can finish it, but I'll move on. 148 00:06:13,560 --> 00:06:17,880 And I won't think too hard about it and beat myself up too much over it. 149 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,600 Because I'm going to cross my figures that Austin has figured it out. 150 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,480 99% of the time, one of us has an end. 151 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:25,600 The other one says, yep, that's good, that's great. 152 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:26,480 Let's go with that. 153 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:31,200 And if we don't, then we just know we need to work on and we'll discuss it more. 154 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:34,200 It's rare that we have those moments where nothing is working, 155 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:35,480 or particularly seen. 156 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:38,560 But when that happens, I think you have to sort of re-examine your priors, 157 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,280 go back to your treatments, say, what went wrong here, 158 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:43,320 that we couldn't figure this part out. 159 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:46,120 Now, you two have brothers, do you have any other siblings? 160 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:46,960 We do. 161 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:52,800 We have a successful older brother, which is a great thing to have when you tell your parents that you want to make movies for a living. 162 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:54,520 Yeah, I was wondering how they took the news. 163 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,600 Alex is the oldest of the three. 164 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,760 He is a neurologist down in Atlanta, National Mayor of Scholar, 165 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:02,960 paid to go to medical school. 166 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:04,800 I mean, he's great, right? 167 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:08,040 He's the sibling you need to have if you want to go do wacky, 168 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:09,600 you make them up so you're okay. 169 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,600 So, a piece of cake, all about little silver balls, 170 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:15,280 you make a movie about pinball, 171 00:07:15,280 --> 00:07:17,800 which also focuses on a little silver ball. 172 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:20,280 As you're making piece of cake, we were just like, oh, 173 00:07:20,280 --> 00:07:21,920 we should just take the step further, 174 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:25,080 eliminate the number of balls and go down to a bigger one. 175 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:29,280 We joke that we could be, can't really remember where we first heard about pinball being illegal. 176 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:31,720 We first heard that Roger, you know, 177 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:35,800 learned about Roger, proving that it was a game of skill and not chance. 178 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:44,920 It was one fact toy out of long Google doc that asked in a nice share full of embryonic story ideas that looked deep into occasionally. 179 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:50,360 However, we think that perhaps we were at some time during a piece of cake, 180 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:55,640 we googled illegal silver balls and that picture of Roger that we ate in the film, 181 00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:03,280 but that picture of Roger in the city council hearing playing pinball with scowling city council members. 182 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:05,520 I can't endorse doing the Google search though. 183 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,320 No, I don't think that's a good idea for folks. 184 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:09,920 But that may be where we gave up at that. 185 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,040 But yeah, we're looking for a third at Benny when as they at third, 186 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:17,720 illegal silver ball story idea, we need to finish the trilogy. 187 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:18,920 Our DMs are open. 188 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:22,800 Tell me a little bit more about like when did you actually reach out to Roger Sharpe? 189 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:24,160 How was that whole thing? 190 00:08:24,160 --> 00:08:26,800 I mean, it was February of 2020. 191 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:30,320 We were looking for another project, we're just another idea, something to do. 192 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:35,360 This is around the time that Tribeco was a piece of cake was the first to premiere Tribeco. 193 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:39,600 So we're just hoping to have an answer to the what's next question. 194 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:42,960 I saw the bit on the Google Doc and I cold emailed Roger. 195 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:43,760 I found his email. 196 00:08:43,760 --> 00:08:46,640 I just emailed him and asked if he wouldn't mind jumping on a phone with me. 197 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:47,440 Just a talk. 198 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:51,280 I had read a little bit about the shot into the pinball world. 199 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:56,880 Rogers shot where he calls the shot in front of the city council chambers. 200 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,280 That's pretty well known in the pinball community. 201 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:00,400 But we're not pinball people. 202 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:02,080 So this was sort of new to us. 203 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:03,360 But I read that story. 204 00:09:03,360 --> 00:09:04,560 I thought maybe there was something there. 205 00:09:04,560 --> 00:09:05,760 But I just wanted to feel him out. 206 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:06,640 Talk with him. 207 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:09,200 We got on the phone and we ended up talking for about three hours. 208 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:09,920 He's a talker. 209 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:10,880 I'm a talker. 210 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:15,280 While the time this was over, I contacted Austin and I said, I think this might be a feature. 211 00:09:15,280 --> 00:09:20,640 And that's because he told me all of the other things that hadn't been written about. 212 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:26,480 That worked part of the shot around him meeting single mother about his time at she cute, 213 00:09:26,480 --> 00:09:32,000 writing the pinball book, meeting the people that as part of the pinball book research that created the 214 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:34,400 game, literally created the game. 215 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:36,000 I mean, it's fascinating. 216 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:41,840 And all of that in some of the great stories that he told it felt more universal than just a 217 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:43,040 movie about pinball. 218 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:49,440 And that's that was important to us because we wanted something that would appeal to pinball fans. 219 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:51,520 Absolutely something they could embrace. 220 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:55,280 But also something that you didn't need to know anything about pinball too. 221 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:56,080 Enjoy. 222 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:00,320 So do you have to put together like a presentation for MPI and come in and say, we're going to do 223 00:10:00,320 --> 00:10:03,440 a movie all about pinball and what was that reaction like? 224 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,840 I mean, the funny thing is that when we were first approached by MPI, 225 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:11,920 you know, for a follow-up, they were asking for ideas. 226 00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:17,600 Then they specified no period pieces and no biopics. 227 00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:21,360 So of course we included this on our list on our short list. 228 00:10:21,360 --> 00:10:26,000 And I think over time they found that to be the most compelling one. 229 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:32,880 What a steep hill to climb for your first feature by making this a period piece by just having the 230 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:34,320 scope of this project. 231 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,360 I mean, how did you end up putting this all together? 232 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:38,960 I mean, what was your approach to it? 233 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:43,040 And also I'm so curious with this interesting way that you guys are talking about your writing. 234 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:45,840 What different avenues were you going down? 235 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:50,080 Because he and I had created these different scripts and just talking through and using the 236 00:10:50,080 --> 00:10:55,120 device of having a modern day Roger Sharp, the part of the movie, and be able to sort of 237 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:57,920 critique and talk back to the director. 238 00:10:57,920 --> 00:10:59,120 We enjoyed that. 239 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:00,560 So that was pretty early on. 240 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:05,600 The original script didn't change that much from the first draft to what you see on screen. 241 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:10,400 It was trimmed in a couple characters were changed, partially for budget reasons, 242 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:12,640 locations were paired down for budget reasons. 243 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:17,200 I mean, there are things and compromises that you must make in order to make a film or 244 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:21,200 reality, especially on a tier zero budget like this. 245 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:26,880 But we were always amazed at the cast and the crew and just everything that came together. 246 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:29,200 This is easily the biggest thing we've ever created. 247 00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:30,880 With the biggest budget we've ever created. 248 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:33,040 Still, it's a little budget movie, indie film. 249 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:36,480 I understand that on the grand scheme of things that's small, but to us it's here. 250 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,800 So we never felt like we were making any compromises on that front. 251 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:47,840 If anything, we were super humbled to have all of these amazing people and resources that I 252 00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:48,800 disposal. 253 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:55,200 And I really can't think the cast of the crew or the original films enough for producing this. 254 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:58,640 And maybe a low budget film, but it doesn't look like a low budget film. 255 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:00,080 It looks fantastic. 256 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:00,880 Thank you. 257 00:12:00,880 --> 00:12:01,840 I appreciate that. 258 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:05,440 Can you tell me a little bit about your crew, your DP? 259 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:07,200 I mean, how was that relationship? 260 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:13,760 John Kang was our DP. We had another DP that we had worked with on the short, 261 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:15,600 who couldn't sign on for this one. 262 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:20,320 And so we sort of went searching based on recommendations that other people had. 263 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:24,960 I'll say, John was the only DP whose headshot has him smiling. 264 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:25,600 Right? 265 00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:28,640 Every other DP is very serious and staring. 266 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:31,600 And we kept on saying it was a mantra on this film. 267 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:33,280 We're making a pinball movie. 268 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:37,040 If we're not having fun making a pinball movie, then we're doing something wrong. 269 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:43,600 And so that struck out immediately the way that he uses those little subtle camera moves. 270 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:46,960 The footage that we saw from him was incredible. 271 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,800 We got on a zoom and he was such a great guy. 272 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:53,040 Just such a happy fun guy. 273 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:55,040 He was phenomenal. 274 00:12:55,040 --> 00:13:00,960 And he knew that as first time directors, we were going to lean on him for a lot of moments. 275 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:05,680 But he was still very collaborative and it was great. 276 00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:10,640 You talked about how you were preparing for things in February of 2020. 277 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:14,880 And I seem to remember that there was something that happened in March of 2020 278 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:17,680 that might have affected you and your scheduling. 279 00:13:17,680 --> 00:13:19,680 How to COVID affect the film. 280 00:13:19,680 --> 00:13:23,280 In a way it kind of helped because everyone was locked down. 281 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,480 And that's when we first got started talking to Roger. 282 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:32,160 Once a week or a couple times a week, even we would sit down on a zoom with Roger for a few hours. 283 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:36,560 And just talk about things that were going on and hone down on certain aspects. 284 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:44,240 We had zoom with Roger and with his wife and with his kids and with James Hamilton and his sister. 285 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:49,440 I mean, we were actually in a uniquely fortunate position that everyone was stuck at home. 286 00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:52,400 And we could say, hey, can you jump on a zoom call? 287 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:58,160 We spent the vast majority of that year talking and writing. 288 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:00,960 There wasn't much else we could have been doing anyway. 289 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:03,680 The timing was somewhat fortunate. 290 00:14:03,680 --> 00:14:05,360 When did you actually do the shoot? 291 00:14:05,360 --> 00:14:07,440 October of 2021. 292 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:08,640 2021, they shoot. 293 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,040 We were shooting in the Hudson Valley. 294 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:15,200 We work with choice as the on the ground production team. 295 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,840 So we were in Newberg and the Pekip Sea that area. 296 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:26,560 And we learned while we were there that just across the river from Newberg in a town called Beacon. 297 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:32,480 It was a barcade that also had to deal with a pinball band on the books when they first tried to open up. 298 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:33,680 What was the shoot like for you? 299 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:34,480 How was it? 300 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,600 Constance stress, but also wonderful. 301 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:42,880 It's hard to complain when you're on set. 302 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:48,320 And on these wonderful locations or even these built sets. 303 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:53,520 And there's just a huge team of people working to achieve this common goal. 304 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:55,600 It was pretty fantastic. 305 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:58,080 We had such an amazing casting crew. 306 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:03,360 Like I can't speak highly enough of the people that we brought in. 307 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:05,120 I know the cast had fun. 308 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:06,880 One of the great moments of course. 309 00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:10,960 We relied heavily on the pinball community to source a lot of those old machines. 310 00:15:10,960 --> 00:15:15,440 So there were times when we had 20, 30 machines on set. 311 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:17,440 And so you break for a lunch. 312 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:21,680 Suddenly you hear these things fire up and people are playing games in between. 313 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:22,960 Shot too is great. 314 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:23,920 Really good time. 315 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:28,000 It was a lot like having a being a part of a very stressful summer camp. 316 00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:29,600 There's a lot of fun. 317 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:33,440 But you also, you know, there are things you need to do in a accomplish. 318 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:35,120 But I agree with Austin. 319 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:36,480 We made a lot of great friends. 320 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,720 And I think of all the things many of the many things we can take away from this. 321 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:42,480 That's some of the friendships we've built. 322 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,400 I own that list. 323 00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,400 You could have pushed this a little too far. 324 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:51,600 And the whole movie could have felt like a funnier disket. 325 00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:54,160 Rogers, a accent, could have been thicker. 326 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:56,960 There could have been more mugging these kind of things. 327 00:15:56,960 --> 00:15:58,000 But you handle that. 328 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,760 I mean, it's a fun movie, but it's not a parody film. 329 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:03,600 Yeah, it definitely shouldn't be. 330 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:08,960 I mean, when you're making, you know, again, they sort of tears zero in the budget films. 331 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,280 We set off into each other. 332 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:13,440 You got to get a little weird with it, right? 333 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:15,120 You got to make it interesting. 334 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:17,280 But you don't want to go straight to Wachy Town. 335 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:20,640 It's got to, you know, you've got people for 90 minutes. 336 00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:24,400 You know, I think if you go too bizarre, you're going to lose them. 337 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:26,400 I mean, there's an alternate title of rep. 338 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:29,280 We're rolling around a tin ball of love story. 339 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:33,680 And I think that was important to us that this is in many ways. 340 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:35,040 We're not making fun of a tin ball. 341 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:37,440 We're not making fun of the people who enjoy tin ball. 342 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:38,400 We're not tin ball people. 343 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:42,240 But we now care very deeply about that community. 344 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:44,480 And the people who made it happen. 345 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,680 And I just Roger Peter, but I'll tell you other fabulous people we've met. 346 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:53,040 If we had gone too broad, it may have run the risk of us. 347 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,040 Look, like we were making fun of a niche community. 348 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:56,960 And that's definitely not what we intended. 349 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:01,360 We wanted instead to create an understanding that everyone, 350 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:04,480 everyone, I think, has involved in some small niche community. 351 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:08,880 And we wanted to show that respect to what they built. 352 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:11,360 At the same time, again, it's pinball. 353 00:17:11,360 --> 00:17:12,400 It better be fun. 354 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:16,560 No one goes to see a pinball movie, dark and yet. 355 00:17:16,560 --> 00:17:20,240 But thank you. I heard earlier today I was listening to a film making podcast. 356 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:23,040 And someone said comedy is like a souffle. 357 00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:26,080 Like it should be light and airy, but it's really easy to mess up. 358 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:27,360 And I think that's correct. 359 00:17:27,360 --> 00:17:33,040 Getting the tone right and making sure that everyone understands what sort of movie we're making is 360 00:17:33,040 --> 00:17:34,080 really important. 361 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:37,120 Well, to that end, did you guys have a lot of rehearsals for this? 362 00:17:37,120 --> 00:17:38,560 No, not terribly. 363 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:42,560 Just to with a budget couldn't sustain a larger rehearsal process. 364 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:49,920 But we did do a number of zooms with actors ahead of time, particularly Mike and Crystal, 365 00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:53,040 who I think are about excellent part of that. 366 00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:55,520 And I just got to give our hats off to Lindsay Weiss, 367 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:59,280 Miller, our casting director who just kept putting amazing people in front of us and saying, 368 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:02,800 "Choose what? And we're thinking we want to choose all of them like there too many good people." 369 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:05,760 So no, we didn't have a large rehearsal process. 370 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:10,640 But we did have a lot of time talking with people before they landed on the ground. 371 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:14,560 So to give them a sense of what we were trying to do and what we were trying to accomplish. 372 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:18,640 You mentioned tone and I think one of the things that helps with tone so much is your score. 373 00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:21,680 Your score is terrific. Can you tell me a little bit more about the music? 374 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:26,640 Rob Barbato. He is fantastic. Something I learned on a piece of cake. 375 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,360 And I want to say I love the music on a piece of cake, but I also 376 00:18:29,360 --> 00:18:34,480 what are the things that we learned from that process is that you can fall in love with 377 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:42,320 camp tracks. So before we even started shooting, we had hired Rob to create music for the film. 378 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:48,640 And I knew exactly what I wanted. Well, more importantly, I knew exactly what I didn't want. 379 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:52,080 I didn't want disco. disco and pinball doesn't feel right to me. 380 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:58,720 The pinball should be a little grittier, a little bit more up being fun, but not crazy. 381 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:04,880 I didn't want it to be too wacky. And so we sent a few temp tracks his way just to sort of say, 382 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:10,560 you know, here's some reference material. And he started sending us songs while we were shooting. 383 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:14,400 And I got to play some of these songs for cast today. Oh, we got some mixes. Let's listen. 384 00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:20,000 They were great. I mean, I think probably 80% of the things he sent. We ended up 385 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:25,040 like using. I don't think they were many that he created after the film was done. 386 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:33,280 They would, you know, he would play around a little bit more with how instruments came in and out and added some 387 00:19:33,280 --> 00:19:40,320 some more to it. But the basic tracks were there and the feeling was there. And I deeply adore the score. 388 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:46,880 When did you guys have your premiere and how did it go over premiered at the Hampton's International Film Festival 389 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:54,720 in the fall, which was, you know, fantastic and surreal. We bounced around from there a lot of times 390 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:59,920 we'd go from one festival straight to another sort of living out of a suitcase. But if I listen, I'm going to 391 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:06,080 forget some and that's problematic. You've got a lot on your website. So people can always check that out. 392 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:13,040 Yeah. You know, we had a great festival at heartland. That was phenomenal. 393 00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,720 Picks up audience towards the end. And that was a big one. Amazing. 394 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:21,120 Rain dance. We were closing that at rain dance. This was just awesome. 395 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:27,520 Being in London and Mike was able to join us for that one, which is great. There's been a number of 396 00:20:27,520 --> 00:20:34,320 festivals in and it's been a blast considering our last festival tour with the short was all done via zoom. 397 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:40,640 This was our first real experience traveling with film and it's been great. 398 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:45,200 Did Roger join you on this tour as well? Absolutely. Yes Roger and Alan. 399 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:53,280 Sometimes we have more extended versions of his family arrive. We certainly have a lot of his 400 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:59,520 pinball of extended family arriving. The support from that community has been fantastic on the 401 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:06,320 circuit as well. In fact, we just recently got back from South Carolina where we did screening 402 00:21:06,320 --> 00:21:11,920 because there's still a lot on the books in Columbia South Carolina that prohibits miners from playing pinball. 403 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:20,560 We met with the minority leader down there, Todd Brothaford. I believe we had a screening there and it was 404 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:25,360 just excellent. He was screening for the first one sold out the pinball community. That's truly really 405 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:31,520 shared up for that. And then we all went to Bangback and which is a pinball arcade and proceeded to play 406 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:38,400 there for many hours. Roger was the director to show off. It's fun to watch Roger still 407 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:45,840 and incredibly gifted pinball player. Just truly, truly good. We are terrible. Not even just in comparison, 408 00:21:45,840 --> 00:21:51,920 just period which is terrible but it's fun to watch Roger. He's great. And it's fun to watch Roger 409 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:58,880 in his element with peatble wanting his autograph. It's great. Yeah, Roger's been in a big part of 410 00:21:58,880 --> 00:22:05,520 the push, the promo push for this and it's been nice too because occasionally we've had film festivals 411 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:11,040 that compete that are on the same day and sometimes Roger will be able to go to one. We'll be go to another. 412 00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:17,280 So he's represented the film so low in a couple festivals and screenings. It's even better when he's 413 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:24,640 there for the Q&A afterwards because he gets all kinds of questions that we could not answer. 414 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:30,160 So what's next for the film? Or is it going to be playing? So at this point, it's out. 415 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:37,680 You can get a Apple TV and other streaming sites video on demand and there will be playing a few 416 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:44,560 theaters across the country. So I would urge everyone to take a look at pinballfilm.com. 417 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:49,440 That's real fun. The latest news and updates as far as screenings. There are still some festivals 418 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:54,720 that will be playing as well. So take a look. Yeah, that's what you'll find everything. 419 00:22:54,720 --> 00:22:59,760 And what's next for you guys? Some sleep. If we're lucky. Yes. 420 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:07,200 Not quite sure yet. I'm still looking for our next idea circling a few options. But don't want to 421 00:23:07,200 --> 00:23:12,880 jinx anything. So well, best of luck to you in the future. Again, pinball is such a great movie. 422 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:18,400 You should really be proud of yourselves and what a great job that you did. So thank you so much for 423 00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:24,240 for making this movie. Thank you so much. All right. Well, Austin, Meredith, thank you so much. 424 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:30,800 And yeah, definitely everybody check out pinball the man who saved the game or pinball on love story as you put it. 425 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:38,160 The story is about an extra driver being named John James Law before his friends Blackball 426 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:43,760 him in nicknamed pinball. I gathered the story from a truck stopping out of police or house on this 427 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:49,040 old fellow. I'd say 70 years old. Let me to buy him a strong cup of coffee in a piece of good apple pie. 428 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:55,920 I bought a cup of coffee in the pile for the old fellow and I'm off of glad I did because he went design smile and says 429 00:23:55,920 --> 00:24:01,920 my my. Then I noticed in a few minutes with trembling hands he pushed a part of his pine coffee back and 430 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:06,640 looked at me with tears running down his pole with a beaten cheek and this is what he said. 431 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:17,040 I'm a no. I'm a no. I'm a no. I'm a big truck. I shot the pinball machine but it calls me 432 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:29,360 bad love. But I'll never have a mate and a pinball machine. I get poor catacona than I missed the 16. 433 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:41,040 I was there out of all the more pinball machines many weeks they have caused me to live on sighting. 434 00:24:54,240 --> 00:25:03,120 Last time I come away from the phone the first thing she says John when can you come home. 435 00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:14,720 I've got a lot of hugs and they've got the goal so you when I get back from Chicago. 436 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:26,640 She says John you know I love you I was too wouldn't go send you baby some money they are hungry and cold. 437 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:37,600 The last thing she said and then she hung up John you've give up my loving and just a drive on 438 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:47,600 old road. 439 00:25:47,600 --> 00:26:00,400 I made my trail onto Chicago I was gone too much called a shot up my dog. 440 00:26:03,440 --> 00:26:12,000 When I got home my family was gone the best friend I had for a long my telephone. 441 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:23,200 He says John I guess you wonder about your babies and wife. You know you've got your babies and your wife to 442 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:35,840 cook a lie. I lost all my friends I can't sleep for bad dreams I dream about a no truck and I'll pinball machine. 443 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:41,600 I never will forget the last words that I don't man said. 444 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:50,320 Oh Lord if I could build my life over them and then he failed in. They tell me John is a clean 445 00:26:50,320 --> 00:27:03,680 cut young man at age of 19 but now he's in his grave a victim of a big old truck and I'll pinball machine.