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Hello there, everybody, and welcome
back to the disc Connected. I am

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here somebody that I've been waiting multiple
months to finally have on here, And

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this is Billy Ray Bruton. And
this is gonna sound a lot like me

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because he has a list of titles. First off, he hosts the Incinerator

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Pod, which is a podcast that
I also produce. We'll be talking more

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about that later, I'm sure.
But possibly the biggest time taker, I'm

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sure for his life. He is
the managing director at the Three dollars Bill

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Cinema in Seattle. He's the founder
and artistic director of Scripts Gone Wild,

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which many you have probably heard of
already. And then he's also the festival

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director of the Skyline Indie Film Festival
and now something called Make Believe Seattle.

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How you doing, Billy Ray?
You know, doing pretty swell ron?

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How the hell are you doing?
Fantastic? I? Uh wait? Is

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this is this? Is this?
A? Is this an nsf W channel?

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Can always oh fuck yeah, awesome, Okay. I like to let

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lose and not have to think about
the kiddies. Absolutely. Uh yeah.

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We can let loose as we want. And that's that's gonna be the point.

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With a lot of this stuff because
Script's Gone Wild gets wild and Cinerator

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Pod is full of drama. But
some of these film festivals are some of

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the exciting things that I really want
to dive into today. But I mean,

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first off, let's break down you
as a person before we break down

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each of these jobs. The film
originally, Oh my god, Well,

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what got me to film originally was
a bicycle because I used to come home

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from school every day, ride my
bicycle to the Rosalie Plaza video store,

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and I would stick around for two
or three hours. I would put the

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VHS boxes back on the shelves for
Mike, who ran the video store,

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and then he would let me take
two or three movies home every night.

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Then I would ride my bike back
home and I would just watch movies until

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you know, I was done for
and either I was ready to go to

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bed or my parents made me go
to bed one And so that's when I

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got obsessed with movies. That was
at a very very young age, probably

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five or six. That's a pretty
fair trade, yeah, absolutely, And

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I did that for years through high
school. I would do that because it

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was a small town, small video
store. So Mike is not he didn't

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need employees. He ran it himself. But it was nice when it was

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busy to have someone there to put
the boxes back up. But that was

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sort of it I start, you
know, I was I was always more

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of a writer than anything else.
When I was younger, I wrote a

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lot, but it was very much
just like, you know, write something

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and then pass it around in third
grade to all your classmates, And that's

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what I would do. I would
literally write something, I would pass it

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around to the entire class and they
would all write notes about what they thought

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of it on the back pages.
And yeah, so that was kind of

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my gateway. And the older I
got, obviously, the more I became

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a centophile and uh yeah, but
you know, I think what most people

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don't realize is that I was much
more of a theater person than I was

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a film person for a long time. Like I ran a theater company in

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Birmingham for a little over a decade
and I still consider that I've probably done

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more theater than film on the whole. But films where my films, where

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my heart's at. You can you
can hear when you start talking about theater

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work that it holds a special place
for you and it really comes across as

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you discuss it. So it's always
nice to hear you break out of that

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shell from film and dive into some
of the theater work. Thank you.

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Yeah. I love theater, I
really really do, and I go back

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to it a lot. Like you
know, I when I left Birmingham,

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it was I was burnt out,
frankly, like I had basically been a

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one man band at my theater for
eight years and I was just burnt out.

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And so when I moved to LA
I just really didn't want to do

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any thing with theater. But then
about four or five years once I was

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there, I started missing it again. So I started doing Hollywood Fringe festival

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shows. Did a couple of shows
there that did really really well. We

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actually took one to Off Broadway in
New York. And yeah, and I'm

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looking to get back to theater again
soon, hopefully too in Seattle maybe.

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But you know, like I said, I oscillate, I go film theater

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film theater. I think I'll always
do both. I'll always do both.

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Well, I mean you mentioned Seattle. You moved up there during the pandemic,

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right, it was fairly recently,
Yeah, it was, it was

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actually July of last year, so
we're just over the one year point.

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I packed up and moved from Beverly, from Beverly, not to Beverly.

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Yeah, it was, you know, it was during the pandemic. I

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was like a lot of people,
I was doing the whole like am I

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happy where I am? Like?
Is this where I see my life in

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the next ten years? And the
answer was at the time no, And

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so I was like, where do
you want to move? And so I

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know, literally literally narrated it down
to Austin, Ditver or Seattle, and

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with in forty eight hours of looking
for a job, this job came to

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me. And so it was just
it kind of felt like Kismet a little

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bit, and I'm I'm I'm leaning
over to grab something. Billy Ray also

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has some fairly new Uh is it
one or two puppies? Yeah? That

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was Uh, that was me getting
something out of my Basenji's mouth that he

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was shot with that he was going
to choke to death on. As I

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look at him, he looks very
confused as to why I took this ball

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bearing out of his mouth, And
I'm also like, where's why is there

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a ball bearing in my apartment?
I'm not that guy. This isn't a

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fucking garage. But AnyWho, Uh
yeah, move to Seattle on a whim.

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Honestly very glad that I did.
I mean, the weather is certainly

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more appropriate for the way that I
like to live. And I just love

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the city. See that was a
great city. Well I stay here forever,

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who the fuck knows, But right
now it's working so pretty happy in

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the last year. Have you been
able to feel fairly acclimated since then?

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Yeah, I mean I think so. I mean I got two dogs,

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so that was a that was an
investment, right, So that's definitely changed

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the way I live my life.
But I mean have I have I done

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as much in the city as I
want to know? But I do blame

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the dogs for a lot of that. Well, and we're also still in

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a pandemic literally, yeah, yeah, I mean that's been part of it

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too. You know, Seattle took
the lock down really seriously and still probably

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take it more seriously than a lot
of places, and so that sort of

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made getting out a little bit challenging
too. But but no, love the

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city, love the people here.
You know, wish there was less crime,

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but hey, it's America. I
yeah, that's a great point.

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Seattle been in the news a lot
over the last few years, but I

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still see it as a place that
I would absolutely love to be in for

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how long that could be weak,
It could be a couple of years.

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But uh yeah, I'd still never
seen Seattle, so I'd love to see

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it someday. You got this long
list of titles. Let's pretty many titles.

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First off, for those that haven't
heard, they've been living under rock.

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What is Scripts Gone Wild? Well, Scripts Gone Wild is It is

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a script reading but also drinking game. So basically, we choose a popular

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film script. We assemble a bunch
of like celebrities and actors and things together

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we read the script. But it's
also drinking game, so if people mess

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up, they take a drink.
We have some rules and stuff in there

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too that also trip folks up,
and each one benefits a different charity.

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And we've been doing this. We
started it at the Chattanooga Film Festival back

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in twenty seventeen. No wait,
ye, twenty seventeen, we started back

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Chattanoo Film Festival. Once I moved
back to la we started doing pretty regular

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live shows that El said. Of
course, the pandemic. Threugh was for

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a loop. So we started doing
virtual reads. But that was actually a

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blessing in disguise because we were really
able to expand our base of folks.

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We were able to like really increase
our audience, and so we just returned

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to our first live show and over
in almost three years, we just did

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creep show. What else said,
It was a sold out house, did

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really really well. Looking forward to
a lot more coming up, some live

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shows because as great as the virtual
reads are, and I will and I

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will say, we do have a
virtual read coming up at Skyline Indie Film

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Festival UH September the seventh, at
eight thirty pm Eastern time. You don't

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have to be in Virginia for that. When you can check it out,

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go to Skyline Indiefilmfest dot org.
What a master at a plugging there that

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was beautiful. Thank you, thank
you. I like to have my informations

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at Saintly on my tongue. Uh. That link will be in the description

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below, of course. But with
Script's Gone Wild, are there any names

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that have been involved that some people
might recognize? Oh? Sure, Joel

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McHale's done one with us. Patrick
Fabian from better call Saul Diedrich Bader,

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who most folks know from Drew Carey
Show. Perez Hilton has done one for

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the horror fans. We've had Barbara
Crampton, Danielle Harris, Kane Hodder.

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I mean so many people. I
mean a lot of really cool people meet

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Stole Array Newman, like just all
sorts of crazy folks have been on there.

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You know, we just did Creep
Show. We had Barbara Crampton,

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we had Joanah Ray, really fun
group. We try to make it a

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good mix of like celebrities, influencers, just actors who we think are really

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fun and we want to do it
with. Like, we try to create

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a really cool mix of people with
the show, and we've got a pretty

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good stable and roster of folks who
do it pretty regularly with us that are,

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you know, second to none.
Frankly, the community around scripts on

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Wilde has been wonderful to witness,
and you can tell even like the Twitter

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replies after this last Creep Show reading
just everybody was so glad to have you

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back. So I'm just glad to
see you back doing something you love like

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this and meeting people in person and
hopefully making people laugh as always. Thank

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you. Yeah, I mean that
was It's always been the goal. Like

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we just want to go be ridiculous
for a couple hours and raise some money

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for charity, and like that's it. So I mean, if we do

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that, we're successful. So Scrips
Gone Wild. Obviously most of the time

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is in person or virtual, and
you got to be somewhere at a certain

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time or in a physical location.
But if anybody else wants to see you

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or hear you, we got the
Incinerator podcast that we can listen to every

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couple of weeks, and I can't
wait to hear what the elevator pitch is

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about this show. So why don't
we just do what the Incinerator pod is

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to all of the viewers. So
Incinerator is a subverted movie elimination game where

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guest takes turns sending a films from
a list of twenty five into something we

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call the Incinerator, where those films
have varying amounts of damage inflicting upon the

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meeting that some films may be wiped
from your memory, some films may not

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like it's it's it varies, and
then we have a lot of stumbling blocks

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that we call land Mines, which
kind of fuck up the players along the

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way. It's basically just chaos and
podcasts for I'm kid you not. We

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were playing Dune the board game,
which is usually known as the most complicated

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board game ever created, and I
said, boy, this would be fun

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to do as a podcast. Yep, And that's literally how it came about.

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It went from doone the board game
to the Incinerator podcast. It's loosely

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inspired by a couple of other podcasts, Screen Drafts, which I'm on a

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lot, and then Film or Film
Spotting, which is one of, if

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not my favorite film podcasts. And
so both of those were kind of merged

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together to create the Incinerator, respectfully, because we love both of those podcasts.

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And yeah, I mean that's kind
of just chaotic. It's chaotic and

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fun and wild and very enjoyable.
There have been some wonderful guests that have

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a background in some of the films. There have been really great topics.

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I mean, we just talked about
nineties action films recently, We've got One

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of your first episodes was best stage
to screen Adaptations, which for a lot

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of people that is one of the
blind spots because not a lot of those

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are being made nowadays, so that
they are just behind and hearing people that

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are so knowledgeable on a subject.
Just go ham and not just pitching why

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one film is better than the other, but why these twenty five films that

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we're talking about are all amazing and
deserve a legacy, but now you have

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to sacrifice them. It creates this
mystifying drama that is wonderful. And to

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be completely transparent, you have a
brilliant producer who is me and I I

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am honored to be a part of
it. I am stoked that I was

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asked to come on. I still
don't understand why I was selected, but

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I adore being involved with you,
and you were a wonderful person. So

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thank you for putting your voice out
into the world. Well, thank you

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and back at you, sir.
And it's been lovely working with you.

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I'm glad to hear that. But
you've got some bigger things that are affecting

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some maybe marginalized segments segments of society. You are bringing art into the world

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for some you know, we'll say
themes that doesn't get enough of a nice

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fair shake. Nowadays, it's getting
more than it used to. For sure.

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But first off, the Three dollars
Bill Cinema on Seattle, what is

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that? Sure? So? Three
dollar Bill Cinema is a sort of it's

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twenty seven year old. It's a
sort of a institution in the city of

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Seattle. It is the largest queer
film organization in the Pacific Northwest. It

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is I believe, the third largest
queer film festival in the US, and

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we do a host of events to
out there. Our flagship is Seattle Queer

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Film Festival, which is an eleven
day film festival in October. We also

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do Translations, which is a trans
film festival that we do in May.

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We're one of the only trans film
festivals in the world. We also do

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a summer camp in the We also
do a summer camp for a queer youth.

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We do outdoor cinema in the summer. Like, we stay pretty busy

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throughout the year with stuff. And
you know, Seattle Core Film Festival.

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Like I said, it's sort of
our big flagship event. It's actually coming

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up. That's what we're spending all
of our time sort of invested in right

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now. We actually have just announced
our Gallas screenings for that, which is

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really exciting. And yeah, it's
an awesome organization. It does really good

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work here in Seattle, and I
feel really lucky that they thought I was

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the right person to come and sort
of helm you know, and the helmless

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bitch. But yeah, I love
it here and I think we're really doing

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important work in Seattle, and folks
seem to be enjoying it as well.

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So for anybody that might be interested
in that and possibly inspired by the type

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of thing that you're working in,
what exactly would you say your role is

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through a three dollars bill? Sure, so I oversee all of three dollars

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bill cinema. So I'm the managing
director, which for all intents and purposes

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is executive director. It's just the
difference in title. So yeah, I

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basically make sure the ship is sailing
smoothly. I do a lot of grant

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writing. It's just always something I've
had a bit of a knack for.

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So I stepped up to do that
when I came in because the organization had

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never really invested in grant writing in
a substantive way, and I knew we

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were just missing out on a ton
of money, you know, from granting

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organization. So I do a lot
of that it's managing the day to day,

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keeping the books balanced. I mean, I'm not an accountant. We

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have one of those, but I
kind of spearhead that, you know,

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a lot of creative stuff too,
and just coming up with screenings and events

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and things like that, like a
little bit of everything. Frankly, we're

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a pretty small team. We have
four full time staff members myself included,

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and we have a festival director who's
seasonal who actually runs SQFF. So a

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very small team, but we we
get We get along great and make it

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happen pretty well. I think nice. We're gonna talk more about that creative

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side in just a minute. But
the other two things that we had brought

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up there were the festival director of
Skyline Indie Film Festival and Make Believe Seattle.

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Let's break each of those down,
sure well. Skyline Indy Film Festival

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is a it's a tiny film festival
in Winchester, Virginia. I became familiar

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with them a few years ago.
My best friend who used to produce this

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or who used to produce this pod
I used to produce Incinerator podcast which now

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Ryan produces. He has a relationship. He's from Winchester, Virginia and so

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he knew the Skyline Indy folks,
and I produced a short film that he

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was in that played at Skyline.
That was my introduction to them. I

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just thought it was such a cool
community to have a film festival, and

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you know, they had been around
for a while, but still weren't getting

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the kind of audiences that I thought
they deserved, and so I sort of

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offered last year to come in as
a co festival director. So I have

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co festival director. Technically, Brian
Patrick, who founded the festival, is

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my cohort there who's amazing, And
Brian's a great guy, and I've been

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happy to sort of jump in there
and pro and kind of helped create some

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cool stuff for sky like because I
do think it's just such a unique area

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and I think it's a perfect place
to have a film festival. I think

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it's just getting the word out there
and the consistency and all of that,

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and so yeah, I actually fly
out Wednesday of next week for that festival.

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So it's the eight through the eleventh. We've got some really cool films

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this year for folks who might be
around that area. We're opening with five

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point twenty two seventy seven, which
for folks who have been following it was

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shot in two thousand and four and
Patrick Reed Johnson's sort of labor of love

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that is finally getting a physical release
in October, and so we're doing that

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as our opening night film. Our
Buddy Graham Skippers film The Leech is going

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to be our closing night film.
But we've got a lot of cool stuff

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in between as well. We're doing
a film trif to Dinosaur Land. We're

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doing a live screen drafts, a
the virtual screen drafts, the virtual scripts

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Gone Wild should be a lot a
lot of fun and that's awesome. Yeah,

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eight through the eleventh. I would
encourage folks to check it out.

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It's virtual as well, so if
you're in the Virginia area but you're like,

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I can't quite make it to Winchester, you can catch it out virtually.

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Not the whole program isn't available virtually, but there's some really good stuff

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on there. So Yeah, a
lot of these film festivals that have done

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virtual they they've adapted fairly well,
but obviously with rights and stuff, there's

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a lot yeahs distributors are cracking down
on what they're allowing to be available virtually

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more so than we had hoped.
We had hoped that maybe, I think

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a lot of festivals had hoped that
maybe the studios would start embracing it more.

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I had always thought that. I
was like, you can't teach old

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dog's new tricks. They're going to
go back to their old model as soon

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as they can. And it seems
like they have for the most part,

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which is unfortunate. But at the
same time, like, as someone who

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believes in the theatrical experience, I
also understand it to a degree, so

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uh, And then fairly recently,
I believe what is make Believe Seattle.

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Make Belief Seattle is probably the thing
I'm most excited about right now. And

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it's it. You know. As
soon as I moved to Seattle and sort

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of got a lay of the land
in terms of like what are the film

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festivals, what are all the things
that are available to the community, it

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became very aware to me that there
was a discernible lack of genre content.

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Not that you couldn't find genre films
playing, but there wasn't really a genre

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festival, and no offense if there
is one that I just did not come

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across, but there's not one that
it has certainly made any waves. And

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you know, as someone who has
been really involved in genre festivals, who

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goes to Fantastic fest every year,
who's a hard nut, I've always wanted

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to start one, and this just
felt like the right time. It felt

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like this was a part of the
country that needed one, and so we're

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planning it for March twenty twenty three
March sixteenth through the nineteenth. We're going

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to do screenings at two or three
different venues in Capitol Hill. We're planning

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some really amazing events and some crazy
awesome guests that are going to be coming

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into town for that. We're really
trying to blow the roof off of it

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for the first year. So a
call for entries just open. So if

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you're a filmmaker and you have anything
that we can call genre, whether it's

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horror, sci fi, animation,
anime, martial arts, whatever like,

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you can can submit it film Freeway, Slash or just Gonna Make Believe Seattle

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dot com and you can just submit
your film there. We have three categories.

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We have short films, we have
feature films, and we actually added

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a Midlenk section, which a lot
of festivals don't. Most festival like I

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don't actually don't know have any other
festival it doesn't honestly, but should be

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doing it because mid league films have
become a big thing the last ten to

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fifteen years. I would honestly say
since the birth of mumble Core, they

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started becoming a really big thing.
And our definition of that is any film

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between thirty five and seventy minutes.
And I'll be honest, over half of

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what's been submitted to us thus far
has been midlea films, which is really

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exciting. That tells me that there
is a need for that out there,

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and I hope to see more festivals
follow suit with that. So so yeah,

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I'm getting really excited about it.
I don't have a lot I can

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say about it because we're still you
know, it's in early state. Yeah,

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but we have our venue when you
booked, we have our call for

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entries open, We're starting to book
our guests at our films, and so

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yeah, I think it's gonna be
a lot of fun. So even if

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you're not in Seattle, I think
there are worse ways to waste your money

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than to come on up and have
some fun with us for a few days.

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There is no easy way to say
this next sentence without sounding like I'm

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sucking up to my boss or anything. But the amount of impact that things

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like this can have on communities across
whether it be a geographical area or a

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segment of people who have, you
know, some random thing in common,

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whether that be loving culton genre films, or being a part of the trans

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community. It is something that can
genuinely unite a segment of people in ways

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that is really difficult to do otherwise, And it seems like one of the

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most creative and necessary ways to do
these when it comes to film festivals.

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Isn't surrounding programming For anybody that doesn't
just you know, they hear the word

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programming in your mind, Like,
how do you define that in What do

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you think is something that separates good
programming from bad programming? I think it's

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the curator. But it begins and
ends with the curator. And I think

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we've entered a time now where people
have really started getting back into the idea

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of curation. I mean, even
if you look at like the streaming services,

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which may seem like it's just a
bunch of like titles dumped on there,

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there is amount of attention and to
detail that goes into what they're curating,

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and especially thinking places like Hulu or
movie or things like that, like

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you want somebody whose voice you trust, and to me, the best film

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festivals out there are the ones that
have like a really strong sort of authorial

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voice, and especially when it comes
to genre content. You know, I

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think people have this idea that genre
is such a niche thing, but it's

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00:22:52.799 --> 00:22:56.799
so not. Like, you know, there are genre fans, massive amounts

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of genre fans all over the country, whether they're big cities like Seattle or

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Austin or where they're in little,
tiny communities, And like, my experience

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has been that the most amazing film
festivals are usually the ones that spring up

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in places where you would not imagine
they're a film festival to be. And

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you think about places like tell your
Ride, or you think about like like,

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I mean, even you know,
Fantastic Fest Year, you know,

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back when it started in Austin was
kind of like what. So I think

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it's all about who is curating and
about whether or not they are taking a

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holistic approach to their programming. And
you know, everybody's idea of genre is

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different. I know mine is very
different from a lot of other people's,

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Like even the films that we're already
toy with doing screenings of. I'm like,

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these are never films that you would
see a place like Fantastic Fest play

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or like fright Fest or something like
that, but they certainly are genre films.

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And so I would say with Make
Beliefs, I feel like part of

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it is like I feel like a
lot of cenophiles feel unwelcome at places like

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fantastic Fest and fright Fest and like
places like that. They feel like it's

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a place for horror fans or it's
a place for like you know, they

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don't feel like it's a place for
them. I'm trying to do that a

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little differently with mine. I want
it to be a place where folks,

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00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:14.400
like folks who love Fantastic Fast can
feel justice home as folks who love something

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like tell your Ride where you're gonna
get a good mix of stuff, and

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I'm all about I'm all about the
mix. I'm all about making sure there's

359
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something for everybody, but that it
all fits in with whatever theme we're going

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for that year, and hopefully I'll
be successful. I've been programming for over

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fifteen years now, I hope I
do a good job of it. I

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figure, I figure if I didn't
do a good job, I wouldn't still

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be doing it. But yeah,
I just I hope. I mean,

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people are definitely gonna get ex sense
of what my tastes are by what's being

365
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played at the festival. I mean, I've got other folks who are helping

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00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:49.920
me program, so it's not just
me, Like, I definitely wanted to

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bring in other voices and like other
not just other voices, but other experiences

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and people from different backgrounds. Who
can you know, who have maybe you

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know, different out look on things
than I do. As you know,

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a cis white guy from the South. You know, I like having other

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voices in the room. But you're
definitely gonna get a good sense of my

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of my taste from it, for
sure. Yeah, I completely agree with

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that. And on a small scale, programming for me, like you can

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literally call programming when somebody asks you
for a movie recommendation and you are giving

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them something that could fit their taste, and to me, one of the

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most important things is knowing who that
person is, but then adapting that to

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a large scale for something like one
of these festivals. It literally translates to

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knowing your audience and you have to
know what you are wanting to draw in

379
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there. So, you know,
you just said you've been programming for fifteen

380
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fifteen years. Can you think back
to something that you you programmed yourself and

381
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maybe name a couple of films that
we would recognize that played concurrently or part

382
00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:53.319
of, you know, a string
of films that you think that was a

383
00:25:53.359 --> 00:25:57.960
really great set of programming and maybe
why that translated so well, yeah,

384
00:25:59.119 --> 00:26:00.559
let mean, look, that's actual
a great question, and then I don't

385
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:06.720
think about nearly enough. I think
it'd be easier, which will it does

386
00:26:06.720 --> 00:26:08.759
not skirt your question, but it'd
be easier to talk about the programs as

387
00:26:08.759 --> 00:26:12.440
a whole that I feel proudest of
and I can kind of nitpick a little

388
00:26:12.440 --> 00:26:18.920
bit. You know, I programmed
at Birmingham Shout in Alabama for a number

389
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of years. I was the programmer
slash festival director, and that was a

390
00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:26.839
it was a queer film festival based
there, but it initially became part of

391
00:26:26.880 --> 00:26:30.519
Sidewalk Film Festival, which is a
bigger film festival that more people have probably

392
00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:37.279
heard of. And we got some
pretty awesome premiers and some like Birmingham Shout

393
00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:40.000
for at least while I was there. This is no shade on them now,

394
00:26:40.279 --> 00:26:41.400
but at least while I was there
and I was treating it like it

395
00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:47.480
was a fully fledged individual festival,
we were starting to catch some pretty good

396
00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:51.319
traction. Like we were getting world
premiers that I can't believe we got.

397
00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:55.720
We were getting we were getting a
lot of buzz and like the Queer festival

398
00:26:55.759 --> 00:26:59.960
circuit, like it really was becoming
sort of a force in the queer festival

399
00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:02.839
world. You know, once I
left, I can't say that they kept

400
00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:06.480
that momentum going. And I'm not
giving myself credit by that for any any

401
00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:08.000
reason. I just think that I
mean, and I don't care if this

402
00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:12.160
comes across them this on. I
think I frankly cared more about that aspect

403
00:27:12.200 --> 00:27:18.119
of it than they do currently.
But those were programs I was really proud

404
00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:22.920
of. We world premiered my buddy
Stephen Cone out of Chicago, who's an

405
00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:27.960
incredible filmmaker who did Wise Kids,
Henry Gamble's birthday party. We premiered his

406
00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:32.559
film black Box, which is something
I'm really proud to have done. We

407
00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:36.720
premiered a couple of Dell Shor's who
I've mentioned previously. We were talking about

408
00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:41.480
Olivia Newton John on a recording of
my podcast. We did Blues for will

409
00:27:41.480 --> 00:27:47.240
Adeane, which was this great film
with Beth Grant Octavia Spencer. But then

410
00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:51.960
I also the year that I programmed
for La Film Fest. I was really

411
00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:55.839
proud of that year, Like we
programmed, so me and my friend Heidi

412
00:27:55.920 --> 00:28:00.200
Honeycutt, who runs a theory of
film night on show, we were the

413
00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:06.279
programmers that year, the final year
of LA Film FESTI and we programmed the

414
00:28:06.279 --> 00:28:10.960
the horror competition and we played some
great films like Thriller, which was a

415
00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:15.000
Blumhouse film. We did ghost Light. I mean, just a lot of

416
00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:19.720
really cool horror films, like like
indie, like upper scale indie horror films.

417
00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:22.720
I'm really proud of that program.
But I mean, then again,

418
00:28:22.839 --> 00:28:26.119
like I don't generally put out a
program if I'm not proud of it.

419
00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:29.279
Like if I'm putting it out and
I'm not proud of it, then I

420
00:28:29.279 --> 00:28:32.400
shouldn't be putting it out. But
then again, like, look, I

421
00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:34.880
don't program for Seattle quart Film Festival
really, I mean, I had input,

422
00:28:36.279 --> 00:28:38.359
but we have a festival director who's
amazing, who does the programming.

423
00:28:38.359 --> 00:28:42.400
But I think our program this year
for SQFF, i'd rival it with any

424
00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:48.480
any queer festival program in the country. I would say it rivals any one

425
00:28:48.519 --> 00:28:52.880
of them. And yeah, I
mean that's my favorite thing to do,

426
00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:56.480
is like build a schedule and like
you know, build out a film schedule.

427
00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:59.880
It's my favorite thing to do in
the world. I'm about to do

428
00:29:00.440 --> 00:29:03.440
a lot of people that you know
have channels like this, or just film

429
00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:07.839
fans in general that love horror and
genre and cults, cinema and stuff like

430
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:10.839
that. It's almost October, so
one of the things I'm looking forward to

431
00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:15.279
is participating in my annual let's make
a calendar for October that I can watch

432
00:29:15.319 --> 00:29:18.200
a bunch of new to me horror
that I've never seen. And the way

433
00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:22.839
that I can small scale program for
myself is great, and I've found that

434
00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:29.480
it has this impact which clearly somebody
in your shoes you must feel on such

435
00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:34.079
a larger scale, because you are
literally shaping the taste of potentially thousands of

436
00:29:34.079 --> 00:29:40.440
people. And while that sounds like
a lot of pressure, I can't imagine

437
00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:45.400
some of the even larger scales,
like studio heads and these physical media labels,

438
00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:48.279
like all the films behind me,
the way that they are literally curating

439
00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:53.480
tests or curating taste for potentially thousands
of buyers. Do you have anything in

440
00:29:53.480 --> 00:29:57.920
your past where somebody has, you
know, professed how much your programs has

441
00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:03.359
affected them or led to just some
amazing experience. Oh yeah, I mean,

442
00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:07.640
like I when I when I started
programming Birmingham Shout, I sort of

443
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:11.480
assembled at the time what I honestly
thought was sort of I think was like

444
00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:17.720
a dream team of queer filmmakers,
like and at the same time it was

445
00:30:18.119 --> 00:30:22.400
and I'm thinking of folks like Nathan
Adloff who directed Miles and Nate, Margaret

446
00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:26.400
Stephen Cohne, and I mentioned earlier
Morgan John Fox from Memphis, the late

447
00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:30.640
great Ash Christian who was a good
friend who passed away a couple of years

448
00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:34.039
ago, who directed and produced a
lot of incredible films. Like we all

449
00:30:34.160 --> 00:30:38.079
kind of merged together around the same
time, right when all of them were

450
00:30:38.079 --> 00:30:42.000
starting to take off, and they
were filmmakers that I brought in, they

451
00:30:42.000 --> 00:30:45.799
were jurors like we just it was
this great little community that we built up

452
00:30:45.799 --> 00:30:51.599
around that and it forged a lot
of relationships, like because of that like

453
00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:56.119
Ash ended up producing Nathan's film,
and like, uh, you know,

454
00:30:56.279 --> 00:30:59.960
and like all these people started working
together and like creating all of these like

455
00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:03.839
you know, like Nathan ended up
working with Morgan and they work with Adam

456
00:31:03.839 --> 00:31:07.920
Wingard on a film, and it's
just this whole thing of like these interconnected

457
00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:11.200
and those are my favorite things that
happen in a festival is when you can

458
00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:14.920
bring people together and then you can
watch them go work together, and like

459
00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:18.519
that is honestly the most exciting thing
in the world for me, because I

460
00:31:18.559 --> 00:31:22.279
when I'm doing a festival, I
think a lot of festivals focus on their

461
00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:25.359
audience, and I think that's I
mean, obviously you have to focus on

462
00:31:25.400 --> 00:31:27.559
your audience, but I don't think
they a lot of festivals put enough attention

463
00:31:27.640 --> 00:31:34.319
on their filmmakers. And that's something
that I've always I've always done and been

464
00:31:34.359 --> 00:31:37.039
really proud of, is that I
try to make sure any festival I'm a

465
00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:41.680
part of that the filmmaker experience is
literally second to none. That because that's

466
00:31:41.720 --> 00:31:47.720
where you really generate buzz is by
filmmakers company your festival. Oh this is

467
00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:49.200
an awesome festival. I'm gonna tell
these people they need to some better I'm

468
00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:52.920
gonna submit. You know, you
bring someone in when they're young with a

469
00:31:52.960 --> 00:31:55.559
short film, they're gonna be more
keen to come back to you, or

470
00:31:55.559 --> 00:31:59.279
they've got a kick ass feature film, and like it's building those relationships,

471
00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:01.759
which I think is o key.
And but yeah, all those early days,

472
00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:05.519
I think about just all of the
crazy things that happened out of that

473
00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:08.960
and that like you know, created
all these little tangential projects, Like I'm

474
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:12.319
really proud of that. But yeah, I've had people come up to me

475
00:32:12.359 --> 00:32:15.039
many times when they watched a film
and they're like, you know, like

476
00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:17.559
thank you for programming list, like
this movie is incredible, like this or

477
00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:20.480
you know, I mean, I
don't want to say that I've ever had

478
00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:22.359
someone come to say this film change
my life, but like, you know,

479
00:32:22.559 --> 00:32:25.680
as someone who has had films change
their life, you know what happens

480
00:32:25.720 --> 00:32:30.279
all the time. And uh,
but that yeah, that's I mean,

481
00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:34.079
obviously, that's that's why most programmers
do it. Like you program it for

482
00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:37.599
that those little you know, triackling
amounts of praise that you get here and

483
00:32:37.640 --> 00:32:40.440
there, Like that's kind of way
you do it. You certainly don't run

484
00:32:40.440 --> 00:32:45.480
a film festival or program a film
festival for the fucking money, because if

485
00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:47.960
you're doing it for the money,
you are running around in circles chasing your

486
00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:52.319
own tail. My friend, Uh, are you telling me that you're not

487
00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:58.640
getting filthy rich programming film festivals for
the the uh, gay and trans communities?

488
00:32:59.119 --> 00:33:02.240
You know, no one in no
one working for a film festival is

489
00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:06.680
getting rich. Let's be clear,
right, people at Sundance aren't getting rich,

490
00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:09.759
Like they might make more than a
small festival, but they're not getting

491
00:33:09.880 --> 00:33:15.359
rich like you know, film festivals
are nonprofits. They run like nonprofits.

492
00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:20.720
They are generally year by year.
Like it's very rare where a film festival

493
00:33:20.759 --> 00:33:22.599
ends its year and they're like,
well we're set for next year, right,

494
00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:25.960
So yeah, it's a struggle.
It's a struggle. That's why I

495
00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:30.400
have a lot of respect for anybody
who is saying, like I'm going to

496
00:33:30.440 --> 00:33:35.640
make this happen, and especially in
smaller communities where the resources maybe aren't there

497
00:33:35.720 --> 00:33:37.279
like they are in a place like
la or New York or even Seattle.

498
00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:43.440
Like a lot of respect for folks
in like rural Arkansas and rural Missouri and

499
00:33:43.480 --> 00:33:45.880
places like that who are like,
oh, I want to create a film

500
00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:50.480
festival like fuck yeah, like that's
what we need more of. I agree.

501
00:33:50.559 --> 00:33:54.000
And the saddest part about the whole
festival process is it takes a person

502
00:33:54.119 --> 00:33:59.000
like yourself that has their ear to
the ground and no again knows the audience

503
00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:01.960
but also knows the filming that will
want to be involved and can curate this,

504
00:34:02.599 --> 00:34:07.559
you know, this omnibus of a
feeling, like a genuine vibe for

505
00:34:08.079 --> 00:34:13.159
either a day or a weekend or
a week long festival that is going to

506
00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:15.559
last and make people feel like there
is an impact. So it's kind of

507
00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:22.440
an unsung hero situation where it all
rides on sometimes one set of shoulders and

508
00:34:22.880 --> 00:34:25.039
clearly to get where you have,
You've You've killed it quite a few times.

509
00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:29.039
I've killed it in good ways,
and I've also killed it in bad

510
00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:32.360
ways. I've gotten through with a
lot of fuck ups that I've learned from.

511
00:34:32.599 --> 00:34:37.599
Fortunately, so I do feel like
I'm in a much better position now

512
00:34:37.639 --> 00:34:40.519
to do something like Make Believe than
I would have been ten years ago.

513
00:34:42.920 --> 00:34:45.920
I could have done it ten years
ago, but I don't think I had.

514
00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:50.480
I don't think i'd failed enough to
really do it the proper way.

515
00:34:51.920 --> 00:34:53.840
And I feel like I feel like
I'm ready to do that now, and

516
00:34:53.920 --> 00:34:58.599
it's not my first time. Like
I found it a film festival in Chattanooga

517
00:34:58.559 --> 00:35:00.360
a few years ago called Shindig,
which which was a queer festival there.

518
00:35:00.519 --> 00:35:05.760
It was in partnership with the Chattanooga
Film Festival folks. And honestly, you

519
00:35:05.800 --> 00:35:08.360
asked me that question earlier, that
might be the proudest I've ever been of

520
00:35:08.400 --> 00:35:13.000
a program, frankly, because you
know, I was really proud of it.

521
00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:15.039
We were in a city where you
would not expect a queer film festival

522
00:35:15.079 --> 00:35:22.159
to be and which is my favorite
place to do one. And you know,

523
00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:23.559
I learned a lot from that experience. I learned a lot of things

524
00:35:23.559 --> 00:35:27.239
what to do and what not to
do. I think that certainly in formed

525
00:35:27.280 --> 00:35:30.719
me here. Yeah, it's just
you got to be willing to You got

526
00:35:30.719 --> 00:35:34.159
to just be willing to dive in
and do it because it's like you don't

527
00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:37.320
make a lot of money from it, and it's all encompassing, like it's

528
00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:40.119
a shit ton of work for a
very little reward. So you've either got

529
00:35:40.119 --> 00:35:44.599
to be fired up and passionate about
it or it's going to make you miserable.

530
00:35:45.880 --> 00:35:49.000
So if somebody is watching this,
and they're inspired, and they're in

531
00:35:49.239 --> 00:35:52.400
rural Missouri or you know, the
middle of bumfuck Tennessee and they want to

532
00:35:52.440 --> 00:35:58.599
do something like this. On a
granular level, what goes into making something

533
00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:01.159
a good even like a double feature, Because obviously, like the New BEV

534
00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:07.400
Cinema is the most famous right now
theater across the country that people, you

535
00:36:07.480 --> 00:36:10.559
know, people around here in Missouri
are literally looking at the what's going to

536
00:36:10.599 --> 00:36:13.840
be playing at the New BEV this
month just to take a look and maybe

537
00:36:13.880 --> 00:36:16.800
watch some of those double features.
And it's it's lazy sometimes to say just

538
00:36:16.840 --> 00:36:21.960
the same director or a sequel,
or these films both feature you know,

539
00:36:22.039 --> 00:36:25.679
non exploitation, but you gotta have
the right flow. What is that in

540
00:36:25.719 --> 00:36:30.360
your mind? Well that's a tough
answer. I mean, I think it

541
00:36:30.400 --> 00:36:32.639
differs from programming programmer. For me, it's all just about a feeling.

542
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:37.559
It doesn't have to be anything that
connects a film. It could just be

543
00:36:37.639 --> 00:36:40.639
about a failing. Like these two
films remind me of each other, like

544
00:36:40.679 --> 00:36:45.800
a good example being I programmed a
double feature once of Field of Dreams and

545
00:36:45.880 --> 00:36:49.199
the right stuff. Now, on
the surface, it's like these films have

546
00:36:49.280 --> 00:36:53.440
nothing in common, but they do
Like I watch those films and I get

547
00:36:53.480 --> 00:36:59.280
the it's Americana like It's like that's
it's a feeling. It's not something that

548
00:36:59.320 --> 00:37:01.880
really connects them in a in an
obvious way. It's just something where you

549
00:37:01.920 --> 00:37:07.079
watch them and you get similar feelings. That's how I program. A lot

550
00:37:07.119 --> 00:37:09.599
of people do program double features based
on you know, like what you just

551
00:37:09.639 --> 00:37:14.840
said, and there's nothing wrong with
that. Like I look at curation like

552
00:37:15.119 --> 00:37:17.119
I sort of I feel like,
at least I'm gonna take credit for coining

553
00:37:17.159 --> 00:37:22.719
the term movie mixtape with movies with
Gravy, in which I'm continuing on into

554
00:37:22.800 --> 00:37:25.599
a new project. But that's the
way I approach things is like I was

555
00:37:25.599 --> 00:37:30.239
a kid who grew up. I
made mixtapes on cassette. I've made mixtapes

556
00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:35.920
on CD. I've made mixtapes on
a fucking iPad like now and now I

557
00:37:35.960 --> 00:37:37.599
think we all do it on Spotify. But it's like I've gone through so

558
00:37:37.599 --> 00:37:43.159
many different cardinat incarnations of making mixtapes, music mixtapes as a human being,

559
00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:46.159
and I like sort of transferring that
to film as well, and with musical

560
00:37:46.199 --> 00:37:50.119
mixtapes. What's it about. It's
about the feeling, Like what are you

561
00:37:50.159 --> 00:37:52.880
trying to convey to the person that
you're making a mixtape for. Well,

562
00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:55.280
maybe they've broken up with somebody and
you want to make them feel better about

563
00:37:55.320 --> 00:37:58.880
that. Like maybe their parents have
divorced and you want to make them feel

564
00:37:58.920 --> 00:38:00.480
better about that. Maybe you just
want to create something fun for a road

565
00:38:00.480 --> 00:38:05.000
trip, Like you're doing it based
on feeling and how those songs make you

566
00:38:05.039 --> 00:38:08.239
feel, and how that sort of
interconnectedness works. And like I like doing

567
00:38:08.320 --> 00:38:12.320
the same way with films, Like
if a film puts me in a similar

568
00:38:12.360 --> 00:38:15.440
wavelength with another film, I don't
care if they're connected or not. That's

569
00:38:15.480 --> 00:38:19.840
a great double feature as far as
I'm concerned. I fully agree. I

570
00:38:20.239 --> 00:38:23.119
was big in the music scene when
I was younger, and really curating those

571
00:38:23.159 --> 00:38:28.320
mixes is the exact way that I've
always translated it, because it's it's a

572
00:38:28.360 --> 00:38:31.239
form of communication. You are literally
telling a type of story and not just

573
00:38:31.320 --> 00:38:35.159
you know, the plot of the
film. You are sending a message to

574
00:38:35.199 --> 00:38:38.519
somebody watching the films, and whether
that message is a feeling, a vibe,

575
00:38:38.800 --> 00:38:43.440
or a sense of hope. I
mean, with Field of Dreams and

576
00:38:43.440 --> 00:38:45.679
The Right Stuff, you can't watch
those two films back to back and not

577
00:38:45.719 --> 00:38:51.559
feel some sort of inspiration yeah,
and it's yeah, no, exactly like

578
00:38:51.760 --> 00:38:57.239
and that inspiration feeling is exactly yeah. And you know, but like I

579
00:38:57.280 --> 00:39:00.199
said, it differs from programmer to
programmer, and that's what's great about it

580
00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:01.719
is like it can differ and it
can be different. And it's like,

581
00:39:02.159 --> 00:39:07.800
you know, mixtapes. You know, I used to pour a lot of

582
00:39:07.880 --> 00:39:10.280
time and effort into mixtapes, like
and anytime someone would ask me the question

583
00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:14.159
of like, so who are you
or what my answer used to always be

584
00:39:14.239 --> 00:39:15.440
is like it would be a lot
easier for me to just make you a

585
00:39:15.480 --> 00:39:21.199
mixtape or like a command five films
for you to watch, Like you're gonna

586
00:39:21.239 --> 00:39:24.119
know who I am from these recommendations
a lot better than be sitting down here

587
00:39:24.159 --> 00:39:28.960
and like giving you a biography.
Like like these days, I'm like,

588
00:39:29.199 --> 00:39:30.840
go to my letterbox, Like that'll
give you a piece of idea. Go

589
00:39:30.840 --> 00:39:34.320
to my letter box, look at
my list. That'll tell you who I

590
00:39:34.360 --> 00:39:37.679
am a lot easier than I can. That is very very similar to how

591
00:39:37.719 --> 00:39:40.239
I do things with the channel I
run. I get a lot of people

592
00:39:40.239 --> 00:39:44.840
that ask, hey, these are
coming up on soon, coming up for

593
00:39:44.920 --> 00:39:46.800
sales and do you think I'd like
these? And the question always is like,

594
00:39:47.039 --> 00:39:49.960
well, what are your five favorite
movies? What do you think are

595
00:39:49.960 --> 00:39:52.000
the five best movies ever made?
What are your favorite genres? And after

596
00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:54.199
I hear a couple of those answers, I might be able to steer you

597
00:39:54.199 --> 00:39:58.320
in the right direction. But it
also it's kind of an art form and

598
00:39:58.519 --> 00:40:05.719
it takes something special to understand people
on a very interpersonal level that not everybody

599
00:40:05.719 --> 00:40:08.800
can grab onto. And when you're
doing it for a community, I can't

600
00:40:08.800 --> 00:40:13.559
imagine a sense of pressure that comes
with that. I'm sure it exists for

601
00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:15.519
sure. Well, the pressure with
this one, at least with Make Believe

602
00:40:15.559 --> 00:40:21.639
here in Seattle, is is the
audience even here? And the answer is,

603
00:40:21.760 --> 00:40:24.039
I don't know. Like I've been
here a year, it's a gamble

604
00:40:24.159 --> 00:40:27.519
a lot into a large degree.
Because I've been here over a year,

605
00:40:27.800 --> 00:40:30.760
I feel like I've gotten a good
sense of the queer community here in Seattle,

606
00:40:30.760 --> 00:40:32.639
and there's a lot of overlap in
the queer community in the genre community.

607
00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:37.639
But is maybe there's a reason why
there's not a big genre festival here,

608
00:40:37.639 --> 00:40:39.000
Maybe there's not a need for it. I can't believe that's true,

609
00:40:39.039 --> 00:40:44.719
Like knowing Seattle, like knowing,
I can't imagine there's not a massive Like

610
00:40:44.800 --> 00:40:47.920
Pacific Northwest is already such a creepy
part of the country if you think about

611
00:40:47.960 --> 00:40:53.119
like Sasquatch and like all of these
pervasive legends and stuff and like you know,

612
00:40:53.280 --> 00:40:58.440
indigenous mythology and things like that,
Like it is, it's already kind

613
00:40:58.440 --> 00:41:00.920
of a creepy part of the country. So I can't imagine there's not a

614
00:41:00.920 --> 00:41:02.480
big audience for it. But I'm
taking a bit of a gamble, like

615
00:41:02.559 --> 00:41:08.440
will people care and will people identify
with like my version of genre, like

616
00:41:08.519 --> 00:41:13.360
what I consider genre, because yes, it's gonna be horror and science fiction

617
00:41:13.400 --> 00:41:15.519
and all this stuff, but it's
gonna be stuff that sort of tests the

618
00:41:15.519 --> 00:41:20.039
boundaries of what genre is to a
large either, Like even a filmmaker,

619
00:41:20.519 --> 00:41:22.400
even our main filmmaker that we're thinking
of bringing in, and I'm not gonna

620
00:41:22.400 --> 00:41:25.880
spoil who it is. Who is
a filmmaker that I would consider a genre

621
00:41:25.920 --> 00:41:30.440
filmmaker is a filmmaker that a lot
of people in the genre community probably might

622
00:41:30.440 --> 00:41:32.800
not have even ever fucking heard of, because he's not someone that you see

623
00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:36.880
his stuff playing it like the Fantastic
fests or the Bright Fest, even though

624
00:41:36.880 --> 00:41:39.519
I would argue his stuff is just
a genre, is what those people are

625
00:41:39.519 --> 00:41:45.239
doing. So it's like, are
people gonna is that gonna appeal to people?

626
00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:49.079
Like? Are the people who enjoy
like straight up horror film is gonna

627
00:41:49.079 --> 00:41:52.559
be enjoying going and watching something a
little off the beaten path. The answer

628
00:41:52.639 --> 00:41:54.599
is, I don't know. I
hope so, but I don't know.

629
00:41:55.639 --> 00:42:00.400
And that's that's the sort of thing
that uh, I guess, like saying

630
00:42:00.480 --> 00:42:02.519
scares me is a little kind of
a cop out feeling to say there,

631
00:42:02.559 --> 00:42:08.039
But for these massive genre festivals,
you could literally be shaping the taste of

632
00:42:08.079 --> 00:42:13.039
like the next decade of filmmaking.
If the right people are attending your festival,

633
00:42:13.360 --> 00:42:15.119
they're gonna get a sense of,
oh, this is what the community's

634
00:42:15.159 --> 00:42:19.119
doing. Maybe I'm gonna, you
know, be led into these tastes and

635
00:42:19.159 --> 00:42:22.719
now suddenly indie horror over the next
five years feels completely different because of one

636
00:42:22.760 --> 00:42:25.719
festival. Well, and you've just
actually opened up a door now into a

637
00:42:25.719 --> 00:42:30.239
Pandora's box of conversation, which I'm
going to step into freely because I don't

638
00:42:30.280 --> 00:42:35.199
generally away from it. I feel
like genre festivals for a very long time,

639
00:42:35.239 --> 00:42:39.679
maybe since the inception of like really
mainstream genre festivals have felt a very

640
00:42:39.760 --> 00:42:45.679
certain way, and it's felt very
exclusive to like I call the nerd bro

641
00:42:45.800 --> 00:42:51.960
culture. Ye, And Fantastic Fest
is my favorite festival in the world.

642
00:42:52.039 --> 00:42:54.559
And what I love about Fantastic Fest
is that even though I do feel like

643
00:42:54.719 --> 00:43:00.840
they perpetuated this culture for a long
time, they are they are always evolving,

644
00:43:01.440 --> 00:43:06.519
and I feel like, having watched
the way that Fantastic Fest has emerged

645
00:43:06.559 --> 00:43:09.320
from like a couple of years where
they were having some controversies and they were

646
00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:14.320
having some issues, the way that
they have walked out of that is really

647
00:43:14.320 --> 00:43:16.360
impressive to me because like the people
who are running that festival now, like

648
00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:22.360
Lisa Dryer, who's the festival director, they're doing great work. They're trying

649
00:43:22.360 --> 00:43:24.440
to atone for some of the things
that they've done wrong, but they're also

650
00:43:24.519 --> 00:43:30.239
forging a path forward. They're not
going to be dominated by the controversy,

651
00:43:30.280 --> 00:43:35.280
which I appreciate and like. But
I do think festivals like that perpetuated and

652
00:43:35.639 --> 00:43:37.880
this goes back to not even just
festivals, but like ain't it Cool News

653
00:43:37.920 --> 00:43:42.599
and that whole bro culture like which
has gotten a lot of those people canceled,

654
00:43:42.639 --> 00:43:44.599
and a lot of those people run
through the ground, which is why

655
00:43:44.639 --> 00:43:47.280
I have respect for people like Drew
mcweeney and Chris Cargill who were able to

656
00:43:47.400 --> 00:43:52.559
rise from that and like and like
keep a really impressive career going. But

657
00:43:52.679 --> 00:43:57.280
all that said is I'm trying to
do something a little different, Like I

658
00:43:57.400 --> 00:44:00.719
want I want a genre because I
feel like John festivals have felt exclusive to

659
00:44:00.760 --> 00:44:05.159
people, to certain people, like
they're not welcome there, and like,

660
00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:07.679
not all genre fans feel welcome in
a place like that, And like,

661
00:44:07.800 --> 00:44:10.039
I know that a lot of you
know, a lot of women, that

662
00:44:10.119 --> 00:44:15.880
a lot of marginalized communities have not
felt like they have a place in genre,

663
00:44:16.039 --> 00:44:20.159
And I think that is so backwards. I think that is so wrong

664
00:44:20.199 --> 00:44:23.599
because I think, honestly, the
most exciting stuff that we're seeing in genre

665
00:44:23.719 --> 00:44:28.880
right now are coming from are coming
from women, directors, are coming from

666
00:44:29.199 --> 00:44:32.679
LGBTQ plus directors are coming from marginalized
communities, Like those are the ones who

667
00:44:32.719 --> 00:44:37.320
are giving us the most impressive content
right now. We should be trying to

668
00:44:37.440 --> 00:44:40.800
open up and expand those festivals to
those communities, and like this year,

669
00:44:40.840 --> 00:44:45.519
I see Fantastic fest doing that in
a bigger way. I want to see

670
00:44:45.519 --> 00:44:49.800
a different kind of genre festival where
everybody is welcome, where it is not

671
00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:55.559
so dependent on a very certain nerd
demographic, and where you know, senophiles

672
00:44:55.559 --> 00:45:00.440
are being embraced just as much as
like genre heads. It's a great point,

673
00:45:00.559 --> 00:45:04.920
and it's sadly it's not just the
festivals. There's a lot of people

674
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.559
in the horror and cult community that
just the the genre fandoms that exist kind

675
00:45:09.559 --> 00:45:14.159
of to be toxic, and it
doesn't get talked about enough. There's so

676
00:45:14.199 --> 00:45:19.719
many people that will, you know, decry that some of these people that

677
00:45:19.760 --> 00:45:24.440
are different than them are not deserving
or they get treated just very much evidently

678
00:45:24.800 --> 00:45:30.880
much much worse. But so many
of our greatest films they tell the stories

679
00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:32.880
of those people, and then we
act like they don't exist as we go

680
00:45:34.320 --> 00:45:38.599
day to day to these festivals and
cons and just to not be welcoming people

681
00:45:38.719 --> 00:45:43.039
is such a slap in the face. I can't stand that type of action.

682
00:45:43.760 --> 00:45:47.519
Yeah, yeah, it's it's frustrating. And I've seen change, which

683
00:45:47.599 --> 00:45:52.840
is good and you know, but
it's still there, like and I'm not

684
00:45:52.880 --> 00:45:55.280
gonna I don't want to throw any
festivals under the bus. I think there

685
00:45:55.280 --> 00:46:01.199
are very specific genre festivals that I
could point to that are still I think

686
00:46:01.360 --> 00:46:07.800
excluding certain people as much as they
might be trying and not fantastic fest I

687
00:46:07.800 --> 00:46:09.840
want to be clear about that.
I do think they're doing great work,

688
00:46:09.880 --> 00:46:13.480
and I don't just say that because
I have a relationship with that festival.

689
00:46:13.760 --> 00:46:16.320
I really do think they're doing a
good job of trying to pull out of

690
00:46:16.639 --> 00:46:21.280
what kind of mired them down for
a little while. But there are bigger

691
00:46:21.280 --> 00:46:22.599
festivals out there that I still think
have a lot of work to do.

692
00:46:23.119 --> 00:46:29.639
And you know, are my aspirations
to be a genre festival that like defines

693
00:46:29.679 --> 00:46:32.119
the culture? No, I just
want to create a genre festival that people

694
00:46:32.239 --> 00:46:37.000
enjoy that, you know, that
we can get some cool films and we

695
00:46:37.039 --> 00:46:39.559
can get some cool events, and
hopefully people are gonna latch onto it,

696
00:46:40.760 --> 00:46:45.599
you know. I also, you
know, I just want to create something

697
00:46:45.639 --> 00:46:51.679
that I think doesn't I mean,
I have no lofty ambitions that we're going

698
00:46:51.760 --> 00:46:54.199
to change a paradigm or anything.
I don't at all. But I do

699
00:46:54.280 --> 00:46:57.559
want to make sure it's a different
kind of genre festival. And if we

700
00:46:57.599 --> 00:47:00.599
can do that, worse success.
You know, if we can make everybody

701
00:47:00.599 --> 00:47:04.559
feel included. I think worries success. And when I say everybody, I

702
00:47:04.679 --> 00:47:09.360
mean black, white, Asian,
queer, you know, trans whatever.

703
00:47:09.559 --> 00:47:15.960
Like I want folks to feel like
it's a festival for them. And yeah,

704
00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.360
and that's it. That's it in
a nutshell, and that shows And

705
00:47:19.880 --> 00:47:22.800
I again, not not much just
to sound like I'm sucking up for anything,

706
00:47:22.840 --> 00:47:28.719
but the amount of walking the walk
that you've seemingly always done to get

707
00:47:28.760 --> 00:47:32.599
back to these communities is And first
of all, it's ambitious because it takes

708
00:47:32.639 --> 00:47:37.599
a lot, But second of all, it's it's just morally good. And

709
00:47:37.599 --> 00:47:40.480
it allows me to associate myself with
somebody that I know that I can be

710
00:47:40.519 --> 00:47:45.679
proud of working with, which nowadays
is not not always easy to come by.

711
00:47:46.039 --> 00:47:49.880
No. Look, I've worked hard
over the last I wasn't always I

712
00:47:49.920 --> 00:47:53.360
wasn't always the nice, sweet southern
boy you see before you. So I've

713
00:47:53.400 --> 00:47:59.079
worked hard the last few years to
to sort of learn from the mistakes of

714
00:47:59.119 --> 00:48:01.159
the past. It that way,
and so I feel in a good place.

715
00:48:01.239 --> 00:48:05.079
I feel like I'm in a good
place to create art again, which

716
00:48:05.119 --> 00:48:07.800
is nice. And you know,
having someone along for the ride with me

717
00:48:07.920 --> 00:48:12.400
is always a blast. But you
know, I've kind of a shit.

718
00:48:12.480 --> 00:48:14.840
I mean, look, hell,
I still want My goal for twenty twenty

719
00:48:14.880 --> 00:48:17.360
three was to direct another feature film, So who knows what all else I'm

720
00:48:17.360 --> 00:48:22.559
going to be trying to do twenty
twenty three. That's a great question.

721
00:48:22.639 --> 00:48:25.480
I know a multiple podcasts coming out
from Billy Ray in the near future,

722
00:48:25.519 --> 00:48:30.079
but other than that, as we
close out, I want to get a

723
00:48:30.119 --> 00:48:32.000
feel of a couple things for everybody
used to get you, you know,

724
00:48:32.039 --> 00:48:35.960
on their radar a little more.
First of all, this channel is usually

725
00:48:35.960 --> 00:48:39.480
about physical media. What's your stance
on physical media and do you collect anything

726
00:48:39.559 --> 00:48:44.079
like that? Well, it's funny, pre pandemic, I did not own

727
00:48:44.079 --> 00:48:46.400
a single piece of physical media.
Now, when I was younger, I

728
00:48:46.480 --> 00:48:52.719
had probably five thousand VHS tapes.
Maybe I'm more or less dependent. I

729
00:48:52.760 --> 00:48:59.199
just had stacks and stacks of VHS
tapes. What's Once DVD came around,

730
00:48:59.800 --> 00:49:04.199
I like an idiot. I got
rid of them, like if I still

731
00:49:04.239 --> 00:49:07.320
had them now because VHS has evidently
become collectible again, like I would have

732
00:49:07.360 --> 00:49:12.960
had a gold mine. Didn't do
that hindsight. But so then when I

733
00:49:13.000 --> 00:49:16.559
switched to blue to DVDs, I
you know, I had a fair decent

734
00:49:17.039 --> 00:49:20.239
collection of DVDs. But then once
Blu Ray hit, I was like,

735
00:49:20.280 --> 00:49:22.480
fuck this, I'm not collecting physical
media anymore. Every couple of years,

736
00:49:22.519 --> 00:49:27.000
something's coming around and making my previous
collection, at least in my mind,

737
00:49:27.079 --> 00:49:31.079
obsolete, and so I stopped collecting
physical media. I've always collected vinyl,

738
00:49:31.119 --> 00:49:35.840
like I've collected vinyl since I was
in high school, and so even when

739
00:49:35.880 --> 00:49:38.480
they're during that period where nobody was
collecting vinyl, I was still collecting vinyl,

740
00:49:38.760 --> 00:49:43.800
and so I'm very proud of my
vinyl collection. I started collecting physical

741
00:49:43.800 --> 00:49:46.920
media again during the pandemic. I
you know, this is gonna this is

742
00:49:46.920 --> 00:49:52.880
gonna make me sound like such a
and such a white, privileged print like.

743
00:49:52.719 --> 00:49:59.480
I was suddenly overwhelmed with funds like
from unemployment, from the government,

744
00:49:59.559 --> 00:50:01.000
from all these places, and I
was like, fuck it, I'm gonna

745
00:50:01.000 --> 00:50:05.599
start collecting physical media again. Now
I'm looking over at my shelf and I've

746
00:50:05.599 --> 00:50:09.679
probably got you know, a thousand
fucking you know, Blu rays and shit,

747
00:50:09.760 --> 00:50:14.559
and so I'm like, I've dove
in head first again. And so

748
00:50:14.679 --> 00:50:17.599
now I'm definitely collect physical media again. Definitely not to the level that you

749
00:50:17.679 --> 00:50:22.320
do, but but I still do
collect it, and I I generally I'm

750
00:50:22.320 --> 00:50:27.079
generally looking for the obscure shit.
Now I've got my collection at the point

751
00:50:27.119 --> 00:50:29.400
where, unless it's a new release
that I just really want to own,

752
00:50:29.960 --> 00:50:32.639
I'm looking for the obscure shit and
the stuff that you know that just pops

753
00:50:32.639 --> 00:50:36.320
in my head one days, like, oh that film, Like that's what

754
00:50:36.360 --> 00:50:40.280
I'm getting now. So but yeah, I it's I love it like I

755
00:50:40.400 --> 00:50:44.000
miss you know, I miss video
stores. I miss going. I mean,

756
00:50:44.079 --> 00:50:45.280
luckily we have a couple of really
great what's here in Seattle, like

757
00:50:45.280 --> 00:50:49.800
Scarecrow, but like I miss being
able to just go spend hours looking at

758
00:50:49.800 --> 00:50:52.000
the shelves of a video store.
So I guess I'm trying to recreate that

759
00:50:52.119 --> 00:50:55.800
on my living room wall. You're
uh, your love for vinyl, on

760
00:50:55.840 --> 00:51:00.920
your love for some of these films
that that definitely is what has been palpable

761
00:51:00.960 --> 00:51:05.079
for me through a lot of your
appearances on other podcasts, the way that

762
00:51:05.119 --> 00:51:07.000
you and I have talked with each
other. That's first of all, that's

763
00:51:07.000 --> 00:51:10.239
why I had to send you that
one Vinyl record, just because I had

764
00:51:10.239 --> 00:51:15.199
to be in your collection. But
we've talked about a lot of boutiques just

765
00:51:15.280 --> 00:51:17.960
you and I. Is there any
company or maybe two that have emerged as

766
00:51:19.000 --> 00:51:22.440
like, Man, these guys do
incredible work and I love what they put

767
00:51:22.440 --> 00:51:27.440
out. I mean, there's a
small house called Altered Innocence, which is

768
00:51:27.559 --> 00:51:31.079
based in Los Angeles. It's a
gentleman who may still be with Strand Releasing

769
00:51:31.199 --> 00:51:35.719
or may not. But Frank used
to work for Strand Releasing, and I

770
00:51:35.800 --> 00:51:37.280
just barely know Frank. I don't
know Frank very well at all. I

771
00:51:37.320 --> 00:51:44.519
just know it from Strand. But
they specialize in like queer genre. It's

772
00:51:44.599 --> 00:51:49.559
kind of their specialty, and I
feel like they're doing some of the best

773
00:51:49.639 --> 00:51:53.000
work out there, and that just
doesn't get enough recognition. Like even just

774
00:51:53.119 --> 00:51:57.800
now, you know, they've got
a re release of Dressed in Blue.

775
00:51:58.880 --> 00:52:01.800
They've got a couple of new films, Beautiful Beings which is fantastic, The

776
00:52:01.800 --> 00:52:07.639
Hole in the Fence which is fantastic. They've got the After Blue re release

777
00:52:07.719 --> 00:52:10.079
coming out. They've got the Jack
be Nimble re release. Like they do

778
00:52:10.159 --> 00:52:14.400
a lot of re releases. They
do a lot of new queer cinema,

779
00:52:14.440 --> 00:52:17.719
and I think they're just their curations
impeccable. What I've seen from them.

780
00:52:19.039 --> 00:52:22.440
They've put out some fantastic movies,
and I always go back to if you're

781
00:52:22.440 --> 00:52:27.960
looking for one to go from genre
film into maybe a looking at some of

782
00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:31.239
this queer cult, underground cinema that
you've never seen. Knife plus Heart is

783
00:52:31.280 --> 00:52:35.639
like the perfect gateway drug to get
to that other side. Yeah, yeah,

784
00:52:35.679 --> 00:52:40.079
absolutely, And they first I think
dropped on my radar. A friend

785
00:52:40.119 --> 00:52:45.039
of mine in twenty seventeen directed a
film named A Closer Walk with Thee which

786
00:52:45.079 --> 00:52:49.320
is like a queer horror film,
religious film, very low budget. We

787
00:52:49.400 --> 00:52:52.480
actually played it at Shindig, the
festival I talked about earlier. That was

788
00:52:52.480 --> 00:52:54.639
one of our films that year,
and it was picked up by Altered Innocence

789
00:52:54.679 --> 00:52:58.360
and like no other, like where
else is a film like that going to

790
00:52:58.400 --> 00:53:00.159
find a home? And the answer
is no where, Like have they not

791
00:53:00.199 --> 00:53:02.320
picked it up? I don't know
that would have found a home anywhere.

792
00:53:02.679 --> 00:53:06.679
And so that's why I like that
they're out there finding those little gems and

793
00:53:06.719 --> 00:53:10.760
treasures that aren't for everybody but are
definitely for the audience that Altered Innison's caters

794
00:53:10.800 --> 00:53:15.800
do. But also, you know, besides that, I always you know,

795
00:53:16.480 --> 00:53:21.239
you know, Vinegar Syndrome does great
work. They pick up the obscure

796
00:53:21.280 --> 00:53:24.000
films that I generally fall in love
with, and so I'm always into what

797
00:53:24.039 --> 00:53:29.559
they're doing. So those are probably
the ones that have me that get me

798
00:53:29.599 --> 00:53:34.519
the most excited these days. But
there's so many good ones out there.

799
00:53:35.199 --> 00:53:39.119
There really are. It's certainly hard
to pin down. And you mentioned earlier

800
00:53:39.239 --> 00:53:44.159
about introducing yourself as a mixtape,
and so I think we should leave this

801
00:53:44.800 --> 00:53:49.079
what is your your your business card
films? If somebody asked you, what

802
00:53:49.159 --> 00:53:52.320
are what are the five films that
make me get to know Billy Ray Bruton

803
00:53:52.760 --> 00:53:57.039
immediately? What are we telling them? Well? Ordinary People? Which is

804
00:53:57.079 --> 00:54:04.360
my favorite film ever made? I
think that to start, Pleasantville, Magnolia,

805
00:54:05.559 --> 00:54:10.599
Cool Hand, Luke, and probably
a Nightmare on Elm Street. That

806
00:54:10.800 --> 00:54:15.639
is a remarkable piece of five films. I have not mentioned this here yet,

807
00:54:15.639 --> 00:54:20.719
but I'm really stoked. Screenland Armor
is a repertory theater here in Kansas

808
00:54:20.760 --> 00:54:23.440
City that does incredible work. They
do a lot. They got a film

809
00:54:23.440 --> 00:54:29.719
festival here called Panicfest that they do
every year. Yeah, but October they

810
00:54:29.760 --> 00:54:34.639
are launching on the very first day
for their big horror month. I'm going

811
00:54:34.679 --> 00:54:37.000
to see all eight Nightmare on Elm
Street films on the big screen, back

812
00:54:37.039 --> 00:54:42.880
to back, and it is such
an experience that I long for. I

813
00:54:42.880 --> 00:54:45.760
can't wait. Yeah. Not My
Own Ship was the very first film I

814
00:54:45.800 --> 00:54:47.760
saw in a theater. I was
two years old. My mother wanted to

815
00:54:47.800 --> 00:54:51.719
see it, couldn't find a babysitter
and brought me with her, so I

816
00:54:51.760 --> 00:54:53.559
remember nothing of it, but that
was the first film I ever saw in

817
00:54:53.559 --> 00:54:58.320
a theater. I was obsessed with
Freddy as a kid. I was such

818
00:54:58.360 --> 00:55:02.679
a Freddy kid. Like even now, like I've become I like to say

819
00:55:02.679 --> 00:55:07.760
that I've become more of adjacent guy
as I've gotten older. Now I say

820
00:55:07.800 --> 00:55:10.880
I'm just like kind of straight down
the middle. But yeah, I think

821
00:55:10.960 --> 00:55:16.159
I think Freddie is the greatest horror
creation in cinema. And uh, I

822
00:55:16.559 --> 00:55:21.360
yeah that that film. So much
about that film speaks to me, and

823
00:55:21.400 --> 00:55:24.480
that whole franchise. I can watch
those films any day, But all of

824
00:55:24.519 --> 00:55:29.800
those eighties franchises are like sew up
my alley and like just so part of

825
00:55:29.800 --> 00:55:32.079
like what I grew up on.
I grew up on those eighties and nineties

826
00:55:32.079 --> 00:55:36.960
horror films, and so you know, any any way, and I think

827
00:55:37.079 --> 00:55:40.320
once once I announced the retro screenings
that we're doing and make believe I think

828
00:55:40.360 --> 00:55:44.480
you'll. I think you'll appreciate them. I think knowing what we do,

829
00:55:44.559 --> 00:55:47.760
you'll appreciate them. Uh. I
think that's all. I got, everybody,

830
00:55:47.760 --> 00:55:51.280
all the links for Billy Rare in
the description below, Like I said,

831
00:55:51.320 --> 00:55:54.639
please check them out. He is
doing incredible, incredible work across almost

832
00:55:54.639 --> 00:55:59.719
too many venues at this point.
To all those too many venues. Yeah,

833
00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:02.880
at some point there's gonna be a
great reckoning that is. Uh yeah,

834
00:56:02.880 --> 00:56:06.400
I can't wait just to see where
you're gonna end up in just a

835
00:56:06.440 --> 00:56:08.079
couple of years, some of the
stuff on your horizon. I'm just proud

836
00:56:08.119 --> 00:56:10.239
to know who you are as a
person. So thank you, Oh,

837
00:56:10.239 --> 00:56:15.119
thank you, sir. That's so
nice. Anyways, as I always say,

838
00:56:15.119 --> 00:56:16.639
from one collector, but we got
two here, so from two collectors,

839
00:56:16.679 --> 00:56:45.920
all of you do me no