[Music]
greetings friends and welcome to head
above water this is your host jason
charnick
this week's episode is our atlanta film
festival special
very excited to have with you Cat
Rhinehart from the documentary
what's eating ralphie may which is
partaking in
a drive-in screening at the atlanta film
festival this year which is very
exciting
it's next week september 24th we'll have
links and stuff in the show notes for
you guys about that
you're in the atlanta area and you want
to go out to the movies you can go out
and see what's eating ralphie may at the
drive-in theater i think it's called the
dad's garage drive-in
in atlanta so we'll have more
information about that for you in the
notes
very excited to have cat on the show for
you guys today Cat and i have worked
together before at framework studio a
branding company
that's here in los angeles california
she's incredibly talented woman she's
made
three features now we talk about her
three features including what's eating
ralphie may which is playing at the
atlanta film festival right now
on this episode we talk about all sorts
of fun things it was a really great
conversation
we talked about raising money and trying
to get meetings
and proving your worth and how to
network and how to try to make a movie
while you're working a full-time job how
to get how
to get married while you you're working
on a movie
um and trying to get that out and trying
to get a relationship and a marriage off
the ground which is
always fun stuff because i had to kind
of deal with the same thing myself so
enjoy our conversation with Cat
Rhinehart we had a really good time but
before i get to the interview
i just wanted to let you guys know we're
doing a little bit of a call for reviews
here i've done a few episodes in a row
now i would love it if you guys who are
listening to the show thank you guys so
much for all your support
if you're listening to us on apple
podcasts google podcast
stitcher spotify pandora whatever your
platform of choice is if you could take
it just a brief
minute out of your day and leave us a
little sentence a little short blurb a
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that'll help us get a little more
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grow the show a little bit and introduce
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so if you got just a minute in your day
just leave us a little review let us
know what you think of the show good bad
or otherwise
so there's that and then uh well i'll
have some more stuff coming up on the
other side i won't bore you guys too
much
i want to get you into the interview
with Cat so here's our interview with
cat Rhinehart stick around
on the other side for other fun stuff
and i'll talk to you guys in a little
bit
thanks a lot all right we are here with
Cat
Rhinehart today i've worked with Cat
before at framework studio in los
angeles california
editing promos and short form stuff and
what do they officially call those p
they are they are promo pieces branding
pieces right
promos i say i cut promos cut promos
because cause to explain anymore yeah
like oh those instantly if you see an
instagram ad in between your stories and
you see
two celebrities talking about swiping up
and seeing our picture
most likely you you cut something off
right people always like oh the trailers
and i'm like no if i was cutting the
trailers i would have a much
better house not there so but we're but
we are working on it we're working on it
yeah
tell me a little bit about how you got
started at framework or how you got
started you know just as an editor in
general
and what led you to becoming a feature
film director sure
so um first of all thank you for having
me glad to have you
well i went to film school at brooklyn
college okay
in new york okay and i don't think i
knew that yeah yeah
i i was a i was into photography i was
like an art nerd in high school and i
was really into photography
and um but then i i also really liked
storytelling and so i'm like well how do
you combine photography with
storytelling it's moving pictures
so i knew i wanted to go to film school
but i didn't have
any like the budget for that um so i
ended up i went to a college in the
south where i'm from
for a couple years and then moved to new
york to like
chase that dream and what year was this
this was early 2000's i think i moved to
new york in like
2004 probably um
and i knew i wanted to go to film school
but i was on my own financially
so i was i got a job waitressing those
waiting tables and then
i discovered brooklyn college which was
a city university of new york school and
they had a wonderful film program
but it was like in-state tuition was
like three thousand dollars a semester
compared to like nyu or something right
which is like twenty thousand dollars
something
crazy yeah so just totally not
affordable and so i went to brooklyn
college for film production and i got i
loved it i thought i got a wonderful
education
there were still some of the
insufferable like you know
film school people that you would expect
but probably not as many as
as you have it i mean yeah because it's
not one of the more famous
it's not nyu it's not it's not nyu yeah
right yeah so it was like the i don't
know that i i feel like the students
were a little scrappier
which i which i think is great i love
that the independent vibe
yeah the independent vibe and so
um and then you know after film school
i waited tables and bartended for
forever
and because i i think i mean i don't
like to say like oh i regret something
but i didn't know
well i had to make a living it's not
like i because it's not like
if i could do it over again i would
probably i know now that it's like oh
you just need to get work on set
as anything or like a writer's assistant
or whatever just to be there
and like be around and make yourself
likable and someone that people
want to work with instead my thought was
oh i'll go
like wait tables and bartend and pay my
rent and then on my days off i'll write
and like develop and work on projects
and that takes
so long that's what i was doing i was
working and writing and i made a
documentary
that i started when i was in film school
about food waste
and i what was that called trash nation
trashed nation is that online can people
watch it yeah it's on my youtube
you'll have to send me all these we'll
put these links in the show notes
i mean it's not good but i i was like
this will
i thought i was like in my early 20s and
i was like
this is gonna launch my career this is
gonna premiere
sundance and here i go and it was a
feature yes
but i didn't know what i was i didn't
know what i was doing right
um but as most people in the early 20s
we just don't know what we're doing yeah
yeah but i learned a lot from it but i i
would like submit it to sundance and
then knock it
so i switched like sundance and i think
can and
um and just couldn't believe it when i
didn't get in and
uh and then i was like oh well this
movie sucks and i just like
left it on a hard drive in a drawer i
don't know for years
so then i moved to i moved to la
and um but i i edited that film so i
learned how to edit
just out of necessity okay for my own
projects why hire another editor i'll
just do it myself i'll just do it myself
yeah and i moved to la and i
started making a website i wrote and um
directed and started like a comedy web
series i was doing stand up and
like i just was like i'm gonna do a web
series like why not and
so i started doing a web series called
my super overactive imagination
that you directed or started or both
both okay wrote it
and then became like best friends with
the other like
lead the person i like cast to play like
my best friend that's great we like
so that's really funny comedian maria
shahada
and then she she was like i like this i
want to like write the next
episodes with you so after the first 10
we started writing them together
i because i knew how to edit i got the
videos out so i put out a video every
wednesday
for seven months straight wow that's
great so that's like 20 something
episodes yeah
yeah yeah and we ended up having about
30 total
but it was a lot of work but the only
reason why i was able to put them out
every week was because i was editing i
was like i was working as a bartender
and i remember then i was friends with
tony tony talarico who
you know from framework and then because
so i had my super overactive imagination
and then like
i had the script brand new love for this
romantic comedy
and basically it was like working on
that started looking for funding i got a
little bit of funding i got a producer
that's a whole long story how all that
happened all right well
let me let me ask you about that because
a lot of people think so i was looking
for funding and i got funding and i made
my movie okay
so well let's talk a little bit about
that and i know like with the exact
numbers and sometimes you can't go into
exact specifics but we
single so we have to go into the numbers
and if you you can feel comfortable i
would love for mike because
i i've always been myself very
transparent about our numbers
because i don't want any other young
filmmakers or even old
new filmmakers you know to have any
any kind of you know pie in the sky idea
of what raising money for a movie is
like
okay so how did you how did you find
this money so
i had a body of work that i had
put out so i had so you had all your all
right so you had all these little
episodes that you guys self-financed
100 yes from just bartending and they
were um
so i had 30 episodes of my super
overactive imagination i was doing
stand-up
and then i had the script for brand new
love and i also around that time
a friend of mine from film school was
like you should throw your doc
you should put trash nation up and i was
like uh
i don't know i don't think it's very
good it was a movie just put in the
drawer because you didn't get in the
sundance
i was like didn't get into sundance i
can it sucks i didn't even know there
were like other
festivals i had no idea and i went back
and watched it and i was like this isn't
terrible it's not that bad it's i mean
it's definitely not the best but it's
it's not but it's your first thing and
you want to
get it out there and have it i'd
actually made something before that
following a band around but then that
was like really
cool um but it's like this isn't so bad
i'm just gonna throw this on my youtube
channel great
just just just because it's like it
shows that i can finish something yeah
so basically there was this
executive producer who was looking to
fund like female filmmakers and female
like comedy projects actually web series
and i met him at a stand-up show i was
doing
and he liked my web series and then was
like i'm
funding this other web series like will
you read it and give feedback
and then we just kind of started like
talking back and forth a little
and then he was like and the web series
he was
funding was like objectively very bad
and like one episode was subjectively
very bad one episode was like even like
really racist somebody was talking and i
can only see their ear
it was just scripts he was like he was
gonna fund it the words were objectively
about yeah there was one whole episode
that was just like
really racist and and i was like this is
just
racist and and he was like and i mean
i'm like i'm like i'm like if i'm
calling this out then like
you have a problem and he was just like
so lovely and just looking to support
like anyone like any woman like trying
to do it because he just knew that there
was this like
dearth at first he was like we were
working together like and maybe he was
gonna like
fund like a web series for me and then i
was like well kind of over like having
a websites right now i really want to
make a movie like i went to film school
you put all my web series episodes
together that's a film
i have this script for this like
romantic comedy
that um i'd love to make and he was like
all right
i'll give you 50 grand to make
a trailer wow for this film that's great
and just the fact that you felt
comfortable enough with him to not just
and this is kind of
one of the things that i'm i'm focused
on about
what i i put under the purview of mental
health
is you know wellness and self-care and
and not
and realizing in this business that you
don't need to let people walk all over
you
just to like have like this vision of
like i'll
let people treat me like [ __ ] because i
know that that's a clear path to getting
my success and i feel very strongly that
no one in this business when you're
starting out should
let anyone walk all over you that you
have and it's kind of been
you know more of a thing you know you
just want to you know do have a
respectful set
and be respectful of others and all that
and not yell at people
and so it's one of the things that i've
always considered as part of the mental
health
you know world is having enough
quote-unquote self-esteem if you will to
not let anyone treat you like [ __ ]
so some people might be like well they
want me to do a web series i'll just
even though i don't want to do it i'll
just do a web series and i'll do
whatever they say because that's how i
get the money but you
felt confident enough in your
content and what you've written in the
movie that you want to make
to just say hey i don't want to do what
you're asking me to do can you give me
money to do something else
and you yeah yeah i guess and then you
just i mean that's shooting your shot if
you will and not just like letting
someone
and i guess it's a little bit different
i mean it's not like this is a guy
that's like yelling at you on set or
anything so it's
yeah from that but you've been presented
with an opportunity
and it's not exactly the opportunity
that you want to do for your own career
so but you felt comfortable enough
saying hey
that's not really what i want to do i
want to do this and he was open to that
you just have to sometimes go for it
right i mean i was like i'm gonna level
up like
it's my time i need to make a feature
now it's just been like i've done all
these other things i felt
i felt i just had this like probably
brazen probably too much
confidence in myself at the time but um
you just have to like you have to have
the
like audacity right to just go and grasp
confidence yeah so he was down to
he's basically like shoot like a proof
of concept trailer whatever like you
take the 50 grand to shoot something too
and with 50 grand i mean you can do it
for just a trailer you can do a lot
with that money you can do a lot no one
had ever i mean my web series
i was funding myself with my bartending
money we were probably it was probably
like a thousand dollars
an episode maybe probably like way less
than that it's
like i mean because i was editing them
myself like they were just paying for a
camera guy camera and sound that was
pretty much it
um in food food so food is so important
right
um especially for lower budget so then i
i
when i went out with like a i was
actually it's actually
a dating i went i was dating this guy i
met on
uh tinder who was a director um in los
angeles in los angeles imagine that
um but god bless them those like those
like
male los angeles directors have this you
think i had confidence
this guy right it takes it takes a level
of ego to do that for
yeah for sure but he i mean he had like
a good he was like very
he was doing very well and um and
rightfully so he's very talented
but he was like 50 grand he was like i
can make a feature of her 50 grand
and i was like really thinking he was
like yeah
don't he was like he was like you should
just make a feature with that
so that got in my head so then i went so
then i went back
to this investor and i was like i think
i can just make my movie for
for the i'm for the city grant i don't
want to make a chat the whole thing yeah
and he was like look
he goes he goes i'll tell you what you
can like
say he was like why don't you take this
50 grand not phys like he didn't he
never
gave it to me but it was like it existed
no deal
yeah briefcase right right it was like
why didn't you he was like look
don't make this movie for 50 grand but
why don't you say that you have
50 grand like take take that you have a
first in
investment of 50 grand and then use that
to like go get more to like attach a
producer
or actual real quote real producer exp
with experience
and like use this 50 grand to then like
get more funding because really the
first funding is the hardest thing to do
of course i've never done it yeah my
stuff is all self-funding
crowdfunding and self-financed right
i've never had an investor
i've never pitched anything to anyone
i've never pitched either i still
don't know how to get a [ __ ] meeting
i'm sorry can i say [ __ ] yeah
i still i'm still like i mean if you
count trash nation i've now made
three features one one narrative and two
documentaries and i still can't get a
meeting i'm like how do you
i don't even i don't know i honestly
couldn't even tell like
yeah i don't have an agent i don't have
a manager i don't have someone that can
like you know
you didn't get that after south by
people you people didn't come calling
people came calling oh everybody came
calling but
when you find when they finally see the
movie and see that it's
it's it's a micro budget movie too it
costs it caught my whole movie cost like
all in including even travel to austin
and the eno
insurance and the all of it about 65
grand all in
and people and most of its video footage
from the 90s
and i didn't shoot it on an alexa or a
red or any of that stuff
so it's like video and it looks i won't
say it looks janky it's my movie i love
it
but yeah people were a lot of people
were like
wanting a piece of me just from being in
the festival
and as soon as they saw it we're like no
which is fine you know i'm not a fit
like i was offended at the time
you know but you're just going through
those whole you know all these steps for
the first time
and just like well wait a minute it does
mess with your mind because like
well south by southwest accepted it so
it must be a good movie
right but none of the gatekeepers quote
unquote
want anything to do with it so maybe
it's not a good movie
so like it it that whole process also
messes with your mind
because at that point you don't know you
don't know how the public is taking your
movie and it hasn't premiered yet so all
these people are reaching out and then
rejecting you and then so you just you
don't know you don't know like where you
stand
i've just always thought and this is why
i would i would have assumed for you
it's like if you can be i've shown i can
be trusted with little
here's what i can make for no money like
can you imagine
what i can make with money yeah and i
don't even need like i don't even need
millions of dollars
like you give me one like someone give
me one that's why like i would love for
someone to give me 50 grand yeah
you said like i can make a whole feature
for 50 grand i've done it i can't show
that i can do it yeah but how do you get
the opportunity to
explain that to people like you know the
people that make those decisions that'll
give you all
you know those bigger budgets just don't
seem to care right that you've done that
right but you really just need like one
person to say yes
and it sounded like you had that and
that's what led led to it
right so then i i made a pitch i made a
deck so i had a i had a pitch deck
50 and 50 grand and then i was like oh i
have a friend who
who produced a horror movie and he can
be the producer and we had like lunch
and
this guy was like this film is like a
quirky rom-com
why don't you go like this and this was
the best advice and i
i'm embarrassed that i didn't think
about it
but he was like go look at all the
quirky
rom-coms that played at sundance for the
past 10 years and there's certainly a
bunch
and there's a bunch and find out who
produced them and then just like contact
those producers
so that's what i did it took a bit of
research it's not just like a website
that's right but so i had to do
it took a little bit to do all that
research but and then you do you know
imdb pros
20 bucks a month yep and most of the
most producers and most people like
if you have imdb pro you can go look at
their contact and a lot of it's like
info
at production company emails right so i
but it's better than nothing it's better
than nothing so i took my little pitch
deck and sent an email
like here's who i am here's the stuff
i've done um
here's my deck and i have this guy who's
giving me 50 grand i'm looking for a
producer
and like do you want to read the script
and i
probably emailed it must have been like
50 producers it was a lot
i sent out a ton of those emails and
i got one response and that thought took
and that's all it takes yeah that's all
it takes one person responded one person
wrote me back
i couldn't believe this i mean no one
cares like so only one person wrote me
back
and he had his name is jim lyric as a
producer and he had produced
he'd made two movies and his last movie
had caught was called newlyweds
so hey let me let me stop you for a
second because i want to ask you so you
just said like so you only got that one
response
yeah and then you said no one cares so
because i want to explore that for a
second
so when you're getting these emails yeah
well you're not even getting these
emails
yeah when you say something like when
you don't hear from someone
and you say well man nobody cares it's
very frustrating even even when you're
blanketing people with emails and then
when people don't write back
it's very frustrating so you have to
fight through that as well yeah
it's just a numbers game it's like i'm
sh it's like a a nerdy i'm not taking
these things too personal it's so easy
like when you don't hear back from
someone what did i do
why is my thing so bad why don't why
don't and i mean listen
a lot of these hollywood people are
they're busy and they're you know
they're busy
they do things and sometimes they just
you know things fall through the cracks
and
but it's just frustrating because
sometimes even just a a one-liner
like hey i'm too busy right now thanks
for thinking of me
like even that's like all right cool no
problem and that's
sometimes it's all you want to hear but
when the silence comes it just kind of
knocks you
back yeah it's it's but like the what
i've learned i mean there
it there's like this i don't know the
right metaphor like an iron curtain
and there's some there's basically like
we're all on this side
the gatekeepers they're we're like all
over here
clamoring trying to get over on this
other side and they're like once
once you get through it's like you know
every like
talk to your agency you go to their
website and it's just a landing page
right there's no email address there's
no no you can't contact anybody right
you just have to like because they're
over on the other side
sometimes you have to figure it out yeah
and even but like it's all like you're
just kind of like on one side
trying to get and that's that's the
hardest thing is to get over
over that that gate like on the other
side of that gate but then it's like
once you're
once you get over there i i think that
like then you're kind of in
but i've learned so much of like even
like with film festivals like i would
never
now take a film and just submit to a
film festival on film freeway
because i know now that like you have to
go through like the film collaborative
or have like a festival represented and
like right there's all
there's some type of fiscal sponsorship
right there's it's like i've i've
learned everything
just by making mistakes of how the game
is played but it's like
we're over here playing checkers and
it's chess
and but i just didn't know that i mean
but you really know everybody has to
kind of learn that on there you have to
learn that on here
like you can tell and especially when
i'm meeting other you know young
filmmakers who were having their first
feature on the circuit this year
or last year when i had already been
through it you can tell people your
experiences oh this is what happened to
me
but like until you live it you know
until you're in right in the middle
like i mean i know how distribution
works but that doesn't mean i'm ready to
sit down with the vice president of
gravitas and negotiate a deal
right you know right like there's that
there's a disconnect there like you can
only
until you experience it yeah can you
really
like you know take it to heart right
well everyone's going to be the
exception
right you know like i was going to be
the one exception
my film was going to get into sundance
this way because they were you know like
i was gonna i've always been like
oh i'm gonna be the one exception i'll
be the one who
breaks this record it has some like
phenomena just some like amazing thing
happens
but um which on some level is good again
like i was saying before that have that
confidence
yeah and your ability is like something
to be you know congratulated but it
doesn't necessarily
translate to the success right i guess
you do just kind of have to have that
like dumb confidence and
then just like continue and like and get
kicked out and maybe yeah be stupid
enough it'd be
stupid enough to just yeah take the
blows and not take it to heart
and then that was always my problem i
take everything so personal
and it's hard not to like it's funny
that you should
like say that you won't go through film
freeway or whatever like getting over
got into south by southwest as a
completely blind submission i know
you're telling me that i couldn't
believe it anybody like literally i was
literally in your shoes i had made a
couple shorts before
put them you know with my own money put
them on youtube for free
when we were done with getting over
after a long six seven year
you know production period i mean i sent
it into all the big ones and south by
accepted it i didn't yeah i didn't know
anyone i didn't ask for a waiver i was a
hundred percent
just blind submission that's crazy
it's incredibly rare and i'll talk to
people that like think i did something
special
and and again it's the whole point of
the show because
there's this and it's you know jealousy
is i've used the word jealousy but it's
kind of overstating it
because like i'm not jealous of anyone
else's success i just want it for
myself so bad so you're saying like kind
of you know
you kind of get a little green with envy
people feel that way about
me and what my movie did and here i am
feeling the same way about you
and what your movie did like i never had
anyone say here's 50 000
right i'd rather have that than
struggling and
begging people and you know taking loans
out from my
in-laws and all that i'd rather just
have somebody like i'd rather
not get into south by not that i'd
rather not get in but like
if someone said here's 50 grand to make
your next one
or this thing will happen i'm like well
i'll make the next one and then that'll
happen
you know so there's this weird little
chain of
kind of envy where like the grass is
always greener it's so chill
you know the struggles that other people
are going
yeah with their own stuff and you just
think that it's like
it's so happy yeah i always feel like
such a loser and i'm always like i'm not
there yet and every time i like go on
facebook or
the internet it's like i'm like everyone
is more successful than me and they're
younger
it's tough to get out of that i have a
hard time with like women filmmakers who
are like in their 20s going to sundance
i'm always like so jealous
then i'm like i'm such a loser if it
made not loot but like i'm not i mean i
but i just i feel like a failure you
just feel like what
what else do i have to do i've already
you know used all these emails i've done
all of this stuff
right but then so like i feel like a
failure and then there was like a
another editor
who like looked me up and was like can i
take you to lunch and just like you've
you've made all these movies like but he
was just can i like pick your brain
about how you've like done this stuff
and he was like i want to be making
movies i can't believe you've done all
this stuff
oh you want it so it's like it's so
funny because like i'm looking at all
these people up here being like oh i
wish i was there
and it never occurred to me that like in
there then like yeah you're like you're
saying there's all these little
because then there's someone else who's
like oh i want to get to where
you are and that's like interesting to
be like the dynamic is
fascinating yeah it's like you really do
just have to like
just focus on your own yeah because this
is i mean this business
is is completely different from any
other industry like that
i've explained it to other people like
with teachers you go to
school you get your degree and then you
look you know
you become a teacher and now you're a
teacher and that's your job
but here you know in the entertainment
business it's just all
comparing it's all seeing what other
people play there's so many different
ways to be successful
that even if you have a firm grip on
what you personally want to do with your
career
that because there's so many different
ways of being successful it's easy to
get
distracted because it gets into your
head what other people are doing
right more than any other profession
it's so bad
it's such a distraction i've had to just
like learn to just you know i just have
to put in the work every day and i'll
get there
but then also like my body of work isn't
that good like it's getting better
but it's like for me it's like the movie
i ended up making
brand new love like it's okay but to be
honest like by the time
by the time it was done ready to come
out i hated it
and i was like i made so many mistakes
and now i'm like i just need to make
another movie to show
what i learned right and um it's like
yeah putting those lessons into practice
right next one well it's like well the
thing that like
the only reason i'm even able to like
sleep at night is the ira glass quote
it's hard when you first start off i'm
gonna paraphrase this horribly but the
do you know
tell me if you it's it's phenomenal but
basically he says
like when you're first starting out it's
it's confusing because
your your taste in this case is a
filmmaker like my taste is a filmmaker
and like the
the work i'm putting out aren't are
mismatched right okay and so it's like
confusing it's like wait how come
my work isn't as good as like my taste
is as i want it to be as i think it
should be
and it's like the only thing that closes
that gap is well volume
okay well if money yes i think less than
money i think
is just practice it's just it's volume
volume
volume closes the gap so it's like every
time i make something
it'll get better but then in my head i
feel like i'm the only
i'm the only person on the planet whose
feature film didn't debut
at sundance right but i know that's how
i feel and it's like no other people
didn't get in too and volume closes the
gap i mean people have told i mean
and the numbers bear this out it is
harder to get into sundance or south by
southwest than it is to get into harvard
yeah it's like 0.01 and even the ones
who get in
and every year is a new record every
year's new record of how many
submissions they have and then even the
ones that get in though
like i think like 10 percent have to get
distribution or make their money back
yeah and even then you know i i had if
not for the
the now defunct amazon film festival
stars program
where they had a set amount that they
gave to any movie that was in
south by sundance or i think tiff was
the third one
and if you were in this major festival
they had guaranteed
non-recupable i remember seeing that
yeah so
especially for south by if you were in
competition
it was a guaranteed hundred thousand
dollars and they wanted you to take that
money and market your picture holy cow
and it was just
for and you would still have the rights
to put it on itunes yourself
or get separate theatrical or
international whatever this was only
for subscription video on demand s mod
so it eliminated
netflix or hulu and so you had to be an
amazon exclusive but if you were in
competition
it was 100 grand guaranteed and if you
were in the spotlight like we were it
was 25 grand guaranteed
and we were able to so like even if no
we got one other offer
from gravitas and if that had never come
up i would have taken the amazon money
and that would have been that but there
wouldn't have been any other
distribution
so here's a movie everyone's like i want
to be in sundance i want to be at south
by southwest
okay now you've done that and if nobody
wants to distribute the movie after that
anyway it doesn't matter it doesn't
matter
but we're gravitas too brainwashed yeah
we haven't made any money back i can get
into that if you i mean yeah it's just
it's just
it's just a long road i mean it's a
whole other yeah you know we can have a
gravitas
bashing well i mean they don't promote
anything
they don't put any money towards
promotion put no money into it which is
but they but they're but yeah i suppose
i'm gonna still
yeah out online as much as i can sure
right you it's right it's up to you yeah
but um but that's part of that's part of
the battle you think again
it's part of the whole like the grass is
greener oh i just wish i was in south by
well guess what well now you haven't
like
do you again it goes to like what do you
really want if you want to distribute
your movie
and you want to just have the world see
it being in south by southwest isn't
necessarily the dream come true that you
think it would be
but if you want to be in south by
southwest and but you don't get
distribution
but you get to tell everybody that you
were there like again you need to
decide what you really want out of what
you're doing
i would just i would assume i would have
thought it would have been like
i would have thought that south by
southwest for you would have not
necessarily been getting over launching
but it would have been
jason career launching yeah and it's
kind of been that but yeah
in the same way like you know i'm not on
set directing anything right now i'm
recording a podcast
what is it what's your like ideal where
are you going from here
and it took me a really really long time
to even figure it out because like i
said
i never really wanted to be a director
but i would like to direct something
now that i've kind of gotten a taste for
it narrative yeah yeah yeah
and i've decided that for me i would be
professionally
fulfilled if i can by the time i hang
them up which is still many many many
years away
i can have one feature documentary which
i've got and one feature narrative
and just to do it and hopefully it would
be great and it sells and it gets into
festivals or whatever but i just want to
be able to
say that i did that and i've never
written a feature script before
and i have a million unfinished things
sitting on my computer i have a million
dollars
a million unfinished yeah and one of the
things i kind of want to ask you you
know i want to get back to the framework
thing too because having a day job
oh yeah get in the way of that so i have
all this unfinished stuff
that kind of just kind of when i started
working at framework you know now 13
years ago
kind of just had to go away because i
had a full-time job that was
more than a full-time job it's
post-production but there are late
nights and it just kind of takes you
away from that
so i kind of decided that i just want to
for myself write a script from start to
finish and i know there's a lot of
writers out there that you know can
crank out dozens of scripts in a year
i just want to be able to finish one and
be happy with it
i can start it does things do like i
just want to get from start to finish
yeah on one script and eventually shoot
it myself
and if it sucks it sucks if it's good
that'd be great
but that's that's how i would consider
myself a success
as you know as a creator as a creative
person
but professionally speaking if i just do
the work i'm doing now like
doing dcps for other people post you
know consulting talking to people
even festival consulting now that i've
been on the you know the whole circuit
i help people if they have a question
about like their festival strategy
i realized what i really want out of
this business and i should have done it
15
20 years ago is the people i love
meeting directors and meeting other
filmmakers i love
talking about the business yeah i love
like for me like that's being in the
business
like just sitting with another director
and being like what camera did you use
to shoot your movie oh what did this you
know oh you speak you know
how was that interview that you get like
just like just talking about
our own experiences like what we're
doing here whether it's on mic or off
mic
that's what makes me creatively
fulfilled and professionally fulfilled
so i still want to make one more picture
i'd love to make more after that
i'm going to start with one and that'll
make me happy
so that's kind of how i you know it took
me two years
to shut out all that noise because the
door opened and i was like well now i'm
going to be hot [ __ ] director guy
yeah but then when you walk through the
door and you see
70 000 other directors in the waiting
room and you realize you didn't walk
into the office
you're just in the waiting room to get
on to the next side
yeah then you start seeing what it's all
about it helps you
you know redefine what you really want
right business or else like i said it's
gonna
pull you in so many different directions
and you're not gonna know
right right what you want yeah because
it's easy to get distracted by what
other people are doing
that's i mean that's that's the thing
that i just i really have to
just shut the stop looking at other
people what they're doing and
worry that i'm too getting too old
like i'm not i just there's just looking
at everyone else
every year i'm like oh everyone's at
sundance with me right
i didn't go to sleep this year but it's
it's really hard to just like stay the
course and focus on
your own work right so i finished
filming brand new love and i was like
man this is exhilarating i just directed
my first narrative feature
here we go like my career is about to
pop off and then i was like i need a job
and i didn't want to go back to
bartending anymore and a friend of mine
was like
worked for hugulou and customer service
for minimum wage like 15
an hour at hulu and got me a job and i
remember i went to the like orientation
i'm sitting there and they're like what
are your favorite hulu shows and
or what's your favorite tv shows and
somebody was like you're the worst and
someone else was like i like broad city
and arturo was on
broad city and so i'm sitting there and
i'm like i just made a movie i just
directed these people
in these shows and now i'm just sitting
here like and then i did that for one
week
and it was like at the end of the week
after taxes i had 400
and i was like this is like i'm gonna go
it was just such a little
amount of money for l.a um like
certainly i can get something better and
then my friend tony
was like hey framework is looking for
and
looking for an editor who like has a
background in comedy
and i was like i don't know tony like i
don't know premiere that well i had
always cut i remember that non-final cut
and i was like and i've never i've never
been paid to edit
i had a huge body of work i edited like
tons of stuff but just for myself and
friends i was like somewhere i was going
to walk in and someone was going to
stand over my shoulder and like realize
that i didn't know how to
use all the keyboard shortcuts and then
i was going to be like i was going to be
discovered as like a fraud
and tony was like you're going to be
fine like tell them this is your day
rate which i couldn't believe the number
he told me i could say out loud i was
just like
i was like i just got you know there's a
get paid it was more than i just gotten
for a week of
working 40 hours of being like i'm sorry
you got charged seven dollars for hulu
let me refund you
it was horrible so he was like send them
your work i didn't have a editing reel
but i just like sent a ton of stuff i
had edited
and editing real quick you just need
like i've not i haven't looked at as
a post supervisor i haven't looked at
anyone's editing reel
in 15 years and it makes sense because
it's like an editing it should be how
can you first of all how can you see how
someone edits
right because now you're editing the
work that you've edited
so that's already ridiculous exactly so
yeah yeah
so i was just like here's like a ton
here's links to a ton of stuff i've
edited and then i remember going in
and like i did the week and there was
like a pa running around taking food
orders and i was like tony do you think
that like
after this week maybe i could be a pa
here like maybe i could take the food
orders like
you've already jumped that even as a
sitting there as an editor getting paid
more much more than that
i was just like i'll do that like maybe
i can like read the piano
at least the pa is like he's an employee
he's employee he's working really hard
but it's like it's something right and
then um warner brothers
liked liked my cuts but then also like i
remember i took time off i took like a
month off
at one point to edit my to edit what
city ralphie made me
and then i would had to go back to work
so i needed money and then i would
work until 7 8 pm an adderall
that i bought from a teenager um and
come home and stay up all night not
recommended
i'm just being honest like this is just
how this is how i played the game this
is how the game gets played but um
i would like get off work at framework
take an adderall and then come home and
stay up like all night and work on
my editing my documentary on the side
you know so it was just non-stop at that
point
yeah and but now i have like a sweet
spot because i'm not editing the
document anymore so now i get up in the
morning at six
and i write from six to nine and then go
into work but i think it's like really
important
to like make your day work for you like
you kind of have to like
for huge huge chunks of time probably
like two whole years
i was just going into framework and like
not working on like anything else my
document took me a long time i shot it
in 2015.
it just premiered in nashville festival
in october 2019.
um but the main subject died in 2017 so
that changed a lot of the edit
but for me like it was really important
to like instead of being like oh i have
a day job so i can't do whatever
and i like i love framework i enjoy
editing it's at least like in my field
it's not like a customer service
job so and i love everyone at framework
um it's a wonderful company
i i think one of the things again that
i'm i'm interested in talking to people
about is
especially people that don't direct as a
full-time job just yet
the balance of working a full-time
job and not just one that's you know
bartending or you know
or waitressing where when you're done
for the day you leave it behind
you know with editing and stuff at least
for me like
i'm constantly thinking about all right
stuff we're working on right
you know it's constantly running through
my mind yeah and then you have to fit in
time to work on your own creative stuff
and
to do all of those things at the same
time
it gets very very difficult it's really
hard i mean i feel like for
the same thing so with what's eating
ralphie may it's
probably took an extra two years to
finish that
that it would not have right had i not
and they had to have a full time shot
like that's a bit it's not a bad thing
per se but if you're you know an
impatient person like myself
yeah like i like to get things done like
as soon as possible so like
to drag it out over six years can be
excruciating it's a little embarrassing
as sometimes i think like
you know lana like ralphie's wife like
that
the other like main subject in the film
i think you know she'd be like why is
this you this took so long why is it
taking so long and
would get frustrated and i'm like well i
have to i need money like i live in la i
have to have a full i have to work i
have a full-time job
and that just got really hard and i
wasn't all the time like working
but like i mean most weekends like i
can't tell you how many
like social functions i turn down to go
home and edit
and just sit in front of my computer and
edit but writing and editing
are so different but so now what's it's
so nice i don't have to edit now on the
side because editing is so
it's just very taxing it's like putting
together a puzzle like and
i enjoy it but it's a lot it was a lot
to edit all day and then come home and
edit for hours
if you will but but yeah i mean what's
eating ralph you made should have come
out in like
2017 2018 max and like it just took
so much longer but it's it's really nice
i think it's it's really hard to like
the huge chunks of time like i said
you're one year two years where
i'm just working and not doing anything
else is like
i just think like it's and you're also
married now too
you were also getting married and
planning a wedding and
stuff so that yeah how do you so how do
you so when you're
working at framework and so you're
you're editing at work
coming home trying to write trying to
edit also
trying to not you know trying like you
and and you're getting closer to your
now husband and your relationship is
developing like
how do you juggle all of those balls and
not like
drop any of them it's hard i that's a
that's probably more a question for him
right he's got to be very understanding
he's well he's very supportive he's
very very supportive because he believes
in me he's proud of the work i do and
for him it's like
that this can only help us get out of
this apartment so
so he's like do this to get us to help
get us out of here
he's the light at the end of the team
you're doing is
part of uh yeah a pathway right but then
he would complain sometimes like
i remember when we came back from our
honeymoon
there was like a month where i was just
like i wasn't doing anything
but working and then editing the
documentary and he was like you know
you're not there's like all these things
i want to go to and you're not coming
with me and i'm like
i just took all this time off for our
honeymoon like i've gotta get
the festival submission deadlines are
coming up of course i didn't know any
better and i thought
i was like this is the year this film is
going to get into
sundance you know so i have to be ready
for this festival submission like not
knowing
what i know now about that whole game
well yeah it's actually kind of it's
very similar too because
i mean during the production of getting
over i
was also like i had met my my wife was
one of the when we were dating she was
one of the original kickstarter
supporters is that how you met her that
is uh no we actually met on match.com
oh okay but we had it back when it was
called match.com and that's just match
app or whatever yeah
but yeah we were in the very very very
early stages of our dating
when she gave her the kickstarter and
she's told me ever since and she's like
if it didn't work out i'd have to be
seeing these kickstarter updates from
you
all the time so she was like secretly
like it better [ __ ] work out or else
i'm gonna have to like cut this guy off
like i want to see that his movie's
doing well if i
right but the whole time but and that
was like in 2013
and we got married in late in mid 2014
so it's just been this again and
and so you add it all up like late
nights at framework
trying to work on the movie at the same
time while your relationship is
developing
and at least for me something had
something had to sit
so the movie great getting over just
kind of sat
for probably like i said an extra year
or two that again if i hadn't worked at
framework i would have been working on
it the whole time
right i had to work and i would come
home like i said at 10 o'clock at night
sometimes
the last thing i'm gonna do is sit down
and start working on my movie again my
you know my new wife wants to spend time
with her new husband
right and like i'm already coming home
late at night yeah and and it was just
it had gotten you know something
something had to fall by the wayside
it's hard and i knew i was always going
to finish the picture
maybe i wouldn't have gotten into south
by 2017 or south by southwest 2019 yeah
like it all kind of came together right
together at that very specific time
but when you're going through it you
don't know that
right you know you know what that you
know where where the exit
is on that freeway right you know so
just for my own sanity i'm like listen
this thing is going to get
done it's my personal story i'm not
going to let this thing sit forever
even though like i said i've got a
million other things that are sitting on
my computer that are undone
this one's going to get done right now i
got to spend some time with my wife yeah
you know right so you just have to be
able to again like
realize that prioritize
and again that's also when as the movie
sits
for months and nothing would happen you
know and i wouldn't necessarily i'd feel
bad like oh i should have spent more
time with it
but then again that's when other things
start to seep in and you see other
people
oh yeah and it was one of the things
that when
when you guys first released uh ralphie
mae
and i was like i i wouldn't say pissed
off
but i was like man she did one feature
she's working at framework she just did
another feature now i'm hearing from you
now like you shot these things at
different times
yeah yeah you know i shot both of them
before i started working at framework
exactly but when you're an outsider you
don't know that and i'm like
how the [ __ ] did she shoot another movie
while she was working in framework why
can't i do that and again
you get it into your mind that other
people are living this glamorous
i'm making movies on it but it's just
not what it is
right and it's really the whole point of
the show is to introduce
people like you to to the audience and
to you know
the public at large and realize it's not
taika why did he didn't wake up one
morning and just have jojo rabbit
right like like that [ __ ] took a long
[ __ ] time it took a long time you
know what they
i just heard the statistic that like i
think it was for female directors but i
imagine
i don't i'm sure that it's similar for
all directors but like it takes the
average
time between a first feature and a
second for narrative it's like 10 years
wow so it's shocking but it's like but
yeah but and i hear you on like you were
saying how
getting over a shot on video so what's
eating your female i shot that in 2015 i
shot it with a c300 but it's uh this the
original c300 is 1080.
so i'm editing this in 2017 2018 2019
you know
this mark ii has come out everything's
4k now they're saying oh netflix doesn't
take anything that's not
4k you know people are saying i've got
that in the back of my head and i'm like
i'm like i'm
editing something shot on 1080p i'm
already
i'm already we're so behind like yeah
this is
exactly like can can this come out
because it's it's 1080. and i also like
i didn't i didn't even know when i shot
it about
shooting flat for color i learned that
when i made a brand new one
yeah so i shot it i didn't shoot it
right like i just
i mean i was one-man band i shot it by
myself and i i just made so many
mistakes on that too i mean between
both senior rapping and brand new old
love i made so many mistakes
but but it's like i hope that and and
they did both take
so long to make brand new love too like
so i
shot brandon would love we shot in 2016
that didn't come out until 2018. right
post took a really long time probably
mostly because i was working even i
wasn't even the editor but
and then just like figuring out
distribution getting rejected from all
the festivals
the same with what's eating ralphie you
made but it's like i still love all of
it i i can't wait to make another one
like it's like sign me up again
and it's like i'm like maybe for
punishment yeah maybe that's what we do
maybe but that's what we do so like
i hope that it's not just like no one
wants to hear that a movie takes
five years like when i was shooting
what's he wrapping me in 2015 i thought
i'm going to put this out the end of
this year
right and like no i was promising people
are their kicks i mean we had a
kickstarter in the 2013
and i was like it'll be ready the middle
of 2014. yeah
right and nobody like so no like a
filmmaker
listening to this wants to hear that
it's going to take all these years
and maybe it won't but it's like even if
it does it's still like
the whole i mean i would the journey is
the reward trade it for anything
and like i just want to keep making
stuff and like hopefully the next thing
i make will do better and be better and
as long as like
i'm never never my dad always said never
go backwards so as long as i'm
moving forward with the things i make
then i'll just we'll just
we'll just keep making them but it is
hard like i haven't
made anything new since i started at
framework but i'm writing a lot right
now and i'm i'm very hope
i did finish two things while i was
there and that was very hard and
but now now i'm writing and i just i'm
i'm really hopeful i'm
i'm hoping to make a couple things um
summer
fall and uh we'll see we'll see but it
is like
that's the beauty freelancing is you can
take time off
do you feel worried that if you take too
much time away
from the day job to shoot something that
it might not be yeah that it might not
be there when you get back because
that's
every time every i mean it probably will
be but like that's
just one of the concerns we have to deal
with when you're trying to
you know shoot something on your own but
you need to support like and
we had said like you didn't take a
salary on these things so you're working
for free basically
so you need a day job to support
that not only to finance part of the
picture but to
live and pay your rent and pay bills but
i was just it's just so it's just a
whole it's just a lot to deal with i
would always worry about every time i
would take time off from framework the
whole time i would like text tony
tony how's the freelancer doing like do
they like do they like him more than me
like am i gonna be replaced
and knock on wood they've asked me back
and
i hope that that continues but yeah of
course that's always on my mind every
time i take a week off there
and then actually last year my dad got
sick and was dying and so
i'm sorry i ended up taking like a lot
of time off to go to atlanta and like
take care of him right you just can't
yeah you wouldn't be able to
can't do this i took a month off for my
honeymoon like good and bad things i've
been able to take time off for and
but now i'm like you know it's just la's
expensive and like a lot of the money i
was making i was putting towards
my documentary and stuff so i i really
need to be working every chance i get so
i'll never turn down a different like so
i love going in and but now i'm i've
finally figured out how to make it work
for me and
right in the morning before work and i i
couldn't do that maximize your your time
max
yeah i actually call it a maximum day
yeah if i have a maximum day it's like
if i wrote i worked i
exercised and i like ate well i'm like
and spend time with my husband i'm like
i had a maximum day i did it all
you can have all the things i have my
little habit journal
great that i've started and i like crop
mark off my
these are good ideas people this is very
listen if you need to have
the habit journal has really been like
game changer for me what's your plan for
your next step to get your next project
out there so i have a dark comedy that
i'm writing
and my plan is to once the script is in
a
place where i'm ready to show it and my
plan is to hire
the casting the casting director and
then i know who i want my cast to be
and one of them is like someone who was
in brandon will love so i want to reach
out to him and see if he's interested
great and then i know who i want my
female lead to be and i have a
connection to her
through an organization i'm with so i
i'm basically going to like
just like try to attach these two leads
and then i have a couple
like leads on funding but you know
they'll probably still have the same
guys that gave you before
no so actually the funny story he's like
well at least you have that 50
000 no so that guy so he was trying to
experiment with self-releasing indie
films
he had like three films that year that
two out of sundance
that he was like putting in money to um
like self-distribute and self-promote
and like and then he got so frustrated
with it he was like you know what i
can't make money and this there's no way
for any film to make money
i'm out and he like moved to colorado
wow and so he just
he he used to do he had that self-care
he realized
he was like not for him anymore i gotta
go do something else yeah
nope done so so i don't know that's good
that again that to have the wherewithal
and to have the self
you know self-awareness to know to not
you know try to jam a square peg into a
round hole right it's not working and
you don't want to do it
yeah you don't have to do it right oh
but i want to say sorry if you don't i'm
i've had too much
you said something about how this is for
like mental health stuff yes i mean it's
just all about
you know showing other people you know
other filmmakers specifically
the you know the trials and tribulations
of what
we do yeah and so like i said you know
when people watch the oscars and they
see the tuxedos and the dresses and
there's just a for grunts like us
there's just a disconnect yeah of you
know between the work and the accolades
yeah and what peop you know and people
always just think the grass is greener
the journey is part of the reward and
know that you're not alone
right and just that and at least for me
yeah just knowing that and hearing
other people's stories soothes my soul
and lets me know that i'm not going
through this alone
you know other people are experiencing
the business the same way
and just knowing that brings me a bit of
a comfort
that eases me that's beautiful this is
my heart and
lets me continue doing this work you
know
without having to worry so much anymore
it's
always going to be work right it's the
work it's probably the journey is the
work
right and you know and if you put that
time in
you you'll you'll you know those you'll
reap those benefits right
eventually yeah i think sometimes people
think that so i love that you said this
is like your form of self-care this is
definitely this is
you know in interviewing people like you
brings you know soon it's my therapy it
serves my soul
to hear other people's struggles um not
not just
the struggles of course but again yeah
to just feel like you know we're not
going through this alone in this
business
this and it's not even like this
business the film business it's just
like the entertainment industry
operates so differently than every other
industry not only in america but in the
world
right but nobody teaches you
how to deal with the biz
the business yeah you can read variety
you can know what's happening but again
like until you're in it and doing it
like you know but there's no guidance i
don't think you even can
i don't think you can be taught you just
have to like do it do you just have to
be in it
and and then it's like oh this is how it
works right and for some people
you know especially people who don't
live in l.a
um that think that they have to move to
la or that they have to move to new york
or whatever you know anyone that i've
met just their own personal experiences
again just in our business it's too easy
to gauge your own success
by someone else's experiences and it
doesn't happen anywhere else
and i just want to help people kind of
learn how to get a grip on that a little
bit because it's easy to let that get
away
and that's when you re that's when you
wake up one morning and you're like i
don't know what i want to do anymore
i thought i wanted to be a director but
being a director
is not just waking up and going into you
it's the whole hustle
you that's something that i've like been
learning now
to i have these pie in the sky like i
want to
make this other movie and directed but i
have these big things but then it's
little things every day that you have to
do
instead of like you're not going to just
wake up and be directing something
like these little you have to you have
to you really have to put in a little
bit
every single day you put in a little bit
every day
instead of because i was like waiting to
have a time i'd be like oh i need to
take a week off to write
and then i would not write for six
months to a year and to take this week
off and i get overwhelmed with how much
i needed to write and not right but now
i'm like okay i'm gonna write a little
a lot of pressure nothing nothing to get
done i would eat nachos and watch
netflix instead of right now it's like
oh i'm just going to write a little bit
and just if i just
even just like one little thing on a
page like
if that's all i get out of a morning
then it's like now i'm now i'm
actually working towards something so
it's like i have something i'm actually
actively working towards instead of just
this
like kind of high in the sky like it'll
just kind of happen on its own
yeah yeah so it's like no it's like the
but just but just like
just winning the day just today all that
matters is today just just winning today
and just reading today is like doing a
little bit of self-care
writing whatever like whatever that is
and that that's i think
i'm i think that they'll i think the
next thing i make will be better and it
won't take as long
right because it's like i've learned
that a better grip on your own
workflow and on my own workflow and on
on my on my day i
have this book i'm reading about like
artists like and what their daily habits
were
and it's so interesting and like you
really do have to have like
it's it's like they did this every day
discipline discipline a bit of
discipline so how does that so does that
worry you then that like you're going to
spend all this time
writing a script while working at
framework and having these
you know maximum days where you're
getting a lot of stuff done
but now like your path to financing
has now kind of been removed from that
so do you feel like maybe you're
spinning your wheels
no well i haven't i haven't done it i'm
just going to keep doing i haven't tried
to get funding yet for my next
project but i um i mean yeah i think
it'll be
very difficult but i'm gonna i'm hoping
that what city ralphie may will
sell soon and like maybe that could help
but i'm just going to like
take the tools i have from my
experiences and the
mistakes i've made the things i've
learned and see if i can
make it work like network network
network and just
network like have a good script attach a
couple name
actors and then just it's just it's a
numbers game
send a hundred emails for funding and
maybe one person will write back
do you at least did i ask everybody this
when i when i wrap stuff up do you feel
happy with where you're at now
or i mean obviously you don't feel happy
with like you're still gonna work
towards something working towards but in
general in your life being married
having
you know framework having your movies
out there for other people to see are
you generally happy
with your state of life right now oh
that's an interesting question
and sometimes and i've also been like
it's not and i i've also redefined it a
little
bit because i used to think happiness
was a goal i make my picture i sell my
picture i'll be
happy but i'm also starting to realize
talking to a lot of people that
happiness is more in the journey
yeah than in that final destination so i
mean
it's okay like i'm not completely 100
happy with where i'm at now and i'm
always working on it
professionally and personally but do you
feel happy with your state of
state of being i mean i guess i'm i'm
loving life
i guess i'm in general happy i'm not
like depressed right now
but um i i'm and i'm very i'm very
excited
about okay where i'm excited about where
things
can and hopefully will go this year but
no i mean i wouldn't say i mean no
i'm i still don't feel like i've i still
feel very behind like i still feel like
but but that's interesting and i'm like
oh no like so i'm gonna make this film
this summer and then i have this other
thing i'm going to do and then
when i sell my pilot and then when i
lose 30 pounds
then and when i get a house with a yard
these are like
there's all these things like personal
professionals where i'm like no i'm
trying to get there and then i'll be but
then it's like
i'm sure once i get once you get there
yeah i mean you're always going to lose
something else you're always going to
have something sometimes you know like
you know the the path of life is going
to take you in many different directions
right even while you're doing these
things so there has to be some way to
find again you know some peace and some
happiness in the process itself
in the day-to-day yeah because i don't
want to get to a place where it's like
all right i'm going to shoot this
feature this summer and this will get
done and then i'll do this and then i'll
do that and then if
something breaks up my mental picture of
what it'll be
like all of a sudden now i'm unhappy
like i don't want that
that's happened for me too many times
before where
it hasn't gone the way i wanted it to go
so i'm not fully happy
but i don't want to feel that way
anymore you know so i'm kind of
redefining
not what happiness is per se but how i
apply
that definition to my life it's
interesting you know
yeah so i don't wake up and be like you
know i i want i'm happy
just again even if it's not a maximum
day just getting out of bed sometimes
and just coming here and recording the
show that's a success
yeah and i'm gonna be happy with that
success yeah i mean you know i'm gonna
go home and i'm gonna have a great you
know
valentine's day dinner with my wife and
be happy with it yeah
watch a movie and that's right success
yeah that's happiness you know and like
i'm
i'm i love that um i'm gonna get paid
well at framework to edit that's cool
i'm very i'm grateful to have that
i'm grateful for like my friends and
family my husband my dog like
and i do i'm loving life right now i
have a lot of goals that i'm working
towards
and i'm not there yet personally and
professionally like i said i want to get
out of this apartment but
but i am like in general i do i'm i'm
i'm
happy i'm taking care of myself and i'm
i'm loving life it's great
and i do but i i mean so my my dad died
last year and
watching it's so crazy how like watching
someone
close to you gets sick like that really
puts things
into perspective it's like when you stop
being able
to walk then it's like oh man like every
day i can walk
like i just need you gotta be like it's
the little things it's yeah so
i just been trying to be appreciative
and grateful for
every day i can take a step it's great
that's great well cat Rhinehart thank
you so much for joining me
thank you so much for allowing me into
your house for this discussion it's been
very enlightening i hope the listeners
have enjoyed it and yeah thank you so
much for having
me i appreciate it the next time you
finish a picture we'll have you back on
we can talk about you know some more
successes and the whole path getting
there and
but you know and i'm sure it'll happen
so until then thanks for joining me
we'll we'll see you guys next time thank
you
thank you and there you have it our
interview with Cat Rhinehart director of
what's eating ralphie may playing right
now
in the atlanta film festival with an
actual real live screening
at a drive-in theater next week on the
24th of september thank you guys for
joining us
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you know her you love her she's one of
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take care bye
you