HUGE: SEGURIDAD HUMANA, GÉNERO Y MEDIO AMBIENTE.

Whoever says saving money is hard doesn't know that new customers who bundle and save with progressive save hundreds because switching your home and auto insurance is better than cutting down on the things you love like those iced latte is that help you get ready to face the day so switch your home and auto to progressive and see if you could save and keep sipping away get your quote today at progressive dot com progressive casualty insurance company affiliates and other insurers not available in all states. Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it. So by stopping at the education section of a resume, you might throw away the perfect chire. Skills First Hiring helps you see talent others miss, like more than 70 million stars, skilled through alternative routes. Let their story unfold and gain a competitive advantage, because hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely to find a successful hire. Hire skills first, learn why at tetherpapercealing.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Add Council. Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show we recommend. Hi, I'm Cara Berry, host of everyone's business, but mine. Think of me as your new friend and fellow busy body as I talk about everything under the pop culture sun. From the best way to detect a celebrity breakup or pregnancy to recapping your favorite reality TV shows from the housewives, cinematic universe, welcome to Plathville Kardashians, and so much more. So check out everyone's business, but mine, airing multiple times a week, everywhere you listen to podcasts. Acast helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts, everywhere, acast.com. Let's talk a little bit about the planning process. I'm just super curious if you could share the difference between planning and producing horror films, which are really scripted in reality TV, which involves an unscripted process. Well, I think you have it right there. I mean, the unscripted process is you've got to create, you've got to create the architecture to capture something, right? And I think coming from documentary, I understand this. You have to set yourself up for success in the unknown. And I think the difference with making a scripted fiction piece, it's not that everything is going to go according to plan. It won't. You are going to be getting curveballs the whole time. You're going to be making sacrifices and concessions every day. We were, I remember, on the road out to West Virginia to start filming, and I was desperately calling people trying to raise money because we didn't have enough money to finish production. And the thing about a movie is that it's not like a battle so much as it is like a war. Your logistics train is what gets you through it, sound or determines whether you win or lose, right? You need to have everything in place. And one of the main things, there's a lot you don't have control over. But one of the things you have control over as the director is how will you plan ahead? Okay, it's no secret how much I love reality TV. Okay, I love all things housewives, all things Bravo, all things TLC, whatever. I'm in for it today, tomorrow, and forever. But the one genre that I love more than reality TV that started this whole curiosity that I have about production and edits is the power scripted television and film. And so I'm super excited today because today's episode features a friend of mine named Daniel Byers, who is the writer, producer and director of a very exciting horror film that is releasing on September 4. Dark Hall is really a personal effort. It is a passion project that is truly in fact bringing context to the reality of the Appalachian community and the struggles that they've had in reality and real life as we know it today in saving and protecting their community. A good edit and filtered brings context to reality TV. We're going to pause that for a minute and we're going to bring context to the reality of the Appalachian people in their story that is told wait for this. It's a twist through a horror film. So this is what happens. Dark Hall is their protagonist, Casey Scarborough's husband, disappears into a coal mine. And in going after him, she lets something out. It's a creature. They call him the coal man, an original cryptid that was built as a practical suit rather than something that was formed out of CGI. And this cryptid starts stalking her through her own town. Now the horror of this, now the horror of this, the engine underneath is a buyout. The coal companies are offering the first family to sell their land at a really good price. Sound familiar? And then they use that sell as a court precedent to condemn everyone else's land for nothing. What happens? You got neighbors turning on neighbors. And then that it comes the real pressure that Casey is living inside. And the reality of it and the context of it is that this is actually a reality that Daniel saw happening when he grew up in West Virginia. I am so excited by this moment. I don't even like horror films. So I had to have to have a sit down with them and talk about it. So sit back relax. We're going to take a little break from the bravo train all the way. Do have some recaps coming up as it relates to the love island reunion, which was a doozy. But for now, we're going to take a little shift. If you love horror films, this one's for you. I'll see you on the other side. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the good edit and filtered. I'm L and I am so excited to bring to you two people that are doing some dynamic work in everybody's favorite genre, besides reality TV, which is horror, which honestly reality TV is kind of a horror show in itself. Anyway, I have Daniel buyers here and his star, rising star, June Schreiner, who is here to talk about his new film, Dark Hollow. Welcome you guys. Hey, thank you so much for having us. Yeah, super excited to dive into what was the inspiration behind this film, the production process, and particularly you, June, I wanted to know what your experience was in filming it. And I know that you also have some secret plans to find yourself on a reality TV show that everybody goes. Yes, yes, universe baby. Yeah, so Daniel, tell us about Dark Hollow. I saw, listen, I got to tell you, I don't like horror films. I don't watch them. I don't like Gore. I don't like nightmares. But when I saw your trailer, I was like, okay, now this is something I can get into. So, what was the inspiration behind you choosing to go this route and really focus on the Appalachians, which I'm fascinated by? Well, thank you so much for that. So, Dark Hollow, yes, it's a new indie folk horror movie starring June. She's a young mother searching for her husband after he vanishes into a coal mine and unwittingly lets out a nightmarish monster that begins stalking her in her rural Appalachian town. So, the inspiration for it came largely from growing up in Appalachia myself in context of sort of the world of the film, which was the pit mining explosion. I guess pun intended of the 1990s to the 2010s. And an ongoing process today, they are still cutting down the mountains in rural Appalachia. So, you know, Dark Hollow is a, it's set in that world, but it's a practical creature monster movie. We've got Gore sprayin' all over the place. And it was shot in a real coal country. We were down in a real coal mine for three days shooting it. So, about as practical, practical effects see as you can get. And then we pulled it all together with some technical movie magic as well, shooting on a volume stage in Brooklyn. And combining some pretty cool experimental techniques in order to make some of the impossible and fantastical spaces in our underground. So, almost everything was shot in camera with one technique or another. It was almost entirely practical. And it's a very human story in spite of being a scary monster movie. I think there is probably something in it for you. And I hope for a lot of people because largely due to June's incredible performance as KC, the protagonist of the film, it's grounded in a lot more than just scares and Gore. It's grounded in family and land and the history of coal country and the impossible choices that people were put into. And what they had to do to try to survive in that situation. So, films coming out in September, it'll be in LA on September 4th at the Lumiere in Beverly Hills. If you're in LA, I hope you come down and come to opening night. June and I'll be there for the Q&A. And otherwise, it'll be available widely on VOD that same day. Yeah, I'm definitely going to be there. And June, I definitely want to just dive into the reality of your experience. But before we get there, I just need to apologize. I've been calling it Appalachia all my life. It's not Appalachia, is it? It's Appalachia? You know, it turns out, it turns out L that language is permeable and. We all have our own take on it. So I think the people of Appalachia say Appalachia. That's what I'll say. But we had this debate with some guys from Louisiana on a podcast a few days ago and they were adamant that it was Appalachia. And you know what? They get a pass and you get a pass too if you won't. - No, I don't want a pass. - I want to say it right. I want to say it right. For all of you lovely, gorgeous residents in Appalachia, I apologize in advance for messing up your name, right? But anyways, you mentioned something super important. And you know, the good edit unfiltered really deals with reality TV. That's really what our genre is to really focus on. And within that space, it is poised to allegedly give us a real bird's eye view of some of the humanistic things that go on in these women's lives. And sometimes I question how true that really is given the edits and everything like that. But in this case, you said as relates to Dark Hollow that it's a really human story, what were some of the real life experiences that inspired you to produce Dark Hollow? - I guess there were two sides of it. The first one was sort of the world context, you know, being in coal country at that time, growing up and seeing this happen to people ahead of friends who lost houses, who had their land condemned and were forced out by the coal companies so that their land could be mined and destroyed. And all the sort of context in the film at the start without giving away too many spoilers, but the situation that the people are in, that June's character is in. And the conflict even between her and her husband, it all comes down to this decision about whether to stay or leave, right? And there's so much pressure on people on these kind of impossible circumstances. So one of the things that would happen is communities would sort of be pitted against each other. The coal company would offer to buy out whoever sold first and give them a pretty good price. But then once they did so, they could condemn the land with court precedent and nobody else would get anything. So you could sell out and sure you might get a payout, but then you're kind of condemning all your friends, your neighbors, maybe your family, to this terrible fate. So the really sort of pitted communities against each other. And that's kind of the context of the world that I'm exploring and it's all based on real events. And I wanted to show that real history. At the same time, it's a monster movie. And it's a horror movie. And I wanted to have it be very Appalachian in that way too. We love our cryptids in Appalachia. We love Bigfoot. We love Mothman, Vegetable Man, Flatwoods Monster. We can go on all day. We have the most cryptids per capita of any state in the nation. And no, that's not just because we have the smallest population. [LAUGHTER] Wait, wait, wait. OK, so many questions, so many questions. First of all, I applaud what you're doing. I don't know if you've read this book called Youth From Fly Over Country, but it talks about some of these invisible communities. And I'd imagine Appalachia is one of them. I follow this one particular content creator on YouTube who really has taken that community under his wing. And he's really showing real life stories of what they have been through in the last few decades. I mean, it's horrifyingly sad. So where they really have become invisible compared to the rest of the country, the way I see it. So I think it's wonderful that you have this medium to kind of bring their stories to life. And really, I'm just listening to you speak metaphorically. It is a monster out there to keep them invisible in a real way called Big Government. But anyways, I digress. I don't want to get political. But why do Appalachia-- why do they do them like that? Why do they want to make put all of the monsters and cryptic stories in that particular community? Well, I think it has something to do with the land. Appalachia's remote. It has all of these unique land formations, these deep carved hollows, or hollows, dark hollows, if you will, in the landscape where there's a lot of shadows left on the map. And that's not true of many places on Earth anymore. And I think it's always the places where there's still some shadows left on the map. You look at those old 14th century Italian maps and they've got the places that just says "Hierby Dragons." And I think we've still got our "Hierby Dragons" today. They're a lot more localized. But we've got some spots like that in Appalachia. And I think that's part of the reason why. But I grew up with these cryptids from a very young age. I always loved them. And my mother-- she worked for the Department of Natural Resources in West Virginia as a state botanist. So she was getting called out on a pretty regular basis because of cryptid sightings, mostly big foot sightings. And she'd have to go out to these people's houses and look at these 13-inch tracks in the mud and try and decide whether they actually were onto something or whether they were pulling some wool. And so I got a lot of great stories from her. And I actually based some of the dialogue in the film around some of those stories because they were just so colorful. And the way that people responded to these cryptids was not what you'd expect. You'd think that they might be trying as either scam you or it might be scary. And certainly, our cryptids very scary. But they just seemed annoyed. You know, they'd go out and she'd say, well, what happened? And somebody would be like, oh, you know, that big foot came around again. And I went and I got the rake and I said, get off my property. [LAUGHTER] Later, so big foot is real? That's a real thing. Is big foot real? Is that your question? Yes, yes, big foot is real. I'm going to defer to June. Deferring to June on this one. Hashtag, I believe. I believe. [LAUGHTER] So Sasquatch, all of that's a real thing. I remember growing up utterly in fear of that. Like, I did not know that. Wow, learn something new every day. Speaking of June, how did this story find you and why what moved you to be the protagonist in this story? This story fell me just through an audition through my reps. And as soon as it came in, the character description and the script, I read them both. And I was totally just enamored by the whole thing. I thought it was such a beautiful story and such a wonderfully human way of representing this community in Appalachian, West Virginia. And I loved that it was a horror movie, but that it really came out of the truth of the land and the truth of this community. Being a big reality TV fan, I am kind of obsessed with groups of people and how they interact with one another and the drama between them. And this movie really does start out like that. It really is about this community. And they all know each other. They're all maybe somehow related or at least care deeply for each other. And I think that to me is why I was so connected and attached to the movie in the first place. So I was so, so excited when I got the opportunity to jump in and embody Casey Scarborough. - Casey Scarborough. So did you have an opportunity to actually work with locals? Do we see locals in the movie as extras? Like what world did they play in that? - Yeah, my son is a local West Virginian. Chase, he's an amazing young actor. And then, yeah, a lot of the people we see in one of the opening scenes where the community is discussing what to do about all this money that's coming in trying to buy the land out from underneath of them. They were locals, the woman who played my mima, maybe not from West Virginia, but she was from Kentucky, I think, right? And then the crew was about 50/50 local. And New Yorkers or Pittsburgh. So it was really cool. It was really special to be working, not, you know, working with the local community and the people who really knew the land and knew the accents. I was always getting like coaching on my accent from our grip and electric boys. - Was there any, did you look to the community to get any research on terms of how to bring the story to life so that it actually really replicates or really mirrors exactly what their real life experience is? - I did through literature and through research. I read a few amazing novels, including Storming Heaven and Demon Copperhead. And I watched a lot of documentaries to try to really understand and empathize and really just understand that the history in this community is so tremendous. And the people are so nuanced and beautiful and complicated and resilient. So I know that there's no way for me to fully ever know what it means to be living the lives that they're living. But I did my best. It would have been really, really cool to go, like interview people. If I, if we had months and months of prep, I certainly would have, but it was fast. But I did do a road trip through West Virginia on my way to set. And that was really special. I got to meet a lot of people on my way. And I asked Daniel, I was like, can I practice with the gun that I'm going to be shooting on the day? - Be careful with that. Somebody else tried that one time. It didn't work out too well. - Well, we were very, very safe about the armor. - Armor, yeah. - But Daniel was a deep and prep production. I think already on set. But he said, if you want to go visit my parents, they're at the house. And my dad is actually the armor on the movie. and he has the gun that it was a fake gun that I. But it was based on this real gun that Daniel can speak more to but his dad actually took me out shooting and It was my first time ever shooting a rifle like that and it was really really cool to be in the land like doing this Very West Virginia thing. So I guess in my way. I did my I did my research Yeah, June Did serious prep for this movie including going out with my dad who was the was as she said the armorer on set Which is phenomenal because he is the the most knowledgeable man about fire arms I have ever met and I'm from West Virginia. So that's saying something But yeah, so he took her out to shoot the we had a win jester 97 pump action shotgun Which is KC's sort of main weapon in the in the movie and So she went out there and she actually shot it and as I understand it The first after her first time on the range it kicks so hard that she had a bruise all the way down her arms Such that when we started shooting the film you can actually see it and some of the some of the scenes that she has this giant bruise on her arm and you know, so Anybody who thinks that we we went above and beyond on the makeup? We did and the cup teeth was phenomenal, but some of it was was practical as well Oh my gosh, I cannot wait. I can't wait to get into this movie on on the fourth one. I go see it Absolutely air. I think you said Question for you. I want to kind of talk a little bit about the edit and I know that you come from a Documentary background where is largely I guess unscripted and then This is a scripted show reality TV is very scriptedly unscripted And very heavily influenced by the edit and how and that influences how we consume the genre and what we understand about it And how we perceive its characters can you share a little bit about the editing process that you use to kind of create This kind of immersive experience for the audience. So it is that they're really in You know the apple lashes in the moment in the coal mines and experiencing it along with the character Right. Well, what's that quote you tell your story three times when you write it when you shoot it and when you edit it and I think that maybe the difference Procedure wise between working on a film like dark hollow with June and And doing a documentary or reality television is maybe where you wait those different story telling moments So you tell a lot more of the story in edit. I would imagine in reality TV You have you have you don't have a script you're working from you have a plan certainly in you have you have an outline But you don't have a script per se so I imagine a lot of the work that's done in edit in terms of telling a story I have a background in documentary filmmaking as you said I worked a lot with different wild wild species and with different indigenous tribes around the world I've worked in about 60 countries and so prior doing dark hollow I was out in a tree and central America 150 feet up in the air filming a harpy eagle And watching her her her father feed her a howler monkey by you know tearing chunks off of this large This large animal and feed it to his baby nestling which was you know both simultaneously I would say very beautiful. It was it was tender It was this daddy daughter sort of take care of her It was very sweet and it was also just absolutely gory and grotesque and so but baby Yeah, baby's gotta eat I think a lot of I think a lot of horror is kind of about that too It's that like what is the emotionally resonant thing going on here? There is also violent and also has to do with prey and predators and and and fear So anyway, I think the two do kind of dovetail and and that was the background that I brought into doing this The other thing coming from a nature documentary that I think was really helpful for making dark hollow was Working with landscape, you know working with the land And there's a lot of it was important to me that we capture not just the kind of horror visiting the land And the evil visiting the land the impacts of the extraction that we're going on there But also the beauty of that landscape and to show Those mountains that I grew up in because they are some of the most beautiful On earth I think and there are real shots in the movie drone shots that show you and and these are real You know these are from a couple years ago. They're they're recent. They're modern And they'll show you these mountain landscapes with with the tree covered hills and the fog and it's absolutely beautiful But then the mountain is just cut straight and half right. It's just been bisected. It's like Yeah, like like somebody took a lightsaber to it and it's just gone um, and so I wanted to show some of those shots I think in a single frame capture that dynamic that um the destruction But also how beautiful the place is and how worth it is to fight for it and I would say at a core Uh, if the movie's about anything. It's about that how it's worth Fighting for things that are beautiful and noble and worthy even if the fight is going to be lost Or even if the fight is impossible, you know, it's about the fight itself I think Tolkien had this idea in his Lord of the Rings story is about the long defeat You know, even though the Lord of the Rings books kind of end with this uh victory It's like a battle is won But the land is irrevocably damaged the main character is so damaged that he can't stay in the world He has to leave and I feel like you really kind of captured In spirit what it's like to be alive in the modern world today It's a long defeat and that doesn't mean you can stop fighting You got to keep fighting and that's on some level. I think what Casey is faced with this increasingly impossible situation Increasingly dangerous situation and she has to keep fighting so Hmm speaking of Casey um June how much of yourself did you bring to this experience? You're real self. Did you find yourself? I mean for example, it's unscripted television Characters are talent I call them characters but talents asked to Bring all of their stuff here bring everything your entire real life and then the edit decides what it wants to do with that Um, this is completely different. This is a scripted movie But I'm sure some part of your character had to rely on who you really were to bring that character life How much of what we see or what we're going to see um Was kind of based on your real life experience isn't how much of that did you put into your performance? I'm feeling very emotional about what Daniel just said. It's so beautiful um Yeah, I mean as an actor your It's you there is a character that you're playing in a story that you're in in a world that you're building with your director and your Team and everybody, but It is also you it's like all it's all flowing through you so I um I embrace that yeah, and I actually love that part of the challenge um and Honestly, this uh experience was a tremendously important for me this time of my life because After filming our principal photography in west Virginia for the month of April Before filming on the soundstage it or the The video the virtual productions thing whatever we did in Brooklyn. I never know what to call it but We had a month of filming in west Virginia and a week of filming in Brooklyn and June and unfortunately between that time I lost my mom Suddenly and so when we came back for the production in June Everybody was very gentle with me very tender with me very like we can reschedule we can like are you sure you're okay? And I really wanted to do it. I really needed to do it and A lot of the stuff that we had to film in Brooklyn was The big fights and some of the like climactic emotional scenes Because of the nature of those of the practical effects that we needed for the and the virtual effects we needed for those scenes so it For me it Actually was this incredibly cathartic experience for me to be able to bring all of the emotions Then the grief and the shock and the Pain that I was in and I really was able to bring that to the set Always in service of story, you know always Making sure it was Casey at the front of it, but I think that is kind of the magic of art is Often times our personal experiences are reflected in the work or Not not like you use it in a kind of manipulative way, but you all allow it and I think that synthesis is really exciting So I did use actually a lot of myself That means so much what you just said because I think you're right when you have a tragedy or you have When you put when you pursue something that's super passionate to you You're going to bring your whole self into it when you have a tragedy such as the loss of your mom and I so sorry for that I could see how that grief would be a very important source of energy for you to just really just Amplify this character and I know for example this this show the good edit was Really kind of the not a really a brainchild was a really a consequence of a personal recycle that I went through when I lost my dad and so I was like, you know, who always use your voice, use your voice, use your voice, use your voice. And so I've used that grief to kind of empower my voice and hopefully empower the voice and narratives of others. So you're not alone. - That's so beautiful. I'm sorry, you're so beautiful. Mutual admiration society right here. So I can't wait to see what that looks like on screen. I really appreciate, like literally just got me emotional too. - Yeah, it's a trip for me because I'm watching it and I know. I'm like, that was so poor and that was filmed after. And like to me, my eye changed fundamentally in the moment of that loss. And so I'm like, can other people tell? - I don't know. - You know, I think the audience, for the most part, is really smart that you can tell when someone is really bringing and giving, like they're 1,000% real self to it. Like they've just completely zoned out of whatever scripted and they're in that character and it means something. And it reminds me of Janet Jackson was in a movie, a Tyler Perry movie called "By The Get Mary 2" and this was part 2 and she was filming the scene where she was deciding to leave her husband. She had had it and she was raging out. And you know, when you're watching it, you're like, dang, like she's really going on. Well, it turns out, she says in that moment, you know, Michael had just died like 3 or 4 days before. She was unsaid and that's what all of that was. She hadn't even planned to like break up everything with the baseball bat in the house. But that was really a real moment for her. And I think, whoever says saving money is hard, does it know that new customers who bundle and save with progressive, save hundreds? Because switching your home and auto insurance is better than cutting down on the things you love. Like those iced latte is that help you get ready to face the day. So switch your home and auto to progressive and see if you could save and keep sipping away. Get your quote today at progressive.com. Progressive casualty insurance company, affiliates and other insurers, not available in all states. - Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it. So by stopping at the education section of a resume, you might throw away the perfect tire. Skills first hiring helps you see talent others miss. Like more than 70 million stars, skilled through alternative routes, let their story unfold and gain a competitive advantage because hiring managers who start with skills are 60% more likely to find a successful hire, hire skills first. Learn why at tetherpapercealing.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. - I think that some audience members probably really underestimate the amount of motion that even not only that actor like yourself, a trained actor like yourself has to bring to their character and how much of that really emanates from inside, but even in reality TV, there are some moments where I'm watching house, I was like, "Oh, that's real." Like that emotion is really real. Like they are really, like forgot that the cameras were there. So when you're filming where there are moments where you just forget the cameras were there and you were just in the zone of it all, and would you say if you had those moments where those may be some of your best performances in the film? - What an interesting question. I don't think I ever forgot the camera was there. And that is partly because of the way that we filmed it, our amazing DP Zachary Lutershire also camera operated and he was right there with me for most of it, like really close to my face most of the time. So we were, the shots that him and Daniel designed are really cool and they're very intimate and they follow me a lot and there was a lot of dancing. So I had to actually be hyper aware of the camera in order to stay in frame and also when you're making a horror movie, I learned a lot from Daniel and Zach about like how to build tension and a lot of that is with like micro movements and camera following me. So I think I was always very aware of the camera. Maybe the scene that I lost the camera bit was the scene with Jesse in the opening when we have that nice scene on the porch. Then I actually played my husband in the film, David Guerrilla, he and I are really, really close. We met on the film and got really close and he's an amazing actor and I think in that scene, we really found each other and also the camera was staged a little bit further away. So if there was any moment, I think that was probably, that was probably it. - And that scene is a good example of one of the things June brought to the film that really just elevated everything which was these moments that were unscripted. We're talking about unscripted television. Well, even scripted stuff has some unscripted moments and sometimes they're the best moments. There was a moment in this scene that she's talking about right at the end of it when I was about to call a cut. They just had this very intense conversation. They play a married couple in the film and they had this fight almost or this warning and it ends on sort of a tense place. And then the tension breaks, he takes her cigarette out of her mouth and smokes it and she takes it back and she just started riffing. I was about to call a cut and she just started riffing, calling him annoying and like flirting a little bit and I was like, you know, I was on the tip of my tongue to call a cut. And then I was like, all right, I'll just let him go for a minute and then I was like, well, we probably can't use that take, though, because all that weird stuff happened at the end. And then to your point about editing, how different your brain is when you get into edit, when you have to retell your story, it got into the editing room and watched all the takes and was like, oh no, this is brilliant. This is like so true to life 'cause this is what couples do, you know, they fight. And then after you fight and after you make up, then you have to flirt, you have to sort of bring the joy back into the relationship and they captured that naturally and beautifully. So there are many moments like that, I would say, in the film that sort of, you know, if the script is sort of a sailboat going along the ocean, then June was like occasionally leaping overboard, right? And get into the, get into the water and swim in a little bit away and sometimes finding some, the finding buried treasure. What do you hope the audience walks away with? - Well, I hope that the audience first and foremost just has a great time. This movie's a real fun ride. It's got a ton of great practical effects. It's gory, it's gross, it's a tense mystery. June's performance throughout it is devastatingly beautiful and intense and cool. And she does all her own stunts, which there are many. She was a knock down drag out, fighting on the ground in a coal mine with a jackhammer and it's just a wild, wild ride. So I hope people watch it and have a good time. Yes, the movie's about heavy things. Yes, it is a sincere film about real history and coal country. But I think you want to be sincere without being self-important, right? Like you never want to preach to anybody these messages. So first and foremost, this is a fun movie about an incredible character going on like a journey, a journey to hell and back. And so going to it, expecting to have a good time and be wowed. And then I hope that sort of secondarily or maybe at the same time, maybe not waiting one or the other. But I do hope people come out with maybe just a little bit more of an understanding of this part of the world that largely has not been written about, has been glossed over. I hope they understand the history of coal country a little bit better. And maybe the dynamics that really went on there and get away a little bit from some of the negative stereotypes about that part of the world. And there's been the honey boo booze and the things like that that have kind of treated Appalachia a certain way. And it is what it is. But I think this movie has grounded in something else. And I was interested in telling a different type of story. And so I hope people can come away with more of an understanding of coal country and just have a great time. I love those takeaways. And if the doobies do anything like the trailer, I think you definitely have a hit on your hands, for sure. You had me involved, and I don't even like horror films. I'm like, OK, I'm going to go see this, for sure. I mean, the unscripted process is you've got to create the architecture to capture something, right? It won't. We were, I remember, on the road out to West Virginia to start filming. And I was desperately calling people trying to raise money, because we didn't have enough money to finish production, you know? Things like we were really kind of like running ragged in order to get this through. And it's kind of a miracle, as I think, every. independent film is it's kind of a miracle we pulled it off you know it was a lot of late nights a lot of just people heroing through especially June heroing through these late nights these crazy shoots a lot of stunts a lot of practical effects and the thing about a movie is that it's not like a battle so much as it is like a war your logistics train is what gets you through it sound or determines whether you win or lose right you you need to have everything in place and one of the main things there's a lot you don't have control over but one of the things you have control over as the director is how will you plan ahead and so I would say the preparatory phase of this was massive and it was massive before anyone else got involved you know I spent three four months by myself driving around West Virginia just exploring the land trying to figure out where we were going to shoot because at that point we had no budget we had no production company and I was just like if I'm going to take this forward I have to have a really good plan or else nobody else is going to believe in it right and so I was started to get people to believe in it for one reason or another based on the pitch deck based on like talking to people who I think thought would be involved you know old friends who are in the industry who I thought might join for the effort and then it was really like finishing the script and and then I submitted that script to the Austin Film Festival where it won the jury prize in 2023 and that got it sort of a real kick in terms of like other people starting to take it seriously right it's a you know institutional gatekeeping I have my thoughts about it as an independent filmmaker I don't have a ton of respect for it but it is something people pay attention to and it is something that it's an easy shorthand for getting someone to be like no no no this is good like I promise it's don't take my word for it like 11,000 people submitted to this contest and I want that means that there's something here right so I think that was a real in terms of the planning stage in terms of building momentum getting equity getting investors getting the partners on board creatively that we needed to pull this off right that was a big part of the process and and then you know things go wrong things go sideways and you just hope that your plan holds together well enough that you manage to sail that boat into harbor probably leaking probably bailing water but you still land it on the beach or maybe crashed on the rocks I think we managed to crash it on the rocks okay we came out with enough of a movie that I only had to go back to West Virginia four more times in order to shoot b-roll to fill in the gaps which dude doesn't know about but like a lot of the aerials and a lot of the b-roll of the landscapes and stuff you know we weren't able to capture during our principal photography because we had to focus on the scenes with June and with the other actors that's the priority when you're out there and so yeah so I had to go back a few times to fill the gaps and and and so you the best laid plans right and and there's always going to be curve balls and then you get into edit of course and there's even more curve balls you rewrite your movie we had to cut out probably 40% of the scenes that we had shot before we got to our final cut and make a lot of important decisions along the way so I imagine that on reality TV much like documentary you are more interested in building those supply lines and getting your army fed and equipped such that whatever happens you can pivot and move to it and our DP has done some reality TV directing before and was telling me about I think he did like 20 somethings Austin or something like that he was telling me about that process of basically sitting in a room with 14 cameras filming people in a house just hoping something interesting happens you know and it's it's really different for us because for us like we have a very very tight schedule we never have enough time and everything has to be incredibly articulated sometimes we are wielding just a massive rubed goldberg machine apparatus to get what happens on that one little frame of film right there's the production design going on there's the lighting when we are on the stage we had this physical build we had a virtual build on this 60 foot LED screen projected behind us to make the world bigger we have Jackhammer in June's hands we have a blood cannon going off we have you know fight choreography and all of this has to happen simultaneously with nothing breaking nothing going wrong in order for us to do maybe an eight second shot right so the level of articulation there is incredibly complex and incredibly high so in that way it's kind of coming from the opposite place of like waiting for something interesting to happen you are very much forcing something interesting to happen in collaboration with a whole bunch of artists who all have their own departments that all need to work and then I would say the way that it's similar is that you get into edit and you still realize that there's a lot of work to do right because you never get it perfect there's a lot of work to do once you get into that stage of things so I would say that's the similarity and maybe the difference is just where the intention goes where you find the story you know I know editing reality TV is hard because you have to just wade through so much footage to find the interesting moments whereas we try and shoot a lot of interesting moments and then still winnow it down to the even more interesting moments you said so many important things number one I just want to name that I we this household is a big fan of independent films and I don't think that they get enough credit the credit that they deserve and so in solidarity I support the fact that I think you said something to the fact that the institutional gatekeeping is so important because sometimes I think some of the best films are the ones that are playing over here at the Langley necessarily the blockbuster hits 100% yeah yeah and we're experiencing institutional gatekeeping here with this with this podcast too because there's the indie side and then there's ones that are you know big business and it's like well how do you how do you stay relevant how do you have the little guy literally as a self-run operation hello and you know stay relevant and also in a way to continually engage the audience speaking speaking of that I'm imagine this elaborate production process that you described you're keeping audience engagement top of mind right how do you keep that audience engage during particularly a horror film well I did have a professor in my my writing directing program when I went to school and he said you know we asked of the first day he was like what is what makes a good movie what makes a movie good versus bad and everybody was a little bit stumped and he said there's really only one rule and that it is that it has to be entertaining you know and it's an ineffable thing it's a subjective thing and it shifts as the culture changes to it's a moving target what is entertaining you know you have things that are like conventionally bad that are very entertaining and you can have things that are a conventionally brilliant that are kind of boring you know and vice versa and so I think that's that's the target for me I'm always like I want to make something good that is also entertaining you want to do both June I had asked Daniel earlier about the takeaway or the experience that he wanted the audience to have as a result of you know watching the stone what do you want fans to take away from in terms of your performance what do you want us to feel in terms of my performance well I just have in terms of the movie I couldn't agree more my plus one major snaps to what Daniel said so beautifully beautifully articulated in terms of KC or my performance is KC I I really admire her connection to the land and I think especially in the the coastal cities people move around a lot including myself I have moved a lot in my life and I don't live where I grew up nor where I was born and those are two different places like I've had a very mobile life and so I really respect and admire people that have chosen to stay planted wherever they are and I think that they don't get enough credit it's a lack of better words like they don't they don't get enough like that's fucking cool um I feel like more often where we celebrate like the fresh start and the new adventure and the travel but I think it takes a lot of courage to stay in a place and really get to know it and understand it and fight for it and be bored by it and then be excited by it and I think that that that is a KC that's what she's negotiating this whole movie and I also think the other characters too if we had their POVs of the other characters in this community would be the same um so that's I think that's kind of a takeaway that I've really taken from the movies like what is my relationship to home and to land and to staying when in this modern era there's so much emphasis on constantly moving and constantly changing I can't tell you how excited I am about this film I I personally am really drawn to resilient communities it's kind of work I was involved with before I I found this microphone and um and as a child most of our life when I was in school was recreational RVing and traveling all over the country and so I've seen where you've grown up. I've seen the Appalaches and I've seen the people. And I've got to tell you something. I know that they get a bad rap. I know that they are scapegoated. I know that they are stereotyped about people that grow up in that community or live in that community that are not always favorable. But one thing that I have that my takeaway has been in terms of just in visiting there and watching documentaries about it, about that community, is there's something beautiful about how connected they are. You know, I love the fact that everybody knows everybody. I love the fact that they're your resilient and just how they move, which is so different from city life. How they move is so, it's kind of like an art. I can't really find the words that I'm describing for it, but I get warm feelings. And it doesn't matter how they vote it. I don't care how they vote it. There's something beautiful about how they move in that community. And I think there's a lot of lessons that we city vote can take from them in that they really honor the simple things. Family, friends, protection, and pride, pride of their community. And I'm so happy that you're giving them a stage, you know, to be respected. - Thank you, Elle. Yeah, no, it's connection, isn't it? And I see it not just in Appalachia, but I see it in, you know, as I said, I worked with a lot of tribal groups throughout the world. So when I go out to work with the Zuni or the Hopi Indians and the Southwest, it's connection. You know, in connection, you cannot separate it from land. The landscape that you grow up in is part of you. It's part of the landscape of your body and your mind. And that's what we wanted to explore in this film, right? That kind of devastating situation or impossible choice that comes up when your mythic landscape, not just your physical landscape, but your mythic landscape is under threat. And how you negotiate that and the sort of devil's bargains, the Faucian bargains that are offered to us by industry and extractive forces and how we negotiate that with these older forces like what makes us human, what gives us a spiritual dimension, what gives us a connection to the world and the people around us. I hope they fill in power by it and I hope they see. I hope they feel seen, you know, I think that's super important. You know what I think? I think Daniel that you should write a reality TV show with me in June called "Ella, Judentake, Appalachia". (laughing) - No, we're not taking it, it's yours. (laughing) - No, no, no, no, no, oh, oh, no, I didn't like that. (laughing) I mean, we're just there and we're driving film and Louise and well, we're not gonna die at the end, but we're in a car and-- - You're just blowing up mountains, you know? - No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. - Go to rivers and dumping gas in the unit. - I'm in Chanel and you know, and we're just walking around and I'm ingratiating myself into their, we're ingratiating ourselves into their community. (laughing) I'm just learning and talking to the 30 folks. I think you should write. - I will agree with you to do this, Elle. If we do an episode where you guys get chased by the coal man. (laughing) - Who's the top man? - He was the cryptid in our movie. Oh, you haven't seen it yet. - You haven't seen it yet. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - The coal-- - I will, I will die. - It's our original cryptid. - I agree to do, I agree, I agree. I'm in, I'm all in. - No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. - You're gonna pass, 'cause you're gonna, yeah, you're gonna see it in theaters, which is the right way to see it for the first time. So you're gonna pass on not having washed it yet. It's totally, you're seeing it the best way, yeah. - But also, I would say-- - I would wait to agree, I would wait to agree to that until you see the movie, 'cause he is scary on me. (laughing) - Yeah, I think June canceled her vacation after the film wrapped because she was so spooked by being chased around by this monster for the last few weeks. - I think that's the reality TV show. You should go, you should go tape actors who have just finished filming horror films and then put them in cabins by themselves and put secret cabins and just watch the absolute delusion and terror that sets in. - Oh my gosh. - I love that idea. - I think there's something there. I think we need to, I think we need to have a meeting. I think we need to take a meeting. (laughing) - No, wait, I don't want to pivot away from Dark Hollow but I have a lot to say about reality TV. We could do it after we started working. - No, go, go. We could talk about whatever you want. - Very good. - Okay, I just have to say like, reality TV holds a very special place in my heart because I was always very, just, I didn't watch it. Like I didn't know and I maybe had some judgment around it. - Yeah. - But then I was working on a play last year and I was playing, it was like this old one act, Tennessee Williams one act that no one knows about. But I was playing this like very dramatic woman actress who was like highs and lows and fights and crying and I remember talking to my roommate and like I'm having a really hard time with this character because I am much more comfortable with characters like Casey who are a little bit more contained and tough and rigid and like maybe harder to read in some ways. And so being so extravagant in my acting feels very weird to me. And she goes, I know exactly what you need. And I said what? And she said you need to watch Vanderbilt rules starting from season one because those women are going to teach you how to be the fullest expression of yourself. And I was like, okay. And I did and they totally transformed me. And I fell deeply in love with them and I watched all 12 seasons I think within nine months which is really a lot of work. It's a lot of work. (laughing) And I truly, I guess, have been living under a rock. I didn't know about scandival. I didn't even know that I was a thing. I had no idea what happened. My roommate was like, you don't know like the big dramatic thing that happened at the end of this show and I was like, no I really have no idea. And it was managed to stay ignorant to scandival until it was revealed to me in real time as I was watching. So I got like the, I got the real history of this role. Wow. No, I guess only the next five years, the four years later or something. But yeah, so that show is so, so important to me in it. Like has a couple rules. (laughing) It was good TV. It was really good TV. The season two of Vanderpump rules is the best television I've ever seen in my whole life. Jax Unhinged, Stasi Unhinged, Tristan Dodie Unhinged. I mean, and we just kept watching it. I liken it to like their gladiators in a ring and we're just all watching the carnage much like they did in the Roman Empire. That's what reality turns out to remind me of. That's a great person. I know we must know about West Amanda. Yes, of course. Okay, 'cause if you don't know about Amanda West of the Lollip see super, super, super concerned. What are you watching now? What's your favorite show now? Reality TV. Well, I just, I just finished the Valley. I'm like, I'm just like I'm addicted to Lollip, and so I just finished the Valley. And my roommate really wants me to get into Real Housewives of Salt Lake and I'm trying, but I haven't like fallen for them yet, but I think it's possible. But I'm also really excited for traders to come back. Speaking of good moments of television, I think list-poilers, but I think the last episode of traders last year with Moira and Hot Rob. Oh my gosh. When she reveals her face that close-up of her actually processing what has happened, I mean, I think I watched it a hundred times. It's like the most beautiful, I know she wasn't acting, but like the most beautiful acting I've ever seen. That's where it literally crosses over to what I call like the fifth wall, where that emotion gets really real. And sometimes you just see it and that's like a totally perfect example. I think you should do survivor. I really wanna be on survivor. I think I would do well. Yeah, I think you what? I mean, sounds like you've been trained for it, ready for scripted and stuff. I think I would do good. One, I have a very low disgust threshold. I grew up eating cicadas to flirt with boys. You know those bugs that are like this big? Holy shit. No. No. So I can do all the disgust with boys for boys? Yeah, I had a big crush on this guy in Kevin in third grade and we had a cicada infestation and he was like, I bet you won't eat that live cicada and I did. And then I did it a few more times and he got me a Valentine's Day present, so it worked. Where's this boy now? Where do you go now? Where's he at now? Where's he at now? Where's he at? Yeah, we have no idea. Should I say his name? No, that feels free. No, please don't. Please don't. We'll just call him the cicada guy. Oh wow, you go girl. Yeah, so survivor, naked and afraid, any of those things, I think you'd be primed for it. But I like survivor 'cause I like the social game too. Like, there's like disgusting things. I like that. physically challenging things. And I like that there's a social game. I just kind of think I might be able to do all three. I think you should do it. Hey, guys, Colin, get her casted. Yeah, she needs to be on the show. This is her application. Oh, my God, you guys are so fun. So, so, so fun. Tell us again, your socials, where can we find you? And when the movie drops? Yeah, we can follow us on Instagram at darkholofilm, TikTok, dark.holo.film. And you can you can follow everything on the website is darkholomovie.com. That's going to aggregate all the places that were coming out. But I think the main ones that are available now are on Apple TV in Fandango at home on September 4th will be available for rental on Amazon. And you can come see us on the Lumiere Theater in Beverly Hills on September 4th as well. Other screenings, TBD. But yeah, thanks so much for the great conversation. And if you like horror movies, I hope you'll come check out darkholo and see June do all sorts of unspeakable things with and without monsters. Probably shouldn't put it that way, should I? I think it's not like a different type of movie. Okay, quick anecdote. When we were shooting up in the location spruce knob mountain, which is near where I grew up for the first half of the movie, a rumor went around the local town that we were making not a horror movie, but a different genre of movie. And they're like, you know what they're doing up there, right? They thought we were making, well, yeah, they don't we're making porn. That's why I'm really excited. We're going to have a road show in West Virginia. We're going to show it at a bunch of cinemas around there, including in Pendleton County, where we shot it. So I can prove to everybody. We didn't make that kind of crazy movie. Well, we still made a crazy movie. Are you going to film? Are you going to actually film? Or that's a reality shown itself film your tour in West Virginia. These watch parties are these screenings that you're having? See, this is why we need you to come along with us because I have no sense for these things. I will come to West Virginia. I will come and talk to the people and come along. I think that would be a lot of fun. I have no aspirations right now to film it, but I think it'd be a whole lot of fun to do so I think it's going to be really cool to take it back home. Give me a camera and a mic and I will go and talk to people. Yes, I'm in. Where can we talk about it? I'm on Instagram, Junebug.liner, and if you follow the dark hollow film Instagram, I'm all over that. So that would be an easy way to get both of us. Daniel also is all over that. You should follow him too. And that's yeah, yeah, that's where you can find me. You guys are so excited. This has given me pure joy talking to you guys today. And I really do hope my good edit audience, my key keys counsel circle. Hope you guys have enjoyed this journey as well. Please check it out. It was a nice departure. Don't you think guys to get away from the horror housewives a little bit? Definitely, definitely an exciting movie. And I cannot wait to see it. You know where to find me at tge underscore the good edit unfiltered on YouTube and on Instagram. And you can check me out at the good edit unfiltered.com where all the things are there. Until then, we'll see you on the other side. Bye. Bye. Thanks so much. Bye. Real talent is defined by what people can do. Not where they learn to do it. So by stopping at the education section of a resume, you might throw away the perfect higher. Like more than 70 million stars, skilled through alternative routes. Let their story unfold and gain a competitive advantage because hiring managers who start with skills are 60 percent more likely to find a successful higher higher skills first. Learn why at tetherpapercealing.org. Brought to you by opportunity at work and the ad council. Time for a quick break to talk about McDonald's. When morning hunger hits, nothing satisfies like a McDonald's big breakfast with hotcakes. Especially when it's $5.50. That's right. Get a delicious big breakfast with hotcakes, including sausage, hash browns, a biscuit, and scrambled eggs all for just $5.50. Be sure to add a medium diet code. Want to save time? Order ahead on the app and pick up your meal without having to wait in line. Talk about satisfied. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Some of the best stories start at the end. Like at the end of a remarkable island chain in Key West, Florida. Here, any day can unfold with a plot twist. Wander into the Hemingway home. Step inside a legendary saloon. Or find yourself raising a glass as the sun sinks into the golf. So go ahead. Book the flight. Your next chapter starts here. Learn more at visit Florida Keys.com/keywest.