Secret Scroll Digest
Interview
May 29, 2001

Recently we had the pleasure of interviewing the makers of Y2K: Shutdown Detected. We asked them about the making of their movie, tried to scrape up the behind the scenes dirt, and poked around for information on their new film The New Chapter. Enjoy!

1. What was your background in film before your work on Y2K: Shut Down Detected?

Trent: Really no film background, I did couple of effects for a couple of features... but that is about the extent of it.

Tommy: I've never worked on a film before. But [from] working in post production for many years I've learned a lot about how movies are made. And that helped.

Slava: After Commercial Art College I spent two years at a local [junior college] taking film theory courses. I then went to film school, Brooks Institute of Photography, from which I graduated in early 1997. While at Brooks I did a short documentary on Simon Garcia, which is when I met Jason Fenton and John Gonzales (co-director on Y2K). I also worked on John?s horror feature The Crier. That film helped me a lot getting work in the film industry, while still attending school. My portfolio film, My Brother's Keepers, is where I met Leonard Clifton, who was the lead. After school I worked on many independent shorts, commercials, TV shows, and features with jobs ranging anywhere from grip to director of photography. I have produced five shorts to date along with seven director of photography credits. Y2K: Shut Down Detected was my first directing credit.

2. How would you rate the overall success of Y2K: Shut Down Detected?

Trent:
Very, very pleased... We appreciate all the awards and accolades from all of our supporters.

Slava:
I am unbelievably happy with the success of Y2K. It has been a long process, over three years now. From the reviews, festival screenings, and awards... I greatly appreciate every single event that happens with this short we started in November of 1997 and finished on December 17, 1999. There has been a lot of hard work put into every aspect of the movie and I am glad it has paid off to this point.

Tommy:
I'm very happy it did well and got some recognition.

3. What is the storyline of your new film The New Chapter?

Trent:
Jacob Flannery is in a serious bind; he owes a debt that is not easily repaid. One last chance is given to him to make peace with the boss. He puts a crew of six together to complete this job, by the time this mission is over morality, friendship, and lives will be lost.

Tommy:
It's about a man named Jacob Flannery who owes a serious debt that he cannot pay. So instead he puts a crew together and does a job to try and repay the boss.

Slava:
It's hard to elaborate more than what Tommy or Trent have already said. Our movie follows their adventure of trying to complete their mission.

4. What is the budget for The New Chapter? How does it compare to the one for your previous film?

Trent:
It's hard to say we don't actually have an exact amount. Although the estimated final budget will be under $10,000.

Slava:
The New Chapter budget is definitely higher then that of Y2K. This movie requires more shooting days, plus we have an enormous amount of props and wardrobe. We have around 60 guns. Even though we had a zombie creature in Y2K... The New Chapter has more make-up effects days and we all know how expensive that can get.

Tommy:
Since we're still working on the project it's hard to give an estimate. Hopefully not much more than we have already spent.

5. Who's in your cast? How did you select them? Any return cast from Y2K: Shut Down Detected?

Trent:
Leonard Clifton, Jason Fenton...I have a brief cameo as well. The other cast consists of Jeff McCullough, Todd Crawford, Patrick Crawford, Erich Troudt, and Tommy Watt. We actually looked where we (Tommy and I) worked and selected some of our friends that we knew could pull of some of the roles. Tommy and Todd were a given because this was their story.

Tommy:
Trent summed it up very nicely. We knew we could get some good performances from these guys.

Slava:
These cast members are incredibly loyal and dedicated to this project. Without their loyalty we would not have a movie. My hat goes out to them.

6. What are some difficulties working on a independent film? Was working on your second film easier then the first?

Trent:
When you have no budget and everyone has a day job, this means your time is limited. I found the second one easier at times and also harder at times. Easier in the sense that you had your bearings as a filmmaker from a completion of a film. And harder because the first one was an idea that was meant to be a presentation piece to try and get a feature film made. It was a lot more free form. Now all the details have to be covered and there's four times as much of everything.

Tommy:
Trying to find locations, actors, money, and time. Shooting an independent film you have to deal with these items on a daily basis. On a feature length project... Getting through post production in a feature length project is always more difficult than working on a short film project.

Slava:
Working on independent films from filmmaker to crew you tend to get more creative with the process. For all the equipment or help you lack, you have to make-up with your creativity. We have no [assistant director], no script supervisor, no production manager, no crew... period. We are the crew, one and all. It gets difficult wearing all the crew hats, but the love for the art keeps you going. My favorite part of low budget or NO-BUDGET filmmaking is problem solving on the fly. I think this is a crucial part of the process, from creating new equipment to shooting around a problem... it is a process that tests your trouble shooting capabilities. Trust me we had plenty of those. For me this second film with this three-director set-up is easier because we all have learned from the previous experience. But you never stop learning, on the next one I will incorporate certain things I learned on this one for the next.

7. What is your average shoot like? How much do you get done in a day?

Trent:
There is no average. We try to get as much as we can on weekends. You find yourself cramming all of your ideas for one location shoot into maybe 24 hours. When at all possible we cover the smaller stuff at night after work.

Tommy:
I don't think we have ever had an average shoot. We always try to shoot as much as we can, then we shoot some more. Being independent we never have actors or locations very long so we cram a two or three day shoot into twenty hours.

Slava:
As my partners said, this was not an average production. Our shooting days were usually very long, but we got a lot accomplished. The beauty of this camera (Canon XL1) is the image stabilization feature; this helped us shoot hand-held. The only shots that we used a tripod for were effects shots, masters, or wide establishing shots. Ninety percent of the movie is handheld, this helped us tremendously... we like to cover our scenes... we shoot the hell out of our scenes and you could never have enough in the edit room. As an example, one day we shot for twenty hours and had 170 set-ups.

8. Will the new film feature a lot of special effects?

Trent:
This is definitely an effects intensive film. I find myself asking the question "why on earth did we write in so many god damn FX shots?!"

Tommy:
I don't think a lot is the right word. I think tremendous amount of time consuming effects is the correct statement.

Slava:
Like Trent said, we will have plenty of effects. Unlike Y2K this movie is not effects driven, in the previous film the effects were used to tell a story while in this one effects are used to help the story along in. These effects are more complimentary then the ones of Y2K which were forefront to the cast and characters.

9. When do you expect to finish the film?

Trent:
With in a year... I hope.

Slava:
The sooner the better. Since this film is being accomplished through favors, our control of a deadline is somewhat limited. I think Trent's estimation is pretty close.

Tommy:
I agree with my partners on the time estimation. Hopefully they're right.

10. Do you have any funny/weird stories about your shoots?

Slava:
There are quite a few funny stories from our shoots. The one that really stands out in my mind is from a night shoot at the warehouse. I was shooting a POV shot of one of our characters running up to a warehouse back door. I was supposed to run up and kneel down in front of it. As I planted my knee, it landed on a corner of the concrete, that hurt a lot... so as I tried to switch legs I lost my balance and flew lens first into the warehouse wall. It was all caught on tape, it will probably be on the behind the scenes and is definitely the moment that stands out in my mind.

Trent:
Yes, and they all involve my clumsy ass hurting myself or breaking something, and farm animals... oops! Said too much.

Tommy:
There are really too many to name. But most of them do involve Trent being made fun of by myself and Slava and other cast members, crew members, our composers, co-workers, our family, and just people walking by. Oh yeah, dogs and cats and pretty much anything else with a pulse.

11. What advice would you give people who want to make movies?

Trent:
Know your boundaries. Try not to create something that you don't have the resources to pull off. If you can find a cast and crew that is willing to work long hours for nothing, make sure you keep them. It may be your film, but don't be afraid to listen to their ideas. If you respect their time and effort you will get a better film over all.

Slava:
Work within your means. Make sure you have or can get what you need to tell your story. Don't get down on yourself; keep fighting because in the long run it will make you a stronger person as well as a dedicated filmmaker. There will be times when you might question yourself or the whole situation, but that is the weed out period that separates the dedicated filmmaker from a hobbyist filmmaker. Dedication and confidence is all you have with low budget filmmaking. Of course, time as well.

Tommy:
Don't give up no matter how hard and upsetting it may be. Things aren't always going to go the way you want or expect them to. So don't get discouraged, step back and re-group and roll with the punches. When you get knocked down dust yourself off and get right back on that horse again. When the going gets tough the tough get going. Nothing in life is for free, you get out of it what you put into it. Two wrongs don't make a right. And every cloud has a silver lining. Remember don't take candy from strangers... Well, you get the idea.

12. Who were the filmmakers that inspired you? How does their influence show in your films?

Trent:
I'm inspired by a lot of filmmakers. Obviously because this is an action film made with an independent budget you will find a lot of influences from Reservoir Dogs, El Mariachi, Killing Zoe, etc.

Tommy:
It's hard to say there are so many. But Robert Rodriguez stands out in my mind because it was his director's commentary on the El Mariachi DVD that really inspired me. It was so detailed and so energetic it made you feel like you could just go out and make a movie. You would probably notice his influence mostly in the shots and the editing.

Slava:
I'm with Trent on the directors. To me these guys are more than directors, they are involved with every aspect of filmmaking. They know their craft... they are auteurs. We can talk about the auteurs of before such as Francois Truffaut, Orson Wells, Hitchcock and many others but today's filmmakers tend to relate better with the new directors. Being a low budget filmmaker, you tend to appreciate directors like this because they still practice these methods that we struggle with everyday.

13. Do you have anything in the works for a third film?

Slava:
Originally, as Trent and I were working on the behind the scenes for Y2K we discussed a SOV feature a' la Blair Witch Project. It was so creepy that at times we would stop talking about it, so we could concentrate at the job in hand. I still would love to grab a camera, a cast, drive up to a cabin for a week and shoot this. Maybe in the future... for now this is it. Our minds are completely focused on The New Chapter.

Trent:
As far as an idea for a third film, I do have one in the works. It's about this director/editor/FX guy who is on a quest for sleep. Along the way he hopes to spend more time with his wife and his friends. So it's a total fantasy film.

Tommy:
It's really hard to concentrate on anything else when we are so deep into this project.

14. Are there any actors or actresses you want to work with?

Slava:
I think the better question is who would want to work with us.

Trent:
I have to go with Slava's answer on this one.

Tommy:
Trent's right. Slava nailed it right on the head.

Thanks for your time, guys!