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gets their solo. There is a carefully worked out plot…but if an actor comes up with a great riff…You let them go for it. All of the notes are theirs.

It sounds very scary as a director. You have to rely on what the actor’s bring to the table a lot…
Yes, and you have to get out of their way and come in loaded with ideas to keep them fired up and in conflict. If you don’t provide the conflict, then you’re really leaving them out to dry. I was also lucky enough to get some of the greatest improve actors in the world…

Was it difficult deciding what to choose in the editing process…
On this film I had so much great stuff that I had difficulty sculpting it down to just an hour and a half…and that’s where Robert hickey came in. He has a wonderful nose for comedy and structure. We spent months sifting through this footage and trying to make it fit into a cohesive plot. Sometimes you get attached to comedic moments that don’t push the plot and suddenly no one knows where they are. So you have to be really careful about which roads to go down. I am a big fan of this genre…

Is there an actual genre of improve?
Maybe genre isn’t the right word but…Mike Leigh, Christopher Guest, even Robert Altman does a lot of improv in his films.

I heard that you held the camera and the boom yourself. You were kind of a one woman band…
Yes and No. Most of the time I held the mike and the camera, so that I could move in and out of the actors and not trip over someone in the process…but many times it became too heavy and I would pass the mike off to anyone standing next to me. I pulled back out a lot during the shoot and frankly, I’m shocked that the sound turned out as good as it did. That is mostly due to our post sound editor.

But you call this crewless productions
As a joke, but no one makes a film alone. And in the low budget land many times you end up doing many jobs yourself but you always have a lot of help…like Evie Peck. This film would not have gotten off the ground without her.

She was in the Film Right? She played Brenda?
Yes, and she produced…but she didn’t just produce…SHE PRODUCED! She did everything from casting, catering, locations, first aid…you name it…and on top of that she is an amazing actress…

I loved the music, how did you find…
Steven Argila…he and I went to Juilliard together, but we never met then…because I wnet for acting and he was there for music. Steven has the ability to think like a dramturg as well as a musician.

What do you mean?
Well, he needs to think about story because he is the voice of the director…if the music makes fun of the people or is too serious…It’s like the director is having an opinion of the scene…and I wanted people to draw their own opinions. Steven was brilliant at walking that line. And he gives the film a personality that is unique.

And I see that Eddie Vedder gave you a song too?
Yes, he was very very generous to do that. He saw a few minutes fo the film early on and asked if I wanted to use a song. I was blown away and it fit so perfectly at the end. I can’t thank him enough.

So what’s next?
Personally or for the film?

Both.
Well the film is doing the festival circuit and it’s getting a lot of attention. And as for me, I am juggling several offers…7-11 has an opening and there is definite interest from Banana Republic in their sales department. So my star is definitely on the rise!