In this episode we are joined by writer and director David Ward, whose feature film Lenore is currently doing its festival rounds. Lenore is a psychological thriller- “When a controversial influencer suddenly disappears, a terminally online sycophant goes hunting for answers, but comes face-to-face with the monstrosity of his own sins.” If you’re listening to this episode before the 15th of May 2026, you can catch Lenore at its Australian premiere, at Fantastic Film Festival, with screenings in Sydney and Melbourne- we touch more on this towards the end of the episode. My favourite parts of this episode was our discussion on private investors, test screenings, and literary genesis of the screenplay- these are topics we haven’t yet spoken about on the podcast before and is so useful for emerging filmmakers.

• Grew up an actor, went to film school 

• Film school - character shaping vs craft shaping 

• Camaraderie & collaboration - fundamental skills built through film school

• The reality of being a director nowadays- the need to be multihyphenate 

• Directing and Editing Lenore

• Trifecter - Good, Fast and Cheap

• 16mm unit at Swinburne - benefits of learning the discipline of shooting on film 

• How Lenore began as a stageplay

• VFX, screen replacements, in-camera effects 

• Genre - Thriller or Horror? 

• Creative genesis - Edgar Allen Poe 

• Co-writing the screenplay 

• How the HODs got attached

• Casting Lenore - the challenges of casting such an intense role

• Challenges and restrictions during filming

• Ethics and morality of directing 

• Financing the film - private investors

• Private investing for feature films - how to find private investors 

• Budget - and budget for genre 

• Test screening - the benefits of doing 

• Feedback on films - how to take it 

• Finishing the film & festival runs 

• Fantasporto - winning the audience choice award

• Fantastic film festival - Australia premiere 

• Advice for emerging filmmakers

  
  

  Check out Lenore's screenings at Fantastic Film Festival

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