indie spunk: UNFILTERED

We wrapped. We slept. We cried a little. And now we're back with fresh energy eyeballs to debrief the actual shoot of Survival Job, our first short film together as a production company.

Spoiler: it was the best set either of us has been on, and that wasn't by accident.

In this episode, Izzy and Becky break down what happened before the shoot, when the cameras rolled, what they'd do differently, and the real lessons that always come from being on the other side of a completed shoot.

For anyone who has ever wondered what it actually feels like when it all comes together, despite its seeming impossibility, this episode is for you.

Crew shoutouts:
Elena Weinberger (1st AD), Nathaniel (DP), Emily Henninger (Production Design), Paula Christian (Gaffer), Molly White (1st AC), Mike Dice (Sound Mixer), Ellis Davis (G&E Swing), David Turns (Superstar), Jack Montgomery (Also a superstar), Madison Stonefield and Brooke Tranter (BTS Photography), Jensen (Shaddow director & Filmmaker Breakthrough spunk)

Follow us:
@indiespunkunfiltered | @indiespunk | @izzystevens | @beckbennion

Missed Part 1? Go back and listen to last weeks episode about Survival Job pre-production!

We're back, pre-production chaos and all.

Spoiler: it looks like a lot of unanswered emails, 40+ grocery store phone calls, and at least one existential crisis about becoming a beekeeper.

In this episode, Director & Producer duo Izzy and Beck break down the real, unfiltered deets of getting a short film off the ground, and the things nobody talks about online.

We get into:

• Why we never once considered pushing the shoot date, even when we had no location a week out, and why setting the date IS the strategy
• The casting reality check nobody prepares you for (hint: it's almost never about talent)
• Why "summer camp tired" signals you're on the right path
• Why Izzy doesn't second-guess herself as a director, but questions literally everything else
• The "delusion" reframe, and why it's actually just another word for showing up and doing the work
• Beck's producer breakdown, why it happened, and what it revealed about how they need to scale
• The 3 C's of great on-set leadership: chill, certain, collaborative
• A full-throated endorsement of We Make Movies (their insurance broker), dummy weapons, Film LA permits, and why micro-budget filmmakers skip this stuff at their peril
• Why casting from tape alone is certainly making acting on TV worse
• How over-communicating with your whole team, even about minor script changes, changes everything

This is the episode for anyone making something right now who needs permission to keep going when it feels like everything is conspiring against you. It's not. Keep the date. Make the call. Send the email.

Referenced in this episode:

• Survival Job short film episode (listen to the episode with writer/lead Gemma for the full breakdown)
• Amy McNabb, actress and mindset coach, on "summer camp tired" vs. burnout @actorsencouraged on instagram
• Tangerine (dir. Sean Baker) and Uncut Gems as visual references for the film's tone
• We Make Movies (the BEST insurance for indie filmmakers)

Follow us:
@indiespunkunfiltered | @indiespunk | @izzystevens | @beckbennion

Got a topic you want us to cover?

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Welcome back to Indie Spunk: Unfiltered.

It's been a BIG week (but also when is it not??). We are deep in pre-production for Survival Job—casting submissions are rolling in, locations are almost locked, and contracts are going out—and somehow in the middle of all of that, we've found time to drop not one, not two, but three announcements...and you have to tune in to find out what they are. 👀

This week we also get into what keeps creatives going when multiple projects are moving at different speeds, the difference between actually needing a rest and hitting your upper limit (see: Gay Hendricks' The Big Leap), how two quick-start personalities navigate miscommunication without letting it fester, networking conversation starters that actually work, and the Radiooooo app (it'll change your life).

Izzy also shares what happened when StubHub canceled her ticket to a Ray concert on her 8-year anniversary, why she ended up crying outside the Greek Theatre, and how a Law & Order SVU quote reframed the whole night.

Oh, and Izzy's new screenwriting program Inner Architecture is live here! https://indiespunk.thrivecart.com/inner-architecture-workshop/

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🎬 Apply for Filmmaker Breakthrough Mentorship: https://indiespunk.thrivecart.com/filmmaker-breakthrough-2026/ 

🎥 Join our Filmmaker Database: https://indiespunk.myflodesk.com/filmmaker-database 

📩 DM us on Instagram:

Izzy - https://www.instagram.com/indiespunk & Beck -  https://www.instagram.com/beckbennion

The best films aren't engineered... they're excavated. This week, Izzy talks with Beck about the missing layer traditional screenwriting skips entirely, how she rewrote her feature James On Rage without knowing what it was about and ended up a Stowe Story Labs fellowship finalist, and why your subconscious brain knows what your story is about before your intellectual brain does.

If you have a script in your drafts folder you've been too scared to open, this one's for you.

Inner Architecture is happening on May 20th. Grab your spot here: https://indiespunk.thrivecart.com/inner-architecture-workshop/

Welcome back to Indie Spunk: Unfiltered.

No guests this week—just Izzy and Beck, one in Larchmont with a helicopter overhead and one in a home office with a barking dog, delivering what might be the most unexpected pep talk of the season.

This week we get into the science of comfort and why our primal brains are actively keeping us stuck, the question Izzy can't stop thinking about ("what am I choosing not to know?"), why firm decisions create more satisfaction than keeping your options open, Anne Hathaway's take on exhaustion that reframed everything, and what Bill Skarsgård's dad taught his eight wildly talented children about hard work.

We also get into the moment Izzy got fired by a French man who smiled the whole way through it and why that was the best thing that ever happened to her, Beck's honest admission that she never actually felt imposter syndrome and why she used to say she did anyway, and why women in particular need to stop eating humble pie and start owning what they're undeniably great at.

Oh, and there's still a big podcast announcement coming...will tell you soon, we promise!!

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Actor & Writer Gemma Scoble joins Izzy and Beck to talk upcoming film "Survival Job" — a short written by and starring Gemma Scoble, about a Midwest actress hawking bottled water in dystopian LA who witnesses an act of violence that changes the course of her life. Think Sean Baker meets Tarantino. Think: nobody gave me this role so I built it from scratch.

The team chats about the film, the writing process, the irony of their crowdfund campaign, the wild survival jobs that made them, how empathy is your secret weapon, and how the smartest thing an actor can do right now is stop waiting for permission.

Written inside Izzy's signature program: Filmmaker Breakthrough, directed by Izzy, and produced by Beck & Izzy, the team chats survival job saga

The "Survival Job" crowdfund just crossed 50%. Help us make it! https://seedandspark.com/fund/survival-job-movie#story

This week Izzy and Beck get into the rage, updates on their feature film, "James on Rage", why high-achievers are terrible at celebrating wins and what they're doing about it, the mindset shift from "please work with us" to "who do we want on our team," and ambition vs. rest.

Izzy also shares the most chaotic side quest (sneak peek: she just wanted to walk in a park, told one small lie to a security guard, and ended up accidentally spending the afternoon in the Academy Motion Picture Research Library reading about the making of "Cold Mountain" because apparently the universe was trying to tell her something, lol).

They also get into the hustle vs. rest conversation: why balance isn't 50/50, Beck's 70/30 split, and Izzy's burnout cycles that finally stopped.

Oh, and Izzy has something exciting coming. It's for feature film writers, it's intimate, it's feedback-driven, and more details are coming next week.

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DM us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indiespunk & https://www.instagram.com/beckbennion

Welcome back to Indie Spunk: Unfiltered!

This week Beck sits down with author, intuitive reader, spiritual mentor, and all-around multi-hyphenate Kate Van Horn—a longtime friend of the pod who has been quietly helping creatives get out of their own heads for years.

This one's equal parts grounding and practical: how to build rituals that actually support your creative process, what tarot can do for a filmmaker in a rut, and why the film industry right now feels a lot like a very specific tarot card.

In this episode:

• [00:04:00] Kate's New Book
• [00:08:00] Ritual Stacking vs. Habit Stacking
• [00:15:00] 3 Things to Energetically Align Your Space
• [00:18:00] Signatures
• [00:30:00] Tarot for Filmmakers
• [00:37:00] The State of the Film Industry & Where It's Going

📖 Find Kate at katevanhorn.com, on Instagram @katevhorn, and on Substack at Intuitive Living. Her first book The Inner Tarot is out now.

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📩 DM us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indiespunk & https://www.instagram.com/beckbennion

Welcome back to Indie Spunk: Unfiltered. 

This week Izzy and Beck put the film updates on pause — because sometimes you're so deep in the messy middle of production that the most honest thing you can do is admit you can't talk about it yet. 

So instead, Beck straps on her game show host hat and puts Izzy in the hot seat for a chaotic, whimsical, deeply unhinged round of rapid fire questions. 

Plus: a real and important update about James on Rage that nobody asked for but everybody needed to hear.

🎙️ Get Anonymous Advice On The Podcast: https://forms.gle/sMWovGuD8JC9Crxu7 

🎬 Apply for Filmmaker Breakthrough Mentorship: https://indiespunk.thrivecart.com/filmmaker-breakthrough-2026/ 

🎥 Join our Filmmaker Database: https://indiespunk.myflodesk.com/filmmaker-database 

📩 DM us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indiespunk & https://www.instagram.com/beckbennion

Hot off the heels of a major SXSW premiere, writer and star Dalia Rooni takes us behind the scenes of making her debut indie feature, Same Same But Different. From early development hurdles to casting challenges and the chaos (and unexpected magic) of production, this conversation pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to bring a first feature to life. Izzy & Dalia get real about creating your own work as an actor, why waiting to get booked actually isn’t a strategy, and how leaning into your naiveté can be the very thing that gets your first film made. It's a JUICY one, let's dive in!

Follow Dalia on IG: https://www.instagram.com/daliarooni/

And check out the film SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT: https://www.instagram.com/samesamebutdifferentfilm/

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