Ep 536: Laura Moss

PUBLIC VERSION. Filmmaker Laura Moss (BIRTH/REBIRTH) joins Adam, Joe, and Arwen to discuss their career journey. From starting out after college as a general production assistant where they naturally found themselves gravitating towards the art department and eventually becoming a production designer… to working on shorts, television, and theater for well over a decade in positions such as editor, gaffer, special FX makeup, production manager, sound mixer, script supervisor, and more before making the jump into the writer/director chair with their first feature film BIRTH/REBIRTH (currently in select theaters and coming soon to Shudder)… to Laura’s decision to shoot the film with anamorphic lenses and why the creative aesthetic was worth the strain that it added to the production’s already limited time schedule… the importance of grounding a science based fantasy story with just enough logic to be believable as opposed to adding so much explanation and rationalization that a story’s mechanics wind up challenging the audience’s suspension of disbelief… to the clinical preparation that filmmakers now implement when approaching sexually explicit scenes and how such efforts are helping actors feel less exposed and vulnerable… to facing the reality that independent films are rarely afforded the luxury of shooting on a schedule that is creatively conducive and instead have to shoot on whatever schedule your limited budget can afford… to what it was like directing a pig and the fun of working with animals… to the stress that shooting “wide and tight” puts on your boom operator and the frightening but triumphant moment of world premiering BIRTH/REBIRTH at the Sundance Film Festival… Laura’s experience is a terrific overview of the modern indie filmmaking process!