I sit down with Brad and Sarah Hawkins, the award winning father-daughter duo of Dadley productions to talk about LA, collaborative producing and women in film.

On this episode of Special Features I chat with my friend and fellow filmmaker, Alexander Monelli, who recently screened his feature documentary "At The Drive-In" at TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, CA as part of the Dances With Films Festival.

We chat about the film and screening, how he got into filmmaking and play a little game while discussing M. Night Shyamalan's hit film, "Signs." Enjoy!

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On this episode, I sit down with one of the most unique filmmakers I know for a Creative Conversation about her documentary "The Last Doll Lady," which has made a real impact on the people she's met.

To support "The Last Doll Lady" visit these sites:

https://www.facebook.com/thelastdolllady/

https://heroesofdemocracy.org

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Doug Roy, the only man I've ever met and said: "I have to draw you!"

Doug and I have been making films together for about 6 years and I'm still learning new things about him all the time. He has a way of keeping me grounded and challenges me to look at films differently. I wouldn't be where I am today without him, so he was my natural choice for a creative conversation about what inspired us to make films.

"Acoustic Hearts" - which Doug was an Executive Producer - is available on Amazon Prime. It literally costs nothing to watch, but would mean so very much to us if you would.

Follow Special Features on social media via the links below and leave a message to tell me what movie inspired you to make your own movies. It's great fun for me.

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Remember to leave a rating and review so we can grow and bring you more cool conversations like this one.

Perhaps the greatest thing about being a filmmaker is the chance to work with and get to know all kinds of people. Collaboration is how films go from being a vague idea in someone’s head to a real thing you can watch on screen.

Writers need people to workshop their scripts, directors need producers and crew to get things done and, of course, you need actors to bring your characters to life. So unless your passion is making films about birds on your own - and hey, live your dream - we all need people to help us along the way.

My guest for this week's Creative Conversation is my good friend, and brother from another mother, Andrew Bailey. We've been making movies together for the last decade, so there was no shortage of things to talk about including our struggle to collaborate when we first met, how we helped drive each other while making short films and where we see ourselves in the future.

We talked primarily about Andrew's short film "Disposable" (trailer: https://youtu.be/O-jqoN

I don't have a guest for this episode, but I do want to give you an idea of why I'm doing this podcast and what I hope you'll take away from each episode. Ultimately, I want to talk about how filmmakers go about making their movies, but I want to put a special focus on why they make certain decisions.

I'm dedicated to bringing you as many unique voices as I can and help you take away the lesson I learn from each of them. I hope you'll give us a chance and be inspired in the process.

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If you’re a 90’s kid like me, you probably remember watching movies on these bulky plastic cartridges called VHS tapes that you had to rewind when you were done. I watched Empire Strikes Back so many times in the summer of ’97 I broke the tape and my mom had to buy me a new one.

Then came the rise of the DVD - CDs that played movies. Not only could you watch your favorite movie without ever having to rewind it, you could also watch something called “Special Features” - behind the scenes documentaries about how the film was made.

Now that I’m all grown up and making movies of my own, the world of entertainment has changed once again and is dominated by online streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon. Today, you can watch any movie you want - at home or on your cell phone - with just a few clicks. And I’m not mad, I love Netflix. I’m a binge watcher through and through. And my movies are on Amazon.

But, at the end of the day, I really miss my special features. And if you’re a 90’s