The No Film School Podcast

How a longtime No Film School listener went from aspiring filmmaker to releasing his first feature film

Learning filmmaking through 86 horror shorts over 15 years with his web series Scared Stiff

Why making mistakes, studying cinematography, and embracing constructive criticism can be more valuable than formal film school

Turning six existing Halloween short films into the feature-length horror anthology Halloween Candy

Finding independent film distribution by researching companies that release similar movies

How Halloween Candy found a larger streaming audience than its individual short films

Planning a horror sequel and building the foundation for a potential indie film franchise

Balancing a career as a WWE director of photography with writing, directing, and producing independent features

Editing a feature film on the road using Avid, DaVinci Resolve, After Effects, and portable hard drives

Stretching a microbudget by purchasing camera equipment, taking on multiple crew roles, and organizing shoots around locations

Shooting an hour of material in four days with a skeleton crew

Why trusting actors, welcoming better ideas, and admitting what you don't know are essential directing skills

"I feel like we learn more by mistakes, but here's the thing. It doesn't have to be your own mistake."

"Making my short films was my film school."

"If I lose my computer, I'm down a few thousand dollars, but the movie is safe."

"I'm not here to inflate my ego."

Douglas A. Plomitallo

Halloween Candy — Terror Films

Halloween Candy

Halloween Candy 2

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Kanopy's Crypt Collection and its curated selection of horror films, from folk horror and body horror to low-budget practical effects classics

Why practical effects remain a valuable filmmaking tool, with examples from Night of the Living Dead, The Toxic Avenger, Chopping Mall, and other horror films

How Daniel Kraus developed the premise of Whalefall through extensive research with marine biologists and diving experts

How Brian Duffield discovered the novel through a social media post and pursued the adaptation before the book was even finished

Why admitting "I don't know" during early studio conversations about Whalefall helped establish credibility rather than undermine it

The collaborative screenwriting process between Kraus and Duffield, including condensing roughly 50 to 60 novel flashbacks into a much smaller number of cinematic sequences

How the filmmakers balanced the emotional father-son relationship with a scientifically grounded survival thriller

Building the whale's moving stomachs and internal anatomy through practical sets, puppetry, visual effects, and experimentation with Wētā Workshop

How Duffield assembled a trusted film crew and managed unexpected production obstacles, including malfunctioning underwater camera equipment and broken lenses

Using production design, cinematography, and visual exposition to help audiences understand the geography of a whale's digestive system

Why creating a collaborative environment where everyone, from production assistants to Oscar-winning department heads, can contribute ideas leads to better filmmaking

How working together on Whalefall changed Kraus's approach to screenwriting and challenged his assumptions about being a solitary writer

Advice for emerging filmmakers on choosing collaborators, embracing creative uncertainty, and staying open to unexpected career opportunities

"It's just hiring people you like spending time with."

"I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what the answer to this question is. I, I want help."

"Your definition of who you think you are as an artist or as a person or whatever, it's always in flux."

Brian Duffield

Daniel Kraus

Aaron Spears — Kanopy

Matt Lewis — Kanopy

Kanopy — Stream films free with your library

Whalefall — IMDb

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(02:09) How Oakley landed the directing job on Sense and Sensibility and pitched her vision to Working Title

(03:24) Making the relationship between Elinor and Marianne Dashwood the film's central love story

(05:28) Why Austen's themes of women's independence, societal expectations, and romantic yearning remain relevant

(07:16) How modern hyperconnectivity and busyness have fueled a cultural desire for longing and human connection

(09:44) Using nature, stillness, and the passage of time to create intimacy in a period drama

(11:22) Oakley's pre-production process, including storyboards, shot lists, and adapting camera setups on location

(13:35) Collaborating with two cinematographers and using natural light and environmental details to build the film's visual language

(15:04) How shooting with two cameras allowed Oakley to capture simultaneous emotional reactions and spontaneous performances

(17:41) The challenges of shooting on 35mm film with limited takes and tailoring rehearsals to each actor's needs

(19:55) Filming at London's National Gallery under strict time and lighting constraints

(23:24) Building trust with actors through communication, personalized rehearsals, and relationship-focused preparation

(27:26) Casting Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles and developing their believable sisterly chemistry

(33:15) How Oakley uses intense focus and directorial intuition to recognize authentic performances

(35:50) Redirecting actors when a scene isn't working without undermining their confidence

(37:59) Sustaining creative energy through a demanding 50-day shoot and relying on a supportive production team

(40:15) Working with Old English Sheepdogs and embracing the spontaneity animals bring to a film set

"This is really a story about what young women are kind of led to believe they might reasonably expect from their lives versus what the world is actually prepared to offer them."

"We live in a moment where we're so kind of hyper-connected, and we've invented all of these ways to reduce time, you know, to save time, but then we have less time than we ever had before."

"So much about directing is about being able to tune everything out so that you can have a stronger relationship with the gut instinct."

"None of it is possible on your own, and sometimes it does feel like a bit of a weird solo mission when you're directing something."

Georgia Oakley

Sense and Sensibility (2026)

Blue Jean (2022)

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How SNL goes from Wednesday night table read to a finished prerecorded sketch airing Saturday

What happens when footage begins arriving from set on Friday morning

Why Mak creates “line-by-lines” containing every take of every scripted line

How organizing footage early allows editors, writers, and directors to make decisions quickly

Finding the visual language of “MAHAspital” while parodying HBO’s The Pitt

Using the structure and pacing of a trailer to increase the energy of a parody

Why Mak watched The Pitt during the edit to understand its characters and visual style

How Premiere Pro’s transcription and search tools make it easier to locate specific dialogue

Using the Essential Sound panel, EQ, reverb, panning, and the audio track mixer during picture editing

Why sound design can be essential to making comedy work

Building tension with heart monitors, ventilators, overlapping dialogue, and strategic silence

Keyboard shortcuts that speed up multicam editing and navigation through massive stringouts

How a longer commercial schedule can actually create new challenges by allowing editors to second-guess decisions

Editing Kate McKinnon’s Zoom commercial and balancing comedy with the need to sell a product

Why editors can function as storytellers, collaborators, and sometimes even therapists during long-form projects

Mak’s “puzzle-solving” approach to rearranging footage until a scene or story unlocks

Why trust, openness to feedback, and leaving ego outside the edit room matter on collaborative projects

How SNL’s dress audience functions as a real-time test screening

Why editors should continually learn new software, techniques, graphics, sound, and VFX tools

How YouTube tutorials and experimentation can help editors expand their skills and become more valuable

“There’s a real intuition you have to have and there’s a real understanding of rhythm and of, you know, how the shoot’s going to make this happen.”

“I feel like sometimes when you have too much time, it becomes almost more difficult.”

“And so, like, it really is about, like, finding each little bit that, like, will match with this little bit that, like, will actually tell a story.”

“As the tools change and as younger generations find newer ways to edit, it’s really important to just stay up to date and not get locked into your old ways.”

Christopher Salerno

Mak Makower

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How Kirk’s acting training at DePaul University led him toward screenwriting and directing

Learning story structure through John Truby’s 22-step approach and The Anatomy of Story

How Chris Messina encouraged Kirk to direct his first feature, The Giant Mechanical Man

Why an acting background can help directors understand how to communicate with performers

How Billie Joe Armstrong approached Kirk with the initial premise for Nimrods

Reverse engineering a feature screenplay from a predetermined Green Day concert ending

Using real stories from Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool as inspiration for the screenplay

Drawing from movies like The Goonies, Vacation, Footloose, and Risky Business to establish the film’s tone

Making a contemporary movie feel nostalgic through vinyl, cassettes, camcorders, old cars, and other analog textures

What Kirk looks for when hiring department heads and why collaborative problem-solving matters

Turning an Oklahoma City junkyard into a convincing punk venue

Casting Mason Thames, Mckenna Grace, and the rest of the young ensemble

Using actors’ existing talents to add specificity and production value to a movie

Conducting chemistry reads over Zoom when the budget made in-person auditions impractical

Why rehearsal is less about locking down performances and more about making actors comfortable enough to play on set

Helping actors get out of their heads by giving them time, space, and permission to experiment

Using long pauses as a directing tool to help actors access emotion

Why Kirk deliberately maintains a calm demeanor on set, even when production is stressful

Finding unexpected moments through ad-libs and improvisation, including a spontaneous Fred Armisen scene

Shooting 28 days in Oklahoma City before moving to Los Angeles for four additional days

Capturing the Green Day concert with four cameras and roughly 2,000 real Green Day fans

Why Kirk specifically budgeted for large numbers of extras after lessons learned on previous productions

Kirk’s advice for emerging filmmakers on studying story structure, watching films analytically, writing frequently, and taking advantage of accessible filmmaking tools

“I listen to these tapes and everything changed for me then.”

“I feel like that's kinda like when the best stuff happens because now everyone's out of their comfort zone, but everyone's prepared so everyone can do, make that pivot.”

“Even if I'm not calm, even if I'm feeling so stressed out on the inside, I just put forward this feeling like I'm good. I know what I'm doing. Everything's fine.”

“Story is everything.”

Lee Kirk

Nimrods on IMDb

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How Playhouse went from winning Fantastic Pitches to premiering at Fantastic Fest in just one year

Designing a $100,000 movie around limitations like one location, a small cast, and practical aesthetics

Why microbudget filmmakers need a creative “hack” that makes their limitations work for the movie

How filmmakers can make a live pitch memorable with props, costumes, trailers, and a strong presentation

Why being selected for Fantastic Pitches can create opportunities even if you don't win

The ambitious Technocrane strategy behind this year’s winning pitch, Father Figure

What Ryan and Jordan noticed about the DIY films, filmmaking collectives, and genre community at Fantastic Fest

Why festivals can have a bigger impact by supporting filmmakers before their movies are made

“With filmmaking it's always good, fast, cheap. Pick two. And with Fantastic Pitches, they're trying to do all three.”

“You've gotta have a hack to make your pitch audience-friendly.”

“The best route is the one that's available to you probably.”

“It's easy to select things that turned out well. It's much harder to bet on them at the beginning and to actually help them bring something to fruition.”

Fantastic Fest

Fantastic Pitches

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How Drew and Evan became filmmaking collaborators after spending hours together shooting a Method soap commercial in a tiny shower

Evan’s experience making Sun Belt Express and the long gap between his first and second features

Why Drew kept returning to the alien-abduction concept that eventually became Into the Sky

Revisiting old material after years of becoming better writers and filmmakers

How strong Black List evaluations gave the filmmakers psychological momentum to commit to the project

Spending roughly two years rewriting the script and assembling financing

Why casting director Kate Geller became an important part of building the movie’s cast

How attaching Sam Richardson helped the project gain momentum

The pressures created when an in-demand actor gives an independent production a narrow shooting window

Walking away from a “turnkey” production-services solution that would have forced most of the movie onto a single estate

Finding the town of Catskill, New York, and rebuilding their location strategy around what the movie actually needed

Why filmmakers sometimes have to reject the easiest logistical solution when it threatens the film creatively

Shooting the movie in 25 days while managing frequent company moves

How Drew and Evan divided directing responsibilities according to their complementary strengths

Drew’s focus on visual storytelling, camera placement, and spectacle versus Evan’s focus on performance, character, and dialogue

Using iPhone LiDAR scans and Polycam to create digital models of locations

Printing location blueprints and using custom Lego figures and a Lego camera to block scenes with the AD and cinematographer

Building detailed storyboards and turning them into rough animatics for complicated sequences

Trying to create an “indie blockbuster” without a blockbuster budget

The challenge of completing approximately 500 visual-effects shots with an extremely small VFX team

Why extensive preparation became a starting point for improvisation once production problems appeared

Delaying a cornfield sequence until the final day of photography so the corn would be tall enough for the scene

How rain, heat, scheduling problems, and other uncontrollable factors reshaped the production

Watching dailies and determining whether scenes needed to be reshot

Why a scene they believed needed a reshoot ultimately used mostly material from the original shoot

Working 12-hour shooting days followed by another four or five hours of preparation each night

Splitting up the first stages of post-production so Drew could eventually watch the assembly with fresh eyes

Why comedy becomes difficult to judge after watching the same material dozens of times

Screening cuts for friends and family to measure real laughter and audience energy

Using QR codes and Google Forms to collect individual reactions before a group discussion could influence everyone’s opinions

Measuring character likability and other audience responses between different test screenings

Asking test audiences to respond to major VFX sequences while those sequences were still extremely unfinished

The moment completed visual effects and music finally made the filmmakers feel that the movie was working

Their goal of making large, entertaining movies with heart on an independent scale

Why Drew and Evan believe their filmmaking education ultimately came from making things, making mistakes, and “touching the stove”

“If I have any takeaway from that, it's that, like, in those moments of extreme pressure when you have a lot of competing interests that have started rolling down on you, you've just gotta trust your gut.”

“We always called this movie an indie blockbuster. You know, we were trying to make an indie film that felt like a blockbuster.”

“We went in with a great plan, and then you get hit in the fucking face. And your plan becomes the launching point for an improvisational new plan.”

“We learned by making mistakes and doing things out in the world. We learned by touching the stove.”

Drew Mylrea

Evan Buxbaum

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How McKendrick went from pursuing a career as a pop singer to discovering filmmaking and directing at Chapman University

Why writing and directing her own projects became a way to create opportunities instead of waiting for permission

How Destroy the Alpha Gammas and M.F.A. helped establish her as a writer, producer, actor, and filmmaker

The reality of working as a studio screenwriter and spending years writing projects that may never reach production

The original inspiration for Voicemails for Isabelle and why McKendrick wrote the first draft in only a few weeks

How the screenplay quickly sold, landed on the Black List, and attracted major talent before spending years in development

Why repeated studio regime changes and canceled projects ultimately pushed McKendrick toward directing

The breaking point that inspired her to write, finance, and direct Scrambled rather than wait for another studio green light

Why filmmakers need to understand their own taste rather than believing a director must personally master every technical department

How McKendrick's collaboration with cinematographer Julia Swain helped her translate emotion and instinct into a visual language

Why directors need to communicate and reiterate their vision differently for every department head

How Scrambled allowed McKendrick to demonstrate through her actions that she was no longer interested in being only a writer-for-hire

Why McKendrick avoids reading reviews and instead focuses on whether she made the film she intended to make

How the success of Scrambled changed the industry's perception of McKendrick as a director

How Netflix approached Sony about Voicemails for Isabelle and Sony agreed to move forward with McKendrick directing

Why years of studio relationships that once seemed fruitless ultimately became valuable when McKendrick was ready to direct

The importance of betting on yourself, embracing the unusual parts of your voice, and refusing to assume that following the traditional path will eventually lead to the work you want to make

“The most beautiful thing that it gave me was this realization that I could create my own work and that I didn't have to ask for permission.”

“All you need to know is what you like, and be a student of film, and be a student of your own taste.”

“Every time that I have gotten rebellious and that I have put my foot down, that is when something fruits.”

“If anybody could walk away from my interviews with one piece of wisdom or advice, it would always be to bet on yourself and to not wait for permission, and to believe in your weirdest stories and the weirdest parts of yourself.”

Leah McKendrick

Having Indie Discipline at Studio Scale: How Julia Swain Shot 'Voicemails for Isabelle'

How to Build a Pitch Deck

Indie Filmmakers: You Don't Need Julia Roberts to Make Your Indie Comedy

How To Cut Like an Anthropologist from 'Scrambled’ & ‘Alpha’ Editor Sandra Granovsky

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How Greco went from studying film at Boston University to editing for digital media, Nickelodeon, and feature films

Why filmmakers like John Cassavetes and the mumblecore movement changed the way she thought about feature filmmaking

How Lockjaw evolved organically from a 25–30 page short into Greco’s first feature

Planning the production a year in advance so winter’s early sunsets would make an entirely nighttime shoot more manageable

Building the film around an existing Los Angeles creative community of actors and crew members

How producer Abbie Jones helped secure a house where the production could shoot for eight of its 11 days

Deciding to move forward with the movie after Greco lost her job during the Hollywood strikes

Developing Rayna as an active, magnetic, self-destructive protagonist rather than a passive victim

How Blu Hunt approached Rayna without judging the character’s choices

Using Rayna’s wired jaw as both a physical filmmaking constraint and a source of conflict, comedy, and miscommunication

Why Greco wanted Rayna’s accident to complicate her behavior rather than simply justify it

Shooting an 80-page feature in 11 days using two Canon XF605 cameras, small crews, autofocus, and minimal lens changes

Rehearsing and blocking scenes before sunset so the production could begin shooting immediately once it was dark

How Greco, Blu Hunt, and Colin Burgess reworked a breakup scene on set when its original tone stopped working

Learning when a director needs to stop rushing, reconsider a scene, and ask collaborators for help

How Greco’s editing background helped her know which shots were essential and which material could be sacrificed

Cutting entire storylines that were not serving Rayna’s central story

Bringing in co-editor Neal Wynne when Greco needed fresh ideas, then returning to the film for the fine cut

The process of getting Lockjaw into Slamdance and finally watching audiences respond to the film

What Greco learned about LLCs, paperwork, and production infrastructure that she applied to her next project

Why making a feature reinforced the importance of trusting collaborators instead of believing the director has to solve everything alone

“I’m going to make this happen no matter what.”

“But it would be so much more fun if it was the opposite.”

“Take a step back. You need to figure this out. Like, it’s okay if it takes 10 minutes away from shooting.”

“Anything’s on the chopping block. I don’t care what it is. Like, if it’s, it’s not working, it’s not working.”

Sabrina Greco

Lockjaw on IMDb

Lockjaw on Instagram

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How graduating from film school during the pandemic pushed the team toward making an independent feature

Raising the initial micro-budget through unconventional investors, personal connections, and community support

How Florida State University’s alumni equipment package made a $30,000 feature possible

Why paying crew something—even on an extremely limited budget—was important to the producers

Discovering in the edit that the first version of It Ends wasn’t working

Why indie filmmakers should stop thinking of reshoots as a sign of failure

Using test screenings to identify pacing problems, missing emotional beats, and scenes that needed additional coverage

Designing a contained film that could be affordably reconstructed for multiple rounds of pickups

Balancing the film’s horror and hangout-movie elements through pacing and visual language

Cutting a Jeep Cherokee in half to get it onto an LED volume stage

Rebuilding the Jeep interior and using the removable vehicle to create otherwise impossible camera angles

Why the filmmakers pulled out of Fantasia to continue improving the movie

Maintaining continuity when returning to the same actors and characters two years after principal photography

The editing workflow Alex developed to compare multiple performances of the same line

Using low-pass filtering, bass, sound design, and close-ups to create production value on an indie budget

What Alex learned from an extremely disorganized Premiere timeline

Premiering at SXSW during an especially difficult independent film distribution market

Why strong festival reviews and sold-out screenings didn’t automatically lead to a distribution deal

The changing economics of minimum guarantees for independent films

How online horror creators helped generate new momentum for It Ends

The film’s path from Letterboxd’s video store program to a theatrical release with Neon

Why filmmakers should focus on making the strongest movie possible rather than designing a project specifically for a major festival

How the lessons from It Ends changed the team’s approach to their next features

Previsualizing an entire movie before production to eliminate setups and solve story problems

Using executive producer credits strategically when raising additional financing

Practical advice for protecting hard drives, feeding a small crew, and building a trusted filmmaking community

“I'm a huge advocate for reshoots.”

“And on that Saturday we got it onto the stage and it, and it fit through that hallway with a literal quarter of an inch clearance on either side, and that's like, that's not an exaggeration.”

“I hope that this film can live kinda like when I first saw Slacker for the first time, and it was just like, oh, all you really need is a camera and two faces talking to each other.”

“At the end of the day, surround yourself, your entire crew with people you trust creatively.”

Alex Ullom

Carrie Carusone

Evan Barber

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