The Loud Whisper Takeover
Featuring interviews with actors, stunts, dancers, filmmakers, action movie directors, athletes, Krav Maga teachers, acting coaches, and more.
Epic tales of changemakers, authentic personal stories, and top tips about the industry, the podcast is a treasure of knowledge helping storytellers of all kinds on their own journeys, and inspiring people to take action upon their own dreams.
Ever heard your inner voice getting louder and louder, urging you towards a new path? When our inner guidance starts to become so loud, we can no longer ignore it, and we MUST take action... This is often a time when life changes direction drastically. We are literally being called to take that leap of faith, make that phone call, write that script, make that film in other words, time to embrace our wildest dreams, shift gear, and grow exponentially.
Let's dive into the art of listening courageously to our inner compass. Because every one of us is destined to live a grand story and adventure while walking on planet Earth!
Headphones on, notebooks out, and buckle up!
Hosted by Cindy Claes.
The Loud Whisper Takeover
22: How a Short Film Challenge Became a Beast of a Production
What if a meeting at a bar could catapult you into the world of filmmaking?
In this episode, host Cindy Claes has a chat with her co-producer Gian Bonnicchi, where they share the exhilarating journey of how their short film "All Dogs Go to Heaven" was made in just three days!
Together they affronted unexpected production hurdles. This was Cindy's first step into the world of "making film". An innocent project of 5 people grew into a team of almost 30 in a matter of days. Neither of them expected such a turn-out when registering for a short film challenge organised by Bigoli Studios in Barcelona.
Cindy's dear friend and collaborator, Gian, is an accomplished actor, screenwriter, and producer with a vibrant artistic background spanning across Italy, Miami, and now Barcelona.
They recount the humorous yet stressful moments that defined the experience, from writing the script on set, to finding a script supervisor, to loosing their filming location at the last minute. After the chaos... a 10min dystopian sci-fi was born and is now starting festival season!
This episode isn't just about the film; it's about personal growth, the power of collaboration, and the sense of empowerment that comes from finding your true creative potential and leadership within.
Guest Instagram:
@gian_bonacchi
Host Cindy Claes Instagram:
@cindy_claes
Teaser of All Dogs Go To Heaven (Short Film):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru8ltTzm-ew
IMdB All Dogs Go To Heaven:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32612617/?ref_=nm_flmg_knf_t_1
Want to send Cindy Claes a DM?
Let's continue the conversation on Instagram:
Cindy Claes - Host
@cindy_claes
Loud Whisper VZW - Producers
@loudwhispervzw
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Welcome to the Loud Whisper Takeover podcast. Today is a very special episode because I'm not interviewing somebody. I'm actually having a chat with a collaborator, my co-producer, a person that I can call a dear friend, that I appreciate so much. Today I made my first short film ever, called All Dogs to Heaven. On the journey of making this film, I met John. Today we are inseparable. I just want to continue working with John forever. We're going to tell you the tale of how this movie was created because the madness and anecdotes we're going to tell you. I hope that this will really give faith to people that want to make their first short film and don't know where to start. We created magic. We had to face many challenges, but right now we're starting festival season. Please welcome Jan on the podcast. Hey, jan, how are you doing?
Speaker 2:I'm good. I'm good. I'm very excited to be in the podcast and chat about all this amazing short film that we made together.
Speaker 1:First of all, we're going to have a chat, you and me, we're going to basically recall all these memories of how we made this film a reality. But before, because people don't know you yet, can you tell us a little bit about who you are, what you do as an artist, as a producer, the countries you lived in, countries you studied in, and so forth? Give us a bit of an insight of what your world looks like.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I started in Italy when I was very young I was 15. I started to study as an actor in Italy and I've worked on some short films. Then I moved to the US when I was 19, to Miami, to get my bachelor in acting for film, and then I started to work there as an actor with an agency and then the last years, I've been working as a screenwriter as well and a producer, and after four years, I moved to Barcelona to do my master in screenwriting, production and distribution, and I've been working now in production. In writing, I work as an actor and right now I'm about to open my own association. I will be doing classes as well about production and stuff like that, but also organize events for every kind of artist. It can be photographers, painters, modeling, filmmakers, theater people and that's what I want to do here is create a big community for all the artists and help and collaborate each other.
Speaker 1:And so one of the things that is absolutely mesmerizing is that you really have the ability to have this creative brain where you're the actor, where you're the screenwriter and stuff, and then you're very, very capable and just like in a split of a second, you can be the producer, being super organized, and totally wear a different hat, not because you need to, because I feel sometimes, often people need to be the you know, the producer and then a lot of things go wrong, but here you're just able to go from one to the other. Can you tell us because obviously you're still young but you've already gained a lot of experience like how many short films, feature films you actually worked on already? Because I feel there is a bunch.
Speaker 2:I think I'm almost like 25, 30, maybe yeah, like counting the commercial and their stuff like music videos over 30. I'm happy because I started very young, I started to be in the industry, understand certain things, but I'm always, every time that I work in a new project, I always learn new things, and it will always be like that for everyone.
Speaker 1:Let's go now to the start of All Dogs Go to Heaven. So, for the listeners, this was actually created because there was a challenge that was being announced by Bigoli Studios in Barcelona, and the challenge was make a film in three days, write it, film it, edit it and submit it for a challenge. And so it kind of started like a very innocent small project and all of a sudden we became a beast of a production within a matter of days, and now we're going to start festival season. John and me, we've prepared questions for each other. So, john, do you want me to start or do you want to start with a question that you have for me?
Speaker 2:You start and then I'll ask you some questions.
Speaker 1:So for all the listeners, I was in a position where I wanted to create and produce my first short film, but, to be honest, I had never done it and I was super scared of doing it. In the world of theater and dance I've been producing, choreographing, writing, performing, and I kind of know the ins and outs of the industry. But the world of film to me looked like too big. It just looked like such a beast that I wasn't ready for. I had only been an actress in the world of screen and for the camera. And so I said to the universe okay, I want to do this, but I really truly thought that by the time that I gained all the experience and the knowledge, it would probably take me two years to actually make my first film. But I tell the universe, because I also have my non-profit, that I want to make it happen and I start sending messages on Instagram hey, donate for the making of a future sort of short film in the making that really have this timeline of two years in mind. Then I meet you.
Speaker 1:So a common friend of ours, monica, who is also an actress in film. She invites me for a drink and she's like hey, come along, I've got a friend who's a screenwriter, and so we didn't know each other. So what were your first thoughts when we met at that bar for the first time? What did you think about the project that I put on the table and what did you think about me? Because we didn't know each other yet.
Speaker 2:I told him my first idea was to go there to celebrate Monica's our friend's birthday and be chill. But then, when you arrived and you said that you were like an action actress, I was like, oh, that's interesting, it's a good thing. And then you came up with this idea of to make this short film for this Bigelow Studios Valentine Challenge. I was like I don't know. Let's see, I was like, because there are a lot of people that tells you, oh, let's do it, let's do it, and then stuff never happens. But then I was like, let's do it, let's give it a shot and meet new people. And I was like, yeah, let's give it a shot and let's try.
Speaker 1:And funny story for all the listeners. I actually forgot it was a St Valentine's challenge, but we did not come up with a romantic comedy at all. Our end product is actually a very dark psychological sci-fi, but super dark. And yeah, just a funny thought. Jan, me and Monica, plus another friend of theirs, sergio, go come out of that bar thinking, oh my god, yeah, let's do this challenge. The only thing is that we need to have a camera guy.
Speaker 1:There is a whatsapp group in barcelona that is for filmmakers and I put a message out there to try and find a camera guy. I find somebody called Danny who became our DOP, and when I met him we just hit chemistry straight away. We had good vibes and, okay, he was on board. So here we are, a team of five people. Now you have to understand that me, as a very emerging filmmaker, actually is my first ever film I ever gonna produce. Emerging filmmaker actually is my first ever film I'm ever going to produce. I'm super excited. I'm thinking, wow, we are five people, this is going to happen. My network in Barcelona is still very small. John's network in Barcelona is still very small. Danny's network so our DOP cameraman. His network is very small because he is that incredible talent that has been creating beautiful work by himself in his little studio, but actually had never really collaborated with anybody. And then, after a bit of a brainstorm, what do we do, jan, we went to an event.
Speaker 2:We went to an event that was actually our first event this international filmmakers events in Barcelona and then the beautiful scene was like that. We went there and we started to talk to all the people asking who wanted to be involved in the project.
Speaker 1:Hold on let me just clarify this for those that are listening and that don't live in Barcelona. Let me just clarify this for those that are listening and don't live in Barcelona there is this event that's called the International Film Networking Event. So it's literally an event where directors, actors and anybody who's working in the film industry can come and basically meet other people. It's an opportunity to have a drink, but you still have to go and do the networking yourself. So a couple of days later, this event is happening. But here's the thing I had never thought of actually adding people to the team. John, you come up with the idea. You tell me oh, cindy, we need a makeup artist, we need somebody for sound, we need somebody for lights, we we need and you were on fire but the thing is like there are a lot of people that like working with a few people in the crew.
Speaker 2:Me, I'm a person that, even if it's a short film, like a short product, a small production, me, I always wants minimum 20 people, 15 people involved, because it's now, everything becomes messy, people have to do multiple things, so minimum 15 people needs to be involved. Then, like we started, so we started to talk to all these people and all the people were around us like bees around the honey and they wanted to get involved in this project. And it was amazing because in the end, we ended up having over 30 people involved in this project so let us just like go step by step.
Speaker 1:So we got to this networking event. I want to say I was on fire at this networking event because you were on fire and your fire was feeding my fire, and so it became like a snowball effect of being on fire. And while I've been to many networking events where I actually don't talk to anybody or don't come out with any sort of business card, at that event we probably doubled our Instagram followers.
Speaker 2:Yeah to a lot of people.
Speaker 1:It was mad, and so makeup artist gaffer, like it, just kept going, like you said, and we came out as a team of 17 people out of that event. But that's not where it stops.
Speaker 2:And I wanted to ask you when was the moment that you realized that we were going to make the film in a good level?
Speaker 1:I think it's when you called me drunk and you told me Cindy, I'm still out and I'm still talking to people to collaborate.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, Did I send the video? Oh my God.
Speaker 1:Because I went home like when the networking was done and solid and it was the end of the party, I left and also I don't drink. But then the next morning I woke up and I got your phone call saying oh, cindy, I was so drunk but I'm still networking. I'm talking to this and this guy about a collaboration.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's 5 until 2 am and I sent in the WhatsApp group a video like half buzz saying we got a lot of people are going to make it.
Speaker 1:That was absolutely freaking crazy. So then let's fast forward. We start to brainstorm ideas about this film. Even though it's a St Valentine's challenge, we come up with mad ideas.
Speaker 1:I wanted to have an action movie and I wanted it to go yeah, like I love thrillers and stuff. If we could go in that direction, great. But you as the writer. We start to exchange ideas and there is like the yeah, like not a script that start. There was no script, but there were ideas right of a possible narrative, right of a possible narrative. Then at some point I told the team look, guys, we are so far ahead with our brainstorm and the team that we got when the challenge starts. So the challenge started a Thursday evening, I think. And then, basically, they give us some elements that we have to incorporate in the script and then, from that moment, you, you write the script, film the script, edit the whole thing. I told the team whatever elements they give us, if it doesn't fit, it doesn't fit. And if we get the awards of the team that followed the least the instructions, so it be. But we cannot mess this up. We have to really stay authentic to the ideas that we have now, because we're going into a strong direction.
Speaker 2:I mean that was the hardest part because, like for the challenge, we didn't want to make something too hard to realize. We couldn't write something too long or too complicated to do. But in the end we were so crazy and so like on fire that we started that we decided to make a dystopian sci-fi thriller. Can you believe? For a romantic challenge of 69 hours, we made a dystopian sci-fi.
Speaker 1:And so one of the anecdotes that I would love to share, because that, for me, was a very powerful one. So we were about four or five in this meeting basically to organize the whole thing, and some people want to make the team even bigger. At that moment people had started calling me producer and I was like no, no, guys, I'm not a producer. I don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 2:Told you, you were.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And then you told me don't worry, cindy, I'll help you. And that's where we became co-producers, because you had the experience and I was the one that kind of you know had put the, the initial idea, to the table. So we became co-producers. So we're sitting at this production meeting and some people are like, oh, we also need a script supervisor. And for me, I will remember this moment forever, because I didn't know what a script supervisor was and people are asking me, as the producer, to basically find a person to fulfill a role I had never heard the job title of. I've never heard of that job title script supervisor. I didn't know what this person was doing. But so at this table, at this meeting, people are saying we need a script supervisor.
Speaker 1:Right at that moment, my WhatsApp rings and I receive a voice note from a guy I had literally met five minutes in my life Because, also, my Instagram was full about finding a sound guy. And so this particular person leaves me a WhatsApp voice note saying, hey, I don't do sound, it's Neil, right? So now he's a really good friend. But at that time we had only met five minutes prior to that, because I was looking for accommodation in Barcelona and I was visiting rooms and he was renting out a room, and that's how I met him randomly, right, and so he leaves me a whatsapp.
Speaker 1:Because we were both in the arts, we started following each other on Instagram and stuff and and he's like Cindy, I don't do sound. However, if you need a script supervisor, let me know. And so right at that moment, I'm like guys, I got a script supervisor, can somebody call him? Because I don't know what to say, but partly you guys know, and so for me, that is sort of what happened all the time, all the time, and this team became bigger and bigger and I was there basically recruiting people. I had never heard the joke.
Speaker 2:Title of we needed a script supervisor because in some production maybe still you want to cut people. They're the one script supervisor. But for me they're very important because, like, someone has to pay attention to the script continuity. And also, when you guys went to visit the first location for the film and you brainstormed the story, I wasn't there. I was in my house trying to figure out an idea to write and old people calling me every, every time like, oh, no, we want to do something like that. Then, oh, we want to do something like that. No, we have decided to make something more like that. And I was like, oh my God, what the heck am I going to write?
Speaker 1:Yeah, we were really under pressure. But another thing about location. Do you remember that we lost our location like 24 hours or something before the shoot?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember.
Speaker 1:We were going to film at a friend's apartment. We go and visit the location Okay, we're going to set the cameras here and this scene we will film it there. Blah, blah, blah. The next morning Our friend Danny calls me and he's like Cindy, there is going to be a problem, we're not going to be able to shoot at my place and he films outside his room and basically there were some massive roadworks that had just started and if you've ever been in Barcelona, you know that noise is a big problem and those roadworks were just going to screw up or will shoot.
Speaker 1:I didn't know many people. I then called one guy again that I had met for five minutes, who also only speaks Spanish and my Spanish was still chunky and he has a studio where he teaches classes and stuff, but it's like a big, massive studio. It's called Agape Studios. I call him and I literally say, hey, we've got a challenge that is starting within the next 24 hours or something. I'll need this big space. Do you know somebody? Or can we use yours if it's free, but I need it from 7am to 10pm. At the end some budget was fine, but it was very little, but because it was such a small and innocent project. We started with absolute zero, and all what we're telling you right now literally happened in a matter of days. This was not months of planning. This was days of planning.
Speaker 2:I'm still surprised at all. We did because we made a sci-fi short film with almost zero budget. It's like crazy.
Speaker 1:I guys never seen something like that are there any other anecdotes that you remember for pre-production? Before we talk about the madness of the of our production and the madness of the day we filmed, are there any anecdotes in pre-production that you want to share?
Speaker 2:the pre-production. I've lived the pre-production in pain because I needed to write a script and the thing is like I wrote the first draft the day before the rehearsal on Wednesday. I stayed from the afternoon until 2 am in the morning writing the script and I sent at 2 am the script to the director and to you and you sent me a message at 4 am saying, john, I read the script. And I sent at 2am the script to the director and to you and you sent me a message at 4am saying, john, I read the script.
Speaker 1:We were just unstoppable. It's like we were functioning on zero sleep. Okay, and let's go to production now. So we received the brief from Bigoli Studios. They gave us three things to incorporate, which was mad. The first thing was an object and we had to use a feather. When they said we have to use a feather, somebody whispered in my ear Cindy, there is a feather in Agape Studios.
Speaker 1:Our film, the script. There was no script, really, because everything still changed. There have been so many rewrites. But the sort of the narrative that we had in mind was about the cycle of life, and so a theme we received was karma. And then we received a sentence which was easy to incorporate in the script. So we were just like, so blessed, because whatever we had prepared in advance was just like, was matching the brief, other than the fact that we were not going down the romantic comedy route. But so OK, so we start filming.
Speaker 1:We received the brief on a Thursday night, friday morning, at 7 am, and we knew we were going to film until 10 pm. At 7 am somebody is walking in that I don't know, and so we were 25 people at that time and somebody I don't know is walking in. I'm like, hey, how are you? Who are you? And he's like, oh, I'm an actor. I was called yesterday. I'm like, oh, okay, then we are at 26. And so this team just became bigger and bigger and it was just absolutely mad. 7am people were called in, but actually the script wasn't finished. There was some sort of narrative, but there was no dialogue or anything. So what happened? Because that's the thing, I was an actress on that day. I stepped out of my production shoes and I took my production hat off and I was fully in actress mode. But I didn't have, I didn't know my script at all. I just went to makeup and I was waiting. What happened on your side on that day?
Speaker 2:It was one of the most challenging. With more pressure I'd have her hands, because we needed to create this script, to write this script, and it needed to make sense Like we needed something concrete. What happened? I stayed all day in the studio's hallway with the script supervisor, neil that fortunately, he helped me a lot writing the script because I would have never been able to do it by myself with that short amount of time. And so we stay all day in a hallway writing the script and every time we were writing like two scenes we were going to give them to the director and the actor, so they had to learn the lines and everything. It was like crazy, but I think that it's always a challenge that teaches you how to work under pressure.
Speaker 1:I remember you and Neil sitting on two small little chairs in that corridor with your laptops out.
Speaker 2:Just being fully focused. It was cold in that time.
Speaker 1:And it was cold because it was February, that's right.
Speaker 2:It was crazy. And then do you remember there were like those neighbors that were like complaining because we're making some noise. You remember they came out it's like you cannot stay here.
Speaker 1:When they were writing, they got upset so me as an actress, I was obviously on set and I was always waiting for the next bit of script to arrive and also the narrative started, sort of it kind of got tweaked little by little. So it was like a game of juggling and just like adapting myself as an actress moment by moment, really living it in the present fully but I want to know how you felt in that moment.
Speaker 2:You were like just thinking about acting and you were like stepping out of the production role and you were like how did you feel? Like you were like worried. Did you think that you, we were not gonna make it or that we were going to make like a shitty film?
Speaker 1:No. So I was fully trusting. I was really trusting the process, and I'm going to tell you why. There are two things. First of all, from the beginning of the process and the beginning of this creative adventure, I didn't know what I was doing. People started calling me a producer. You told me, cindy, you were producing, I'm producing, we're co-producing what? Because I didn't know what I was doing, because I was recruiting people that I didn't even know what their job title was or what they were actually meant to be doing on set. I thought I don't know what they're doing, but they seem to know. So the biggest lesson for me was just surrender and trust, surrender and trust. For me, this short film was truly orchestrated by the universe and it was like the only thing you can do, cindy, is surrender and trust your team. They know what they're doing, they know their job title, they know what they're doing, they know their job title, they know what they're doing on set. So just trust.
Speaker 1:The second thing is, as an actress, I actually attended the Jacques Lecoq School in Paris, and that's probably another topic, but this school was incredibly hard on an emotional level. I would describe it as both my biggest dream that came true, and my biggest nightmare. There was a very toxic environment in that school, but at the same time I learned so much as an artist. But one thing that I must say that training gave me is that you got to be ready to take notes. You got to be ready to adapt yourself in any situation. You got to work quick. And so as an actress, I can work quick, I can adapt quick, I can just change choices. And also as a dancer the dance world is, you know, you're also being put under a lot of pressure. So as an actress, I felt confident. As a producer, I was just like yo, the only thing you can do here is learn, shut up and learn.
Speaker 1:But I'll tell you one thing about me as an actress on set that day it was at the end of the day, so obviously from 7 am till 10 pm or 11 pm we were filming. We received the script and the lines drop by drop, and at the end of the day people are tired and we had to finish because I think somebody had to leave and also people were just like so exhausted and so people are screaming and there's just a lot of noise around me, but it's the most emotional scene of the whole film, so I have to be, as an actress, in such an emotional state to perform it. But people are screaming around and when I'm sitting there and I'm just using all my meditation techniques to just ground myself and cut out the noise, but it was, it was phenomenal that moment, because I had to be able to do it in like two takes, I think, because we just had to wrap up right. It's your favorite scene, the close-up make me cry that moment was really powerful on set.
Speaker 1:Is there anything else that happened on set that you want to share before we move on to what happened next?
Speaker 2:what happened on set. It was good that in that case, like phil helped us with the production stuff, because you were acting and we were writing, and that is good, that we found even people that were very like, they had a lot of experience, like the sound guy, tdn and the, and the makeup artist too. They were very experienced and everything seemed to work properly. Like, actually, I think that for being a challenger we didn't have a shortlist to anything we feel very quick, we were very quick, like we did a very good job Because, thinking about what we had, we had nothing. I'm satisfied.
Speaker 1:I remind all of the listeners, all of that literally happened within a week. I think it was like super fast. So then we filmed the whole day, then we had two days or a day and a half for the edit. So post-production starts. The other thing that is absolutely mad. So at that time we were 26, right, I think there were six actors in total and the rest, like literally every single department of a film you know of who should be a part of your creative team and all of your production team and the crew was represented, from gaffers to DOPs to. We had a stunt coordinator, alex, we had Lali for VFX like literally every single department was being represented.
Speaker 2:Everybody, all the roles were covered, and I wanted to ask you, because you know your first time producing the short film was your, you know, biggest challenge, what was the hardest thing for you to handle as a producer?
Speaker 1:for me the hardest thing well, not the hardest thing, I wouldn't say it was a hard thing, it was just the biggest learning curve. I'd rather do rephrase it as my biggest learning curve is that, well, number one, this short film. For me, I felt that within the space of only a couple of days. And then now, a couple of months later, because we had a longer post-production phase and now entering festival season, I literally feel, like I, that I've been doing a master's in how to make a film, and obviously that has the fact that you were more experienced than me and studied it. Obviously I come with my experience of life and my experience in theater and dance. But the fact that everything, our collaboration and everything that happened of how we set up that team, for me I was like, oh my gosh, like I literally have a master's in how to make a film, like it's freaking incredible. And also, in the beginning of this chat, I said I had to trust the universe because the universe was orchestrating this. But what was phenomenal is that I thought I was not ready to make a film. I thought I would need two years to be ready because I needed to gain some knowledge and understand the industry and blah, blah, blah. And then the universe basically told me Cindy, you know what, you are ready, hold on a second, here is your team, make it happen. But then my biggest learning curve going back to my biggest learning curve is I was trusting the process.
Speaker 1:As we explained, we went to a networking event where we attracted people like people wanted to become a part of the team, and there was a lot of human interactions that were phenomenal. But there was one person in the creative team. From the moment I met this person, I knew we were not really aligned, neither creatively neither socially, and that throughout the three days it became more and more clear that was the case. This person initially had a lot of say in the creative sort of brainstorm and the fact that things went in the wrong direction and then it went.
Speaker 1:I guess in every team there can be disagreements and stuff, but this particular disagreement became a sour one. But I'm very happy that it happened, because if that relationship, that creative collaboration, didn't go sour, I would have never learned as much as I did. Because I think if everything goes is beautiful and everything just like, if there's no like, there is no challenge, there is no, no hurdle to jump over. That's not where you learn the most. You learn the most when things go wrong and because that particular collaboration went down the wrong direction. I learned so much as a producer, I learned so much about a filmmaker. I learned so much about putting my foot down for what I believe is authentic to my creative voice, and I think I learned a lot about who I would or would not recruit on my next team and why this is important.
Speaker 2:Now that I've been in Barcelona for almost a year and I work with a lot of people, I know who I can trust or who I like working with, and that's good, because even when you work with people that they don't work the same way that you do it happened to me. It's good because you still learn something.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Just a little side note I've learned about you as a friend and a collaborator is that you're incredibly flexible and you're able to really work with everyone really, and I appreciate you for that so much. And I think why we also collaborate really well is that I can take the place of the bad cop, Because I fired two people on that team and it was not a nice thing to do but it had to be done. But I feel we also collaborate well on a human level from that perspective.
Speaker 2:Me. I'm a person that I try to be always diplomatic, because when you fight with someone or when, then we create problems and then like, for the sake of the field I try to create a good environment because it's nice People start to fight. It's going to affect the field.
Speaker 1:And the position of leadership is also to motivate the teams but also make sure. Yeah, like, sometimes you have to fire people, and that's not the nice part of the position as a leader, but it's also a part of the job description. So let's move on to post-production. Post-production happens. We end up with a 10 minute short film that we show at Bigoli Studios and our work was Actually it was longer.
Speaker 2:It was longer in the beginning. Oh yeah, it was what was.
Speaker 1:Actually it was longer, it was longer in the beginning.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it was what 11? It was 12. 12.
Speaker 1:It was 12 minutes initially and our work was recognized and appreciated at Bigoli Studios. Can you explain what happened?
Speaker 2:They edited the project in almost two days less than two days for the challenge and and so when we went there for the screening, they gave us three awards. We won three awards and I was like a super, like hopeful. I knew it. Like even the next day, when you weren't happy about the results, you were like, oh, I thought it was better, it's not go a lot of mistakes. So like it's a challenge to read this child you think you're going to make like a Christopher Nolan movie in 16 hours. I was like this is a great film for making it in 16 hours. And I was right. I was right because it won three awards and everybody liked the film and everybody came to talk to us after the screening that day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so funny story, I took a seat back because I was asked to take a seat back, because I was the lead actress. I would never do that as a producer ever again to take a seat back in post-production. That's also something I learned. But so basically I see the first cut or the cut that we submitted to the challenge just right before submission, and the editing team is like, oh my God, this is an amazing movie and I see it. And funny story, I hate it, like literally. I hate it so much that I've got tears in my eyes and I don't even want to attend, I don't even want to have it screamed. And then friends of mine gave me feedback and I think there's feedback that was taken on board over the last few months to re-edit the whole thing, but definitely for the 16 hours or the two days of editing we achieved something of high production quality that still needed work. But what were the awards that we won? There was Best Use of Object, so the feather.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the Best Use of Prop. We won the Best Acting Duo you and Monica and the Best Cinematography. Dan, it was a great night, guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was like a great celebration. And so then afterwards you convinced me. You were like Cindy. We have a great high-quality production here.
Speaker 2:I said I'm not going to say anything about the film until the challenge, because for being a challenge we made a good work. After the challenge, that's what I'm going to step up really want to move forward this project, make it look like good, like high quality. We need to put our hands and fix some stuff and that's what we did.
Speaker 1:That's what we did. So we obviously have our amazing editor, danny. We have our amazing VFX specialist, lali, who have been working like relentlessly, really, to basically make a total new version of this film, with your creative input, with my creative input, and so we had the final version. We even have more people on the team now, because we have an amazing person that is working on the poster Hamid. He's going to be on this podcast as well very soon. We have somebody that is going to help us for some posts on social media and stuff Like. The team keeps growing, basically.
Speaker 1:And then recently we had really good news because we're only starting festival season and we got our first selection when South Africa, south Africa, festival season. And we got our first selection where south africa south africa. We are being selected and we are waiting for a lot of, uh, other selections that the news will drop over the next few weeks and next few months. I want to ask you, john, what do you hope for this short film to bring to the world? So all dogs go to heaven. Dystop, dystopian, sci-fi, dark world. What do you hope that this film will bring to the world?
Speaker 2:I want to create a debate about the AI chip, all this artificial intelligence science, because, like as we show in the film, like at the end of the day, the AI is very useful. We even use AI programs or AI technology to edit the film or to make some changes. So, at the end of the day, ai helped us to make the film. But also I want to show people that if you abuse of technologies, you mess up the world, you mess up society, you mess up society, like we show in the film.
Speaker 2:I don't want to spoil it too much, but that it's about this chip, that it removes people's emotions. People, they don't feel anything. They don't feel more good emotion or bad emotion. They think that they live a better life, that they're happier, but at the end of the day, they don't feel nothing. They live a better life, that they're happier, but at the end of the day, they don't feel nothing. And so for me, even if in life there are challenges and bad things, but there are always also good things in this world that you cannot renounce you have to live your life feeling something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for me the most touching thing about this film is really the fear of loving, because love can hurt and is it worth to take the risk of being hurt? Um, I think for me that's a very beautiful sort of theme that is really apparent in the movie, but also, for me, this short film we could almost make a film of how we made the film, because of the beautiful stories that came out, the beautiful friendship, yes, the making of and also that's why I wanted to do this podcast, because I feel I want to give hope to people that, hey, you are an emerging filmmaker.
Speaker 1:you just have an idea. You can make it happen, like literally happened to me. In a few days I had a beast of a production and I made so many great friendships Like I feel there are collaborators that I want to work with again and then there are friends like you that are, for me or not, a part of my tribe and there is only like a big future ahead of us and I'm really excited about.
Speaker 2:I wanted to ask you something Because, for example, for me it's not the first time that I've been in charge even on post-production or moving like a film forward. Because I think that a business coach that I work with that she's very good she always says you have to give 100% of your energy to make the film, but also 100% to move the film forward with marketing distribution, because if not, it's not going to go anywhere. So how was for you, the feeling of moving the film forward after being made? That that's the hardest thing for every filmmaker.
Speaker 1:For me. I absolutely dislike admin. However, the whole process of distribution and looking for film festivals and stuff for me has just been made more easily because you and me, we are a team and, as the l, we both bring something else to the conversation when we are selecting film festivals where we're sending it to. So for me, that makes the distribution part is more easy, even though I would love just to start working on the next film, but that's also part of the reality is making sure that people can see what we created.
Speaker 2:That's the thing. That's the thing because, of course, you want to move this project to festivals, to the festival circuit, whether we go with a distribution agency or whether we do a self-distribution. But we also are planning to organize beautiful events and a great screening, like we said, interactive screening.
Speaker 1:And we have an amazing podcast episode with Kathleen as well that is giving us basically really beautiful coaching about how to set up an immersive screening for all dogs. Go to heaven. To wrap up this interview, john, I still have another question for you, or a last question, which is how did you come out of this experience at the end? Do you feel like something in you changed, as a human being or as a creator? After making this short, film.
Speaker 2:I feel like, especially as a screenwriter, that I got very challenged, so I feel like more confident and he helped me a lot to develop some writing skills to write so in a quick time. Also, I felt the story so much when I was writing it and every time that I watched the film I almost cried, like I felt I feel it too much, like I feel the emotion of the characters and I really think that it's one of the projects that I did that I love the most. Every time that I watch it and I think about the first version of the film that we presented to the child and I see the final version now, I say I don't know in this world who is going to be able to make a sci-fi short film with almost zero budget in such a short time. I want to know it. I want this person to come and write to you in the podcast if he's able to do it.
Speaker 1:But what I find amazing and what you're sharing is also you, as a screenwriter, created something that touched your own heart so deeply, because sometimes, as creative people, we can create a show, create a film, create a script, and it touches us a little bit or not too much, and then there are certain pieces that we create that really touch our soul and our heart really deeply, especially when it's being created so quickly. It's not always the case, so I find that really beautiful to hear that it touches your soul and your heart. Do you have any other questions for me, jack?
Speaker 2:I want to know what you learned the most about all of these experiences, what's your favorite moment or what's your best takeaway?
Speaker 1:For me it's probably about personal transformation, or I was maybe in a cocoon and I came out as a butterfly, in the sense that when I was in the dance and theater world, like I said, I did everything from writing to performing, to choreographing, to producing to. I was wearing every single hat possible. And in the world of film I was very intimidated. I always said you know what? No, I'm just an actress. I'm an actress and an action actress. I just work in front of the camera.
Speaker 1:But I feel what was really missing for me was the expression. There was a part of myself that I wasn't expressing. There was a part of my creativity that had no space really, and a part of my leadership skills that had no outlet. I couldn't express them. And for me that I'm now coming on the other side of making film is massively important, because I feel I'm not shying away from my truest light, like it's almost like I was dimming my light because I felt so insecure, because it felt like a beast of an industry. And I feel now I'm fully aligned with myself because I have this creative leadership that comes out and now I feel on fire to start making film and to call myself a filmmaker and for me that is massively transformative.
Speaker 2:Welcome on board, because we're going to make films until the end of our life.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, oh yes. Thank you, boss, for this amazing podcast interview.
Speaker 2:Thank you boss for this interview and chat.
Speaker 1:And, obviously, thank you to every single person that have been a part of the journey of the making of all dogs go to heaven, from the actors to the makeup artists, the special effects, the music, the sound, like the runners, like everybody that was bringing food, like every single person that has been helping us on this journey, is absolutely phenomenal. We will be putting in the show notes also the teaser or the trailer of All Dogs Go to Heaven. And if you want to work with John as an actor, producer or screenwriter, where can they find you?
Speaker 2:You can find me on Instagram. I have a YouTube channel or I have like a digital business card where you can see my portfolio, and soon I'm going to open my association, and so guys stay updated because I'm going to post and update and send information about all of that, because good things are coming and we're both on fire.
