They are the butt of many jokes, but some film podcasts actually can be a great resource for those who want learn more about films and filmmaking, or just nerd out about movies in general. My personal favorite is The Big Picture from the Ringer, with hosts Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins. They always have interesting commentary, interesting guests, and great interviews with various filmmakers. I’ve learned a lot about the craft just by listening to these interviews, often multiple times.
The guest on today’s episode was filmmaker Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell, Listen Up Philip) a frequent guest on the show who’s films I originally discovered through the podcast. A cinephile, with unique storytelling interests, who’s worked in both the indie sphere and for Disney, his thoughts on the industry, on movies, and filmmaking is pretty insightful. While the episode today was fun, it led me to listening to an episode of the show from 2018, an interview with Perry I had somehow missed.
During the 2018 episode, Perry talks a lot about how he works, and what he’s learned going from young filmmaker at NYU to making Listen Up Philip to writing Christopher Robin for Disney. A couple of things in particular that he said really stood out and got me thinking. At one point during the beginning of the podcast, Fennessey asks how a filmmaker in their 20s would learn what films would cost $50,000 to make vs. $200,000. Perry responds by saying:
“By making something where you don’t have 50[000]. Then you’ll know that when you have 50 you can do anything. When you have 200[000] you can really do anything.”
Then a few minutes later, he elaborates on this further when talking about making Golden Exits with a cast of well-known actors, but thrown together and borrowed locations. He says:
“It’s kind of an embarrassing thing to be doing on your 5th movie, begging for favors, but at the same time, it’s less embarrassing than someone saying it feels like you haven’t made a movie in a really long time.”
This is such an interesting way of framing the advice often given to young artists, which is to just keep making things. Keep writing, keep painting, keep making movies, and that you get better at your art with each project. Its important advice in general, but the practical nature to which Perry applies it here is helpful, I think. Starting with small budgets will help you make the most of a larger budget eventually, and plan your film accordingly. And working within a budget is not always glamorous, but it gets the job done and the film out there, which is often the most important thing anyway.
All in all though, the most encouraging part of this insight is not to let the limitations of a budget, or the thought of being a little scrappy with gathering your materials, prevent you from doing any work at all.
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