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Indiewood
A Podcast for Indie Filmmakers
In the world of social media, and fast-paced journalism, knowledge is abound. But with all the noise, finding the right information is near impossible. Especially if you’re a creative working in independent film.
Produced by Cinematography For Actors, the Indiewood podcast aims to fix that. This is a podcast about indie filmmakers and the many hats we wear in order to solve problems before, during, and after production.
Every month, award-winning Writer/Director Yaroslav Altunin is joined by a different guest co-host to swap hats, learn about the different aspects of the film industry, and how to implement all you learn into your work.
"We learn from indie filmmakers so we can become better filmmakers. Because we all want to be Hollywood, but first we have to be Indiewood."
Indiewood
Turning Challenges into Art: Indie Filmmaking, Courage, and Winning An Emmy
What if you could turn a New York City apartment into a film set, defy industry norms, and create a horror feature with your best friend? In this episode of IndieWood, we welcome the incredibly talented Gene Gallerano, an actor, writer, director and Emmy-award winning producer who has done just that.
Gene shares his captivating journey from the stages of NYC to the indie film scene in LA, offering candid insights into the creative and often unconventional avenues he's explored. From passion projects and collaborating on short films to co-producing the COVID-19 documentary “The First Wave”, Gene experiences highlight the relentless perseverance required to thrive within independent film.
Join us for a raw, emotional journey through the multifaceted world of indie filmmaking and journalism.
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A Podcast for Indie Filmmakers
More on:
IG: @indiewoodpod
YT: Cinematography for Actors
In the world of social media, and fast-paced journalism, knowledge is abound. But with all the noise, finding the right information is near impossible. Especially if you’re a creative working in independent film.
Produced by Cinematography For Actors, the Indiewood podcast aims to fix that. This is a podcast about indie filmmakers and the many hats we wear in order to solve problems before, during, and after production.
Every month, award-winning Writer/Director Yaroslav Altunin is joined by a different guest co-host to swap hats, learn about the different aspects of the film industry, and how to implement all you learn into your work.
"We learn from indie filmmakers so we can become better filmmakers. Because we all want to be Hollywood, but first we have to be Indiewood."
Hello and welcome back to the IndieWood podcast, where we talk about indie film and the many hats indie filmmakers have to wear in order to make those films. My name is Jaroslav Altunin. I'm mainly a writer-director. I've done cinematography, I've done editing. I've edited for 15-20 years and I've done literally almost everything under the sun in some little capacity. And with me today I have a very wonderful special guest that I've been wanting to talk to for a long time. He's an actor, producer and director. Right yeah, it's been called worse Gene Gallerano welcome.
Speaker 2:Thank you and director, right yeah.
Speaker 1:Been called worse. Gene Gallerano, welcome Thank you. Yeah, welcome. We have met many, many times through friends and, I guess, family. Now. Family, but we've never actually had a sit-down conversation.
Speaker 1:It's funny that our first conversation that we're having is recorded and is going to be on the internet for all to see, forever um dangerous, yeah, but so I, I guess I'm I'm curious to kind of learn everything about you, because I've heard a lot, but also we've never had a conversation. So tell me a little bit about you. You're an actor or we're an act? No, currently still an actor, but. But for the last couple of years you've grown into a force of nature, I think, and I'd love to hear more about how you went from wanting to be a creative to then kind of finding your path to where you are now, which is a true multi-hyphenate An actor who's acting, a director who's making films and who's a producer producing those films.
Speaker 2:Yeah, who's acting, a director who's making films and who's a producer producing those films? Yeah, um, well, as one of my mentors, austin pendleton, great actor, said, this business, uh does everything it can to uh, beat you away with a baseball bat, and you just got to keep coming back, and so you know here I am on this couch.
Speaker 1:That's funny. You mention that because there's a similar thing in writing where it's like you have to make a script so good that by the time it gets through the barrage of notes that beat it down into submission, it's still good.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can't lose your way, like your North Star, your voice, your path.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no, no, it's super easy to do.
Speaker 1:So when I first heard about you, it was 2018, 2017. You were doing a film with my wife and it was two films it was June and Mariposa which I thought were great, which were really cool, because you had you had built this set in some guy's apartment the director's apartment and it looked like an old-timey uh, what do you call homestead, right? Yeah, so tell me more about that. Like, how did you? Because it looks like you you're on set or like on location, but no, it's like some guy's apartment in no hollywood yeah, uh, that was with my friend.
Speaker 2:Uh, shout out will pashota, we're actually making a feature film right now. No way, horror film oh that's with Will, yeah, okay. Hilariously, we did build that set in his apartment. I am currently making a passion project documentary film where I have built a vintage pirate radio station in my mother's loft space. So, I haven't progressed at all or I'm up to the same old bag of tricks, I don't know. But yeah, yeah, those were short films. Acted and produced in those, your wife was absolutely a treasure to work with.
Speaker 1:What made you kind of just pull the trigger on building a set in a studio apartment, a loft no sorry, studio apartment in north hollywood, instead of like going on location? Or was it a budgetary thing?
Speaker 2:uh, was it a creative decision that you had control over, because it was just one angle, you know, it wasn't like the whole apartment yeah, yeah, and I think that was a part of it and it's like how do you, how are you going to go pay for a location that can be distressed and be beat up? And obviously, la, everywhere you drive they have, you know, call us for prices, um. So everyone's pretty hip to it. I think even at 19, when I moved to new york city I did, I don't know I somehow I got into as an actor, like the commercial world, into a bunch, a bunch of commercials. I think I was working at a bar and one of the one of the other guys that worked there was a filmmaker, and so we bought the like.
Speaker 2:First we bought the panasonic 100 dvx b, which is the step above is a dv camera and we're going to make all of these different, different films dv or mini dv.
Speaker 1:Uh, I think it was dv tape like mini, yeah, like this big mini dv. So mini dv tape for those at home is magnetic tape. It was like not a vhs tape, but like a small little tape that you put in a little camcorder and record whatever you want on it I had an xl2, canon xl2 which was my mini dv tape I shot on that for a long time.
Speaker 2:I remember that camera, yeah we, we bought it to make all these. You know we're gonna make a bunch of stuff and I thought, oh, let's just make a feature film instead. And and so we did, you know, like first feature on that. It's awesome. My wife directed and wrote that. I think you do those things out of necessity. Like I said, I'm making this documentary right now on this country musician named Joshua Ray Walker out of Dallas and I'm from Dallas, texas, and we grew up just really like a mile apart and I felt really I discovered him on Instagram and I just love this dude. It's not that I'm a massive country fan, I am Texan but I discovered him and he's just this beautiful, beautiful creature of a man and he's got this angelic voice and he tells these stories about characters. And so I found this guy and I was like, oh, oh, I would love to make like the country music version of once.
Speaker 2:Okay, with this guy yeah, I was like I'll do that, but I didn't know him. I saw him. I was going to europe to do a score for a tv series I was working on and I saw him on the plane I was like holy shit, joshua ray walker, we can cuss on this, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like holy shit, joshua ray walker, I got you. Don't know me, my name is gene ray. I was like falling flat already. I was like as soon as we take off, I'm gonna come talk to you. I talked to him for like six hours and I thought we just hit it off and I was like this is a done deal. I sent him my contact as soon as landon sent him all my stuff again, the full pitch, the full. I got every elevator pitch I could, but I was like we're gonna make something. He didn't respond. So I hit him up like the next couple days, hit him up a week or two hit him up again.
Speaker 2:No response then. Eventually I was like man, wow, something I must my like gauge was off. He wrote me three months later saying gene, I'm so sorry. When I landed I ran into some health concerns and he was diagnosed with cancer um, and so we had to cancel this tour and this is gonna be a big break tour for him and so he wrote me three months later, and that was this year, and he said, hey, do you still want to make something?
Speaker 2:I was like, yeah, let's figure it out. But now I had all of these, and this is getting to the question. I had all of these boundaries, right, I got a guy who's actively going through chemo. So he's going to A, he's got to do chemo and he's got to go down a little bit because he's going to be banged up from it B, he's on the road, he's in Dallas, texas. I have family my mom, my dad lives there, my sister but I don't live there and I don't have a team there and all of these things. So I was so I'm immediately, as you are as an indie filmmaker, you're confronted with all these obstacles, and I was like, what do I do? And so I happened to.
Speaker 2:I had this TV series that premiered at South by earlier in the year and I fell in love with the moderator, this dude named Bob Ray, and I was like Bob Ray, I love you. We got to be friends. And he was looking at me like I was insane, but he is a wild man, like genius poet himself, and so I texted him. I said, hey, I'm going to try to put this. Check out this guy. I'm going to try to put a film together. I don't know what it is. Do you want to come on the journey? And he went and talked to his wife and was like you don't know him, he's like.
Speaker 1:No, I met him at this Q&A.
Speaker 2:And he's like and she's like, and he said I'll go with him for a week and shoot this guy. I don't have any resources. I'm like I don't have any money, I'm just doing this. I borrowed a friend's camera, um, and I went and I was like, okay, let's, we have to start shooting something. What if I'm running through all the problems, like I can't rent a place, how am I going to rent a place that's going to let me open and shoot? I want it to be like I have a great production design and production value, but how do I do that? Every two, three weeks, every month or something like, and I don't live here, how do I do that if I don't have access, full access to the space? So then I'm going through and I'm like I can't do it in dad's garage because it's texas, it's 200 degrees, we'll die um.
Speaker 2:Mom's loft space where all the grandkids say mom, hey, I need to make a movie. She's a legend. Shout out to mom, um, and I was like can you move all the grandkids say mom, hey, I need to make a movie. She's a legend. Shout out to mom, um, and I was like can you move all the grandkids stuff out of the loft space because I got to build a set up there. And she's like for sure for how long? I was like I don't know a year, maybe like september 2025, I don't know. So I called bob ray and I was like, hey, I have this idea of like making a radio station and this guy was great.
Speaker 2:He happens to be an amazing art director as well and like this Bob, and so he's got all of this stuff, and so we just pow out a little bit and we ended up building this set. And now what's what's happened? By doing that is like we created instant access to it whenever we can. It doesn't limit us in terms of like timing. We can go around Josh's schedule and like his health situation and like jump things, and it also created this amazing value for us because it looks amazing, it's phenomenal and it's given us a language for the movie, which is really cool and like.
Speaker 2:You have to kind of roll with those things as an indie filmmaker, like it doesn't. The obstacles can be, they can prohibit you in some ways, but also, if you look at them as like what's the opportunity that I can get out of this? You know, and I think that's kind of how you have to look at it so whether you're in an apartment in North Hollywood or you're in your mom's loft space in Dallas, texas, or on a hundred million dollar set, you're going to have obstacles. Like those things happen, and how do you turn them into just opportunity for you?
Speaker 1:I like that because I feel like, no matter where you are on your budget scale, you have to be or not you have to be but the people who are scrappy are more innovative and they can kind of pivot on a, on a on a dime, I guess would be the right word to use and speaking of pivot and kind of you talking about all these you know word to use and speaking of pivot and kind of you talking about all these, you know situations where you make something out of nothing.
Speaker 1:It feels like, granted, you have like a lot of these pieces and you put them all together, but it does feel like you're just kind of pulling things from thin air and I love this mentality that you have of just kind of there's a feeling of like ingenuity there and I feel like that's the same kind of energy you bring to your journey, which is, you went from acting and you I think it was 2018, 2017, and you were just acting, I think right and then over the next five years, you did a complete pivot to becoming a director and producer and an actor and you won an Emmy yeah for a documentary you did during the pandemic called the first wave, yeah, and so you were telling me a little bit about this story, of how you kind of, if you want to share that here, if you don't want to, you can.
Speaker 1:You can, uh, we could pivot somewhere else yeah but tell me about you. Know you in like 2018 to you now in 2025, like, how did you bring that energy to your life and change your creative direction? Because I feel like we're all doing creative things, not because we want to like get rich and make money, like have a stable career, like you, don't become a creative for those things I want to get rich and make money and have a stable career.
Speaker 2:I just can't figure out how to do it.
Speaker 1:Well, you're doing a great job of doing it with your creative pursuits. So, anyways, 2018, you're acting, you're making. I think it was June. You made June in 2018, right, mm-hmm yeah. How do you get from June as an actor to an Emmy award-winning producer?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I had.
Speaker 2:I had made it one documentary film um called Starring Austin Pendleton which is the mentor that I quoted out of the gate here, um, and he was, uh, very formative in terms of how my approach to acting and the arts and how you look at life, you know, from the point of view of an artist and how you look at navigating a career and how you try and get a career. And so I had a really good buddy, david Holm, shout out. We thought we should make a documentary film on Austin. He told the best stories of all time We'd sit in class.
Speaker 2:This dude was the original rock contour he had. He's worked with everybody. He's got the best stories he's dropping. Talking about shouting out, he's got. He knows everybody and, um, you learn so much from from, from all of his stories and all the experience he's had. This guy's had a lifetime in the arts and it was amazing. And so david and I were like let's make a, we should make a documentary film on that old mini DV camera. And David's like you got a camera. I was like I do.
Speaker 3:I was like I do. I don't know how to turn it on, but yeah.
Speaker 2:And so we just started shooting and Austin was on board and we're like man, we can get the best celebrity interviews.
Speaker 2:We know that these people will show up, and so we started just filming with Austin. These people show up, and so we started just filming with austin and it is it's hilarious looking back on it now because the technical mistakes we made are just the absolute worst but it had this authenticity and this vibe of austin, like austin navigating the streets like he's kind of a quirky, eccentric dude and he navigates the streets in a really particular way and I felt like our the way we shot it felt true to that. And so we worked on this doc. I mean, it was a couple of years and we're trying to figure out, we're making a documentary and we have all these ideas and we start interviewing all these amazing people like Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman, ethan Hawke and Natalie Portman and Peter Sarsgaard, maggie, jill, jaja, blah, blah, like tons of people, and I was like this is a fucking shoo-in. I'm about to hit it big time so we spent.
Speaker 2:We do like a GoFundMe or some Indiegogo I don't know what it was for like $13,000. I mean, this shows you what I think like how much it takes to make a movie like a 13 whoa $13,000 and we edit the movie, we make this feature and I think it's like 80-something minutes and this is a documentary. This is a documentary film and it's like 80-something minutes and we submit it to every film festival. And I was like great, this is my fast pass ticket.
Speaker 3:This is a documentary on this character actor.
Speaker 1:And it gets rejected.
Speaker 2:From everywhere, everywhere, like everywhere. When I mean everywhere, I from everywhere, everywhere Like everywhere. When I mean everywhere, I mean everywhere.
Speaker 1:Every corner. How many festivals did you submit to?
Speaker 2:I don't know Too many. I spent a ton. It got rejected from everywhere and so I was licking my wounds and thinking what happened. This is a disaster and everyone's trying to figure out what to do. And I was, like you know, I don't feel like my total instincts were incorrect on this. I feel like there's something here and I just I'm missing the message. And so one day I got the idea I'll just take and I'm not an editor, but I was like I'll just take the MOV file and I'll pump it into the edit whatever the editing software is is and I'll just select my favorite scenes from the movie and just throw them into a timeline.
Speaker 2:And it ended up coming around in like 21 minutes or 20 minutes and I then I exported it and send it to the team. I said, hey, what if we repurpose it as a short film? And they're like this is a great idea. And so we, we repurposed it, we recut it, we kind of like, did it as a short film. And then it got into tribeca and it got sold to blah, blah, blah platforms and played 100 festivals and it was like a great lesson in terms of like, oh, something's there, it might not be right medium. So I feel like, in terms of, I learned a really valuable thing as an artist, and I feel like we always talk about finding your, your, your voice, finding your north star, and you do not get to control when that happens to you as an artist?
Speaker 2:no, you don't you have no control over. I wish it happened to me at 15.
Speaker 3:I'd be on a different ride you know, but it doesn't always happen, and so I had, you know, in terms of career trajectory.
Speaker 2:I think that was a really, really important lesson for me to learn, and you know I'm looking at I was always really fascinated with. You know, being an actor is awesome, but all of your power goes towards other people making the decisions to give you a job. I mean, you can be talented but you still need breaks, and you know and that's like a lot of the art. You really need other people to give you the opportunities.
Speaker 1:That's why a lot of, I think, actors now have their own production company because they don't want to wait for anybody, they just want to make their own stuff. You know?
Speaker 2:plan B yeah, well, they get bored with just being the actor and they want to like have some agency over the whole process and I totally get it and, um, yeah, so I think that was a great lesson and, and you know, I'm I'm acting and did like 500 black box plays and some great plays with you know some awesome actors and did some indie films. But I was always a little bit like you know, I would always collect all these people on all the sets that I thought were really talented. I was like, oh, look at this dp, I'll look at this sound person, look at this production designer. Like they're really fascinating people. They're really I can tell that person. It was probably like my first producer producerial instinct was like I know that person's gonna be special, like I know that person's got it. Whatever it is, I should hold on to them, like put them in my little to-do later purse, you know my little to-do.
Speaker 2:Later, man purse and I was like we're gonna make something, and so then I just started doing that with people and and it became fun and it became really exciting to in between auditioning and um, it became really fun to start making things and it it felt empowering and I really liked that part, like nobody could tell me not to do it. I mean I was crazy like we're spending our own money and sometimes I got like the seven credit card debt system going and my wife did a soap opera and god bless her. We spent all that money on another movie and I love her. That's how it works, yeah yeah, she's a dreamer and she's a total jefe.
Speaker 2:um, shout out to christina lind. Um, you know, in the in the, the industry shifted a bit and you have to. I had, um, you know, life, life also created its own obstacles, and I had a kid, and you know that fast tracks a lot of hard decisions for you, and so you have to make different decisions. You have to set that table. That table has to be set every day. There is no way around it.
Speaker 2:And so I found myself in a pretty heavy position. I was like I got to make money, I got to build it, but I'm an artist, I love this and I'm doing all kinds of crazy jobs. You know to like find a way to support myself and support our family. My wife we were out in LA and she really wanted to go back to New York and get her, get her, get her career back on track after having the kid, and she went back and stayed with some friends, got some jobs. I like okay, so now I'm gonna. I was teaching at usc at the time and I was like I'm gonna have to, I'm having to pivot, I have to make a decision here. And of course, the true god bless me little artist inside was like I'll go back to school and you did, you.
Speaker 1:You not only went back to school, but you convinced people to let you in when there wasn't that opportunity yeah, I missed the deadlines.
Speaker 2:I was like too late, you know, I was like I'll go for nyu right there's nyu matt. Like for the master's program, I was like man. This shows you where my like naive artist mind was like I'm gonna pivot to a career that can sustain a family, I'll go study news and documentary what up.
Speaker 2:That's like a dying field journalism um and I called the. I called the artist director because I've been doing these things. Like I got it, I got a little a 1080 camera and I'd been. I conned my way into being these, this one-man band for like cnn and pbs and some of these online um digital companies to go do really disaster zones. Like I talked my way into disaster zones and I would just and I loved it because it was so real and I started loving that part of it. I started loving that like the people in real circumstances and telling real stories and I love the egalitarian nature of disaster zones that would just destroy whole places and everyone was like in the same path and in the same footing.
Speaker 2:You know for that small moment and I just like the human component of some of it. I mean, I know it sounds weird, but there's just a humanity that was coming out and I was like, oh, that's real, that's nice yeah, what's the story that needs to be told, and I think not a lot of people have the courage to to go there.
Speaker 1:I mean, I remember it we was 2020 and you know we were pivoting as well. Remember it, we was 2020 and you know we were pivoting as well, and we heard about you and you're like, oh, you were in Hong Kong, you know like in the middle of riot and filming, which was insane. But also I think necessary.
Speaker 2:What was happening was a voice was starting to come out. You know which I had you always have glimmers of, and that's what you're chasing all the time. But you know, it's a real delicate thing. It's like that deer in the woods that if you step on the wrong twig it runs off. Yeah, man, how many times do I do that, you know, and like throw it out there, and I was never afraid of going after, like taking the risk and reaching out, but the panning out is always the part you're hoping for. Um, and so, yeah, I called, I called nyu, I called the art, like the head of the program, and I explained my situation and I said this is what I've been doing after the admissions deadline after, yeah, it's all closed down, you couldn't even apply.
Speaker 2:And I said you know, here's the deal. And I just kind of like, did my thing. And she, I was like, if you give me a little bit more time to talk, I promise you'll like me, I'll be a value add. And so then she was. She was awesome. Marsha Rock shout out, she was awesome. And, um, she said okay. And I said but the catch is I have a kid, I have zero dollars, I can't get pay for this.
Speaker 2:And I said, so you have to you have to pay for it and also give me a scholarship yeah, but they did and they did and it was awesome and I'm so thankful and, um, I went there and I, you know, I'm like great, now I'm in school, I'm in this nyu, I've got an nyu you know, I've got the scholarship.
Speaker 2:I'm like following it and I've, you know, journalism, super precar. But I loved all my teachers. They were awesome, you know, but I still have real problems. I got a family. I still have real problems. I got to set the table and I was like school's great, but it's not like, it's not, it's not filling the bank account right now. And so I put this resume together and I worked with the career counselor and he was an all right dude and like and he was nice, but I worked with him in in hopes that it was like now I get this resume and you're gonna find, help me find a job right and, of course, journalism the new, the new agent right yeah, I was like journalism dying field, you know.
Speaker 2:But I'm gonna get the job and it's gonna like I'm gonna see, you know, but I'm going to get the job and it's going to like.
Speaker 3:I'm going to see.
Speaker 2:see what I did. Here's a loaf of bread, honey, and I remember putting it together, working with him and sitting in his office and he was this really cool dude and he was a filmmaker, but he had this massive poster in his office of the movie.
Speaker 2:do the right thing and had these three actors on the cover, and one of them was this old friend of mine who'd been in two movies.
Speaker 2:One of the actors, paul Benjamin RIP, shout out and he was up there. And so I was in this hilarious mode where I'm talking to him and at the same time I'm looking at Paul Benjamin, who I've worked with, and I was like this is such a synchronistic moment and I'll never forget him sliding my it's like an american gangster, like denzel and russell crowe, sliding the coffee cup back and forth to each other and he slid my resume back across the desk to me and he said it's gonna be really tough for you. I was like, you know, that was like a real, that was like a quite a gut punch. I was like and so I just I think, I just I like, I think I left and I like went and walked the streets just for a long time and I was like, what am I doing? What am I doing, like? And you know, I'm in a program, it's cool to go to school and all, but I needed some, I needed something from that.
Speaker 2:Like I'm with all these me and like I had to bring my kid to a couple classes you know, I didn't have child care I was like that's cool. It was, you know, entertaining and but I never got to do um, you know, every, every assignment I had. It was a first pass and that was the only pass I had time for, because I gotta like try to grind on the side and like family and everyone else is turning in this work and I felt real.
Speaker 2:you know, I was getting like a little insecure about it and I was like, man, this is a. This is what I thought was the going to be my path. It's turned into a disaster and I was like this how can it get worse? And of course, then did, because the pandemic hit right and now school. So I'm like banking on this. I'm going to meet people at school thing.
Speaker 2:You know, and get this job and somehow I'll just network, I'll produce my ass off, I will crack the code, Someone will give me the shot. You know, pandemic happens. School goes on to Zoom. And I remember another. I was doing some assignment for class and I lived in at the time. I lived in a railroad apartment. My wife was pregnant with number two. I didn't know that, of course, but you know, I got the dog, got the wife, got the kid. Pandemics happening, this massive story is happening out in the world. I'm trying to do the zoom class and one of my teachers God bless him was like can you re record the assignment from a different spot in your house? And I was like, brother, I'm up against the wall, like I'm up against the wall in every way Like this is all I got and then my kid comes into frame and I was like this, is that the frame?
Speaker 2:And I was like this is that's like as good as it gets here. And it was dark and I like man, and all all the little shooter jobs that I was, you know, hustling for, canceled overnight and so like I lose like $40,000 and and it was burly I was, I was like up against the wall and I was like man, this is this is what, um, you know, the options are like go live with my in-laws in Nova Scotia or maybe go back to Texas, like this is, if this thing holds out for as long as they're predicting. And I was like hustling, so I was like shooting something in the Navy Yard. They're making PPE you know, for PBS.
Speaker 2:I mean I'm hustling but that's not paying anything, and so it was pretty, pretty bleak. You know, it was pretty rough and I was like this is not a good situation. And of course, the artist in me is like hungry, like saying the biggest story of our lives is happening outside. This is New York City. I was at the center of the epidemic at that moment. I was like this is happening outside. I get there banging on the pots and pans.
Speaker 2:I was like this is happening right now here. And I saw on Instagram um a one, this, this um uh executive producer, alex Gibney, who I didn't know I just followed him you know, I was following all the people during J school, like all the documentary filmmakers, so I didn't really know about said I'm making a, I'm executive producing a Matt Heineman COVID film. And Matt Heineman actually spoke at at NYU and I talked to him a little bit afterwards and he seemed like a super cool dude and he was obviously going for it. And so I DM'd him and I said I'll do it. You put me in, coach, I'll do whatever. I'll volunteer if that's the need.
Speaker 2:And so then I got a call a couple days later and they sent me over to a hospital and I got every shot on the planet and I was like wow, this is happening. And then, day one, so I'm a PA, I was hired as a PA. And day one I'm like I'm going to the most intense environment of all time. Literally I'm going to lining it out. And I was like, wow, I'm told this is the most intense environment. And then, like the shooting team came back and I was like this is interesting. Here I am again. It's an interesting moment, you know of like I actually remember I was such a geek I watched the masterclass of this filmmaker photographer, jimmy Chin, while there at one point, filmmaker photographer jimmy chin while there at one point, because I cleaned everything I like, got it up to date, but I was just they're shooting for 12, 14 hours and you know, and so I watched this whole master class was kind of funny because I would eventually work for jimmy.
Speaker 2:But they came back and I was driving the director matt home and you know I heard on the phone that one of the field producers was feeling very uncomfortable with it. They are having to carry the boom poles because it was such a tiny crew into the um, into the rooms and uh and totally warranted. It was terrifying.
Speaker 2:This is when you're afraid to touch the handles of stuff and people are like wiping down their groceries you know, like no one knew anything.
Speaker 2:The icus were like 100 degrees. They're trying to burn out the covet, you know it's, it's truly the height of it and um. So I heard that was happening with one of the team and I didn't know anybody, they didn't know me, and I just texted matt at like I dropped him off at whatever time, and I texted him at 1 am and said I'll do it. And he, uh, he sent me a text, me like okay, okay, well, let's see. And then, like five hours later, he said okay, you're in, and uh. And so I drove in and I went in with um, I went in with uh, a cameraman, um, one of my absolute soul brother, mentor figures, ross McDonald, shout out Um, we went into the ICUs for about eight hours that morning and then we went into those morgue trucks for the second eight hours.
Speaker 2:I was in the morgue and we were like watching the pallets of bodies going into the 18 wheelers that you saw on the news and I was like holy shit, this is a wild ride. And I called the, you know, and I called the one of the producers and the head of Matt's company and I said listen. And I went home and I was terrified. I was like I'm just probably gonna die tomorrow and I'm gonna. I just brought it home to my wife and I was scared to breathe and you know, you didn't know anything.
Speaker 2:I was like bleaching, you know, like basically hard scrubbing with soft bleach you know, I just didn't, you didn't know anything it was terrifying and like, and I called him the next morning. I said, listen, I'll do this, um, and I felt like it was really important. I did feel that and I was like I'll do this, but you need to give me an apartment and a car today, because I can't go home to my family and I think that alerted them. They had no idea who I was.
Speaker 2:They thought I was some like NYU kid no, and I was like I got and they're like, wait, whoa, and they're good people and so like, wait, this guy, gene's got a family, holy shit, like. And so they took care of me, they're awesome and um and like we went after it and I don't think there was anybody who spent more time in the hospitals than me. Like I rotated with a lot of the DPs like the best DPs on the planet, like best producers on the planet. Matt May directed this film and I think that that became is going to be the historic record for that time and yeah, it won, like emmy, and I think it was actually too, it probably should have won every award. I think it was too raw for people. I think it was too close to home for people to want to accept it.
Speaker 2:like who wants to watch that movie. I don't want to watch that movie still, but like I'm close, I'm so close with the, the, the families and the, the nurses and the nurse families and the doctors that we're involved with and their families, and like we have this massive. We made this this massive. We called just the first wave family and it was amazing because we went through all of this wild stuff together that very few other people were going through. I mean, I'm not like number one at anything in my life, but I think I'm probably like top three people to spend that many hours during that time in the hospitals like media people and uh, I'm probably pretty far up there. Uh, and it was a formative experience and I knew what it was and I felt it and you know, there were days I'd just be sobbing inside my like masks and just filling my N95 up with snot. You're not afraid to touch your face.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so it was wild, but it felt like you know, coming on as a producer in that film felt like a big, like a real big switch and I'm eternally grateful to that whole team and to Matt and just everybody that's a part of that and given me that opportunity. I was talking to some kid this morning and who actually is at NYU now and I spoke to their class and he said I did transcriptions on the first wave and I was like oh wow.
Speaker 3:You know, of course we didn't meet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like we didn't meet anybody, we're all isolated and I was like in the hospital and he's who knows where he was and and it was funny I said I told him he was like how do I, how do I get the opportunity? I said, well, listen, we're different. I was older, everyone's on their own journey and I was like I've, you know, I heard one of my, one of my friends that was an actor, was like got his big break at you know, whatever age, and he's like they called me an overnight success and he's like I've been doing this 25 years.
Speaker 2:It took 25 years to get an overnight success yeah, and I felt like that was a big moment for me, but I earned it. I was ready for that. It could have been a lot of things that happened to be that, but I was exactly the right person for them. There's no, I'm convinced there's nobody that would have been better than me at that job. You're right and um, and I was also very grateful for the opportunity to express that through my work and through my. You know, it is an art, and producing is an art in a lot of ways too, and it's a human art and there's a lot of components to it. But it was a yeah, it was a. It was a formative moment and built off a lot of work and it opened a lot of doors for me and opened doors with like.
Speaker 2:The next job I went to was with Jimmy Chin and Chai Vassarelli, who direct the Oscar winners for Free Solo, and I produced a 10 part series for them right after that and I was like, wow, this is amazing, working with, like the greatest adventure athletes in the world. And then, like, I did another movie with Matt, which is like in a TV series, then another TV series with Jimmy and Chai and a TV series and another TV series with Jimmy and Chai and so like it really like allowed uh me to go full expression in this world and working with the best documentary filmmakers and like filmmakers on the planet. Um, and you just learn so much from that and it was. If you have the talent and if you get the right opportunity, you get to exceed that and like it all meets and that's really exciting and doesn't happen for everybody and it's a really tough. God bless, everybody who's in wants to be in the arts.
Speaker 1:it's an affliction you gotta have it is, it is um yeah as our, as one of my other mentors, carl beery shout outs used to say it's an affliction you know that's a good label for it, because I feel like, uh, we're all a little sick, not to to kind of piggyback off the COVID conversation. We don't want to do anything else because we are afflicted. Yeah, coming back to what that student asked you, he's like how do I find the opportunities? And I think, hearing your journey, hearing everything you've been through, it's less about finding the opportunities because they're there. It's about knowing when to take the opportunities, or having the courage to take opportunities. You know, because you've prepared your whole life for that one moment where you said, you know, tap me in. And they did, and you know you told an incredible story and you're right.
Speaker 1:I think it's going to be part of the historic record. Um and uh, I think we all should be thankful for that, that we have that look inside a very scary moment in history, uh. So, yeah, I, I feel like, for those listening at home, the opportunities are there and sometimes they're difficult and sometimes they're scary and sometimes you don't know what they are, but you need to take them, you know, yeah, and with that I think we'll end episode one and uh, we'll come back next week and we'll talk about creative pivoting, because I, I feel like you've done a lot of that in your life, but also in your creative projects, and I think there's a lot to learn there. Yeah, so, gene, thank you for coming on the pod yeah, and then we'll see you next week.
Speaker 1:All Bye, everyone. Thank you for joining us at the CFA studio for another series of the podcast. You can find the podcast wherever you find your podcasts or on YouTube at the cinematography for actors YouTube channel. See you next week.
Speaker 3:From the CFA network. Cinematography for actors is bridging the gap through education and community building. Find out about us and listen to our other podcast at cinematographyforactorscom. Cinematography for Actors Institute is a 501c3 non-profit. For more information on fiscal sponsorship donations because we're tax exempt now, so it's a tax write-off and upcoming education, you can email us at contactatcinematographyforactorscom. Thanks,