Getting a $5K Feature into TIFF & Going Viral With An 80 Second Short Film With Nick Toti

About this episode

Filmmaker Nick Toti discusses his journey with the viral short film Dead Grandma and his feature It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This, including its success at TIFF Midnight Madness.

In this episode I'm joined by filmmaker Nick Toti - one half of the DIY filmmaking duo behind the viral 80-second short Dead Grandma , the TIFF Midnight Madness sensation It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This , and the upcoming feature Homebody. Throughout the episode Nick breaks down the decade-long origin story of Dead Grandma , from an improvised game he invented while working as a nursery school teacher in Austin to a 35mm short film that blew up in Variety and landed him on this podcast. We also discuss how his $5,000 found footage feature It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This unexpectedly landed in TIFF's Midnight Madness, the unconventional theatrical-only release strategy he's used to screen it across multiple continents without a distributor, and why Nick is now trying to convince A24 or Blumhouse to fund a studio remake of Homebody. Topics covered include: The real-life origin of Dead Grandma and how it developed over a deade Co-directing with his wife and creative partner Rachel Kempf Shooting on 35mm film - and everything that went wrong before they even rolled How It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This got into TIFF Midnight Madness The aesthetic of Homebody : making a…

People in this episode

Host: Noam Kroll

Guest: Nick Toti

Topics covered

• micro-budget filmmaking
• viral short films
• film festivals
• creative strategies
• found footage
• collaborative filmmaking

Keywords

• micro-budget
• filmmaking
• TIFF
• viral
• short film
• found footage
• creative strategy
• Dead Grandma
• It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This
• Homebody

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: A24, Blumhouse

Books & works: Dead Grandma, It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This, Homebody

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