About this episode

Filmmakers discuss the journey of creating the microbudget comedy 'Sour Party' and its eventual recognition by Steven Soderbergh.

After an earlier feature project collapsed, filmmakers Amanda Drexton, Michael A. Drexton, and Samantha Westervelt decided to stop waiting for permission and make Sour Party with the people, locations, equipment, and lived experiences already available to them. They discuss financing and shooting the microbudget comedy, surviving festival rejection, finding a distributor, budgeting for post-production, and campaigning through Decentralized Pictures until Steven Soderbergh selected the film to receive his support and the “Steven Soderbergh Presents” credit. In this episode, No Film School's GG Hawkins and guests Amanda Drexton, Michael A. Drexton, and Samantha Westervelt discuss... Turning the collapse of a planned feature into the motivation to make Sour Party Expanding earlier short-film ideas into a female-led Los Angeles buddy comedy Writing around the actors, locations, equipment, and personal experiences they already had Financing the production with a small-business loan, credit cards, deferred rates, and community support Moving quickly from the first draft to production rather than waiting for outside permission Shooting an 80-minute feature over approximately 19 days…

People in this episode

Host: GG Hawkins

Guests: Amanda Drexton, Michael A. Drexton, Samantha Westervelt

Topics covered

• microbudget filmmaking
• film distribution
• festival experience
• female-led comedy
• independent film production

Keywords

• Sour Party
• microbudget
• filmmaking
• film festivals
• independent cinema
• female filmmakers
• film distribution

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Steven Soderbergh, Decentralized Pictures, Chattanooga Film Festival

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