IFH 779: Breaking the Mold: Lily Yasuda and Michael Wolfe’s Journey to Crafting the Anti-Rom-Com

Alex Ferrari 1:54
Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis.

Dave Bullis 1:58
Under this week's episode, I have two people who decided to self produce their own movie because they saw that as the only alternative. They wanted to go out there and make something. They wanted to go out there and actually see something be made, and not just talk about it and not just write about it. You know, you actually want to see things get made. My first guest, because there's two of them. My first guest is a writer, actor and filmmaker from Boise, Idaho. She graduated summa cum laude from Chapman University, and we'll be making her on screen debut in the movie like love. My other guest is a writer, producer, director who has made his slew of short films and documentaries. He graduated with a PFA in film production from Chapman University. He is currently interning, I believe, at Scott Rudin productions, and he's actually a Fulbright semi finalist, which is actually pretty cool. So we're going to talk all about, you know, going to production companies. We're going to talk about film school hangover. We're going to talk about self production and their new project, which is on scene and spark right now, called like love, with guests Lily Yasuda and Michael Wolfe.

Lily Yasuda 3:00
Only good things. Marty, super great. He's actually more of Michael's friend than mine. You had him as a professor?

Michael Wolfe 3:07
Yeah! No, he Marty. So Marty was the production coordinator at Chapman University, where Lily and I both went to school and met for the project. And he has a lot of experience with crowdfunding, which is something we're doing for the movie we're making. And I had gotten to know him through through the school, and we were putting together a team of advisors for the project. And since he has experience with crowdfunding, he seemed like a logical bet. And one of the things we were talking to was Marty. Who do you know that we can tell more people about this kind of thing that we're doing, and he was more than happy to help, because Marty's just the nicest guy on the planet. But he did talk a lot of smack on you.

Lily Yasuda 3:49
He was like, Whatever you do, don't talk to Dave, because he's terrible. So we went to you immediately, and here we are. So we hope we don't get in trouble with Marty, but

Dave Bullis 3:59
Exactly you have to outsmart him. You do the exact opposite of what he suggests

Lily Yasuda 4:03
Exactly. That is exactly what we learned in film school, and here we are making a movie. So I don't know what could go wrong, but so far so good.

Dave Bullis 4:11
Yeah, I know Marty for years, and Marty is a really great guy, and I'm actually happy that you know you were able to be taught by somebody who not just talks the talk, but also walks the walk, because Marty's actually made films. He's actually crowdfunding things before for listeners of the podcast, they kind of know my history of you know, I didn't go to film school, but I did teach film school stuff, and what happens is, I have a kind of a love hate relationship with that, because oftentimes they hire these colleges, hire professors who don't know what they're doing. That's the black mark of a lot of a lot of colleges. That's a dirty little secret. They don't we didn't know about. But anyways, I'm sorry, Mike, what were you about to say?

Michael Wolfe 4:56
Oh, no, that's, that's absolutely that's absolutely true. Uh. Right? And just like, it's a, I think, I think it's partially because film is just so it's still very new to the world, you know, like, a lot of, like, really, only the private colleges have caught on to it, and even then, like, a lot of the people they get to teach it are, like, you know, they're, they're people who have tried and decided, like, I can't do this full time, so I just want to, like, you know, help other people, and it's easier for them because they're probably, they're not as hot in the industry anymore. But though it's just such a new concept, it's very, it's very touch and go where you like, you really have to do your research. And the Hollywood Reporter, which is, like, the go to for a lot of people, like, that's how, yeah, we found Chapman. Like, yeah, totally that. Uh, that's just like, you know, staffed by people who all come from USC and the bigger schools, and so they're just going to promote their own. And it's like,

Lily Yasuda 5:53
And I think coming from a, you know, Chapman is certainly an up and coming, certainly a recognized school, but, you know, a little bit a little bit newer on the sort of film school scale, you know, I think it's been great for us to, you know, obviously Michael and I met through school, and so that, in and of itself, I think the fact that we're making this movie proves that film school does provide a degree of networking, then can be really helpful. But we're also just trying to move forward with, you know, having a net of advisors, people like Marty, but we also have, you know, some other people on our list. You know, Dave Klein is a friend of my dad's, who's a DP on homeland and True Blood has worked with Kevin Smith, you know, and Heather shot clerks. Clerks together. Yeah, yeah, Dave and Kevin shot clerks when they were like, like 21 or 22 like, our age, you know. But having some people outside of the faculty sphere that can also provide some support and some guidances is really important. So it's definitely about about cultivating that network.

Dave Bullis 6:45
So you one of the questions I was about to ask too was, where did you guys meet? And you just, you just mentioned the Met in film school. So I wanted to ask that because I thought maybe you guys, you know, you two were friends before film school, and you decided to go there, at Chapman together. So let me ask you this, when you both decided to go to Chapman, when did you actually meet each other, and then, you know, how did you start working together like you are now?

Lily Yasuda 7:07
Do you want to do it?

Michael Wolfe 7:11
Yeah, well, so we, it turns out we lived on the same floor freshman year, yeah? Well, we didn't find that out until, like, a year later, because we didn't really talk to each other. We met in a like, I knew that you existed, but I don't think I'd ever actually spoken to you. I Yeah, I think that's what it was. But we met in this creative writing class outside of the build program, because you you just, like, you have to take electives, and you want to, like, build something that is general education, so it's something that's fun and sustains you. And we, Willie and I both just ended up, like, we had to write, like, a memoir piece. And Willie and I both ended up tackling topics about, like, our, like, sexual history, like I've told the story of, like, my first blow job. They were, yeah, they were, like, very unfortunate. They were, they're very unfortunate, very humorous, like, material. And we just, we just bonded,

Lily Yasuda 8:04
Yeah, we, like, we had to read them out loud. And it was, like, super uncomfortable, because, like, oh, who wants to go first? And Michael went first. And Michael Stern was like, so ethically, like, we'll say vulnerable in, like, an artsy way, we'll go with embarrassing and, like, a more literal way that I was like, okay, then I have to share. And we, like, talked after class, yeah, I'm like, had mutual friends, and then he sent me an email, like, I don't know, a few weeks later, pretty much totally out of the blue. And was like, I want to, I want to produce a feature when I graduate. I want you to write me something. And I was like, Cool. What do you want it to be? And he was like, it can be whatever you want. And I was like, that's really nice, but that's not what you mean. Like, what, what's the movie that you want to make? And he, you had a ton of ideas you sent me, like a doc. There were like eight or 10 things on that list, yeah, but one of them was a story about a girl that he was friends with in high school, he was really close with, and he was super into her, and she was not super into him. And sort of, I guess, the fallout of that, and like, sort of the, like, weird price you pay for one sided reciprocation. But then it became this conversation about, like, the friend zone, you know, and sort of what relationships look like now. And that seemed like an interesting place for us to start. So it was a pretty loose pitch when I started it. And this script has been through a lot in the last few years. So, yeah, it's definitely evolved, but, but it was, yeah, it was Michael's pitch, and I think that that coming together, I think not as friends, but like, where it was more about, like, being collaborators, yeah, editors,

Michael Wolfe 9:33
Well, and it was important to me, because I, I am more of a director than a writer, like, I like writing, and I like to talk about writing, but the actual writings is so difficult. And what's great about Lily is she just, is she's really prolific, like she's always writing something and she has to finish it. And you know, you usually you just start stuff and you don't finish it. And that's me in a nutshell. So to I approach Lily. Because she was the person who I knew could finish it.

Lily Yasuda 10:07
And that's kind of what you want when you ask someone to write you a movie. You want to make sure you have at least all of the movie so that's what, that's what we're trying to do as we move forward.

Dave Bullis 10:26
So when you mentioned the person who, who would never reciprocate, is that one of those typical people you kind of meet, not only in film school, but in all types of like colleges, in the workplace, where they're always there when they when they need something, and then whenever you need something from them, they're, you know, you can never find them.

Lily Yasuda 10:42
I think that's probably true. I don't think that's unique to film school, but I think the story that Michael brought to the table, you know, is less about, I don't know, feeling jilted or like, like, being taken advantage of by someone who doesn't reciprocate your feelings, but just the idea that, you know, romantic comedies have spun this idea that like, oh, well, if you're a boy and a girl who like each other's company, you're destined to be in love. And I don't know if you've ever existed in the world, you've probably found that that's not true. And I think just sort of mining the story within that about, Yeah, sort of the realities of attraction and intimacy and what that means, and that you can love someone and not be destined to be their partner was sort of the underlying ideology.

Dave Bullis 11:27
Yeah, yeah. No, I see exactly what you mean. I just, you know, I again, when I used to work at different universities and teach film stuff, there was always, you know, there's always a little friction sometimes and usually, that's like, the type of person, you know what I mean, it was always like, needed, it's neat, very needy. And then when they when you need something, they're just never there. It just as a side question. Have you ever met like, I guess, the the the stereotype, which is basically the, what I like to call the art school, the art school reject. And what I mean by that is, they're the person who is just, you know, makes everything they want they want to make is like avant garde that, you know what I mean, and they, and they, and I, dare I say, they almost where they want to wear, a beret that this,

Lily Yasuda 12:13
Maybe literally, honestly, not even the metaphorical beret, like, yeah.

Michael Wolfe 12:18
And they're lovely people, but they have no i They, they, when it comes time and you help them out on their project, they have no idea, like, how to communicate what it is they want. They just kind of just bark at things at you. And you're just, you just kind of, you're just kind of scrambling. And they usually like, you know, especially in film school and in the industry, you as and when you're starting out like this, you want to trade as many favors as you can. Like, that's my biggest thing. Totally, that's the kind of person where, like, they can't trade, they can't trade, they can't do anything. They've never even been on a set before. Yeah, they weren't even, like, they don't know how to be a boom up and why it's important to be good at boom opping and motivate a person who's going to boom up for you someday.

Lily Yasuda 13:01
Totally, yeah, we know people.

Dave Bullis 13:06
I usually have a saying, if you were in a class, you know, and you're in film school and you can't find that person, chances are you might actually be that person. So

Lily Yasuda 13:17
Definitely, if you're like, I don't know anyone like that, like, oh, other people, other people know that person, and I'm sure they could point you in the right direction.

Dave Bullis 13:26
When I, when I was, you know, working at different places. I there was a student project that this person made, and they were kind of, you know, in that sense, they were in that regard. And they would, they would constantly quote, you know, you know, they talk about Kurosawa films and this now, yes, and now I'm a huge movie nerd, so obviously I'll talk about that too, but, but it's just they kind of, you know how you mean, they, they shoot one thing, and it's like, oh, this is exactly Curacao would do it. Oh, my God. So anyways, the project they handed in was so badly done, like I could, I could do a whole podcast about what had happened, but essentially, aspect ratios didn't match from scene to scene. And I first was like, Is this an artistic choice of why you're going from, you know, all these different aspect ratios? Maybe, this is just something that I'm not aware of. And no, it wasn't a artist of choice. There was, there was a lot of that. There was a lot of sound issues. You're speaking of boom mic operator. There was a and there was something else. I want to say. There was something wrong with the coloring, and I can't remember what it was, but I think the color correction on the scene was so blown out as it was just like everything, it was like a hodgepodge of everything not to do in film school. But if I said to you, like, hey, come up with every stereotype of film school, that's what. This was awesome.

Lily Yasuda 14:54
Awesome. Yeah, well, and I think so much of that is, you know, particularly as young, as young filmmakers. Student filmmakers, you know, there's a desire to do something really big. Everybody wants to be Chris Nolan, or everybody wants to be Tarantino, right? If people want to write, oh God. And with all due respect, Edgar Wright, but you know, I think there's a desire to tell really big stories. And I know that, you know, I get off a little bit easier because I operate more on the writing side than the production side. But you know, I, I like to tell really small stories, and that's good news for me, because small stories are really producible, and that's very much how, how we approach this movie, like love, that we wanted to tell a small story, both that would not kill our our our pocketbook when it came time to pay for it, but that that we could really focus on, on telling the story well, and not getting too hung up on lens flares and car chases and, oh yeah.

Dave Bullis 15:50
And we've all been there to where we're, you know, they we're gonna make some movie that we absolutely possibly can't make, like, you know, a car chase movie or a time travel movie, stuff like that, and that's why, you know, it's just when people do that, it's always like, Godspeed. But you know, you're probably gonna end up hating every single second. Or when you're like, Oh, I'm making a time travel movie where we're going back to 1800 and, oh, there's cars in the background or walking, you know what I mean?

Lily Yasuda 16:19
You're like, Oh, it can't be that hard. We'll just need a few cars. And you're like, Those cars are really expensive, though. Like, like, a few cars can be most of your budget.

Michael Wolfe 16:27
Well, that was me. That was me with my thesis film. It was a superhero movie, which I now, like, because I had done the smaller stuff. And I was like, I want to challenge myself, so I'll make a superhero movie when, like, six locations, like it had VFX sequences, and how big was your crew? Our crew? We had like, crew of like 80 people, and it was, as a student filmmaker, you're leading a crew of like 80 people, and you're just like, that's a lot to manage. And you're also like, you're there's so many elements that you're trying to get into place. You can't even make the move. You're trying. You're spending so much time trying to make the movie happen that you don't make it good. You don't even, yeah, you don't make the movie. You just, you just kind of like, assemble, you just kind of throw a bunch of stuff on screen and call it a movie, yeah, at that point.

Lily Yasuda 17:13
And also, for the record, I would just like to say there will not even be 80 people on our set in total, including extras on this feature. So we're really scaling back on this, on this project that was, that was a crash course in like, what, when, what not to do, yeah, but I learned, you do learn how to stretch your budget really quickly when you're trying to assemble all those things. Goldfish for everybody. People love fruit snacks. That's true. Pro tip, aspiring filmmakers, everybody loves fruit snacks, and it has to be, it has to be welches. It can't be the off brand. Yes, exactly. That's our advice.

Dave Bullis 17:50
That's like the the Lloyd Kaufman brain of doing things, you know, the goldfish crackers and Dale bagels. That's the old Lloyd Kaufman special.

Lily Yasuda 17:57
That's the two major food groups, honestly, like, you get something crispy and something with cream cheese on it, and like, you'll be fine

Michael Wolfe 18:03
For my for my thesis, we had a night shoot, and my producer, she's wonderful, wonderful person, but she's from China, and she got bagels, and instead of cream cheese, she got sour cream. And it's like three in the morning, and you're you just want to go to go to sleep, you know, and you just try to work and so and so, you're not reading the labels. You just see what looks to be cream cheese. And you're putting sour cream on bagels, dip them. No, they spread them because they thought it was, they thought it was cream cheese. And Yikes, yeah. Talk about a way to wake up, though, better than coffee.

Lily Yasuda 18:40
That's rough.

Dave Bullis 18:43
That, yeah, that's that is, that is pretty rough. I don't know. I did, she was she able to sort of save herself, meaning that, like she did, she realize the mistakes she made and and she tried to make amends.

Michael Wolfe 18:55
She did. She did. She went out crafty for everybody. Oh, good, good. You gotta, you gotta feed your career. Well, yes, that's important.

Dave Bullis 19:05
Yeah, absolutely, you know. And before we get started talking more about, like, love, I just wanted to ask, you know when both of you are shooting? You know your student projects throughout, you know your four years, did you ever when you were out, out shooting? Did you ever get, you know, maybe somebody coming to ask you questions about, hey, what are you doing? And you kind of were able to pull the whole Hey, I student filmmaker card.

Michael Wolfe 19:31
Wait, I'm sorry. Repeat the question real quick.

Dave Bullis 19:33
Did you ever, like, when you were out filming? Did you ever get to pull the whole Hey, I'm a student filmmaker card? Like, like, if you're ever out somewhere shooting, and somebody asks you, like, Hey, what are you doing here? Like, hey, we're just students. We're making a movie.

Lily Yasuda 19:46
I think that's hard in California, especially in orange, where Chapman is located, because everybody does like everyone is on set all the time, like the residents of orange hate student filmmakers. which, like, is probably not unwarranted, you know, but for this, for this feature, we're shooting in Boise, Idaho, and even, like, today, like we did a couple of location scouts, and like, people are just so stoked. Like, they're like, What are you doing? And you're like, we're making a movie. And they're like, Wow, could we be in the movie? And you're like, Yeah, potentially. Like, people just think it's so fun. So I think there's a higher sort of, like, novelty.

Michael Wolfe 20:29
Well, yeah, well, in orange, it was like, You downplay the student aspect, and you just go for the we're young and hungry, and enter kind of thing.

Lily Yasuda 20:39
You do not say you go to Chapman, the people, the residents of orange, do not want to help you, as a Chapman student,

Dave Bullis 20:46
See, and that there's the, those are the pro tips that, see, that are like, you know, they you have to be in the know to get them. Oops, sorry, I just hit the microphone. Sorry, I was, see, I was so excited about that pro tip, I hit the microphone with my hand. But no, but see, those are the types of things that you kind of have to, you know, ebb and flow out of because you get, you don't want to say you're, you're, you're going to Chapman, but you also, you're always going to be able to say, hey, look, you know, if you're, if you're out somewhere and you're shooting without a permit and you're doing a gorilla style, you want to be able to say, Hey, I'm, I mean, I've done it too, where I'm like, Hey, I'm just a student making a film. What's going on here? I don't know any departments,

Lily Yasuda 21:22
Officer, yeah, well, that's why,

Michael Wolfe 21:24
That's why we're in Boise in particular. It's because they don't, we don't like, need selling permits. Yeah, there's not an emphasis on like in, I think in LA What is it like? If you if, I don't know if this is a rumor or not, but I've heard horror stories where, like, people will, they'll film gorilla style, and then in LA they find out you didn't have a permit. Afterwards, it can lead to huge fines, and, like, you can't use your footage, like, without being sued by the city. It's a, yeah, it's like, a big it's a big deal, just because they have so much production fatigue, sure. Whereas in you come out to this small place, like, like Boise, like, a significantly smaller where there's no, where there's hardly any film and infrastructure. I think, I think they don't even have like, film incentives, right?

Lily Yasuda 22:10
So maybe this is really just elaborate plug for people to come shoot films in Idaho. Like, surprise you got us, like, if you're looking to shoot an independent film, maybe you should come do it in in Boise. It's, it's hot and dry, and people are nice, and we like to deep fry steak like it's a pretty good time, truth be told, awesome. Yeah, awesome. Boom. We have one convert. That is our That is our mission.

Dave Bullis 22:35
I I'm here in Philadelphia, and there was a point where production fatigue started to kind of sort of set in. But then, you know, all the productions left the Pittsburgh, and now the only thing we have left, there's creed two, is here right now, and that's it. So it's like, that's

Lily Yasuda 22:51
not so bad. Take it. Take cream too. Yeah.

Dave Bullis 22:55
Well, it's just funny, because there used to be so many other things going on here, and now there's like nothing, and it's just like it has become just, you know, it's, you know, the people were, you know, wondering where all the other productions went. So apparently they've all gone to either Pittsburgh or and now, as I find out, Boise, Idaho,

Lily Yasuda 23:12
Yeah, surprise, we're stealing them from you,

Dave Bullis 23:15
You know. And I wonder too, if there is, you know, if there even, is there a Film Commission in Idaho, like, is there one?

Lily Yasuda 23:23
There is okay, cool. Tell you almost nothing else about it, except that it exists. But we do have one.

Michael Wolfe 23:29
I think they're waiting for their big, their big opportunity.

Lily Yasuda 23:32
La La Land, two that could be us,

Dave Bullis 23:35
See if I was. I mean, I mean, and Mike, you know, you, you being a, you know, a producer on the project, I imagine my producer hat starts to go off here, and I imagine there's a lot of empty buildings in in Idaho, not just around the Boise area. And what I mean by empty buildings is, you know, farms, old warehouses, old, you know, kind of like dairy silos, all those types of places. And I kind of wonder, you know, if they could be utilized more, you know what I mean?

Lily Yasuda 24:04
Sure, maybe not in our movie. But if you need a good like serial killer film, maybe this is the place to do it.

Michael Wolfe 24:13
They absolutely could. And the nice thing too, is like, when you don't have a town that has all the production fatigue is people will just open up and they're happy to have it. That the trick, though, and this is a discussion like when I visited New York, I went they the city has a like the Mayor's Office for film and television, and they're very big on educating so many shows shoot in New York. They're very big on educating the city about why film is great and TVs grade, and how it supports everything. And one of the things that they do is they train a lot of the they have a program that trains a lot of people who want to get involved in the industry, to create the infrastructure there, really. And yeah, and well, and that's the challenge with Boise, is there's, there are, there is a small team people. Willing to do it. There's just a small team, sure, you know, and so we are, we're bringing out some crew from California, and we do have the community support and a lot of people who are very interested in the arts stepping us out. But the people with the skill sets, for sure, are, there's a there's only so many, there's there's so many of them, and there's like, they're either on other projects and you're doing other things so you can find these places to shoot, but the project that you're making still is going to cost somebody, because you have to bring, you have to bring, just to bring, yeah, get to bring in the support network for it, for sure,

Dave Bullis 25:36
Yeah, that is true and but I, you know, I still think you know, again, that filming in in, you know, the small towns and stuff like that, it's always, you know, it's always an advantage, if you can use it as an advantage. And I mean by that is, you know, where towns where they're not actually, you know fatigue from filming, whether or not fatigue for people asking for favors or, you know, whatever else you know. That's why, if you do live in middle America, or even in a small town in California, whatever you can actually, because, again, you know people you know and you and people more willing to help you. Because if you live in a small town most of the time, you all know each other. You know what I mean, yeah, other than living in, like New York or LA where, as soon as you walk in, you know, hey, hey, you know, Hey, Lily, I want to film in your restaurant. You're like, just get out of here.

Lily Yasuda 26:19
Just know exactly, exactly, and that was ultimately, I mean, I'm from Boise, so that's sort of the short reason why we're here for production. But, yeah, just, just the generosity, and just people are so freaking nice. And you know, when you're poor and you're young, and this is both of our first feature, and you're starting out, I mean, you just, you need that infrastructure of support, and not even, I mean, yes, professional support of talented people that are willing to work for not a lot of money on set, but just people that are willing to bring you food, people that are willing to house your crew, people that are willing to, you know, we were freaking out. We didn't have our we're prepping our crowdfunding campaign on seed and spark, and we realized, like, two and a half weeks out that we didn't have graphics like, we needed a thumbnail for the video. We need reward stuff. And we were like, Oh, no. We're like, Okay, well, we need to hire someone, basically today, who can start work tomorrow. We can't pay them, and we need them to deliver, like, a bunch of stuff in like, 10 days. And we were like, Who could we talk to? And we were like, literally, no one. Like, like, students aren't going to do that. Like, professionals aren't going to work for free. We were freaking out. I talked to my dad, Dave Yasuda, who works, like, in marketing. He works in E commerce at a company that sells meat, but, like, he's done some stuff and, like, sort of the commercial and film space, and has directed and produced and done some stuff like that, but has done a lot of work in the advertising sphere, and reached out to his friend, Paul Carew, who runs a local ad agency, and was like, Hey, Paul, will you design for my daughter for free? And Paul was like, Sure. And so we got, like, a whole team of people to, like, do our graphics for literally no pay, you know, and you're not going to get that in LA, or I'm not. Maybe, if you're maybe, if you had better, better friends, but you're really well connected, you're real, if you're not me, basically, maybe la would play out for you. So

Dave Bullis 28:05
Better friends. Yeah, I like that.

Lily Yasuda 28:09
Yeah, Michael, get out.

Dave Bullis 28:12
Yeah, Mike, come on.

Michael Wolfe 28:14
No, it's true. She's literally, like, it's she's bringing all the resources to the project, and I'm just kind of coming in and going, Yeah, let's do this. Let's not do this.

Lily Yasuda 28:23
He provides moral support. Moral support. I like that.

Dave Bullis 28:28
So let's talk about, like, love, you know, I'm interested because, you know, I can just tell what you're you know, both. You're wearing a lot of different hats for this project. So, you know, you know, Lily, you're from Boise, so you're shooting it in Boise, Idaho, you know, Mike, you're coming along for the ride. So you know, and Lily, you wrote this correct. That's correct. And then, and Michael, you're directing it. I am, yes. And then now, are you both starring in it?

Lily Yasuda 28:55
I am Michael, who've been making a small appearance as gas station attendant, but I'm playing the lead role, correct.

Dave Bullis 29:04
Okay, cool. So just to talk more about, like love, you know, Lily, since you wrote it, could you sort of give us the log line or synopsis about the film?

Lily Yasuda 29:12
Yeah, for sure. So it's heavily inspired by When Harry Met Sally, as I suppose most romantic comedies are, but we wanted to get sort of a step further and very directly honor. You know, the interviews of When Harry Met Sally. For those of you who've seen the film, you know, and for those of you who don't, I'll fill you in real fast, you know. So When Harry Met Sally is like the classic rom com, about two friends who eventually fall in love over the course of, like, 13 years, or whatever, being together. But the backbone of the story is a series of interviews of like, old, sort of crotchety couples, telling the stories of how they met and how they fell in love. And I love When Harry Met Sally, but I think

Michael Wolfe 29:48
The tension of it is that, like, yes, they men. The tension of it is, is there these two people who are friends that fall in love, but it's like, men and women can't be can't be friends. because the sex and the attraction always gets in the way

Lily Yasuda 30:12
Right! And at the end of the movie, it turns out that's true, because, of course, they get together, so the interviews being all these various elderly couples telling the stories of how they met, how they fell in love. And I think the interviews have aged really badly. Like, if you watch them now, they're all of these, like, sort of sad stories where it's like, the guy is like, wow, I saw this woman, and she was so fine that I just had to have her. And we've been married for 100 years, and you're like, I don't know if that's, like, cute, you know, like, and obviously the interviews are intended to be funny, but they just, I don't know, like, if you wanted to go there, there may be a little bit misogynistic, but they just reflect, I think, this very outdated sort of idea of, like, love at first sight, like, then being together forever is more important than, like, being happy or supporting each other in a meaningful way. So that was sort of the impetus for the story. So like love is, as we've been pitching it, an anti romantic comedy about two friends who try to fall in love and can't, and what that then means for their friendships, for them individually and trying to overcome the can men and women actually just be friends and have that be a meaningful prize at the end,

Michael Wolfe 31:21
And it particularly plays on the gender dynamic, because it's from the woman's perspective, and how she's not he's into her, but she's not into him. And what like? Like, how she feels pressured because she thought she has this really awesome friend, and he wants something more,

Lily Yasuda 31:40
And she doesn't want to jeopardize the friendship, and it's easier for her to try and be in love with him than for her to tell him that she's just not interested.

Dave Bullis 31:49
I say, so the old friend zone. I'm a place I'm familiar with very, very often. No, I'm just kidding. No, but you're

Lily Yasuda 31:56
Like, I've been there. I feel that. I think we all have so

Dave Bullis 31:59
Story of my life, no, but, but, you know, so when you were talking about the interviews Lily, let me what kind of like I say, I always think there's, there's generation gaps, because I think each generation, you know, they have a different idea of relationships and love and all these sort of things. And, you know, I fall into the millennial category, I guess, are you millennial or generation? Y, I don't know, or how far are you on the cut off?

Michael Wolfe 32:26
We' re? We're on the cut where? So we're both what? Like, she you're 21 I'm 22 like, we're both on that, like, cut off, where? Like, I think the New York Times even had, like, a whole thing about it, where they're, like, they asked people our age specifically, are we millennial? Yeah, because the cutoff is supposed to be like, some people say the cutoff was 2000 2001 and some people are like, no, it's 1990

Lily Yasuda 32:49
And that's a significant difference.

Michael Wolfe 32:51
But we're like, right in the middle, like, I It's weird, because, like, the Parkland teens that are so big for their activism are being called Gen, Gen, Gen Z or whatever, and your isn't it? Yeah, yeah. And we're like, we're like, not that much older than them, like, they would have been freshmen when we Yeah, were seniors in high school.

Lily Yasuda 33:08
So unclear. Well, I feel like Millennials sounds snappier. So we'll go with that.

Michael Wolfe 33:12
We're in that weird middle gap of like, I remember what it was like to play outside, and I did that just barely, but, and I remember, like, I remember, like, before cell phones, yeah, but definitely, we've grown up with them. And for sure, what the expectation that smartphones and all that stuff, sure, and online dating and all of that stuff, yeah?

Dave Bullis 33:34
So, I mean, I think I'm, what, what probably, like, eight to nine years older than both of you, because I'm 31 so it's kind of, or, I mean, well, yeah, so basically, like, about 10 years older than you guys. So I'm kind of like the because I read somewhere that the millennial cough was like 1980 to 19 like 92 I think it was so like, I, you know, I fall into that category there. And I always sort of go back and I see how all these different generation gaps in this country kind of view different things, because each generation kind of is a is a lot different than the one before it. I mean, you have the you have the once in the 1940 which are called the greatest generation. And then you have the they gave birth to the baby boomers, and they they were totally different in a lot of different ways. And then you have the generation Xers, which, you know, which are even more, you know, different than their parents. I mean, it's just, you know, I don't think there's any country in the world that has such generation gaps as we do here in America,

Lily Yasuda 34:32
Definitely. And I think, you know, sort of the evolution of the romantic comedy, or just maybe how people see romance in general, is a good time capsule of that, that gap,

Dave Bullis 34:42
Yes, yeah. And that's why, I think, with the with those interviews, I think that's a good, you know, time capsule to have, because I think you know, you're looking and saying, Look, you know, this is, you know, they, they, they dated. I mean, look, look at how finding jobs are so different. Now, you know, back, you know, you hear a lot of baby boomers talk, and they go, oh, you know, I. Asked old Fred to have the steel mill for a job, and I got a job, and we're like, What the hell are you talking about? Like, you know, there's no, there's no steel mills. And if you go to a place right now and say, Hey, can I talk to somebody, they're gonna say, No, you have to make an appointment. You have to apply, blah, blah, you know, I mean, so it's like, it's all, it's also different now, but, but that's why, you know, again, we're just going back to the generational gaps. But you know, when you're so, you're, you're on season spark right now, or you're going to be on scene Spark, correct? You're going to be launching.

Lily Yasuda 35:30
We are live as of two days ago. So this is day is this day three. This is day three. Day three of our campaign. So we have 27 days to go.

Dave Bullis 35:39
So, so what are some of the, you know, the you know, the things that you've encountered, like, where you're planning this crowdfunding campaign, have you? Have you encountered a lot of, you know, unexpected things that have sort of come up,

Lily Yasuda 35:50
Aahh, I guess just that it's really hard. Like, I would say, nobody tells you, but everybody tells you. They're, Oh, it'll be really hard. And you're like, oh, but it won't be that hard. And then you start doing it, and you're like, This is, in fact, very hard.

Michael Wolfe 36:01
Yes, it's a it's a full time job in and of itself,

Lily Yasuda 36:04
But you don't get paid. You hope that other people pay the campaign. So no, but we have a great team, and like we have a we have a social media advisor, and our producers have been involved as well. So you know, again, it's pretty early on, and we've made good progress, given where we're at, but it's a long, a long and windy road ahead of us, I'd imagine.

Dave Bullis 36:27
So what is your goal right now?

Michael Wolfe 36:30
We're trying to raise a little over $31,000 and then the budget's a little bit higher than that. We also received a generous grant from the Alexa Rose Foundation in Idaho supports Idaho based artists like Lily So, but the 31 31k is the, is roughly the goal on the platform. Yeah, yeah, on the platform.

Dave Bullis 36:52
So, before the, you know, the the launch of this, did, I'm sure, you know, Marty was probably working with you on this. So, did you know if there's any advice you would give to anybody out there. What would it be that you that maybe you wish you would have done differently, or, you know, maybe just, you know, is it more time? Did you wish you have something else? Is there anything you would you know that, that you wish you knew that you know now, before you launched?

Michael Wolfe 37:16
Um, well, I mean, you know, it's, it's kind of, it's kind of, in a way, like the Pro, it's not, it's similar to the process of preparing for just to make a movie in general. Like, you know, you really do have to plan, like, there's the crowdfunding campaign has its own separate reproduction. You have to pitch video that needs to really reflect the movie. Because people are, they're watching that, and they're expecting, when they see that, that they're going to see what they're going to see when you make the actual move, yeah,

Lily Yasuda 37:45
And visual consistency and fonts and colors and graphics and all that, you know, I feel like we I think we did everything we could, which is not to say we couldn't have done more. You know, again, we're only three days in, and I'm already like, oh my god, we haven't done enough. But I think it's just giving yourself time to fully prepare and and just really going through all the specifics with your team. And ultimately, I guess it's about cultivating a cohesive message of like, so what is the project? Why does it matter? And who would watch it? And Michael and I, when we had sort of a turbulent road with producers, and so like, we'd gone through a lot of stages, of of pitching the project, of selling the project of, you know, who are we and why should we tell this and why this story, and why now? And I think once you've done that work, I mean, yes, you need to think about what you're going to post on Twitter and whatever, but it's more about that branding of what you're selling is what I would advise people to to think about,

Michael Wolfe 38:39
Yeah, yeah. And making sure that your your team in particular, is very consistent in that message, and because you have your friends and your family who are going to donate, and that makes up a large part of it. But then, if your movie is geared towards a very specific audience like ours, which is, well, you know, young millennials, then how do you market a movie to your friends and family so that they donate, but then also make that message so that it plays to the P

Lily Yasuda 39:09
I would watch a movie, yeah? Like your grandma would probably donate to your movie, but your grandma is probably not your ideal audience member. You know? I mean, I love my grandmas, don't get me wrong.

Michael Wolfe 39:19
But, and then your ideal audience member isn't exactly someone who's rich and has a lot of money. So how do you find them? Get them and so it's been a constant back and forth of like, where are we going online to find these keys?

Lily Yasuda 39:30
Yeah. So maybe the point is you should just make a movie that only really rich people would want to watch. I think that's your ideal film. And then the audience just takes care of itself,

Dave Bullis 39:42
You know, I think that is excellent advice, Lily. I think just having rich friends and just saying, hey, this movie will be for you. I, you know. And the weird part is, Lily, I, you know, because I get to talk to so many that one of the benefits of doing this podcast is I get to talk to so many different people not only in America, but also, you know, all over the world. And sometimes it actually happens where somebody has a very rich friend who donates a lot of money to projects. And I'm just like you son of a bitch. How that? You know, how can I get that? Because, you know, I'm just some schmuck here in Philly, but, you know, come on.

Lily Yasuda 40:29
Yeah, well, and I think it's also about remembering, and I say this, I'm really bad at implementing it, but in theory, remembering that as an independent filmmaker, especially if you're, if you're like Michael or i, where you're willing to wear a lot of hats. I mean, I can barely see for all of the hats that I'm wearing, but where you're wearing a lot of hats, you're doing a lot of work that you need to love doing the work, because 99% of the work is not being on set. It's not being on set, and it's not shooting the movie, and it's not like getting a beautiful shot, right? It's like, you're gonna, you're like, hey, today's the day we're gonna hire a production designer, and that needs to be really interesting to you. Or, like, today's the day we're gonna come up with a mock poster, and that needs to be really exciting to you, because, like, that is your, that is most of your job.

Michael Wolfe 41:13
And if people, and if people see that, yeah, after you love doing the work, then they're more interested in contributing. Like, you've got to be, you've got to be really open and, like, vulnerable about everything that it is you're doing, which is really hard when you're a filmmaker who's telling a story. Like, usually, you know, you you're a little cagey because you're putting, you're putting art out into the world. And, you know, there's a good chance a lot of people, everyone, has an opinion that's for sure, sure, and but if you're willing to just, like, what I've been discovering is you've just got to be willing to be very open about it, definitely when so, like, we shared, like our campaigns, like our our films, tone real, we're sharing, like, the actual process of, like, the nitty gritty of how we're creating race. And it's about

Lily Yasuda 41:59
You get, yeah, you get to watch Michael and I eat like, 19 frozen waffles, which is a pretty good time, which, in case you were wondering, like, don't eat frozen waffles when they're warm from the sun. Like, I wouldn't advise that. It's a terrible idea. So that's the kind of stuff that you just can't learn in film school.

Dave Bullis 42:19
I don't want you about the waffles. Yeah, I just some of the things you learn in film school and some of the things you can't and that's one of them, don't eat though. Don't eat the waffles that are, that are, that are,

Lily Yasuda 42:31
Don't eat the waffles. Yeah, I make that a T shirt. You can have that.

Dave Bullis 42:36
Oh, thank you, Lily, thank you. Yeah, I know we're running out of time. I know you both have to run. So I'm going to link to everything in the show notes, everybody. But just in closing, Lily and Michael, is there anything you want to say to sort of put a period at the end of this whole conversation?

Michael Wolfe 42:55
Yeah, well, thank you so much for having us on the show. It's great just know the talk and talk about the project so other people can hear about it. And you know, more than happy to if anybody who's listening, I know a lot of your listeners are very interested in working professionals, and you know, we're happy to connect in whatever week way we can with your project, but also to help them. Because the reason we the reason I'm doing this, and the reason I'm in film, the generals, because I love working with other people, and tying that into like love, I'm very excited about the crew. We've got a happy young crew, micro budget of 10 people post micro budget. So micro, you know, we're all wearing multiple hats, and I'm so excited for you, for everyone, to get to see the the work that we're doing. And I think what's, what's true about this movie, like, and it becomes a cliche, but, you know, we're here because we value working with each other, and we value the story that we feel like we haven't seen before. Yeah, and like, love has been very

Lily Yasuda 43:57
Very collaborative, very, very collaborative. And I think, you know, in the spirit of collaboration, of working with other people, like my, my takeaway for real listeners, or I don't know, just other people out in the art industry, like I was telling Michael, nothing makes you want to be generous to other people who make art, like desperately asking people to give you money. Like, again, we're only on day three of our campaign. And, you know, I think it's easy, as you know, whether, whether you are a working artist, you're just someone who likes art. You know that you see other people making stuff and they're like, hey, like, we need extra. Hey, we need $5 or Hey, and it's kind of like, Oh, that's nice, but it's easy for that to sort of into the background of your life and not then it you owe it to everyone you meet to give them $5 or spend your relay to become an extra but, you know, just little things of there are people in your life or your community who are writing a play and need a place to stage it. Or if there are people like, you know, I think making art intrinsically requires the help and support of others. And like, if you're in a place to support people, you have an oblation to do so. And I know that's something I was not very good at before starting. Movie, and even on a very small level, just felt like I was at a play the other night at Homegrown theater in Boise, and, you know, they were like, really, looking for people to help me, sponsors, right? For five bucks a month, you can become a sponsor. And I was like, you know, what, I want to be a sponsor. Because, like, I've spent literally my whole day sending emails trying to get people to give me $5 and it is so hard. And I think, like, you know, at that moment, I was, like, the least I can do is, like, you know, help them keep the power on so

Michael Wolfe 45:24
Well. And that's, that's what's cool about supporting like love is like, love is being supported by a community, like, boys, yeah. So it's like, it so, like, when people come and support us, they're supporting Boise, General, sure. And, you know, we're supporting them in tandem. It's, it's a win, win in that way. So it's really great to be a part of a project like that.

Lily Yasuda 45:43
Yeah. So I think to anyone out there, if you can help us out, that would be awesome. But really, truly, there's any way we can help anyone out there, if you're looking for advice or help or maybe $5 I have exactly $5 to give, so hit me up. You can find us our site. We could give it to ourselves. We could give it to ourselves. No, no, this $5 is only reserved for someone who's not you. Michael, so yeah, but Dave, thank you so much for having us. We really appreciate it. Yeah, if you have any questions or comments for us, feel free to feel free to let us know, and you can find the links to our social and everything in our seat spark at like club movie.com, and that should all be in the show notes. So, and

Michael Wolfe 46:23
That will be, thank you so much for having,

Dave Bullis 46:25
Oh, no problem, no problem, Mike, Mike and Lily, and, yes, everyone, everything will be at the show notes. Because I know a lot, you know, everybody died, or, I'm sorry, everyone ingests a podcast. They really sometimes are, you know, riding in their car, or they're walking to work, or they're at the gym. So, so they can always check those show notes. That's one thing. That's one tip I've always learned about podcasts, is that you should, if you're are gonna give, you know, like, links and stuff like that. It's always you have to put, you have to do the one two combination, putting them in the show notes. Because people, people, you know, people are busy. They're not like, oh my god, I gotta, you know what I mean. It's honestly out of mind. So I

Lily Yasuda 47:00
So don't think I've ever listened to a podcast, not in my car. So that is, that is sage advice as well. I'm gonna test you. I do like to text while I am driving the car, but that is not safe. I would not recommend that. So please, please haul your motor vehicle before checking the show notes.

Dave Bullis 47:17
Yeah, don't, don't click and drive, you know. So just put the phone down. Lily, Michael, I want to say thank you so much for coming on.

Lily Yasuda 47:25
Thank you so much, Dave.

Michael Wolfe 47:26
Thank you. Thank you. And I have to give Marty another thank you for introducing us, because great conversation.

Lily Yasuda 47:31
Big shout out to Marty.