There is a dangerous idea floating around filmmaking that says we need permission before we can begin. Permission from a film school. Permission from a producer. Permission from an agent, financier, studio, distributor, or some mysterious gatekeeper sitting behind a desk deciding who gets to become a filmmaker. But the career of Michael Rousselet offers a much more useful perspective. Michael is a filmmaker, screenwriter, and member of the comedy collective behind Five Second Films and Dude Bro Party Massacre III, whose career was built largely by repeatedly creating work rather than waiting for someone to authorize it. His journey is a reminder that filmmaking careers are often constructed one ridiculous little project at a time.
Michael went to USC for screenwriting, but one of his biggest takeaways from film school wasn’t a secret formula for writing movies. It was the people. Film school gave him a community of filmmakers who were just as obsessed with movies as he was. Writers met cinematographers. Directors met actors. People interested in lighting, sound, editing, and production began finding each other. That network eventually became what Michael describes as his filmmaking family—the people he continued creating with long after graduation. He is also clear that film school isn’t mandatory. The technical information can be learned elsewhere. What matters is finding collaborators and creating an environment where you can make mistakes, learn from them, and keep going.
That willingness to make things eventually became Five Second Films. The idea sounds almost absurdly simple: create a complete film lasting approximately five seconds. But simplicity forced discipline. Every joke had to be distilled to its essential ingredients. Michael had notebooks filled with tiny ideas that weren’t substantial enough to become full screenplays, and suddenly those ideas had somewhere to live. After graduating, the group made the commitment even crazier: release a new Five Second Film every Monday through Friday. They maintained that schedule for roughly six years and produced more than 1,500 films. Initially, almost nobody watched. They might get fifteen or thirty views. Then one film hit the front page of Reddit, subscribers arrived, and something began changing.
What makes that story valuable isn’t the number 1,500. It’s what happened during those 1,500 repetitions. The filmmakers were effectively putting themselves through another film school. Every weekend brought another opportunity to write, direct, perform, light, shoot, edit, and solve problems. When occasional commercial work generated money, they invested it back into production equipment rather than simply pocketing it. They bought lights and microphones. They scavenged usable equipment. Their house slowly transformed into a makeshift production studio. Most importantly, they were building an audience while simultaneously building their filmmaking muscles. By the time they wanted to make a feature, they had something many aspiring filmmakers don’t have: years of completed work proving they could actually execute.
That became critical when they tried to make Dude Bro Party Massacre III. They initially attempted the traditional path. They wrote the movie and approached producers, but many didn’t understand the concept or considered financing a feature from an online sketch-comedy group too risky. Instead of allowing those passes to kill the project, the filmmakers turned toward the audience they had spent years developing. Their Kickstarter raised roughly a quarter-million dollars. Independent financier Keith Calder of Snoot Entertainment then offered to match the financing after seeing their body of work, audience, and crowdfunding momentum. The feature existed because years of seemingly tiny projects had accumulated into evidence. They hadn’t merely told someone they could make a movie. They had spent years demonstrating it.
Michael’s approach to screenwriting comes from the same philosophy. He starts by understanding the story he wants to tell, particularly where it begins and where he thinks it ends. Then he dumps ideas into a document without worrying initially about making everything elegant. Those scattered thoughts get arranged chronologically, gaps are filled, and eventually the mess becomes an outline substantial enough to attack in screenplay form. With collaborators, note cards can help visualize character relationships and rising action. But perhaps his strongest writing lesson is even simpler: stop demanding perfection from the first draft. “You can’t be afraid to write down a line that you know sucks,” he explains. The scene can be terrible. The dialogue can be obvious. Write it anyway. Finish the draft, then return with what he calls your “bullshit detector” and rewrite it.
There is also a fascinating lesson in how Michael talks about intentionally making a B movie. Dude Bro Party Massacre III wasn’t created by filmmakers sneering at the movies they were parodying. They genuinely loved 1980s horror films. That affection mattered because intentionally making something “bad” can easily become forced. Michael argues that the comedy needs sincerity underneath it. The filmmakers still cared about gore, scares, characters, motivation, and story. One of their biggest breakthroughs came when they realized their supposedly heroic dude bros were actually terrible people and that the killer, Motherface, could see herself as justified. Suddenly the antagonist had an understandable perspective and the third act began falling into place. Even inside an outrageous horror comedy, basic dramatic principles still mattered.
Perhaps the most useful lesson arrives near the end of the conversation when Michael talks directly to filmmakers preparing their first feature. Don’t write forty speaking roles if you don’t have the resources for forty actors. Don’t casually fill the screenplay with fifty locations, animals, children, fire, water, complicated stunts, and other elements that create enormous production requirements. Dude Bro did many of those things, and Michael knows firsthand how difficult they made the production. His advice is beautifully practical: write for what you have. Three actors and a few locations can still produce an extraordinary film. Your first feature doesn’t need the logistical footprint of Lawrence of Arabia.
That may be the thread connecting everything Michael Rousselet discusses. Make the thing. Finish the screenplay. Shoot the short. Learn why the lighting didn’t work. Fix the sound next time. Find people who are as obsessed with movies as you are. Build an audience instead of assuming one will magically appear when your feature is finished. Accept that your first draft will contain garbage. Accept that your first productions will contain mistakes. Then make another one. Filmmaking doesn’t become easier because we wait until we’re ready. We become filmmakers because we keep doing the work.
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Alex Ferrari 1:32
Enjoy today's episode with guest host Dave Bullis.
Dave Bullis 1:55
So on today's show, once I heard of the movie, I knew I had to see it, and once I saw it, I knew I had talked to the guys who made it. So on today's show, I have one of those guys. The movie is Dude Bro Party Massacre III Yes, you heard me correctly. And the guy is Michael Rousselet. Michael is not only one of the writers and directors of Dude Bro Party Massacre Three, but he's also the main reason that the room was such a cult hit, because without him actually finding it and writing all about it and telling everyone to go see it, the room probably would have died out. So this guy has gotten himself into the cultural zeitgeist just by finding the room. So here we go with Michael Rousselet. Hey, Michael, I want to say thank you so much for joining us. How are you doing out there at what are you in now? L.A. Right?
Michael Rousselet 2:44
Yeah. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm out in L.A. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. Yeah, I'm in sunny California. Although I think it's kind of raining right now, so that's really nice.
Dave Bullis 2:55
You know, it's snowing right here in Philadelphia.
Michael Rousselet 2:57
Oh, that's beautiful. You should send some of that back. Put it in an envelope, mail it.
Dave Bullis 3:02
Oh, you know that's a good idea. I could make like a million dollars off.
Michael Rousselet 3:04
Yes, selling selling snow.
Dave Bullis 3:09
It's funny. I was actually out in this, and like every time I had to step foot outside, it was getting worse and worse. I was like, it's like a sitcom where the guy goes inside and it like it starts to ease up just a tad, and as soon as he's getting ready to leave, it just comes down even harder.
Michael Rousselet 3:23
Great.
Dave Bullis 3:25
So, Michael, you know, I wanted to get started. You know, by asking about your background, you know, I want-I always ask this this one question. That is, did you go to film school?
Michael Rousselet 3:32
Yes, I did go to film school. I've been making short little films ever since I got my hands on my dad's little video camera in high school, and yeah, I was just making stuff all through high school, and and went to film school at USC in the screenwriting program.
Dave Bullis 3:51
So when you were shooting stuff, you know, growing up, were you shooting it on all sorts of like different formats, like VHS, and and I'm sure you know other formats that are escaping it, like mini DV and stuff like that?
Michael Rousselet 4:03
Yeah, there was one of the really old cameras. It was kind of I can't remember the name of it. It was like this mini VHS. It was a to play it on a VCR. You had to put the really tiny VHS into a bigger VHS to play it on the VCR. It's basically that camera that Marty McFly has in Back to the Future One, that little red guy, and that's actually in Dude Bro. So that's I guess kind of how I started was with that camera, and then you know moved up to mini DV and was like high eight mini DV, and not as fucking badass and sexy as the cameras are now. You know, it's like God. I feel like an old man. It's like goddamn your kids in high school with your, you know, red epics and phantom cameras and 4K and 8K. It's nuts. Shit looks great now, but everything that you know, kids growing up are shooting. It just it looks professional quality. Yeah.
Dave Bullis 5:00
Seriously, it's even even like fight videos you see. And some guy just pulls out his phone. Yeah, it's like you know, it's like my God, the quality is amazing. I can read like the stuff in the background. Like it's um, it's unbelievable. Yeah. Uh, you know, I think you know, I remember that we were we were talking about. I think that was called VHS C, and I think that was the yeah that we needed a bigger VHS to put it in, almost like a ship.
Michael Rousselet 5:23
Yeah, yeah, that's what I started shooting on. You know, my dad would just take home videos, and he'd let me run around with the camera, and I just thought it was a lot of fun. Originally, growing up, I wanted to be a doctor, so I studied medicine, and I saved up and bought a skeleton, like a anatomical, like a medical, like a not a real one, but a fucking a full, full like five and a half foot tall skeleton pulling weeds out of the backyard, and I had that in my room growing up. It's kind of an odd kid, but I've always been a fan of horror films in the macabre, so I thought it was kind of funny and suiting to have, and as I grew up and got older, I I felt I was like, ah, medicine and surgeries-it's-it's too serious for me. I don't want to have that responsibility. So my other passion was films and movies. So I thought that would be safer instead of you know put a camera in my hand instead of a scalpel.
Dave Bullis 6:21
You know, I actually have a friend of mine who graduated with an MD. He for spinal surgery. He was going to be an orthopedic surgeon, and he started doing his residency, and decided he wanted to be a screenwriter.
Michael Rousselet 6:36
Amazing
Dave Bullis 6:38
And, and it and I mean I ended up meeting him through the through a TV pilot program, and we just got to talking. I'm like, "What? You were an orthopedic surgeon? And he's like, "Oh yeah. He's like, "I can actually go right now. I'm board. He's like, "I'm certified in everything. Like they they were they were calling him to ask him if he could come in and do like, "Hey, could you come in to to do some surgery on the ninth? He's like, "No way! You kidding?
Michael Rousselet 7:00
Oh my God!
Dave Bullis 7:02
So
Michael Rousselet 7:03
He's just racking up student debt. I just when I grow up, I just want to have debt. I'm going to go to med school and not be a doctor. I'm going to go to film school and you know just keep keep. Oh man, that's wild. Good for him. Follow your dreams.
Dave Bullis 7:19
Yeah, and so you know you're you you went to film school
Michael Rousselet 7:22
Yes,
Dave Bullis 7:23
And you you got you went to USC for for screenwriting you said?
Michael Rousselet 7:26
Screenwriting, yeah. I actually didn't get accepted the first time I applied. I was an idiot, and I only applied to one college out of high school. I was like, it's USC or nothing, and I totally didn't get in. I was like, ah, shit. And so then I went to a community college for a couple years to build up some credits to transfer into like a UCLA or UC program college, and and then I decided to apply to USC again out of spite. And everything I wrote was pretty cynical and and and not I wouldn't say condescending, but I definitely had a sharp tongue and opinion about some things. I was like, ah, here you go. Is your fucking application, and I got in. And I was like, what the fuck? Super weird.
Dave Bullis 8:08
Did they say anything to you about it? Did they say Michael?
Michael Rousselet 8:10
No, you don't get any feedback on on what you write. You just get, you know, I guess the the the best feedback you can get in is getting accepted. So yeah, I did that, and and and I think the the best experience, you know, the best thing I got out of film school was meeting all my friends who I continue to make films with, and I think you know you don't need to go to film school to make movies. It helps, but the most important thing is meeting people who are just as passionate and crazy as you are about cinema, and that's who you want to be working with. You know, like you meet you meet someone who has a camera, and they they just want to be a director of photography, or someone that loves writing, and and someone that likes sound and music, and and you meet actors, and and all these little elements come together, and that kind of becomes your filmmaking family for the rest of your life is is through these group of people, but yeah, you know, watching a ton of movies and reading about film and and having discussions and listening to lectures certainly does help. But that's something you can do on your own. Even Rocket, you know the the website Rocket Jump.
Dave Bullis 9:20
Oh yeah, I know Rocket.
Michael Rousselet 9:20
Yeah, that they have an online film school and it's fantastic. They post videos on all these different techniques and and theories and and they show you how to do stuff. It's great. So yeah,
Dave Bullis 9:33
I'm actually in talks to get Freddy to come on the podcast.
Michael Rousselet 9:35
Oh hell yeah, I love Freddy. Yeah, I should um, I'll poke him. He's really busy. They're they're working on a I think another Hulu show. Or those guys are those guys are machines. They just keep creating content. They're outstanding.
Dave Bullis 9:49
Yeah, he actually had his own pod. For a while too, and at 100 episodes, they actually said, "Hey, everyone, this is the 100th episode, and by the way, it's also the last episode.
Michael Rousselet 10:08
It's fun. They're just moving on. Yep, and we're done. We're gonna now. We're gonna do something else. It's great, yeah. And they also started. They went to USC, and I knew them from back in the day. I was not. I wasn't in the dorms with them, like Brian Ferenzi, creator of Five Second Films, they're they're old school dude bros. But yeah, I I knew about his videos on on YouTube. It was so weird how YouTube started really picking up. Was it 2006? And and it was just odd seeing. It was just such a weird time. Like it was starting off online and making videos on YouTube was it was this it was like the Wild West. It was unchartered territory, and and I saw the videos that Freddy did, and they were just video game stuff, and they were really fucking funny and creative, and it was so random running into him at school. I'm like, "Hey, you're that guy. What the hell? I was like, "That's so weird. But yeah, I think anyway, I'm rambling. But yeah,
Dave Bullis 11:12
No, no, you believe me, you're fine. I, I, I have that that that that effect on people. I end up making them start to ramble.
Michael Rousselet 11:18
Well, it's a podcast. I think I'm supposed to keep talking,
Dave Bullis 11:22
And now you're just keep talking, Michael. I got to fill time.
Michael Rousselet 11:25
Yeah, if you stop talking, the podcast will blow up. You know, it's like it's like that movie Speed, but on a podcast.
Dave Bullis 11:33
I think that Kevin Smith probably has an idea about that already.
Michael Rousselet 11:36
Yeah, probably.
Dave Bullis 11:38
So you know, I I know you touched on this briefly, but you know, if you could go back, do you think you would do film school again, or do you think you maybe you would maybe choose another route to go?
Michael Rousselet 11:50
Um, I'm, I'm, I, I would definitely do it again because I would not have met all my friends that I work with today. I mean, all the what ifs of the world. I, I could have done my own thing and then met another group of crazy people and probably made something else. But no, I would I would still do it because meeting Brian Ferenzi and Eric Sandoval and Michael Peter and all all those people that were in the cinema program with me. Those that's like my filmmaking family. Those are the guys I write with, and we shoot random videos. We did five-second films for you know six years, and it started in college. Yeah, I wouldn't. I wouldn't trade that.
Dave Bullis 12:31
The reason I always ask ask that question is that you know everyone sort of has their own experiences in film school, and some people you know come on the podcast and they would say you know I don't really think it's you know. I think the game has changed too much now, where I could actually go and do it and go a different route. You know, if I could, if I wanted to find crew, I go on Craigslist and open up a Twitter, and it's stuff like that. But I mean, you know, that's why I'm always interested in everyone's experience of the topic.
Michael Rousselet 12:57
I agree with that. That you don't need film school. You really don't, because like Rocket Jump, they have the online film school, and you know that's free. All the information is on there. You know, every frame's a painting. That there's so much great content out there that that's incredibly insightful and and educational. But I think what film school allows you to do is make mistakes without anyone, you know. Without you can make mistakes in film school and learn from them. If you don't have that outlet to do that, then you know you have to be really you have to be willing to make mistakes and fail a lot, and that's what film school is. It's just learning to fail over and over again, and then after you know four years, like, hey, I think I got a handle on this. But you don't need that. You just you just need to keep making content, and and and maybe it's kind of like the safety net of a film school. You feel that if you make a mistake, it's not the end of the world. It allows you to fail because that's why you're there. You're there to learn, but you just need to have that attitude all the time. If you're not in film school, it's like you're making stuff, and you know it's you know shit's gonna look. The lighting's gonna be bad. Okay, well the next one I'm gonna do better lighting. You know, oh I screwed up on the sound on this one. Well, the next one the sound will be better, and you just learn from you some snakes. And a lot of people say, "Oh, I'm just gonna. I I do agree. The amount of debt I have is absurd. I'm paying for it, but he's like, "Oh, I could have used that to make my own fucking movie. And yeah, you could, but it's such a risk because you have to you have to be willing to take care of everything and and and make sure that you're not going to make those mistakes. So, like, you can make your first film, feature film. Like, hey, I made a feature film, and it could have all these technical problems, and it just sucks. And if only if you just took more time to plan and and make the mistakes in the past, the little mistakes, so you don't make the big mistake. But it just depends. I mean, I. You you can you can take film school or you can leave it, but you just the most important thing is like you have to make content and you have to be willing to learn from your mistakes, and and failure. So
Dave Bullis 15:11
Yeah, and one thing you know, Michael too is you know I'm going to go back to screenwriting because I you know I'm big into screenwriting too. Like that's my specialty, and you know I know you went to school for it. You know, and one thing I've always learned-well, it's taken me a while to learn this, though-is to get good at screenwriting. You actually have to write screenplays. Yes, you can't. You can't. You can't read books. You can't. You know, watch any seminars on on YouTube or even go to them in person. You absolutely have to write them, and that's how you get better at them.
Michael Rousselet 15:43
Exactly, and then you have to let people read it who you trust their opinion, and not just people that are going to say, "Oh, it's great. I like this. I like that. Like you need constructive criticism. You need notes. You need someone to be blunt and say your whole third act is screwed up, and the reason why it's screwed up is because your first act. And you know, like oh shit. One of the most difficult things of after graduating film school, other than the crippling debt, is you don't have professors and and people you know like jumping on your back to to finish pages and turn in stuff because you know it's like hey you have to turn in your outline in these two weeks oh you don't. Well, okay, you're gonna fail, you know, if you don't turn in your script by the end of the semester and all that stuff. But when you graduate, you've got no one bugging you, and you're your own worst enemy and boss. So it's just you just have to fucking write. You have to do it, and you have to learn, and you just have to keep writing and and and understand understand that it takes time, and you you just gotta fucking do it. That's all. It's like going to a gym, you know. It's like yeah, you can buy the membership, but you don't go. It doesn't fucking help. It might help if you have a personal trainer because that's gonna be someone who's gonna be calling you and bugging you, being like, "Where the fuck are you? Why are you not at the gym? You know, but you gotta pay for that, or you just be disciplined and you just go. You don't even need a gym. You can just work out like at a park and just do basic, basic exercises. You know, it's it's like it's the same concept. You either want to get better and like tune a muscle, like your brain, or you want to tune your butt. Both both exceed a lot of shit.
Dave Bullis 17:22
So you know, I wanted to ask you know before you know I I wanted to ask about five second films. I wanted to ask you know one final thing about you know your your time you know in in college, and you know what is what is some of the best things that you think you've learned in film school?
Michael Rousselet 17:36
Oh, in film school, I was like, oh, best things I learned was how properly do beer bong and no film school? The best things I learned in film school. Fuck, it's it's kind of an amalgamation of things that I learned from my fellow students and colleagues, and it's kind of like information that they get that they got from their class, and it all just kind of like this spreads around. One of them was for a good editing tool and a good writing tool. Is what's the latest you can enter a scene and the earliest you can exit a scene with it still making sense? That's like, as in you don't need someone to walk in through a door and have a whole beginning, like you can just jump right into the middle of the scene. What is? But what's the the the what's the latest you can jump into it with it still making sense? What's the earliest? Just being get to the point faster, have a point of view, yeah, and talk. I mean, there's so much stuff, and there's a lot of stuff I learned by just doing. Because I was, I was really into lighting, and I was one of the only screenwriters who would just work on shoots as a grip and a gaffer, because I, I just thought it was so much fun to play with lights. You know, it was, and also because I knew it was expensive equipment. It's like, ooh, how much is that light? What? Why? Oh, here's why. Oh shit, that's cool. My friend, when I and here's another thing you can do when you don't even need to go to film school, you can you can volunteer to crew on a shoot, and that's a way to learn. And so when I was 16 or 17, a buddy of mine went to USC, older dude, and I wanted to help out on a shoot, and I just wanted to get my get my fucking hands dirty, and I said, "Oh, I'll be a production assistant. And he said, "No, don't be a production assistant. It's like you you're just going to learn how to like lock down a set and like throw away trash and keep craft service. He's like, just come on as a grip. I go, Andrew, I've never learned. I don't know how to grip. He goes, just show up, and you're going to learn. They need grips. He's like, it's basically the same thing. You're lugging shit. You're you're moving heavy gear. You're either moving water water or you're moving sandbags. I'm like, okay, I'll I'll learn about sandbags, and and do you know what? I don't know if your listeners or if you know you know what apple boxes are. Yeah. So my first day on a student film, I asked. I'm all eager and like, oh, I want to help out. I didn't even know what a C stand was. I didn't know what anything was other than a sandbag. And I go to the DP and I go, "What can I do to help you? She goes, "Go get me a half apple. So I run to craft service. I eat half an apple and I bring it back to her because I thought it was for something to put on the set, like production. Like she, she's like she was looking at a desk. She's like, "This desk needs something. And she said, "Oh, go get me a half apple. I'm like, "Oh, a desk? You want to have a half-eaten apple? And I handed it to her, and she looked at me. She's like, "No, what the fuck is this? And then a grip gave me. He's like, "No, here's this is the half apple, and it's a fucking box. And I was like, "What the hell? And she just needed it to sit on. Yeah, so I learned what a half apple was from top school. I don't know. Oh yeah, I literally watch it.
Dave Bullis 21:13
I mean, I mean that that is see that those are those experiences. I'm always talking to Michael. That you know, I mean, I mean, I didn't go to school for to for film. I went to school for business, and smart. I mean, the I I always wondered if I was doing the right thing, and because I I went to business school, and suddenly I'm like, oh man, I really want to do movies. Am I doing the right thing by being here? And the teacher was going on and on and on about micro versus macroeconomics, and you know, I'm just like my God. I just want to get home write that screenplay. But you know, I I mean, I did make my own student films on the side, and and and it was just you know all that stuff, man. It was just you know just trying because because you know your first student film or your first film period, you you get your friends and family, you know, you know, oh yeah, and your film putting them as in roles and stuff. Well, I shot it with all friends, and we ended up getting a friend of mine. His grandparents let us use two of their vacation homes, so we could film anywhere we wanted, all over the property. Oh, right. And we ended up, we ended up. We're filming this one scene, right, where my one friend is getting, you know, quote unquote, tortured, and his grandfather just walks in as we got like a power drill almost going to his head, and he just looks in those like this look on his face, like what the fuck, and he closes the door slowly, didn't say a word.
Michael Rousselet 22:36
Oh yeah, definitely, definitely. Oh man! If I had $1 every time someone looked at me, what the fuck are you filming? What is wrong with you people? God, I'm so rich. We'd shoot when we would shoot five second films at our house. We'd have we'd be filming on the streets and everything, and our neighbors are just like Jesus Christ, you fucking hipsters, you know, just running around in a giant banana suit, or you know, I'm dressed up as a hobo chasing a whole mountain of shopping carts going down down the hill, and fuck, what was it? I had a we filmed like 1500 films at that house. There was every every nook and cranny of the house we lived in once we graduated is was thoroughly documented by the fire fucking films era.
Dave Bullis 23:29
So you know, I actually wanted to talk. You know, five second films. You know, so you started that in college. So and then you just kept the ball rolling as soon as you graduated. Yeah, you know, making sure you. So so did you already have like a YouTube channel established before you graduated.
Michael Rousselet 23:42
Brian Ferenzi. I met Brian Ferenzi in screenwriting, and the teacher was, you know, right after the summer break, and the teacher says, "So, what did you guys do over the summer? And Brian said, "Oh, I made some five-second films with my friends, and I never met Brian. And but I, you know, when you you kind of have like this pretentious air. You're like, oh, film school. I like Godard and and Truffaut and Fellini. Yes, yes. And I don't care about these Michael Bay short things and and frantic cutting. And I was like, five seconds. That sounds so stupid. What can you do in five seconds? And I saw I saw some of the films, and I was like, holy shit, this is hilarious! And Brian was hysterical, and I was like, "You're my new best friend. I'm never gonna leave you alone. His five second films was like the perfection, the perfection of a gag, perfection of a joke, storytelling incredibly simplified and and distilled. And I I and I I used to keep a notebook. God, I used to. I need to keep doing it. Fell off the wagon. I used to carry a molskin around with me, and I have like 10 of them, maybe 15. And I just write down dumb ideas or dumb jokes, and I I wouldn't know what I do with them. I just thought like, well, that's a funny idea. Made me laugh. I better write it down, or I'll forget. And I just had a whole like library of all these dumb ideas and jokes that were incredibly half baked and didn't have anywhere to go. Like I can't write a script about a guy who loses a stapler, but I thought it was funny. And and and so meeting Brian and and getting involved with this this hilarious kind of filmmaking was a way to express all my creativity and and give these jokes a home. And so we became fast friends, and we started bringing in our other friends because everyone just thought it was funny, and it kind of grew grew out of that. And then in when we graduated in 2008, Brian said he wanted to do a website, and he wanted to do a new film every every day. And I said, "Okay, that's insane. I'll help you. So we did a new film every Monday through Friday, shoot them on the weekend, and we did that for six years. We never missed a day, and it was like something like 1500 plus films, and yeah, and so and we were just doing it for ourselves. It was never, it start. We did it for ourselves and our friends. It never, we never thought it would grow really because no one was watching us. Our our views were like 15, you know, maybe 30 views. If we got lucky, like hey, we broke 200. That's pretty crazy, and we did that for six months until we made the front page on of Reddit for Magic Show Volunteer, one of our films, and we're like, whoa, what the fuck? Just started getting all these subscribers, and we're like, okay, I guess this might be something, so we just kept doing it, and it was kind of crazy because we didn't have an end in sight. We didn't know when we would ever stop. We knew we wanted to make a feature film and do TV, but no one would ever give us the time of day. So we just kept doing these short films, kind of like it kept us sharp. It was fun. It gave us it gave us some sort of sense of purpose, and over the course of you know a year or so, it it started opening up some doors for us. We got some like web commercial jobs, and with that money, we were able to buy lights and increase our production value. So we didn't really put it in our pocket. We weren't really we weren't even making money, to be honest. We every now and then we'd get a job and get like 1000 bucks here or there, and then we would just invest that into our infrastruct infrastructure and buy lavaliers, and then we buy. You know, Eric Sandoval was working at a grip house, like a studio, and they would throw crappy gear away, and he would just take it, like a green.
Michael Rousselet 27:44
We had this green screen. We still have it, and it's huge. And they threw it away because they had a a coffee stain, like a big coffee stain in the corner. But we just hang it up in our garage, and it's fucking awesome. So, and it was, it was, it was yeah. We just took over our house. We made our house our little production studio, and every Sunday people would come over and we'd shoot, and did that for six years. It's crazy.
Dave Bullis 28:11
I mean, that that is some dedication to shoot. I mean, over 1500, you know, films. I mean, that that is some absolute dedication.
Michael Rousselet 28:18
Yeah,
Dave Bullis 28:18
And I mean,
Michael Rousselet 28:19
It was all it was just obsession and and I was so psychotic.
Dave Bullis 28:25
Was there ever a time where you just said, "What the fuck am I doing?
Michael Rousselet 28:29
All the like, yeah, all the time. And it's like you know what I'm wearing a dress and I'm you know I got this huge bouffant hairstyle and you know I'm walking around in the street, filming at the park, and I'm like, "What the fuck am I doing? You know, but I was goofing off with my friends, and and we were having a good time, and and we were gaining an audience, and you know, they liked what we were doing. We're like, "Well, fuck it, let's just keep doing this, and um, and and the whole YouTube thing again, YouTube allowed us to reach a big audience. Now YouTube has just grown into this crazy monster.
Dave Bullis 29:06
Yeah, yes, it has.
Michael Rousselet 29:08
Like it was, yeah. It's I don't even know, man.
Dave Bullis 29:12
I I remember when YouTube in 2004 when they first launched. I remember actually because I I actually just started college, and I remember I remember that, and I was like, "Wow! I was like, "You know, this is this is what that was kind of cool. And then I was like, "You know, and then like you know, 2006, like you said, it started to become really big, and now it's like everyone puts every cat video in the world up there now.
Michael Rousselet 29:36
Yeah. Oh, they have their the YouTube space. There's a big studio soundstage they have in Los Angeles, kind of like by the airport, and content creators can go there and you know get access to a soundstage and professional equipment and gear. And you know they can hire kind of freelance crews who volunteer to help out. It's it's crazy. Like it's it's you know it really shook up Hollywood. It's fantastic because if it weren't for YouTube, we never would have made our feature film because we were able to build a fan base, and and then we did a Kickstarter. It's like we proved to so many people that we can do this, and we're dedicated. And yeah, it's it's you know I look back upon it like holy shit, that was insane. The end goal was always to make a movie. That's what we always wanted to do, but no one would give us money, so when the Kickstarter idea, crowdfunding came out, that was we're like, well, fuck, let's let's see if we can ask our fan base because at that time I think we had we had like 350,000 subscribers. Wow, yeah, so drop so much compared to a lot of people.
Dave Bullis 30:58
So what was the sort of like the impetus? I mean, did you write the script? You know,
Michael Rousselet 31:04
Yeah, we all, we all,
Dave Bullis 31:05
And then and and then I mean, did you like we did you write the script and then pitch it to producers? Yes, or we tried to it that way first.
Michael Rousselet 31:13
Yes, we tried to we tried the the old fashioned way, and we wrote this ridiculous fucking movie, and no one wanted to touch it. They were like, "What, dude, bro? Party massacre three? Like, who the fuck? What? Where's the first two? What the hell?
Dave Bullis 31:32
So did did did they not just did they not understand like the concept, or do they just think like this is just way too over the top for us? Oh, really?
Michael Rousselet 31:43
A lot of the old old the old producers didn't understand it at all. They're like pass hard pass, and but their assistants who were younger were like, "This is hilarious. I'm sorry they passed. They don't fucking get it. And then there are other people that are like, you know, it's it's it's a gamble to invest in, you know. I know you guys are a sketch group online, and but sketch comedy doesn't really. It's a risk because you know. No offense, you guys are nobodies, so that's why we couldn't get a. We we did a bunch of pilots, and they never got picked up because they're like sketch comedy is really risky because you're a bunch of nobodies and it's hard to invest, and it's like sorry. I was like, all right, whatever. So we just did it on our own. We yeah, and got raised a quarter million dollars on Kickstarter, and then an independent financier, Keith Calder of Snoot Entertainment, reached out and said he would match the funding, so he got it, and and I think he was really impressed with our body of work, and he and the and the Kickstarter was going really well. He's like, "All right, well, these guys, these guys got something. They they they have an audience, so yeah, God bless him. Fuck me. So he came on towards the end of the Kickstarting campaign. So he was he was our white knight. God bless that guy. And and then and and then he financed Anamalisa, Charlie Kaufman film, which was nominated. So we're like, oh my god, I really we really hope this wins an Oscar because then Dude Bro Party Massacre III will be in like that kind of like company of like yes, the Academy Award winning company Snoot and Dude Bro Party Massacre III.
Dave Bullis 33:31
It's a shame I never saw the Kickstarter when it was going on because I I definitely would have donated.
Michael Rousselet 33:35
Oh, thanks.
Dave Bullis 33:36
Because, because this is like like I like you know in the in the pre-interview, I get this. I get this movie completely, man. Because even before I saw it, I actually had an idea for a movie, not similar, but you know what I mean. Like a like a movie where I said, you know what, it's like a throwback to the '80s slashers, but I said I don't think people would get it. If you know what I mean, like I was always afraid that that you know, if I if I went to like a producer, they'd say, "What the hell is this Dave Bullis kid smoking? Get him the hell out of here! Yeah. So so that's why when I saw Dude Real Party Massacre three, I was like, "Oh my god! I said, "This this is awesome. And that's why I was actually very very excited that you were you were successful because I was like, "Yes, it proves it can be done. So here we are.
Michael Rousselet 34:24
I mean, I don't know. Successful is such a loose word when it comes to the film industry. It didn't make any money, but the reviews were great. We're really happy with that. People either loved it or liked it, and and you know, a lot of people were just like, I don't fucking get this. This is stupid, and which is fine. I'm from the internet. I've heard so many worse comments. So reading reviews are actually kind of nice. Like, oh, that was such a very polite, nice negative review. That was very sweet of them, as opposed to the other comments online. But yeah, I mean, the fact that you liked it, we're having this conversation. The movie is a success. Like you saw it, and you didn't even. Know about five second films, so that is, that's the like the best thing ever because we figured only our fans would watch it and get it. So to hear that it's actually, you know, I I would say perfect strangers are are enjoying it is and discovering it is, uh, is a success. Yes, for me. Thank you.
Dave Bullis 35:20
Oh, you're very welcome. I mean, I mean, because it proved that you could do it. Because you know, you didn't take no for an answer. You, you, you threw together. You, I'm sorry, threw together, but you put together the Kickstarter. You know, you, you, you. I mean, because I, you know, I've been there too, Michael. You know, I know how hard it is to get you know movies and whatever, whatever else funded. Because you know you always get like you know 99 nos and then that one yes is what you're looking for you know, and and you have to just it's like an uphill battle like literally it's like you you play a game like what could go wrong today oh okay you know lead actor drops out I mean I mean I mean I mean you know you got Patton Oswalt in Duke Horner as well three which I thought was awesome.
Michael Rousselet 36:00
He is-he's amazing. He is a fucking saint. I love Patton. But how we got Patton Oswalt was he was a fan of five second films. He he tweeted out a bunch of our films saying he loved them, and we we flipped out. We were ecstatic, and so we tweeted back saying, "Hey, do you want to be in some? He said, "Absolutely. And then that was it. We set a time. He was free for an hour. We shot like three films in an hour, and and he had a great time. And he loved the. He thought they were hilarious. And every now and then he'd come back shoot some more. And then when he found out we were doing a Kickstarter, he donated the the price tier to be a co-producer and to guarantee a cameo in the film. It's like if you donate $2,000, you will make an appearance in the movie, and you'll get a co-producer credit. And we said, hey, thank you, we love you. So you you know legally now you have to be in our movie, and he goes. You you fucking better believe I'm in your movie. And we gave him, you know, he played the police chief, and he was awesome. We worked with him for one day, and you know, he paid to be in our movie. Like you can't, you can't get any nicer than that. He's the he's the fucking man. He's he's the he's such a stand up guy. I mean, you know, literally, he's a comedian. He's a great guy. Yeah, can't sing his praises enough.
Dave Bullis 37:26
You know, it's funny. One time, he was tweeting out some negative things about Philadelphia, and I retweeted it, and a bunch of people who followed me were like, "What are you doing, tweeting not negative stuff about Philadelphia for? Like, dude, it's all true. He was because he said like Philadelphia is the worst city in the world. I was like, "Yep, he's got that right. Retweet.
Michael Rousselet 37:46
Oh, it's fucking hilarious. It's great. Yeah. So you know, you just need that one. Yes. Just keep on, keep on plugging away.
Dave Bullis 37:55
And that's the thing that I think discourages a lot of filmmakers is you know when you're in that like that midpoint, because you know like mid 40s and mid 50s of hearing all the no's and we're gonna pass, I think that's where a lot of people, well, they probably quit before that, but they that's where a lot of people get. You know that a lot of people get into that valley. You know what I mean? It's like it's like hills and valleys. You know, and I think that's you know where people just sort of they give up. They go, "Look, I don't have time. I I might have a family. I might have uh you know I've got student loan debt. Uh, you know I got a car payment coming through, and they're just like, I don't have time to keep going around and trying to pitch this stuff. Uh, and then you know, and then they just sort of just put it away at a desk drawer somewhere, you know. And then, but yeah, that's why I was saying, you know, I think, Dude Bro Party Massacre Three is a success because you got it made, and I think anything, honestly, Michael, that gets made, I I think it has to be a success. And I know those movies, like like let's first let's take for example, Michael, The Room, which is a movie you know very well. I I you know that's you know I still think that's a success because the amount of movies that never get made are astronomical,
Michael Rousselet 39:04
And I-that's what I say. It's weird. I do a lot of-I've done a lot of interviews and talks about the room and lectures at colleges, and I-I always say the same thing. Like, say what you want to say about Tommy Wiseau. He made a fucking movie, and he finished it, and he released it and were watching it, and he could have pulled the movie and hid it from the public because of all the ridicule and people making fun of it. But he put his money where his mouth is, and he kept pushing it and letting people watch it, and that's that's brilliant. You know, he changed it from a an electrifying drama on the trail and he changes it to a quirky dark comedy. Like he rebranded it. He's that's brilliant. That's a success. He made a movie. So all those filmmakers out there that like to talk shit about you know Michael Bay or Tommy Rossell, it's like, well, are you fucking making anything? Then you can't really talk shit. Like, like fucking do it. Once join the, you know, once you join the club, then you can talk shit. I have a. I'm sorry. I think something might be coming up in a minute. I can hear like the door in the hallway. Oh, who's it gonna be?
Dave Bullis 40:23
It's almost like a horror movie, right? I know. See, who's it gonna be?
Michael Rousselet 40:25
Who's it gonna be? Oh, I guess no one. Oh yeah. All right, cool. The suspense was killing me. Yeah, I'm a film projectionist at USC, so I get to show films and I get to keep listening to lectures, which is fun. But it's it's like that's my office job, and I'm still writing and film and editing, so it allows me to do that while I work. So right, I'm just babysitting the booth for like the festival books. Anyway, cut that out or not, I don't care. All right,
Dave Bullis 40:55
I think it's funny. I think it's funny if I left that in. I accidentally just hit my mic, so I think I might. But I think it was funny though if I if I leave that in because that was pretty cool that it kind of turned to like another it turned to a horror movie right there.
Michael Rousselet 41:10
Someone's coming.
Dave Bullis 41:10
Someone said to get my.
Michael Rousselet 41:11
I'm in the booth. They kill the projectionist. Blood everywhere on the celluloid.
Dave Bullis 41:17
And and and we hear Michael get you. We hear you getting killed. You know, like this. I just leave it in the episode. I'm just like, all right, everybody. I guess, I guess Michael's dead. Yeah,
Michael Rousselet 41:27
Tommy. It's actually Tommy was so coming to kill me. I hear you talking about the movie again, huh? Yeah. And well, funny enough, with the room, we got Greg Cicero, who plays Mark, and he is in Dude Bro Party Massacre Three. Gregster. was the nicest guy, such a stand-up guy. There are a bunch of stand-up guys are in this movie, and and he, I became friends with him because of the room. He recognized me as like, hey, there's that fan that's been here since day one and started all that nonsense. Like, hey, this nice guy, and I just would see him at screenings. I ran into him at Vegas in like 2004 something or five, and you know this dude taps me on the shoulder, and he's like, "Hey, Michael, big smile, and I'm you know I'm a little drunk, and I'm kind of like, "Who is this guy? How does this guy know me? How do I know this guy? And then I was like, Oh my god, it's fucking Greg Cesterro because he had like the big Greg Sestero smile, and that's when it like registered, you know, from the room, and we just became friends. and And he was in some five second films, and and I said, Would you like to play a dude, bro, in Dude Bro Party Massacre three? And he was excellent. He was great. He's genuinely a good actor, you know. It's amazing what an actor can do when they have a good script with coherent lines and good direction. And he's he's great in it. And I love how he says, Greg says it's it's so refreshing to be proud of a movie you're in and happily tell people and promote it. He's he's yeah, he's the best. So whenever he does he does room screenings, he'll usually bring the Dude Bro Party Masaccre Three and do a double feature.
Dave Bullis 43:09
Well, that's really cool.
Michael Rousselet 43:09
Yeah, he's he's the man. He's he's the nicest guy in the world. I think probably a large percentage of of our screenings around the globe are because of you know Greg Sestero planting the seeds of Dude Bro, like he'll go to a screening and they'll be like, "Oh yeah, you're in Dude Bro, we'd love to see that. They watch the trailer and they go, "Oh shit, let's do a double feature. God bless that guy. But anyway, yeah, what the fuck are we talking about?
Dave Bullis 43:36
We were talking about just you know how how to actually a movie made and stuff. Oh yeah, it's good because you know
Michael Rousselet 43:41
I go on a room tangent and then I I hate my life.
Dave Bullis 43:45
Like, how did I get back there?
Michael Rousselet 43:46
I'm talking about the room again.
Dave Bullis 43:48
We were just talking. We were talking about good stuff. Now we're talking about the room again.
Michael Rousselet 43:53
I don't want that on my tombstone. It's like, well, that's why I want to. I think that's like the the scary thing that's chasing me. Is like I need to create because I, I don't want to be remembered as that guy that started the room phenomenon.
Dave Bullis 44:06
Yeah, you know, I I had a brief discussion about you with my interview with Robin Paris, and she was in the room.
Michael Rousselet 44:13
Yeah, she's she's great,
Dave Bullis 44:14
And because she's doing a like a a documentary called like the Room Actors. Where are they?
Michael Rousselet 44:19
There's a room documentary. I'm actually yeah yeah, and and we we talked about you because you know you found you know you walked into that midnight screening and we're like what the hell hell do we keep this going even midnight it was like a it was like 5o'clock 5p.m. at a theater in the valley I was like I saw a trailer for it at another theater because when once you rent a theater yeah you can show a trailer, and I saw it, and I was like, "What the fuck is this? I need to see this because it looked like a comedy, and it said it was a drama, and that conflict is like that's funny to me. I need to see this. So I saw it, and I dragged like 100 friends, saw it four times in three days. Yep, and then it ended. Of its theater run, but anyway, Dude Bro Party Massacre Three was such a challenge to make.
Dave Bullis 45:06
Yeah, I mean, because
Michael Rousselet 45:07
I was like, I don't want to talk about the room anymore. That's so sad.
Dave Bullis 45:12
It's like I I just keep bringing it back up. But but you know, so when you you actually did make Dude Bro Party Massacre Three, you know, did you know? Did you always want to release it through your own website, or were you hoping you know, you know, to to go another route with it?
Michael Rousselet 45:28
The dream was always like, okay, we wanted to play in theaters, but we're realistic and we know how the industry works and how how it's changed. Movies don't make money in theaters unless they're like in a theatrical run, unless they're big blockbusters or they're big stars in them, because of Netflix and Hulu and Amazon and all that stuff, it's changed. So we we were what we wanted to do was just take it to festivals and find a company to do distribution to just you know send out the DVDs, get it on Netflix, and we were happy with doing kind of these grassroots screenings. That's what we wanted to do. So when we wanted it to be in theaters, that with the intention of just taking it on the road and watching, and that's what we did a lot. We did a lot last year, and and we and we just showed it in Paris a couple weeks ago. The Alamo Draft House was fantastic. They kind of like took it on tour with us. We went all the way around Texas, went to Colorado, went to Virginia with Alamo. Yeah, just grassroots. That's that's how we were doing it. You know, it'd be fun if it was playing a week at somewhere in New York, but you know that's that's not gonna that's gonna you know we're not gonna pay for that. It's a waste of money because it's not gonna make any money. It's that's not how it works. So yeah, it's just grassroots screenings, and you know fans love it, and they either want to download it or buy it. I think we were before we released the downloads for the public, we were number two or three most torrented feature film that day on like Pirate Bay. It was like this weird like joy and like tears. It's like oh, we're like we're so excited. There's so many people downloading our movie illegally. That's so cool! Oh, so sad. You know, it's like, oh, I'm so honored.
Dave Bullis 47:28
You know, I actually, I had a friend of mine who would. What they did was whenever they went to like, well, I don't want to give any touring sites out, but whenever they went to one of these touring sites, they actually would contact the person who put up the torrent, and they would say, "Hey, look, you know, they wouldn't threaten legal action. What they would say is, you know, because it's anonymous anyway. So they would say, 'Look, if you take it down, we will mail you a copy of it, and you know, and a shirt or whatever. If you just take this torrent down, please, because it hurts us. And 50% of the time, he actually got a yes, and and it was like it was odd, and and you know I I mean it's an interesting strategy. I'm not you know I don't know if it's quote unquote the best, but it's very interesting how he was able to do that though.
Michael Rousselet 48:13
Wow, I never thought of it that way, huh? That's pretty nice. Oh, that's well. I mean, I mean, people are always going to download. You just can't escape it. That's just hell. Yeah, you know. And I, I kind of feel like, yeah, I've downloaded a lot of TV shows and stuff, and I was like, yeah, it's kind of justified. Like, I get it. Like, I'm just happy that people are watching it and enjoying it, and they want to have their friends watch it. I mean, as long as people are watching it, then that's a success. Like Roger Corman, I met Roger Corman, who is an amazing, like, the giant of filmmaking because he's made so many movies, and you know he's made some great films. He's made some schlock, but he, you know, he makes movies and he started so many careers. Joe Dante, James Cameron, and I asked him in an interview. It's like, how do you feel about such shows like Mystery Science Theater? People watch some of your movies and they just make fun of them and they kind of, you know, poke fun or tear them down. And he looked at me and he got really serious and he goes, "I'm a I'm a filmmaker. I'm a producer. My job is to make movies so they can be seen, and whether it's being seen at a drive-in, a movie theater, or a late-night television, as long as people are watching it, I've done my job. I'm like, oh shit, that's that's pretty, pretty, pretty on the note. That's correct, yeah.
Dave Bullis 49:40
So and now Dude Bro Party Masaccre Three is coming out on Blu-ray. It already did come out Blu-ray. april 1.
Michael Rousselet 49:45
We're trying to get. It's right now. It's just domestic. We're trying to work on hopefully finding finding international distribution. So we're kind of withholding sending it out internationally. So that we're trying to work on that strategy, but we're distributing it ourselves domestically. With you know, we're just shipping it out of our house.
Dave Bullis 50:21
You know, so I I got to remember to pick up a copy of that too. By the way.
Michael Rousselet 50:25
thank you. Oh God, thank you. Yeah, but yeah, it's it's fun. People are watching it. That's all I could ever ask for.
Dave Bullis 50:38
Yeah, and and you know and and that's what I mean you know and I I think you you know if you could and I know you're gonna you know use all this you know use the success again of Doobot Massacre three to sort of go into the next film whether that's Dude Bro Party Massacre four or actually so Michael you know what is actually your next project can you see can you talk about it or is it still
Michael Rousselet 50:59
I've written um I've written a bunch of scripts, so that's I'm kind of pushing those around. We'll see. That's it. I'm just writing a lot. A lot of the other gang of Five Second Films is is doing the same thing. They're writing, or they're working on other shows, and you know, some people are actually working for networks, like you know, for producing and content development, which is impressive. So we're all kind of like, I guess it was so traumatic of six years of just constantly making content with each other, and then the feature film that everyone's like, we just need a break, no more stuff online. Just like the internet has like consumed us for 10 years, basically, and we're kind of like, all right, we just need to like everyone just needs to like write and go to go to like a shelter and just just get over the shell shock. So yeah, everyone's just working on a bunch of stuff. Yeah, so I can't really say what because you know things yeah things are in the pipeline and things fall through.
Dave Bullis 52:02
So so Michael, you know, I wanted to ask, you know, I I know we're sort of almost running out of time, but I wanted to ask you, you know, your your writing style, you know, do you you know as you're writing, do you outline a lot, or you know, do you are you more of a person who writes a a pretty lengthy treatment, or so you know, how exactly do you do you uh you you know write your screenplays?
Michael Rousselet 52:20
Well, everyone does it differently. How I like to do it is I write. I just I kind of open. I guess you could say like a Google Doc, and I just write ideas. I have to go in knowing at the very least what story I want to tell, how I want it to end, or how I think it should end, and how I want it to start. So as long as I can figure out how I want it to, how I want to start, and how I want it to end, then that's when I start just throwing out ideas on a doc, and then then I kind of like put those ideas in chronological order. You know, because like the whole it's like five pages of just nonsense and stupid ideas. Then what I do is I take those stupid ideas and then you know arrange them chronologically and then start filling in the gaps of of sequential order of like okay well if they need to go here then they go to this scene is there anything in the middle I need to clarify and smooth over and then by the end of it I have what started off as a bunch of scattered ideas eventually turns into kind of like an outline treatment. I don't really, I don't really get the difference between a treatment and an outline. I guess the treatment is like really, really detailed and exceptionally long. But yeah, I just knock out a solid outline, and from there, then I, I start attacking it in script form. I also like doing note cards. My writing partner Eric Sandoval from Five Second Films also loves note cards, so he'll just like put note cards up on on a big wall and kind of so we can see everything. And he likes to do character stars. It's kind of like a a line graph of like character relationships, they kind of form a star or a triangle, and we like to figure out our rising action, like what's like the climax, what's the momentum building up to it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you just got to figure out who your who your characters and how what do you want to put them through, and how are they how they going to change or not change? They they at least have to learn something and be different and you know they have to be interesting. You can oh god I can ramble about writing
Dave Bullis 54:34
And believe me, Michael I I love to talk writing. I you know you know I I again screenwriting is like my-that's my special.
Michael Rousselet 54:43
How do you do it? Everyone does it differently. How do you do it, Dave?
Dave Bullis 54:46
I write a treatment that looks a lot like the journals of the serial killer from Seven, and it just is like, like if anybody ever saw this, they would be like, "What the hell?" Was basically, it's like you know, sometimes I just write almost like I'm writing a short story, and but it's not a short story though. It's like it's not really a novel either, but it's like a lot of you know different stuff. And then all of a sudden, I'll write like you know a slug line in the middle of the sentence, and I write like dialog that means absolutely nothing availing to me, and then you know we're going back, and now it's just you know it's like a narrative in the action lines. It's very odd, and then I usually get frustrated and throw it in the shredder, and then I come back and I start writing something else, and basically you know that's how I write though. Is I write the treatment style, the other stuff I was, I was kind of sort of kidding around with writing, writing it, throwing it in the shredder. But
Michael Rousselet 55:45
No, you can't throw. You can put it away, but you got to come back to it.
Dave Bullis 55:49
Yes, yeah. George R. Martin said that. He said, "Yeah, you have to finish everything you start.
Michael Rousselet 55:54
Yes. Well, everyone knows that the first draft is always garbage. So when you write a first draft, don't show it to anybody because that's that's just you just have to get it out. And what I've learned is you can't be afraid to write down a line that you know sucks. You just have to write it down. You got to write that scene that sucks. Like the character has to convince another character not to jump off that bridge. Just just write the scene, make them talk them down. It could be the shittiest, hokiest dialog in the world, and feel forced. Write it down and move on to the next scene, and then you have a completed draft, and you can go back with your bullshit detector and go through and be like, "This is bullshit. This is bullshit. I need to make this more interesting, and I need to make this more original. And you know, that's the first draft. So when someone hands you a first draft, it better be the third draft. You know what I mean? They they tell you we all lie. It's like hey, it's the first draft because we know there's going to be problems. But technically, it's like the second, third draft.
Dave Bullis 56:54
Yeah.
Michael Rousselet 56:54
With Dude BroParty Massacre three, we went through fuck hundreds of drafts, and the writing process was insane because there was like 12 of us because we were a big comedy group and it was the most I think the most intense part about the whole process other than the Kickstarter campaign was the writing process because there were so many jokes and it got to the point where we weren't even arguing about story we were arguing about what jokes which is funnier and you know what direction do we want to take the humor in this and that? So we went through a lot of fucking drafts, a lot of drafts.
Dave Bullis 57:29
You know, I'm really happy that all the fake commercials were kept in there because those I think really added that charm. Also, you know, because because you know, like it looks like somebody recorded this off TV, and I thought that was awesome too.
Michael Rousselet 57:44
You know that let me have the the kind of five second films tone of commercials, and and also like when you recorded, I don't know, kids kids each days even remember back in the day before DVR, where you use the VCR and you have to cut out the commercials if you wanted to have like if a movie's on, you wanted you didn't want to interrupt the flow. You try to cut out the commercials, but you'd always end up with a little bit of commercials. So that was a way that we could poke fun at the '80s and commercialism and and hokey commercials and and still have a five second film feel to the whole thing. That was a lot of fun.
Dave Bullis 58:20
And everyone, if you if you haven't seen it yet, I really recommend you check out Dude Bro Party Massacre three. And spoiler alert: there's no first two. So so if they so people, I'm sure we're probably gonna be like, "What the hell? I haven't seen the first two. A friend of mine actually said that he was like, "Why do I want to watch Dude Brody Massacre three? He's like, "I haven't seen the first two. I was like, "Trust me, it's it's part of the joke, and I put it in. And when he saw like oh was taped off taped off VHS, he was like oh okay I get it now. And then I mean he and he loved the fake commercials too.
Michael Rousselet 58:52
That's great, yeah. It was such a dangerous decision to name it the third film, you know. But we we wanted to do that. We thought it was-it's funny to us, and it-the third part of a trilogy. I mean, you know, out of a horror franchise, the third one is always when it gets a little ridiculous. Yeah, that we're like, fuck it, this is what we want to do. So it's a very difficult film to to market because people look at it and they'll be like, "What the fuck? First, but we catch you up to speed in the first five minutes, which is was one of my favorite things. Is kind of like telling the story of the first two movies that don't exist and building the mythology, and that was kind of an homage to Friday the 13th Four, where they tell the story through all the kill montages, and that that was directed by Joey Skoma. He directed the kill montage and the commercials, and and then there was myself and John Salmon, who was also the director of photography, and Tom Jacobson, who were the other three directors. We kind of approached it like the Zucker brothers. There's so it was kind of like a communal thing. We've worked together as five second films for years that we all know each other's style and we work great together. And it just didn't feel right to have one director in charge of everything because we're pretty democratic, which is great and also kind of a nightmare because sometimes you gotta, you know, gets to the point when you want to figure out a joke, you have to kind of listen to 10 other people, you know. But it helps because everyone brought their own unique style to the writing process, and like the movie is truly a five-second film collaboration, and the and I don't know if you actually know this, but Dubro Party Massacre Three actually originally was a five-second film, so we shot that in like 2009 as a joke, you know, just daily content and a agency company was kind of courting us, and they're saying you guys are really funny, but can you do anything longer than five seconds? So we made some sketches, and we made a joke trailer, and we made a joke trailer for Dubrow Party Master Three with no intention ever of doing it as a real film. We just did it as a as a joke, and and then years down the road, when we were getting serious about okay, what is our the feature film we want to do? And I think it was Joey Skoma said, "Let's do Dubro Party Massacre Three. I think that would be a hilarious movie. I said, "Yeah, like it's you know we're very we're a gory group, we have dark humor, and it just made sense. Like, all right, let's let's do this, and yeah. And then it took like two years to write it because we wanted to make sure it was fucking perfect. Perfect being bad, you know, like a bad, like a schlock B movie.
Dave Bullis 1:01:56
Well, because you know, Michael, it does. It takes a lot of talent to to do something that you know exactly looks like a B movie, you know it you know and and make sure that you know it it doesn't turn into something like I don't know uh because because like I don't know
Michael Rousselet 1:02:12
It has to be sincere you know you
Dave Bullis 1:02:14
Exactly sincere that's how I was looking that's what
Michael Rousselet 1:02:16
Otherwise have you ever seen the Lost Skeleton of Cadabra no I have not I seen a lot of. I hate that movie. I'm so disappointed by it because I saw the trailer a long time, and it's probably like two 2000 something, and it it's black and white B movie, kind of like about it's kind of like Ed Wood style, you know. It's like they're they're aliens, and then there's like a ghost and a walking skeleton, and it's all cheap, and the the trailer is fantastic. And then you watch the movie, you're like, "This sucks! This sucks so bad because it's trying hard to be bad, and it just there's no humor, and you know it feels forced, and it's just not sincere. It just it just doesn't feel like a sincere film. Like the why the room's so great is because it's very sincere. It's a very, you know, like he's pouring his heart out, and it's bad. Yeah. But with Dude Bro, we like you know Tom and Joey and I and we we love horror films. We love them. We love '80s horror films. So we wanted to have fun with it, but still have great gore and you know cheesy scares and like yeah. But you know the most important thing is like what's the story and and and and the characters and the problem with Dubro is like there's too many characters, but we still had to we still had fun telling them, and like you know, Brock is like his. He immediately tells you his motivation. I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to find out who murdered my dead my twin brother and get revenge. Like that's what he's done. That's what he's doing. It's a clear goal. He's like, oh, I'm here to find out who murdered my twin brother and get revenge. I'm not here to make friends, and of course, at the end, he makes friends. And the big joke that one of the smartest writing moves is Alec Owen had, and he became the head writer towards the end. He said the dude bros are terrible people. They're not the good guys. They're the bad guys. Motherface, who is the killer, is actually the hero and doing the right by killing these dude bros, and we're like, oh my god, you're right. That's that's the end of the movie. That's the third act. Is like these guys are monsters, and and that kind of cracked the code and opened up a lot of a lot of interesting ideas. It was great, like the big confrontation between Motherface and and Brent at the end came out of that idea. We're like, "Holy shit, this is this is how it's supposed to be. Yeah,
Dave Bullis 1:04:52
Yeah, that is a good piece of of writing advice because you know one thing I've I've learned too is. This writing teacher once told me that Dave, the antagonist of the film, is actually the person moving the film because it's their actions that cause a reaction from the protagonist.
Michael Rousselet 1:05:11
Absolutely, yeah. And the best villains are villains that don't think they're villains. You know, you know, like I mean, other than the horror film, you know, like you know, Jason. Jason doesn't know he's the villain. He's just doing it. He's getting revenge. You know, Freddy is evil, but he's having fun with it. You know, and that's what Motherface is. Like she's having fun with it. She's being a killer. She's getting joy killing it because she's enacting revenge because they killed her mother, and that's why she's Motherface. She wears the face of her mother, and yeah, she's she's she's actually right. The Dubros are terrible people, and and so the thing is, like, they're not likable characters.
Dave Bullis 1:05:53
Michael, I would definitely like to have you come back on sometime soon. You know, do a part two where we could even get even more into screenwriting, you know, and stuff like that. You know, some other guests have done as well, and it's really cool because we know one topic we sort of just hit on, and we end up coming back and doing like you know a part two type of deal.
Michael Rousselet 1:06:12
Yes, yes, that would be great.
Dave Bullis 1:06:14
So you know, well then, Michael, in closing, you know, is there anything that you wanted to say, or maybe thing anything you wanted to cover that we didn't get a chance to to sort of put a period at the end of this whole discussion.
Michael Rousselet 1:06:23
Okay. Yes. When you make your first film and when you write your first script that you know you're going to make yourself, don't have 40 speaking rules. Don't have 50 locations. Don't have animals in it. Don't have fire in it. Don't have water. Have people swimming in in a lake or or body of water, if you want to have union actors because you're gonna have to have insurance and all these things like stunt coordinators and pyrotechnics technicians and lifeguards and a water truck and you know like and we did all of that in Dude Bro because we were crazy and we wanted to make it our way. And it kind of was-it was a huge battle. So if you want to do your first film, just like three people and like in a couple locations, and just keep it simple. No kids got to get through studio teachers and all this shit. So if you don't have any money, shoot what shoot with what right with write for what you have. That's my advice. So the first film you're gonna do, you know, it doesn't have to be, you know, it doesn't have to be Lawrence of Arabia. It can be very simple, like you know, short term 12 or something.
Dave Bullis 1:07:43
Yeah, you know, and that is very good advice because I did the same thing. You know, I once, you know, after I did my student film, my next film, I tried to do way too much and ended up needing needing you know squibs and stuff like that. I was and I and finally I said, "What the hell did I get myself into? It ended up just becoming a complete freaking mess. Yeah, and but that that is good advice.
Michael Rousselet 1:08:06
But if you want to fucking do it, and you you just have you just have to realize that it's not going to be easy, and it's you know just do it. If you want to do it, you got to do it, but you got to be willing to accept the bed that you have written,
Dave Bullis 1:08:22
Yes.
Michael Rousselet 1:08:22
So yeah, just you know, go out there and make movies. That's all I got to say. Just do it.
Dave Bullis 1:08:29
So, Michael, where can people find you out online?
Michael Rousselet 1:08:30
They can find me at mrrousselet, M R R O U S S E L E T, or at 5SF f five second films, and YouTube five second films or fivesecondfilms.com. But more importantly, dudebropartymassacre3.com to buy the DVD or Blu-ray if you are domestic, or you can download it on iTunes internationally or illegally if you want to be a dick about it. But the the iTunes, I mean the the DVD and the download on dudebropartymassacre3.com has a lot of extras, commentary, and a 45-50 minute featurette, and of the making up process. It's bonkers. You can see all the crazy shit we had to do. It's a crazy film, so I think you know if you open up a couple of beers and watch it with your friends, you're gonna have fun.
Dave Bullis 1:09:27
Yeah, and everyone, I will link to all of Michael's links in the show notes. Michael, I want to say thank you so much for coming on. Like I said, I was a big, I'm a big fan of Do Bro Pony Massacre three, and honestly, I can't wait to see what you guys come up with next.
Michael Rousselet 1:09:41
Thanks, dude. Really appreciate it, Dave. Thanks for having me.
Dave Bullis 1:09:44
Oh, my pleasure, my friend. I will talk to you soon.
Michael Rousselet 1:09:46
Yeah, and if you ever want to talk more about writing, go ahead, hit me up.
Dave Bullis 1:09:50
I, I will. I believe me, I will.
Michael Rousselet 1:09:52
All right, rock and roll. Have a great one.
Dave Bullis 1:09:54
All right, take care, my friend. Bye bye.
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