In this episode, I’m joined by filmmaker Pete Ohs for his third appearance, and there’s a lot to catch up on. Since we last spoke, Pete made Erupcja, a feature starring Charli XCX that he shot in Warsaw with no script, no crew, and the same Canon 5D Mark II running a Magic Lantern raw hack he’s used on every film in his process.
The film premiered at TIFF, in a year where he also had The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick at SXSW and Obex, which he co-wrote, shot, and edited with Albert Birney, at Sundance.
Throughout the episode Pete tells the full story of meeting Charli at 3am in a Lower East Side bar with Jeremy O. Harris just before Brat came out, and how the project survived Brat summer to shoot three months later, right before her world tour.
We get into why he pitches actors an experience rather than an idea, how his “don’t care” philosophy kept the stakes low even with a global pop star on board, why he finally signed with a manager, and how he wrote his first script in years using the exact same process: two weeks in a friend’s backyard, three scenes a day, all in the Notes app.
Topics covered include:
- Meeting Charli XCX at 3am with Jeremy O. Harris, weeks before Brat
- Pitching actors an experience instead of a script
- Shooting every film on the same 5D Mark II with a Magic Lantern raw hack
- Why “don’t care” is baked into his process, even with a pop star on set
- Having three films on the festival circuit at the same time
- Spotting the carrot on a string and not chasing false opportunities
- Why he signed with a manager now and not years ago
- Writing a feature in two weeks, three scenes a day, in the Notes app
- The simple math behind his 70 to 80 minute features
- Everyone should make movies, but not everyone needs to see them
- Being honest with yourself when your film isn’t getting into festivals
- Working through the top ten festival deadlines and letting sales agents handle the rest
- Intuition as a director’s most important skill, and how to train it daily
- His new Patreon as a virtual DVD special features hub
- Much More!
This is Episode 283: Directing Charli XCX With No Crew & Playing Sundance, SXSW And TIFF In One Year With Pete Ohs
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