Please tell us about the projects you worked on before making ‘Chance of Stormy Skies’. How did you start, and how did you learn to make films and series?
Around 10 years ago, I founded a filmmaking and storytelling group called ‘laughing with the storm’. Our emphasis has been on telling genre-bending stories that look for empathy in unexpected places. I try to tell stories that subvert conventional story tropes, or feature an unusual point of view…for example, one of our early shorts is a zombie-slasher movie where the zombies are the protagonists and the lone human is the relentless killer.
I’ve been making short films since college, starting with a lot of timed film competitions like the 48 Hour Film Project. William and Mary, where I went to school, does an annual filmmaking event called 24 Speed, where teams have only 24 hours to write, shoot, and edit a short film based on a few prompts. These kinds of timed film events were how I first learned to work with limited resources on a fast timeline to tell a story. I also find it quite inspiring to see what other people come up with when they’re pressed with such limits!
Professionally, I work as a production sound mixer, sound designer, and media editor. Most of my work is in the documentary and corporate space, but I try to work on at least a few narrative project for other directors every year. Working as a crew member has made me a lot more conscientious of what I’m asking of my crew when I’m in the director’s chair, as well as given me a deep appreciation of the amount of work that goes into a film project of any size. It’s also taught me the importance of good sound and sound design, which is one of the quickest ways to elevate your short film on a low budget!
Tell us about ‘Chance of Stormy Skies’ series. How do you describe it?
Chance of Stormy Skies is an anthology series of weird, tiny films.
The films are tiny in that they’re each under 10 minutes, and also that they’re made with limited resources. I like to think of it as high-concept lo-fi sci-fi. Like in indie music production, where low fidelity can often be a badge of honor, giving a music track more grittiness and character because it’s not as slick as something done with higher end equipment. I want to see how far I can push a story with big ideas while also on a minuscule budget.
Sometimes I joke that Chance of Stormy Skies is the distant DIY Homebrew cousin to Love Death Robots on Netflix…another anthology series where you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get with each new episode. I love the range of stories Love Death Robots has been able to tell, while also linking them all together with shared sound design on the intros and outros. That was a big inspiration on deciding to make Chance of Stormy Skies in the first place.
Please tell us about your favorite filmmakers.
One of the most awesome short films I’ve seen in recent years is Slice of Life, directed by Luka Hravic and shot by Dino Julius. They managed to replicate an entire Blade-Runner style megacity while on a scrappy budget, and they made a really entertaining behind the scenes series about the whole process. I’m so excited to see their next film, Splashback, when I get a chance.
I’m a big fan of the horror shorts of David F Sandberg and Lotta Lotsen, aka Ponysmasher, that they started putting on youtube (Lights Out being one of their most popular shorts) before eventually making the move to the United States and working on blockbuster movies like DC Comics’s Shazam. I learned a ton from their behind the scenes videos as well (and I love that they still continue to make the shorts despite their Hollywood successes!)
Last year, I also had a chance to attend the Genreblast Film Festival in Winchester, Virginia, which was the first film festival that Skitter premiered at (Chance of Stormy Skies episode 5). Such an incredible concentration of filmmaking talent, making the kinds of off-the-wall, unconventional, genre-bending films that I love but wasn’t sure were even being made anymore. Turns out you just have to go indie!
If you were given a good budget, what would be your ideal project?
If I had a budget, I’d love to actually pay the talented people that help me make these shorts!
But also, if I were able to go larger in scope, I’d love to make a science-fiction space opera series using old-school miniature effects for the spacecraft. Episode four of Chance of Stormy Skies, Teeth in a Well Developed Jaw, is actually based on a short story that I wrote a few years ago, in which an interstellar megacorporation accidentally unleashes several galaxy-wide threats: malicious infectious aliens, rampaging killer robots, time travel paradoxes and more. I’m currently working on a novel-length project set in the same universe, and I’d love to have the chance to turn that into a film or TV series.
If you’re curious to read the original short story, it’s called Newsroom - Horizons Interstellar, and it’s available over at the online magazine Sci-Phi Journal!
Describe how you would ensure that production is on schedule. What steps would you take?
I love this question! It’s so important for indie filmmakers to value the time they ask their cast and crew to put into making a film.
As a crew member, there’s nothing better than a director who knows exactly what they want, but who also respects the craft of each crew member in getting it done. So as a director, I’ve learned to always be willing to ask for advice from my cast and crew, while also moving fast by trusting my gut instincts in making decisions on set. The quicker I can lead my team, the more time and space I can give them to create the best possible film!
Before I ask anyone to join me on set, I want to make sure I’ve done the best I possibly can to plan the shoot and make efficient use of time. I create detailed shotlists for each of my projects, keeping a running list on my phone. After I’ve planned the shots in chronological order, I go through the list and create a shooting order based on location, camera setups, lenses, etc. I try and aim to do the most difficult shots first (for example, starting with the wides), while we have the most energy, and make our day easier as we go along.
I actually made a behind the scenes video about this process for the behind the scenes video for Skitter:
What was the hardest part of making ‘Chance of Stormy Skies’.
The hardest thing with Chance of Stormy Skies was probably making sure that I wasn’t too much in my own little world with these shorts. I wrote, directed, and edited each of them, so there weren’t the kinds of checks and balances you get on most other films from someone else’s perspective. That said, I’m very lucky to be part of an active writing group that gave me a lot of great feedback on draft versions of the shorts, and I try to do my best to show each episode to a wide range of friends for feedback before I actually publish them.
One thing I’d like to do for future seasons of Chance of Stormy Skies is collaborate with other directors whose work I admire, to expand the series more beyond just my sense of stories and styles!
If possible, tell us about your next work. What plans do you have for your future work?
I’ve got a few projects that I’m excited to work on right now!
There’s the novel I mentioned earlier, based on my short story Newsroom - Horizons Interstellar…I’m really looking forward to being able to dig into a more longform story. I’m also hoping to adapt Newsroom - Horizons Interstellar as short film sometime this fall or early next year.
In a similar vein to Chance of Stormy Skies, I’m about to launch an anthology podcast of short stories, with narration and immersive sound design, called laughing with the storm presents. I’ve had a lot of fun really digging into the sound design of an audio-only medium. Look for that on the laughing with the storm website over the next few weeks!
Finally, I do have plans to do a few more seasons of Chance of Stormy Skies, so keep an eye out for Season 2!
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