Episode 2 - Zoran Dragelj Friends Like These Renderyard Interviews

Today we speak with Zoran Dragelj the director of Friends Like These as part of the Renderyard Interviews. To find out how he produced and created his movie. Sal's relationship falls apart and its up too his two best girl friends to get him out of his slump. What could go wrong? A comedy drama filmed on location on Bowen Island and Vancouver, Canada. Starring: Josh Romyn, David Laurence, Kiran Madahar

Interview Transcription

Speaker 1: Welcome to Renderyard todays guest is Zoran Dragelj the director of Friends Like These. Welcome to Renderyard Interviews today we have the director Zoran Dragelj. He is going to be talking about his film Friends Like These. And its great to have you Zoran how are you?

Speaker 2: Thank you. I'm well, I'm talking to you from unseeded and ancestral lands of three nations in what's known as Vancouver, Canada? Okay. And yeah, I'm doing well, thank you under these circumstances and and times that we're living in

Speaker 1: one city, to just go into your film. And and what it is to be a filmmaker and a director. Minute you produced a fantastic feature film but a kind of halfway shot, an hour-long comedy-drama friends like these. And how did you find going about raising the the money to make the film to gain the production

Speaker 2: dramedy as the two writers who wrote? Friends like these call it to dramedy drama Josh and Andi. David and it was it was a project that started to develop organically. Josh was a protégé was mentoring, Josh and we were talking about doing some projects together, he's aspiring writer based here in Vancouver and he wanted to do a project and the his first initial project. Really elaborate one. And it's it would had like about dozen actors half a dozen locations. And so, as as any aspiring filmmaker will do, I would tell him to scale it down and try with one or two locations and maybe three to four actors. Okay. And he took upon the challenge and he said that he will have Something for me to read in about a month at the time, he was also in, he still does collaborates with David, who is an Irish writer based in Dublin and they came up with this story for friends like these and after a month they came back actually they will still in Ireland but they've given me the script and I read it and I said, let's do it. And it was just like The time the place and the situation that presented itself for for us to do this film. And and then this holds the wheels were in motion with with casting and and so on. So it would they say if there is a will, there's a might write and this this really resonates that that phrase. So

Speaker 1: that's great and What how did you manage to go about raising the funds to pay the crew

Speaker 2: and the app? So it was, it was all self-funded. I'm a filmmaker myself, I direct them produce. I also in the my media company called tension media with my business partner David and we dissolved our company couple years prior to us making friends like these Java decided to start a family and get married. And And I agree that I supported his decision because he was there for me back in 2000 when I decided to move to Los Angeles and and and and I was on a work permit, working for to production companies down there. He was still running, our company in Vancouver upon my return because of the dreaded 911, I focus more on our media company and we landed some some of the amazing plants like Van Ark, which was The Olympic company in Vancouver for a lot of government begins 2010. And then we had few other like, really interesting and exciting companies and clients. So, I had some, some of my savings and, and, and this was the opportunity to put those savings to work on friends like these. And I'm sorry.

Speaker 1: That's great. And what was it? Was it a film that That Grew From a script that you'd received or was it, did it Grow from an idea? You had and you found the writer to put that down into a script.

Speaker 2: Well, it was, it was all Josh's and Andy Biggs seed that just like sprouted and into this story and will With the parameters that we put four words with no more than four actors. And no, more than two locations, they came up with. And it was just that in a first draft, everything was just in a right, he had the right tempo, right direction, and it was just like a few revisions here and there, Dave decided to pack it in, and come to Canada and be available for the shoot. And also, So if any subsequent revisions and they they were still like ironing down about week or so, prior to the our shoot just like polishing everything. So, everything is smooth. We we were also fortunate that prior to filming friends like these. I was working for a good colleague of mine and four e and she she's really well-known casting director for, huh? Mark movies, okay? And, and was really supportive because I helped her with her short films, because she was also trying to promote herself as a director, which she is now a really successful, Hallmark director here in Vancouver. So what what she was able to do, she was able to open up her Data. Book of all the caste, all the actors in the town and allow us to use her Casting office to cast for this. So he had access to some of the amazing up-and-coming talent in Vancouver. They had a little Parts here and there but this they needed something they needed. It experience of a feature film. And as being an indie film, we were like a family. And so, and then also, I worked on ants film with a cinematographer. And I also work with the sound guy. And so when I bring my cash in as a cinematographer, amazing cinematography also works for few local companies. He makes there like Lululemon he shoots all of their in-house commercials and vili hear of an amazing talented sound designer and recorded. So what happened is that I was able to Approach them and ask them to come on board. And also, you know, tell them this is, this is, this is the project. What are the costs? Let's figure out and what was also great with Brynn, brain also has a partnership with two of our other friends cinematographers, and they just acquired a Scarlet, red camera. And so he had Scarlet, red camera with a prime kit and I think that's all you need and good lighting setup and good. LED lighting setup portable one. We also procured some equipment from a local rental houses that we needed and and then we were like, checking all the things that we need to like casting equipment crew. The next one was the location right? That we're at. Interesting story develops of for us trying to find that perfect location, that kind of resonates the script and that was a fantastic score for us.

Speaker 1: So you're one of the main characters of the film is the actual islands that is filmed on and it does look very secluded. It's very beautiful. You've got an amazing kind of Architectural Glass House cabin. Was it a simple process to to do filming there or did you need to secure rights to film their? What things are involved with sheeting off? Mainland as it were?

Speaker 2: Since we were an independent, we did not rely on any zoning or on any. When I say zoning, it's if your film industry, when Cooper is known as Hollywood. North and lot of Hollywood pilots pilots of the First episodes for any show, shoot in Vancouver because of the tax credits and then they fall under the zoning thing that they do in order to get more tax dollars, they have to shoot really Far away from the city core. So if you shoot about 50 to 100 kilometers outside of the Vancouver Zone, you getting more tax credits. We did we did not rely on the tax credit so we were able to shoot anywhere but we wanted to shoot like you said somewhere secluded somewhere like unique and and the idea of shooting either on the Sunshine Coast which is this Coast goes that stretches you have to take a ferry to that place that stretches along. The inlet, the Burrard Inlet or we can, we could we could shoot on this island called Bowen Island and we tried to explore both options and just having few friend Academia friends, at the University of British Columbia, I happen to be at one of the art shows and somebody just asked me like, what are you up to? You know, what kind of exciting thing that you're working on? And and I mention that I'm working on this project and I'm done looking for interesting place. Right? And a colleague of mine from UBC summoned his colleague. And and this person came and says, Michelle here has a place on on Bowen Island. It's a family cabin and it's the 50s kind of art deco style but modernize and freshly painted then and it's in their family and Why, you know, see if you can work out the deal and then we started talking and she was really supportive and she said, like, let me talk to my husband to finalize the, how to get you the key and, and all the stuff, and then we'll talk about it. And I said, okay, no problem. It will con take me time to get my insurance filming insurance for the equipment and for the crew, and, and secure that, two days later, I got a call from her husband and he says, Did you guys did you guys get insurance? And I said, well, I'm just about to like, don't don't think, don't don't take insurance. I was going to put her in hours and how much that saves you and that saves it. Like about 700 bucks and yeah dollars. And that was a, that was a really generous gift from someone who is really supporting supportive of our film Endeavor. And, and, and it was just a smooth sailing from there. And and, and that when both David and Josh saw the location, they were like mesmerized, it like, this is just almost exactly how we imagine. And because everything started to fit when we were doing the blocking, everything just started to fit perfectly because there was a main table in the kitchen. And then there are the window, the side door, and then, and, and the job. Yeah.

Speaker 1: Exactly. You've seen it when you watch the film. It obviously you've used called lights, LED lighting, but it looks like on a very minimal basis. It looks more like you've relied on what natural light is coming through the windows because there's such big Vistas. So I kind of get the feel that there's a lot of play with the shadows and the light and dark. Going on, just naturally throughout the

Speaker 2: house. Exactly. And in mind you, we were facing north, right? So forth on the island. So we and it was shooting in the in the midst of winter. So the you know, we're not getting that much sunlight but we're still getting amazing pool of light coming in if we were shooting basically. More more down like Southwest we will have amazing son sunsets and we will have amazing also like but not probably not as much as we had on that location. And as I said it was a middle of winter. Yeah. And and and and it was just fantastic that the pink across from from the from the channel that's the Sunshine Coast. That was a Okay, our secondary location if this was not working well, but we got there. We stayed for for about seven days, seven days and it was just like bonding it was, it was a fan like a family affair that the crew and cast we have ample amount of places to sleep. There were three bedrooms there was a top Oh look also. And then there was also a guest house and so Kenny it was just a fantastic place to work because we will get up in the morning. Have breakfast, do our scheduling run through some lines, think about some blocking if you're going to shoot in indoors if you're going to go outdoors and and and then just like that was the Rhythm good that we developed over the course of seven days that it was just a fantastic. Opportunity and an experience for all of us.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's an incredibly tight film. The the pacing it just flows from the start to the end. And the the, the actors are incredibly natural with some of some of the lines that they have to deliver. They're just really, very kind of charismatically laid back when they were these. Sentences are coming out of their mouths. Were there any, you know, we're there any kind of situations where it's just too much for them to be doing it with a straight face when their situations of okay? We've got to do a retake. How was the kind of shoot on a day-to-day basis? Did you have to do money stops or did everyone just sell through the

Speaker 2: script? First day, we did couple of the blockings prior to our arrival, to Bowen Island. After we casted in Vancouver, we held couple table sessions and and then we took notes and and everything was like setting go. And and I noticed at that moment that there is a great energy Peace, energy and Chemistry Between the trifecta. The, the old three characters and that was really great that, that that work. And that gave me confidence going to Bowen Island at that, we're onto something really great. When we got there, they were moments. I mean, around the table you mentioned earlier about the sandwiches that that some of that developed as that was Dave's idea, that he brought it from Ireland, that's his tradition that he has that and and then he Incorporated in scripting one of the co-writers. And then, what else? What's also interesting is that they hit on and they They kind of adopted that and they play it along. It was kind of their little thing and and any work with so well and there was a couple of couple scenes when they are sitting on a couch and and everything was filmed chronologically, okay? And there was maybe one instance that we wanted to reshoot one scene from the, from from early on because by the, by the fifth or Six day, there was so much energy and and chemistry that we felt but we left it like that. Because also it's interesting point in the film that they're just reconnecting rise friends. So it's like okay that works. That works as well that they are reconnecting as and and they starting to build up on their friendship and on their chemistry and on their crushes and all the things that

Speaker 1: happened. And as the film, Kind of progresses through a Time Loop that the inhibitions of the characters are becoming more, you know, relaxed. So if shoot it in such a way where, you know, you wouldn't want to be doing some of the scenes at the end at the beginning, because it might seem a bit too stiff. Yeah, by the end of, I don't know how many days was the shoot

Speaker 2: on the Island, Seven Days, Seven Days, seven days. And then to do have two other day. Days were on the

Speaker 1: mainland. It's a very interesting kind of take on Modern relationships. It's a refreshing. Look at kind of modern situations, with young Millennial kind of relationships. What kind of response have you had from younger viewers? Possibly of the similar age, where whats your core audience being and what kind of reactions of you received to the

Speaker 2: film? It's interesting because Josh is a millennial, he's I would say now, 29 approaching it from 9th. He was he was just turning 24 25. So that was about three years ago, so injuries. I think people who are in their 20s and 30s and 40s and as older as in the 60s and 70s 70s and and they find the story. Funny, and interesting. And and, and, and there's a Common Thread of them laughing at the jokes. And then quoting some stuff when they talk about film and it's somewhat, some of them even though I'm not the big fan, they say it's Charming, you know? And and so, so what does that mean? You know, it's like

Speaker 1: what the challenge is a good compliment. Yeah. It kind of headlamps compliment that it's

Speaker 2: and and I think that younger audience Associates more because it's that kind of Vain. You know, it's that's kind of a style that they used to. Yeah. And it's kind of that also reflects the length of it, you know, you're really a mention like so longer than a short, you know. It's I believe British Academy qualifies this as a feature film because, you know, everything that's over 45 minutes. It's a feature film. And it's interesting length that Came up, we could have easily stretch it to one hour and five or ten minutes, you know. Yes, a few other things but

Speaker 1: maybe it's, it's the kind of length of a pilot. It's very interesting. It could actually be expanded into a series. It's like a kind of more adult version of friends we have that, if that's a compliment to you or not. But that's, that's how I responded when I, when I first saw it, I was like, oh, this is this is really interesting. Setting. And the length was, it was interesting because I was expecting it to be the same length as a, as a movie.

Speaker 2: Yeah,

Speaker 1: 18 minutes or something like that, but it, it fits perfectly because beyond the hour, you're really just looking for other things to pad, the film out with it, gets to the Pint and then it

Speaker 2: stops exactly. And we didn't want to repeat ourselves with the with Gimmicks and all the other stuff. Sorry. I had a really good conversation with our editor threat towards stdin award-winning editor in and I said that proudly because he is a genius of one of sort because he originally wanted to read the script and he read the script and he says before I commit I'd like to read the script, makes some notes talk to you about it, tell you the direction I want to go with the with, with this editing And then if you agree and if I agree, we'll work together. And and I said to him, by all means here, the script I gave him the printed version that hard copy he read it and he called me like two days after and he says this is how I see it even though the script the original script was I believe 78 pages. Okay. So I was like yeah. And if you take that one page, Minute, that could be like an hour and 18 minutes and he says, I like to do this and this. And and, and he slightly compressed few scenes instead of they go on and on and on, right? He made the cuts here there and and I I hand him the that the hard drives and and then he started to edit and I think it took him two weeks that she had a rough rough cut. Like assembly and then he because he was cutting it after after he's work. So he was like he said, he could have easily get get it done here earlier, but he was working during the day and then editing in the evenings and I looked it up and I was like, oh and then we started to figure. We were talking about the opening house that's going to be done and then how we going to close it and then stylistically like Those fonts and all the other stuff. Yes, I was happy with that first initial edit. And then from then on it was just like a smoothing and making it

Speaker 1: - that's really good. They, the film has a brilliant soundtrack. Yeah. It feels like a lot of the musicians, although Canada's obviously a huge country. It feels like a lot of local musicians, in my mind, And that's how I hear it. Where did you find the musicians? And what was the, how did you involve them with in the

Speaker 2: movie? Yes, you're right. They are all local based vancouver-based musician. The scene here is it's amazing but Cooper is not. I'm a Critic here, oven Cooper's, not the best place for venues. We have the least amount of venues anywhere in North America from using For the music. It's not, it's not the appreciated at well, but the scene as recorder recording artists, are I met some amazing in the country? I mean, Montreal and Quebec Heaven, another great scene. So the idea was talking to Josh early on was as he was finishing the script. He started to do a list of music that we wanted to listen and prepare ourselves. Elves, kind of put our minds set on mines and have and have that resonate and few few bands are also friends of Josh's job and it was coming down to Jenny been a okay, Dave. And also I it was a local Music Awards in Vancouver and I run into got introduced to a little coyote and and she had an amazing album coming out and there was a one song in particular that fitted so well in the scene when they know and a bathroom Ryan and it was and then also It was, it was basically talking to them and asking them and Harlequin gold. Doctor, forget the Harlequin go because they are just superbly talented, and an amazing group local group that's doing so well, but they were all on, they were all ready to do the tours in 2020, a little coyote was invited to South by Southwest to Her album and, and her work. Harlequin gold was on a tour, United States. They just started. They were about to get hit LA and I was to go and see their show in LA because I was in LA, in March of 2020, and everything because of the covid got canceled, and they all got to back to the country. So it was, it was our Dream to have their music Jenny bananas. He's piece just fit in so. Well, both on the, for the trailer and throughout the film it actually, it's the song made for the film, or film is made for the song and it was talking to them and telling them what our vision is and what our intentions are. And and, and they were so great generous, corporate event and and then just, they wanted to help out and and and we we welcome that and then And then they helped us greatly. Yeah

Speaker 1: that's great. It's a real it's a lovely combination of visuals and the song selection it works really really well. And you have been incredibly proactive with promoting your film and speaking to your local media, you managed to get some really strong reviews online reviews as well as printed reviews. However, how is your approach being towards promoting your your film?

Speaker 2: I've been always drumming the same beats when I talk to other fellow filmmakers and and sometimes I'm sad to see a good film from a fellow filmmaker, all the work went into all old, all the preparations executions, everything, and in the film, just does the little circle of festivals and it kind of yeah. Is out. And so I always and I always stress that talking to other aspiring filmmakers, push your film. You know, if you put all this time and effort and money into it, push it and and don't don't peddle something that you don't believe in, but if you believe in the film that you did, like try to get, you know, proper channels to Showcase your film, and send the link and share the link. And I can see it and then there are there are writers out there who want to review something interesting and unique. Yeah then and that's how it started locally with the with a local film, few local from writers and and then and it just like and I always have a

Speaker 1: link with me, the length of your film has been more suited for online use Than Physical distribution and You know, I think also the length of the film is also made it stand out because it's been, you know, you got really quickly got picked up by, to be, it's on Amazon. We were experimenting with it on YouTube at the moment. It seems to flow between short film platforms as well as feature film platforms and that's really helpful with, you know, just getting getting the film on as many Platforms as possible because it isn't just tied down to being a feature film.

Speaker 2: I just before we go any further, I just want to do this opportunity, give a shout-out and great. Thanks to two extremely important writers who wrote about the film Beverly. Khan in l.a. who. I mean I'm saying I'm going to have one day. I'm going to frame Kareem Male back because she's amazing writer. And and when she watched Friends like these she wrote me an amazingly email and also pin Malloy and for Movie Maker magazine because they they really helped they really helped and and it was for a small film like friends like these. You get that shot out. Yeah. And now film threat threat

Speaker 1: Health. Yeah.

Speaker 2: Recently also wrote Audit. It means a lot and that reflects also, and I had both. So colleagues, who were never on Amazon Prime and they subscribed and they watching stuff on it and and it was just me, convincing them to go and see friends like these on Amazon Prime and q b. And, and those are, those are great opportunities for and I'm being humble here, but to say thank you for an independent filmmaker such as myself. And And get get that exposure. And, and also their honest feedback for the film's.

Speaker 1: The, the film has a very unique poster, and it's almost looks like it's hand painted. I'm not sure if it's been done on a computer or if it is hand drawn. Can you tell us a bit about the art behind the film?

Speaker 2: Yes, the the art World Behind the film. It's interesting. It's hand. It's hand down its hand painted. Stand by a local artist cat torsion who is actually a sister of the editor of the film and Cat. Does these amazing drawings with crayons and pastels and docking going back to our initial talks with Josh? They were few posters that really inspired us. Josh is also So I was influenced by my sister sister and and and and a few other filmmakers and they most of the time have hand-drawn posters and so we were like we had, we had a really good coverage. We had the photographer also on set and we had like some of the greatest sales and everything but it was different to have a hand-drawn poster, a with it. And so I approached cat and I gave her all the references and she came With you versions. And and then we narrowed down on this one. And then I had a colleague of mine. Adam Rashid, and Adam took all the text. And then, he basically after I took photos, still photos of the poster. He digitized it. And then he started laying the text over. So it fitted at the format that the motion picture.

Speaker 1: Yeah, it does. It's very unique and it has a kind of, I wouldn't say 70s, but kind of early 80s, sort of just has that vibe that again fits the, you know, the feel of the movie, the kind of Comedy structure of the film. The, and also the Indy ascetic. Yes, so it works, it works alongside the film content really well. Have you got something new in line for this year? Or are you working towards a next

Speaker 2: project? Well, the thing called Corbett, put a little stop to that. I was, I was developing couple things and I'm still are optioned an interesting book from award-winning Creator writer and and I'm working with the, my friend truth. With on the developing, this story into, and we'll figure out if it's going to be a feature film, or an episodic show. And then, in the meantime, I'm working on a couple of documentaries. There's a documentary that I filmed in Costa Rica about self Dot, Artist called battle, okay? And I went to down to Costa Rica to meet this fellow. He's a true eccentric. It self taught himself how to paint draw and sculpt. He lives in a house that he built for his family with three generations of his family Under One Roof and he sculpts these horses. So, if you happen to travel anywhere in Latino America, or in South America, and We're in any of the carousels, right? Can like the horses in maybe one of his

Speaker 1: Creations, but is there a place where viewers of this interview can, can find you either socially via Twitter, Facebook, or your own website?

Speaker 2: I'm, I'm only on Facebook and I'm also on Instagram, my Name is attention attention. Then if you if you if you can put it in a little description yeah that would be great. They can find me, they can follow I post on Instagram daily interesting. I curated different photo a day and something that's happening in my life or something. I like to share recently. I've been sharing about Peter bogdanovich and his influence on me and I was fortunate to to meet him and And, and have time to talk to him a bit. And, and also, I was honored to do we, I'm a part of the award show in Los Angeles, called International press Academy in the satellite Awards and any 20 2011, we awarded him and a to reward, and he needed to present his demo. I like a little intro video and I edited and I I got some of the amazing feedback from him that he really liked it and enjoyed it that really captured capture him in the video. So

Speaker 1: Zoran, it's been really great speaking with you. Thank you for coming on and just telling us about yourself and your film and and your experiences and what you're currently doing and what you hope to achieve in the future. Thank you. Thanks for listening.