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Bonus episode of Thirsty Conversations: An Indie Filmmaker’s Global Playbook: Comedy, Grit, And Vision Beyond Borders

• Lawrence Elrod & Meryl Klemow

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What does it take to build a global filmmaking career without waiting for permission? We sit down with New Zealand–born director Samuel Franklin, whose debut feature movie Tropical Snow blends dark comedy, handheld immediacy, and a quietly universal humanity. Samuel shares how a childhood steeped in 90s American cinema, Jackie Chan’s kinetic spirit, and a love for cross-cultural stories shaped his voice—and why he aims for films that feel international without losing heart. Watch the full movie Tropical Snow on elrodtvnetwork.com.

• defining a global storytelling voice without chasing trends
• crafting dark comedy with universal characters
• writing long and cutting sharp to protect pace
• making scope on indie budgets with handheld texture
• filming across Korea, Australia, Singapore and Vietnam
• on-the-ground crews, cultural norms and logistics
• self-teaching cameras and editing under pressure
• VFX as collaboration, not a crutch
• practical views on AI, tech and audience taste
• advice for new filmmakers to start and keep going


Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

Tired of surface-level inspiration? This raw, transformative documentary digs deep into turning pain into purpose. Mainstream platforms wouldn't touch these powerful stories of resilience, but you can access them now on elrodvnetwork.com.

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Hello, and thank you for listening to Thirsty Topics podcast! I'm Lawrence Elrod, and every week Meryl Klemow and I dive deep into the stories that matter, the conversations that shape our world."

Please help support our show by following us and telling others about our show. New podcasts weekly.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello everyone. Welcome to Thirsty Conversations. I'm Lauren Rock.

SPEAKER_00:

And I'm Kristen Ringa.

SPEAKER_01:

And I've been here today. Um we have a great person. Um, he actually has a movie that's on uh LrodTV Network.com. And um we're gonna be talking about that, talking about uh his career and any potential projects coming up. Everyone, please welcome Samuel Franklin to our show. Yay!

SPEAKER_03:

Hello there. Thank you guys very much. Hello there.

SPEAKER_00:

Happy to have you.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, hello from South Korea right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Nice, nice. I know you're I know it's like nighttime for you, probably I think the next day versus us.

SPEAKER_03:

Right, yeah, it's it's 12 11 a.m. right now.

SPEAKER_00:

So you're in your jammies, ready for bad.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh just well, pajama jammies. I got my jumper on, I got a normal shoot on the top.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, we've we've all learned from the pandemic to have pants on when you do these just in case, right? Right.

SPEAKER_03:

That's right. Yeah, better at Zoom, better at Zoom during COVID more wet.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we learned the rules.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes. Well, Samuel, uh, do us a favor and kind of tell everyone uh uh about yourself.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay, so my name is Samuel Franklin, I'm from New Zealand. I was born in 1988. I grew up um in Auckland City and grew up watching movies. So since I was born in 1988, I'm basically growing up in the films of the 90s, Steven Spielberg films, I'm watching um Joe Dante films, everything Stan Winston was involved with, um, Pixar animation, I mean basically everything of that era, TV shows like the storyteller, and always loved movies, and then went on to when I became a teenager, got strongly into um Jackie Chan's movies, which then led me into Chinese culture, and then Chinese culture led me into Korean culture, and um, you know, led me to then study Japanese and Chinese and Korean, and just now I'm living here in Korea and making my second film in Korea, and always had a passion for filmmaking, and made my first film during university before I moved here, which is on the streaming channel, my film Tropical Snow, my first film. And yeah, little introduction.

SPEAKER_00:

Perfect. Um, so how would you describe so you've made several films at this point? Um, how would you describe your voice in storytelling?

SPEAKER_03:

So, my first film, I my think what I was trying to do was I was taking my inspiration from American films and I was putting that into a New Zealand film because in New Zealand we grow up with American things and British things more so. We watch more American things and British things. There's not like this huge New Zealand industry that we're kind of like watching. We watch the HBO shows, or we maybe we watch some like maybe some Australian shows, but a lot of British comedies, and that kind of I guess I liked my own voice. Things I like are I do like putting different cultures in movies, but I want to do that as more of a thing of and also like you know, I like to tell like stories of women and things like that, but not as a way of inclusivity or diversity. I like it to be more like vision. So my first film is a very um ethnically diverse film, but that was all vision, it wasn't this need to include this or include that because that's what we need in the modern setting. It was very much vision, and then um I like the idea of making a film where um, or just films in general, where say there's an international vibe to the movie. You kind of I kind of like the vibe of that, especially with the movies dealing with drugs and addiction, and it's like a dark comedy, but the way they all kind of vibe off each other, I want it to kind of like something that's international, but something that we all deal, or that's something that's people are dealing with around the world. I like things that people can kind of like round the world can pick up on, not something that feels too say local. That's why I was trying to avoid like an overly New Zealand feeling film that maybe only New Zealanders would get. Like, that's not gonna do anything. I was like, I want like something everyone can pick up on. And Lauren saw the film, and I'm really glad that he liked it, and he wanted to put it on the streaming channel, and I was like, oh, good. So yeah, I guess I like um I like to juxtapose things, I like to mix different things together. I like that kind of like um eclectic, which is what a lot of people were saying about the film. Like it feels like very eclectic, it feels like you know, um, very original is what people were saying. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

And when I got that impression with when I watched Tropical Snow, because I mean, as far as main characters go, couldn't be more different than me. Um and the topic, you know, not not really anything I deal with for the most part. Um, but I found it really entertaining and it was really funny. Um so so I I mean I get I get exactly what you're saying, that it had an international feel, but it also was not out of my you know realm or or out of my reality. So I it it's I mean it's they're for everybody, regardless of the fact that maybe you don't identify with the main characters.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, because they're oh then no, I'm really glad to hear that. Yeah, that they are quite um unconventional style of characters. They're not like a straight, it's not like a like a hero lead. He's not like specifically like the good guy, and he's um I mean you're following three people who are all attempting something. One's trying to make a website for this drug industry, and the other's trying to get famous on the internet, and my character's trying to sit there and you know film them both, yeah. And then that reflects me too, you know, at that time making my first film. Um, I'm glad you liked the movie. Um, and yes, I did want to make it funny because that was the first thing people were saying. They're like, oh, I didn't expect to be laughing. I was like, oh, that's good. Because often the trailer, sometimes like if you market it as a comedy, then the dark, maybe darker aspects can kind of like can be jarring. Yeah, but if it's if you if it's surprisingly funny, that can actually work a bit better, I find. You know, yeah, because often that's the thing with marketing is to market everything like it's a comedy. It's hard to market a more somber, you know, like eclectic style film. So they just market everything like a comedy.

SPEAKER_00:

So I'm glad you're well as you know from American films, comedy here is so over the top. And so when you market something as comedy, there, I mean the big, big blockbusters, comedy is very physical, is very loud, is very overt. And this wasn't that, but it was still low-key funny. So if I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you so much. Yeah, a lot of times for me, the low-key comedy that you don't expect actually is a lot funnier than the over the top for me. And um, I know one of the things that I really liked about the movie, and I think Krista touched on it, is regardless of your background or where you're at, you can identify with the characters. And that's I think that was really enjoyable about the movie. Um, how did you come up with the with the concept or the vision on putting that concept together?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, very good. Um, so it started, I believe it started with Kerry. Terence Malik did a film called The Tree of Life that I saw in Arizona in 2011. And he made there's a film that kind of how do I say it, kind of encapsulates a lot of nature and it's a big sequence of life and things like that. And I just got very inspired by this idea of a film that had a big sequence in it. Now, that inspired me to make a film with that, but the film actually does have a lot of sequences, and the key is to not make it too sequency to keep focus on the story and the characters. And there was one more sequence I actually cut out. I made it a tried to make you know cut it down and things like that. So I guess it was just about using what was available to me. So the idea for this grew out of a movie that I tried to make in 2009, I believe. Now that movie fell apart because I was just my first attempt at making a movie. But the idea of like making a film like a dark comedy that involved drugs was kind of a key aspect. And the reason for using drugs is because one, it does have edge as subject matter, and because you're self-financed, you can't just go, well, I'd like to do a UFO or an explosion. It's like, well, you who's paying for the UFO and the explosion, you know what I mean? But with with something something like putting like cocaine in a movie, it's literally like icing sugar in a bag, you know what I mean? Something like that. And you can't make a movie for kids as an indie film because kids don't go see indie movies, they don't even know what that is. So it was about um, I guess also using a handheld camera and putting the quality of that look in context, because otherwise you're using a camera and you're pretending otherwise you're just pretending that look of that camera is not from that type of camera. You have to put literally that sort of look in context. So that gave me the idea to make like a handheld camera movie. So, and then I guess it was just it came out of so it was the there was the drug aspect, the dark comedy aspect, the handheld camera aspect, and also my own life from the movie that fell apart, which then led me to go make tropical snow, which is also true of me and the film. So I guess it was a combination of all those things. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So I want to jump tracks here um to you. You uh do make films internationally, right? Um how did that start? Because I feel like when most people hear, I'm an international filmmaker, it's it's a it's a big title, right? And so how did you decide to like dip your toe into that? Let me go somewhere else and make a film. And how how did that journey start?

SPEAKER_03:

I think it's the um good question too. Um, it's a by looking at what other filmmakers were doing and seeing how competitive filmmaking is, a lot of filmmakers are making films in 30 days and putting them on Amazon Direct or Vimeo on demand, and by all means, like you know, all you know, more power to them. But then you start feeling like the need for ambition in movies, which is why it's like my first movie, it's like I'll go to Australia and film, I'll go to South Korea and film, which is what I did. You know, it's just about like, you know, I will climb a mountain and film, which is all these things were my first movie, just about broadening the scope of it, just so it's that little bit bigger, so you know that you can actually um film bigger than say even a lot of indie films that may get financing from a studio. You can actually just like you know go anywhere and film it. Just the idea of um I think that the desire to make the film bigger, making it international, and also um I think how would I say from my own personal life as well, because I knew I'd move to South Korea after university, and I'd rather make my second film there, and that also got me over there, and then I can also plan to like this, like actually this year I was in Singapore filming for my second movie, and that was pre-planned in advance too. So it's just I guess the desire to make the film a broader scope where you can make films actually bigger than studios, and wanting to um I guess I mean it still had to fit the idea, it still had to work within the idea, like my character travels, and then that works within that. Or say you like the look of particular cities, I think visually things are gonna grab you like, oh like I like the idea my film takes place there. So, like my you know, I go to South Korea and film for my first movie. That kind of thing will make you do things internationally, I guess I'd say.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so you just essentially had to you didn't wait for permission and you just had to make the decision.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, yeah, I've I've never waited on a handout, I've never waited for permission ever. I mean, I I was talking to the film industry when I was 20. That was as early, you know, when I was first talking to them. You just you just gotta make phone calls, you gotta make moves, you know, you gotta go out there and film, you're not like even you know, you do you guys know Tika Whitety who did like Thor Ragnarok and all those? Oh, yeah, yeah. So I met him in 2012, what did we say, 2012? And even he was advising people like, oh, don't wait till people pay you. You gotta begin, you know, gotta start writing, you gotta go. And he was a really nice guy when I met him too. It's like, yeah, you just gotta, you just gotta go, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

You just gotta go.

SPEAKER_03:

You just gotta go. You know, you build your own momentum, build your own profile and things like that too, and then you meet good people, like I'm meeting you guys, you know, it's like like that, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Now, you know, I'm kind of curious. Uh, when you start doing movies, um, and and you're doing them in different countries, what challenges uh, if any, do you face? You know, as far as like you start maybe in this country, then you decide you want to do it in this country. Is there any challenges or or hurdles that you have to overcome when doing that?

SPEAKER_03:

Um well, you gotta make sure your technology is right, you gotta make sure, you know, you're not bringing batteries in your um cabin baggage or anything because batteries have to be on carry-on. You have to remember certain things like here in South Korea, people's profiles are really protected, that's quite intrinsic in the culture. You never film people's face. So, if so, I mean, even like you know, like say, like if I'm in Korea and I'm filming, people are looking at you, they're gonna be looking at your camera, like you know, so you gotta get prepared for that. We'll be in your shot. Whereas back home in New Zealand, it's more like people would like stand in the shot and like look at me, like filming. There's like there was shots where like people would be like standing there and I'm filming the character, and they just stand and look, and then you go, Okay, we've got the answer. Hi, Well, what do you want? You just like like just move, like and sometimes people thought like me and people were actually talking, like we were just talking to each other, but we were filming the scene, and uh and they're like talk to us like, what do you mean? Like, what do you mean? Like, we're making a movie, we're making a movie.

SPEAKER_02:

Um yeah, no, it was pretend.

SPEAKER_03:

I guess the acting, yeah. They like the acting, I guess. Um, even when the scenes in like the house, people like would come in and they thought thought we were just talking to each other. Like, no, no, we just it's like this a movie, but um, anyway, complications overseas. Let me see. Um, I mean, I guess just any terrain, like when you're up mountains, like um actually last year my camera was hit by an ocean wave, but that was actually back in New Zealand, so I had to buy another camera. I'm not gonna quit and buy another camera, right? You just have to buy another camera. Well, yeah, it's just like like a speeding ticket, but it's like it's a hell of a speeding ticket. But I had to buy another one because I came back to Korea and I um and I was planning to film in Singapore as well. So you know, that certain like I think when you're filming in natural environments, you know, water, I think ocean waves. If you're ever trying to get shots of the ocean waves, get ready to pull it back.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you know, you're the cautionary tale for that.

SPEAKER_03:

But like nothing with like there was nothing ever with police or anything like that that never happened, just more like um you know, just being in places like sneaking onto like the subway and things, and mainly technical like unnatural light will make your camera kind of flicker. So then you're always trying to get as much natural light as possible, even when I do interviews for my second movie, like making sure we're not using fictional lights, make sure we can film it in the day, open the curtains and that kind of thing. You know what I mean? More like that.

SPEAKER_00:

So when you film internationally, do you have um the the same crew and um you know not necessarily cast, but the same crew that follows you to other countries, or do you source crew members from where you're located?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh no, I always I always find people there because it's a big that's a big that's a big effort to actually have to move people around and house them up and things like that. Yeah, I mean that depends on the production too. If people have crews that show up or they have crews that um, you know, like want to follow them and actually live on the film set. So yeah, no, I always just I always just get people if I need them. I find people there. You know.

SPEAKER_00:

Does that ever pose any challenges? Trying to make people who have never met a team in such a short period of time, or have you found it pretty easy?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, you know, that can be a challenge in any aspect, whether it's a film crew or a cast or just anything like that. Because, you know, everyone has their own lives and we have our own hurdles, and I mean, just I mean, just anything, even just like just trying to hurdle like the actors in the first movie was such a you know, because people got kids and stuff like that, and then they gotta come up and be in my movie. But it's like it's Wednesday night, and I thought you were free, but you didn't say I needed to be free. I thought you were free every Wednesday night, and then oh my gosh, and then you know. I mean, like in the first movie, like for for Tropical Snow, Tuanda Manima, who plays Jason, he was only free Wednesday night. And when we when we lost Wednesday night, we lost the week.

SPEAKER_00:

You lost the week, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and it would just keep go dragging out like that. And fortunately, I got everything I needed from him, and right at the end, he was casting Ghost in the Shell with Scarlet Johansson. So I was like, I got him, locked him in before he went on to go be in that. And so I was really really fortunate for that, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Now taking a look at at tropical snow, um, were you professionally trained uh in filmmaking, like like school or anything, or did you kind of learn as you as you as you went along when making your movies?

SPEAKER_03:

So I had had a little bit of practice using a DSLR camera, which is what I shot with, but mainly just filming my whole life. I've been filming since I was a child. I woke up, I filmed, I woke up, I filmed, and I'm got friends together, we're gonna make a movie, got friends together, we're gonna make a movie, we're gonna make a movie, gonna make a movie. All I ever did was make movies, and I think that things kind of like um I had learned a brief I had learned brief editing in university, but more of that was through YouTube tutorials and just practice on my own. But I think it was when I was I believe I would have been 18, I made a movie that was 42 minutes, and that kind of thing, it's like a bit of like a backbone, that kind of thing, like gives you backbone to film and film and film and film and film and organize people. And then 42 minutes led to a movie that fell apart. I spent 10 grand, it fell apart, and then the idea turned into Tropical Snow and my second movie. So I'd say more just getting used to the backbone of shooting, more on my own, um, which is the real grind of filmmaking, like shooting, it's like actually like picking yourself up and going there, you know, like that's the grind, you know. Which no film school is gonna teach you that. You gotta be able to, you know, get yourself up and get that sunrise or get these people together, and when it falls apart, you gotta do it again, you know, that kind of thing. But um, yeah, I'd say I'd say more like I got a lot of YouTube tutorial kind of things for my camera and editing, things like that. I'd say, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So you taught yourself how to edit and everything, huh?

SPEAKER_03:

I'd say mostly, yeah. Just just by continually doing it. Well, for the well, actually for tropical snow in 2016, my laptop was in my bag and I slipped down icy stairs and it broke the screen. It was on the screen side on the stairs, so it didn't land on the hard drive side. And so I edited with a broken laptop, HTMI plugged into a TV, and taught myself how to edit on a broken laptop, like piece by piece, like, oh, I hope this thing doesn't break, and what do I have to buy a new laptop and all that? That's how I learned how to edit my first movie. It was like on this, just like piece by piece, so terrified of please don't explode computer, you know. But it didn't explode.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I've I have heard that actually as a common uh a common theory of filmmakers. It's like you don't need to go to film school, you just need to make movies, and you'll learn as you go.

SPEAKER_03:

Get get used to it, yeah. Because even if you do go to film school, you still would have to go through making stuff on your own anyway. But the information is the film school's giving you more information on the technology, but all that's on the internet, and the technology is always changing, whereas film analysis is also all on the internet, so it's more about how much that qualification will do for you, you know, if you want to put the money into actually, you know, if that's gonna actually link you up to something. But um, of course, we have our own talent and eye and creativity and everything like that too.

SPEAKER_00:

So you know, so this is a question I feel like a lot of artists struggle with, or anybody who has, you know, an obsession their whole life with doing something. Um, do you feel this ambition for filmmaking has impacted your your personal life or your your family or um you know how how your life's unraveled or unfolded?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh sure, oh sure, because it's it's always this just been what I've done. It's just what I do. It's never been like, oh, that would be cool. It's like it's just what I do. I've just done it my whole life. Since I was like five, six, something like that. I've just been up filming, and yeah, it's it's uh it's definitely a big thing to take on because it is a lifetime, but it is what I do. But my family have always kind of questioned it, like, okay, so what's the process? What's the process of it, you know? Like what happens after you festival it? What happens after you do this? What happens after you do this? That kind of thing. And um yeah, it can it can get very heated, you know, when you're trying to defend your dream like that. But ultimately you you make the choice for you, whatever you're doing in life. You know, it is your life, and no one has to answer to anyone, but you, you know, you only have to answer to yourself, you know. And you do have to keep going, and you do need a lot of resilience, whether it's the camera breaking by waves, or people telling you you're gonna fail, or people, or you know, like actors who can't show up today, all of this resilience, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

For the art.

SPEAKER_03:

You just gotta do it. You I mean, it's like you know what? It's like it's the art, but it's like you get so excited by this idea of images, but it's other people's films that keep you going because you can't be an audience to your own movie, you're always close to the process. I'm close to filming it from 2012 to 2016. That's when I'm close to filming it. But the final product, when I'm hearing like people say, Oh, I liked it, they thought it was funny. I'm like, Oh, good. That can really revive you, that can keep you going. That's when you're when your camera breaks, you'll go, okay, I'll pick myself up and keep going.

SPEAKER_00:

Because you get right in two years, someone's gonna say they liked this and it's gonna all be worth it. Yeah, that's right. I understand, I do understand.

SPEAKER_01:

That's right, it's all worth it. Well, I have to tell you, um, I do editing for my shows, and to hear that you actually edited a movie on a broken screen, I tip my hat, I bow to you because I'm like, wow. And anyone who does editing understands that comment. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03:

Um HDMI, good old get me to the TV. It just I'm just lucky it didn't break on the hard drive side because then it would have been screwed. But it was like I ran 2016 winter Korea. There's no snow in my city in New Zealand. There's snow in New Zealand, but no one, not in my city. So the icy steers, and I I I almost I ran and within a blink, yeah, I was like on the ground, like in serious pain.

SPEAKER_00:

I get a lot of snow, I understand.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my gosh. Anyway, sorry about that, but I'm sorry. So I'm going. Um, so when I got into Chinese films, that led me to get into more exercise. I was doing martial arts and in career I um hit the gym a lot. Like today I did the mountain. I find that I relax better with the I mean, I think for anyone, you relax better with the exercise. Like you need the red exercise to make you relax. Like if I'm on the sofa all day, I'm not gonna relax. I'm gonna relax after I've finished my mountain climb, you know? Um, relax films, um, writing, um just I think getting a good night's sleep. I think it's about balancing um, or maybe maybe in a in an effect like so as long as I'm creating more than I'm consuming, then I can rest easily that I've put in good effort today. Because you know, you you spend a day doing nothing, one day, those days add up, and then one year has gone out the door, you know. You gotta be productive every day, you know. It's like every day we gotta go at it um while we can. I guess relaxing just um sleeping, eating, you know, things like that. Staying healthy. Yeah. Cleaning, I like to clean that, it makes me kind of relax. Shopping, I like shopping. Sometimes I go shopping to relax.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm shopping.

SPEAKER_00:

So you had mentioned um, you know, creating more than you consume. Um, but when you do consume, do you have a typical um director or filmmaker or um actor that you gravitate towards?

SPEAKER_03:

So my favorite director is Tim Burton and my favorite actor's Johnny Depp, and of course, they're a big match right there. Um, I like specifically things from America because they're foreign but they don't have subtitles, so they're very kind of interesting to me. Um, it's very familiar. I kind of find it's kind of my comfort zone when I look at a lot of American things because I grew up with them too. Um filmmakers. Um I like abstract imagery, I like uh animation, but of course I love Scorsese. I just think he's just amazing. I I I that I'm still like absolutely rapt about Killer of the Flower Moon. That it blew my mind that movie. Do you see it, Chris?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it was super famous, yeah. Um but any any Scorsese in general is yes, I feel like blows your mind a little bit.

SPEAKER_03:

Which which of your films, which of his films are your favorite?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I would say he did he do Inception? Was that Scorsese?

SPEAKER_03:

That was Chris Nolan.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, well, I sorry, Chris Nolan's my my favorite then, because I think Inception's my favorite movie.

SPEAKER_03:

Inception's amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

Just um did he do the departed?

SPEAKER_03:

He did Scorsese did the departed, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I departed is up there then, also for sure.

SPEAKER_03:

So good. And that wasn't that was a remake of a Hong Kong film, but it was truly made like a Boston movie, it was like felt like you know, true to Boston. He made it it was it felt like a good remake in that way, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

I I did not realize that that was a remake.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it was uh a Hong Kong movie called Infernal Affairs or Internal Affairs, Infernal Affairs, and it was initially there because Brad Pitt had got the rights to it for him and Tom Cruise to play the characters. So Brad Pitt was set to play the Matt Damon role, and then just before you know they are underway, Brad Pitt chose to do Babel, and that's why Matt Damon played the Brad Pitt role. Um, but yeah, the departed's tremendous. It's like he is Scorsese's using his like his filming and editing, like that rapid style filming and editing, it is at like times 1000 in that movie. He is going like it's like at a million miles an hour, and it's just like so wonderful.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I think that those short, those short bursts sort of keep you engaged. I know personally, um, if there's a long, like a time-wise, like a long shot, um, I lose interest in about three seconds. And I I mean that might be an American thing, that might be a dual screen. I'm I'm watching TV and on my phone thing, but um I think that might be I can't I like to be overstimulated. Um so but I I think that um yeah, potentially could be why it is so like speaks to me, right? Is is that is that rapid pace.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. No, I think I think movies need movies always need their pace. I mean, I mean this even Tropical Snow, this was like a three-hour script. The script was three hours, and the original cut was over two hours. I said, Oh no, I wanted to, I want it sharp. I was like trying to really like just guess. Yeah, you want to get to the point, you know what I mean? Like the role of Jason, he was doing a lot more things, and Michelle was doing a lot more things, and I just tried to so I got it to an hour 43. But um, yeah, just um I told my American friend here I I recommended Killer of the Flower Moon. He he really loved it. He's like, but it's sad. I was like, it's it's sad, it's a sad movie.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, do you do you find that a little heartbreaking having to cut pieces of your film? Are there moments that you're just like, gosh, I wanted this in here, but for time, I guess it's gotta go. Has have you ever felt that?

SPEAKER_03:

Especially because of all the effort that went into making it and like now it's gonna be I didn't even need to put all I didn't even need to show up this day.

SPEAKER_02:

We know it needed to show up because now it's not in the movie. We didn't need to remember all this dialogue.

SPEAKER_03:

Um, I mean, at heart, if the movie's better, like some things like when scenes when they'd be talking a lot, when it's just cut down and you blank the dialogue out, it maybe them actually saying dialogue made those scenes better. You know what I mean? So they were actually saying dialogue, but then I ended up cutting a fraction of it and cutting the dialogue out and just adding music. Maybe that moment of them talking looked better because they were actually talking, like they were actually saying dialogue if that makes sense. So maybe I did make it better in that way by shooting a real scene, even though the full scene wasn't in the movie, if that makes sense. But yeah, I mean, like some. I mean, I could there were I mean, there were characters that were cut out, there was I've been one of those before.

SPEAKER_00:

It's awful.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, there was all sorts oh really, oh dear.

SPEAKER_00:

It's alright. I've I think I've gotten over it.

SPEAKER_03:

Actually, actually, no, so I say there were characters in the script that were cut out. There were people I met that we didn't film with, but not ones I actually yeah, filmed and then cut out, but there was a lot of scenes and a lot of dialogue that was cut out and trimmed and things like that. Yeah, does it does it hurt? Um I guess it just would have been easier had I known what was what would have ended up in the movie, right? But you don't, you know, because the same with my second movie. It's like, oh I'm I'm like, who knows what I'm gonna need at the end of yeah. But you have options that way you have options, you know?

SPEAKER_00:

That's true. But yeah, so from a practical standpoint it hurts, but emotionally you're okay with it.

SPEAKER_03:

I think I'm okay. I I'm okay.

SPEAKER_00:

All right, you'll survive.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Hey Samuel, I'm I'm just kind of curious. Um, do you have any new projects coming up that you can share with us?

SPEAKER_03:

Right, so my second film is called Footprints of an Origin, and that kicked off in 2015, and that began out of basically after I'd finished Tropical Snow's filming, just the filming had been finished. I had it in me to keep shooting, but not to write another fictional script and organize a cast and find the locations and try to round everyone up like sheep and do that. I had it in me to go out and shoot, but I wanted to shoot music videos, I wanted to make money making music videos between the movies. And so my friend from Zimbabwe, who was a rapper, um, I was filming him, and that led me to talk to him and make a documentary on him. But after I guess focusing on more of say like a music documentary there and in Korea, I've added a fictional aspect to it. So it's a Doku fiction, and it's an alien film I'm making here in South Korea. I'm actually editing it now and just touching things up. That's what I filmed in Singapore. I was in Vietnam this year. I was filming there too. Um, yeah, that's it's my that'll be my second film, and I do think that's a better, that'll be a better film than my first movie. I think it's I've taken everything I've learned, and then you know, like just like being able to edit more fluidly without a broken computer this time, and you know, that'll be nice. Uh and yeah, it it'll be also also I'm trying to get it under two hours is important because I want every movie to be uh uh under two hours. I would prefer every movie be like that. Like maybe like make one three-hour film would be great, but like generally I'm trying to make it kind of sharp. But yeah, it's called Footprints of an Origin. And that's from New Zealand, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam filming in.

SPEAKER_00:

So what um you mentioned as far as your first movie that some of it was not a story of convenience, but you mentioned no UFOs and no, and now you you know you've grown into having an alien. So, right? So what um what do you feel? Did you get more funding? Did you just get feel more confident? What kind of gave you that like push to maybe get a little more, you know, sci fi technical expensive?

SPEAKER_03:

It's I think it's just from meeting more people because people are more capable. You know, there's people who have a lot of capability with things like after effects that um that you know can really surprise you and you know um I'm happy to compensate for them if they're putting work in and then they can make a beautiful planet um for the movie like the big alien planet that's up in the earth's sky up there. Um have you guys heard of a movie called After Earth? You heard of that movie? It's like it's an indie movie, and they're all sitting there, and then one day they see another earth in the sky. Okay, I like this idea, like it's like a planet, it's like a how do you say like it's a another planet movie? Like it's very kind of mysterious. I like that idea, like it's intriguing. Like, oh, what's that? Yeah, like there's like there's another planet up there, like in that movie, it's like oh, there's another earth. What does that mean? You know, it's like intriguing, more than the big transformer coming at you. It's like, oh, there's another earth in the sky, like what the hell? Yeah, just from meeting people, just from meeting people and talking to them, you know, always putting it out there that I'm a filmmaker, because who knows there who who's you know what you can do together, you know, offer things to each other just by um I think that really just having an idea that would suit something a bit more um that would you know that suits a kind of sci-fi concept, whereas the first film Tropical Snow didn't really suit a monster or a right zombie or anything.

SPEAKER_00:

You can always fit a good zombie in somewhere. Come on.

SPEAKER_03:

Running past why not? You know, there's zombies on drugs, like running there.

SPEAKER_00:

It is there it is. That's your that's your next movie.

SPEAKER_01:

A zombie on drugs, zombie on drugs, sold, sold. They could do it, they had cocaine bear, so anything can happen.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, they did have cocaine bear, and I actually enjoyed that if you want to know the truth.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, hey, you know what? That was actually a funny story because I knew cocaine would be in my first film, but when I was at this um film function, they did this. This lady came out with a video with like a scene from Avatar, and it's the scene where Sigorni Weaver like smokes, and she's like, What's wrong with this scene, everybody? It's like be one of the good guys, make smoke-free films. And I'm like, what about cocaine in a movie?

SPEAKER_00:

Right. I no one smoked, but there was a little cocaine.

SPEAKER_03:

It's like, yeah, um it's funny, yeah. I don't know. I mean, yeah, I think zombie on drugs, we could make that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, we could we could do that. Um, do you think so? Speaking of, you know the what after earth and some special effects, do you see um technology or AI or anything it um enhancing your movies in in the future?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I think technology is always gonna be a big part of the film. Sorry, the film's Another Earth. After Earth is a Will Smith movie.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_03:

Another Earth. That's the indie movie. Yeah, um, yeah, you know, like we gotta be savvy about whatever's going on, and you gotta be you gotta know about it. Because they always tell new filmmakers don't learn after who who inspired you. Understand your industry now. They always tell us understand the business now, the hustle now. Don't just you know, try to copy your hero's pathway. Because I always heard about filmmakers who would take their films to Sundance, you know, they have to physically take it there. That's not now. You know, we have filmfreeway.com and things like that to get films and festivals. Technology, yeah, you gotta keep you gotta keep learning it. And so many new filmmakers, I'd meet other filmmakers and they'll just say, Oh, I'm all about the idea. But you gotta learn technology because it's like it's like saying, like, I want to paint without a paintbrush, without knowing what a freaking paintbrush is. It's like, no, you have that's what sets films apart because the because the tools are so complicated.

SPEAKER_00:

It's interesting part, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's like yeah, you know, you you gotta be able to do both and stop thinking subjectively and just focus on these facts. Like, this is technology, this means this, and this has to be plugged into this, and you have to work that out. But yeah, I think so. Absolutely. AI, um, we'll see what AI does to us all.

SPEAKER_00:

To us all, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm actually glad you brought up AI because I wanted to kind of get your feeling about AI because right now AI is a very hot topic because you know there's companies laying off massive people, replacing them with AI. There's the issues, you know, in filmmaking with AI as far as um, you know, using characters and stuff like this. Um, some people love it, some people hate it. How do you feel about AI in a filmmaking industry?

SPEAKER_03:

I think that um there's they're always making shortcuts in the film industry, regardless. They always have been doing this. It's as much you could say, like a green screen's AI in a lot of ways. Instead of actually filming the thing, we just put a green screen there. It's like a shortcut, right? So you people have to make their own decision as to how much they want, how many shortcuts they want in their movie. This is why we all have Top Gun Maverick, because it wasn't a green screen, they actually put a camera on a plane and that hyped people up, like those action sequences felt different. Um, same with like animation. You go to the early Walt Disney where every single frame is drawn, and then they shortcut that with puppeteering and that kind of thing. That's all shortcuts to me. AI is is another shortcut. Um, I think Avatar 3, which is coming out, which he's going to put the title at the front, like no AI was used in rendering any of this, you know, film. That's I think well needed, especially coming from James Cameron. Um I don't think it's being taken to very nicely on things like LinkedIn when people say this AI video is genius, because then people go like rah, like what do you think? What do you think a genius is? Like, you know, like is that genius? Yeah, you type something in, you're a genius. It's like um there's a lot of these AI creators, people like saying, like, if this AI image doesn't inspire you, nothing will.

SPEAKER_02:

It's like, well, there's a lot of things that inspire me without the AI image.

SPEAKER_03:

So I think just um I'm already feeling there's a lot of backlash already. Like, I was looking at a like today there was like a board game that someone advertised on their YouTube channel, and immediately people got angry because the board game had AI art. So I am already seeing backlashes very, very quick. And now there's been a lot of laws changing, and even with like deep fake. Did you see that today about like the deep fake law that they did in Denmark? Like you you people's um people have copyright to their own likeness. You can't deep fake anyone else's face or anything like that and put it on something. They just did this law in Denmark, like that's like AI in a way, too. Just like take someone's face and put it on that. It's like, no, this is your face, that belongs to you, you know. Same with your likeness. Um, I mean, look, I look, I here in Korea, like you just had Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein has just I almost watched it last night.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

SPEAKER_03:

They did an IMAX screening here as a Netflix movie, they got an IMAX screening. This blew me away. Now, this is true like art. Now, people show up for true art, and I don't really see that going away, you know? So it was they I was so fortunate that they this Netflix movie got an IMAX screening, and I just and I saw it again the next week. Absolutely blew me away. And I think people this AI stuff is to me is more just like you wake up and what's on your cell phone feed, another video, another video, another video. Not like you're really talking about it, you know? Yeah, so there you go.

SPEAKER_00:

It's interesting. People show up for true art. I like that.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that Frankenstein was uh that blew me away. I blew me away.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it was it's like two and a half hours long, isn't it? It's I that's why I didn't start it because it's gonna be long.

SPEAKER_03:

It's two hours 20. You want to make sure you got the right, you know, give give the film its own moment. It's not just one of those films just throw in. It's like, oh well, watch this. It's like, no, this is like uh take it all in. Yeah, it's a big one. It's that's a great one, too.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I tell you, this was a great, great interview, and uh I wish you had more time because we we definitely have some great conversations. But before I let you go, I want to ask you if someone is watching right now and they're serious about getting into filmmaking, but you know, they're hesitant, they're you know, they're a little scared. What advice or direction would you give them?

SPEAKER_03:

Um well, I would say it is a lifetime to do filmmaking. You can't you couldn't say if I'm not a filmmaker, I'll just be this. It's you gotta be resilient. If you're if if you're scared, I mean just uh you you must stay around the right energy as a person because it's a human being who's making these things. You have to stay around the right energy, be around the right people, um, be around other people who are ambitious, I think as well. For which is I think true for anyone with your ambition, be around other ambitious people, um, people who are planning. Um focus on your health as well. I don't think you should be drinking all night and trying to be creative the next day. I think you should be like structuring your life. And yeah, don't let too much consumption, this this desire to be such a movie expert, let that take all the hours of your day away. Make sure you're being you're actually creating and um I would say writing or making things as much as you can at feature film length. Writing at feature film length, 90 pages, a page a minute, shooting um at feature film length as much as you can, just get used to that process, and then you'll feel more confident. Not like, oh, make a movie. No, just make a movie. Film, make a 90-minute film of trees, trees the movie, and you will feel better than just sitting there afraid of making a short movie and what will people think. Go film trees the movie, you know, write 90 pages of whatever you want, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Zombies on drugs, you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_03:

Zombies on drugs, all the way. People can take that idea. Zombies on drugs.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, there we go. It's free, it's free to whoever wants it.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh no, we'll copyright it with zombies on drugs.

SPEAKER_00:

But no, that that's good advice. Just do it. I love that. Just don't overthink it, just do it.

SPEAKER_03:

And it features full length and and stay be structured, I think, too. Being structured.

SPEAKER_01:

Samuel, thank you so much. We we have so much fun, and I actually learned a whole lot from you. Thank you for being on the show.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you so much. It's so exciting, guys.

SPEAKER_01:

Hopefully, you come back once your next movie's completed.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. It's been a big journey. Coming over a decade now of filming on this one, too. It's been a big journey. 2015 to now. I'm still getting shots and all that. Oh my god, big big journey.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, there's a lot of determination for sure.

SPEAKER_03:

We need to see it. Absolutely, guys. I hope you look, I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you guys have a great day in America. It's 1:02 a.m. here in Korea.

SPEAKER_00:

Go to bed, get that structure.

SPEAKER_01:

We're gonna take a quick break, yeah, and we'll be right back. Welcome back, everyone. Um, this was a great, great show.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, we had so much fun conversation. Um, thank you so much to Samuel Franklin for being on the show, even though it was about 2 a.m. in South Korea. He still had the energy to make it through an hour with us. Um, but if you are interested in watching uh tropical snow, uh check it out on Lrodtvnetwork.com and also continue watching Thursday Conversations um and previous episodes that we've made.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you everyone for watching and also supporting us. We really appreciate it. And also just to let you know, um, we're actually getting close to the end of the year, and there's gonna be some new shows on the network that's coming out, and also um, you know, we're gonna also make upgrades and um great additions to to this show and other shows that we have on the channel as well. So thank you again. Uh again, I'm Lauren Telrad.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm Kristen Malenga.

SPEAKER_01:

Have a great day, everybody.

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Lawrence Elrod

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