(EDITOR’S NOTE — Buffalo filmmaker, musician, recording engineer, podcast host and all-around renaissance man Brandon Schlia on Saturday will be premiering his latest film, ‘Good Show,’ as part of his annual Backyard Campfire Show. Doors open at 7 p.m. and admission is $10. The film — starring Maya LaMacchia, Maggie DeWitt and Emerson Donoughe, among other notables from the Buffalo scene — is a sequel to Schlia’s 2021 film ‘This One’s a Whale.’ Both movies are projects of Schlia’s Headshrinker Studios, which you can follow HERE. We recently spoke with Schlia — whose music, recording and podcast work you may know from CLUMP, Steak and Cake records and ZuZu Radio — about the new movie, and we’re grateful for his time. Please read our story below. For those interested in attending tomorrow night’s premiere and campfire show — which will also include music from Soyfruit, RomCom Victims, and TVMTN — please message Schlia HERE for the address. See the trailer for ‘Good Show’ below.)
1120 PRESS: Thank you for speaking with us and congratulations on the new movie! How do you feel now that it’s premiering and going to be seen?
BRANDON SCHLIA: Hmmm… How do I feel? Well, let me back up and say the scariest part of making the movie, and the major relief, came after filming on the second day, because the film is essentially a real-time story and mostly takes place at a venue space. I knew that I had the venue for a day-and-a-half to film. So, when I went in there, we got started at maybe 3 p.m. and it starts raining. I'm like, ‘Oh, shit!’ In those moments, I think to myself: ‘Well, now the film has rain in it.’ I anticipated everybody standing around outside for all these scenes. So now, I'm going to have to, on the fly, figure it out. But things like that happen. The minute I accepted that this was going to be the scenario, the rain cleared, and I was able to go back to the original plan. So, I did a marathon of a day — maybe 8 hours of filming. And at the end, I was like: ‘I can't believe we pulled it off! I can't believe that it survived the production, that everyone showed up and did such a good job!’ That was my main relief moment.
When I got into the editing booth, and kind of indulged my OCD in a way where I’m taking things apart, putting them together, I wasn’t sure what all this was going to be because I've got it all in the camera. So, now, there’s a second phase of dreaming it through and figuring it out. It's weird. The minute I lock something, whether it be an album or a film, I have this moment where it’s like, ‘Okay. I did it.’ It comes so fast. I wish I had a little more time to sort of honor the work that was done.
So, premieres like this — where I get to show it to the people that were in the film, and get to show it to people that have no idea about it, or some people who have heard about it and were looking forward to it — force me to reflect on the process and have gratitude for the experience and really connect with the people that made it happen. It would not exist without these people giving their time to what was in my head for a year or more. That's the stuff that blows me away. It's like, ‘Wow! Thank you!’
1120: This new movie is actually a sequel to a film you made three years ago called ‘This One's a Whale.’ Can you talk about what inspired the first film? (which you can watch in its entirety HERE)
BS: I love filmmaking, and I love music. And they say write what you know. I had been thinking a lot about how I came up. I teach music production to teenagers. That's sort of my day job. And seeing young people try on the identity of what it means to be a music maker is really inspiring. And I wanted to try and do a film that embodied what it meant to be young and at the beginning of the journey compared to where I am now, which is like 20-plus-years deep.
1120: In making the sequel, were there issues in terms of the storyline, or with the characters, that as an artist and storyteller you felt like you needed to tie up?
BS: I think one thing is that as a storyteller, you're a world builder. And when you start building a world, it's really easy to want to keep going. That's exciting for a storyteller. But the other thing that happened for me, weirdly enough, is I was in the hospital for a routine operation and went under anesthesia. When I came out, I had the entire plot of the movie. I don't know what happened in there, but I came out, and the whole thing was in my head. And I was like, ‘wow, this feels like I have to make it.’ The three leads — (Maya LaMacchia, Maggie DeWitt and Emerson Donoughe) — in this film were the ones who starred in the first movie. I reached out to them and said, ‘Do you want to do this again?’ And they were all like, ‘Yes!’ So, I was like, ‘Okay, I'll take a couple months and figure it out.’
1120: Where does this sequel pick up from?
BS: In the first film, it starts with them at band practice. They have band practice and then they are just hanging around talking. They have a showcase for a couple of major label A&R people at the end of that day. And they're talking about things like, ‘Do we really care about this? Do we want to sign, or do we want to just go on this tour that we already booked?’ So, they're going back and forth and through the day, each one of them has a different perspective on what they want to do but none of them know where the others stand. You just kind of get this vibe from each one. And so, at the end of the film, they play the showcase, and the A&R guys are all fumbling over each other, like, ‘Sign with me!’ And their answer is ‘Nah, we're gonna go on tour. We decided we're not gonna sign.’ So that's where the first film ends, and this (new film) picks up with the last night of the tour that they went on.
1120: We were intrigued by the cast. How did you choose your actors?
BS: One thing that I've realized making films is that it's best to cast people as themselves, and don't ask someone to do something that is really contrary to who they are. If you're in LA or something and you're hiring actors, yeah, it’s different. But this is such a guerrilla style of filmmaking that I'm like, who could I cast that is goofy, fun and warm-hearted and brings a good vibe? And I thought, Zach Kushner. He was a guy that immediately came to mind. In this film, there’s a group of what I call ‘the druggies’ or ‘the party people.’ And he's the leader of the party people. You look at him and you can feel it. I also have characters that include a veteran showgoer and a noob — someone who's never been to a show. Alex Squier (from RomCom Victims) has this way about them that's, like, knowledgeable. They just feel like the type of person that knows a lot. And Jake King is so kind and sort of mild mannered. Though it’s ironic because he probably knows more about shows than most, he does so many. But, yeah, I was playing in a project with both of those guys, and I had seen them interact, and I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, they're gonna be great on camera together.’ I just look for people that seem like the part I want to write.
1120: What was it like to direct this cast? They're all performers — musicians — but acting is a different medium.
BS: Yeah, it's tough because I'm not an actor, and so it's hard for me to give them solid advice. What I've tried to do is lean on the idea that the lines I've written are completely adjustable. Some writers are like, ‘You gotta say it just like that!’ But for me, it's like, ‘Say it how you would say it.’ Most of the time, I give the actors a key word to remember per line and let them just say it how they want. That tends to work out pretty well. I gotta give a ton of credit to Maggie, though. Talk about natural ability. I keep telling Maggie, ‘You could go to LA right now and get work.’ She’s that good.
1120: What's the experience of shooting a film in Buffalo like for you? What are some of the challenges you encountered, and what were some of the surprises?
BS: One thing I learned early on is that if you act as though you're supposed to be there doing what you're doing, then no one will bother you. And if you act like, ‘I'm not sure if I should be doing this,’ someone's going to come bother you. So, that was the thing I learned years ago, and it’s really served me well shooting around Buffalo. And the surprise is just how the landscapes available here are so rich and textured. You know, the show (in the new film) takes place at Hickory Urban Sanctuary. Lara Buckley, who owns the space, was like, ‘Yeah, come on.’ It was such a great place to shoot. And down on the waterfront — I just drive around sometimes, usually by the silos — there's tons of stuff. And so, I mean, if you're looking for a good textured background, Buffalo has so many endless options. And that's been the surprise and the secret weapon of the films.
1120: Is there anything else you want people to know about this film, or the premiere, that we haven't touched on?
BS: I've been making films since 2015. And, I mean, you go back and look at them, they've always been done on an iPhone. I guess maybe I should tell you that that's the way I shoot. I’m at iPhone 15 now. And so, I'm not dealing with a Sony 7 or whatever. And if you go back and look at these old films, you know, they're grainy, but they have heart, I think. It would be nice if people went and viewed them to get a sense for what my style is. (You can do so by going to Headshrinker Studios HERE) I am so into film and have studied a ton of international film. I love foreign cinema. Ingmar Bergman and Wim Wenders are two guys who really kind of blew my mind. Jim Jarmusch is a guy stateside that I like. And so, I just have a deep love of movies. And I have to give a lot of credit to my dad for taking my brother and I to the movies all the time. I love films, and I love making them and I just hope people see them.
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