UnchainedTV: Vegan Zombie Movie Director/Star Reveals All!

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Wow, have we got a show for you.

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You're going to meet Chris Cooney.

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He has spent the last eight years of

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his life making 844, the vegan zombie movie.

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He's the writer.

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He's the director.

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He's the star of this extraordinary film.

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It sends your head spinning with, oh my

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God, so many wild twists and turns.

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Prepare to scream.

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Cooney plays a student trying to figure out

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why the people around him are turning into

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zombies.

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Could it have anything to do with all

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the cheeseburgers and milkshakes they're consuming?

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You're going to have to watch to find

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out.

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Cooney funded this venture, a feature film, through

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a Kickstarter, and he made the entire film

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production entirely vegan.

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No animal products served or used.

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Along with Cooney, the cast includes famed Dr.

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Michael Greger in a mesmerising cameo, along with,

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well, me, playing, of course, a reporter.

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So make sure to stay tuned for the

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premiere date of this one-of-a-kind

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film that will have you squirming in your

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seat.

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We have eyes on the ground at Amherst

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General reporting live.

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Let's see what's unfolding.

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Pat, what can you tell us?

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Hey, how do you think they actually get

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the milk out of a milk?

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Maybe we can get together sometime and cook

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up some vegan cheeseburger or something.

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Yo, bro, I left my wallet in your

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truck.

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What the...

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Hey, we need backup!

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People are complaining of dizziness and stomach pain.

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People are, oh my God, what are you

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doing?

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Get down!

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Well, help him!

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Run!

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Wait, wait, wait, that's gotta be it, right?

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Okay, wait, what do you mean?

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So, don't eat animals, fools.

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Hopefully those things don't want to eat us,

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too.

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And we are so honoured to have Chris

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Cooney, the writer, the director, the star of

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this incredible film.

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Oh my gosh, it is just a five

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-star thriller.

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And I want to say, Chris, congratulations.

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I know you spent, what, eight years working

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on this?

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What does it feel like to have it

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done?

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Thank you so much.

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Yeah, I mean, we did the Kickstarter six

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and a half years ago, but I originally

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wrote this in 2009, so 16 years it's

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been, you know, in the works.

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It feels incredible to finally have the movie

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done and looking at what's next.

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Well, how did you do this?

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Because looking at this, and of course, like

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everybody else in LA, I have that screenplay

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that I pull out when the police pull

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me over.

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They say, in Hollywood, you've got to show

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a screenplay to the police when they pull

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you over.

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It's kind of a joke.

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Everybody's got a screenplay.

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But the truth is, this is a good

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screenplay.

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I watched this because, well, I've been involved

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since you first did the Kickstarter, and that

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was something like eight years ago, and I

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honestly had no expectations.

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Then when I saw the finished product, I

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was like, oh my God, this is brilliant.

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How did you put it together?

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How did you write it, then star in

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it, and then direct it?

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Break it down for us.

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Well, you know, I originally, okay, so it's

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kind of a long story, but I'll try

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to summarise it a little bit.

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Back in 2009, I had a full-time

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job that I just didn't like, and I

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remember driving the back roads of upstate New

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York, where I'm from, and I started saying,

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I can't do this the rest of my

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life.

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I don't want to retire at 65 and

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say this is all I did.

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I want to be passionate about something.

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So I started brainstorming things that I really

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loved.

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What do I really love?

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I've always loved filmmaking.

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I've been around film since, you know, my

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dad had super eight millimetre cameras since before

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I was born.

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So I grew up with him taking little

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home movies, and I was pretty intrigued by

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that.

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And, you know, so I love that, but

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I especially love the horror genre.

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So like, you know, monsters, scary things.

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I've always been intrigued by that.

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And it was a no-brainer because I,

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at that point, I had already been vegan

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for the majority of my life at that

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point.

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So I'm like, well, how can I take

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those three elements and kind of like combine

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them into something that I could get up

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every day and be passionate about something?

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And I started brainstorming like vegan vampires, you

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know, vampires are my favourite.

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So like, ah, no, I don't know.

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Vegan werewolves, yeah, that might be too.

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And then I had an idea, the vegan

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zombie, where I had a whole idea for

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a zombie apocalypse that was brought on by

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the meat and dairy that people were consuming.

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So I went home and I grabbed a

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pencil and a notepad and I began writing

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out a script.

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And I wanted to make this movie.

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And at that point, like, I wasn't like

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a professional moviemaker.

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I just would put two VCRs together.

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And I remember one of the first videos

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that I ever put together was a skateboarding

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video in the 90s.

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And I put a song to it that

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I really liked at the time, not even

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knowing that this musician would align with me

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later down the road as a fellow vegan,

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which I would later on meet.

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And that was the song Go by Moby,

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who is a vegan advocate.

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And I later got to tell him that

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when I met him.

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But so I decided at the time there

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was nothing like it on YouTube.

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There was no vegan YouTube shows or anything

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like that.

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I just wanted to start making videos so

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I could get better at editing with like

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a home suite.

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I use the Adobe Creative Cloud and I

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wanted to start making little zombie skits.

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But, you know, I didn't even know if

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anybody would even watch us.

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So I figured, why don't I also share

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some of my vegan recipes?

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Because up until that point, my friends and

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I would get together like every Thanksgiving or

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Christmas, New Year's, and we would bring all

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of our vegan, you know, we would make

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a vegan potluck and bring something there.

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So I decided, why don't, you know, John's

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got some great vegan stuffed shells.

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And I make like a crescent roll, broccoli

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cheddar roll vegan.

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So why don't we just start sharing some

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of these recipes while we do like zombie

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stuff?

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So I get better at making, you know,

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editing and doing special effects and stuff like

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that.

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Well, to our surprise, it started getting a

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lot of views and we got a lot

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of subscribers.

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And before we knew it, we had thousands

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and thousands of subscribers.

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And then they were asking us to do

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a cookbook.

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And we're like, we don't we don't we've

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never made a cookbook.

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So we're like, all right, we'll do a

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Kickstarter.

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And if we can get this, we can

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raise this much money.

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We'll do we'll do a cookbook.

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And I did not think for a second

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that we would raise this much money because

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it was kind of a lot of money.

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How much did you raise?

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Well, we we got a hold of another

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cook, a vegan cookbook author from Germany.

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His name is Justin Moore.

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And he does the whole series called The

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Lotus and the Artichoke.

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And they're really good books.

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He travels the world, finds different recipes, and

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then he veganizes everything.

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All right.

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I have to jump in because I want

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to get back to the movie, which is

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what everybody's talking about.

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Right, right.

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Well, this does tie in.

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This is about to tie in.

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Yeah.

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Go for it.

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OK, so anyway, so we ended up doing

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this Kickstarter.

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We ended up raising three times what we

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were looking for.

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I think we ended up with like a

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little over forty three thousand dollars.

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We made a better cookbook than we were

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going to do.

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We toured Germany.

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We got the 2014 cookbook of the year

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and we had a successful Kickstarter.

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So with that success and the channel growing

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a few years later, I said, OK, now

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it's time to do a Kickstarter for the

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actual movie.

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And let's make a real movie.

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So we put up a Kickstarter.

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We were looking for we were looking for

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more money than eighty five thousand.

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But I didn't think we would get eighty

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five thousand more than that.

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So we had to put like an achievable

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goal.

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So eighty five thousand for the movie.

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By the end of it, we made it

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by the skin of our teeth.

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And we were now on on on set

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to make this movie happen.

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And then a few things fell through year

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after year went and then the whole pandemic

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happened.

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But then in twenty twenty two, I met

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with a team local.

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We weren't sure if we were going to

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film it in L.A. or here in

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the Syracuse area, which was really what I

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wanted to do, because I got a lot

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of inspiration for writing this on real events

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that happened when I grew up here in

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upstate New York.

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So we ended up filming it here and

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production began in August.

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Actually, Dr. Gregor was on the second day

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of shooting.

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That was August 28th.

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And we shot at the actual high school

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that I graduated from many years ago.

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So August of what year?

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Twenty twenty two.

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OK, so.

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Wow.

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So eight years ago, approximately, you started this

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Kickstarter.

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You get the money.

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Twenty twenty two.

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You shoot the film.

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And now are you editing it as well?

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You're the star.

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You're the director.

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You're probably the producer.

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Did you did you edit this, too?

276
00:10:19,590 --> 00:10:21,650
I took on like so many roles for

277
00:10:21,650 --> 00:10:22,250
this project.

278
00:10:22,370 --> 00:10:22,610
I did.

279
00:10:22,770 --> 00:10:24,730
I did all the pre-production, the casting.

280
00:10:24,990 --> 00:10:28,390
Like I was like overworked, like like crazy.

281
00:10:28,490 --> 00:10:30,170
And when it came down to it, after

282
00:10:30,170 --> 00:10:32,990
we were done with production, our budget was

283
00:10:32,990 --> 00:10:36,250
so low at that point that I couldn't

284
00:10:36,250 --> 00:10:39,510
really afford to, you know, look out for,

285
00:10:39,650 --> 00:10:42,450
you know, hiring anybody else to do the

286
00:10:42,450 --> 00:10:43,190
post-production.

287
00:10:43,190 --> 00:10:45,910
I did hire an amazing guy named Rob

288
00:10:45,910 --> 00:10:48,730
Agocella who did all of the sound design.

289
00:10:48,950 --> 00:10:49,690
Amazing, by the way.

290
00:10:50,070 --> 00:10:51,910
I did, in fact, do all of the

291
00:10:51,910 --> 00:10:52,610
editing myself.

292
00:10:53,050 --> 00:10:54,910
I did the special effect, the visual effects,

293
00:10:55,090 --> 00:10:58,770
the colour grading and where it is now.

294
00:10:58,950 --> 00:11:01,410
So the post-production was done by by

295
00:11:01,410 --> 00:11:02,910
myself and Rob.

296
00:11:04,070 --> 00:11:07,790
I want to just hats off, like unbelievable,

297
00:11:07,790 --> 00:11:11,570
because I did not have expectations when I

298
00:11:11,570 --> 00:11:12,450
looked at this.

299
00:11:12,450 --> 00:11:14,070
I thought, well, let's see.

300
00:11:14,670 --> 00:11:16,430
And it's so good.

301
00:11:16,850 --> 00:11:18,810
And I'm not just saying that to blow

302
00:11:18,810 --> 00:11:19,290
smoke.

303
00:11:19,530 --> 00:11:22,110
I had so much fun watching this movie.

304
00:11:22,410 --> 00:11:25,450
I completely forgot that I was watching it

305
00:11:25,450 --> 00:11:27,830
for a purpose like, oh, I've got to

306
00:11:27,830 --> 00:11:29,810
sort of review this film to.

307
00:11:31,290 --> 00:11:34,190
Because it's a vegan event in the vegan

308
00:11:34,190 --> 00:11:36,270
community and we cover that here at Unchained

309
00:11:36,270 --> 00:11:36,490
TV.

310
00:11:36,670 --> 00:11:37,850
I totally forgot all that.

311
00:11:37,850 --> 00:11:42,310
I was just watching this squirming because what

312
00:11:42,310 --> 00:11:44,610
I love about it is how you build

313
00:11:44,610 --> 00:11:45,950
up slowly.

314
00:11:46,330 --> 00:11:49,030
Like, how did you learn that?

315
00:11:49,410 --> 00:11:51,590
And I'll play a clip from the first

316
00:11:51,590 --> 00:11:55,510
part of your trailer to give you a

317
00:11:55,510 --> 00:11:57,510
sense for those watching of how.

318
00:11:57,810 --> 00:12:00,010
Well, yeah, it doesn't just start with like

319
00:12:00,010 --> 00:12:01,430
the zombie apocalypse.

320
00:12:01,730 --> 00:12:04,030
There is a buildup, which I think makes

321
00:12:04,030 --> 00:12:06,950
it more more exciting.

322
00:12:06,950 --> 00:12:09,050
So let's play that first part.

323
00:12:09,490 --> 00:12:09,610
Sure.

324
00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:18,280
Good morning.

325
00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:20,900
It's a beautiful day here in Amherst.

326
00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:23,940
We do have some breaking news to report.

327
00:12:24,220 --> 00:12:26,840
There are several reports of what appears to

328
00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:29,140
be a stomach bug going around.

329
00:12:29,540 --> 00:12:31,560
Now, experts are not quite sure of the

330
00:12:31,560 --> 00:12:34,860
cause, but an investigation is underway.

331
00:12:34,860 --> 00:12:38,880
You are being advised to use discretion and

332
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,980
stay home if you aren't feeling well.

333
00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:42,660
I'll be back.

334
00:12:44,380 --> 00:12:45,500
Cell mutations.

335
00:12:45,940 --> 00:12:47,880
If we consider a virus to be similar

336
00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,480
to a eukaryotic cell, where would the actual

337
00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:52,260
mutation originate?

338
00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:56,420
Is there something important outside, Harley?

339
00:12:57,580 --> 00:12:58,360
Never mind.

340
00:12:58,400 --> 00:12:59,040
I guess it's nothing.

341
00:13:01,430 --> 00:13:02,530
Like a ghost town in there.

342
00:13:02,610 --> 00:13:03,930
Everyone's going home sick or something.

343
00:13:05,650 --> 00:13:09,310
Now, you're looking outside while Dr. Greger's talking

344
00:13:09,310 --> 00:13:13,530
and there's a zombie walking down and you're

345
00:13:13,530 --> 00:13:15,950
kind of obviously distracted by that.

346
00:13:16,050 --> 00:13:18,610
He says, is there a reason why you're

347
00:13:18,610 --> 00:13:20,330
looking out the window and you say nothing?

348
00:13:20,990 --> 00:13:24,730
I mean, this was really, really well written.

349
00:13:25,270 --> 00:13:27,870
How did you figure all that out?

350
00:13:28,650 --> 00:13:30,470
I mean, I wrote it and rewrote it

351
00:13:30,470 --> 00:13:31,830
over the last 16 years.

352
00:13:31,830 --> 00:13:35,610
No joke, probably about 50 different times.

353
00:13:36,670 --> 00:13:41,030
I love movies and my inspiration...

354
00:13:41,750 --> 00:13:43,930
I wanted to make a zombie apocalypse movie

355
00:13:43,930 --> 00:13:47,210
that was as plausible in reality as I

356
00:13:47,210 --> 00:13:47,910
could make it.

357
00:13:48,210 --> 00:13:50,470
And I couldn't think of anything more real

358
00:13:50,470 --> 00:13:51,250
than...

359
00:13:51,250 --> 00:13:52,690
I don't want to give too much away,

360
00:13:52,930 --> 00:13:56,150
but by the meat and the dairy that

361
00:13:56,150 --> 00:13:57,550
the people were eating.

362
00:13:58,130 --> 00:14:03,090
And yeah, some of my favourite movies...

363
00:14:03,090 --> 00:14:04,870
This isn't your normal horror movie.

364
00:14:04,890 --> 00:14:06,470
It is a horror movie by every means,

365
00:14:06,690 --> 00:14:09,250
but some of the movies that gave me

366
00:14:09,250 --> 00:14:13,150
inspiration were movies that somewhere in the movie,

367
00:14:13,310 --> 00:14:16,810
usually at the end, there's this emotional tug

368
00:14:16,810 --> 00:14:17,770
at your heart.

369
00:14:18,110 --> 00:14:20,430
And movies like that, for me, I wanted

370
00:14:20,430 --> 00:14:21,790
to make a movie that I would like.

371
00:14:21,910 --> 00:14:23,590
And I just figured if I liked it,

372
00:14:23,850 --> 00:14:25,310
maybe other people would like it too.

373
00:14:25,310 --> 00:14:28,390
So if there's a movie that I would

374
00:14:28,390 --> 00:14:30,190
watch and it did that to me...

375
00:14:30,190 --> 00:14:31,290
If there was a movie that just was

376
00:14:31,290 --> 00:14:33,310
happy and cool and funny, I'd be like,

377
00:14:33,370 --> 00:14:34,290
yeah, that was a good movie, and then

378
00:14:34,290 --> 00:14:35,190
I'd forget about it.

379
00:14:35,630 --> 00:14:37,090
But if there was a movie that really

380
00:14:37,090 --> 00:14:39,370
pulled at my emotions at the end, I

381
00:14:39,370 --> 00:14:40,890
will think about it the next morning, the

382
00:14:40,890 --> 00:14:41,430
next week.

383
00:14:41,730 --> 00:14:42,430
And I will...

384
00:14:42,430 --> 00:14:44,070
Basically, what I'm trying to say is my

385
00:14:44,070 --> 00:14:45,910
favourite movie of all time I saw in

386
00:14:45,910 --> 00:14:47,490
the movie theatres when I was six years

387
00:14:47,490 --> 00:14:49,210
old, and that was E.T. And that

388
00:14:49,210 --> 00:14:50,250
did that to me at the end of

389
00:14:50,250 --> 00:14:50,590
the movie.

390
00:14:50,590 --> 00:14:52,670
And I wanted to take the elements of

391
00:14:52,670 --> 00:14:55,810
that and combine it into this movie right

392
00:14:55,810 --> 00:14:57,470
here, along with some horror.

393
00:14:57,690 --> 00:15:00,110
So I wanted the right character arcs, the

394
00:15:00,110 --> 00:15:00,690
right...

395
00:15:00,690 --> 00:15:01,810
Everything had to be perfect.

396
00:15:02,130 --> 00:15:03,510
And I made so many mistakes.

397
00:15:04,230 --> 00:15:08,190
If you read the first script, it had

398
00:15:08,190 --> 00:15:10,390
all the elements there, but it wasn't what

399
00:15:10,390 --> 00:15:11,250
it is now.

400
00:15:11,530 --> 00:15:14,370
And over the next how many years, rewriting

401
00:15:14,370 --> 00:15:14,850
it...

402
00:15:14,850 --> 00:15:16,910
I was rewriting it all the way until

403
00:15:16,910 --> 00:15:18,450
we were actually on set.

404
00:15:18,450 --> 00:15:20,150
Like, oh, maybe we need to do this.

405
00:15:21,370 --> 00:15:23,070
So yeah, it was just a lot of

406
00:15:23,070 --> 00:15:25,610
rewriting and getting my producers to go over

407
00:15:25,610 --> 00:15:27,990
it with me and taking every little scene

408
00:15:27,990 --> 00:15:29,410
like a fine-tooth comb.

409
00:15:29,550 --> 00:15:31,530
And that went all the way into post

410
00:15:31,530 --> 00:15:31,850
-production.

411
00:15:31,990 --> 00:15:33,210
When I edited the scenes, I'd be like,

412
00:15:33,410 --> 00:15:34,090
how does this look?

413
00:15:34,130 --> 00:15:34,890
We would look at it.

414
00:15:34,970 --> 00:15:35,690
I'm like, hmm.

415
00:15:35,930 --> 00:15:37,670
And that's why it looks as good as

416
00:15:37,670 --> 00:15:38,410
I think it does.

417
00:15:38,690 --> 00:15:40,110
And to go to your point when you

418
00:15:40,110 --> 00:15:42,970
said you didn't really have expectations for it,

419
00:15:43,110 --> 00:15:45,350
I see a lot of the comments and

420
00:15:45,350 --> 00:15:46,850
a lot of other people are the same

421
00:15:46,850 --> 00:15:47,050
way.

422
00:15:47,050 --> 00:15:48,970
And what I would say about that is

423
00:15:48,970 --> 00:15:50,630
I agree.

424
00:15:50,770 --> 00:15:52,730
I feel like it's the movie that nobody's

425
00:15:52,730 --> 00:15:53,390
looking for.

426
00:15:53,510 --> 00:15:55,070
But once they see it, it's like the

427
00:15:55,070 --> 00:15:55,830
diamond in the rough.

428
00:15:55,850 --> 00:15:57,210
It's like, you gotta see it.

429
00:15:57,370 --> 00:15:58,930
I've been trying as hard as I can

430
00:15:58,930 --> 00:15:59,650
to promote this.

431
00:15:59,670 --> 00:16:01,810
And I just feel like it's like falling

432
00:16:01,810 --> 00:16:02,590
on deaf ears.

433
00:16:02,730 --> 00:16:03,890
There's a certain amount of people that do

434
00:16:03,890 --> 00:16:05,550
want to watch it, but other people are

435
00:16:05,550 --> 00:16:07,270
just like, what is this?

436
00:16:07,590 --> 00:16:11,170
And until you actually watch it, you don't

437
00:16:11,170 --> 00:16:11,650
really know.

438
00:16:12,210 --> 00:16:12,710
All right.

439
00:16:12,710 --> 00:16:14,690
I'd like to say that I was one

440
00:16:14,690 --> 00:16:16,970
of the small backers of it because I

441
00:16:16,970 --> 00:16:17,850
interviewed you.

442
00:16:18,270 --> 00:16:20,250
And then there was a way where if

443
00:16:20,250 --> 00:16:21,570
you gave a certain amount, you could be

444
00:16:21,570 --> 00:16:22,050
in the film.

445
00:16:22,230 --> 00:16:24,150
So I am in the film as a

446
00:16:24,150 --> 00:16:26,590
reporter and I'm delighted to be in it.

447
00:16:26,970 --> 00:16:30,070
Now, Mary Zaint, I hope I'm pronouncing your

448
00:16:30,070 --> 00:16:32,010
name right, says she's happy to have been

449
00:16:32,010 --> 00:16:34,570
one of the kickstart backers for this back

450
00:16:34,570 --> 00:16:37,410
in 2018 and really look forward to seeing

451
00:16:37,410 --> 00:16:37,710
it.

452
00:16:38,370 --> 00:16:41,490
Lindsay Baker says, can't wait for the premiere

453
00:16:41,490 --> 00:16:42,410
of this one.

454
00:16:42,410 --> 00:16:47,230
And Tom Vincel says, please bring this to

455
00:16:47,230 --> 00:16:50,550
Chicago, which brings me to the next point.

456
00:16:51,090 --> 00:16:53,210
We would love to help you arrange a

457
00:16:53,210 --> 00:16:54,770
screening here in Los Angeles.

458
00:16:55,730 --> 00:16:57,130
And I think that would be a lot

459
00:16:57,130 --> 00:16:57,530
of fun.

460
00:16:57,630 --> 00:16:59,310
We could do it under the Unchained TV

461
00:16:59,310 --> 00:17:02,830
umbrella and have you speak and get a

462
00:17:02,830 --> 00:17:03,869
nice crowd together.

463
00:17:04,050 --> 00:17:06,089
But what about that touring?

464
00:17:06,310 --> 00:17:07,670
What are your plans?

465
00:17:08,670 --> 00:17:10,550
Obviously, you know, everybody wants to have their

466
00:17:10,550 --> 00:17:15,130
film on Netflix, but not always does that

467
00:17:15,130 --> 00:17:16,430
happen, to put it mildly.

468
00:17:16,690 --> 00:17:18,369
So what are your plans for this film

469
00:17:18,670 --> 00:17:22,569
in terms of physical tours and distribution?

470
00:17:23,210 --> 00:17:26,310
Well, we're obviously trying to get distribution right

471
00:17:26,310 --> 00:17:26,530
now.

472
00:17:26,609 --> 00:17:29,590
We've looked at a couple like horror distribution

473
00:17:29,590 --> 00:17:35,590
platforms, streaming services, but we're also submitted to

474
00:17:35,590 --> 00:17:39,310
several film festivals that we're still waiting on

475
00:17:39,310 --> 00:17:42,070
to see how that pans out through 2025.

476
00:17:43,890 --> 00:17:45,110
I've been saying this.

477
00:17:46,630 --> 00:17:49,290
I've done everything with the moviemaking business all

478
00:17:49,290 --> 00:17:50,330
the way up until where I am right

479
00:17:50,330 --> 00:17:50,490
now.

480
00:17:50,610 --> 00:17:52,410
I've never done this before, so I don't

481
00:17:52,410 --> 00:17:53,910
really know the process here.

482
00:17:54,110 --> 00:17:55,670
But what I would like to be able

483
00:17:55,670 --> 00:17:57,350
to do, as I was talking to you

484
00:17:57,350 --> 00:17:59,270
off camera, is I would like to be

485
00:17:59,270 --> 00:18:03,370
able to go to some local movie theatres.

486
00:18:03,490 --> 00:18:04,690
I'd like to have the right to be

487
00:18:04,690 --> 00:18:06,790
able to, just me, go to a local

488
00:18:06,790 --> 00:18:10,730
movie theatre and do a premier, a fundraiser

489
00:18:10,730 --> 00:18:16,830
for different animal sanctuaries and split some of

490
00:18:16,830 --> 00:18:20,250
those proceeds from an event like that with

491
00:18:20,250 --> 00:18:21,850
different animal sanctuaries.

492
00:18:22,050 --> 00:18:23,710
I actually had somebody reach out to me

493
00:18:23,710 --> 00:18:27,650
from one last month, so that sounds like

494
00:18:27,650 --> 00:18:28,390
a great idea.

495
00:18:28,670 --> 00:18:33,290
That way, we're helping the animals indirectly through

496
00:18:33,290 --> 00:18:35,930
the movie, the message of the movie, and

497
00:18:35,930 --> 00:18:40,790
directly through fundraising for these different sanctuaries.

498
00:18:40,950 --> 00:18:43,130
I know originally when I said I was

499
00:18:43,130 --> 00:18:45,670
doing this, that a certain amount of the

500
00:18:45,670 --> 00:18:47,010
points, if it were to make a lot

501
00:18:47,010 --> 00:18:48,690
of money, would go to a few different

502
00:18:48,690 --> 00:18:49,890
sanctuaries as well.

503
00:18:50,790 --> 00:18:53,450
That's still in the plan, but I don't

504
00:18:53,450 --> 00:18:55,330
know if the movie will make any money

505
00:18:55,330 --> 00:18:57,450
at all, so I'm still new to this.

506
00:18:57,590 --> 00:18:59,290
I would like it to get some distribution

507
00:18:59,290 --> 00:18:59,870
like that.

508
00:19:00,310 --> 00:19:02,150
I know it's on your platform right now

509
00:19:02,150 --> 00:19:03,290
as far as the trailer goes.

510
00:19:03,290 --> 00:19:05,370
We were talking about that, but that's what

511
00:19:05,370 --> 00:19:08,430
our goals are right now is ultimately to

512
00:19:08,430 --> 00:19:10,670
get some kind of distribution but also retain

513
00:19:10,670 --> 00:19:12,710
the right to be able to travel to

514
00:19:12,710 --> 00:19:16,770
different local movie theatres to potentially do some

515
00:19:16,770 --> 00:19:17,670
fundraising that way.

516
00:19:18,350 --> 00:19:21,050
Sure, and I point out not all distribution

517
00:19:21,050 --> 00:19:24,130
is created equally because sometimes where they distribute

518
00:19:24,130 --> 00:19:26,370
to is like Timbuktu.

519
00:19:27,090 --> 00:19:28,270
You've never heard of it.

520
00:19:28,490 --> 00:19:30,010
Nobody's ever going to see it, so just

521
00:19:30,010 --> 00:19:33,210
getting distribution is not necessarily the ultimate goal.

522
00:19:33,270 --> 00:19:34,650
It's what kind of distribution.

523
00:19:35,030 --> 00:19:36,230
Just word to the wise.

524
00:19:36,990 --> 00:19:39,490
So I have to say people are super

525
00:19:39,490 --> 00:19:43,570
excited about the idea of screenings in person.

526
00:19:43,790 --> 00:19:46,430
So we have somebody, Tiffany, a premiere in

527
00:19:46,430 --> 00:19:47,010
LA.

528
00:19:48,170 --> 00:19:48,730
Karen.

529
00:19:49,150 --> 00:19:50,670
Oh, Karen LaCava.

530
00:19:51,250 --> 00:19:53,490
Okay, and here's the ultimate compliment.

531
00:19:53,930 --> 00:19:56,570
Chris, I do a biannual vegan horror event

532
00:19:56,570 --> 00:19:56,930
in LA.

533
00:19:57,050 --> 00:19:58,870
Would be happy to help promote the film

534
00:19:58,870 --> 00:19:59,570
in some way.

535
00:19:59,570 --> 00:20:03,070
So definitely check that out.

536
00:20:03,130 --> 00:20:06,670
We've got, everybody is very, very positive about

537
00:20:06,670 --> 00:20:08,130
Yeah, Mary, that would be awesome.

538
00:20:08,990 --> 00:20:10,830
Yeah, using your film to help animals and

539
00:20:10,830 --> 00:20:11,350
sanctuaries.

540
00:20:11,510 --> 00:20:14,590
What I would say is whatever city or

541
00:20:14,590 --> 00:20:17,390
town you're going to help the sanctuaries in

542
00:20:17,390 --> 00:20:20,510
that area because people have a connection to

543
00:20:20,510 --> 00:20:21,970
their local sanctuaries.

544
00:20:22,210 --> 00:20:26,350
They don't necessarily have the same connection to

545
00:20:26,350 --> 00:20:28,410
sanctuaries that are across the country.

546
00:20:28,410 --> 00:20:31,750
I've experienced that firsthand because that's the idea.

547
00:20:31,890 --> 00:20:32,570
Yeah, that's the idea.

548
00:20:32,730 --> 00:20:33,970
Go to where they are.

549
00:20:34,430 --> 00:20:38,610
Do like a local screening and then split

550
00:20:38,610 --> 00:20:40,910
up proceeds for that specific.

551
00:20:40,910 --> 00:20:42,790
So the event would be like a pre

552
00:20:42,790 --> 00:20:44,930
-sale for whatever sanctuary.

553
00:20:45,450 --> 00:20:46,910
Like the guy that reached out to me

554
00:20:46,910 --> 00:20:47,530
is in Virginia.

555
00:20:47,530 --> 00:20:48,430
I would go down there.

556
00:20:48,770 --> 00:20:50,390
We would do an event.

557
00:20:50,510 --> 00:20:54,030
It could be like a two o'clock

558
00:20:54,030 --> 00:20:57,690
and a six o'clock and proceeds would

559
00:20:57,690 --> 00:21:00,610
be split between the sanctuary and me and

560
00:21:00,610 --> 00:21:01,070
the producers.

561
00:21:01,590 --> 00:21:04,590
And we're getting come to Dallas, Texas, please.

562
00:21:04,890 --> 00:21:07,030
And Karen LaCava is saying she can help.

563
00:21:07,090 --> 00:21:09,530
She's a very well-known vegan caterer.

564
00:21:09,670 --> 00:21:11,390
She could do the catering, I'm sure.

565
00:21:12,150 --> 00:21:13,210
You have some great events.

566
00:21:14,010 --> 00:21:15,370
But yeah, I think there's a lot of

567
00:21:15,370 --> 00:21:18,750
excitement about going to different places around the

568
00:21:18,750 --> 00:21:19,150
country.

569
00:21:19,430 --> 00:21:21,410
And now I want to get back to

570
00:21:21,410 --> 00:21:25,810
the filmmaking process because I can't imagine how

571
00:21:25,810 --> 00:21:27,090
hard it must be.

572
00:21:27,090 --> 00:21:30,770
Forget you wrote it and you edited it

573
00:21:30,770 --> 00:21:31,910
and you star in it.

574
00:21:31,910 --> 00:21:35,270
But directing while you star.

575
00:21:35,810 --> 00:21:39,370
That is something that has always perplexed me.

576
00:21:39,770 --> 00:21:43,170
How are you essentially behind the camera or

577
00:21:43,170 --> 00:21:46,070
directing the cinematographer while you're in front of

578
00:21:46,070 --> 00:21:46,550
the camera?

579
00:21:47,090 --> 00:21:48,590
How did you pull that off?

580
00:21:49,050 --> 00:21:51,150
Well, you know, directing the scenes having it

581
00:21:51,150 --> 00:21:52,370
done the way I wanted to.

582
00:21:53,010 --> 00:21:56,410
The director of photography was doing some he

583
00:21:56,410 --> 00:21:58,470
was watching what was going on so he

584
00:21:58,470 --> 00:22:01,210
was directing some of the different scenes of

585
00:22:01,210 --> 00:22:03,530
where people should be what should be going

586
00:22:03,530 --> 00:22:05,970
on how everything looked when I wasn't able

587
00:22:05,970 --> 00:22:06,350
to do that.

588
00:22:06,470 --> 00:22:08,850
We didn't have an external monitor for me

589
00:22:08,850 --> 00:22:09,750
to check everything.

590
00:22:10,490 --> 00:22:13,410
And because of limited time and funds we

591
00:22:13,410 --> 00:22:16,170
couldn't rewind and watch every little scene.

592
00:22:16,610 --> 00:22:18,290
So I had to basically put a lot

593
00:22:18,290 --> 00:22:20,550
of trust in the cinematographer that he got

594
00:22:20,550 --> 00:22:21,410
the right shots.

595
00:22:21,810 --> 00:22:22,550
Stuff like that.

596
00:22:22,550 --> 00:22:26,690
But yeah, at all times I knew what

597
00:22:26,690 --> 00:22:27,350
was going on.

598
00:22:27,590 --> 00:22:29,050
I knew how I wanted things done.

599
00:22:29,430 --> 00:22:32,150
If we didn't get something shot a certain

600
00:22:32,150 --> 00:22:33,790
way I would like we need to do

601
00:22:33,790 --> 00:22:34,910
this a couple more times.

602
00:22:35,070 --> 00:22:37,810
Because we didn't really have a budget to

603
00:22:37,810 --> 00:22:41,410
go back and do reshoots like other movies

604
00:22:41,410 --> 00:22:41,650
do.

605
00:22:42,290 --> 00:22:44,730
Well, it's very professionally shot.

606
00:22:44,910 --> 00:22:47,910
The zooms, the drone shots.

607
00:22:48,310 --> 00:22:50,350
And we have to talk about Dr. Michael

608
00:22:50,350 --> 00:22:50,710
Greger.

609
00:22:50,850 --> 00:22:51,830
I'm a huge fan.

610
00:22:52,310 --> 00:22:53,790
He's a very serious guy.

611
00:22:53,930 --> 00:22:56,370
He's written many, many New York Times bestsellers.

612
00:22:56,890 --> 00:22:58,830
How did you get him involved?

613
00:22:59,850 --> 00:23:02,290
I reached out and I talked to his

614
00:23:02,290 --> 00:23:05,070
secretary and they didn't even really ask.

615
00:23:05,130 --> 00:23:06,830
They were just like, yeah, we'll be up

616
00:23:06,830 --> 00:23:07,970
there and we'll do it.

617
00:23:08,010 --> 00:23:08,230
You know?

618
00:23:08,550 --> 00:23:11,870
Because they said yes way back when when

619
00:23:11,870 --> 00:23:13,230
we were going to shoot it when we

620
00:23:13,230 --> 00:23:14,130
first did the Kickstarter.

621
00:23:14,590 --> 00:23:16,670
And then plans changed.

622
00:23:16,690 --> 00:23:18,350
So like years later I'm like, are you

623
00:23:18,350 --> 00:23:18,910
still interested?

624
00:23:19,390 --> 00:23:21,550
And sure enough he came up for the

625
00:23:21,550 --> 00:23:23,890
day and he was great.

626
00:23:24,110 --> 00:23:25,190
Yeah, we had a good time.

627
00:23:25,870 --> 00:23:27,250
He's a trip.

628
00:23:27,390 --> 00:23:27,990
I love him.

629
00:23:28,110 --> 00:23:30,370
And I will say that he's the most

630
00:23:30,370 --> 00:23:33,510
generous person on ShaneTV has asked him for

631
00:23:33,510 --> 00:23:36,350
many, many videos which he supplied without even

632
00:23:36,350 --> 00:23:36,890
a blink.

633
00:23:37,550 --> 00:23:41,190
And I love that spirit because we're all

634
00:23:41,190 --> 00:23:42,710
in it for the same reasons.

635
00:23:42,710 --> 00:23:44,590
To save animals and the planet.

636
00:23:44,850 --> 00:23:47,730
Now, this was an entirely vegan production.

637
00:23:48,230 --> 00:23:50,030
So at the very beginning we see people

638
00:23:50,030 --> 00:23:51,050
eating hamburgers.

639
00:23:51,290 --> 00:23:53,530
Were those vegan hamburgers?

640
00:23:53,870 --> 00:23:55,750
In other words, they were supposed to be

641
00:23:55,750 --> 00:23:57,110
meat hamburgers in the script.

642
00:23:57,290 --> 00:23:59,230
But tell us about that.

643
00:23:59,730 --> 00:24:01,050
Yeah, we wanted to make everything.

644
00:24:01,170 --> 00:24:03,470
We wanted everything to look as authentic as

645
00:24:03,470 --> 00:24:03,950
possible.

646
00:24:04,310 --> 00:24:07,610
But in reality, everything was vegan.

647
00:24:07,770 --> 00:24:11,230
So those were either impossible or beyond burgers

648
00:24:11,230 --> 00:24:11,850
that we got.

649
00:24:12,510 --> 00:24:14,650
And like literally everything down.

650
00:24:14,750 --> 00:24:16,850
So there's a scene where there's a little

651
00:24:16,850 --> 00:24:18,630
kid with a baseball and I went to

652
00:24:18,630 --> 00:24:21,550
several different stores so I could find a

653
00:24:21,550 --> 00:24:23,970
synthetic baseball not a leather one.

654
00:24:26,110 --> 00:24:28,670
Everything was as vegan as we could get.

655
00:24:28,790 --> 00:24:32,110
All the catering, all the in-movie food

656
00:24:32,110 --> 00:24:34,510
and the actual catering were all vegan.

657
00:24:34,910 --> 00:24:36,870
When I hired everybody, I mean this is

658
00:24:36,870 --> 00:24:39,130
kind of like not been done before.

659
00:24:39,250 --> 00:24:40,890
It's not really a normal thing.

660
00:24:41,030 --> 00:24:43,730
So every actor or crew member I said,

661
00:24:43,910 --> 00:24:45,310
look, just so you know before I hire

662
00:24:45,310 --> 00:24:48,430
you like I can't tell you what to

663
00:24:48,430 --> 00:24:49,530
eat or what not to eat but this

664
00:24:49,530 --> 00:24:51,290
is a vegan production so as long as

665
00:24:51,290 --> 00:24:53,890
you're cool with this being entirely vegan if

666
00:24:53,890 --> 00:24:56,010
you don't want to eat our food that

667
00:24:56,010 --> 00:24:58,310
you're more than welcome to go off set

668
00:24:58,310 --> 00:25:00,690
in your car go off somewhere else to

669
00:25:00,690 --> 00:25:00,930
eat.

670
00:25:01,210 --> 00:25:03,210
Everybody was more than happy to do that.

671
00:25:03,710 --> 00:25:05,510
We catered everything vegan.

672
00:25:05,630 --> 00:25:08,110
We always had snacks on set that were

673
00:25:08,110 --> 00:25:10,310
vegan and yeah, it was fun.

674
00:25:10,690 --> 00:25:13,510
And we did have a few people that

675
00:25:13,510 --> 00:25:18,070
were actually fellow vegans themselves but not everybody

676
00:25:18,070 --> 00:25:20,890
in the film were vegan so hopefully it

677
00:25:20,890 --> 00:25:24,150
changed other people's perspective that weren't vegan making

678
00:25:24,150 --> 00:25:26,750
a, you know what I think would be

679
00:25:26,750 --> 00:25:31,470
the first non-documentary feature horror movie so

680
00:25:31,470 --> 00:25:32,130
yeah.

681
00:25:32,950 --> 00:25:33,490
Wow.

682
00:25:33,950 --> 00:25:39,710
Now, so not all the actors were vegan.

683
00:25:40,130 --> 00:25:40,670
Interesting.

684
00:25:41,050 --> 00:25:42,670
Did some of them change?

685
00:25:42,770 --> 00:25:44,910
In other words, there's a lot of horror

686
00:25:44,910 --> 00:25:45,170
here.

687
00:25:45,270 --> 00:25:46,290
There's a lot of gore.

688
00:25:46,290 --> 00:25:49,110
Did it get through to these people who

689
00:25:49,110 --> 00:25:50,750
were immersed in the script?

690
00:25:52,330 --> 00:25:54,030
Unfortunately, no, I don't think so.

691
00:25:54,130 --> 00:25:55,890
It became a process just to make this

692
00:25:55,890 --> 00:26:02,370
movie and they just did it really not

693
00:26:02,370 --> 00:26:05,350
thinking anything of the vegan message and you

694
00:26:05,350 --> 00:26:07,810
know, things got kind of, you know, tough

695
00:26:07,810 --> 00:26:09,970
and I had to just, you know, shoot

696
00:26:09,970 --> 00:26:11,450
the days that I had to shoot and

697
00:26:11,450 --> 00:26:13,050
just get the job done.

698
00:26:13,210 --> 00:26:16,770
So originally, I had big aspirations like I

699
00:26:16,770 --> 00:26:19,130
wanted this to be like I wanted all

700
00:26:19,130 --> 00:26:21,490
the vegans to come together but then when

701
00:26:21,490 --> 00:26:23,910
I started putting out the casting call and

702
00:26:23,910 --> 00:26:27,510
all that I was surprised but like I

703
00:26:27,510 --> 00:26:30,370
wasn't nobody was responding.

704
00:26:30,610 --> 00:26:33,330
I mean, this was worldwide like obviously they'd

705
00:26:33,330 --> 00:26:35,350
have to get to Syracuse area but there

706
00:26:35,350 --> 00:26:37,710
was really no vegans that were applying for

707
00:26:37,710 --> 00:26:40,030
any of this so when it got down

708
00:26:40,030 --> 00:26:41,770
to the, you know, the last days and

709
00:26:41,770 --> 00:26:45,090
stuff I basically had to hire whoever I

710
00:26:45,090 --> 00:26:47,350
could that could do the parts.

711
00:26:47,870 --> 00:26:50,010
Some of them were hired the day of

712
00:26:50,010 --> 00:26:55,970
certain small scenes but yeah, some, there is,

713
00:26:56,370 --> 00:27:00,350
well, there's a character named Drew you've already

714
00:27:00,350 --> 00:27:02,650
seen the movie in real life he is

715
00:27:02,650 --> 00:27:05,690
a vegan and then there's a girl in

716
00:27:05,690 --> 00:27:08,110
the movie her name is Paige in the

717
00:27:08,110 --> 00:27:10,430
movie she's also a vegan and it was

718
00:27:10,430 --> 00:27:13,990
funny because when she when she answered the

719
00:27:13,990 --> 00:27:18,090
casting call she, she said I just want

720
00:27:18,090 --> 00:27:19,330
to know if there's going to be anything

721
00:27:19,330 --> 00:27:21,230
on set I can eat because I am

722
00:27:21,230 --> 00:27:23,190
a vegan and I was like oh wow

723
00:27:23,190 --> 00:27:25,850
like everything is going to be vegan and

724
00:27:25,850 --> 00:27:27,470
everything you can eat and she was like

725
00:27:27,470 --> 00:27:29,330
oh wow and I'm like so I got

726
00:27:29,330 --> 00:27:32,030
to meet a fellow vegan just coincidentally like

727
00:27:32,030 --> 00:27:32,470
that.

728
00:27:33,050 --> 00:27:35,230
Now this may seem obvious first of all

729
00:27:35,230 --> 00:27:38,910
everybody wants to know what is A44 mean?

730
00:27:39,090 --> 00:27:40,410
I have a feeling you don't want to

731
00:27:40,410 --> 00:27:42,290
give that away I can't give that away

732
00:27:42,290 --> 00:27:44,690
you gotta watch the movie yeah exactly you've

733
00:27:44,690 --> 00:27:47,090
gotta watch the movie but in terms of

734
00:27:47,090 --> 00:27:50,990
the message you know I really admire what

735
00:27:50,990 --> 00:27:54,270
you're doing because I look at hundreds and

736
00:27:54,270 --> 00:27:57,710
hundreds of videos our streaming network is right

737
00:27:57,710 --> 00:28:00,270
behind me we have 2,000 videos and

738
00:28:00,270 --> 00:28:02,250
that's all I do every day is look

739
00:28:02,250 --> 00:28:05,550
at videos about animal rights and veganism and

740
00:28:05,550 --> 00:28:08,290
so you know there's many powerful films but

741
00:28:08,290 --> 00:28:11,810
a lot of them are luxury you know

742
00:28:11,810 --> 00:28:15,230
don't do this don't eat meat one of

743
00:28:15,230 --> 00:28:17,130
the things that I was talking with the

744
00:28:17,130 --> 00:28:19,990
head of Veganuary the US head of Veganuary

745
00:28:19,990 --> 00:28:23,750
is why they called it Try Vegan and

746
00:28:23,750 --> 00:28:27,170
that that psychologically takes the pressure off people

747
00:28:27,170 --> 00:28:30,130
and they don't feel ordered they feel invited

748
00:28:30,130 --> 00:28:34,790
so messaging is so crucial how we approach

749
00:28:35,670 --> 00:28:38,490
telling people hey you should try this other

750
00:28:38,490 --> 00:28:40,710
way of life for your own health for

751
00:28:40,710 --> 00:28:43,030
the planet for the animals for a gazillion

752
00:28:43,470 --> 00:28:45,530
reasons if you want to end world hunger

753
00:28:45,530 --> 00:28:47,710
if you want to end water pollution ocean

754
00:28:47,710 --> 00:28:50,910
desertification we could go on but the point

755
00:28:50,910 --> 00:28:54,690
is that the medium is the message as

756
00:28:54,690 --> 00:28:57,470
Marshall McLuhan said what I love about your

757
00:28:57,470 --> 00:29:00,930
film is that you're being entertained so you

758
00:29:00,930 --> 00:29:03,950
don't even realise you're getting a message but

759
00:29:03,950 --> 00:29:07,150
what is the message well as you know

760
00:29:07,150 --> 00:29:09,550
like I wanted the message to I wanted

761
00:29:09,550 --> 00:29:13,050
this to be a standalone um horror movie

762
00:29:13,710 --> 00:29:15,890
and I would just expect that since it

763
00:29:15,890 --> 00:29:18,570
is a vegan a pro vegan message movie

764
00:29:18,570 --> 00:29:21,570
that most vegans would support that you know

765
00:29:21,570 --> 00:29:23,230
even people that just don't like horror movies

766
00:29:23,230 --> 00:29:25,050
maybe they're like well I'll support the movie

767
00:29:25,050 --> 00:29:27,310
whatever um I wanted to make this for

768
00:29:27,310 --> 00:29:29,850
like the horror fans that aren't vegan because

769
00:29:30,790 --> 00:29:32,430
as you already know you already saw the

770
00:29:32,430 --> 00:29:34,250
movie but I wanted the message to be

771
00:29:34,250 --> 00:29:37,050
there where you don't really hear the message

772
00:29:37,050 --> 00:29:40,490
until you're already like connected you know to

773
00:29:40,490 --> 00:29:43,310
certain characters where it's like in order to

774
00:29:43,310 --> 00:29:44,650
like say no to this you're kind of

775
00:29:44,650 --> 00:29:46,730
like at that point you're kind of lying

776
00:29:46,730 --> 00:29:48,370
to yourself if you say no at that

777
00:29:48,370 --> 00:29:50,530
point and then the message comes in and

778
00:29:50,530 --> 00:29:52,870
you're like oh man I didn't really think

779
00:29:52,870 --> 00:29:56,590
of it like that or so yeah there's

780
00:29:56,590 --> 00:29:58,450
a character in this movie which I don't

781
00:29:58,450 --> 00:30:00,330
like I don't want to give away that

782
00:30:00,330 --> 00:30:03,530
um hopefully most people fall in love with

783
00:30:03,530 --> 00:30:08,150
right away and at that point you're basically

784
00:30:08,150 --> 00:30:12,830
being hypocritical not to you know connect the

785
00:30:12,830 --> 00:30:14,910
dots at that point but I did want

786
00:30:14,910 --> 00:30:17,790
to do this like as an entertainment movie

787
00:30:17,790 --> 00:30:20,650
I'm not expecting everybody to go vegan after

788
00:30:20,650 --> 00:30:23,590
seeing this movie and really all my you

789
00:30:23,590 --> 00:30:25,090
know I just want people to watch the

790
00:30:25,090 --> 00:30:27,990
movie and enjoy the movie um I do

791
00:30:27,990 --> 00:30:32,430
think that some people will have different choices

792
00:30:32,430 --> 00:30:34,890
they'll make different choices after watching and yeah

793
00:30:34,890 --> 00:30:37,030
maybe some people will go vegan after watching

794
00:30:37,030 --> 00:30:40,550
this movie but um it's just my way

795
00:30:40,550 --> 00:30:45,270
of doing something differently um rather than telling

796
00:30:45,270 --> 00:30:48,770
or or something somebody to do something basically

797
00:30:48,770 --> 00:30:53,510
showing something that's fun and entertaining and then

798
00:30:53,510 --> 00:30:56,810
the message just comes in there and hopefully

799
00:30:56,810 --> 00:30:59,170
I did a good enough a job with

800
00:30:59,170 --> 00:31:01,490
you know what I was explaining earlier the

801
00:31:01,490 --> 00:31:04,710
emotion uh tugging at your heart you know

802
00:31:04,710 --> 00:31:07,410
by by the time the movie wraps up

803
00:31:07,410 --> 00:31:09,670
that you know it's kind of hard to

804
00:31:09,670 --> 00:31:11,030
just like say okay let's go out for

805
00:31:11,030 --> 00:31:14,210
burgers at that point um we have eyes

806
00:31:14,210 --> 00:31:17,950
on the ground at Amherst General reporting live

807
00:31:17,950 --> 00:31:21,130
let's see what's unfolding Pat what can you

808
00:31:21,130 --> 00:31:23,750
tell us hey how do you think they

809
00:31:23,750 --> 00:31:25,050
actually get the milk out of a note

810
00:31:25,050 --> 00:31:27,330
maybe we can get together sometime and cook

811
00:31:27,330 --> 00:31:30,010
up some vegan cheeseburger or something yo bro

812
00:31:30,010 --> 00:31:37,330
I left my wallet in your truck hey

813
00:31:37,330 --> 00:31:44,080
we need backup people are complaining of dizziness

814
00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:46,280
and stomach pain people are freaking oh my

815
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:50,520
god what are you doing no no get

816
00:31:51,900 --> 00:32:01,180
down what the hell oh oh oh wait

817
00:32:01,180 --> 00:32:02,960
wait that's that's that's gonna be it right

818
00:32:07,580 --> 00:32:22,720
okay wait what do you mean So,

819
00:32:23,820 --> 00:32:26,440
don't eat animals, fools.

820
00:32:32,410 --> 00:32:34,730
Hopefully those things don't want to eat us

821
00:32:34,730 --> 00:32:35,030
too.

822
00:32:39,440 --> 00:32:40,660
It's so good.

823
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,440
People are saying, I'm dying to see this.

824
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:45,920
I like that, Scarlett.

825
00:32:46,460 --> 00:32:47,620
This looks good.

826
00:32:47,700 --> 00:32:48,720
It is good.

827
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:53,120
I have to say, I watched it and

828
00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,980
I had no expectations and it blew me

829
00:32:55,980 --> 00:32:56,340
away.

830
00:32:56,540 --> 00:32:58,020
It's fun.

831
00:32:58,620 --> 00:33:01,080
I'm not somebody who wants to see sadistic

832
00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:02,680
violence, people being tortured.

833
00:33:02,940 --> 00:33:04,860
So it doesn't go into that realm.

834
00:33:05,020 --> 00:33:07,580
It's not gross in that sense, but it

835
00:33:07,580 --> 00:33:09,700
is keeping you on the edge of your

836
00:33:09,700 --> 00:33:10,280
seat.

837
00:33:10,900 --> 00:33:14,980
You're like, no, I can't describe it.

838
00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:16,560
You caught it.

839
00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:20,920
Whatever that it is that makes people squirm

840
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:24,000
and makes a horror movie good, you caught

841
00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:24,200
it.

842
00:33:24,500 --> 00:33:27,080
And what would you say that it is?

843
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:28,780
What is that thing?

844
00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:32,460
I mean, so many people love horror, not

845
00:33:32,460 --> 00:33:34,460
everybody, but there's a lot of people that

846
00:33:34,460 --> 00:33:37,500
love horror and just something, I just wanted,

847
00:33:37,660 --> 00:33:39,780
like you said, the story just progresses from

848
00:33:39,780 --> 00:33:42,480
the beginning and I wanted it to slowly

849
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,300
progress to a point where some movies they

850
00:33:45,300 --> 00:33:46,520
get to the middle and it kind of

851
00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:47,220
dies down.

852
00:33:47,580 --> 00:33:49,480
I wanted this movie just to keep going

853
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:51,740
to the climax of the movie and then

854
00:33:51,740 --> 00:33:53,380
boom, it's like, wow.

855
00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:56,500
And I feel like, I mean, I've seen

856
00:33:56,500 --> 00:33:58,520
it a million times because I know I've

857
00:33:58,520 --> 00:33:59,840
edited it so many times, but I feel

858
00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:01,120
like by the time you get to the

859
00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:02,800
end, you don't even realise how long it

860
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:03,580
actually was.

861
00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:05,700
But what is it?

862
00:34:05,700 --> 00:34:08,080
I don't know, it's just something from my

863
00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:09,800
childhood that I've always wanted to do.

864
00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:10,980
I put everything into this.

865
00:34:11,139 --> 00:34:15,520
I showed this to some movie making consultants

866
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:17,239
of mine that I've met over the years

867
00:34:17,860 --> 00:34:20,739
that live in the United Kingdom and they're

868
00:34:20,739 --> 00:34:22,620
not vegan and they didn't even really know

869
00:34:22,620 --> 00:34:23,840
what this movie was gonna be about.

870
00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:26,500
They were helping me with technical difficulties.

871
00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:28,340
And when I finally showed it to them,

872
00:34:28,580 --> 00:34:30,139
they were like blown away.

873
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:32,760
They said, Chris, what you have here is

874
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:36,219
something very special and you can tell that

875
00:34:36,219 --> 00:34:37,120
it's from the heart.

876
00:34:37,340 --> 00:34:40,260
And to me, that means everything because I

877
00:34:40,260 --> 00:34:41,840
put everything into this movie.

878
00:34:42,100 --> 00:34:44,120
So you can tell that this is from

879
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:44,500
the heart.

880
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:46,980
It really is.

881
00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:52,139
Okay, I wanna ask about mistakes, blunders, things

882
00:34:52,139 --> 00:34:55,060
that you can teach us to avoid.

883
00:34:55,540 --> 00:34:58,140
Like I said, I too have written a

884
00:34:58,140 --> 00:34:59,840
script with two colleagues.

885
00:35:00,270 --> 00:35:02,580
I can just tell you Jamie Logan, the

886
00:35:02,580 --> 00:35:05,420
actress activist and Justina Adorno, who is a

887
00:35:05,420 --> 00:35:08,060
well-known actress who has appeared in Grand

888
00:35:08,060 --> 00:35:09,940
Hotel and other major films.

889
00:35:10,380 --> 00:35:12,640
And so I'm sure we have some rewrites

890
00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,880
ahead of us, but first of all, you

891
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:17,620
made an independent film for what?

892
00:35:17,700 --> 00:35:19,660
Under $100,000, that's extraordinary.

893
00:35:20,200 --> 00:35:21,500
You look at the budgets of some of

894
00:35:21,500 --> 00:35:24,700
these films, it's crazy, hundreds of millions of

895
00:35:24,700 --> 00:35:25,180
dollars.

896
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:27,720
This was money well spent.

897
00:35:27,720 --> 00:35:30,140
What would your advice be to people like

898
00:35:30,140 --> 00:35:35,440
myself, Jamie and Justina about pitfalls to avoid?

899
00:35:37,820 --> 00:35:42,780
Some of the worst mistakes were in the

900
00:35:42,780 --> 00:35:43,400
contracts.

901
00:35:44,100 --> 00:35:47,220
So make sure your contracts are ironclad.

902
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:51,460
Most of the budget will probably go towards

903
00:35:51,460 --> 00:35:53,700
actual cast and crew.

904
00:35:55,300 --> 00:35:59,880
There were some continuity errors, so we did

905
00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:01,020
our best for that.

906
00:36:01,140 --> 00:36:02,940
And I think I did, you can still

907
00:36:02,940 --> 00:36:04,700
find some, but I'm okay with it.

908
00:36:04,740 --> 00:36:07,700
I feel like we'll have fun finding some

909
00:36:07,700 --> 00:36:08,780
continuity errors.

910
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:10,300
But for the most part, I was able

911
00:36:10,300 --> 00:36:11,220
to fix most of them.

912
00:36:12,660 --> 00:36:15,040
Make sure the cameras, like if I can

913
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:18,200
go back, like there's some things that is

914
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:20,240
out of my control, like with the camera

915
00:36:20,240 --> 00:36:25,880
that was used, hot pixels, dead pixels, that's

916
00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:27,660
gonna be extremely difficult to fix.

917
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,660
Just make sure you're communicating very well with

918
00:36:31,660 --> 00:36:32,640
the rest of your team.

919
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,580
And scheduling is extremely difficult with that many

920
00:36:36,580 --> 00:36:39,520
people, especially when you're doing an independent thing

921
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:41,360
and it's not their full-time job, trying

922
00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:43,260
to get everybody together on a certain day

923
00:36:43,260 --> 00:36:44,420
and then hope it doesn't rain.

924
00:36:45,980 --> 00:36:47,840
So yeah, have a team.

925
00:36:48,420 --> 00:36:49,940
Unfortunately, I had to do a lot of

926
00:36:49,940 --> 00:36:53,160
this stuff myself or with my producer who

927
00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,240
happens to live in the UK.

928
00:36:55,600 --> 00:36:57,560
So she wasn't able to be here to

929
00:36:57,560 --> 00:36:58,180
help in person.

930
00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:00,280
So we had to like communicate that way.

931
00:37:00,420 --> 00:37:03,620
So there's a lot of things that, I

932
00:37:03,620 --> 00:37:06,140
will tell you that all the difficulties I

933
00:37:06,140 --> 00:37:10,340
went through, it feels so much better now

934
00:37:10,340 --> 00:37:11,720
than knowing that I'd done and I got

935
00:37:11,720 --> 00:37:12,200
through it.

936
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:15,020
And I think I've learned so much more

937
00:37:15,020 --> 00:37:17,620
because of these difficulties that I just would

938
00:37:17,620 --> 00:37:20,860
not allow to happen in my second film.

939
00:37:21,460 --> 00:37:25,180
So let's talk about second film.

940
00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:26,480
You brought it up.

941
00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:28,680
Where do you go from here?

942
00:37:29,020 --> 00:37:32,320
Are you going to do a sequel or

943
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,060
is it gonna be something entirely different?

944
00:37:34,380 --> 00:37:37,820
Well, I mean, I definitely wanna do something.

945
00:37:38,040 --> 00:37:39,540
I want the doors to open up and

946
00:37:39,540 --> 00:37:41,780
be able to do another film.

947
00:37:42,480 --> 00:37:45,860
But I would definitely want a proper budget

948
00:37:45,860 --> 00:37:50,160
for that one because I did not pay

949
00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:51,360
myself at all for this.

950
00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:54,600
So all these years I've been working full

951
00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:56,900
-time hours, I've not taken any money.

952
00:37:57,380 --> 00:38:03,340
So I've pretty much driven myself into extreme

953
00:38:03,340 --> 00:38:04,240
poverty right now.

954
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:06,180
So I'm hoping I have another chance with

955
00:38:06,180 --> 00:38:07,580
another movie with a real budget.

956
00:38:07,580 --> 00:38:11,060
They say that if you prove successful on

957
00:38:11,060 --> 00:38:13,400
a first movie, then you could possibly get

958
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:17,500
funding, proper funding to make a second movie.

959
00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:19,120
I would hope that that would be the

960
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:19,420
case.

961
00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:23,520
You've seen the movie, so you know that

962
00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:27,080
people are probably gonna want a sequel to

963
00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:27,560
this movie.

964
00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:30,800
And we had to go out to make

965
00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,860
this movie the timeframe that it is, but

966
00:38:33,860 --> 00:38:35,860
there's more in my head that I've already

967
00:38:35,860 --> 00:38:38,560
written out all those years ago.

968
00:38:38,720 --> 00:38:41,380
I know what happens next, so I need

969
00:38:41,380 --> 00:38:44,960
to put that on paper so people can

970
00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:47,200
see a sequel to this movie, yes.

971
00:38:47,860 --> 00:38:51,240
So over the years, since you sat in

972
00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:54,040
this very spot with me when we announced

973
00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:58,700
the start of the Kickstarter, I got updates

974
00:38:58,700 --> 00:38:59,160
from you.

975
00:38:59,480 --> 00:39:02,240
And I'll be honest, at one point, maybe

976
00:39:02,240 --> 00:39:04,320
five years in, I was like, what's going

977
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:04,560
on?

978
00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:06,200
Is this ever really gonna get made?

979
00:39:07,580 --> 00:39:10,660
And you would send updates saying, don't worry,

980
00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:11,880
it will get made.

981
00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:15,000
But over the course of what, seven, eight

982
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,340
years, what were your low points?

983
00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:20,300
What were the moments where you wondered to

984
00:39:20,300 --> 00:39:22,940
yourself, is this gonna get made?

985
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:26,720
Because every biography I have read of people

986
00:39:26,720 --> 00:39:30,280
who achieve extraordinary things, there's always this moment

987
00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:33,040
where it seems like it's all falling apart.

988
00:39:33,540 --> 00:39:36,200
And the people who power through are the

989
00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:38,260
ones who are the change makers.

990
00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:42,080
Yeah, it wasn't easy making this movie.

991
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:45,860
And there's a lot that I haven't made

992
00:39:45,860 --> 00:39:48,500
public, but when it was done, I was

993
00:39:48,500 --> 00:39:51,920
like, what just happened?

994
00:39:53,340 --> 00:39:54,900
But I don't wanna get into all the

995
00:39:54,900 --> 00:39:55,740
negatives about that.

996
00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:57,720
I didn't touch it for a little while

997
00:39:57,720 --> 00:39:59,540
because I literally couldn't.

998
00:39:59,620 --> 00:40:00,780
I couldn't even look at it.

999
00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:02,280
That's how bad things were.

1000
00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:06,320
And then I told myself, I need to

1001
00:40:06,320 --> 00:40:07,300
do this no matter what.

1002
00:40:07,460 --> 00:40:09,140
And I just started working on it every

1003
00:40:09,140 --> 00:40:11,200
single day until it was done, and I

1004
00:40:11,200 --> 00:40:11,460
did.

1005
00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:14,100
I worked on it for like a little

1006
00:40:14,100 --> 00:40:17,500
over a year straight, almost every single day,

1007
00:40:17,780 --> 00:40:19,000
eight to 14 hours.

1008
00:40:19,300 --> 00:40:22,580
And I did all that myself until it

1009
00:40:22,580 --> 00:40:23,080
was done.

1010
00:40:23,660 --> 00:40:25,720
And yeah, there was- What do you

1011
00:40:25,720 --> 00:40:28,040
do when you're not making films?

1012
00:40:28,560 --> 00:40:29,620
What is your day job?

1013
00:40:29,620 --> 00:40:33,200
Well, YouTube, I've been doing YouTube for 16

1014
00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:33,460
years.

1015
00:40:33,580 --> 00:40:36,720
I'm one of the oldest running vegan YouTube

1016
00:40:36,720 --> 00:40:37,840
channels in existence.

1017
00:40:38,500 --> 00:40:39,920
So that's your full-time job?

1018
00:40:40,260 --> 00:40:42,200
Well, that's what it...

1019
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:44,240
I did have a full-time job that

1020
00:40:44,240 --> 00:40:46,800
I quit and I became a full-time

1021
00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:47,340
YouTuber.

1022
00:40:47,980 --> 00:40:50,020
Since then, things have changed a little bit.

1023
00:40:50,100 --> 00:40:51,960
So it's not as lucrative anymore.

1024
00:40:52,220 --> 00:40:55,220
And I totally neglected it because I was

1025
00:40:55,220 --> 00:40:55,920
working on the movie.

1026
00:40:56,440 --> 00:40:58,300
So there was a long time where I

1027
00:40:58,300 --> 00:40:59,780
wasn't posting any YouTube videos.

1028
00:40:59,920 --> 00:41:01,100
But yeah, I know what you mean.

1029
00:41:01,160 --> 00:41:05,000
Like people were asking me like, you scammed

1030
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:06,520
us, like where's our money?

1031
00:41:06,720 --> 00:41:07,460
Where's the movie?

1032
00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:09,640
And I get where they're coming from, but

1033
00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:11,880
the person that I've always been since I

1034
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:14,240
was a little kid, I've always been the

1035
00:41:14,240 --> 00:41:17,600
person that if I say something, no matter

1036
00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:18,560
what, I'm gonna do it.

1037
00:41:18,640 --> 00:41:19,480
And I did that.

1038
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:22,060
I would never let anyone down.

1039
00:41:22,220 --> 00:41:24,460
I make sure that I fulfil all debts.

1040
00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:26,680
And that's what I had to do here.

1041
00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:28,480
I knew that I need to get this

1042
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:30,660
movie done because there was, to me, there

1043
00:41:30,660 --> 00:41:31,640
was no alternative.

1044
00:41:31,880 --> 00:41:34,060
If I didn't do it, I would be

1045
00:41:34,060 --> 00:41:36,760
wasting a huge opportunity to fill one of

1046
00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:38,400
the biggest dreams I've ever had, which was

1047
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:39,340
to make a feature movie.

1048
00:41:40,060 --> 00:41:42,000
And I wasn't gonna let that happen.

1049
00:41:42,100 --> 00:41:44,520
So I just did what I had to

1050
00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:44,760
do.

1051
00:41:44,820 --> 00:41:49,120
And I rose above all the challenges that

1052
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:49,640
were there.

1053
00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:51,380
And there was times that I was like,

1054
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:52,720
I don't know how I'm gonna make a

1055
00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:53,400
movie out of this.

1056
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:56,420
And I can say now that I'm very

1057
00:41:56,420 --> 00:41:58,460
happy with the way it came out.

1058
00:41:59,140 --> 00:42:03,360
Hey, we've got Jenny Desmond watching from Liberia,

1059
00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:05,260
another one of my heroes.

1060
00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:07,480
And she says, great work.

1061
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:11,840
And talk about perseverance and sanctuaries.

1062
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:15,620
What they've done with Liberian chimp rescue is

1063
00:42:15,620 --> 00:42:16,360
extraordinary.

1064
00:42:16,660 --> 00:42:18,460
They're taking care of more than a hundred

1065
00:42:18,460 --> 00:42:21,980
chimpanzees who are abandoned on their own.

1066
00:42:22,470 --> 00:42:26,140
And so there's so many people doing such

1067
00:42:26,140 --> 00:42:28,080
incredible work in this movement.

1068
00:42:29,020 --> 00:42:31,960
And I love the fact that everybody is

1069
00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:33,720
sticking together on this one.

1070
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:37,340
Like sometimes we have a guest on and

1071
00:42:37,340 --> 00:42:38,800
people are like, why do you have to

1072
00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:39,500
do it that way?

1073
00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:39,940
Why do you?

1074
00:42:40,180 --> 00:42:42,280
And I always say, then you go do

1075
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:42,980
your own thing.

1076
00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:44,180
Don't criticise them.

1077
00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:46,280
Let, do it your way.

1078
00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,380
It's so important that we gather together in

1079
00:42:49,380 --> 00:42:50,160
the vegan movement.

1080
00:42:50,160 --> 00:42:52,720
I always say, anytime we're fighting, the other

1081
00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:54,580
side's applauding, because that's what they want.

1082
00:42:55,080 --> 00:42:57,780
Maybe we can all come together around a

1083
00:42:57,780 --> 00:42:59,980
film like this because it's fun.

1084
00:43:00,540 --> 00:43:03,340
And the fact is, and I'll say this,

1085
00:43:03,420 --> 00:43:04,620
I've learned it myself.

1086
00:43:05,460 --> 00:43:08,760
We need to have more entertaining content in

1087
00:43:08,760 --> 00:43:09,400
this movement.

1088
00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:15,000
People need to laugh and laughter is one

1089
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:18,760
way that the resistance is dropped.

1090
00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:21,520
When people are laughing, their resistance to an

1091
00:43:21,520 --> 00:43:24,560
idea drops and they become open-minded.

1092
00:43:24,760 --> 00:43:26,620
What would you like to say about that,

1093
00:43:26,780 --> 00:43:26,980
Chris?

1094
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:29,480
Well, we do have elements of comedy in

1095
00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:29,680
this.

1096
00:43:29,740 --> 00:43:32,500
Like we don't take everything so seriously that

1097
00:43:32,500 --> 00:43:34,880
it's, oh, it's just so serious, but there

1098
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:37,320
are elements of comedy in this movie and

1099
00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:39,640
we wanted to just entertain.

1100
00:43:40,420 --> 00:43:43,280
There is definitely a message there.

1101
00:43:43,760 --> 00:43:47,700
And like I said, some people might change

1102
00:43:47,700 --> 00:43:49,900
their choices and some people won't.

1103
00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:51,360
And I wanted to put something out there.

1104
00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:54,460
I love a lot of these vegan documentaries.

1105
00:43:54,820 --> 00:43:56,880
Some of them, I really love them, but

1106
00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:58,940
I feel like, at least for me, I

1107
00:43:58,940 --> 00:44:01,000
watch them once and that's great.

1108
00:44:01,780 --> 00:44:03,120
But I feel like a movie, like an

1109
00:44:03,120 --> 00:44:05,840
entertaining movie like this, it's something that somebody

1110
00:44:05,840 --> 00:44:07,720
can go back and watch maybe every few

1111
00:44:07,720 --> 00:44:09,820
years around Halloween or something like that.

1112
00:44:10,060 --> 00:44:12,260
I watch the same Christmas movies every year

1113
00:44:12,260 --> 00:44:15,040
and the same horror movies around Halloween time

1114
00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:16,520
every year or every other year.

1115
00:44:16,520 --> 00:44:18,700
I'm hoping that this can be something like

1116
00:44:18,700 --> 00:44:21,960
that where somebody is like, A44 is my

1117
00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:25,280
go-to fall movie or Halloween movie.

1118
00:44:25,420 --> 00:44:27,140
And they can always go back to it

1119
00:44:27,140 --> 00:44:30,240
and reshare it because once it's out there,

1120
00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:34,320
it's the world's movie and it does have

1121
00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:37,700
an entertaining yet vegan message there.

1122
00:44:38,080 --> 00:44:40,020
So- Yeah, let me ask you a

1123
00:44:40,020 --> 00:44:40,340
question.

1124
00:44:40,700 --> 00:44:42,700
Okay, so I was one of those people

1125
00:44:42,700 --> 00:44:44,500
who donated a little bit in the initial

1126
00:44:44,500 --> 00:44:46,500
Kickstarter when you were sitting right next to

1127
00:44:46,500 --> 00:44:48,960
me in this room and we talked about

1128
00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:51,060
it back in, I believe, 2018.

1129
00:44:52,140 --> 00:44:54,360
And there were many, many other people.

1130
00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:57,360
How many people total and how much did

1131
00:44:57,360 --> 00:44:59,320
you raise in your Kickstarter?

1132
00:45:00,620 --> 00:45:03,560
We raised a little under 85,000.

1133
00:45:04,140 --> 00:45:05,920
It was more like 80 after they took

1134
00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:08,120
out their fees and the taxes and stuff.

1135
00:45:09,500 --> 00:45:13,160
And there's a little under 1,100 people

1136
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:14,120
came together for that.

1137
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:16,240
So that's a lot of people that already,

1138
00:45:16,560 --> 00:45:18,720
right off the bat, want to see this

1139
00:45:18,720 --> 00:45:19,000
movie.

1140
00:45:20,200 --> 00:45:21,980
And you don't have to pay them back.

1141
00:45:22,020 --> 00:45:22,860
They didn't donate.

1142
00:45:23,060 --> 00:45:24,900
I certainly didn't donate thinking I was gonna

1143
00:45:24,900 --> 00:45:25,540
get anything back.

1144
00:45:25,620 --> 00:45:28,000
I donated just to support the project.

1145
00:45:28,060 --> 00:45:28,860
So that's good.

1146
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:30,360
You don't have to pay those people back.

1147
00:45:30,660 --> 00:45:33,000
Right, the way I see it is like,

1148
00:45:35,000 --> 00:45:37,500
you're not giving the money to me per

1149
00:45:37,500 --> 00:45:37,680
se.

1150
00:45:37,780 --> 00:45:40,440
You're giving it to a campaign, a project

1151
00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:43,500
that I'm going to oversee and create.

1152
00:45:43,500 --> 00:45:46,980
So yeah, they were all involved in making

1153
00:45:46,980 --> 00:45:47,560
this movie.

1154
00:45:48,020 --> 00:45:50,740
Some of them were, you are one of

1155
00:45:50,740 --> 00:45:52,880
them, and there's a few other people that

1156
00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:54,140
are actually in the movie.

1157
00:45:55,020 --> 00:45:57,900
So you can see them throughout the movie.

1158
00:45:59,420 --> 00:46:02,300
And then everybody else, they get perks and

1159
00:46:02,300 --> 00:46:02,560
stuff.

1160
00:46:02,680 --> 00:46:05,760
So there's different, some people get the script

1161
00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:07,280
and some people come to get to see

1162
00:46:07,280 --> 00:46:07,840
the premiere.

1163
00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:12,040
And some of those rewards still have to

1164
00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:13,520
be given, but they have to wait until

1165
00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:14,600
the movie comes out.

1166
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:16,540
And the other thing is, is I'm currently,

1167
00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:19,380
I just actually watched this on the big

1168
00:46:19,380 --> 00:46:20,700
screen here in Syracuse, New York.

1169
00:46:20,840 --> 00:46:22,600
My friend runs one of the movie theatres

1170
00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:24,560
there, and we're just looking at it to

1171
00:46:24,560 --> 00:46:25,580
see if everything's right.

1172
00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:28,520
And then we're gonna probably do a premiere

1173
00:46:28,520 --> 00:46:31,860
here in Syracuse somewhere around the end of

1174
00:46:31,860 --> 00:46:32,260
March.

1175
00:46:33,300 --> 00:46:34,660
But yeah, I want there to be a

1176
00:46:34,660 --> 00:46:36,520
premiere here because this is my hometown, but

1177
00:46:36,520 --> 00:46:38,600
also out with you in LA.

1178
00:46:38,600 --> 00:46:42,400
And I also remember before this was completely

1179
00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:45,800
done, you were reading the script and you

1180
00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:47,040
were like, oh no, I don't like how

1181
00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:47,380
this is.

1182
00:46:47,460 --> 00:46:48,720
And I'm like, oh no, she doesn't like

1183
00:46:48,720 --> 00:46:48,900
it.

1184
00:46:49,020 --> 00:46:50,680
So when I actually gave you the movie,

1185
00:46:50,700 --> 00:46:52,380
I was like, oh my God, I really,

1186
00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:53,480
I really hope she likes this.

1187
00:46:53,540 --> 00:46:55,700
I was super nervous and you were just

1188
00:46:55,700 --> 00:46:57,500
like, I'm like, oh, she probably doesn't like

1189
00:46:57,500 --> 00:46:57,600
it.

1190
00:46:57,600 --> 00:46:59,860
And then you text me like two minutes

1191
00:46:59,860 --> 00:47:01,660
after I thought that, and you're like, oh

1192
00:47:01,660 --> 00:47:03,040
my God, it's so good, I love it.

1193
00:47:03,060 --> 00:47:04,900
And I'm like, oh no, I was so

1194
00:47:04,900 --> 00:47:05,460
relieved.

1195
00:47:05,460 --> 00:47:07,600
Oh, well that means a lot to me.

1196
00:47:07,700 --> 00:47:09,960
And I just wanna say you did make

1197
00:47:09,960 --> 00:47:10,880
some revisions.

1198
00:47:11,140 --> 00:47:11,320
I did.

1199
00:47:11,340 --> 00:47:14,820
Because I'll say I'm squeamish and you had

1200
00:47:14,820 --> 00:47:16,800
a few people throwing up in the beginning

1201
00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:18,380
of the movie and I was like, cut

1202
00:47:18,380 --> 00:47:19,140
that out.

1203
00:47:20,020 --> 00:47:22,920
Because it'll turn off a section of the

1204
00:47:22,920 --> 00:47:24,800
population that doesn't like to see that.

1205
00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:26,600
And I'm a member of that sector of

1206
00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:27,200
the population.

1207
00:47:27,720 --> 00:47:29,960
So I'm glad that that- Nobody wanted

1208
00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:31,340
to do that with me, but the good

1209
00:47:31,340 --> 00:47:33,780
thing was, it was my movie, I was

1210
00:47:33,780 --> 00:47:34,260
the director.

1211
00:47:34,260 --> 00:47:36,340
So I had the ultimate say, but they

1212
00:47:36,340 --> 00:47:37,660
didn't agree with me on that.

1213
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:39,680
But I think it worked out.

1214
00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:41,520
I think it worked out.

1215
00:47:41,980 --> 00:47:44,820
So, especially because you have people eating food

1216
00:47:44,820 --> 00:47:47,600
in the movie, it really worked out.

1217
00:47:47,700 --> 00:47:49,300
Whatever you did, you worked your magic.

1218
00:47:49,760 --> 00:47:50,620
It's a great movie.

1219
00:47:51,040 --> 00:47:53,680
You know, when there's a movie that's disjointed

1220
00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:55,540
and just doesn't work, you kind of feel

1221
00:47:55,540 --> 00:47:55,700
it.

1222
00:47:55,800 --> 00:47:57,280
We have that feeling back in the old

1223
00:47:57,280 --> 00:47:59,300
days, leaving a movie theatre saying, why the

1224
00:47:59,300 --> 00:48:00,980
hell did I waste two hours and 20

1225
00:48:00,980 --> 00:48:01,700
bucks on this?

1226
00:48:02,580 --> 00:48:03,740
This doesn't leave that.

1227
00:48:03,740 --> 00:48:06,400
This is, it takes, it takes.

1228
00:48:06,580 --> 00:48:09,620
It's like, it has that beginning, middle and

1229
00:48:09,620 --> 00:48:10,840
end, the arcs.

1230
00:48:11,260 --> 00:48:12,480
And that's one of the things that I

1231
00:48:12,480 --> 00:48:15,180
do wanna ask you is, you said you

1232
00:48:15,180 --> 00:48:17,160
watched a lot of movies, but I've actually

1233
00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:19,620
taken a screenwriting course where they talk about,

1234
00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:21,920
you know, the arcs, and there's gotta be

1235
00:48:21,920 --> 00:48:23,980
act one, has to have something happen at

1236
00:48:23,980 --> 00:48:25,840
the end that triggers act two and the

1237
00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:27,400
arc of act two and then the arc

1238
00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:27,980
of act three.

1239
00:48:28,240 --> 00:48:29,720
It's even called a formula.

1240
00:48:29,940 --> 00:48:33,540
But you intrinsically just incorporated all that without

1241
00:48:33,540 --> 00:48:36,120
really studying that craft?

1242
00:48:37,160 --> 00:48:42,960
Well, okay, so I originally, the original story

1243
00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:46,180
that I wrote was there as a skeleton,

1244
00:48:46,500 --> 00:48:48,420
but it wasn't ready to be seen.

1245
00:48:48,740 --> 00:48:50,420
And like I said, we would rewrite it

1246
00:48:50,420 --> 00:48:51,160
every time.

1247
00:48:51,320 --> 00:48:52,900
We would go over it and I would

1248
00:48:52,900 --> 00:48:54,400
go over it with my producers and we'd

1249
00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:55,480
be like, okay.

1250
00:48:55,980 --> 00:48:57,820
And between the three of us, we really

1251
00:48:57,820 --> 00:48:59,540
knew, we really knew movies.

1252
00:49:00,180 --> 00:49:03,280
I had other people working with me earlier

1253
00:49:03,280 --> 00:49:05,500
on in the Kickstarter that kind of fell

1254
00:49:05,500 --> 00:49:05,880
off.

1255
00:49:06,780 --> 00:49:09,460
And then we just kept rewriting until everything

1256
00:49:09,460 --> 00:49:11,580
was basically perfect.

1257
00:49:11,580 --> 00:49:14,040
So we couldn't figure anything else that could

1258
00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:15,580
be better for that scene.

1259
00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:18,060
And that's the way we did it.

1260
00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:23,040
And yeah, I basically wrote this if I

1261
00:49:23,040 --> 00:49:24,940
was writing a movie based on everything that

1262
00:49:24,940 --> 00:49:26,060
I've ever seen that I liked.

1263
00:49:26,260 --> 00:49:28,640
Some of my other inspiration were like Goonies

1264
00:49:28,640 --> 00:49:30,060
and Stand By Me.

1265
00:49:30,980 --> 00:49:34,440
Not necessarily horror movies, but movies that I

1266
00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:35,160
really loved.

1267
00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:38,700
I just wanted to get that goosebump factor.

1268
00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:40,440
I wanted people to get goosebumps at certain

1269
00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:40,700
parts.

1270
00:49:40,940 --> 00:49:43,220
And I've already had like feedback where people

1271
00:49:43,220 --> 00:49:43,960
did say that.

1272
00:49:44,180 --> 00:49:45,360
People have said they had goosebumps.

1273
00:49:45,900 --> 00:49:47,260
People have said like, wow, that was really

1274
00:49:47,260 --> 00:49:47,440
good.

1275
00:49:47,500 --> 00:49:48,740
Some people have said they cried.

1276
00:49:49,340 --> 00:49:52,420
Like to me, that's like, if a movie

1277
00:49:52,420 --> 00:49:54,760
can do that, then to me, that's a

1278
00:49:54,760 --> 00:49:55,300
success.

1279
00:49:56,020 --> 00:49:58,740
So what are your tips on casting?

1280
00:49:59,220 --> 00:50:01,720
Because you had a really good cast and

1281
00:50:01,720 --> 00:50:03,020
you said it was hard to cast up

1282
00:50:03,020 --> 00:50:04,040
in Syracuse, New York.

1283
00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:07,020
But I think casting is one of the

1284
00:50:07,020 --> 00:50:08,940
most important aspects of filmmaking.

1285
00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:11,600
The thing is, it's a collaborative process and

1286
00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:13,240
it's like a three-dimensional chess game.

1287
00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:15,600
There's so many things that you have to

1288
00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:16,060
get right.

1289
00:50:16,960 --> 00:50:18,740
How did you nail the casting?

1290
00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:21,560
I just set out for casting and people

1291
00:50:21,560 --> 00:50:26,400
sent me their auditions and some of them

1292
00:50:26,400 --> 00:50:29,640
were like, amazing, I gotta take this person.

1293
00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:34,040
Other people were like, I definitely might want

1294
00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:35,260
this person, but I gotta look at what

1295
00:50:35,260 --> 00:50:35,960
else I have.

1296
00:50:36,380 --> 00:50:37,760
And then when it came down to it,

1297
00:50:38,020 --> 00:50:41,520
like, yeah, some people I had to just

1298
00:50:41,520 --> 00:50:42,280
get on the fly.

1299
00:50:43,040 --> 00:50:45,660
And then my character that I played, I

1300
00:50:45,660 --> 00:50:48,020
was looking for somebody all the way until

1301
00:50:48,020 --> 00:50:48,960
the day of the shooting.

1302
00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:50,820
And I was like, if I can't find

1303
00:50:50,820 --> 00:50:53,300
somebody, nobody really applied to that part.

1304
00:50:53,780 --> 00:50:56,340
And I really looked for, like I sent,

1305
00:50:56,580 --> 00:50:59,860
I specifically sent emails to people to play

1306
00:50:59,860 --> 00:51:01,460
that part and nobody did.

1307
00:51:01,660 --> 00:51:02,600
So I was like- Like your mom.

1308
00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:04,740
That was your mom just there.

1309
00:51:04,940 --> 00:51:06,260
How did you find her?

1310
00:51:06,640 --> 00:51:08,980
Well, my real mom is in this movie

1311
00:51:08,980 --> 00:51:10,800
too, but then my actor mom.

1312
00:51:11,060 --> 00:51:14,620
So she's a local actor here in Syracuse

1313
00:51:14,620 --> 00:51:16,800
and she applied for the part and she

1314
00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:19,260
reminded, like I had in mind like a

1315
00:51:19,260 --> 00:51:21,360
Dee Wallace kind of character and I told

1316
00:51:21,360 --> 00:51:23,020
her and I think she played it perfectly.

1317
00:51:24,560 --> 00:51:25,280
She's good.

1318
00:51:25,500 --> 00:51:27,840
And I also like your sort of love

1319
00:51:27,840 --> 00:51:30,460
interest, the girl who's got a crush on

1320
00:51:30,460 --> 00:51:32,720
you and keeps wanting to go and have

1321
00:51:32,720 --> 00:51:36,020
vegan cheeseburgers with you cause you're pretty much

1322
00:51:36,020 --> 00:51:38,560
the only vegan in the cast, in the

1323
00:51:38,560 --> 00:51:39,540
script.

1324
00:51:40,020 --> 00:51:42,880
Right, she is also a local actor.

1325
00:51:43,020 --> 00:51:44,080
There she is, right there.

1326
00:51:44,280 --> 00:51:44,880
There she is.

1327
00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:46,900
And she does a lot of things with

1328
00:51:46,900 --> 00:51:50,340
American High, which is a local Syracuse base.

1329
00:51:50,580 --> 00:51:52,320
They did a lot of movies.

1330
00:51:52,460 --> 00:51:54,780
Well, they've done stuff with Pete Davidson and

1331
00:51:54,780 --> 00:51:55,500
some other things.

1332
00:51:55,580 --> 00:51:58,180
So she works with them and I see

1333
00:51:58,180 --> 00:51:59,820
a lot of reels that she does lately.

1334
00:52:00,720 --> 00:52:02,160
So yeah, that's cool that we have her.

1335
00:52:02,480 --> 00:52:05,920
And Nick, the guy that plays Nick, he

1336
00:52:05,920 --> 00:52:08,980
released his own movie, a horror movie just

1337
00:52:08,980 --> 00:52:11,680
this past September and it did really well

1338
00:52:11,680 --> 00:52:12,820
over on ScreenBox.

1339
00:52:12,820 --> 00:52:15,920
It actually moved into first place above Terrifier

1340
00:52:15,920 --> 00:52:17,520
2 for a week or two.

1341
00:52:18,640 --> 00:52:19,880
So he's actually in the movie.

1342
00:52:19,980 --> 00:52:20,980
He did the same thing.

1343
00:52:21,280 --> 00:52:24,760
He directed, acted and wrote his movie and

1344
00:52:24,760 --> 00:52:26,220
that's called Creeping Death.

1345
00:52:26,980 --> 00:52:28,060
So yeah.

1346
00:52:28,060 --> 00:52:30,440
You know, I think as you, this is

1347
00:52:30,440 --> 00:52:32,100
just my idea of what do I know

1348
00:52:32,100 --> 00:52:33,900
cause we are almost out of time, but

1349
00:52:33,900 --> 00:52:38,040
before I forget, what about if you start

1350
00:52:38,040 --> 00:52:40,900
raising money for your next film while you're

1351
00:52:40,900 --> 00:52:43,220
doing the premieres around the country?

1352
00:52:43,980 --> 00:52:46,180
Because people will be inspired.

1353
00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:49,400
Certainly you wanna give a percentage to charity,

1354
00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:52,600
but it could be a good way to

1355
00:52:52,600 --> 00:52:55,780
start your fundraising for the next film because

1356
00:52:55,780 --> 00:52:57,500
I can't wait to see a sequel.

1357
00:52:58,700 --> 00:53:00,820
So I know that you're saying that cause

1358
00:53:00,820 --> 00:53:03,320
you watched it, but I feel like I'm

1359
00:53:03,320 --> 00:53:04,800
not gonna be able to raise what I

1360
00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:07,440
could raise without people seeing the movie yet.

1361
00:53:07,500 --> 00:53:09,140
Like I said, I feel like it's the

1362
00:53:09,140 --> 00:53:12,160
movie nobody's looking for until they watch it.

1363
00:53:12,560 --> 00:53:14,860
So once people see it, I feel like

1364
00:53:14,860 --> 00:53:16,740
we have a way better chance of being

1365
00:53:16,740 --> 00:53:18,800
able to raise money for a second one

1366
00:53:18,800 --> 00:53:20,320
than if I did it right now.

1367
00:53:20,480 --> 00:53:22,440
People might be like, well, I don't really

1368
00:53:22,440 --> 00:53:23,620
even know what this one looks like.

1369
00:53:23,660 --> 00:53:24,140
So I don't know.

1370
00:53:24,360 --> 00:53:25,400
I'll hold off, you know.

1371
00:53:25,480 --> 00:53:27,600
Is there a website where people can go

1372
00:53:27,600 --> 00:53:30,300
to learn more about the premieres?

1373
00:53:31,320 --> 00:53:32,160
The premieres.

1374
00:53:32,220 --> 00:53:34,520
Well, they can follow me over on A44movie.

1375
00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:36,920
We have a website which is pretty much

1376
00:53:36,920 --> 00:53:38,700
like 95% done.

1377
00:53:38,860 --> 00:53:40,840
It's called A44movie.com.

1378
00:53:41,360 --> 00:53:42,180
There you go.

1379
00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:44,100
It shows everybody on there.

1380
00:53:44,240 --> 00:53:46,040
It shows social media, all that stuff.

1381
00:53:47,100 --> 00:53:50,000
A44movie.com, easy to remember because that is

1382
00:53:50,000 --> 00:53:51,780
the name of the film.

1383
00:53:52,040 --> 00:53:54,700
Chris, I just wanna say I am super

1384
00:53:54,700 --> 00:53:55,160
impressed.

1385
00:53:55,340 --> 00:53:57,140
I think you're absolutely amazing.

1386
00:53:57,540 --> 00:54:00,600
We're just about out of time, but I

1387
00:54:00,600 --> 00:54:02,080
love your perseverance.

1388
00:54:02,540 --> 00:54:04,060
I love your attitude.

1389
00:54:04,060 --> 00:54:07,080
I love the finished product.

1390
00:54:07,340 --> 00:54:10,200
And I'm really humbled and grateful to be

1391
00:54:10,200 --> 00:54:12,500
a little part of this venture, a very

1392
00:54:12,500 --> 00:54:15,360
small part, but I'm excited.

1393
00:54:15,740 --> 00:54:16,880
I'm glad you are.

1394
00:54:16,940 --> 00:54:18,260
You played a great part.

1395
00:54:18,500 --> 00:54:21,320
And I think, you know, I have it

1396
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:23,220
looking even better than when you saw it

1397
00:54:23,220 --> 00:54:24,740
because I fixed a couple of things.

1398
00:54:25,200 --> 00:54:26,300
So it looks really good.

1399
00:54:27,080 --> 00:54:29,520
We at Unchained TV wanna help you with

1400
00:54:29,520 --> 00:54:30,560
your premiere in LA.

1401
00:54:31,160 --> 00:54:33,020
Let's plan it maybe for April.

1402
00:54:33,020 --> 00:54:34,680
Sounds like a plan.

1403
00:54:35,600 --> 00:54:39,880
And everybody go to A44movie.com and get

1404
00:54:39,880 --> 00:54:40,380
involved.

1405
00:54:40,580 --> 00:54:43,680
And of course, we always tell everybody, please,

1406
00:54:44,000 --> 00:54:46,180
please download Unchained TV.

1407
00:54:46,560 --> 00:54:50,400
We are the world's only vegan streaming television

1408
00:54:50,400 --> 00:54:53,820
network, vegan animal rights streaming TV network.

1409
00:54:54,160 --> 00:54:55,780
So it's a vegan Netflix.

1410
00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:57,960
Okay, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard.

1411
00:54:57,980 --> 00:54:59,260
I love Unchained TV.

1412
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:01,240
Unchained, Unchained TV.

1413
00:55:01,400 --> 00:55:02,220
Your life will change.

1414
00:55:02,220 --> 00:55:03,440
It's just that easy.

1415
00:55:03,840 --> 00:55:06,220
Unchained TV has all sorts of content for

1416
00:55:06,220 --> 00:55:06,700
everybody.

1417
00:55:07,100 --> 00:55:09,180
Unchained TV changed my life.

1418
00:55:09,480 --> 00:55:12,260
Unchained TV is crushing it.

1419
00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:13,940
I love Unchained TV.

1420
00:55:14,200 --> 00:55:15,940
Unchained TV is my go-to.

1421
00:55:16,280 --> 00:55:17,040
Unchained TV.

1422
00:55:17,500 --> 00:55:18,040
Who knew?

1423
00:55:18,680 --> 00:55:20,500
Unchained, baby, yes.