Jasmine Davis and Julio C. Martínez Valle

0:00 And I told him, please be, please be obnoxious. I want you to be a total dick. That was my note for him. Like, please be a total dick and just be a misogynist. And he just, he just went for it. And he's not like that in real life. That's a great part, that's a great part. Or is he? He's such a sweet guy, no, he's married. Welcome everybody to the first ever Séance through HorrorMeet.com, where horror fans sit down with independent horror filmmakers. My name is Landon Brittain, LandonXXL on social media. My host, Danny. I'm @ohidanny on social media. And we are here with the lovely Jasmine Davis and Julio,

0:52 director and DP of Killer Revenge. You wanna introduce yourselves, guys? Hello there, I am Jasmine Davis, the director of Killer Revenge, and this is my wonderful cinematographer, Julio. Hello everyone, my name is Julio Martinez Valle. You said it so much better than I would have said it. Wait, wait, what's your name again? Julio, Martinez Valle. Yes, my name is Julio Martinez Valle. Valle. We're gonna get canceled from the first jump, great. And Jasmine's a long time friend. She just produced this amazing film, Killer Revenge, that I had a very small cameo role in as Austin. You did amazing, by the way.

1:40 Thank you so much, thank you for having me. Do you wanna tell us a little bit about the film, so we know kinda what's going on? Without spoiling it, Killer Revenge is a revenge story of cause and effects, karma, and you can't be secret, so watch what you do to people, 'cause something may just happen to you. Someone may come back with some very Killer Revenge. We were talking, it sounds like it's a little bit like karma, right? Yeah, a little bit like karma. Like you do something bad, and maybe it catches up to you eventually. Yeah, and the premise of the film is, you'll hear one of the catchphases that you always have a choice.

2:19 In life, you always have a choice. You may not have the courage to take that choice, but there is an effect if you don't. Yeah, yeah. And so, where can we find Killer Revenge? I believe you just posted it. Yes, we just posted Killer Revenge on YouTube. You can go watch it. It's also on Vimeo, and Film Freeway. And on HorrorMeet.com. We have a page within HorrorMeet.com called The Shelf. You're the newest addition. I'll probably-- - Hey! I know, yay! Thanks, guys. I'll probably take this time to cut in like a little screenshot of how to go into HorrorMeet and actually find your film and click it and where they can find it.

3:04 So, another way to just show you how to use the website. Awesome. Danny? Yeah, all right. Well, I have a found phenomenon of your movie making, and I know that we spoke a little earlier and you said it was your second film. I just, I think one thing I wanna get into is like, how did you become a filmmaker? How did you get this project done in like what, what was the hardest parts about it? What was the easiest parts? And did you like hire friends? Did you meet people? Did you make new friends on this movie? Like, tell us all about it. Danny has a lot of questions. A lot of one loaded questions. So, we're gonna do the first question.

3:47 I got into filmmaking because I'm an actress and model. I did TV and film. - Shocker. I knew that. And I write a lot. I love creating worlds, and I had killer revenge on a shelf for years. And I just shot my second film, well, my first film, Online Dating with U.S. Truly, Julio. And I just woke up one day and I said, you know what? I'm just gonna do it. I have this grip. Let me see what I can put together. And that's what happened. How long did it take you to shoot this film? Oh, God. Three and a half, maybe four months. Straight? Straight shooting? - Yes. Wow. - I kept shooting. I kept doing reshoots. 'Cause some of my actors I didn't realize didn't live in L.A.

4:36 even though I was only hiring L.A. actors. Yeah, we'll lie about that shit all the time. Oh my God, thank you. I never knew that. - Yeah, I know, 100%. No, 100%. I'm an Atlanta native. I'm a frickin', yeah. I'm a New York native. - I live in Yugoslavia. I will figure-- There's not enough work in the industry to limit yourself, so people will say whatever the hell they need to to get on set. Apparently, and I didn't know. And you're hoping that you get it shot out. Unfortunately, as a filmmaker, you have a different perspective on than, say, me as an actor. I'm a producer as well, but definitely not a director.

5:12 And coming up with your own first film, having to have people come back for reshoots, which you always have reshoots. You've always got makeup days. Yes. And it's something that you don't really think about when you're lying about your resume on actor's access, you know? Yeah, that was really challenging for me. But at least you live here, right? I live here. - So you hired yourself. You directed me. - I hired myself, yes. Julio also lives here, so it made it easy to contact him and say, "Hey, I need this reshoot. "What day are you available?" And trying to coordinate with the other actors. And that became a whole ordeal.

5:51 And I was like, "Oh my God." Well, this is something you learn. People need to learn. This is absolutely phenomenal. And then one of the things that I was wondering is, and this is something I never thought of, but you're acting, directing, writing, producing, when you're acting, who's directing you? My lovely cinematographer, Julio. Ah, Julio! Yeah, so tell us how that went. I'm gonna let him speak for himself, but on my part, it was challenging because it's my project, it's my baby. But at the same time, I had to allow myself to get out my own way and just trust that my cinematographer knows my vision and he's been with me on this is our second project together

6:41 that he's going to follow my storyline. And that's the hardest thing as a director and a writer and to just hand your baby off and just say, "Okay, I'm trusting you to do that." But he was amazing and he'll tell you how he got through that and how he convinced me like Jasmine, "I got this, you're good." And that kind of actually makes sense 'cause when you told me you were gonna be bringing your cinematographer, I was like, "Oh, we usually call it a director of photography." He was like, "Yeah, we're calling him a cinematographer." It's probably because you see him as a little more of a director, not just a director.

7:17 A DP to me is not just a cameraman, it's somebody who's setting up the shots 'cause usually you might have several camera operators but I feel like a cinematographer is even a step above that in my mind. Totally. - I don't know. So that makes sense why, 'cause I was like, "He's a fucking DP." I was like, "No, he's a cinematographer." In a lot of films, big films, you have a director, like you said, and they meet very specific people, like what's his name, oh my God, Ryan Gosling. No, sinners, Ryan. Wait, do you know him personally? I don't know him personally. I was gonna say, if you know him personally, we don't talk. - I wanna work with him.

7:56 I love that he uses the same cinematographer. His cinematographer is a woman, and I love that, you know? And it happened to be Julio, so. Not a woman. Yeah, but to me, he's more than a, he's not a DP. He's literally, he is my eyes when I can't speak. And that's why I wanted to bring that up, 'cause it seemed like there was actually a little more of a story. I was understanding when you were telling me that, so it's kind of full circle for me. It makes more sense. - Yeah, for sure. So how did you? Oh, yeah, so, yeah, well, I focus on directing. I'm an actual film director, but because in this industry, when you're starting,

8:38 you need to be able to do everything from carrying cables and producing, directing, writing, to get your, become a well-rounded filmmaker. So I have the ability to get into the story, and once she told me, I got the vision, and I'm like, yeah, let's do this. So playing into, or having card as a cinematographer, and being a film director primarily, I'm like, yes, this works, this does not work. This can look better, not only lighting, but also camera angles, and I, as I mentioned, I direct. So it was really easy, 'cause she also, she's an actress,

9:29 so she gets it. We barely, we do communicate on set, but it's like sometimes we look at each other, and we kind of know. - We all just know. We all just know. We know, oh, you want it this way, or you want to do it this way, you want to reshoot. We don't have to actually tell with words. We just like, between scenes or cuts, we're like, okay, got you. It's all that non-verbal communication. Exactly, now the actors will look at us like, what's going on? It's like, okay, this is what we're doing, but not us. Don't worry, it's telekinesis. Yeah, it's like not an inside joke, but it's an inside type of thing, you know what I mean?

10:08 So yeah, it was pretty fun. Like I said, she gets it, and I got into the whole, how she wanted to portray this character, and I was able to deliver what she wanted, and you know, just vibe with it. That's amazing. - Yeah. So we were talking earlier about the ecosystem on a set, and that's how you guys kind of met 'cause your ecosystem broke, correct? Can you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, for anyone out there that's listening, I would say your ecosystem is your most important system when it comes to building a team. And I didn't have that. I thought I had a stable ecosystem, and you learn very quickly

10:52 that a lot of people say they wanna do things, but when it comes down to it, and it's like go time, you find out who's really ready and who's not. And thank God for Julio, because I'm like, my whole sound and everything was chaotic, and I'm like, oh my God, no one is reliable. The only reliable person that I have right now is my cinematographer, which also, he was my sound person sometimes and my lighting person. Like, when I say if it can go wrong, it did go wrong, and we maneuvered through it and we got through it, yeah. And that's why we're taking time to talk to independent filmmakers, 'cause it's not easy.

11:36 It's a big deal to make a film. And I mean, the people who, the consumers, the fans, they get to enjoy the fruits of our labor, but they don't always get a chance to talk about the process. And a lot of people that really wanna know more, there's, they don't get a chance to sit down and talk to you guys like this, so let's get over here. Yeah, sometimes people think it's like, oh, you're just at the camera, I'm press record, and you have a whole film made, and everything looks pretty, and edited. It's like, no, sometimes I recently got an offer to film and edit this, what was it, what was it, like a Buddhist event for like three days,

12:19 and I couldn't make it because I was on another set. And then I got a message and she was like, hey, like, at least can you edit my stuff? And I'm like, sure. And she's like, I'm like, what are you charging? So I gave her a number and she's like, oh, for this amount of footage? And I'm like, you have to realize that I haven't seen the footage, I haven't seen the shots. I don't know what it is. I don't know what you're giving me, the amount. I don't know how much and how long I'm gonna take to edit all of this, what it is that you want, what's the vibe, if there's color correction, if there's motion graphics involved.

12:51 So I went like a whole list of things for the look that you wanted. And she was like, oh, well, I'll get back to you. And I was like, I was giving her like a friend number, like a friendly number. And yeah, 'cause it was like a four-day weekend or something of the sort. And I'm like, do I really wanna do this for this little pennies? - So this was for an event, for editing events is the hardest thing I think. I could not do that. - Yeah. You're just taking a bunch of jumbled mess and you're really like playing director almost, 'cause they're handing you a bunch of crap and you're saying, hey, can you make this intelligible?

13:30 Yeah, or understandable, have some sort of a vibe. And I'm like, yes, I can. - Some kind of direction. But I need to take my time to do this. Well, even just to go, I mean, how many cameras did they have running for the weekend? Like four different cameras for a whole weekend? There were several people doing shots. So you've got four weekends worth of work, like just to watch it. Yeah, and I explained. - That's a really good point. Yeah, I explained. You can scrub it, but it's like, and the reason that I, you know, I've never been involved in the editing process until I produced my last short film called "The Experiment".

14:05 And I came in and, you know, I was the lead antagonist, but I also, I set in on the editing portion. I didn't help, I was no help at all. But I was literally sitting there watching Hugo Will and Tony Surphman edit these really beautifully shot, slow-mo, 240 frame, super high quality video that we took. And they're like making these such minute changes, and I'm sitting there like shaking, and like my autism is just like freaking out. I'm like, my eyes started crossing. I'm like, guys, I gotta go outside. I can't even watch you guys do this, let alone do it. It's like, it's something I don't think I would ever be capable of.

14:47 And I don't think people understand enough how difficult editing this stuff is. Even if it is, and that was a well shot project. We were just trying to dial it in, and that little minutia that you're changing is the devil's in the details. Yeah, every role in filmmaking has its own little challenges and levels of difficulty. And people that are not involved, they can't really appreciate the amount of work that goes in there. They just look at a final product and it looks pretty, and it looks amazing. And probably if there's special effects or whatnot, they're like really quick and really sharp to give you a critique or an opinion sometimes,

15:32 and the majority of times not the most positive one of them all. But once you get into it, even some errors within either shooting, editing, lighting, or whatever it is, you're like, this is organic. This is something that we created. This is something that we did to the best of our abilities or to the best of our finances or to the best of the equipment that we can bring on set. Because for a hobby, this is a really expensive hobby. I don't want to be doing this just for funsies because I'm gonna be broke tomorrow. Actually, I'm gonna be broke yesterday. I was gonna say, most of us are already broke. Exactly.

16:10 If you're trying to create your own films on your own budget, which you just did, did we already talk about that? I don't think so, but yeah. I use my own money to film Killer Revenge. But speaking of editing, I actually helped edit. Yeah, that's awesome. - And it was not easy. Luckily, I have that kind of brain. I can sit through and I can see the smallest little things that need to be touched up. I don't know where it came from, and that's when I realized like, oh my God, I didn't know I had an eye for it. But it's hours of sitting there. Like he said, it's so, the tiniest things. It's like, wow, you didn't see that?

16:54 How did you not see that? We need to go back, we need to fix this. And I'm sitting there for hours and then I'll get the footage back from an editor and I'm like, wait a minute, you didn't do this right. The sound is not right. How did you not catch this? And I guess because me as a director and an actor, so I'm like, I'm putting on my editor brain, my director brain, and I'm like, wait a minute, I'm also an actor and I'm like, okay, this is not right. If I'm sitting in the chair watching this, something is off. And you were able to find that? I was able to find some of it I just can't fix because of the budget and the equipment that I had.

17:32 And I just had to let it go. But I was like, wow, how can you, if this is your job, how can you not see the smallest little thing that will make him break a movie? And that's when that comes in. I think we all heard that. Editing can really make him break your movie. 100%. So I wanted to get into something with you. Like what was your, you like horror? Like this is something you want to keep going with or is there other films that you want to make or is horror something you want to stick to? It's so funny you said that. My very first film was online dating is comedy. I love writing comedy, but I love writing horror films as well.

18:10 And I've written so many horror films that I haven't even shown people. And, but I can't watch them by myself in real life. Trust me. Don't trust me, you guys, I get nightmares, okay? So is there, let's ask, let's ask this question. Is there a horror movies or just a horror movie that you really love and that you kind of like relate to or in any way, shape or form? I mean, there's so many from Michael Myers, from Jason, but some of my favorites that's a little funny is Scream. Scream, I actually swear to God in my life, I was thinking you were going to say Scream. Yeah, the very first one though. The very first one.

18:50 The very more. So let's get into that. 'Cause a lot of people, I also want to talk about this on a subject because we also want to inform people about how movies are made and it's really interesting. So that movie was written by a guy who had like nothing going on. Like he was about to leave Hollywood. It was based in some Tallahassee murders, I believe of some college students. And so it got, the script got around and it was one of the highest-bidded scripts at the time. Everybody was bidding on it. And Wes Craven got into it. I used to think that Wes Craven wrote it, but I was wrong. He directed it. And what he did with that movie was so interesting.

19:27 And not a lot of people talk about it, but what he had done was he put Drew Barrymore in a movie and killed her within the first 10 minutes. And the people behind this film were like, "No, what are you talking about? We can't just pay her all this money and kill her in a second." He goes, "We love Drew, we want some more Drew in it." And they were smart enough to do that. And that's what Drew, 'cause people automatically assumed she was gonna be the lead actress in it. There was pictures of her and they did that and they did that so beautifully. And that's one thing about drawing to a movie. And one thing I liked about your movie,

20:02 which I, can we get into a little bit of detail about? Let's get into the detail. Okay, so one thing that I liked was there was parts in the movie where I felt like I was writing and directing it at the same time 'cause there was things I wanted to happen. Like when then the first, when the first murder scene is, I was like, "I wanna kill this guy." And then within 10 seconds of it, I was like, "They're gonna kill him, this is great." So that guy, how was that guy in the movie? How'd you like him? I love Joe. Joe worked with me on my very first film, my comedy film, "Online Dating." He's an amazing actor. Would I wanna kill him in "Online Dating 2"?

20:38 You would totally wanna. You would wanna date him in "Online Dating 2." No, you wouldn't. You wanna kill him. You really do still wanna kill him in "Online Dating 2." That sounds like that game. What is it? Fuck "Kill Pass" or what? Fuck "Kill Pass," yeah. Would I wanna kill him or date him? I think it's Mary, fuck and kill. Yeah. Who would you wanna marry, fuck and kill? Or all three. So who, what was your favorite kill scene in the movie? Ooh, I have to say his. Yeah? His, because he was so obnoxious. 100%, I knew he was gonna get killed. I was like, nobody just opens your back door. Like, so obnoxious. I know, why does my back door keep opening?

21:22 I wanted him to be so obnoxious. Because like I said, when I watch horror films, I'm with other people, you know. But when I look at characters and I see them and I'm like, okay, I would not be sad if this person died. So when I'm writing, I like to write characters for people to be like, oh my God, I hope, like you said, I hope he gets killed or I hate this guy, you know. He's such a sweet guy, I love that.

22:14 What's he doing on a dating app? No, oh, nevermind. But yeah, he killed it in Killer Revenge, right? Yeah. And then who did you kill off that you were maybe like, God, maybe I shouldn't have killed that person. It's another character, I don't wanna spoil it forever. No, okay, okay, okay. But it was one character that I feel like, they were just dumb. They didn't really deserve to die, but they were just, they were in the room, you know. I'll say it. No, don't, don't, they were dumb, you know. They were just one of those, how will we say, naive people, you know. They deserve to die, the naive ones. The very naive ones.

22:57 So you have a new project that you're gonna be doing, can we talk about it? Sure. Let's go, what is it about? So I am working on Killer Revenge 2. Yes, I'm writing right now something called Deadly DMs. Yeah, that is gonna be a thriller. I love that so much. Yeah, that is gonna be a thriller. 'Cause people do threaten people in the DMs. Oh, it's deeper than that, it goes way deeper. I've written Deadly DMs like five years ago before Killer Revenge, and I just shelved it, yeah. I just never showed anyone, I showed, I think maybe a few people the script, but it's deep and dark. Are these based on the DMs you get as a model?

23:41 Um, something like that. But I feel like people, when that film finally comes out, people relate to it, it's scary. I think most women and most people think twice about a lot of things. Answering the DMs? Meeting people. Oh, from, yeah. That's wild. It's really deep, and me and my really good friend just did a short film called Whispers. Whispers, yes. How short is it, what's the time? Whispers is a really short film, goes five, six minutes without credit, and it's a kinda campy school, what's it called? School friends that go into fuckery and shit happens. Damn, I like that.

24:28 That was easy and said and done for six minutes. I like all types of films. I think I don't care at this point how long it is, how short it is, whatever it is, I just wanna watch it, I wanna know everything about it, and I think you brought a lot of that to the table and you taught a lot of people, and that's what we're here to do is inform people on how to make projects no matter how you do 'em, whether you budget 'em yourself, you get budgets, or you just work to get it, and I like what you said earlier when you were like, there was things I would have done, but it's over, I can't fix 'em due to this, due to that,

25:01 and so you have an understanding that that's what makes you better, 'cause now you know the things that you wanna connect with and the people, and you're building that ecosystem that we talked about, where it's like, you never know who's gonna work the best, and look at their chemistry together, they have great chemistry in their friends, and they're gonna make great projects, and this is what you wanna look forward to having is that type of chemistry with the people you're making movies with, and that's how you're gonna make great stuff. I agree, I also would tell anyone who wants to make their own film, perfection will kill you in your project,

25:33 like you have to get out of your way. I understand. It'll kill your baby, right? - Yeah, you really have to get out of your way. I've worked with perfectionists before, and it's so hard, nobody really likes to work with them, even though if they have the time and the resources, they make some great stuff, but most of the time the budget doesn't allow for it. Yeah, and also, don't fall in love with your projects, like yes, love them, oh yeah, exactly, love them, nurture them, and push 'em as far as you can, and then just make them, put 'em out in the world, and see how, if it blossoms, great, if it doesn't, then it's a learning experience.

26:10 There's never nothing that you cannot learn about doing a film, whether if it's a short film, or low-budget, or ultra-low-budget, or zero-tonal money-budget film. It gives you the practice for you to hone your skills, have the vision more polished, and then just do things. I wanna piggyback on this. I will say the beauty in Killer Revenge is in the mistakes, in the improv. Any type of mistakes that comes out being very beautiful, that you're like, oh my God, I would not have tried that, but I like that beautiful accident, let's use that. I agree 100%, I'm really about finding the right people to improv with, and I feel like most of the best stuff

27:00 comes from letting people just act. Yeah, be themselves. 'Cause you have actors, you hire 'em for a certain reason, but it's funny you said the guy in the beginning wasn't really like that in real life. No, total opposite. You know, same subject, but anyways, I just really wanna thank the two of you guys for coming on the show. I think for our first show, this is gonna be a great success, and hopefully we can teach people how to make some cool films, right? Absolutely. I did wanna ask one thing. Since it sounds like you do have another film coming along, what did you learn from your first film that is gonna keep you from falling into any of the same

27:40 trouble spots or issues that you had? Oh my God. I would say hire the right people, taking my time, trusting my gut, my instinct, my intuition, and just don't be afraid to say no, like if there's something that you don't wanna do or someone you don't wanna work with if they're not working, just say, I'm sorry, this is not working. You know, let's cut tides now and it'll save me money. If I would've done that and followed my intuition, I would've saved myself a lot of money and a lot of time. I'm sure, I'm sure. So is there any question that we didn't have time

28:29 to think, to ask you, do you wanna answer? I would say... That's London, by the way. Hey London. She wanted to come up on my lap. I would say if you're really thinking about directing, acting, and producing, just give yourself time. It's harder than you think. It was very, very challenging on certain days. And I think that's one of the reasons why I decided to step back on Killer Revenge 2 that's coming out soon. I want a bigger budget, but I also want the character to be immersed in the world. And I'm gonna step back as the lead and hire a different lead.

29:17 I'm gonna be in the film. I was actually wondering about that 'cause I can't imagine actually being the lead and directing at the same time. It won't be possible. Everybody wears a lot of hats, but that's two hats that are hard to hold. Especially with how I'm writing this next film, Killer Revenge, it's not gonna be possible. This one is very, very dark. It's very, very action-driven. Everything is boom, boom, boom. Emotions are very, very high. The stakes are high. So I'm probably gonna need a new casting crew for this. I'll work on the film. Okay. Let's bring you. We're gonna need some stunt people.

30:04 There's gonna be a lot of stuff going on. Well, you know, did he tell you he's a stunt guy? He did, he did. He's a great stunt man. We're totally gonna need him for that. And Julio, same question to you. Is there anything you learned on this project that will help you become better on your next project? I think for this particular project, it was a really good learning experience coming from, it was an ultra-low budget, and then we pretty much were very frugal on it. I believe I would probably do cinematography differently since we were shooting. Am I allowed to say what we were shooting or not? I don't know, I don't wanna tell people what we were shooting.

30:50 So, yeah, probably-- But I agree, I will do that differently. Yeah, that's different a little bit. Like I mentioned earlier, every project gives you a different learning curve and food for thought, you know, to be like, oh, this could have been this way when you see the final shot, because sometimes when you're on set, you focus on a lot of things, especially when you're doing, like you mentioned, wearing a lot of hats, so you wanna be able to focus on one thing, or max two, but preferably just one, so you don't lose that vibe and that momentum of doing certain things and be like, oh, be able to catch it on the spot

31:36 instead of just doing cinematography and also directing when she was acting, and then things come to mind, like ideas, and be like, oh, what if we do this differently to make the scene work better, or, you know, 'cause when I direct, most of the times, I'm thinking also film to edit, you know what I mean? So it's a lot of processing at the moment, and then seeing the action, and then the technical issues, and then the audio, and then the acting, and then this and that, so it's a ton of things. That's why a film set, it's always like a ton of people. It really is a team effort to create a final product. And yeah, I guess I said a lot,

32:21 but bottom line is there's always food for thought at the end of the day, and there's always room for learning and learn probably new skills or ways to do things differently, so that at the end of the day, or new projects can excel the previous one. Wonderful. I agree with that. The only way you're gonna learn if you just keep doing it. Yeah, and that's one of the, I've been hearing that a lot lately. It seems like that's kind of the rallying cry for the actor right now, is just keep on fucking pushing, and keep on getting involved with as many things as you can, and you know, when I first got into acting, I was like, "Oh, I don't wanna be pigeonholed

33:02 "as a security guy," or the lady, you know, and now I'm like, "Whatever, just give me." Yeah, just play. It's like every set I'm on, I'm learning. Even if it's not, I've been lucky enough to get a pretty cool little wide variety of roles, but just going to different sets, meeting different people, and networking, it just gets you more experience, it gets you on more sets, you know? Yeah, you're learned by your mistakes. Yeah. I'm affirmed. Like you have to. Like you have to. Yeah, no, my mistakes are the only thing to teach me. I'm right with you. When I'm driving-- I love my mistakes. Probably even when I drove away from your set,

33:38 I was, you know, you were shooting in, like, Santa Monica, and I'm driving away, and then I realized, like, "Oh, I should've said that different," and it just tears me up, and it only hits me when I'm driving away from set. We're playing the whole scene in your head. And when I'm playing, I'm like, "Oh, no, I couldn't." You know, there's something I could've done better. With ours, it was mostly ad lib, so I don't remember most of the stuff I said, but-- Oh, I let these guys rip one. I said go, I had a script, and it was just, they were too rigid, and I was like, "No, this is not working, I just said go for it."

34:12 I said, "Yeah, I'm like, I wanna see you. "How would you feel this character out?" And they just went for it, and I was like, "Okay, I love it, let's do another one." I mostly talked about Jasmine in the shower. Which is exactly what I was talking about. Speaking of one more thing, I wanna add to the people. Far as the budget, the biggest things that will cost you if you're doing a film, keep in mind, is editing and location. You can get actors for cheap these days. Editing and location, oh my God. That will eat your budget up. You said cheap, how much is an actor? Not to belittle actors. Right, wait a minute, yeah, I was gonna say,

34:54 as a professional TV and film actor who work on major TV shows and get paid very little, I understand your pain, trust me. But I just know that we can get bought for very little money these days. Because not, like Julio said, not to belittle you. It's so many of us. They can pick and choose now. Like if you don't do it, someone else will do it, you know? It's 100%, well here's the thing. If you're a real actor and you just love acting, there's no money. Oh, yes. You know what I mean? So that's what I was gonna get to as far as how much an actor costs. But, for example, is I wanna work, I wanna see myself on a TV.

35:35 I wanna see myself in film. So I feel like if you're just in it for money, then you have a job. If you're not in it just for money, then you have a passion. And I think that that comes out with acting and then the people that are just on point and on time and that wanna be in film. And that's what I love about film. 'Cause I'll be in absolutely anything and then collect residuals on some of the biggest television shows. So I totally get that. And I totally understand. I've been on both sides and I just love film. Yeah, but also-- - Sorry. And I was gonna say, to get back on what you said about, if you're in it, speaking of,

36:13 if you're in it for money these days, good luck. You're not paying like they used to. So you really have to love this craft. 100%. - You know? And with you, you're paying for it. Yeah, exactly. You really love the craft and that shows. And then also when you guys go to see this film, you have to understand she put her money into it. She put her friendships, put their time into it, land and put his stuff into it. And he still doesn't think it's right with his scene. Oh, trust me, I feel the same way. I'm like so many things I feel like I could have fixed. But again, we're on this little budget. 100%. And that's what it's all about is you just made it.

36:51 You just look at it and eat some popcorn and have a good time. - And have a good time. And that's what we're here to teach you guys is that you can be a filmmaker. You don't need millions of dollars. You can, like she said, you can pay actors and they're not that expensive. The one things you wanna put your money into are locations. And editing. - And editing. And get that right. So just put that as a tip into your head that it's, that's coming from her that put her own money into it. Now she's gonna be telling you that and that's the way to go. And I had a good cinematographer, right? And having a great cinematographer.

37:25 And make sure he's got a personality and a friendship. I actually loved his job because again, this is ultra low budget. He has a life, he has a day job. Like I love that he was very attentive to when I really, really needed him and he was reliable. Again, I could not have done this film without him. It would have totally went to shit. Because like everything I thought was gonna go wrong that it actually did go wrong. But we did it, Dream Team. We actually really did it. And you said something that I'm trying to remember. Something I'm trying to piggyback on early about-- What were you gonna say? No, well I was just gonna circle back

38:09 to what you were saying earlier. You can have passion and you can be in love with the craft and everything. But in reality, we also need to pay bills. Bills need to get paid. Gas money with the, I mean gas prices nowadays are insane, food and everything. So yes, it's sometimes, for example, me. I have, you go to my IMDB and I have a ton of things. Like from PA-ing, gaffing, lighting, editing, acting, directing, I have it all there. But I think two of those gigs that I have listed there have paid me. And they paid me gas money or just 50 bucks for three days of shooting or $20 for editing and stuff. So sometimes it's rough to put yourself out there

38:58 as a creator, whatever you do within the film industry. Whereas if you're acting or directing or whatever it is, it costs you money and also time. So yes, you can put yourself out there and go do all these mixers and try to meet people and see who's doing what and who's who. But in reality, it adds up. For me, being in LA and going to all of this and having to sometimes pay a ticket to go to a mixer or drinking and being social. That's been a nice change with maybe Instagram. Paying parking on top of that. Paying parking is like, it's rough. It's rough being an artist. Nowadays, like you were saying, Jazz, like being an artist or an actor or a director,

39:44 whatever it may be, we're all starting artists because we're doing it for a purpose and we're pushing through. And I don't know how I'm gonna fill my tank tomorrow, but I'm gonna go to that mixer because maybe I will get involved in the next best thing or meet somebody that knows somebody that will appreciate my work. Or from that, I will get maybe some paid, actual paid work or something. So it's just, it's a hustle. Like day and night is a hustle. It is, but I wanna piggyback on what he just said. It is a hustle. You have to keep the balance 'cause Julio's right. You have to pay your bills. I've been very blessed and fortunate,

40:24 but if you are struggling to pay your bills and you are in this industry and you can't focus really on your craft because you're, you know, you're a star of an artist. So you have to keep that in mind. Like there is a world where you can be that artist. Yeah, you'll struggle a little bit like he was then, but you have to have that work-life balance, you know? 100%. And one thing that I just wanna give a piece of advice to somebody, it's all about your name. And if your name in this industry, let's say you take on a job. I don't care if I was taking on a PA job or whatever, I'm gonna take it as serious as possible.

41:05 If you're helping out on a film, take that seriously because that next time a film's coming, you never know who those people are gonna become. Everybody in this industry becomes something. I've watched people go from absolutely nothing to some of the biggest roles, some of the biggest directing, some of the biggest writing. I've been so surprised. I've never been jealous of these people. I've never been envious of these people. I've been happy for these people. If you're not a happy person and you're not somebody who's just gonna love what you're doing in here, you're not gonna succeed. You have to be in everything.

41:39 You have to learn set etiquette. You have to be the person who watches somebody stumble on set and pick them back up and help them out. And if you think you're too good for anybody or anything, you're gonna be talked about. People aren't gonna like you. I know some of the biggest actors in the world that we can tell you are the biggest, I don't even wanna go there. But, and then you will hear the nicest things about people who enjoy what they're doing. And those are the type of people that you can tell are gonna be successful. No matter how low they are at that point, they're gonna keep gradually growing because of the name that they keep

42:11 and because of who they are. And that's what brings you more success. Smaller projects turn into bigger projects. Bigger project turns into huge budget films. Yeah, keep it humble. You never know who you're helping that that comes back to you and helps you write back because, and also like you were saying about the name, make yourself your name for yourself. Be out there and be humble and try to help out. Get there early and be the, if possible, the last one to leave set. Even though if you're not required, be like, hey, I can stay and help around and stuff like that. It's a small community. Yeah, it is a small community.

42:52 People talk whether good or bad, but you always want for people to be like, hey, I remember that guy. He was here 30 minutes early and he went home an hour after we were done. Yeah, he was picking up guard vendors and I'm like, yeah, some random stuff. You never know who's gonna be talking about you or who is gonna hear your name and what comes behind your name being mentioned. So that's what I always try to do. Whether if it's a small set, a student set, because I've also been in a ton of those. If it's people B-listers, C-listers, A-listers, whatever you call it, or whatever levels of professionalism or money involved or whatever,

43:33 you always wanna keep your shit together and treat it as humble as you can and come with a good and positive attitude. That's why I hired you. What he's in is exactly true. He showed up. I mean, he literally showed up. He didn't have to. We didn't even know each other. We just text over the phone. It was an emergency. And because of that, he is on Killer Revenge with me and I'm excited for our next film. So other filmmakers that are watching this keep Julio in mind. You know, he'll show up. So is there any other questions you guys wanna ask before we-- I think we're good. Is there anything else you wanna cover? Anything you wanna cover?

44:13 No, just follow me on my Instagram. It's @huliocemasandmarieviasandvictor, A-l-l-e, and shoot me a message. And if you need help, assistance, questions, or whatever, I'm always glad to help. Colab and just, you know, tell people my experiences. And if I can be on your set, I'll be on your set. I'll do everything. I got also my IMDB. I'm not bullshitting. You'll see all the stuff that I've done. So like, and yes, like I mentioned earlier, I like to show up, I like to Colab. As I would want somebody to show up for me when I started the whole journey of filmmaking and trying to make it in the industry somehow. And Jasmine? - Yeah.

44:53 I would say go check out Killer Revenge on YouTube and also on HorrorMeet and let us know. And if you ever need a director, you know where to find me. If you need an actress, you know, check me out. And then what's your socials? How can they find you? You can find me on the Jasmine Davis on Instagram. And I-- - The Jasmine Davis. Underscore, right? No, it's just the Jasmine Davis, yeah. And on YouTube, you can find the YouTube page just by checking in my bio, 'cause I do not know my YouTube page. I know, they can just click it from Instagram. Oh, yeah, they click it from Instagram or click it from HorrorMeet.

45:31 We're gonna go ahead and put all the tags in the description for this. And that includes our first ever Séance for HorrorMeet.com. Thank you, Jasmine. - Thank you, guys. Don't forget to subscribe, hit that bell, comment. The full episode is gonna be linked through HorrorMeet.com under this Séance category. It is gonna link to a full episode on YouTube. We will take those small clips and put them up on Instagram and tag you for collaboration and all that stuff. So, this is Landon Brittain, LandonXXL, and-- This is Danny, and I'm @ohidanny, and we're signing off. We appreciate you coming in for our first ever HorrorMeet Séance.

46:17 Until next setting. Until next setting, happy hunting. Keep the lights off. Happy hunting. Peace out, y'all, I'm out. Yes! Good job. (clapping)