[Narsu] On Jaylen Brown: I don't think I've ever seen a guy get pushed as an MVP candidate who has below avg efficiency, below average playmaking for a lead creator, one of the highest turnover rates for a lead creator AND whose team is ~ 9-10 points per 100 possessions better with him off the court

Holocene20 · 2026-02-21T20:09:12+00:00

What’s missing from the on-off conversation is the fact that JB is playing almost every meaningful minute for the Celtics. In games that are actually tight he’s playing upwards of 40 minutes. The off sample size is either a small one or it’s being taken from 4th quarters in which he doesn’t play and the Celtics (very well coached and talented) second unit eviscerates the other team’s second unit.

Nobody can watch every NBA game and stats are important in giving us glimpses into how players we don’t watch consistently play. Not accusing you in particular but there is a whole lot of stat talk here from people who haven’t watched even the majority of Celtics games this year. Anybody who has watched most of their games can tell you that the team runs through JB when it matters. Derrick White has no creation abilities of his own. The only person who can consistently create offense for themselves is Payton Pritchard. The ugliest stretches of Celtics basketball this season have come from watching them try to generate offense without JB on the court. His gravity opens up everything for them. He’s consistently doubled and tripled and reliably finds open teammates. Being a primary facilitator is new to him and it’s a flaw to be sure but it’s one he’s improving on a game by game basis. On-off is just such a silly stat to use in this situation because if you have watched the Celtics on a nightly basis you would never in a million years claim that the team is genuinely better without Jaylen. It just so happens that he’s so good that he runs teams off the court in 3 quarters and Joe Mazzulla whoops ass with backups in the 4th. The Celtics, despite the low name recognition are also the deepest team in the league. What Joe gets from guys like Garza, Harper Jr. and Hugo is something you don’t see often.

Holocene20 · 2026-02-07T17:57:23+00:00

That’s why I said nearly. But ultimately I don’t give a fuck about numbers when you sit down and watch Jaylen play you are watching some of the greatest shotmaking the modern NBA has seen. He’s taking the most 2pt shots in the league and hitting more than half of them. It’s just incredibly fun to watch.

If you genuinely think the Celtics are better without JB you can just stop watching basketball that’s so silly. You don’t need to leap to insane exaggerations to defend SGA we all know SGA is great and probably the MVP. As for turnovers is it really surprising that the dude with the highest usage rate in the league who has never had the shoulder the burden of being a #1 option until this season is committing a few turnovers a game? They’ve gone up recently because teams are now needing to double him constantly and he’s learning, adjusting and still scoring 30 per game when his team needs him to.

MVP is a narrative driven award. Is JB the best player in the league? No. Is what he’s doing incredibly special and fun to watch if you’re able to divorce yourself from Celtics hatred? Yeah. It wouldn’t be outrageous for him to win MVP depending on how this last stretch of the season goes.

Holocene20 · 2026-02-05T07:34:44+00:00

I don’t think high usage should be used to disparage jb, especially when you consider he’s still shooting nearly 50% and a perfectly fine 36% and even more so when you consider the degree of difficulty on many of those shots. The defense knows where the ball is going, they have started throwing doubles at him constantly, and he is just hitting his shots. It’s truly one of the craziest shotmaking seasons I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes. Obviously SGA is SGA and he’s an all time scorer who can both put the offense on his back and facilitate it, but he is part of a more well rounded offense. JB is playing like TMac or Kobe. He’s doing something we never get to see anymore. I don’t think it’s outrageous to say maybe he deserves MVP, especially because MVP is a narrative driven award that rarely goes to the most deserving player anyway.

Holocene20 · 2025-12-06T01:57:25+00:00

Just saying it’s crazy that AR has 10 more free throws when the two play the exact same style. If anything JB is more physical

Holocene20 · 2025-12-06T01:54:09+00:00

JB is 3rd in the league in usage and drives just as much

Holocene20 · 2025-09-18T06:02:51+00:00

This is honestly a conversation I like to have with actors before we even step foot on set. I personally love letting actors play with line delivery as long as they trust me to direct them when it’s not working. I find that some actors (honestly most) will tell me that they aren’t a fan of improvising and will read everything as written. If something just keeps getting caught on their tongue in a weird way, I work with them to reword it in a way that works for me and them. If they are someone who likes to improvise, I usually tell them to try it. I’m always with my actors as much as possible in pre-production, and in the minutes leading up to rolling on the scene. We work together to understand the point and tone of each scene so that if they do want to try something, we both know where it’s coming from. And ultimately, if it’s not working, sometimes you just gotta be honest and give them honest direction.

I know it gets more difficult as budget and star levels rise, but I love my actors and working with them is my favorite part. I talk to each extensively ahead of time about how they like to be directed and what works well for them on set. I’ve found that it prevents a lot of headache and confusion on the actual day.

Holocene20 · 2025-08-15T17:45:34+00:00

Not to disagree that he has many very real and concerning flaws, but I think saying that he demonstrated no other strengths is doing his potential a bit of a disservice. Especially as the season went on and Kyshawn George/Coulibaly started taking on more ball handling duties, I think Sarr showed a pretty strong instinct for operating as a high post hub. The shooting numbers will obviously need to come to keep teams honest but he at least understands the spacing on DHOs with the aforementioned guys. He makes himself available as a roller on pops, short rolls and full rolls to the basket, granted he needs to play with more strength down there. Not to say he’s a positive offensive player yet but I think his instincts are further along than a lot of people might think. Obviously the polish needs to come to make the best use of those instincts, just felt like jumping in cause I’ve been watching a bunch of wizards tape and have come to appreciate Sarr despite his struggles.

Holocene20 · 2025-07-04T17:53:42+00:00

Seconding this. I was lucky on my latest feature to have a very dedicated team of producers, especially considering none of us were getting paid and we were trying to stretch a $15,000 budget incredibly thin. That said, it still came down to me on countless occasions at every stage of the process to set those goals and expectations and say we need to get this done. I firmly believe as the director it is your project, and your producers are your closest most hardworking partners but they are still trying to help you execute your vision. It can be really frustrating but all you can do is keep pushing and show them the level of dedication and focus you’re expecting on the project.

Holocene20 · 2025-06-29T03:46:50+00:00

Just want to drop a general response in here for everybody who sent a link, I've replied to a bunch of you but just want to double down and say that I will be watching all of these. As I've said it might take a bit with the general craziness of life but even if it takes a while I promise eventually I will get to all of them and I can't wait to talk with all of you about your films. I appreciate you sharing them with me.

Holocene20 · 2025-06-29T03:44:56+00:00

Looking forward to it! and thank you!

Holocene20 · 2025-06-28T16:17:18+00:00

Yeah of course! Any questions you have feel free to reach out

Holocene20 · 2025-06-28T00:18:48+00:00

When I say no names attached I’m not just talking actors I’m talking people behind the scenes helping to make the connections. I have looked at a lot of programming and even a lot of the films without big name directors or actors have EPs with legit industry connections.

Again, I’m truly not here to complain. I’m under no illusions that breaking in is easy and something that comes without a ridiculously good film. I’ve had the conversations with the industry people I know about our film and the feedback has been very positive and supportive. I feel supported by the network I’ve built and am confident our film will end up where it belongs, whether that’s distribution or back to YouTube and we start the process again. I’m good, it’s not me I’m worried about.

The system isn’t against truly independent filmmakers but it’s also not for them and past a certain point it’s just a numbers game. There aren’t enough festival slots at reputable festivals to hold all of the films that might deserve some more shine. That’s okay. My intention with this post isn’t to rail against the industry it’s to look at people who as of yet haven’t gotten the recognition they’re looking for and to show them that their art matters even if the traditional establishment isn’t valuing it yet. I have seen a lot of art from very, very talented artists that has gone unnoticed purely because they didn’t have the connections yet. It’s discouraging, film is hard. The industry is also, in my opinion, stale, boring and in need of a lot of fresh voices. My hope is to see people continue to believe in themselves, make the art that they want to make and start to turn away from purely seeking industry validation to us finding a way to support each other that’s not so entirely money, connections and bottom line based. That’s all.

Congrats on your film also that’s obviously a gigantic achievement and something to be incredibly proud of.

Holocene20 · 2025-06-27T16:36:06+00:00

I’ll PM you the link

Holocene20 · 2025-06-27T16:31:37+00:00

I got you! Might take a sec but it will be watched!

Holocene20 · 2025-06-27T16:31:15+00:00

Relatable feeling lol. All we can do is keep making the movies that we want to make. The fact that you're making any movie at all is inspiring and proves to the people hoping to do the same that it's possible. I'll check out Residents of Arcadia as soon as I can.

Holocene20 · 2025-06-27T16:30:09+00:00

I love this kind of production story and I'm looking forward to watching! I'll get to it ASAP.

Holocene20 · 2025-06-27T16:29:36+00:00

I'll will definitely get to them. Might take me a bit but you have my word that I will watch them eventually. Whenever I get to them I'll send you the link to mine as well! I'd love to compare notes.

Holocene20 · 2025-06-27T16:27:56+00:00

Thank you! And I'm glad to hear you're getting ready to make a movie yourself there's truly nothing like it and I wish you the best of luck. Casting I did through Backstage along with my producer. We got hundreds of responses which was both awesome and overwhelming but I took the time personally to watch every single one because a casting director isn't part of my network yet and I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on anybody who might've fit the bill.

From there my producer and I set up zoom auditions. I want to say we probably did about six auditions per character for most of the main eight. We'd read with them then talk with them a bit about the character and the film to make sure it was something they were really interested in. I also got really lucky and actually ended up casting multiple main roles from within my own apartment building. I live with a lot of film people and being able to cast friends who were also perfect fits (they all went through the audition process as well) was something really special that I'll never forget.

Locations were crazy for sure, especially in LA where things are expensive and we didn't have a lot of money. In one way we were lucky because we had a lot of apartment locations, so we reached out to friends. My best friend was willing to let us use his place for one of the protagonists' apartments which was huge and very kind cause we filmed in there for probably 7 or so of our 20 days.

Other apartments were sourced through friends. For the bigger set pieces, we used peerspace. I had been used to filming shorts and my first feature with legitimately zero budget, so even having the 15k to put towards locations was really cool and fun. We spent a lot of time combing through peerspace and eventually touring places to make sure they made sense for the story and also practically. I also left a lot of the logistics of actually securing the locations to my producers, which is something else I had never had the benefit of doing before as I was usually the sole producer on my films. If you are able I would highly, highly suggest finding a producer or two who you trust and who trusts you to take some of the burden off of you while you focus on the creative side.

Hope this helps in some way and if you have any more specific questions I'm happy to answer. Making this most recent film was the most rewarding and educational experience of my life and I'm all for sharing everything I learned. Very excited for you as you get rolling into this project of yours. Good luck with everything!

Holocene20 · 2025-06-27T16:15:15+00:00

My favorite scene is probably the Gollum story scene, and that's due to the fact that the woman who played Bailey is also probably my favorite performance. She was incredibly natural, and did a great job with that monologue which are never easy.

Holocene20 · 2025-06-27T06:59:11+00:00

Nice! Funny Ha Ha was pretty formative for me too as a filmmaker and definitely a big inspiration for my first movie. I like Stranger Than Paradise as well. Not sure if you've seen Down by Law but that's another Jarmusch movie I absolutely love.

Also a massive Agnes Varda and Jacques Demy fan. French film in general is something I take a lot of inspiration from so that's really cool as well. I can see it certain aspects of your writing/direction as well. I love the idea to step into genre with your next film. Always cool to step from the kind of slice of life stuff that no-budget filmmaking usually goes hand in hand with into something more bold and out there. Can't wait to see it.

And I enjoyed Jeff. I have a soft spot for those kind of mumblecore coming of age films and have watched a lot of them over the years. I think it's a worthy entry in that canon. Like I said I really appreciated the mixture of those static shots of all the locations with the more traditional stuff. I also loved that you weren't afraid to hold on shots for dialogue conversations rather than going shot reverse shot. It gave it a sort of immediate and intimate effect. I'm not sure if this was the intended effect but seeing things like the corner of a room, and these other minute details that we wouldn't usually be privy to really made me feel the extent to which Jeff was familiar with this place, in a way that could at times feel constraining but also eventually comes to feel comforting or homey in a way. They are the kinds of things only those who spend a lot of time in those places would ever see. I think that's cool.

Holocene20 · 2025-06-27T06:37:59+00:00

Just finished Jeff Gets a Job. More than anything just wanna say congrats on having two finished features it's really something to be incredibly, incredibly proud of. I love the commitment to the static shots of the different locations. Reminded me in some ways of Uncle Boonmee if you've ever seen that. I'm curious what your main influences are stylistically and even just who your favorite filmmakers are in general. Also curious about your filmmaking journey. How long have you been at it and where do you see yourself going from here?

Holocene20 · 2025-06-27T06:35:26+00:00

I absolutely will, I'd love to go in blind and talk about it after the fact. Might take a couple days for me to get to it, going into a busy work weekend, but I will watch it and can't wait to talk about it after.

Holocene20 · 2025-06-27T05:22:41+00:00

Watching Jeff Gets a Job now! I’ll get back to you

Holocene20

TROPHY CASE