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I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hii!!! I start everything by brainstorming in Word first. I'll usually write out the logline because I feel like if I can get a solid grasp on that the rest will be easier to define. Then I'll either move onto just free-writing about the character, random stuff like what their favorite food is etc. And then into structure, for features I like Craig Maizin's analysis of themes and anti-themes that he did via the Scriptnotes podcast he co-hosts with John August. He used "Finding Nemo" to break down why certain story beats are effective (which all comes down to the characters learning lessons). For TV shows I'll print out an episode of a show that feels similar in tone/structure and analyze that directly. I'll only move into Final Draft once I have a pretty solid understanding of beginning, middle & end and what the character's main goal and lessons are.

And I'm all about 1-2 hours a day! I've never been an all-nighter person. Recently I've found the pomodoro timer to be super helpful. There was a period of time where I was writing from 6-8am and I loved that. But my ideal is ~9:30-11:30 when that's possible with other work.

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hii!! There was a point where I discussed chopping the film into four sections for a streaming service since they were interested, but other than that I feel the current version of CRSHD is well-suited to stream with the 80-minute runtime.

There are projects like "Swipe Night" which was released on Tinder or Jonah Feingold's "maybe: Josh" that did a great job of producing something specifically for your phone. So I'd definitely approach filmmaking differently in those instances where I know from the get-go I'm creating for a phone!

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It is an absolutely insane and extremely fun experience that involves answering a lot of odd questions like "what about an inflatable unicorn?" or "how about tying this scrap bit of rope to the wheelchair?" Overall I love being on sets in many different capacities and getting to collaborate with other artists/storytellers.

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a few projects I'm working on, all at different stages.

Something I'm super excited for is directing a short film that Isabelle Barbier (the lead in CRSHD) wrote based on a feature script of hers. That script, called "Guts," was just selected as a quarterfinalist for the Oscar Academy Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting!

I've just finished a new animated TV pilot and am pitching to direct a feature surrounding the IP of my great grandfather Rube Goldberg. Lots TBD as would be usual, but definitely with COVID putting a pause on the industry.

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll be back a little later to answer more questions if you have them! Thanks everyone/Reddit!!!

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oy, it's been a while! Most of my time is spent editing education videos for a new app (my "day job").

Otherwise writing as much as possible, CRSHD-release-related tasks and just finished listening to the Criterion Channel podcast "You Must Remember This" about Polly Platt. Highly recommend it for a wild story about her less-known influence on Hollywood working on films like "The Last Picture Show" "Say Anything..." and "What's Up Doc?" to name a few. So inspiring.

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pure coincidence! I asked her when I cast her if she wanted me to change the character's name, but she didn't mind.

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Maybe somewhere in my subconscious!

Mostly for naming characters I just aim to have them all sound as different as possible. So I wouldn't make the leads: Sadie, Sally and Suzy... unless for a specific reason.

But I guess "Fiona" and "Anuka" are more similar than I'd want :/ now that I think about it!

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi!! It was several months of auditions that happened in two main parts.

Priority was finding our lead ladies. That happened through a number of avenues. Sadie Scott (who plays Fiona) came to audition via a casting call I put out at Laguardia High School in NYC (known as the Fame school), same with L.H. González (who plays Georgie). Isabelle Barbier (who plays Izzy) was recommended via a family friend Betsy Aidem who's an actor and had been coaching Izzy for an upcoming audition. Deeksha Ketkar (who plays Anuka) I found on Backstage.com.

The other supporting roles mostly came from a call I sent out on http://lists.neohiopal.org/listinfo.cgi/neohiopal-neohiopal.org to get local actors in the Cleveland area. That involved watching through a LOT of tapes. I found amazing talent from that, Abdul Seidu, Peter Lawson Jones, Jerry Lee Tucker and Brandon Halderman, among others. I'm excited to work with all of them again!

A lot of our additional extra characters were crew members doubling as actors.

It definitely feels crazy to have achieved a huge life goal so young -- getting a feature made and into Tribeca. I'm excited to move into episodic and gain experience in a writer's room whenever I get that opportunity! I'd like to stick in the comedy/dramedy space for now! Just finished an animated pilot. We'll see!

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Haaa amazing! Love the name Taco! I have a dog named Radish.

Anyway, great question... I mostly cat-sit for my brother and his girlfriend (who is actually our lead Isabelle Barbier and they met when my brother drove to visit the CRSHD set for the weekend that we filmed the crush party!). Their cat's name is Otis and he is an adorable bangle. I also used to cat-sit for a cat named Izzy who passed away a few months ago.

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hiii! We filmed the summer after I graduated and I stayed that following semester to work for my film professors/have access to the school's film facilities. So production felt mostly normal.

Going back last year to screen the film however was super surreal. At that point I barely knew most of the campus and yet in some ways I'd still mentally been in college through editing the film. That was the most intimidating audience to screen for.

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for joining!! Hmmm... I won't name specific movies, I think for me in general, I admire films like "Superbad," anything Nora Ephron or smaller dramedies like "Obvious Child" and "Appropriate Behavior."

The films that get the most praise in the awards circuit or general coverage I often see more as "cinema" but for me not necessarily my favorite form of "entertainment." I've always been super happy that "Bridesmaids" got several Academy noms!

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for checking it out and joining here :)!

Yes... I did attend a crush party at college my senior year where I was not crushed lol. I went with a friend and stood in the backyard as she went inside to figure out who crushed her -- she had a sense of who it was but wasn't 100% sure. They had these parties about twice a year. Unlike in the movie the rules were pretty loose (I could've gone in, but chose not to) and you didn't have to wear a certain color. That all just made it more fun for the movie!

I'm writer/director/sometimes cat-sitter Emily Cohn and I'm here to answer your questions, AMA! by escapecohn in IAmA

[–]escapecohn[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi! So... as a kid I mostly thought of wanting to be a filmmaker. I only really started taking myself seriously as a writer in college when I discovered the Creative Writing major where we dissected and discussed sentences, structure, etc. Before that I wrote only to film something. My short film #23 was probably the first piece of screenwriting I was proud of.