Produced By - #17 - Michele Profeta: Staying True To The Long Term Vision Of Directing

Episode Date: August 7, 2023

Michele Profeta is a London based filmmaker who has worked on short films, music videos and corporate videos as both a director and an assistant director. He also helped to start Studio Odyssey Productions, a London based video production company. To pursue his love of filmmaking, Michele relocated to London and attended a university that specialised in the field. He had no prior experience, so the foundation year helped him learn the fundamentals, which he found beneficial in the following years. The COVID pandemic affected his second year, but Michele didn't give up and began working on his short film for the next year. This movie was a lot of fun to make, and it did well at film festivals. Michele balanced his studies with his part-time employment and pursued a career in the film industry through side jobs. Listen to this episode to learn more about studying cinema in Italy, get motivated by Michele's lofty goals, and receive specifics on what a foundation year entails.   Connect with Michele: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-profeta/ https://vimeo.com/user90239752 Studio Odyssey Productions: https://www.instagram.com/studioodysseyproductions/ https://www.studioodysseyproductions.com/     Topics: Introduction Background From Italy to London University education Studying foundation year Covid period Final year at university Side work while studying  Working as a 1st AD Advice to find side work Final year Getting into the industry Future plans Current work Production company   Quotes: “I was really happy to have all the crew there. Everybody was great and I actually received some compliments.” “Don't be shy, be an honest person and show your interest.” “I saw my imperfections but that's good because now I can work on them in my next short film. I can isolate them and focus on those.” “You have to learn the process and then when you're ready, you can do some good projects but don't be scared of not doing anything at all.” “It's a bit overwhelming but I always try to look at the positive side of things.”   Connect with the podcaster: ⁠⁠⁠https://tomasloucky.com/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/TomasLoucky     Follow the podcast: 🌐 Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗 Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   💬 Contact: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com/contact⁠⁠ 📷 Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/produced_by_podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  🎥 YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT5LHnM6YCaeVzIr0WatOsw⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@producedbypodcast  ✉️ Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e5Y8Wscx  Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/produced-by/id1684669642⁠⁠⁠    🎙️ About Produced By Podcast: Produced By brings you exciting stories of brave people who set out to build careers in competitive fields despite often challenging circumstances. Whether you are interested in creative industries, personal development or want to have some fun, enter the spotlight along with our guests and get inspired. Listen to people coming from all parts of the world, diverse fields of expertise and different levels of careers. So join us to follow their journeys, learn from life experience and embark on a great adventure. 🤩 If you enjoy listening to the podcast, please, leave a review on your podcast app, subscribe or share it with your friends. You can also send us a message and share any feedback, advice and tips for guests. 📭 Subscribe at ⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com/subscribe⁠⁠ so that you don't miss out!    #producedbypodcast #producedby #enterthespotlight     Enjoy! Connect with Tomas:X: https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠Stan: https://stan.store/TommenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠Unproduced:Newsletter: https://unproduced.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unproducednotesSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Ddo8ibDlLYoaP7FFLIWMore:Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠The Podcast Club: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25420030/Tools & gear that support the show:Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZKRiverside: https://riverside.sjv.io/vDnDodFavikon: https://www.favikon.com?fpr=tommenRa Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19JamX: https://jamx.ai/podcasters-offer?ref_id=e02d48af-ef66-4e76-b804-c2e8d282a8bfSome links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mikhailette Tolfetta is a London-based filmmaker with experience as director and assistant director, working in short fields, music videos and corporate videos. He is also a co-founder of Studio Odyssey Productions, a London-based video production company. Mikala moved to London to pursue his passion for filmmaking and studied film at university. As someone with no prior experience, the foundation year equip him with useful basics that he benefited from later on. His second year was impacted by the COVID pandemic, but Miquela didn't get discouraged and started preparing his short film for the final year. This film was a great experience and met some success at festivals.

While studying, Miquel juggled his part-time job along with building his career through side gigs in the film industry. Descent to this episode to get inspired by Miquet's ambitious plans, hear more about studying film in Italy and find out details about what it's like to do a foundation year. Enjoy. Hello Mick, thank you for joining us today and welcome to the show. Thank you for having me, Thomas. Can you please try to introduce yourself? Yes, sure. My name is Michele. I'm a filmmaker based in London and I mainly direct and I also do lots of ADD on the sides. I am a first AD on music videos. On short films, I have experienced you know, different formats behind the scenes, music videos,

short films, did some commercials and I co-founded up production companies called Studio Odyssey Productions with two of my course meets are Middlesex University, Joao and Ellie. And yeah. So, Jijin from your name, do you come from Italic?

Yeah, yeah, I'm Italian. I came to London when I was 19, six years ago. And yeah, yeah, I mean, it's been a while but still hold the accents, as you can tell. I got a thick accent. No, all of us have accents, so no worries. So why did you go to London? Was it to become a filmmaker?

Yes and no. I did want to be a filmmaker, a director, since I was 16, 17, but to be fair, I didn't really know what it meant. I just liked films and, you know, I wanted to make some. But then it was pretty hard for me to, you know, approach the world, because I was kind of shy. I didn't know. Like, do I go to high school, university?

So I kind of put it on the side for a while. And then I came to know that one of my cousins, she lived here in London, and I took the opportunity just to come and live here because I love traveling and I took it as a challenge. And I worked for one year as a sales assistant. And one of my coworkers, she did business, something like that.

She told me that here in the UK is pretty easy to, you know, you have easy access to university, you know, with the student loans and stuff like that. So I said, you know what, this can be an opportunity for me to, you know, get back to what was my dream back then and I can start from it from scratch. So, yeah. And back in Italy, did you study film or did you do anything film related? Not at all. I was doing IT in high school and high-aged it.

I didn't like it. I literally, like, I barely passed high school and, yeah, I didn't do any filmmaking. I did watch a lot of films. I tried to get into a private school in Rome, at least like one hour away from Rome, right? Yeah, yeah, one hour away from Rome, like, bat trains, it's pretty, you know, close. But then I found out after it was kind of expensive, so I just left it, I didn't go. It was a scriptwriting course, private course. Yes, I didn't approach it anymore.

Was it like primarily because of the price, or was it also difficult to get accepted in there? No, no, they did accept me eventually. It's just the price was very high. I can remember now. I don't know if I knew really the price. Can you compare it to a loan in here, if it's like similar or even higher?

It might have been a few cases, but yeah, it's like, you don't get loans and stuff. Okay, okay. You would have to pay either like one installment or even if it had been like different installments, it still would have been high for me. Okay, amazing. Yeah, yeah.

And what about some other universities, either in Rome or in Italy in general with studying film? Are there many opportunities or not really? There are especially, so there is a nice film culture in Italy. So many people go to universities or even if they don't go to university, they do in this stuff. But there are opportunities in rural and in northern Italy. But it's just I was kind of outside of that word, I didn't really know how to move. And then I wasn't really confident. I was like, okay, now I'm going to do it.

I'm going to go to Yoni and a role. And again, to be fair, even because of my grades from high school, I don't even know if I would have got accepted. In London, I did a foundation here that helped me. But literally, I don't even know if I would have got acceptance to the courses. Yeah, that makes sense. Because I was, as you mentioned, thinking about quite a long history and culture when it comes to filmography. So I can imagine that it's big in Italy. Yeah, I know, it is.

But let's say the system is a little more. She has in the UK is much easier to get stuff. I don't remember how the... organization is called to, you know, that helps you, you know, get into courses. You know, you enroll and stuff and then you can choose your universities. But there's not something like that in Italy. So you kind of have to inform yourself. It's a bit harder, let's say.

Yeah. And then when you wanted to move to London, did you know that you want to go to London? Or were also thinking about different countries or different cities? No, the London thing literally happened in a matter of months. So they didn't even realize. I remember it was around August that I came to know that my castle was living there and a few years in February so you know realized and do a part-time job barely any money so I just went I mean I would like okay there is London let's go let's really said it

I always wanted to travel but it was never something you know concrete so that was a good thing for me so what was your first impression of living in London Did it meet your expectations or how was it? I didn't have any expectations. It was so quick. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos of Italians living in London, all the things that they sell you. Everybody's experience is different. The person says, oh, it's too expensive.

The other person tells you there's so many opportunities. It's kind of, you know, it's fluff. I just came and made my own expectations, let's say. But when I came, I liked it a lot because, again, Everything seems to be much easier getting jobs with university. And I like that a lot, even because it gave me the opportunity to do many things. Of course, not having the experience, you know, I couldn't have done it if I was maybe elsewhere. So then why did you decide to study specifically at Middlesex?

So again, when I enrolled, I think you had a choice of five universities you can send your application to. And I think it was probably one of the open days that told me it when I came. And now I can remember how many universities accepted me out of the five. But Middlesex was probably one of the one that sold me on the open day. Yeah, pretty much all film courses around have, you know, you have the key tab where you can hire equipment to do short films. And I obviously have nice facilities and probably I can't really. remember probably that's what sold me it when I did the evaluation. I agree and understand because I think I heard it from more people that the first

impression of the university was really powerful because it made them to decide to go there. So I guess that's something that university does well. Yeah, yeah, they can definitely sell themselves, yeah. So how was studying in Foundation Year? I haven't done Foundation here. So I don't really know what it's like. So how did you find it? I found it really useful, really, really useful.

I can confidently say that many of the things that I did in foundation not only helped me for the following years, but there are things that I did on the foundation year that I didn't approach after. And I was kind of, you know, that because if all the four years were like the foundation year, I feel like my knowledge about everything. everything would be much higher because maybe the most solid year they have done, it was really good. Doing film, my foundation was media in general.

And in the media foundation year, you have people not only doing films, but maybe doing the effects, all the kind of media and everything. There's something to do with that. We did modules that cover pretty much everything. And, yeah, it was pretty full. I really liked it. we did a lot of filmmaking wise we did a lot of you know Tory pitching we shot some things

I mean not the best cameras but still something nice and you know I consider it like part of the other years less than a foundation you helped me a lot so is that something you would recommend oh yes yes definitely

I'd be honest I'm not the greatest fan of universities not the university itself but how the system works about the film course, how it's approached the programs and stuff, but it definitely helps and the foundation year is definitely something that if you're at the beginning, it can help you a lot. And do you remember how many people were there in your club?

Because I'm curious how popular it is or how many people enroll? I think they were quite a lot, maybe around 100, 100 something. Oh wow, I didn't expect that. I thought that it would be like 20 or something. No, because again, when you have media, it's like every course has its own foundation year. The foundation year is more like something in general, so you get people doing even photography,

so film, photography, TV production, social media, I think so you get all these people that want to do different courses. And how was it when it comes to the application process? Is it similar to when you want to get accepted into actually university, into bachelor's, or is there, I don't know, easier to get there or in what way is it different? For the foundation? Yes.

I don't know because I never ask people that only, I mean, I do know people that only apply to a normal course, like three-year course, but I never ask them what the difference is. I don't know either to do right personal statements. I think it's pretty much the same. Yeah, you have to, I mean, as an international student, I have to hand in my translation of the high school diploma. As an international, I had to do the IEL's exam for the English language. Yeah. It sounds similar to the one for a bachelor's.

Yeah, it might be the same year. And I guess you have to pay for that year as well, right? Yeah, yeah. Is it at least cheaper or is it the same price? I think it's the same. But what helps me is that all the four years that I attended, I didn't get maintenance loans. I already did the tuition phase.

So it kind of balances because some people get both, you know, my tenants and tuition. So it's pretty high. I already did tuition. Yeah. And judging from what you said, that there are so many students from different courses, it sounds like that it gives you good connections for the beginning.

know so many people from different areas. It does give you connections. I didn't work directly with people on the Xun course, but on my LinkedIn page I follow people that did like VFX, for example, and see that they're doing raids. And, you know, I might call them if anything, or if I know someone that needs some VFX work. I might call them.

So that's kind of a good thing because I got to know them. Yeah. Before we move on, what were like the final year project? or final exam. Yeah, I had to do a short film, like three or five minutes, short film. And I remember there was this cool assignment. I remember the name of the module. But we had to set up our websites with Wix.

And we had to write blogs about the experience doing the final assignment, which was for me the short film. So in the website, you would have all the blogs and stuff, write about, you know, how you came to do that, you know. Yeah, that sounds interesting. Yeah, I don't know if it was about the short film or about when I said that you had to, you know, blog about, but yeah, it was something good. And on a short film, did you get to pick what role you will specialize in?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was me and two more people, so it's like, most of the filmmakers at the beginning you do, directing, you do editing, you do, you might not have a DOP, so you do camera, so. But I was the director. I wanted to be the director. That was my thing. Yeah, sounds good. Moving to the actual bachelors, when you started,

did you feel like that you were kind of in advantage over your peers since you had some kind of background? Not really, not really, because I know that when you go into the bachelors, even if, you know, there may be like 18, 19-year-olds, they do have experience. So I actually felt, you know, not as good as them, maybe. Because, yeah, I didn't really have too much experience

beside the academic assignments. I only had a couple of things. So I actually felt a little, not straight, but like, I was like, so here the real things happen. So you have to keep up with them. It really kind of pushes you. But yeah, no, no, I didn't feel advantage. Yeah.

So were in the second year when the COVID happened? I was in 2020, yeah, I was in second year, yeah. It was March and it was literally, yeah, I shot my second year film in April. So it was. Oh, so you still managed to shoot it? We shot it. Did I shoot it just before I can remember. Yeah, the COVID happened in March.

I remember, yeah. Yeah, yeah. You know, you see, my man just floated out of, I don't think I shot it. It happened in March. No, I mean, if you manage to shoot it, you are lucky then. Because remembering those times, it was really crazy period of time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was pretty crazy. I remember that, of course, most of the lessons were online

and that it was frustrating because as a filmmaker you want to do stuff, you know, want to be there, practical stuff shoots. But, yeah, it was just online, Zoom stuff, and yeah it was a bit it wasn't the best let's say yeah and did you focus on directing yeah I've been always focusing directing I appreciate also the editing you know lectures or workshops because I mean I've always not as a director you have to be pretty good editing and to be fair I like it I edit myself when it comes to videos some promos stuff like that and I did follow you know the courses and yeah how was then the short film in the end despite the COVID was it still

good in the app yeah yeah yeah now you see I think we shot the first year was short film second year I didn't shoot and then I shot in the third year okay so I guess you had some alternative exercise instead yeah yeah we had to shoot stuff in our home you know environment based in the house, stuff like that. Oh dear. I can imagine. Yeah. I mean, you don't have many options with such conditions

and you still need to do something and kind of adept. Yeah. I mean, filmmaking is about creativity. You can literally take the phone, shoot something, you can be creative. It's just, you know, the exercise is considered. Like in your room in your house, should this, should that. I mean, I live with other people in the house and then, you know, like...

But at the same time, I mean, at that time when it happened and no one knew what is going on, when it's going to end, if it's going to end, it was a really tough period of time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was pretty tough, especially because you get frustrated because, you mean, you want to get on sets and meet people and shoot more and more. and if you couldn't before because maybe, you know, it's hard already. Now it's just impossible because even big productions that are not shooting because of COVID because they want to limit the number of people because of COVID with the masks. Yeah, it was pretty frustrating.

What I did during COVID was I wrote a lot. I kind of did film reviews sort of thing. Yeah, because I mean, writing is the only thing that you can do really. I tried to do a short film with one of my housemates, literally the thing that everybody did, which is like their routine during COVIDs, like everybody did that. No, man, it's good to keep yourself productive and definitely at least do something that is related to what you are doing and maybe beneficial in the future. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But as you mentioned before, it was said that it's depressing because as students, you are kind of excited to make a sure. short film and hoping that it will at least help you to open the doors to the industry,

for example, by sending to festivals if it's successful. And when there was a COVID, you couldn't film it. It was a very sad situation. Yeah, yeah. Mommy, we all read. So how was the third year? I guess in a third year, did you finally manage to make a short film? Yeah, the third year was pretty good because from the second year, me and a friend of mine, a coursemate of mine, Andrea, we already knew that we were going to do something together. So, you know, it's a big thing that in the final year of the film, for us you have to do in short film. So we were like, from the second year, we were saying, okay, we're going to do it together now. Sorry, what's your producer?

Producer, Andrea. Yeah, Andrea, he produced my short film. And he's Italian as well. So we were get you ready since before the start of the third year we were, you know, writing, we wrote the short film and we were organizing ourselves, so that was good. So the third year was really

just about that short film. But yeah, still was a bit overwhelming because I tried to work as much as I can finding jobs on the sides. Without mentioning, you know, working part-time because I have to support myself. So it was a bit overwhelming because you want to do it.

I'm a director, but you know, I'm not, Martin Scorsese, so I have to be the Gaffir on this short film, the PA on the commercial, this and that, plus, you know, the assignment, plus working, so it was, yeah, still overwhelming. But it was good because me, Andrea, we knew, like, oh, we're going to do this, no matter what. And we found the crew, everything, and we shot it at end of February. And beginning of March, it was six shooting days, which is a lot. but it's because the location only gave us a few hours per day so we have to spread during multiple days

and yeah no that was a great experience I lost from it and I'm really glad they did it and yeah did you have some special locations since they gave you just a bit of time or where were you filming so my short film the enemy was shot in the handum tom hole which I did right by mid-sacist

University because we needed this grand office slash receiving space for this guy who's running as mayor of London. So we felt like that was pretty good. But we could only be there for six hours a day. And, you know, the shoot time starts just after two hours of setup. So that meant only four hours of shooting or so. That was impossible for all the shots that we had. So you had to be done during three days only that bits. So did you manage in such a short time to film what you wanted in there? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we did. Probably, I don't know, I'll really cut some shots, but I like to take my time because I want to spend time with actors and, yeah, we managed to get all of it, all of what was planned. I was really happy to have such a great location. I was really happy to have like all the crew

there everybody was great and you know actually received compliments from one of the secondary actors because if they all this shoot is so professional. Sometimes I get like on professional shoots they're unorganized but we were like on points the production was pretty professional. Yeah and it was also quite a good location next to university town hall. Yeah yeah that was great that was great for the equipment. Exactly. Yeah I mean we did it on the street there we shot across London but definitely for like all the movement that was greats those pre greats yeah yeah I agree just a quick one if you enjoy our podcast please give us a review on your favorite podcast app subscribe or share it with your friends for more information visit the show

notes thank you and back to the show as you mentioned before that you were trying to find some jobs on a side while studying and work here in part time did you manage to find some useful gigs? Oh yeah, yeah, definitely. Especially last year, my schedule was pretty dense. Weirdly enough, just after I started shooting, after I saw my grad film, I got on a lot of projects on a monthly basis of me, I would say, two projects. I mean, of course, a month more, some months less, but yeah, we got pretty pretty dense. I did a lot of ADD and, you know, That's my main thing that I do besides being a director

director as it was higher thing that you know it takes time I want to do it when I'm inspired I don't have to just shoot products

because I have to you know it has to marinate there a little bit and then I can do something nice but still want to be on set and especially you know you need to connect to network

so you still have to be honest so yeah do a lot of ADD I've got director friends and they call me when they have things. Can you try to introduce the role a bit? What does the first AD do for somehow? Yeah. Does it know?

So the first ADD stands for the first assistant director and its responsibilities are creating the schedules for the shoot and basically make sure that within the whole production the schedule is following. loads and you don't go over. And because on big productions, for example, if you go over, that means money for the location. That means actors, talents. You have to pay everyone.

So you want to keep it on schedule. And also because sometimes directors like to have a rhythm for the day when things are too, you know, relax is not good, you know, for anyone, really. You need someone to be, you know, telling people, okay, we go half the power to get this done. and stuff like that. And also, as I see it, is a way of getting all the problems out of the directors back and help the production with things, basically with the crew.

You keep their departments communicating. For example, if the call time is at 7 a.m., shoot call is online. And in 8.30, you need to know that, you know, the lead actor has to be on makeup already. You need to know when is getting the costume done. and you need to know when the camera department is going to be done. I mean, you already know, you tell them that they have to be done by this time.

So, yeah. Yeah. So what is it that you enjoy about this role? What I enjoy about being at first city is saying that product coming to, you know, its end. It's all basically throughout the whole day you are struggling to, you know, get things done. And at the end of the day, everything is on schedule. everyone is happy and there's a net reward. Yeah, but also sounds quite stressful and like a job that people may hate you on a set

if you are, you know, shouting and trying to get them. Yeah, well, the thing is now we're talking more like in the end of maybe even undergo, we're not talking about, you know, studios and stuff. So you're not screaming at people, some people do. I don't because, I mean, you can. Do you just as much as telling people, no, we have to get this done? If you don't do it within the hours, a lot of time, we're going to have to cancel shots later. But the shouting is more for the bigger productions because time is money.

But it is a lot of stress because you need to know what is going to happen at all times. And you need to know when everything is happening at what time, what time is finishing. And you have to know, you know, of to be maybe a bit more. assertive sometimes but again not shouting because that is going to change the whole vibe of the shoots and there's bad for everyone and that's going against your responsibilities you want everyone to be in an environment you can be assertive but doesn't mean you have to be you know a bad person yeah yeah yeah and can you try to share some tips for people who want to find to work as a side jobs as well

Maybe where to look for, how to apply some tips for CV or interviews, if you did. As a first CD or in general? In general, for example, when you are still student and you want to get experience in a field, what comes to your mind or how did you do that? So what I would suggest is don't be shy. I don't say because it indirectly helps you to be a filmmaker, but because talking with people, getting friends is one of the main thing to get on said. Because being nice with people that we call it back.

And, you know, I know many people that would hire again people that were nice and did a good job rather than high-end professions, but they were like, kind of not so good people, you know. Definitely, you know, don't be shy and be honest person and, you know, show your interest. Don't push it too much. just say that you're available. And yeah, that's it. I mean, you could tell you, of course, get a CV, but everybody can do that.

I don't think that's one of the main things, because most of the shit that I go were, like, through getting a shoots, and that, you know, you talk with people, you do a good job, and that they would call you for another thing. That's the main thing. That's how it works.

That's on the industry's famous to be working. So was it like through your network and connections rather than finding it online? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, you do find some things online. For example, there are sites such as Tarnal, Mandy, where you can start to find some things and you can get a CV there

and people, you know, will see you, they will hire you. Some things are paid, some things unpaid. But I don't know of people that leave off of it, to be fair. Because everyone in the film industry is a freelancer pretty much, you know, and word of mouth is what works the best, really. So can you say what type of projects you worked on? Was it like short film or music videos or what was it? I've done short films, different roles, of course, directed, but also been a PA,

I've been a runner, I've done behind the scenes photographs, I've been a gaffer. So it sounds like a diverse range of roles. Yeah, yeah, because again, you just have to go as many things as you can at the beginning, and then the people will call it. That's for short films. Even for other foremost music videos, AD, first AD, what I talked about before. I've been a golfer once, runner. I was a first CD Saturday and Sunday on a music video, actually.

And you need to be more as well on a short film, Provo, concept, they were shooting. And then I've done promos. let's say promos for brands and like businesses i've been a director i've been a runner on some higher end stuff for corporate videos interviews yeah it's like a broad range of experience yeah yeah yeah but then he kind of narrows down to you know it would be the director's the main thing then you can be first said yeah maybe some production things around but yeah that's it yeah And can you say in what way or can you try to compare it when you are on a shoot outside of university to shoots at university? If it's similar or in what ways is it different?

Right. It depends on what level we're talking about because you can find some shoots at a university that are pretty professional. But you can also find shoots outside of university that are not really professional, vice versa. I can't really tell you, maybe the only thing is, generally outside of university, people are a bit taking it literally more seriously. Yeah, because people in university, that's part of my comment on the programs and the system is, people on sets in university days. Many people care about the grades,

but thinking about the grade doesn't necessarily mean you're doing a good job on set, you know, because you just have to report to the teacher and that doesn't really, you know, me what you've done said so maybe the great thing might have an impact on some people in university but when you're outside of uni you just find everyone there's more like on it probably that's it yeah yeah yeah that makes sense so coming back to the university how was the short film in the third year in the end was it good yeah i mean i i'm never happy i found many you're perfect friends yeah in perfections But I mean, I'm still learning because that was my third short film.

And I'm definitely still learning. I'm big. And, you know, I have to learn a lot. And especially because English is not my first language. So I need to kind of articulate myself much better, I think. And, yeah, I saw my imperfections. But that's good because, you know, I saw them. Now I can work on them on my next short film.

I can maybe isolate them and focus on those. that's actually what I did for the short film. I saw the imperfections on my previous short film and things that I didn't like about it. I think I didn't do well and I focus on those for the short film. Like camera movements,

like how to talk with the DUP and, you know, come up with camera movements that can, you know, project the emotion that you want, kind of thing. And yeah, it did want an international online film awards.

Oh, wherever. Yeah, well, I mean, it's not. It's just one. My producer is following. I left it at that one. I was proud of it, but I know that, I mean, it doesn't really mean, I'm the best, I'm the worst. You know, it's just, you know, broad indication. So you send it to some festivals? Yeah, yeah, we did. We had the budget or 200 pounds for the festivals. And, yeah, it was nominated by a few. It was finalists of one. You won one last time a check. now I will have to check. Because to be fair, yeah, with all the things I've been doing, I kind of forgot about it. Learn my experience, now let's move on, let's do some more stuff, you know.

Yeah, and out of curiosity, what was the average fee to enter the festival? $15 pounds, something like that. So it sounds like a good budget, as you mentioned, that you could enter quite a few. Yeah, I mean, it depends on what your strategy is, some productions may have 1K they just send it everywhere or some production they just send it to

film festivals that allow you to get on bigger like rain dance stuff like that so quality resonant quantity quantity yeah I mean if you go film freeway which is the website where you can apply to film festivals you can even do the membership and on each festival you apply to you get this calendar so it's even better.

And did you have like a strategy? What specific festivals you applied to? Or did you just go? Not really. Not really. We were just, let's see what are the ones we could have a shot at? We can apply to that. It was also a question of deadline because we didn't apply straight away.

We waited a few months. But now is something that I will definitely apply on my next choice to be a bit more strategic on how I approach the festival circuits because my plan is do the short film next and then level up and work towards my feature. I don't know if I will do one short film and that one feature, but let's see how it works. You know, I have to work towards that. I have to be a bit more strategic. Yeah.

So before we move from topic of university, can you share some tips or advice for someone who's studying or wants to study how to. to take advantage of studying? Yeah, what I said before? Don't be shy and hang with your people with filmmakers, people want to make stuff. And don't be scared of low budgets. Don't be scared of this project won't go anywhere.

Just do stuff and, you know, because you can learn. I mean, you have to learn. It's not like, oh, I want to do this big thing. You have to learn. It's a process, you know. And then eventually when you're ready, when it would be time, you can do some good projects. But don't be scared of doing anything at all. Yeah, Sousa.

So how did you start planning your way into industry? There's a bit a complicated matter because as I live in London, I plan on moving to Los Angeles. Oh, sorry, you're planning to? Yeah, moving to California, Los Angeles. Oh, wow. Yeah, I mean, my partner lives there. so I have to go there right I don't want to

I have to yeah no no I want to go there I already wanted to go there I mean I love traveling I mean I came to London I won't again and yes the filmmaking industry

is good even in UK in other countries I just want to go there I don't think because it's LA it's better but I do want to move there and so one of the first step would be

to move there and, you know, get a job there and, you know, see how the area is, get some connections, and now they've got, you know, a show wheel to show and, you know, some experience. That's probably going to help me. But my main thing now is thinking about my next short film, basically. So I go a few producer friends, and I'm now still considering, well, I'm still kind of starting to look around to see who could help me, you know, do the next step on my short film.

next short film that we can send around the words and yeah so that's my thing and do you know what is the time scale when you want to move there it depends i mean visa and stuff right so there's a bit tough question so i can't tell right now because i thought maybe it's like moving in let's say two months or if it's like five years i want to go there as soon as possible to be sure i can really predicted but I would love to go within you know the first self of next year 2024 yeah something like that doing that sounds excited fingers crossed that it works up so do you plan that short film to film it here or there I don't know I've got a few scripts one of

them is that in Italy you see it's already a little bit all over the place and I've got a few more scripts that can be shot either places doesn't really matter, but yeah, I'm not sure yet, I'm not sure. It depends on how my life will work out, to be honest, because as I said before, if it has to be a director and I take it really seriously, I need to be, you know, I'm going to do this, I'm going to take my time. I'm not rushing pre-production, I'm not rushing the location scouting, no it has to be done, you know, properly. and I have to have the time to cast their actors and work with them. I'm not giving myself a deadline as of yet, but I'm still trying to see what of my scripts I want to develop.

Yeah, and isn't it going to be difficult or challenging to stand out in LA as a filmmaker? Probably, yes, yes, but I mean, I was very true to myself. Maybe that's got to work. I want to do my own thing, you know. I don't want to copy. I mean, filmmaking is about copying, but in a brother's term, I don't want to copy other filmmakers, other people. I'm just going to do what I like. And yeah. So you said you wouldn't move there, but what is it that you are actually working on now? Now I have a few projects here and there. I mean, I've got some freelance stuff on go to shoot tomorrow of this short film group of concept of Go One.

So is it freelance filmmaker? Yeah, as a first CD. Yeah. And one at the beginning of May and the director that is directing the short film at the beginning of May actually just told me as a commercial in May. So one more thing. I've got a few talks with friends about

things that they want to do develop. Also, I mean, with the company we have, now we are at this stage where we want to, we are expanding little by little, we are getting a deal here, a deal there, and we have to, you know, because I was away for a month and a half now in LA,

I came back in the April, so we're still doing so work with the company producing, but, you know, meeting in person is different. That's where you can, you know, come up with things, talk about projects and stuff. And as I said before, we were, we are developing this podcast

that we want to do. And yeah, we are basically waiting for things to unfold now. We had a few things cooking and I would say that what I would like to do next is like to direct another promo another commercial because I'm exploring also that path

commercials and yeah and can you introduce a bit your company like how did you, why did you with whom did you start it? Yeah sure sure so Studio Odyssey, the name of company started last year when me and

Joal, which is one of my co-smith, he's a DOP, where found each other on a film set of this Bollywood film where I was a spark, which is electrician, or helping with lighting, stuff like that. And it was up in the art department.

We didn't see each other much in the university for some reason. But we found ourselves there. I mean, we knew each other, so we started talking. And we started hanging out and then I wanted to shoot something for the workplace I am at, which is bar. I'm a barstander on the side. And I wanted to shoot a commercial for them because I wanted to approach again the commercial.

I wanted to explore that path. So we did something for free for them where he helped me out. And the manager really liked it. So he actually paid us to do something else for them. And he proposed to me, like, they had this. idea of creation a company and me accepted straight away because I thought, rather than looking for jobs to apply, why don't we create the jobs ourselves? You know, we can talk with businesses, we can make deals, we can have people help us out and, you know, we can make our own stuff.

And from then, we spoke with Ellie, another coursemate, Amid the Six, and we proposed him to join us. He joined and from them August of last year 2022. We started meeting a lot in the smallest office ever and we worked a lot on stuff. We did some corporate things. We did music videos. We did that commercial for the place I work at. We are developing nice connections and partnerships

and we're pretty excited about it because we know a lot of talented people. that help us shoot things and we're also expanding on social media and content creation staff and we have people to help us out on there so as I said we are expanding little by little we love to shoot content I direct it they join Ellie they help me do things we also altogether produce you know everything basically and we do our own content so we see basically the stocks are going up little by little and yeah yeah we're very excited about it

yeah so it's not like a regular thing yet it is a full-time job basically because I mean it's not a 9 to 5 at the office but you always have things to sort out all the time filmmaking is about problem solving you have problems coming the old time so you have to solve them and the explanation

work as you get more projects and projects So, you know, scandal fills my days with other things. And yeah. And is there like a specific niche that you focus on or the company focuses on? Or is it content creation in general? We did a lot of food commercials and promos for businesses. We did bars, clubs and stuff. So there's one of our niches.

Now we're not big enough to have different niches. And then we did commercials. We actually work with Middlesex. They hired us to do work for them on some. It's called Barnett's Business Growth Program. And we shot interviews with Middlesex students and business owners and how the collaboration went. And yeah, we are still really happy about it because we were the first production company,

the Bucid, I did a partnership with them and we are helping them. and yeah, they went really well and I can't wait to do something else with them. So where people can find the company, I guess, on social media and website? Yeah, definitely. So the website is called Studio Odyssey Productions.com. And the Instagram, yeah, Studio Odyssey Productions. You can see because the logo is a black background with Studio Odyssey red and white. And yeah, there we post our behind the scene.

We love to do this so we can get the audience to see what we do. It's not just the products. You see the logo. It's like, as we're working, you can see draw handling the camera. You can see Ellie, you know, turning the light on. You can see me talking with people, you know. So that's pretty nice. Yeah, I will put the links to the show notes.

Oh, shit. People want to reach out or something. Yeah, yeah. And what are the goals for the future with the company to grow, to establish itself? Yeah, no, the goals are to establish ourselves within the Ukraine and outside. Definitely with me moving to LA, you know, create another branch over there and start directing stuff over there. That would be my personal goal.

And also the three of us to detach ourselves from the producing side of it and to focus on our own fields, me directing and the two of them to be director of photography. rather than doing the whole thing and also directing and doing camera work. Yes, because the next question was what we are going to do once you move to LA? So you work to expand in there as well? Yeah, yeah, I do want to expand. There's a really delicate matter because it's really, it's kind of hard to move to one country and, you know, starts a business and do many different things.

So there's going to be a slower process. Because if I'm with my partner there, that's going to be where I live. So I have to establish myself as a person first, you know, to sit at myself. And then I can think about, okay, now I'm going to look for shoots. And I'm going on sets as a director. And now I'm going to establish my company. So everything will take its own time to happen. Yeah.

And is your partner also a filmmaker in LA? No, no. So first of all, our name is Jenny. And she's studying to become an attorney. Oh, okay, wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought maybe if she was filmmaker, would help you with connections. Well, no, if I break the logic and then.

Nobody's still helpful with contracts and agreements and everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you must have good time management because, as you said, you... I don't. I don't. No? It's very hard for me to manage everything. yeah it's a bit overwhelming

but I always try to look at the positive side of things and I see this as a me building you know toughening my scheme for you know like big jobs you know where you have to do with tough people people with egos

and problem solving so I don't see this oh I don't want to cry I say oh there's too many things happening I can do it I see this more of a training kind of thing yeah that's amazing I meant, because you said you work still in a bar, you do some freelance jobs and you also work in a production company. Yeah, and I...

And you travel to LA for holidays? Yeah, I mean, I never really take holidays. I still do my work remotely, like, you know, production, talking with people in London, organizing the shoots. Yeah, it's very hard. I'll be honest. I try to do my best. Sometimes it is a bit, you know, overwhelming. I try to keep promises when I talk with people.

people like, we need to shoot this, we're going to get the things done. Try to do it at my best, but sometimes, yeah, I feel like I should, you know, lower my work intake sometimes. Don't overwork yourself. Yeah. And to end up kind of on a different topic, how was your holidays? How did you find it in LA? Oh, thank you for asking.

It was great. I went there the day before Valentine's Day because the last time I went, actually left right before Valentine that was like bad so this is like we'd get valentines now it was great because I love California despite the weather was quite bad

he rained a lot he rained a lot like more than London and you would get sunny days here and there but not like what you expect from California we went to a few cities we went to San Francisco Berkeley Santa Barbara

yeah we went to two places in LA it was great because I was with my partner was a long time since the solar and it was just great on planning the next time I was here again yeah yeah sounds great out of curiosity was it expensive there or what is it like

oh yeah yeah yeah why expensive then here yeah I mean it depends yes I would say yes the thing is because we got the pound here and the pound is slightly stronger than the dollar. So if you see, for example,

something costing $20 and the same thing costs $17, you're like, oh, it's cheaper in India, but it's not just because the money is stronger. But in general, see it's more expensive. Because, first of all, you do need a car and, you know,

everything that comes with the insurance, gas. Well, in London, you know, we got the underground. The system is pretty good, buses and stuff. And then, I mean, also parking is a big thing. get a car, because it's really expensive. And then, yeah, I feel like people like to spend money there a lot more for some reason, I don't know, maybe at least six systems, I don't know. But sounds like it made a good impression since you want to move there. No, no, I do, I do.

I mean, I've got a filter of my friend living there, so everybody thinks better, isn't? Yeah, yeah, of course. Definitely, I see myself being there and I'm sure, like, I can do some great things that I'm pretty confident because I mean I just work a lot I think if you know you put a work in Delaware in something eventually comes and I see that a good environment for me to develop myself in these terms so one that's one that makes sense well I would finish it for today so I would just thank you very much for your time it was pleasure to chat with you and I will wish you good luck in your career in moving to LA and with your company. Thank you, man.

Thank you. Thank you for having me. And congrats on this podcast. I hope you kick soft and you know, you get something really good out of it. Thank you. Thank you for listening to Produced Bye. Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast app, leave a review or send us your feedback. For more information about the host, links from the episode and ways to connect with us, visit the show notes.

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