2.7- Gritzmore

Brendan Prost is a prolific filmmaker, who has directed tens of shorts and four feature films which have travelled festivals all over the world. Brendan is an alumni of the CFC Directing program and is currently working on several new projects which we will discuss here. Heavy Petting, one of his most recently acclaimed shorts is available online currently. Do yourself a favor and watch it: https://www.brendanprost.com/heavypetting We go deep into creativity and self-doubt in this episode. Talking about what would possess a 19 year old in Calgary to make a feature film for no money, and then to do it three more times in and out of film school. We then go into the big career and personal perspective shifts Brendan faced after looking back on his career in the face of new challenges. The newest phase of Brendan's career is sure to produce his best work yet, and I'm beyond excited to see it. This conversation was so very valuable to me as I embark upon my own first feature. Enjoy!

Saige Carlson is one my favorite people in the whole world. She’s a photographer, actor,  and all around artist who I have been lucky enough to be friends with for the better part of a decade. This conversation goes to a lot of vulnerable places, particularly about body image and the entertainment industry. It’s also the rawest, most in-depth interview on this podcast so far and I’m very proud of that. Follow Saige’s photography account at @saigecarlsonphotography she’s great at what she does and you’d be blessed to work with her. Enjoy.

Hope everyone's Shits N' Giggles hangover is going well! I've wanted to do an episode with Alex Shamku for a very long time. His name is synonymous with quality on-set sound in the indie film world. The first question that I always ask when that department comes up is "Is Shamku available?" He is a pillar of our community and a great person to boot. I have so much admiration for Alex as an observer of our industry. He has been on countless sets in every genre you can imagine, and he also watches more films than anyone I know. Just in the month of September, you can catch him at VIFF watching 30-50 films. As a local film nerd I find his perspective so valuable and I hope you do too. We go all over the place in this episode. As you can imagine, thanks to Alex's mics this is the best sounding episode of VanShitty. Truly an essential listen and an episode I am very proud of as a part-time Podcaster. Also check out my story! All the SNG films are online. Please watch them and revel in our little community and the amazing creativity and vulnerability on display!

The boys of Gritzmore! Nate Kelly and David K. Greene I adore these guys and I adore this episode. Mining the creative process with them is always so rewarding. Check out the Gritzmore Page on YouTube and go see Nate in Dead Man's Cellphone by Sarah Ruhl at the Eagle Eye Community Theater in Squamish! October 19th-29th. PS: I will be launching a Patreon this week if you want to support this Podcast and my creative endeavors more broadly. Look forward to that news soon! 

It‘s Julia Bartel night! Julia is a rising star in the local comedy scene. She's busy fostering community there running TWO events: One that she co-runs with Mike Bodz called Bodzy Wash, and a weekly open mic at Slice of Life on Commercial and Venables (Tomorrow, Tuesday October 10th is the next time to check that out. Sign up is at 7 and the show starts at 7:30!) Enjoy a laid back, 18+ conversation about life, comedy and all things in between. 

Hey there! Here is my episode with Riaan Smit: An actor, screenwriter and theater producer who just happens to be one of my best friends. We dive headfirst into some pretty heavy material as we discuss Riaan's recent battle with cancer and the perspective and lessons along the way. Enjoy a vulnerable episode balanced by Riaan's sense of humor and wit. As promised in the episode, below is a link to Riaan's Medium article about his first surgery, highly recommended: https://medium.com/@riaansmit0/the-discomfort-olympics-50014c6dda2d

HELLO. Welcome to the long anticipated Joel McCarthy solo episode of VanShitty. This was essentially a test of my new audio set up, but I decided to structure it like any other episode. I try to ask Joel questions he doesn't usually get, and we both have a lot of fun going off the cuff with a few drinks in us. I hope this is a fun survey of Joel's career, in particular we talk about Taking My Parents to Burningman, which is finally available to watch FOR FREE on the This Is A Spoon YouTube page. We also talk about Christianity, Drugs, intersections with fame, parenthood, and much more! Hope you enjoy! Come for the improved audio quality, stay for the stories between friends.

It’s Hunter Elliott day! Please welcome the winner of Best Actor at RNG 2022. (along with co-winner of Best Screenplay) Hunter is one of the most varied and prolific creators in town. By day he works at ILM. By night he’s a musician, creative powerhouse, musical writer, editor/producer/filmmaker. We talk about RunNGun (Hunter and his team ButtFlo$$ were the OG winners of the original 2015 RunNGun which only had 16 teams.), creative drive, therapy, the causes near to our hearts, and what we love about our local community. One of my absolute favorite episodes of the Podcast and the perfect companion as you decompress from the wildness of RNG weekend.

Happy Sunday! Today we have a conversation with June Laporte. They just had a beautiful film called You Can Live Forever come out at the Tribeca Film Festival and you can watch it today! Do it before you listen, the festival ends today!! You won’t regret it trust me, it’s a beautiful love story of a kind we don’t have enough of. Human and authentic. Go to https://tribecafilm.com/films/you-can-live-forever-2022 and rent it for 48 hours! (It’s Geoblocked in Canada but just get a 30 day free trial of a VPN if you don’t have it. NordVPN is a good option.) Alright? Watched the film? Cool. June is one of my favourite people in the world and you’ll get a great sense of their wonderful perspective on life and vulnerability in this discussion. We talk about the film industry, how they fell in love with theater as a child, loss, pets, truly expressing yourself, and the American Girl Dolls. Really grateful to June for taking the time to talk to me, and I hope this new episode of Season 2 warms your heart as much as I did mine re-listening to it.

WELCOME TO VANSHITTY SEASON 2  I am so excited to come back with my first guests of the new season: Joshua Aries and Daniel Irving. I became aware of them when I saw their incredible film Mr. James is Dead at a local gala and gave them a shouting standing ovation. In a very short time, these two have taken the local indie world by storm, cleaning up awards and charming fans at virtually every local film film event. Most recently, they got on TikTok(@danielandjosh) and amassed 14 Million Views on their first upload alone. I upload this as they film a pitch video for their next big project, and I go off to see Everything Everywhere All At Once. This couldn't be more appropriate because in their own, authentic way, these two are very much cut from the same cloth as The Daniels.  Please enjoy this conversation from months ago, and get charmed by their warmth and humor on a rainy Sunday. https://linktr.ee/danielandjosh