Kirk Norstrom sits down with his long-time co-producer and “partner in crime,” Kris Flink, to finally tell the origin story of how they met—and how a chaotic, last-minute handoff during a family emergency turned into a true producing partnership. From their early days training at Freehold Theatre (and the legendary “GAP” story lesson) to co-running Seattle and building a reimagined statewide Montana 48 Hour Film Project, Kris and Kirk dig into what makes the 48 community feel like family: collaboration, growth, global friendships, and real access for filmmakers who otherwise couldn’t afford to participate. They also talk Filmapalooza: Kris’s first experience in Rotterdam (including awards on the SS Rotterdam), standout films and performers, and how international connections expand perspective—especially during difficult world events. The conversation closes with what they’re building next: more inclusive participation through grants and registration subsidies, better workflows through digital drop-off, and a new Montana model designed for a big state with filmmakers spread across multiple hubs. Key topics / moments • Meeting at Freehold Theatre and learning “GAP” (expectation vs. outcome) • The moment Kris stepped in to run an awards show—and became co-producer • Filmapalooza community, standout films, and Rotterdam as a first-time “epic” event • “City producers become family” and the value of global creative connections • Grant writing as a growth engine: subsidies, access, and equity in participation • Digital drop-off + tech improvements enabling a statewide Montana relaunch • The new plan: Montana as a state-wide event with screenings in multiple cities Credits Host: Kirk Norstrom Guest: Kris Flink Production: CREATE48 Media Network & the Seattle 48 Hour Film Project
Episode Notes — 48 Hour Heroes Origin Stories
Episode 16: Kris Flink
Overview
In this episode, host Kirk Norstrom talks with longtime co-producer Kris Flink about how they met, how Kris became an indispensable partner in the Seattle and Montana 48 Hour Film Projects, and how their shared vision has shaped the future of both competitions. They discuss community, global connections, Filmapalooza experiences, grant-supported access, and new models for engaging filmmakers across Washington and Montana.
Key Topics Covered
• How Kirk and Kris met — Freehold Theatre, storytelling fundamentals, and early collaboration
• The turning point — Kris steps in to run an awards event during a family emergency and becomes co-producer
• Filmapalooza reflections — Kris’s first experience in Rotterdam and standout international films
• The 48 community as family — global connections, collaboration, and creative growth
• Pandemic pivots — digital drop-off, livestreaming, and improved workflows
• Grant writing and access — securing funding to reduce financial barriers for filmmakers
• Reimagining Montana — shifting from a Missoula-only event to a statewide model
• What’s next — rebuilding momentum and expanding participation post-pandemic
Important Links
Seattle 48 Hour Film Project: https://48hourfilm.com/seattle
Montana 48 Hour Film Project: https://48hourfilm.com/montana
Filmapalooza: https://filmapalooza.org
Notable Mentions
Credits
Host: Kirk Norstrom
Guest: Kris Flink
Production: 48 Hour Heroes Origin Stories, produced by CREATE48 Media Network and the Seattle 48 Hour Film Project
EP16-48HourHeroes-KrisFlink
[00:00:00] Kirk: Hello everyone. Welcome to 48 Hour Heroes Origin Stories. I'm your host, Kirk Norstrom, co-producer of the Seattle and Montana 48 hour film projects, and today we have a long overdue guest. Someone that I talked to on a nearly daily basis, but for some reason the last couple of weeks we just could not get our schedules to sync up.
[00:00:23] Kirk: So today I am talking with my co-producer and 48 hour partner in crime, Chris Flink. So please welcome Chris Flink.
[00:00:44] Kirk: All right. Welcome to episode 16 of 48 Hour Heroes Origin Stories, and I have a long overdue featured guest today. But for some reason we just couldn't get our schedules lined up until right now. I'd like to [00:01:00] introduce you all to Chris Flink, my coc city producer for Seattle and the Montana 48 hour film projects.
[00:01:07] Kirk: Here's a, a long overdue. Welcome, Chris. Hi.
[00:01:11] Kris: Hi. Can. Hello. How are you?
[00:01:13] Kirk: Uh, I've got a cold or something and it's,
[00:01:17] Kris: well, that's depressing right off the bat.
[00:01:19] Kirk: Well, yeah. Like to start, start with the expectations low.
[00:01:23] Kris: You can only go up from here.
[00:01:25] Kirk: Exactly. So, yeah. Where to begin? Um. Six years ago, you and I were in Norway at this point.
[00:01:35] Kris: Yes, we were.
[00:01:36] Kirk: Facebook is kind enough to remind me
[00:01:40] Kris: Yes.
[00:01:40] Kirk: And well, let's, let's just get right to it. How did you and I meet?
[00:01:45] Kris: We met at Freehold Theater at the. We were taking, both taking, I had just finished up with the, uh, directing for stage and screen course at the University of Washington, and I decided to further that with a, [00:02:00] uh, advanced course, uh, for directors at Freehold Theater.
[00:02:06] Kris: They had an advanced filmmaking course, and that's where you and I met.
[00:02:09] Kirk: And we heard gap, gap, gap, gap, gap, gap, gap for like three months. Gap, gap, gap.
[00:02:16] Kris: True. So true. So true.
[00:02:19] Kirk: So for, for a little context, uh. The gap. Our, one of our teachers in this class, John Jacobson, is
[00:02:27] Kris: Hey John, if you're listening.
[00:02:28] Kirk: Hi John.
[00:02:30] Kirk: John is a die hard story craft, uh, person, and one of his bits of advice when writing is to always gap the audience, which is the difference between expectation and outcome. He'll be so happy. I remember that verbatim.
[00:02:50] Kris: See, look at that. You learned one thing.
[00:02:52] Kirk: I learned one thing. Well, that and that I hate the play Heda Gabler
[00:02:56] Kirk: What?
[00:02:57] Kris: No,
[00:02:58] Kirk: I just, I have a hard time with like [00:03:00] 19th century Scandinavian sensibilities, I guess.
[00:03:02] Kris: Is that even a thing?
[00:03:04] Kirk: Yeah. They were very proper. And
[00:03:06] Kris: I know, I'm just kidding.
[00:03:07] Kirk: Oh, ugh. Anyway. Uh, yeah. So that's the gap. You always want to keep people on their toes by giving them something unexpected, but plausible.
[00:03:16] Kirk: And I mean, that was a, that was a great class. That was a great class. That's
[00:03:19] Kris: a good class.
[00:03:20] Kirk: I learned a lot in that. Yeah. You and I were always fighting over one actor.
[00:03:26] Kris: Yes.
[00:03:27] Kirk: I never got to work with him,
[00:03:29] Kris: and I always got to work with him. You know why? I'm a girl. No, I'm kidding. And Girls Rock.
[00:03:35] Kirk: You're just pushier than I am.
[00:03:37] Kirk: It's,
[00:03:38] Kris: and, and, and we shall, uh, bring that person's name to light. That would be Jean Torkelson,
[00:03:44] Kirk: the mighty, mighty Jean Torkelson, who we were in Norway with six years ago.
[00:03:48] Kris: Yes.
[00:03:49] Kirk: Yeah, because I mean, after that class. You were one of the, the few in the class that I was like, I can, I can legitimately work with this person.
[00:03:58] Kirk: 'cause I could see that you [00:04:00] were aiming towards really learning the craft and developing a career out of it rather than it being, you know, a, a latent life hobby switch or something. You really wanted to learn it and
[00:04:13] Kris: Right.
[00:04:14] Kirk: You know, you, we clicked. Socially, and I think professionally and you know, I wanted to work with you more and more in the future in this industry.
[00:04:24] Kirk: Right. So luckily that's how it's played out.
[00:04:26] Kris: Right, exactly. An unexpected way that it played out. But it played out nevertheless. Yeah, it was, uh. That was definitely a thing because, you know, I, I, that's a good way to put it, because I had spent so many years in theater, you know? Mm-hmm. And I had, you know, ended up directing more than I thought and producing more than I thought.
[00:04:45] Kris: And because I originally started as an actor and I really enjoyed. The craft of that as well because it is a craft unto itself.
[00:04:52] Kirk: Mm-hmm.
[00:04:53] Kris: Producing And I decided that I needed to learn a little bit more about film because I wanted to do film and theater. [00:05:00] So, which is why I took, you know, the University of Washington course, which covered both.
[00:05:03] Kris: Mm-hmm. Which was also taught by John Jacobson and Allison Ver amazing, amazing woman. And I just sort of thought I learned a lot more about. Theater as well in the UDub course. Mm-hmm. And that's why I ended up at Freehold because I wanted to focus on the advanced intensive of film. Being a better director and learning, you know, being better at working with actors because I love, love, love, love working with actors.
[00:05:28] Kris: It is just my absolute favorite thing of anything on the planet. I love working with them. I love seeing their work and I love seeing the final fruits of their labor, of, of all things, of directing that as my favorite thing. So I just, you know, thought I should start making this leap. So it's kind of slowly how it's been.
[00:05:44] Kris: And then you and I met and then cut to. You know, I know that you had had some people helping you with the 48 prior, but nothing had ever really panned out and
[00:05:54] Kirk: Yeah, it was just never
[00:05:55] Kris: was growing and yeah, I mean, you needed an attention to detail person, and I [00:06:00] guess that was me, right?
[00:06:01] Kirk: Yeah. I mean, I'm embarrassed that.
[00:06:03] Speaker: It took me four years to realize that I should have, you know, asked you a couple of years earlier,
[00:06:09] Kirk: Hey, everything happens for a reason when it happens, right?
[00:06:12] Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. And well, I mean that reason being the catalyst really for me to formally ask you. To co-produce rather than just help out a kickoff and drop off, which you'd been doing and
[00:06:26] Kris: Right.
[00:06:26] Kirk: That's always you. Now you know how much I appreciated it.
[00:06:31] Kris: Yes,
[00:06:31] Kirk: absolutely. A couple years doing that.
[00:06:33] Kris: Yeah.
[00:06:33] Kirk: You really, you can firsthand understand how much I appreciate it and it was, yeah, November, 2017 and I got a call from my brother on a Sunday night. And when my brother calls, chances are it's not good news.
[00:06:50] Kirk: My, my family's terrible at keeping in, in touch and he said, get out, get out to Missoula now. 'cause mom's not doing well,
[00:06:58] Kris: right. [00:07:00]
[00:07:00] Kirk: And I tried to get out that night, but it was 4:00 PM on a Sunday, so that wasn't happening. And when it looked like the worst was gonna happen, I called you and said, Hey, if I need to stay in Montana longer than expected, can you run the.
[00:07:17] Kirk: The horror awards for me, and I'll never forget, we met up at the cargo theater parking lot. Right. It looked like the whitest, most middle-aged lame drug deal
[00:07:29] Kris: was going down.
[00:07:31] Kirk: Yeah.
[00:07:31] Kris: We both drove up. We both opened our trunks.
[00:07:33] Kirk: Me and a Prius, and you and an SUV and.
[00:07:37] Kris: If you were like, here's all the files. Yeah,
[00:07:41] Kirk: let's give you a hard drive with 13 films on it.
[00:07:44] Kris: Shoving bins and bags in my back. You know, the back of my car. No, I'm kidding.
[00:07:49] Kirk: Yeah. No, not that.
[00:07:50] Kris: It was like, yep.
[00:07:51] Kirk: Yeah,
[00:07:52] Kris: we can do, don't worry about it. I, I think I remember saying, don't worry about it. I got you covered
[00:07:57] Kirk: and I didn't, that's the amazing thing. [00:08:00] I, I got anxious of course, because I'd never missed anything before.
[00:08:04] Speaker: And yeah, this has been my baby for so long. That
[00:08:08] Kirk: How long? Let's put that out there.
[00:08:10] Speaker: This'll be my 18th year.
[00:08:12] Kirk: There you go.
[00:08:13] Speaker: Started in 2005. This will be year 18.
[00:08:16] Kris: Right.
[00:08:16] Kirk: And the night came when the, the event happened and I was watching social media. Pretty intently. Not out of concern. Right. But more out of curiosity and people just immediately started posting, you know, had a great time.
[00:08:32] Speaker: Chris did a great job, and I was like. She needs to be my co-producer. What the fuck have I been waiting for?
[00:08:39] Kris: Well, that's where, you know, running in awards and MCing something, just getting thrown in. That's where, that's where my acting and my, all my intensive improv.
[00:08:48] Kirk: You Yes. Ended the fuck outta that situation.
[00:08:51] Kris: Yeah. So there you go. I mean, it was like, okay, we're hosting this now. All right. So yeah, it was fun. I mean, it was great and everybody [00:09:00] was, you know, really welcoming and everybody was really understanding and. I actually went off without a hitch luckily. So, and there you go. And then you asked me, I think, I don't remember how long it was after that, but not very long after that.
[00:09:13] Kirk: Not, not very long
[00:09:14] Kris: officially.
[00:09:15] Kirk: Kinda once I came outta my self-imposed exile.
[00:09:19] Kris: Right.
[00:09:20] Kirk: You know, um, mom died, I was obviously very depressed and
[00:09:23] Kris: Right.
[00:09:23] Kirk: But not long after I kinda came outta my shell. Like, we gotta make this happen.
[00:09:28] Kris: Yep.
[00:09:29] Kirk: And,
[00:09:30] Kris: and. There you go. Boys and girls. That is, and
[00:09:32] Kirk: everyone lived happily ever after.
[00:09:35] Kris: That is the story of how Kirk and Chris met, lived happily ever after as city producers. By the way, on the website it still says associate producers, so we probably need to change that.
[00:09:47] Kirk: Ah, we'll get, yeah, we'll get that. We'll get that changed.
[00:09:50] Kris: Noticed that yesterday. Sidebar.
[00:09:53] Kirk: Yeah, so Film of Palooza was last week and everyone says hi, and you were very, very, oh, I
[00:09:58] Kris: know I missed [00:10:00] everyone so much, but, you know, work.
[00:10:02] Kirk: Yeah.
[00:10:03] Kris: Uh, kept me here and you know. Two years outta the pandemic. You gotta work when you can. Yeah,
[00:10:08] Kirk: exactly. Exactly.
[00:10:10] Kris: I wish I could have been there. I was bummed. I had a serious case of fomo. I was looking at all the pictures a few times. There's a few tears. It's like, oh man, I wanna be there. But you know, you gotta do it, you gotta do right.
[00:10:22] Kirk: Yeah, it was, I, I've skipped a couple because I had work, but now that I'm so deep into it, uh, I, I can't imagine skipping one now.
[00:10:32] Kris: Right.
[00:10:33] Kirk: Especially since, so I just talked to Wer yesterday.
[00:10:37] Kris: Right.
[00:10:38] Kirk: So his, his episode will come out, uh, tomorrow's the 18th. Yeah. It'll come out tomorrow, March 18th.
[00:10:43] Kris: Right.
[00:10:43] Kirk: And
[00:10:45] Kris: for those of you listening that don't know who Wouter is,
[00:10:47] Kirk: Wilder is the technical director for the 48 hour film project and the co-producer of the Eindhoven and Arnum 48 hour film project in the Netherlands.
[00:10:57] Speaker: And we all [00:11:00] refer to him as Wilder the Wizard. He's really,
[00:11:03] Kris: he's amazing.
[00:11:04] Speaker: Yeah. He's. Technologically, he's bringing us into the, the 21st century in, in a big way. Right. And Indra and I worked with him for months, you know, getting the DCPS ready, getting the award show ready, and getting all the media ready for for fma.
[00:11:26] Speaker: So my flight out there was Seattle to Detroit, Detroit to Reagan, national Airport. And I took a red eye and it's a four hour flight, Seattle to the to Detroit, and I fell asleep for a little bit and then I woke up and I see all these texts. There's no coffee shops open at six 30 in the Detroit airport apparently.
[00:11:52] Kirk: Which
[00:11:53] Kirk: blasphemy?
[00:11:54] Kris: Don't they know where you're from? Seattle. Well, there should there not be a coffee shop open at 4:00 AM [00:12:00]
[00:12:00] Kirk: Well, salt Lake City the other night, home of the Mormons has Starbucks in a bar open at almost 11. But what's I, I don't get it.
[00:12:09] Kris: That is irony and it's
[00:12:11] Kirk: biased. Hey, you know. They wanna make money and flame them.
[00:12:17] Speaker: So I, I kind of get my eyes peeled open and get my bearings and find out that my flight's gonna be delayed. And oh, I got on my flight and then we had to get off because there was something wrong with the plane. That's what it was.
[00:12:31] Kirk: In Detroit.
[00:12:32] Speaker: In Detroit, yeah. Awesome. So I started checking my. Text messages, Wouter tested positive at the airport.
[00:12:41] Kirk: I just immediately text Wouter. Isn't it a little early for an April Fools joke,
[00:12:46] Kris: right? Like a month
[00:12:48] Kirk: of all the people. Ah,
[00:12:51] Kris: yeah.
[00:12:52] Kirk: It's just insane. Like if I had caught COVID and couldn't go, it would've been a minor inconvenience. A couple of people would've [00:13:00] had to pick up a little bit of slack, but w was.
[00:13:04] Kris: The wizard in charge of all.
[00:13:05] Kirk: Yeah. Right. And everyone is scrambling to figure out how we were gonna do the live stream and. It's just all this technical stuff and you know, Indra is bawling her eyes out. I can hear her crying through the text she's sending me from her plane.
[00:13:24] Kris: Right.
[00:13:24] Kirk: And I mean, it was just crazy.
[00:13:27] Speaker: But everyone really stepped up and
[00:13:29] Kirk: right.
[00:13:30] Speaker: Pulled through and it, it, it was a very successful event as a result of it. But Wouter did not get to see the fruits of his labor. Right. It was, it was really a shame.
[00:13:40] Kirk: Yeah. Nothing worse than working your ass off on something and then just, you know, sitting in your apartment with COVID going, yay.
[00:13:47] Speaker: Uh, and I, I figured he never left his house. He was just always in that little blue room.
[00:13:52] Kirk: Right. Always there. We have been locked in a technical box doing nothing but sitting on a computer. No input. Has his food delivered? Yeah.
[00:13:59] Speaker: [00:14:00] Yeah.
[00:14:00] Kirk: His showers in his office. He never leaves.
[00:14:03] Speaker: Basically, I guess he says, you know, he'd go visit, uh, some family members.
[00:14:08] Kirk: And go to the store and that was it. He,
[00:14:10] Kris: wow.
[00:14:11] Kirk: And he apparently just stumbled across some, you know, someone who had omicron.
[00:14:17] Kris: Yeah. Yep. Well, it was a, it was a spreader. I mean, I got it, you know, fully vaccinated. Still got it, you know. Yeah. It's only sick for a few days, but comparatively Yeah, to what it was previous.
[00:14:29] Kirk: But yeah, it's just, it was a it, it spread really easily. So I guess just one of those things, and they're a little bit behind us, so.
[00:14:37] Speaker: Yeah, it's, yeah, it was so crazy, but I mean, it was a good event and a little less attended than previous years for obvious reasons.
[00:14:48] Kirk: Right.
[00:14:48] Speaker: There were people still a little hesitant about travel and can't blame 'em for that, but it was great.
[00:14:54] Kirk: I mean, Seattle showed up in force.
[00:14:58] Kris: I know. So excited that all of [00:15:00] our peeps were there.
[00:15:01] Kirk: Yeah, I mean, light form. They showed up with a small army and I was so happy. That Rishi came right? He hung out with them the whole time and, and did everything. I'm so glad that Rishi got to come and experience a film of Palooza 'cause he got robbed last year.
[00:15:16] Kris: Yeah.
[00:15:17] Kirk: Rishi Raj is the 2020 winner of the Seattle 48 hour film project and. He got majorly fucked on the
[00:15:26] Kris: Yeah, yeah.
[00:15:28] Kirk: On film of Palooza,
[00:15:30] Kris: right? I mean, sure. We had it virtually and we did a sell of a job with 20 plus workshops. Sidebar. But, uh, you know, it was an interesting time.
[00:15:39] Kirk: Yeah. So I'm really glad that we decided to pay his registration fee to, to go.
[00:15:45] Speaker: Yeah. It meant a lot to him and he had a great time and, and got a lot out of it even though his film wasn't playing, so.
[00:15:53] Kris: Right.
[00:15:53] Kirk: That may be
[00:15:53] Kris: Well, that's good.
[00:15:54] Kirk: Yeah. That made me really, really happy. But yeah, next year, LA
[00:15:58] Kris: That's that. You heard it right [00:16:00] here if you haven't already announced it.
[00:16:01] Kirk: Yeah.
[00:16:02] Kris: Yeah.
[00:16:02] Kirk: And it's
[00:16:03] Kris: Los Angeles FMA Palooza gonna be crazy.
[00:16:07] Kris: All the crazy Europeans are gonna fly to Seattle and we're all gonna road trip apparently, or
[00:16:11] Kirk: something like, well, yeah. Well, okay, so here's, here's the
[00:16:13] Kris: who's comment. Let's,
[00:16:14] Kirk: okay, so Olivier's son is gonna be going to school in Vancouver.
[00:16:20] Kris: Ah, okay.
[00:16:21] Kirk: So he, Olivier was gonna fly into Vancouver to visit his son.
[00:16:24] Speaker: And then I said, well, you know, I'll, I'll come pick you up and you know, we can both fly outta Seattle together. And then I kinda paused and went, no, screw that. We're gonna drive down to LA together. He's like, yeah, road trip. And for those of you unfamiliar who haven't seen the previous episodes, Olivier DSOs is the mastermind behind all of the French 48 hour film projects and just.
[00:16:50] Kirk: One of my favorite people on the planet. And then, you know, I turned to Indra and said, all right, next year you announcer. Fly into Seattle and we'll road trip down. And then [00:17:00] I immediately texted you in just in just texting er and I'm texting you. And within seconds, you both literally texted either of us.
[00:17:11] Speaker: I'm in, I am in exclamation point, so they'll fly into Seattle. And then we'll have pizza at my place. Of course,
[00:17:17] Kirk: of course.
[00:17:18] Speaker: Yeah.
[00:17:19] Kirk: In the w in the, the, uh, the outdoor oven that your wife is so fabulously designed and made.
[00:17:25] Speaker: Yes. And then I figure we will drive down to Portland, show 'em, you know, voodoo donuts.
[00:17:34] Kirk: Yeah. And just make a, a quick little. Portland, he stopped. Show 'em some of the, the weird, weird that Portland has to offer.
[00:17:42] Kris: Right.
[00:17:42] Kirk: And then maybe make it down to Ashland. Spend the night in Ashland.
[00:17:46] Kris: Yeah.
[00:17:46] Kirk: Going to San Francisco. Yeah. Yep. And
[00:17:50] Kris: it's a good road trip.
[00:17:51] Kirk: Yeah. And since we're heading that way, we'll have to stop at Santa Cruz to get some of my favorite coffee in the whole world and stop.
[00:17:57] Speaker: One of my favorite burrito places.
[00:17:59] Kirk: Is [00:18:00] that, or no? Wait, that's. That's Rejo. Nevermind. That's not,
[00:18:04] Speaker: oh, yeah. I'm gonna be eating, like, I'm gonna eat every meal at Rejo when we get to, to la.
[00:18:09] Kirk: Yeah. Sounds like it sounds like a fun road trip. I don't know if we can all, we might have to rent a bigger car.
[00:18:15] Speaker: Well, I figuring if you Well, I'll
[00:18:17] Kirk: take,
[00:18:17] Kris: I'll probably drive.
[00:18:17] Kris: Yeah,
[00:18:17] Kirk: yeah. We'll take two vehicles and it'll be manageable.
[00:18:20] Kris: Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, as we're planning out our trip, while everyone's listening, but yeah, that should be really fun. Yeah. I guess what you can get from this is that, uh, city producers become family.
[00:18:31] Kirk: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:18:31] Kris: And you know, it, uh, you know, with everything going on with the, the war right now and everything, it's like you, you're able to see different perspectives from people and what Oh, yeah.
[00:18:43] Kris: You know, it's just been, I would've never had, if it wasn't for the 48, I wouldn't know David, who's in Prague. Well, in Bruno. Would never get a perspective of what they're going through. You know, you just, it's just so many things of meeting all these wonderful, amazing, talented [00:19:00] filmmakers that are city producers and the 48 family.
[00:19:03] Kris: It's just phenomenal. So it's, you know, again, you apply that whole thing to the filmmakers coming to Film of Palooza
[00:19:10] Kirk: Yeah.
[00:19:10] Kris: Themselves and meeting filmmakers from around the world and collaborating. And when you go and need to make a film. In, you know, the Netherlands, you know who to call, right? Yeah. Or whatnot.
[00:19:21] Kris: So it's, it's just such a great opportunity to, to meet and get networking and work opportunities and, you know, all of that. So I just think it's. There's never it, it's just when you get older, you don't make friends as easily. I mean, like they always say that people just sort of get, their circle gets smaller and smaller and smaller, you know?
[00:19:41] Kris: And you know, as I've gotten older and gotten involved in stuff like this, the circle just seems to be getting bigger and bigger, which is an interesting concept.
[00:19:48] Kirk: And the quality of the people you're meeting is, is. Exactly. Exactly. And it was, it was interesting in film of this year, having access to so many Europeans,
[00:19:59] Kris: right.
[00:19:59] Kirk: [00:20:00] Because they have a much more nuanced opinion and outlook on the war in Ukraine.
[00:20:07] Kris: Right.
[00:20:08] Kirk: Whereas in America, we don't, we don't need to get into it. Mm-hmm. But it's, it's so much more binary here. And just talking to, especially with David and his mom, Vero was there of course, and they brought their puppy with him and
[00:20:25] Kris: Right.
[00:20:26] Kirk: Their 12-year-old puppy. And yeah, you just get a much bigger picture of what's going on and it helped lessen my anxiety somewhat, just being able to have a more nuanced conversation about what's going on.
[00:20:41] Kris: Right.
[00:20:41] Kirk: Than generally what you can have here.
[00:20:43] Kris: Right, right.
[00:20:44] Kirk: Which is nice.
[00:20:45] Kris: Yeah. Agreed.
[00:20:46] Kirk: All right, so I, I want to ask you a little bit more about Filma Palooza.
[00:20:49] Speaker: So,
[00:20:50] Kirk: alright,
[00:20:51] Speaker: let's see here. 2019, you didn't go with me to Orlando. Busy. No, I did not. You
[00:20:55] Kirk: were busy.
[00:20:55] Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. I was working busy with work. But you hit the really good one. [00:21:00] I did. So you got to go to, well, the last in-person one before this one in Rotterdam.
[00:21:06] Kirk: Right.
[00:21:07] Speaker: Describe your overall impression of, of the event, because I mean, you really did go to kind of an epic.
[00:21:14] Kirk: FMA Palooza for your first experience,
[00:21:16] Kris: right? Definitely. And the two, the, the two stooges as I like to refer to them, and Jasper, I mean, they just, they put together such an amazing fma. They worked really hard. You could tell the fruits of their labor. I was. Not only was I so impressed with the city because Rotterdam is just, you know,
[00:21:36] Kirk: gorgeous.
[00:21:37] Kris: There's Amsterdam and then there's Rotterdam, and they are both amazing in their different old school versus new modern technology. Rotterdam is the most interesting modern city and it's just, just beautiful and everything was on the waterfront and
[00:21:52] Kirk: great bridges.
[00:21:53] Kris: Yeah, and just phenomenal architecture that was just.
[00:21:57] Kris: Stunning. Right. And I was just so [00:22:00] impressed with the theater and how everything was run and. All of the, um, it just, it was, it was like being a part of something really epic. And then of course, the award ceremony, which was on the, what was the, what was the name of the boat? I can't remember.
[00:22:16] Kirk: It was, it was the S Rotterdam.
[00:22:17] Kris: SS Rotterdam, that's right. Yeah. I mean, you had a, a huge full-size theater that fit everybody with, with a boat that's docked in the harbor that you, you know, go onto. And, and have your awards.
[00:22:32] Kirk: We
[00:22:32] Kirk: had a very boat related week. Boat. We did. Seemed weak that week.
[00:22:36] Kris: We did, yeah. It was, it was just amazing. I'm so glad that this is the first one that I picked to go to.
[00:22:43] Kris: Although, you know, then the bar gets raised pretty high as far as
[00:22:46] Kirk: Yeah.
[00:22:47] Kris: You, you know, if and when it comes back to Seattle, I'm, I'm already like talking.
[00:22:52] Kirk: No, it'll, but we're,
[00:22:53] Kris: I know, but
[00:22:53] Kirk: we're
[00:22:54] Kris: lesser
[00:22:54] Kirk: priority right now.
[00:22:55] Kris: But I know absolutely. But you know, you just think about. The bar was [00:23:00] set really high. It was really well organized.
[00:23:02] Kris: It was, um, a great way to, you know, you do a little work as a cp, volunteering to help out. Um, and it was really great way to meet other filmmakers and just to see it was really my first experience seeing all of the different films from around the world. You know, you kind of,
[00:23:20] Kirk: yeah,
[00:23:21] Kris: you and I, I, I tried to spend as much time as I could going in and watching the films and it was just, was just blown away.
[00:23:28] Kris: Was just absolutely blown away, and I think that's one of the most important things, in my opinion of Film Palooza for a filmmaker's perspective. To go, if you have a film in it and you're trying to support your film, but even if you don't have a film in it, to go and see the types of amazing things that other countries and other, other cities and other countries can do.
[00:23:49] Kirk: Yeah.
[00:23:49] Kris: In 48 hours.
[00:23:50] Kirk: And
[00:23:51] Kris: it makes me wanna be a better filmmaker at, shoot. I, I hope it inspired our Seattle.
[00:23:55] Kirk: Oh, you know, you know the Citros, they of
[00:23:57] Kris: course
[00:23:58] Kirk: they soaked it in and [00:24:00] Oh, totally. Oh crap. This is, and I hate using the word the competition, but
[00:24:04] Kris: Right.
[00:24:05] Kirk: It's the stage
[00:24:07] Kris: right.
[00:24:07] Kirk: That everyone's playing on.
[00:24:09] Kris: Right.
[00:24:09] Kirk: And just seeing how.
[00:24:11] Kris: What it takes to get to Kahan. Really? Yeah. I mean,
[00:24:14] Kirk: yeah,
[00:24:14] Kris: like those fucking French and those fucking Dutch, you
know,
[00:24:18] Kirk: they just, you know, now it's, now it's uh, those British and those South Africans. Right. Two of my favorites this year were, uh, the Cape Town film. Dissonance was amazing and, uh, the, the London film, the last union was also incredible.
[00:24:39] Kris: I haven't had a chance to sit down and really watch any of them, and I can't wait because I saw, I've seen who everybody won, but I can't wait to
[00:24:46] Kirk: see that. Yeah, we'll have a. A pizza party night with
[00:24:49] Kris: Perfect.
[00:24:49] Kirk: Brian and Lida, you could bring lane over and We'll, that'd
[00:24:52] Kris: be great. Yeah,
[00:24:52] Kirk: we'll
[00:24:52] Kris: just
[00:24:53] Kirk: screen them out in the, in the back.
[00:24:55] Kris: Perfect.
[00:24:56] Kirk: Yeah. 'cause I mean, the last union, there's this woman who plays a vicar and [00:25:00] I need to know everything that she's, she's working in now. She's such an amazing actor. I believe every word. And as Indra said, if she was the new doctor who I would be so in favor of it. So many good films and, and of course, again.
[00:25:15] Speaker: Uh, the Dutch and the French.
[00:25:16] Kris: Yeah. Always do a good job, that's for sure. Yeah.
[00:25:20] Kirk: Well, the Dutch won this year. Uh, the Rotterdam team won with their film, uh, muse.
[00:25:25] Kris: Right, I saw that. Which is awesome. Yeah,
[00:25:28] Kirk: it was a beautiful cinematography. And, and Luke, the cinematographer definitely deserved his, his award and the Eindhoven team with their filmed quarter life cruisers.
[00:25:38] Speaker: I love that one as well. They got best editing and. Just amazing films. Amazing films. Yeah.
[00:25:45] Kirk: Sounds like you're the actress, the person that you thought won. That did kind of reminds me of, now you wanna see everything. That person is kind of reminds me of when we went to the Rotterdam Film of Palooza and I Oh yeah.
[00:25:56] Kris: Was impressed with Sarah Grant.
[00:25:58] Kirk: Yeah.
[00:25:59] Kris: Oh, [00:26:00] scare.
[00:26:00] Kirk: She got a standing ovation when she got her award and
[00:26:03] Kris: Yeah, she was and is absolutely phenomenal. Yeah, she is. For those of you who have not. Looked into Sarah Grant and Sarah Grant Creative, which is her. She's in Glasgow. She is writes for the BBC now and she is
[00:26:17] Kirk: brilliant,
[00:26:17] Kris: absolutely phenomenal,
[00:26:18] Kirk: brilliant.
[00:26:19] Kris: She's a brilliant writer. She is hilarious. She is
[00:26:22] Kirk: great performer, great performer,
[00:26:23] Kris: gy, beautiful actress, all things I was, yeah, impressed so much so that I wanted her to be a part of our, uh, filmmakers. You know, how to write for the 48 panel that we did virtually for from the 2020. So. You never know. When you know someone, you've got something entered into a contest like fma and someone sees you and you're a fit for something and there you go.
[00:26:46] Kris: Yeah. You just never know what's gonna happen. Yeah. I mean, that's what's so cool about it.
[00:26:50] Kirk: Yeah. It's amazing.
[00:26:50] Kris: Where else can you make a film with your friends in 48 hours? End up at the Con Film Festival and maybe
[00:26:58] Kirk: with an actual screening and not [00:27:00] just Yeah, going there to hype your film like,
[00:27:02] Kris: yeah, totally.
[00:27:03] Kirk: So many people have to do,
[00:27:04] Kris: right.
[00:27:05] Kirk: But an actual screening,
[00:27:07] Kris: right. That's
[00:27:07] Kirk: huge.
[00:27:08] Kris: And I think that's what's so cool about it and probably why I'm still here with you, you know, is that I just think that. It's so much fun to bring the filmmakers, you know, watch them grow like the sewan chops.
[00:27:21] Kirk: Yeah.
[00:27:21] Kris: You know?
[00:27:22] Kirk: Yeah.
[00:27:22] Kris: And, and the, and to their first ever win this
[00:27:25] Kirk: year and de destination weird. Another one of my, oh, my favorites.
[00:27:29] Kris: How much do I, how much do I love those weirdos? Exactly. Some quirky weirdos. I'm like, I saw him, I sent, when I see him signed up, I'm like, yes,
[00:27:37] Kirk: exactly.
[00:27:38] Kris: You never know what kind of crazy shit they're gonna do.
[00:27:41] Kirk: Exactly. Uh, well it's okay. So let's talk about the, the Seattle and the Montana 48.
[00:27:48] Kris: Yes,
[00:27:48] Kirk: I know when. When I asked you to come on board, I really wanted you not as an assistant. I wanted you to feel that this was, you know, 50% yours.
[00:27:59] Kris: Right.
[00:27:59] Kirk: [00:28:00] And I hope I've, I hope I've conveyed it that way to you.
[00:28:03] Kris: Yeah. I mean, there was a learning curve for a little while.
[00:28:06] Kris: Yeah. But you know, I, I, I feel like. I don't have 18 years worth of knowledge about it yet. And
[00:28:12] Kirk: yeah, just four
[00:28:13] Kris: when it comes. Just four. When it comes to the technical part of it, I mean, like I know a lot more now just from knowing you and just from being part of the competition
[00:28:21] Kirk: and having you have, you have your, I've heard your, your pat answers to certain questions.
[00:28:25] Speaker: Yep,
[00:28:25] Kris: yep. You
[00:28:25] Kirk: know very good at those.
[00:28:27] Kris: Yeah. So, I mean, it's just, uh, it's just like anything else. It's just that learning thing. But I do, I feel like, um, uh, I, I think it's still, I think when the Seattle, honestly, when the Seattle filmmakers look at it though, they're still, it was you for so long that it's still you.
[00:28:42] Kris: But I think that they, I think they like me.
[00:28:46] Kirk: Oh, definitely, definitely. Definitely.
[00:28:48] Kris: And I think that, you know, uh, they get it, but, um, you know, it's just time and, and working on it that has, has gotten us to this.
[00:28:56] Kirk: You'll, you'll wear 'em down eventually.
[00:28:58] Kris: I'll, I'll wear 'em out. [00:29:00] They'll learn to life me or else.
[00:29:02] Kris: Yeah. I'm the comic relief in this, in this, you know, when Kurt, when when Kurt starts, uh, talking for a really long time and ke reading off of his phone. Then I'll just chime in with the joke. No, I'm kidding. It's, uh, yeah, I mean, it's a, it's a give and take. I mean, I think we're, we're working our way through how this, this all works, doing it together.
[00:29:22] Kris: But what's been really cool is that I think it's, you know. Not that I wanna say yay for the pandemic, because I don't wanna say that because it's been awful on so many levels, but
[00:29:31] Speaker: fuck the pandemic.
[00:29:33] Kris: I know. Fuck you. You fucking it. Fuck. But it, but also what it has done, uh, was given us the opportunity, which I think we've both done this together and grown together really well with it, is learning how to write grants.
[00:29:47] Kris: Yeah. Learning how to, uh, get, getting the opportunity to actually, uh, apply for grants through things that were opportunities we didn't have before with the 48. Because one of the things that we had always talked about [00:30:00] when I came on board is that, you know, I know you wanted to grow the competition mm-hmm.
[00:30:03] Kris: In order to grow the competition. There's so many people that wanna be a part of it, but can't perhaps afford the registration fee. Yeah. You know, and, and how can we reach those communities that can't afford it? When we started getting the opportunities to apply for the grants, I was like, and I know at first you were like, oh, it's just so difficult.
[00:30:21] Kris: And there was a couple that were just really hard. But then for Cultures, grant opened up for the pandemic relief. And I know I was a little pushy. I was like, we need to do this, you know? And you were like,
[00:30:30] Kirk: we needed,
[00:30:30] Kris: that's what I needed.
[00:30:32] Kirk: That's
[00:30:32] Kris: what I needed. And, and we applied for it and we got it, which allowed us to offer, offer registration, registration subsidies for people who couldn't afford it.
[00:30:42] Kris: You know, we've been allowed to be able to continue that and we'll be able to do that this year because of another grant.
[00:30:48] Speaker: This year we have 10 pre-purchased registrations. Yeah.
[00:30:51] Kris: We've already pre-purchased exactly 10 registrations from a grant that we got so that we, you know, people who can't afford it and apply for it.
[00:30:59] Kris: Who've never [00:31:00] been able to be in the competition can do it, which is amazing. Yeah. And how can we help? That's, that's how we helped. And so I think the only good thing that's come out of the pandemic, because everything shut down pretty much, uh, for getting together was the grants that we got, and also just realizing how important it, it is for all the filmmakers to support each other and be at screenings, live and in person, and applaud each other and get to talk about their process.
[00:31:27] Kris: Yeah. It's so difficult to do it on.
[00:31:29] Kirk: Yeah. Well, and it's, its so great because when I was functionally doing it by myself, a lot of the goals that you and I have been able to actively pursue were always on my mind, but I was so.
[00:31:41] Kris: Right.
[00:31:42] Kirk: Overwhelmed with just making, getting
[00:31:44] Kris: it done
[00:31:45] Kirk: happen, that, you know, it grew kind of despite me.
[00:31:50] Kris: Right, right.
[00:31:50] Kirk: So it was really, it was really great when you came in and our goals, they really lined up
[00:31:59] Kris: right
[00:31:59] Kirk: and [00:32:00] that we wanted to grow the competition, but while growing it increase the level of representation among. Underserved and underrepresented communities.
[00:32:11] Kris: Exactly.
[00:32:12] Kirk: And yeah, working on the grants, that was, you know, that's always tough for me because, you know, when you're writing the grants.
[00:32:23] Speaker: You know that they're expecting a certain language Right. And a certain point of view. And I get really, as you've seen, I get really cynical about that.
[00:32:33] Kris: Right, right.
[00:32:35] Kirk: And you, you have been really good at reigning me in and uh, kind of telling me to shut the fuck up from time to time and, you know, the collaboration on writing that.
[00:32:50] Speaker: Writing. All of that has been very productive and very positive.
[00:32:54] Kris: Yeah, I agree. It's like, you know, it we, you write something and I'm looking at it and [00:33:00] editing it and I'm write something. You're looking at it and editing. I mean, I think that we work really well together.
[00:33:04] Kirk: We put together a nice Frankenstein's monster, basically.
[00:33:07] Kris: Yeah, agreed. Agreed. Yeah. And so what you know, then you start the one and you have the basis, and then you just have to learn. The language. So it's just, it's been, it's been an interesting process. I'd always wanted to learn how to be a grant writer, and I guess we just got a Crash Co on offer, well, to Arts Washington and to, for cultures credit.
[00:33:25] Kris: Yeah, they really, they were
[00:33:27] Kirk: good coaches,
[00:33:27] Kris: supported staff, and were great coaches and really spent the time talking about. What, you know, teaching us how to put in a package what we already do with the right language. 'cause it's like we already are doing all the things that they were looking for to get these grants, but we just had to learn how to write the right language and every grant and what the.
[00:33:48] Kris: Depending on where it was coming from, was looking for something a little bit different. Yeah. So it it's, it's been interesting to be able to
[00:33:53] Kirk: do Yeah. Arts, arts Washington and for culture, they were so supportive and great coaches. [00:34:00]
[00:34:00] Kris: Right.
[00:34:00] Kirk: So that when, uh, so, you know, huge shout out to Lan and. Brett Yeah, exactly.
[00:34:06] Speaker: For helping us, that when that King County grant came around, we didn't really need any coaching.
[00:34:12] Kris: I know. We were just like, yeah. Done.
[00:34:14] Kirk: Yeah. Like, which, which of these do we need? Right. And you know, I love that you could start the form and I'd finish it or I'd start it and you'd fill in the gaps and it, it, you know, it worked really well.
[00:34:24] Speaker: And we do have this kind of evergreen body of. Of prose that we can call on
[00:34:30] Kris: right
[00:34:30] Kirk: at at this point, I, I'm not cynical about it. I read it and I feel good about it.
[00:34:35] Kris: Oh, so that's a major accomplishment then.
[00:34:38] Kirk: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, you know, we got to that point together. Yeah. I'm really proud of both of us for, for doing that.
[00:34:45] Kris: Agreed. It was definitely Pat a challenge. Pat. Yeah. Pat in the back here. For those of you that can't see, we're both patting our backs. No. Yeah. I mean, I think that, um. It was always something that I think you had to overcome something about, and I had to overcome something about. Mm-hmm. So [00:35:00] it's that we put that together and it just gives opportunities for other filmmakers, which is all we really.
[00:35:06] Kris: Really want out of this is, you know,
[00:35:08] Kirk: the night after karaoke, I was hanging out with the citros and they just kept buying drinks and I love those wacky citros. They're so much fun and such fantastic people and fantastic filmmakers, and I remember. Nuke or it was either note or nuke. There was, there was booze involved.
[00:35:31] Speaker: Um,
[00:35:32] Kirk: it all became rock at the end, nor whatever, whoever you are.
[00:35:37] Speaker: No, I, I believe it was note he asked, you know, what do you want to see from us? And the only thing I could say was, I don't expect anything of you. I want you to participate and grow in. The manner you know, in which you're gonna grow. Right. You know, the trajectory that you are taking, that you're choosing.
[00:35:55] Kirk: I want you to do that. What I want and what I know Chris wants, is we [00:36:00] want it to be larger. Yes. We want it to be more inclusive.
[00:36:04] Kris: Yes.
[00:36:04] Kirk: Um, more representative of what the actual filmmaking landscape is in Washington and in Montana.
[00:36:14] Kris: Mm-hmm.
[00:36:15] Kirk: That's all I want. Yeah. I want more people to participate and more opportunities for people to participate.
[00:36:21] Kris: Right.
[00:36:22] Kirk: And they just looked at me like, oh, that's awesome.
[00:36:25] Kris: Right? I mean, what more could you want? Yeah. It's such a reward to, to see, to see the progress of teams that come back each year and use us as a, you know, a training ground. I mean, that's. What we want. And it's so amazing to see that happen and to see how the filmmaking teams that come back every year, some of them, you know, are really hardcore and some of them just do it for fun every year.
[00:36:48] Kris: Mm-hmm. Because opportunity to get together with their friends 'cause they work professionally and corporate stuff and, you know, whatever. I mean, the, the gamut runs long and wide with the different scenarios, but [00:37:00] just to see everybody, you know, kind of come to an even playing field. See how people make it work with what they have.
[00:37:07] Kris: Mm-hmm. And you know, it's all super cool and I just, I just love seeing them improve and I love watching the actors that are in films. Their improvement over time and how directors become better directors. I'm just so passionate about directors getting experience and becoming better and learning how to work with their DP instead of against their dp.
[00:37:30] Kris: Yeah. You know, team and you know, all of those things. It's just so fun to see. So, you know, we had a lot of goals before the pandemic hit about how we wanted to see this grow and hopefully this is the start of how we want to reach. All the corners of the state and in Montana reaching all the corners of the state for the Montana.
[00:37:49] Kirk: Mm-hmm. Which
[00:37:49] Kris: we'll talk about in a second. But I'm excited that we're finally back. I think the other good thing, as I digress back to something good that came outta the pandemic, 'cause hardly anything did. [00:38:00] Was is the, uh, is the drop off now? Yeah. Being completely automated so that you we're not, I mean, there was something to be said for, you know, the countdown out in the street at the restaurant.
[00:38:12] Kris: Yeah. Where you're going 10, 9, 8, and people are pulling up in their cars and trying to get there and get in line in time. There's something to be said for the excitement of that.
[00:38:20] Speaker: Yeah.
[00:38:21] Kirk: But. I think it also is a huge relief for the filmmakers and gives them an opportunity to make their product a little bit better by having all that time to edit it and
[00:38:29] Speaker: not risk their lives.
[00:38:31] Kris: Totally. Don't, especially, I mean, how bad is, how bad does traffic, you know? I mean, how long does it take? People to get places so hard. What? What I think a lot of the filmmakers don't understand. Everybody always had a complaint about the venue that we chose and why didn't choose
[00:38:45] Kirk: could We could never get it right.
[00:38:46] Kris: Why didn't choose something here? Why is the dropoffs here? And it's like, and it'd be in
[00:38:50] Kirk: my backyard.
[00:38:51] Kris: Yeah. Why is the dropoff not at my house? Man, they could just roll out a bin, hand it to you. Can't you make it that easy for me?
[00:38:58] Kirk: We could never [00:39:00] get it right. We could never please. You know, a quarter of anyone.
[00:39:04] Kris: Right.
[00:39:04] Kirk: So you know why you have to do it in Buren? Why'd you have to do it on Capitol Hill? Yeah. Why'd you have to do it in Lower Queen Anne?
[00:39:09] Kris: Because the venues allowed us to do it for free. Everybody.
Yeah.
[00:39:13] Kris: You know, there's a lot of money involved in putting this stuff on. Well, we, it's chose
[00:39:16] Speaker: places that have, you know, food and drink available,
[00:39:19] Kris: have a beer afterwards.
[00:39:20] Kirk: Exactly. Because that's what you need when you're sleep deprived. Beer.
[00:39:25] Kris: Beer, maybe, maybe a shot, maybe a bunch of sugar and a bunch of pizza to make you just really fall asleep in your beer after you're done. But, but yeah, I mean, I, I will miss that part of it, but I also think we'll just allow more filmmakers across the board to be able to participate because
[00:39:45] Kirk: Yeah, and I think, you know, we've done the, the live stream.
[00:39:50] Kris: Yeah,
[00:39:50] Speaker: the last couple of events of, of the turn in and I think with places opening up more and more, you know, we'll just go back to solo.
[00:39:58] Kris: Yeah.
[00:39:59] Kirk: And if people [00:40:00] want to come by and say hi, they, they can, that'd be great.
[00:40:02] Kris: Absolutely.
[00:40:03] Kirk: But in so many ways, the digital drop off is amazing. Router's implementation of it with the check sum so that even if your upload is late, right.
[00:40:13] Speaker: Having the check sum done, uh, it was a stroke of genius and
[00:40:18] Kris: agreed.
[00:40:19] Kirk: Well, to be fair, the Four Points has been doing it that way for a long time, but Router has integrated it into Cinema 48. So it's all in one place and not, there's no third party stuff involved. So that's, that's great. But you know, this technology again.
[00:40:35] Speaker: Allowed us to rethink the Missoula 48.
[00:40:38] Kris: Exactly. It was
[00:40:39] Speaker: that just got, it was a tiny little flower. It just got,
[00:40:43] Kirk: yeah,
[00:40:44] Speaker: chopped.
[00:40:45] Kris: Exactly. Exactly.
[00:40:47] Kirk: Uh,
[00:40:48] Kris: yeah. I mean originally in, I mean, we've told the story a few times to people, and I think the people in the filmmakers in Montana that we've met and worked with kind of know how it all came to [00:41:00] be.
[00:41:00] Kris: But, you know, I'm originally from Missoula. And grew up there, born and raised, and, you know, moved to Seattle to go to school in 1987 and never came back to Montana as far as, uh, living, didn't ever move back there because. Hey, I was in the big city. I was gonna make something of myself in the big city, put on my cowboy boots and my hat, and made some by myself.
[00:41:23] Kris: Got hit
[00:41:24] Kirk: on Chris Cornell and
[00:41:26] Kris: I mean, it was, it was grunge baby. It was like the best, it was Nirvana. It was Pearl Jam. Yeah.
[00:41:32] Kirk: I'm
[00:41:33] Kris: still so
[00:41:33] Kirk: jealous of that.
[00:41:34] Kris: Yeah. Oh, I lived it. Saw everybody live. Mud, honey, and, oh yeah. Don't even get me started.
[00:41:40] Kirk: I hate you. I never saw Nirvana. Never saw Nirvana. All the others never saw
[00:41:47] Kris: that.
[00:41:47] Kris: Nothing like seeing him in a little club. Right? Yeah. So my family's still all in Missoula, and it's, it's always in my heart and I go back there a lot. And you also have family there. And so it [00:42:00] just, I don't remember when we, was it 2018 when it's like a year after I started, I joined you. It was like 2018 when the the, the little.
[00:42:09] Kris: Tendrils in our brain started working as to, Hey, maybe we should do the Mon the mazua.
[00:42:15] Kirk: We, we really had to do a hard sell on that.
[00:42:17] Kris: Yeah, we did. We had to pitch it to the, because we knew that there was so many filmmakers there, and we knew that there was a budding film community and, but there wasn't a lot of, uh, opportunities for filmmakers.
[00:42:28] Kirk: We, we pretty much had it all planned, but I, I. Since you were new and kind of an unknown quantity to, to hq. Right. I really had to do a hard sell on Mark. Yeah. And Christina and Liz to make it go.
[00:42:41] Kris: Right.
[00:42:42] Kirk: That was, that was a hard sell.
[00:42:44] Kris: That was, but they agreed to do it. And we did it and it was tough because it was really hard.
[00:42:49] Kris: What,
[00:42:50] Kirk: we almost gave up so many times.
[00:42:51] Kris: Yeah. I, I think what we quickly realized is that, I mean, I knew this because I grew up there. Montana's a big state and the filmmakers. [00:43:00] Or in hubs, you know, they're not just in Seattle. Right. And even in Washington, there's filmmakers, but everything's not that far in Montana's such a huge state and the filmmakers were in every corner of it.
[00:43:10] Kris: Yeah. And the way that we had the 48 set up is you had to have a representative there for drop off. And you had, and one of the things that we did do was they were allowed to have a representative, you know, uh, an admin representative on their team that as long as they were in Missoula for the drop off to pick up all their assignments for the competition.
[00:43:30] Kris: They could compete. So we had a team from Billings and we had a team from Bozeman and we had a team from or two from Hamilton and we had teams from Missoula and you know, so it, we did. Oh, that's
[00:43:39] Kirk: all the
[00:43:39] Kris: team end up. Yeah. We did ultimately end up with 10, nine teams. We had 10 and then one dropped out or something.
[00:43:45] Kris: We ended up with nine teams and we decided if we eight on
[00:43:47] Kirk: time, which is good.
[00:43:48] Kris: Yeah. Yeah. If we could get that happening, we could. We could make that go. And, I mean, we had James from Stevensville who was in high school. Yeah. He put together his team and they did a really good job. So it was just, it was, it was [00:44:00] tough.
[00:44:00] Kris: And we almost gave up and we almost canceled it because it was just really hard to reach, reach the filmmakers because they were so spread out and we just could not go to every corner of the state to try to, uh, get it rolling. So, and then we had our first one and then the pandemic.
[00:44:17] Kirk: Yeah.
[00:44:18] Kris: Oh, everything.
[00:44:19] Kris: We just sort of, so we combined. So any of the Montana filmmakers that wanted to participate in the Seattle, which we did have a couple of them do. Yeah. A couple of teams do.
[00:44:30] Kirk: Two Hamilton teams.
[00:44:31] Kris: Yeah. Yeah. Two Hamilton teams, you know, did, did well, did extremely well. Both of them won awards and everything.
[00:44:38] Kris: Yeah. So, and then we just realized how difficult that is. Um, and. Kind of started rethinking the whole, maybe we should rename it the Montana four eight hour film project. Yeah. We had a great meeting with the Montana Film Commissioner Allison.
[00:44:52] Kirk: She's
[00:44:53] Kris: great art who's amazing and really supportive of us and, uh, getting ready to start getting back in touch with her and launching [00:45:00] this.
[00:45:00] Kris: And we've rethought our strategy and the pool.
[00:45:03] Kirk: Yeah. Because of the technology that came outta '
[00:45:05] Kris: cause of the technology. Yeah. So now you know the filmmakers from all across the state. Can digitally attend the kickoff and the drop off, and you can be from anywhere in the state and you don't, we will, we, we are planning on doing in the major cities, in the billings, Bozeman, and Missoula areas and pot, potentially Kalispell.
[00:45:25] Kris: We, we haven't got it completely worked out yet. We do plan to do networking and filmmaker meetups mm-hmm. To do a little bit of networking for people to find their teams, but, and filmmakers. But everything's gonna be digital, so, um.
[00:45:38] Kirk: Then hopefully kind of the dream is to have screenings in Billings, Bozeman, and Missoula.
[00:45:45] Kris: Exactly. So whoever compete, who all the teams will get screened three times actually. Yeah. In Billings, in Bozeman and in Missoula. So we're working on putting things together with the colleges and you know, the filmmakers to, to do some [00:46:00] presentations and whatnot here in the next couple months. The Missoula is at the end of June this year.
[00:46:06] Kris: Montana. Montana. I'm sorry, did I say Missoula?
[00:46:10] Kirk: It's, it's an old avenue.
[00:46:10] Kris: Your mom agreed. My mom who lives in Lolo is just texting me. So yeah, I mean, I think it, that's another thing that came out of the pandemic is really, um, allowing us to be able to rethink.
[00:46:23] Kirk: Yeah. I don't think we'd have even thought of doing that
[00:46:26] Kris: if this, if the pandemic didn't happen.
[00:46:28] Kris: Yeah, absolutely. It's like everything I don't think
[00:46:29] Kirk: we'd have thought
[00:46:30] Kris: of it had to go virtual. Yeah.
[00:46:31] Kirk: I think we would've eventually just kinda hit a wall Yeah. In Missoula.
[00:46:36] Kris: Yeah.
[00:46:36] Kirk: And maybe given up because Yeah. You know, it's, even though we love going out there, both of us love going out there. It's, it's a.
[00:46:46] Speaker: It's a bit of a hike.
[00:46:47] Kris: Yeah, exactly.
[00:46:48] Kirk: So 500, 500 miles.
[00:46:50] Kris: Yeah. So if the filmmakers don't have to, to participate, don't have to, you know, to, to, to do that, to come out the, you know, I, I [00:47:00] think that's a good formula. First success. We'll see what happens. I mean, I think it'll still be low this year because everybody's still getting back into the swing of things and they'll, you know, for both Seattle and Montana, you know, is, I think still people are.
[00:47:12] Kris: I think we're still gonna have a little bit of a lag in, in representation for teams, but I think that in 2023 is probably just gonna be phenomenal.
[00:47:21] Speaker: Yeah.
[00:47:21] Kris: So 2022, sort of our rebuilding year, I think for both. Yeah. Um, and kind of looking forward to seeing what Pence is out there and Yeah, we'll see.
[00:47:30] Kirk: Well, we have, we have two production assistants who can help us at the screenings.
[00:47:36] Kris: Yes,
[00:47:36] Kirk: we do. My, my niece and nephew.
[00:47:38] Kris: Yeah. See that's what you do. People, you put your family to work, you get free labor.
[00:47:42] Kirk: James just got his license so he can drive and I, I won't, I won't feel nervous letting him drive my car. 'cause he was taught by my brother. My brother's a great driver, and my brother was taught by the best by my grandpa and my dad.
[00:47:57] Speaker: So
[00:47:58] Kris: by the way, all Montana drivers [00:48:00] are much better drivers than they
[00:48:01] Kirk: are
[00:48:01] Kris: drivers. Drivers in Washington. So much drivers in Washington can go to hell because they suck.
[00:48:07] Kirk: No, every time I go to Montana it's like, okay, I just, I feel safer on the road here.
[00:48:11] Kris: And go figure. Because once you get, once you cross across the state line, it's like you can pretty much go as fast as you want.
[00:48:18] Kris: It's kind of like,
[00:48:19] Kirk: well just that stretch. So Missoula's at the 100 mile mark of I 90. Once you get into, into Montana, since I've been driving there. Oh man. I have seen one state trooper.
[00:48:35] Kris: Yeah.
[00:48:36] Kirk: I think that was on my last drive out there coming home.
[00:48:39] Kris: Right.
[00:48:40] Kirk: I was going like 95. Yeah. Just on the, on the stretch between Missoula and French Town.
[00:48:45] Kris: Right.
[00:48:45] Kirk: Oh shit. Okay, cool.
[00:48:47] Kris: Yeah.
[00:48:47] Kirk: Slow down.
[00:48:48] Kris: Well, back in the day when I was in high school, hey, yes. I sped when I was in high school back in the day. It's like when I would drive, 'cause I, and, and when I was in college, when I was going [00:49:00] to school in Seattle and I would drive back home, I would. I would go a hundred, whatever.
[00:49:06] Kris: Right. And if they caught you, it used to be they wouldn't write you a ticket, you just paid them 20 bucks.
[00:49:13] Kirk: Oh, that's not a bad deal.
[00:49:14] Kris: And, and you were done. You didn't even get a ticket. They were just like, ah. So it's like, I think it went to the beer fund. After work. Beer fund. Yeah. 'cause I don't think that any of that money was documented.
[00:49:25] Kris: And in retrospect I'm like, was that legal on things to do? Because I, I remember there you just had to have some twenties with you. You were gonna speed.
[00:49:34] Kirk: It's a lot less of a hassle for everyone involved.
[00:49:37] Kris: Exactly. There's no paperwork. Exactly. Yeah. Goodness. And now for those of you who can see, my dog is licking my face because.
[00:49:47] Kris: It is five o'clock and
[00:49:50] Kirk: Oh, it's eaten time.
[00:49:51] Kris: He's militant about his food. Like he thinks food's gonna come out of my mouth. Will he? That's
[00:49:56] Kirk: like our cats at seven.
[00:49:58] Kris: Yeah.
[00:49:59] Kirk: They [00:50:00] all come stalking out.
[00:50:01] Kris: Yeah,
[00:50:02] Kirk: like
[00:50:02] Kris: he's, he's militant 7:00 AM and I have to the whole like savings time, right? Yeah. It's like he's not having any of it.
[00:50:12] Kris: So, and usually if they don't recognize it 7:00 AM at 4:00 PM he's like, so it's like I try to make him wait until eight and he's like,
[00:50:19] Kirk: no,
[00:50:20] Kris: no. I've adjusted already 7:00 AM at 4:00 PM You're not gonna try to make me wait till eight to five. All I have to say to you, William, is in another year. It's not gonna ever change again, supposedly.
[00:50:34] Kris: Right?
[00:50:35] Kirk: Oh.
[00:50:35] Kris: It'll just be dark until 9:00 AM apparently. That's all.
[00:50:39] Kirk: That's fine. I'm I, I'm glad it's gonna stay on this side.
[00:50:43] Kris: Yeah.
[00:50:43] Kirk: Agreed of the switch. I prefer having a sun a little later.
[00:50:48] Kris: Yeah.
[00:50:48] Kirk: And if you know ASHA's. Driving into work, she'll see some sunlight on her drive.
[00:50:55] Kris: Right, right,
[00:50:56] Kirk: exactly. Instead of gonna work in the dark, coming back in the dark.
[00:50:58] Kris: Yeah. Well, we'll see if that [00:51:00] Actually, I think it's, it's the one thing that our, that our elected officials could unanimously agree on.
[00:51:06] Kirk: Well, we haven't gotten to the house yet, and that's where the
[00:51:09] Kris: That's true.
[00:51:09] Kirk: The real nut jobs are, but Well, hey, we're, we're at an hour, so
[00:51:15] Kris: we're in an hour. We could chat forever.
[00:51:17] Kirk: Well, yeah, we will. Again,
[00:51:19] Kris: you'll tell me all the gossip from behind when, when we get off. No, I'm just kidding. There's always gossip when you on a road trip, right? Yeah. So, and, and that's, that was the other thing that I wanted to say quickly about Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rotter, well, Rotter Dam was just that the opportunity to.
[00:51:35] Kris: Sort of also combine it with a little vacation, which I think a lot of people do. You know, and, and Lane went with me and we did, you know, Amsterdam and we toured through the Netherlands and we went to Austria and we spent time in Germany. And you know, it, it was just. Really great to be able to go over there and, you know, see, see something else.
[00:51:57] Kris: So we left a little early and you left a week early [00:52:00] and just did some, yeah. Did some vacationing. So that's always a
travel,
[00:52:03] Kirk: travel makes you better, I
[00:52:05] Kris: think. Yeah, I, I agree. Like so here's to a successful 2022, uh, for Seattle and for Montana. I can't wait to dive in and see all the filmmakers' faces. You know, see what creative, beautiful things they come up.
[00:52:22] Kris: Yeah. See what
[00:52:22] Kirk: the next stage of evolution in Montana filmmaking is.
[00:52:27] Kris: Exactly. I'm excited. They've got a lot of stuff going on and we'll see. Uh, you know, hopefully we'll be able to get on the ground floor of also being there, uh, helping to be their training.
[00:52:35] Kirk: Yeah.
[00:52:36] Kris: Opportunities. Exactly. Their filmmakers too.
[00:52:37] Kris: So
[00:52:38] Kirk: that's
[00:52:38] Kris: how we're talking to you as always. My, uh, my partner in crime, it's, it's been a fun. How, what was it? Did I join officially in 2018? 2018?
[00:52:49] Kirk: Yeah. That's when you signed the papers?
[00:52:50] Kris: That's when I signed the paperwork. That's when I signed my first term child away. Oh. There goes my notes. He said, he hears me whenever I have a Zoom meeting.
[00:52:59] Kris: [00:53:00] He's like, okay. She's saying that G-O-O-D-B-Y-E word, not being FOOD will be coming next, and he's. Very crazy, so.
[00:53:10] Kirk: All right. Well I'm looking forward to digging in and doing Montana and Seattle.
[00:53:15] Kris: Exactly. It was great talking to you buddy.
[00:53:18] Kirk: I'm sure. I'm sure I'll probably talk to you tomorrow.
[00:53:20] Kris: Probably talk to you tomorrow.
[00:53:21] Kris: Okay. My.
[00:53:34] Speaker: 48 Hour Heroes Origin Stories is a production of Media Without Borders and the Seattle 48 hour film project.