What are the 4Qs? (1) Three favorite films. (2) An underrated film. (3) An overrated film. (4) A lesser-known film people should seek out.

JT Doran brought the film “More Dead Than Living” to Film Invasion Los Angeles in 2025 for its L.A. Premiere and happened to take home the Programmer’s Prize for Exceptional Filmmaking AND THEN went on to be an official selection at Sherman Oaks Film Festival later that year and took home the Filmmakers Award for Outstanding Short Film, Comedy and well as Outstanding Screenplay, Comedy.

We had a fantastic chat and, in my opinion, a pretty great follow up 4 Questions.

You can watch “More Dead Than Living” right now at https://www.youtube.com/@twohander.

Follow JT’s work on Instagram at @twohanderfilms

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

Happy Friday, Listeners!

JT Doran brought the film “More Dead Than Living” to Film Invasion Los Angeles in 2025 for its L.A. Premiere and happened to take home the Programmer’s Prize for Exceptional Filmmaking. “More Dead Than Living” went on to also be an official selection at Sherman Oaks Film Festival later that year and took home the Filmmakers Award for Outstanding Short Film, Comedy and well as Outstanding Screenplay, Comedy.

We met at FI-LA’s Opening Night Gala and odds are I thanked him for flying out to L.A. from NYC. Our only disagreement is who is the cooler person; I say it’s JT and since I’m typing this I won’t even acknowledge his point of view here.

The great news is that you can watch “More Dead Than Living” right now at https://www.youtube.com/@twohander.

Follow JT’s work on Instagram at @twohanderfilms

or their Official Website: www.two-hander.com

Enjoy!

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

We have a very special THURSDAY episode to gift you this week!

Sevan Najarian directed and produced the recently released animated feature film, “The Whitest Kids U’Know’s MARS.” Sevan is an experienced animator and FX artist as well as a director; his credits include “Mystery Science Theater,” Adult Swim’s “Children’s Hospital” and an extensive array of animated projects from Channel 101 fame.

“MARS” was conceived during the production of the original “The Whitest Kids U’Know” sketch series. Thanks to a booming fanbase on Twitch, the troupe was able to crowdfund the animated film’s budget and commence production.
Guess what that means? Sevan and the troupe – Trevor Moore, Zach Cregger, Sam Brown, Darren Trumeter, and Timmy Williams – got to make the exact film they wanted without interference or censorship.

Go to wkukmars.com to find out where and when you can catch the film as it works its way around theaters.

Go to sevannajarian.com to learn more about Sevan and his work or follow him on IG @sevannajarian

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

What are the 4Qs? (1) Three favorite films. (2) An underrated film. (3) An overrated film. (4) A lesser-known film people should seek out.

Alyson Croft wrote, produced and starred in “Jesus Loves Me,” a fantastic film that had its World Premiere at Film Invasion Los Angeles 2025, taking home the Programmer’s Prize for Exceptional Filmmaking AND THEN returned later that year to the Sherman Oaks Film Festival with “Tweens,” a thrilling dramatic short that she co-wrote and performs in and took home the Programmer’s Prize for Exceptional Filmmaking.

I obviously had to get deep with such an impressive and ambitious filmmaker and follow up with the 4 Questions.

Follow Alyson’s Actors Cartel Academy on Instagram at @actors_cartel_academy

Follow Alyson on Instagram at @croftalyson

Check out Alyson’s book “Speaking Actor: A Guide to Speaking The Language of Actors” at Amazon.com

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

Happy Monday!

When introducing Alyson Croft on this podcast, it sounds like I am joking when I say, “2025 was the year of Alyson Croft.” It’s not a joke! Alyson wrote, produced and starred in “Jesus Loves Me,” a fantastic film that had its World Premiere at Film Invasion Los Angeles 2025, taking home the Programmer’s Prize for Exceptional Filmmaking.
Alyson returned later that year to the Sherman Oaks Film Festival with “Tweens,” a thrilling dramatic short that she co-wrote and performs in. No surprise that “Tweens” also took home the Programmer’s Prize for Exceptional Filmmaking.

On top of that, we did a little additional screening between the two festivals that included “Jesus Loves Me,” officially the last in-theater Q&A’s that I may ever personally moderate. Hey, this is a big deal for me! I moderated every Q&A at two festivals for nearly a decade, but now that the festivals have grown to multiple screens I am needed elsewhere.
I’ve still got the podcast to interview filmmakers, but Alyson will always be one of my last in-theater Q&A’s.

Follow Alyson’s Actors Cartel Academy on Instagram at @actors_cartel_academy

Follow Alyson on Instagram at @croftalyson

Check out Alyson’s book “Speaking Actor: A Guide to Speaking The Language of Actors” at Amazon.com

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

What are the 4Qs? (1) Three favorite films. (2) An underrated film. (3) An overrated film. (4) A lesser-known film people should seek out.

Sam Gasch’s fantastic screenplay “My Dog Loves Broccoli” was an Official Selection at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2025.

On top of being a very talented writer, he is an all around lovely person so I was thrilled to dig deeper after our chat and get some of his inspos with the 4 Questions.

Follow Sam at @samgasch on BlueSky

Follow Sam’s podcast Ideal Remake at @idealremake on Instagram

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

A have a great interview for you Lovely Listeners today!

I first met Sam Gasch at FIlm Invasion Los Angeles in 2023, when his feature length screenplay “The Blanket” was an Official Selection. Both Film Invasion L.A. and Sherman Oaks Film Festival have categories for unproduced screenplays and they get a LOT of submissions. In other words, when a screenplay is an Official Selection that means it is very, very good. This makes it all the more impressive that last year Sam returned, this time with the Official Selection screenplay “My Dog Loves Broccoli” at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2025.

Smart, humorous and personable, Sam is one the people I end up chatting with the most at a festival event. I was delighted to see his name pop up on my calendar for a podcast recording.
I hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed being a part of it!

Follow Sam at @samgasch on BlueSky

Follow Sam’s podcast Ideal Remake at @idealremake on Instagram

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles

I hope everyone is having a great start to their week!

I know I am because Nickolas Gilbert has returned! Nick was on the Discover Indie Film podcast to discuss his film “Nailed” back in March 2022 on episodes 239.
Nick is back to talk about his follow-up project, “La Petite Mortimer,” an Official Selection at Sherman Oaks Film Festival in 2025 where it took home the Filmmakers Award for Outstanding Originality, Short Film – Comedy.

We’ve only had these two conversations, but I can sincerely say that Nick is one my favorites.
His films are always a breath of fresh air and he’s always been a welcome presence when he comes to a film festival party or screening.

You can learn more about Nick’s work both at Distortion Field and on
Instagram at @nickolasgilbert

Although, like yours truly Nick generally shuns social media!

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Discover Indie Film Links
DIF Podcast Website – DIF Instagram – DIF BlueSky
Discover Indie Film Foundation (nonprofit for the arts) Website
Sherman Oaks Film Festival
Film Invasion Los Angeles