Indie Prophecy

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Hello from the deep exhaustion of being almost done with my movie. I’ll consider my work complete once I Really Love My Husband is live on platforms — which we’ve already passed QC checks for — so mark your calendar for November 4 to rent or buy. That day, I’ll be doing an AMA on Reddit at 6 pm PT, then celebrating with strong drinks followed by a very long nap.

Today’s newsletter features a Work in Progress interview with the filmmakers behind ONE LAST ONE — writer/director Dakota Loesch and lead actor/EP Alex Crawford. It’s a punk rock crime thriller that fuses the team’s backgrounds in music and immersive theater built on a creative crush (and Alex’s prophecy).

They’re at the total opposite stage from me right now — hunting for the money. And these guys are a little crazy (in the best way): they’re not just fundraising, they’re already in pre-pro. I did the same thing, and honestly, it’s the only way to keep an indie film alive — plant the flag, and figure it out as you go.

So as I sit in this deep exhaustion, compounded by travel, a Sunday wedding at Foreign Cinema in SF where they projected The Princess Bride on a wall, an afterparty thrown by a Burning Man camp, a delayed flight, and an overflowing inbox, I somehow feel invigorated by Dakota and Alex’s excitement. Their “Christmas Eve Syndrome” as the call it — the excitement for what’s to come — It’s a feeling I haven’t felt in a long time. I know I’ll find it again as it’s the essential fuel when you’re just getting started.

Before we jump in, a little housekeeping: I Really Love My Husband is playing in Toronto this Sunday at the TIFF Lightbox theater as the Female Eye Film Festival’s Closing Night Gala film — I’ll be there — and at the Twin Cities Film Festival on 10/23. I went on the The Cinegogue Intermission podcast to talk about what it’s like being someone who hasn’t seen all the movies the guys who knew they wanted to be directors since age seven have — and why that’s actually a good thing. Plus, I’ve been spoiled on the No Film School podcast these past few months, interviewing Shane Black, Benny Safdie and unpacking my experience pitching a feature at The Gotham Project Market.

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WORK IN PROGRESS: ONE LAST ONE

_{WORK IN PROGRESS deep dives one microbudget film with the filmmakers, in the process of making it.}

Okay, ONE LAST ONE. They’re doing something else smart — taking their experience from the punk music scene and weaving it directly into the story, making both a record and a movie. They’re capitalizing on their unique set of skills, which is mission-critical to making something that feels singular and truly your own. It’s something I talk about in the Microbudget Mindset workshop — using your lived experience to pinpoint the story only you can tell.

It’s also a clever move because it bakes in a tour-like experience for when the film is eventually released. More and more, I believe you need to be developing community from day zero — thinking not just about what you’re making but how you’re going to get it out there. I definitely want to work with a community producer on my next one.

These folks are still in the thick of their crowdfunding campaign — which, if you’ve ever tried it, you know is a full-time job. I’m not in the business of driving readers to Seed&Spark or Kickstarter, but I do think it’s worth checking out our interview and the advice they share about getting started. I need to see these MiniDV tapes — and I’m officially integrating the phrase “Life it out, Cowpoke” into my vocabulary.

What’s your film and what is its origin?  

DAKOTA LOESCH: We’re making a feature film called ONE LAST ONE. And as far as the origin? Growing up, there was an arcade game called “Rival Schools United By  Fate” where you would pick characters from rival schools to team-up and battle. There’s definitely a bit of that vibe in Alex and me’s backstory.

We were never rivals though, we were  massive fans of each other, but we were from “different schools” or different punk collectives in our cases. Truth is we always wanted to work together, it was even talked about amongst our friends like it was some sorta prophecy: one day we would make a movie together. But for the first decade of knowing about each other and having this from-afar Mutual Appreciation Club, me and Alex were ships-in-the-night always just missing each other on tours and at shows and whatnot.

So skip-ahead almost fifteen years. Now we’re finally making a feature film together,  and we’ve carried that Mutual Appreciation Club feel into our filmmaking. All of our cast and crew members are people we admire personally and artistically — whether they’re frequent  collaborators, artists we look up to, old friends, or all of the above. It’s a rogue’s gallery of some of our all-time favorites. And the whole project has got that same spirit as back-in-the-day when we were starting our first bands and playing our first shows together.  

ALEX CRAWFORD: I am not even joking when I say that I used to daydream about collaborating with Dakota Loesch on any sort of creative endeavor.

My best friends Dustin Hayes — now a producer on ONE LAST ONE — and Milk Flud were on tour with their band Walter Mitty and His Makeshift Orchestra in 2011 and played a show with  Dakota’s old band Animal City in St. Louis. I was planning on joining the tour and documenting it all on my MiniDV camcorder (I still have the tapes) but I had one more week of working at the Orange County Fair and so I flew to Chicago and joined the tour then.

When I got in the van,  they were raving about these guys the met in St. Louis and how they were “really doing it!” We were enamored and Dakota became a creative North Star for me ever since then. Fast forward to 2021, I had just moved to LA to pursue a career in acting and filmmaking and Dakota had  been out here for a few years doing their thing.

I kept thinking, “Damn I really hope I can get on that level and work with them someday…” Little did I know that they were thinking the same thing about me the whole time, and now after acting in a few projects together over the past  couple years — Whiz Palace [short], Magdalene’s Total Home Cleaning [short], DVD [horror feature in post-production], The Anthropologist [comedy feature in post-production] — we are finally working hand-in-hand on our biggest picture to date. It feels like a synthesis of our entire friendship and creative relationship over the past 14 years. 

How are you funding it?  

AC: We are taking a true DIY approach to fundraising. I personally think that the only way this film works is if it’s made in a true grassroots, indie fashion. For better or worse, it’s the only way we know how. So we've launched a Seed & Spark crowdfunding campaign.

We’re also investing  a ton of sweat equity in this project. Every single person on the team is wearing multiple hats and has experience as a 360-degree filmmaker. We are begging, borrowing, stealing, and calling in every favor owed from the last decade. It’s a very non-traditional approach to making a  picture that says, “We are doing this no matter what…do you want in or not?” 

Where are you in the process of making ONE LAST ONE? What’s been the most  exciting or surprising part of the journey so far?  

AC: We are simultaneously fundraising and doing pre-production so that as soon as we get our budget we can get to shooting. And, on that topic of budget, we’ve got a film that is scalable to however much money we are able to raise.

The most exciting thing has been the momentum we’ve been gathering since we decided to go all-in on this project. Friends, peers, and collaborators have been coming out of the woodwork to help out in whatever way they can, and I think that speaks to the power and importance of community in indie filmmaking.

Dakota and I have been “paying our dues” and showing up on others’ projects for years and now those same people are showing up to help us bring this project to life. I guess technically it isn’t “surprising”  but it is really inspiring. 

How has blending music and cinema shaped the way you’re approaching  production? Do you feel like one is driving the other, or are they working in tandem?  

DL: That “blending” you’re talking about is truly the heart-and-soul of this project and it’s how we developed our modus operandi and methods of collaboration. Our team has backgrounds in Punk Rock, Immersive Theater, and Indie Film. That’s how we all met, and those three art-forms are what we combine in our work.

We devise, revise, and rehearse via Immersive Theater techniques. We apply that to our DIY down-and-dirty style of Independent Filmmaking. And our roots in Punk Rock is what’s at the core of our All-For-One/One-For-All way of doing things. That’s baked into our DNA and it influences every decision we make as a collective.  

You’re recording an actual back catalog for the band and touring as part of the film. What logistical challenges has that presented? How are you balancing the demands of  live performances with the needs of a film production?  

DL: The project has really evolved in these last few months, and as we continued to develop it, each portion took on a life of its own. So the record (already tracked) is gonna have its own journey. And the touring band (Coda) will be going on its own adventures.

The same is true for  our film — ONE LAST ONE is an entity all its own. And the film is our sole focus right now. That being said? When we eventually take the film on an independent screening tour (as is the plan) we’ll also be booking shows for the real-life band in town alongside the screenings.

So you can catch us at the movie theater and see the flick, you can catch us up the street playing at the  local venue, or you can come out and hang-out with us and see both! It’s funny, there are multiple bands within the world of the movie as well, so we’re always finding ourselves mixing film and music in every which way we can whether or not its even intentional. And because we come from a music background and think of the film like it’s a record that we're gonna be putting  out, in a weird way our cast and crew have become the band we were looking for all along. 

How has your micro-budget approach influenced the creative decisions you’ve made  so far? Have there been any happy accidents or unique solutions that came from  working within those constraints?  

AC: The micro-budget approach is so baked into what we’re doing, it has influenced every aspect of this film. This is a movie that can only be made the micro-budget way because it’s a  punk picture. Tapping into our communities (both film and music), calling in favors, and relying on the kindness of others … those things are so inherently a part of our approach that there is no other way. 

What’s keeping you up at night right now as you prep for the shoot?  

DL: Logistics. We’re producing this ourselves so we’re running all the behind-the-scenes with  pre-production, scheduling, fundraising, press, event planning, securing all the various production resources, getting the word out, all of those logistical concerns and on-going needs. But otherwise? What’s keeping us up right now is just trying to be patient, counting down the days until we finally get on set for our Day One of Principal Photography.

It’s kinda like that  “Christmas Eve Syndrome” where it’s hard to get to sleep because you’re just too excited for whatever’s coming up tomorrow. There’s an unending and constantly evolving list of of things to do on this film, so we are in full-tilt-boogie mode working on this project everyday.

But this is my favorite thing in the world to do: make a movie with my friends. So none of this feels like work to  me. It feels like we got the band back together again and we’re getting ready for the big show. 

What do you hope ONE LAST ONE will leave with its audience?

AC: I hope people see this picture and are reminded how much fun indie filmmaking can be. You can make a gangster, fairy-tale, punk rock, genre picture on a micro-budget and have a lot of fun in the process — and make a great film too! I only want to make movies that I would want to see in theaters and I hope people watch ONE LAST ONE and get inspired to do the same  thing.  

DL: I love it when audiences go home arguing with each other — in the good way — about why the characters did what they did, why the story turned out how it did. I’m always hoping they get so heated about it that they gotta get back in line and go see it again. I hope people get to enjoy it in theaters as much as possible with their fellow film-goers, dreaming together in the dark for a little bit. Because — like we keep saying — the whole point of this thing is that it’s a group endeavor and it’s better enjoyed with friends. That’s the punk of it all. So get your band together, get in the tour van, and get over to the show. And regardless or how or where or when you see it? I hope you buckle in, take the ride, and have one Hell of a trip. 

If you could give advice to other filmmakers trying to pull off something as  ambitious as this, what would you say?  

DL: “Get started.” No, honestly! A ton of old platitudes come to mind: Nothing to it but to do it. Just put one foot after the other. The work ain’t gonna do itself. It’s all those tired sayings, but  there’s a kernel of truth to each of them. A friend of mine used to tell me, “Life it out, Cowpoke.”  Which just means, “Do the work.”

It’s gonna take focus, failure, time, energy, trial and error,  brutal rejection, rebuilding, learning, trying and failing again and trying again, rinse and repeat. There is so much to get done on any project. So do what you can, do as much as you can, and do it to the best of your ability. And the things you can’t do? Get great people on-board who can  do what you can’t — and let them do their thing. Get out of their way and let them do their work.  And will you look at that — now you’re all working towards a common goal.

Our Moviemaking Golden Rule is this, “Best idea wins.” Doesn’t matter where it comes from. So build yourself a  band you like playing with, and touring with, and jamming with. But most of all? Try to have fun.  Fun is a finite resource and a massively important one. Think about it, you’re spending the most  precious currency in existence on this thing: your time. So enjoy your time, Friend!

Support One Last One on Seed & Spark here!