The AI interviews me for a press release

I had some fun with GPT-3 to build a press release to promote our festival run and had it interview me as ‘DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD’.

No, this is not an actual interview with a human being. Other than me. I’m human. Or so I’m told. Prompt is BOLD

—————————————————————-

This is a transcript of an interview between an entertainment industry journalist and an independent filmmaker who just made a psychedelic film 'LISSA'S TRIP' which is about to have it's world premiere at the Warsaw International Film Festival in the Free Spirit section. The movie is also slated to have it's North American premiere at the Whistler Film Festival as part of the Borsos Award competition. Lissa's Trip is a Canadian film shot in Los Angeles and stars Sofia Vassilieva, Tygh Runyan, and Brendan Beiser. The interviewer 'Deadline' asks the filmmaker 'Jeffery Lando' all the questions needed to write a great industry press release and then writes it.

DEADLINE:

What was the inspiration behind your new film, Lissa's Trip?

JEFFERY LANDO: I was interested to see if the new technologies available to filmmakers could facilitate a non-hierarchical filmmaking process. One that could help me sidestep what I saw as my own limitations. So there was a desire to experiment and play with the new toys as it were, but also there was this sense that perhaps I was a bit lost, and to make a movie based on the Odyssey could help me find a way back home to myself. Metaphorically speaking I think.

DEADLINE:

How did you go about creating such an intimate and personal story?

JEFFERY LANDO: The key for me was to give up trying to control the story and instead allow it to grow into what it wanted to be. To be more passive as a filmmaker, more receiving. Less forceful. More yin, less yang. I feel like Lissa's Trip is my first film as a non-binary filmmaker and that my work up till now has been more about trying to emulate this very masculine type of filmmaking with explosions and technology and power struggles and killing and constantly trying to be so cerebral.

DEADLINE:

What was the biggest challenge you faced while making the film?

JEFFERY LANDO: Finishing it! Post production was monstrous, there are hundreds of visual effects shots, traditional animation, super-high-quality Pixar-style animation, neural networks hallucinating on 360 footage, and so many technical challenges. It felt endless. It was endless. But I also learned so much.

DEADLINE:

What are you most proud of with the finished film?

JEFFERY LANDO: If you had shown me this movie before I got started I wouldn't have thought I was capable of making it. Technically absolutely but especially the story. It's just not the kind of story I was engaging in before, a maturation story about an actress and her relationship with he mother? I would never have approached that in a million years. But it turns out to be incredibly personal of course, and inescapably about me in ways I am still uncovering. But I think it is universal too. We all feel lost sometimes. We all need to find our way home to our creative center. Right?

DEADLINE:

What do you hope audiences will take away from the film?

JEFFERY LANDO: I've heard it said that people feel like they've been on a real trip when the movie ends. I hope it succeeds at giving people a great time, entrancing them, and I hope that for some watching it helps them get inspired about their own lives.

DEADLINE:

What's next for you?

JEFFERY LANDO: I have this Vancouver-set cyberpunk story about street kids who tangle with a God-level AI. Can I send you the script?

DEADLINE:

Yes, please do!

Press release below:

———————————————————-

INDEPENDENT FILMMAKER JEFFERY LANDO TAKES AUDIENCES ON A PSYCHEDELIC TRIP WITH HIS NEW FILM 'LISSA'S TRIP'

Lando's film is set to have its world premiere at the Warsaw International Film Festival in the Free Spirit section on October 20th

Lissa's Trip is a Canadian film shot in Los Angeles and stars Sofia Vassilieva, Tygh Runyan, and Brendan Beiser.

The film is a unique and personal story that explores the journey of an actress and her relationship with her mother played by Camille Carida.

The film is a labor of love for Lando, who faced many challenges while making it.

"The key for me was to give up trying to control the story and instead allow it to grow into what it wanted to be," said Lando.

Despite the challenges, Lando is proud of the finished product for which he developed techniques to integrate hallucinatory AI-generated imagery into the film.

"It's just not the kind of story I was engaging in before, a maturation story about an actress and her relationship with her mother? I would never have approached that in a million years. But it turns out to be incredibly personal of course, and inescapably about me in ways I am still uncovering. But I think it is universal too. We all feel lost sometimes. We all need to find our way home to our creative center. Right?"

Lando hopes that audiences will take away from the film a new perspective on their own lives.

"I've heard it said that people feel like they've been on a real trip when the movie ends. I hope it succeeds at giving people a great time, entrancing them, and I hope that for some watching it helps them get inspired about their own lives."

Lando is already working on his next project, a Vancouver-set cyberpunk story about street kids who tangle with a God-level AI.