The relaxed pace of Filmmaker Lovell Holder’s drama You Say Hello allows his character to breathe and find their rhythm but without sacrificing any audience engagement and immersion. It’s a tricky line to ride, giving your narrative space without becoming self-indulgent but Holder does it with ease and that’s down to his intimate direction and Writer Daniel Talbott’s expertly crafted screenplay. The creative partners’ story follows a young, suicidal man who makes his way to his family’s beach house with the intention of ending his life but when he invites an escort over, his perspective starts to shift. It’s an honest, sincere film that DN is delighted to be premiering online today accompanied by our discussion with Holder where he talks through the decision to shift Talbott’s original screenplay into a queer story, tonally drawing influence from Jean-Marc Vallée and Eliza Hittman, and restructuring the story in post to throw audiences immediately into protagonist Will’s emotional interiority.
What’s your relationship with Writer Daniel Talbott? How did you come across him and his script for You Say Hello?
I had been a fan of playwright Daniel Talbott’s writing before we were ever even connected by our mutual friend, the Actor Chris Bellant. I’d seen a production of his breathtaking play Slipping not long after I’d moved to Los Angeles, and I was completely blown away. As such, I was delighted when Chris introduced us about a year later when Daniel was visiting town. We’d stayed in touch over the years and not long after Daniel too had relocated to LA, we were catching up over lunch when Daniel first mentioned You Say Hello to me and extended the opportunity to me to direct it.
Daniel had originally conceived the short film as an encounter between a young man and a female Russian sex worker in New York City. After reading it and instantly falling in love with the project, I began discussing with Daniel what the short would look like transposed to the West Coast, and one of the ideas that crystallized immediately for both of us was switching the role of the escort to be a man.
What drove that shift in character and perspective?
As a gay director, I saw an opportunity for the kind of genuinely humane queer story I hadn’t seen at the time, and the minute Daniel began making the adjustments to the story it became clear to both of us that that was the right choice. Another element that rapidly rose to the surface was that my dear family friends had a beach house in Ventura County about an hour outside of Los Angeles. The house sits right on the beach, with the Pacific crashing into the deck on a daily basis. Immaculately decorated and filled with stunning windows, we knew that using that property automatically yielded so much production value to our story, and magically the house was gifted to us for free. Once we knew what our story was, and how our singular, unique home would be informing that narrative, the next crucial element was finding the right actors for the story.
I saw an opportunity for the kind of genuinely humane queer story I hadn’t seen at the time.
How did you land on Chris, Will and your other actors for their respective roles?
It was only appropriate that our wonderful Chris, the friend who had connected Daniel and me originally, stepped into the role of Will, our intrepid, searching young man who turns to an escort website for comfort on the worst day of his life. The brilliant Will Pullen, a trusted friend and collaborator, fresh off his Broadway debut in the Pulitzer-winning play Sweat, quickly agreed to join us as Mike, our charming and enigmatic escort. Will and Chris had worked together multiple times in New York theater, so their established rapport and collaborative history would prove an invaluable aspect of our creative process. The great actresses Samantha Soule and Wendy Vanden Heuvel signed on for our supporting roles, and soon enough we were gearing up to bring the film to life.
You mentioned there that Will and Chris had worked together prior to the shoot but did you do anything specific with them to develop their chemistry or was it all found on the day/in the moment?
One of the things that was very important to me was that Will and Chris had time to settle into the meditative, gentle world of the film. Since Will, Chris, Daniel, and I all have theater backgrounds, we really prioritized rehearsal before shooting commenced. This allowed us to sink into the story, but also to experiment and try different things. Moreover, we were able to actually rehearse in the beach house where we filmed the bulk of the project, and I think that so deeply informed the behavior and sensibility of both their characters before we even started official production. I also am a big fan, once cameras are up, of running on the last rehearsal before the first official take, as you can also discover real gold there. The pressure is not ‘on’, in the same way, for either cast or crew.
One of the things that was very important to me was that Will and Chris had time to settle into the meditative, gentle world of the film.
All this being said, the fact that Will and Chris had known each other for years was truly the secret weapon for this story. It automatically brought an intimacy and trust that can’t be faked or coached. Both of them had also performed in multiple plays that Daniel had written previously, as had Sammy and Wendy in our supporting roles! So we truly couldn’t have had more experienced interpreters of Daniel’s perfect words.
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Could you take us through the shoot? How did it play out for you from both a practical and creative angle?
Just prior to shooting the film, the devastating Thomas Fire swept through Ventura County, and our gorgeous beach house was in dire danger of succumbing to the blaze. Thankfully, the house was spared, but even the palm trees across the street were absolutely blackened by the flames, the after effects of which can be seen in the shots at the start of the film. Given how deeply the themes of disaster and rebirth inform the film, we were humbled to tell this story in a community that had been so recently impacted by such loss and destruction.
We shot the film over three days thanks to the partnership of our truly devoted and talented crew. Under the eye of our genius DP Matt Plaxco, we rehearsed for one day before our Arri Alexa started rolling. Matt and I had spoken extensively about the work of Jean-Marc Vallée, and his aesthetic very much informed the style of the story we were trying to tell. Big Little Lies especially became a key touchstone for our film’s visual language, especially in terms of how framing a location’s architecture and environment can directly inform character. I’d also add that Eliza Hittman’s Beach Rats very much influenced how the film’s intimate scenes developed visually as well. After our first two days in Ventura, we returned to LA on our final day to shoot the scenes that would become our two flashback moments in Pasadena and Los Feliz.
What motivated you to include those flashback scenes?
Originally, You Say Hello had been conceived as a totally linear story starting with Will waking up to a bad birthday in Los Angeles in the apartment he shares with his older sister, which he then flees for the beach after also swinging by his mom’s house for a particularly tense visit. However, once we got into the editing room with our brilliant Editor Morgan Halsey, we instantly realized how we all craved getting to the beach house as soon as possible. It felt like everything took flight once we landed there, so we made a radical choice.
This choice allowed us to immediately immerse the audience in the world of Ventura but also in Will’s true emotional life.
The short very much taught us what it wanted to be, and, again inspired by Vallée’s fearless non-linear editing style in Big Little Lies, we took a leap and explored what happened if the short began with Will already in his car, cruising down the 101, his life in LA haunting him in the literal and metaphorical rearview mirror. This choice allowed us to immediately immerse the audience in the world of Ventura but also in Will’s true emotional life, a character who is introduced already in motion and searching for something so big that even he can’t fully articulate it.
You’ve had a great festival run with the film, picking up a number of awards. How has it been travelling with the short?
We were very fortunate to premiere You Say Hello about 15 miles from the beach house where we shot, at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The film went on to screen at a dozen festivals, including SCAD Savannah, Provincetown, OutShine, where it received the jury prize for Best Short, and Lonely Wolf, where I won the jury prize for Best Director. The film was subsequently acquired by HereTV, where it has been one of the most-viewed titles in their streaming library.
You have extensive experience as a film producer, did that make it easier for you to secure the financing for You Say Hello? How did the film come together as a production?
It’s funny because it feels like no amount of experience ever quite yields financing. I personally would say that financing, at least in independent filmmaking, always comes from someone who has a genuine vested interest either in the filmmaker or the story being told. In this particular case, we were very lucky to have a financial partner who saw the merits in the story we were telling, but we also benefited from trusted friends who believed in Daniel and me as creators. As such, we magically got the locations all for free from my best friend’s family, and our cast and crew all generously worked for far less than they deserved. This type of ‘sweat equity’ allowed us to make the film for probably 20% of what it actually should have cost had every element been at full market value. Daniel and I both called in a lot of favors, but we did so because we really felt this story needed to come to life.
I personally would say that financing, at least in independent filmmaking, always comes from someone who has a genuine vested interest either in the filmmaker or the story being told.
Will you be working with Daniel again? What do you have on the horizon?
This project marked the first of many collaborations between Daniel and myself, including Daniel’s extraordinary feature debut Midday Black Midnight Blue, which he co-wrote and co-directed with our magnificent You Say Hello collaborator Samantha Soule, who also starred in the film alongside Emmy winner Merritt Wever and Chris Stack. I was very proud to produce the film for Daniel and Sammy, and it’s been wonderful to continue teaming up over the last few years. As rewarding as all our subsequent partnerships have been, You Say Hello has remained deeply important to both me and Daniel. As such, we’ve been exploring how we could revisit this special story, and we’re eager to examine these characters now through the lens of a television series specifically. Hopefully, that day will come before too long, but in the meantime, I continue to cherish those special days in Ventura, where a bunch of close friends gathered together to bring a story to life that we’d all fallen in love with.
I’d also like to add that in many ways, I feel this film saved me as a director. I’d had a really disappointing directing experience prior to making You Say Hello, where I was uncertain I ever wanted to direct again. When Daniel approached me about the project, it truly was such a gift. I respected him so much as a writer, and to be trusted with his screenplay was a genuine honor. I felt inspired and knew in my gut I had to take the leap again, the script was too good not to. The process then proved boundlessly rewarding at every turn. I might even say it was healing. Now, several years later, having directed other shorts and a feature, a film adaptation of Roger Q. Mason’s beautiful play Lavender Men, which is currently on the festival circuit, I remain so grateful that You Say Hello came to me when it did. It truly is a piece that changed my career and my life too.
