Danielle Nicolet and Meagan Holder on ‘Long Time Listener’, Directorial Debuts and Their ‘Born…

Authority Magazine: Danielle Nicolet and Meagan Holder on ‘Long Time Listener’, Directorial Debuts and Their ‘Born Again Virgin’ Reunion -- Listen Share …What I hope people absorb subconsciously even while watching the film is a subconscious awareness that Black people and gay people are deep and complex humans. Simply by watching them in a film setting where you may not otherwise see a diverse cast, it will continue to expand the general consciousness and awareness that we are complex, emotional, layered, interesting, weird, awkward, and emotionally driven people in real life, and therefore should be portrayed that way in film.

The more we see characters like that played by us in film, the more the grander world will recognize it, and I think we will all treat each other with more love and kindness. Not to imply there’s lots of love and kindness in this thriller, where people are offing each other right and left. That’s my zoomed-out view. My more zoomed-in view is I hope I’ve been successful as a director in showing that you can make a compelling film on a limited budget. You can really create visuals, have performances, and tell stories that Hollywood often does for massively inflated budgets.

The result of those inflated budgets unfortunately is oftentimes not a lot of risk-taking on someone like myself, a first-time feature director. Working in a space where we had a smaller budget and these constraints was certainly a challenge I had to rise to, but I recognized from the very beginning that those circumstances were also probably the reason why I had the opportunity to walk through that door.

My unspoken business mind goal going into it was, “Okay, how do I make this movie look like it has a budget that is 15 times higher than what it is?”… …What I hope people absorb subconsciously even while watching the film is a subconscious awareness that Black people and gay people are deep and complex humans. Simply by watching them in a film setting where you may not otherwise see a diverse cast, it will continue to expand the general consciousness and awareness that we are complex, emotional, layered, interesting, weird, awkward, and emotionally driven people in real life, and therefore should be portrayed that way in film.

The more we see characters like that played by us in film, the more the grander world will recognize it, and I think we will all treat each other with more love and kindness. Not to imply there’s lots of love and kindness in this thriller, where people are offing each other right and left. That’s my zoomed-out view. My more zoomed-in view is I hope I’ve been successful as a director in showing that you can make a compelling film on a limited budget. You can really create visuals, have performances, and tell stories that Hollywood often does for massively inflated budgets.

The result of those inflated budgets unfortunately is oftentimes not a lot of risk-taking on someone like myself, a first-time feature director. Working in a space where we had a smaller budget and these constraints was certainly a challenge I had to rise to, but I recognized from the very beginning that those circumstances were also probably the reason why I had the opportunity to walk through that door. My unspoken business mind goal going into it was, “Okay, how do I make this movie look like it has a budget that is 15 times higher than what it is?”… We had the pleasure of talking with Danielle Nicolet and Meagan Holder.

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The article discusses a significant shift in representation within the film industry, which can influence brand narratives, but it is more focused on film than on direct brand strategy.