Latest / Indie Film Podcast / Too Many Hats, Not Enough Hours: Juggling Roles on an Indie Film Crew

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Too Many Hats, Not Enough Hours: Juggling Roles on an Indie Film Crew · Indie Film Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to Indie Film Podcast This week.
• 0:02
  Joining us, we have an amazing guest, Amanda Woods.
• 0:04
  She is known not only as a stellar hair and makeup artist,
• 0:07
  but also for her prowess in front of a camera, as well as
• 0:10
  her amazing directing abilities and of course, the producing,
• 0:14
  the writing. Amanda, there's almost nothing
• 0:16
  you don't do. Yes, and obviously with the the
• 0:20
  theme being too many hats, that's why I invited her on.
• 0:24
  Hey, you know, just another day in my quest for world
• 0:26
  domination. Because if there's anyone who
• 0:28
  could dominate the world, it would be Amanda.
• 0:31
  On that note, I'm Vic. And I am Chuck, Let's start,
• 0:34
  Amanda, with virtual effects versus practical effects because
• 0:39
  I've seen some of your practical effects and they're awesome.
• 0:41
  Can you talk about which you prefer in a film both famous and
• 0:47
  low budget independent? You know, it's interesting that
• 0:51
  you bring that question up because that's actually a topic
• 0:53
  that has been the forefront of a lot of things here recently.
• 0:57
  So we've been discussing the difference between visual
• 0:59
  effects and special effects and how they both bring something to
• 1:04
  the camera and what ends up happening in the end as to which
• 1:08
  one is going to be more dominant in bringing the story to life.
• 1:12
  Personally, obviously I'm I'm a sucker for the practical special
• 1:17
  effects. Right on.
• 1:18
  I think there's something to the reality of it, of it being right
• 1:21
  in front of you and actually seeing what is transpiring in
• 1:25
  real time as opposed to visual effects, which is predominantly
• 1:29
  done in post. Yes, and we don't like to fix
• 1:32
  things in post in indie films because it's really expensive
• 1:35
  and we don't have the budget for it.
• 1:36
  This is true. Not to mention there are a lot
• 1:38
  of things that you just can't actually fix in post and you
• 1:41
  think you can. But I will say on the subject of
• 1:43
  just practical effects, to your point, I think it really does
• 1:48
  add something for the actors, either if it's something on that
• 1:52
  or like a wound or whatever. Just having it physically there
• 1:55
  already or there to react to, I feel like just gives them so
• 1:58
  much more in the moment. Oh.
• 2:00
  Exactly, you're exactly right and and there is a beautiful
• 2:02
  marriage that does happen between visual and special when
• 2:06
  it is the final product. But that is that is dead on
• 2:09
  accurate because you can react more Gen. generically.
• 2:13
  That was not what I meant to say.
• 2:15
  I mean, you can react generically, but that's going to
• 2:19
  be a bad that's. Where the visual effects?
• 2:20
  That's where visual effects come in.
• 2:22
  No, authentically was the word I was trying to spit out, but it
• 2:26
  didn't exactly come out right. More authentically, when you are
• 2:29
  seeing something, when you have a throat cut, for example, and
• 2:33
  when that happens and that flow happens in real time, it is
• 2:37
  jarring. It, it's something that having
• 2:41
  that actually taking place right there in front of you makes a
• 2:45
  big difference as opposed to seeing it later.
• 2:48
  And it's like you have to imagine in your mind what is
• 2:50
  happening right now, we're going to tell you, and you have to
• 2:52
  visually react. Yeah, and you don't know what
• 2:56
  it's going to look like you. Don't know what it's going to
• 2:57
  look. Like and actors are really good
• 2:59
  at playing pretend for sure. Oh, definitely, but but this
• 3:02
  gives them an opportunity to give their best performance
• 3:05
  because it's going to be something to where actors
• 3:08
  cultivate a character and with the help of the director and
• 3:12
  their Co actors, they create a persona.
• 3:15
  And that persona is driven by what their their storyline is.
• 3:20
  And something that they're able to do is react in real time as
• 3:23
  to how that character would be portrayed in that moment.
• 3:27
  And it takes away something when you have it all in post as
• 3:31
  opposed to it being right in front of you.
• 3:33
  And that just adds to what they're bringing to the screen.
• 3:36
  I kind of want to jump on that and just share an example
• 3:38
  because Amanda, you were kind enough to help us out and the
• 3:42
  feature film stocked into Table Rock.
• 3:45
  Yes, and we had a scene where a mother suffers a heart attack
• 3:51
  and she goes into the hospital and your makeup work was the
• 3:56
  first time I've ever seen makeup work done on an indie film set.
• 4:01
  Because, you know, we've always done like realistic fiction,
• 4:04
  zero budget stuff. And it's like everybody's in
• 4:06
  charge of their own hair and makeup.
• 4:08
  But the the realism that you added to Jessica's character
• 4:14
  lying in the bed and looking like she's dying was, was really
• 4:19
  awesome because it would not have played the same if she was
• 4:23
  just, you know, we threw her in the bed with the setting.
• 4:27
  It was like she needed to have those, those sweat beads.
• 4:30
  She needed to to look pale. No, you could just you just use
• 4:34
  powder for that. Just add more powder, right?
• 4:36
  That's how you do it. No.
• 4:38
  Thank you so much for that. No, that was something that
• 4:41
  you're, you're exactly right. Because we also did not allow
• 4:44
  the other actress to see her until she was already in the
• 4:48
  bed. So she hadn't actually gotten to
• 4:50
  see the stark difference of what that actress looked like before
• 4:56
  I got my hands on her. And then we sent her into the
• 4:59
  room and got her hooked up to everything and actually walk
• 5:02
  through what exactly had happened.
• 5:04
  What was this person's history? This person's history had to
• 5:06
  deal with alcoholism. What are some of the effects
• 5:09
  that come into play with that? Well, you have the jaundicing of
• 5:12
  the skin. You have all these other things
• 5:14
  that you're trying to factor in that are going to make that
• 5:17
  Ashley look authentic. And thank you.
• 5:20
  Thank you so much for bringing that up.
• 5:21
  That was that was wonderful to get to work on that set that
• 5:23
  day. And everybody there was just so
• 5:25
  gracious. And I mean, what a wonderful
• 5:28
  experience and, and being over there at Boise State and getting
• 5:31
  to, you know, work there with everybody and get that set up to
• 5:35
  where it actually looked like we were in a hospital room.
• 5:38
  And it really added to that moment in that film.
• 5:42
  And it just, it really struck the audience.
• 5:45
  I, I got to see it, you know, privately, but then I did get to
• 5:48
  see it with an audience. And when that particular scene
• 5:52
  came up and the way that it played off, I mean, visually,
• 5:55
  you guys did a phenomenal job in your camera angles That that's,
• 5:58
  that's part of the battle too. I mean, I can do my job as well
• 6:01
  as I can, but you know, there's something to be said for the
• 6:03
  cinematography. And everything of it.
• 6:04
  Too. Oh, wonderful.
• 6:06
  And it just, it really came across as how it was written.
• 6:14
  And so, yeah, thank you guys for bringing me on board for that.
• 6:17
  Well, I mean, the scene would not have been the same, but that
• 6:19
  was just kind of one of those things where I didn't know what
• 6:22
  I didn't know, having always worked in low budget
• 6:25
  productions. And it's like, oh, this is
• 6:27
  something that is crucial to, to helping out, you know, the, the
• 6:34
  you can learn light, you can learn sound, but then there's
• 6:36
  set decoration and then there's realistic on camera effects.
• 6:41
  And you bring you bring the actual practicals into reality,
• 6:45
  which I think you know is is important for an indie film
• 6:48
  because it just gives it that next level of Polish.
• 6:50
  So true. Can you, can you talk about the
• 6:54
  different roles that you've done in film?
• 6:57
  Because obviously like hair and makeup is, is something that I,
• 7:01
  I believe is that where you started that that's where you
• 7:04
  basically make your money, correct.
• 7:05
  That's that's my bread and butter is is hair and makeup.
• 7:09
  But you do, you do have like, you've directed a film, you've
• 7:13
  written a film, you do a lot of producing.
• 7:15
  Yes. Yeah.
• 7:16
  So one of the one of the like Co creators and and main leaders of
• 7:21
  the female film Slayers as well. Mm hmm.
• 7:23
  Which is a local dependent filmmaking group, yes.
• 7:26
  And can you can you talk about how hair and makeup has informed
• 7:30
  your, your jumping into those other roles maybe differently
• 7:35
  than like somebody else that comes from like a writing
• 7:37
  background or a directing background or a cinematography
• 7:41
  background? So interestingly enough, I have
• 7:43
  a very unique back story because my family started out in radio.
• 7:49
  Oh, right on. I actually got my start when I
• 7:51
  was three. I did my first radio commercial
• 7:54
  and then graduated up into doing Yeah.
• 7:56
  Oh. Yeah, you were talking in
• 7:58
  coherent sentences at 3:00. Oh girl, I could have full
• 8:01
  conversations with you when I was 2.
• 8:03
  Maybe I'm just developmentally. Slow.
• 8:04
  No, you're not. Not even a little bit.
• 8:06
  No. Well, I'd have to have as many
• 8:08
  older siblings as I had. Because your family's a little
• 8:10
  bigger. We're a little bigger, yeah.
• 8:13
  There's seven of us that grew up together.
• 8:14
  There's ten of us total. And there were, I had four older
• 8:19
  siblings and then there's nine years and myself and two younger
• 8:23
  sisters. So when you have that dynamic of
• 8:27
  having those older siblings, it really like your, your
• 8:30
  development happens a little sooner.
• 8:32
  So I was very much having conversations and talking much
• 8:36
  earlier than how their kids were.
• 8:38
  And obviously, you know, so you got.
• 8:39
  Your first radio DJ job at the age of 3.
• 8:42
  Pretty much, yeah, I did. I did a commercial for.
• 8:44
  Yeah, my, like I said, you know, being in radio, our family
• 8:47
  matriculated a lot as I was growing up.
• 8:49
  So I was born in Boise. My sister, just younger than me,
• 8:52
  was born in Natchez, Ms. My baby sister was born in Grable,
• 8:55
  Wyoming. Oh, right on.
• 8:57
  We lived everywhere between then and when we moved to Las Vegas.
• 9:01
  OK. And we lived in Vegas for quite
• 9:03
  a few years. And while we were there, that's
• 9:05
  when I did modeling. I did beauty Pat.
• 9:07
  I did all of that. I was dancing from the time I
• 9:10
  was 2, so I did all of that. I did my first TV commercial at
• 9:15
  the age of 5, and I did theater productions and everything else.
• 9:18
  So I literally was born into the industry.
• 9:22
  OK? So it's something that was part
• 9:24
  of just the way of life, you know, the way that it went.
• 9:28
  And then that continued. And you know, when my older
• 9:30
  siblings graduated high school, my parents said we're going to
• 9:33
  move someplace a little more family friendly than Las Vegas,
• 9:37
  NV. Why is Las Vegas is the most
• 9:39
  family? Didn't you hear their entire ad
• 9:41
  campaign through the early aughts like they're all about?
• 9:44
  Family. Vegas is family.
• 9:46
  Fun. It's family fun, yes, but so
• 9:50
  that's. But mind you, this was also back
• 9:51
  in the 90s. OK, So my parents moved us from
• 9:56
  Henderson, NV, which is, you know, the little suburb of
• 9:58
  Vegas. Not so much anymore.
• 10:00
  It's all completely. Oh no, yeah, it's just one big
• 10:02
  town. Exactly.
• 10:03
  Up to Boise. And of course I was mortified.
• 10:06
  I was like, why are you moving me to a hole in the ground?
• 10:08
  What happened here? And you know, because I was in
• 10:11
  those, those formative years, I had friends and we moved up here
• 10:14
  and I went, oh, goodness, but. Nothing's open past 8:00 PM
• 10:17
  here. What is this?
• 10:18
  There was nothing out by the mall, like it was just desert,
• 10:21
  like, you know, it's just like what is happening.
• 10:24
  But I was able to find my people really quick being in the dance
• 10:29
  world and then being part of theater and doing that and then
• 10:33
  branching out that way. So that was something that
• 10:35
  really helped. And then I'd always had
• 10:37
  leadership roles and the different things that I did.
• 10:41
  So in dance in particular, I was captain of The Golden Girls at
• 10:45
  Capital High School. I was on mainline at Boise State
• 10:49
  and you know, so I had those leadership roles with my team.
• 10:52
  And so leading a team is something that I'd always done.
• 10:56
  When I attended Boise State, I was an athletic training,
• 10:59
  physical therapy major there. I was not happy.
• 11:03
  That was not that not the right fit for me.
• 11:05
  Blanket statement, not because of the program at Nazi State
• 11:09
  University, because we're so sorry.
• 11:11
  No, no, no. Here's the thing.
• 11:13
  It is in my genetics, though, because my second daughter, I
• 11:18
  have seven daughters, by the way.
• 11:20
  Which nobody who's seeing this right now will believe.
• 11:22
  But yes, go on. 7 girls. My second oldest daughter is.
• 11:27
  She is a kinesiology major from WSU and she works in the
• 11:32
  neurology clinic at Saint Luke's Meridian.
• 11:35
  Oh that's so cool. So the apple didn't fall too far
• 11:37
  from the tree. Well, it's still there.
• 11:39
  It's still. There, it's still there.
• 11:41
  And that actually helped, you know, guide into some things
• 11:45
  that I do. And I'm giving a very long
• 11:47
  conversation here. But that leads to answering your
• 11:50
  question because after the first two years I was at Boise State,
• 11:55
  I got married, started having my kids and I just, I wasn't happy
• 11:59
  and I needed to find me. And my mom was like, you should
• 12:03
  go to beauty school. And I went, you're funny.
• 12:07
  And she's like, no, really, you have a knack for it.
• 12:10
  You know, growing up in it, this is something that, you know, you
• 12:13
  should do. And I have an older sister who's
• 12:15
  been doing it for 10 years longer than me.
• 12:17
  And I have a younger sister who was in beauty school at the
• 12:20
  time. And I was just like, no, no,
• 12:24
  that's not, that's not my world. And she's like, I really think
• 12:27
  you need to try it. Mom loves this story because mom
• 12:30
  was right. Yeah.
• 12:32
  And first day at beauty school, I, I knew that's where I was
• 12:37
  supposed to be. That was it.
• 12:38
  And I continued from there and that's actually I went to beauty
• 12:42
  school with some of our known talent around town as well,
• 12:45
  including Danielle Cook. We were in the same beauty
• 12:48
  school class which still. Blows my mind I can't.
• 12:51
  Believe 21 years ago. And you 2 have you've worked
• 12:55
  together a ton since then? Oh, A.
• 12:57
  Ton yeah, we've done so much together and we trade rolls off
• 13:01
  too. There are some projects that we
• 13:03
  do where she's the department head.
• 13:05
  There's somewhere we do where I am.
• 13:07
  And the beauty of working with somebody who you've known that
• 13:10
  long, you trust, you know that you can, you know, delegate
• 13:14
  things out. Things will get done on both
• 13:16
  sides and you are a supportive team.
• 13:20
  And that right there, you know, is huge because we have, it's
• 13:23
  not been just film that we've done.
• 13:24
  We've done ballet, we've done theatre, we work with Ballet
• 13:27
  Idaho, we work with Opera Idaho and we do so many different
• 13:31
  things together. So with that being said, I have
• 13:36
  been on many film sets and I've always kind of kept it hush
• 13:40
  hush. The leadership roles that I've
• 13:42
  also done because I am a firm believer in stay in your lane
• 13:47
  unless you're asked to swerve and you respect the hierarchy of
• 13:52
  a set. OK, right on.
• 13:54
  So if somebody doesn't ask your opinion, don't offer it up.
• 14:00
  But with that being said, transitioning into a directing
• 14:05
  role for the first time, I did. It was in 2023 and this story
• 14:12
  fell into my lap literally from a life experience.
• 14:15
  And I wrote it and wrote it out and went, what did I just write?
• 14:21
  What what just happened here? And so I sent it to some writers
• 14:26
  that I work very closely with. OK.
• 14:28
  And I said, what do you think? And they were like, you're
• 14:30
  filming this, right? Nice.
• 14:31
  And I went, sure. OK, that let's make this happen.
• 14:37
  And you did it. I did it.
• 14:39
  We, and that's the important thing, that's the crux between
• 14:41
  some an indie filmmaker that's aspiring and an actual indie
• 14:44
  filmmaker, is you have the script and you don't let all of
• 14:49
  the obstacles get in your way. You force your way through it to
• 14:51
  get it done. Exactly.
• 14:53
  And and that's the other thing where this particular project,
• 14:56
  everything happens for a reason. And I'm a firm believer in that.
• 14:59
  And timing is everything. So this story I sat down and I
• 15:04
  wrote in July. Yeah, of 2023.
• 15:07
  OK. By August, we were cast.
• 15:11
  Oh wow. We shot in October.
• 15:15
  Oh wow. And it was fully edited and
• 15:18
  submitted to the Cannes Film Festival January 1st.
• 15:23
  That is really, really impressive.
• 15:25
  That's. It was happier.
• 15:26
  Crazy. Yeah, crazy.
• 15:28
  And how many minutes was? Was that pretty?
• 15:30
  It's just under 15 minutes long. OK.
• 15:31
  Nice, yeah. And we had several locations we
• 15:36
  had, I had an incredible yes. So we worked with the Wilder
• 15:40
  Fire Department for that. Nice.
• 15:42
  And they allowed us to use the fire truck and the ambulance and
• 15:46
  and oh, this goes back to what we were talking about earlier,
• 15:49
  the beautiful marriage of VFX and special effects.
• 15:52
  OK, so so there are shots in that film that are completely
• 15:56
  CG. Oh, really?
• 15:58
  What? Which yes.
• 16:00
  I've seen that film like 3 times.
• 16:02
  Thank you Sam Patzer for being amazing at what you did.
• 16:06
  That's fair. Sam is solid.
• 16:07
  He is completely solid and I am so proud of what he does and
• 16:11
  everything else. But no, what what we did is we
• 16:13
  had a location we were shooting at and we had to use the
• 16:17
  ambulance and the fire truck. But because of our respect for
• 16:21
  the community of Wilder, the last thing we wanted to do was
• 16:24
  take their needs away from the community.
• 16:29
  Absolutely. Yeah.
• 16:29
  So we actually went to Wilder and we shot at their fire
• 16:34
  station. So in the event that there was a
• 16:37
  call or something, they could go right away instead of being all
• 16:41
  the way out where our house location was at.
• 16:44
  So we set up green screens, shot that entire sequence.
• 16:50
  There. Are you kidding me?
• 16:52
  Nope, I'm dead serious. Those were very well lit green
• 16:55
  screens then, because that you don't notice any was incredible.
• 16:58
  Yeah, that's solid. Sam knocked it out of the park
• 17:01
  for. That.
• 17:02
  But yeah, so and that was that was a perfect example of putting
• 17:07
  that visual effect in there where even people who have seen
• 17:11
  it multiple times had no idea. Thank you, Sam Patzer.
• 17:15
  That's. Awesome, is your film streaming
• 17:17
  yet? Not yet, because even though you
• 17:20
  know, it's been completed for a while, we have it currently
• 17:22
  running in the festival circuit and we are letting it still
• 17:27
  because it's still, it's still making its rounds.
• 17:29
  And then we do have a couple very sensitive groups that are
• 17:36
  utilizing the film because it is a voice film and it is a film
• 17:39
  that does resonate with certain topics.
• 17:43
  And they're utilizing that currently for some different
• 17:48
  speaking and conferences and things that they're doing.
• 17:51
  And so because of that, we've kept it off of streaming until
• 17:57
  that's done. That's really cool of you.
• 17:59
  I really appreciate that you do it because it is a very powerful
• 18:02
  film. It touches on some delicate
• 18:04
  topics, but it's handled very well and in a very realistic
• 18:09
  way. A lot like how stocked into
• 18:10
  Table Rock could have been and so divisive and fake and
• 18:15
  everyone's super flat in both of those films, albeit different
• 18:20
  things they're dealing with. All the people are very real.
• 18:23
  It's very relatable. It's very true to life
• 18:25
  circumstances on how this would happen and play out.
• 18:27
  And that's that's really empowering for those groups.
• 18:30
  That's so cool. You know, the, the thing with
• 18:32
  that particular film, like I was saying earlier, is timing is
• 18:35
  everything. There are people who, and, and
• 18:38
  I've said this, you know, the the whole time is like if you
• 18:41
  make a a voice film and it resonates with even one person,
• 18:46
  you've done your job. Absolutely.
• 18:49
  And we've had several times of people who have have seen it,
• 18:52
  who have said that's thank you, that's what I needed.
• 18:57
  I needed that right now so that. I think I think Stockton's had
• 19:01
  quite a similar reaction too, especially after the the run at
• 19:05
  the local theater here. There were quite a few people.
• 19:07
  Definitely that. That felt similarly so OK.
• 19:10
  Those intense films, they do resonate, but they're not easy
• 19:13
  to watch. A.
• 19:14
  Lot of times. It's, it's like, it's like a
• 19:16
  homework film, you know, it's like, do, do your homework.
• 19:21
  I don't know if it's a homework thing, but I'm also that person
• 19:23
  that's gonna sit there and watch all the murder documentaries on
• 19:26
  any given streaming. Service same.
• 19:29
  Yeah, so I'm like, I don't know if it's homework percent.
• 19:31
  Maybe I need to. I'll go watch like a comedy
• 19:34
  episode of, you know, give me a good place episode in between a
• 19:37
  couple of these films. I'm gonna go right back to it
• 19:39
  again. There you go.
• 19:40
  So Speaking of murder, a question that just just popped
• 19:43
  up for me for you, Amanda, If if like someone is thinking about
• 19:48
  going from beauty school to creating gory practical effects,
• 19:55
  what do you recommend they do? And what did the transition look
• 19:58
  like from for you from making people look as the best that
• 20:03
  they possibly can to making them look, you know, like just.
• 20:06
  Grotesque. Well, excuse me, that's still
• 20:08
  the best they can possibly look, just in a very different
• 20:10
  integrity. Very.
• 20:11
  Differently. Good point, good point.
• 20:12
  Yes, the best that they could look like if they have, you
• 20:15
  know, a knife in their chest or whatever.
• 20:17
  Maybe they're not going to walk down the aisle in that look.
• 20:20
  But but you'd be surprised that has happened.
• 20:22
  OK, I need to know that that we will talk about that later.
• 20:25
  That is, that is a thing. That is a thing.
• 20:27
  But no. So when when I was in beauty
• 20:29
  school, I wanted more. I wanted more.
• 20:33
  I loved what I was doing. I knew I had a knack for certain
• 20:37
  elements of it, but I wanted more.
• 20:39
  So after I graduated beauty school, I apprenticed in a salon
• 20:44
  to where I learned how to do different types of hair,
• 20:46
  different textures, you know, and all this other stuff.
• 20:48
  But even then, I still wanted more.
• 20:51
  And so I started doing research and there really wasn't a lot
• 20:54
  back then available to me. OK, as far as like different
• 20:58
  things I could do if I wanted to move to LA, then OK, yeah, go
• 21:02
  down there and and you've got the Stan Winston school and
• 21:04
  you've got all these other things that you can do, but
• 21:07
  there really wasn't a large amount of that available.
• 21:10
  Yeah. So I did a lot of online
• 21:13
  research, OK? I did a lot of online classes.
• 21:16
  I learned, OK, how how do I create this?
• 21:18
  How do I make a cast? How do I, you know, how am I
• 21:21
  going to do all this stuff? And then I ventured into the
• 21:25
  haunt world. OK.
• 21:27
  And that is, there is no substitute in any way, shape or
• 21:31
  form of learning gore than doing it in a way that is real time
• 21:35
  with real people right there in your phase and having to make it
• 21:39
  look real and not campy. And for a point of clarity here,
• 21:42
  when you say like haunted world, you're talking about it's, it's
• 21:45
  like a little haunted how? Or I guess it's actually massive
• 21:48
  haunted house that's associated with like, or they're a haunted
• 21:51
  corn maze type thing. It happens every fall.
• 21:53
  And it's yeah, they have actors that are playing characters,
• 21:57
  mutilated people, typical classic ghosts, haunts, spirits,
• 22:00
  things. You got it.
• 22:01
  And OK, so you're helping. Them so so the way that that all
• 22:05
  came about for me is not very typical either.
• 22:08
  I'm, I'm not typical in any way, shape or form, apparently.
• 22:12
  So I was working with some friends doing some promotions,
• 22:15
  which another thing that I do, and we were promoting a mud run.
• 22:19
  And it just so happened that the person who was, you know,
• 22:23
  managing this property wanted to do a Halloween land event and he
• 22:27
  wanted to do all this stuff. And I'm like, great, have fun
• 22:29
  with that. And then about a week into his
• 22:31
  opening, he calls me up and he says, so I have a haunted woods
• 22:36
  that's not haunted. I need some help here.
• 22:39
  And I know that you work with a lot of actors around town and,
• 22:42
  you know, is there anything we can do here?
• 22:45
  So. OK, let me let me see what I can
• 22:47
  do here. So I called quite a few of my
• 22:50
  little friends. Hey, how's it going?
• 22:52
  You want to go scare some people?
• 22:54
  You know, like. Sure.
• 22:56
  And they came out a few times. And then one of those nights, my
• 23:00
  daughter, who was four at the time.
• 23:03
  Mom, can I, can I come? And I'm like, sure, do you want
• 23:07
  to be like a broken doll or something?
• 23:08
  She's like, no, I want to be a zombie.
• 23:10
  Nice. Good choice.
• 23:12
  Good choice. I love this.
• 23:14
  Let's do it. So we brought her out, got her
• 23:16
  done up, did some makeup on her and they took a photo and it was
• 23:21
  as the sun was setting and it was the most perfect shot that
• 23:26
  we'd ever seen. That photo then became the
• 23:29
  poster. It went viral and they decided
• 23:32
  to ride that train and for 10 years I I was the haunt director
• 23:38
  of Naya's Haunted Woods. That's fantastic.
• 23:41
  And her name is Naya Woods, so. Yeah, that does also feel very
• 23:44
  fitting. Very.
• 23:45
  But very. Also congratulations because
• 23:49
  that means you still win. You got your first marketing
• 23:52
  commercial gig at 3. Your daughter had to wait until
• 23:54
  4:00. So congratulations.
• 23:55
  Thank. You for that?
• 23:58
  I know there's always competition between mothers and.
• 24:00
  But you know, my my youngest, though, beat us all like she did
• 24:03
  her first runaway show at six months.
• 24:05
  Oh. Come.
• 24:05
  On come on now and then she's actually more well known than
• 24:08
  all the rest of us because you know, she she's got a she's got
• 24:12
  a following on TikTok. She's got a following everywhere
• 24:14
  else and, you know, and doing the shout out because she played
• 24:19
  young Maddie Zam in Maddie's EP release of You Might Not Like
• 24:26
  Her. That's right, the song.
• 24:27
  The music video that's and because of those 4 music videos
• 24:31
  that Miss Winter was in, she has a fan following that Trump's all
• 24:36
  of ours. OK, she's also pretty cool, so.
• 24:39
  She's incredible, Yeah. She's such a cool kid.
• 24:42
  Let's give her the credit. Too, Yeah.
• 24:43
  So yeah, she beat us all though. Nice.
• 24:45
  Well, there'll be somebody to help fundraise some indie film
• 24:47
  projects then in the future. Right, right.
• 24:50
  There we go. Following.
• 24:51
  Yeah. And, you know, and you can pull,
• 24:53
  you can pull from. Well, yeah, you can pull from
• 24:55
  all the different eras because, you know, you'll have Naya from
• 24:58
  Naya's Haunted Woods. There's a haunt community right
• 24:59
  there. You'll have winter, you know.
• 25:01
  And you really set yourself up for success.
• 25:03
  You're getting all your kids into this so that they can do
• 25:06
  some of your networking. For you.
• 25:07
  Yeah. And it's it's a family affair.
• 25:09
  Well, and then I mean, let's not forget the other ones.
• 25:11
  So we'll go into that later. I have incredible kids and
• 25:15
  they're all amazing. And I could just talk for the
• 25:18
  entire show about them, because they're just rock.
• 25:20
  Stars. It's good to know that the
• 25:21
  multifaceted talents kind of does run in the family.
• 25:24
  That's cool. That's cool.
• 25:25
  Well, and you guys have previously talked on the podcast
• 25:28
  about another film that I directed called Pinky Promise.
• 25:31
  And if you watch the credits of Pinky Promise, Liv is my
• 25:35
  daughter Olivia, and all of my other daughters were on that
• 25:39
  crew. Oh my gosh, they were all.
• 25:42
  They were all on that crew. That's my daughter.
• 25:44
  Naya ran sound. I was.
• 25:45
  Like that I was like, wait, no, Naya was on.
• 25:47
  She's yeah, and Anya was a key grip and Winter was the animal
• 25:51
  Wrangler and Oh yeah, so on it. So you're sort of saying it just
• 25:57
  based on the way you're kind of encouraging some of your kids to
• 25:59
  branch out and do more things. Here is sort of along the lines
• 26:03
  of how you got into doing so much more on film.
• 26:06
  And not that anyone ever would say just hair and makeup artist,
• 26:09
  because that's there's so much more than that.
• 26:14
  But you're also saying get out there because on any set, you're
• 26:18
  talking to everyone. You're talking to the DP, you're
• 26:20
  talking to the gaffer, you're talking to the 80 to sort
• 26:22
  everything out. Like you're making the right
• 26:24
  connections and you're talking to people.
• 26:26
  But you're also never afraid to jump in and help out on a set
• 26:29
  where you can't. Exactly.
• 26:30
  So I think that's really. Cool.
• 26:31
  Well, and that's something that you learn that is so important
• 26:33
  on a set too, is because you don't understand what another
• 26:37
  department is actually doing until you've experienced it.
• 26:40
  And that is huge. And there's a massive level of
• 26:44
  respect that goes into play when you understand what each
• 26:47
  department does. I mean, and and all of it has to
• 26:51
  work in order for the film to thrive.
• 26:54
  And so understanding like, you know, when it one of the kisses
• 26:57
  of death is holding for makeup. We hate hearing that.
• 27:00
  We hate hearing that. But you.
• 27:02
  Hold for sound too. I get that all.
• 27:04
  I'll just make them wait. I'm like, you know what, you
• 27:07
  spent 30 minutes setting up that light.
• 27:09
  I'm going to take my time to get these labs on.
• 27:12
  It's so true, though. Well, but that's also right
• 27:15
  there. That's also a marriage of the
• 27:17
  two departments too, because hair and makeup, wardrobe and
• 27:21
  sound are so closely connected when it comes to certain things,
• 27:24
  alike the labs and making sure they're putting them in the
• 27:27
  right place. And sometimes they'll be like,
• 27:29
  hey, can you put this lab on this person?
• 27:30
  Because it needs to go somewhere and I don't want to mess up what
• 27:34
  you just done. And we just had that happen on a
• 27:36
  set too, where it was an all male crew and they needed to put
• 27:39
  a lab on me. But you were working hair and
• 27:41
  makeup, so they were like, hey, Amanda.
• 27:45
  That's exactly the way it went, too.
• 27:47
  Yeah, it was great. But and then and that goes into
• 27:50
  respect for the different people that are on the set, too,
• 27:53
  because that's respecting the boundaries of the actor, you
• 27:56
  know, and not just assuming that it's going to be OK.
• 27:58
  Yeah. Just like, oh, here we go.
• 28:00
  This is this is going to work better and everybody's going to
• 28:03
  be comfortable now. So.
• 28:04
  Yeah. It is nice when, and maybe I'm
• 28:07
  biased because I've worked with you a lot, Chuck, but I mean,
• 28:11
  the sound people, especially here that I've worked with, not
• 28:14
  creepy, not concerning. I never feel weirded out.
• 28:17
  They're always very respectful boundaries.
• 28:18
  But as a tip for that I give to most young female actors is the
• 28:25
  sooner you can learn how to lab yourself, the more you just
• 28:28
  avoid a lot of awkward situations.
• 28:30
  Oh, for sure. Yeah, it's just easier that way.
• 28:33
  Definitely. Because the lab goes on the
• 28:36
  sternum. It does go on your sternum.
• 28:38
  Yep, Yep. That's where it needs to be.
• 28:40
  It's nobody's lying to you. It does need to be there, but
• 28:43
  nobody other than you has to touch you to put it there.
• 28:46
  Exactly. But you know what's interesting
• 28:48
  though, is there's been a few times where I've been on a few
• 28:50
  sets where we've actually had to put it in their hair.
• 28:53
  You know, hair, a hair is a good spot too.
• 28:55
  Like you can you can leave it in in somebody's hair or like in a
• 28:59
  baseball cap, you can put it up I.
• 29:02
  Thought they just did that on Broadway.
• 29:04
  Oh no, we've done that for sets before.
• 29:06
  Many times. I.
• 29:06
  Have never seen that's so. Because sometimes the wardrobe
• 29:10
  is not to where you can put it on the startup.
• 29:14
  Or for certain scenes of a certain style.
• 29:17
  Exactly. There isn't anywhere.
• 29:19
  So I always thought they just relied on booms then and there
• 29:22
  weren't. Labs.
• 29:22
  No, we'll we'll still put it in the hair sometimes.
• 29:25
  You can hide labs very creatively.
• 29:26
  Exactly, which again goes back to what I what I was saying of
• 29:30
  the wardrobe and the hair and the makeup and the sound.
• 29:32
  We all become very close on set you all.
• 29:34
  Need to work together? OK.
• 29:35
  So then kind of along those lines, yes, what's the most
• 29:39
  difficult thing you've had to learn on the fly on a set?
• 29:42
  Oh my goodness, I, you're going to love this one because I was
• 29:45
  thinking about this because I knew you were going to ask me.
• 29:48
  So I wouldn't say it's necessarily that I had to learn,
• 29:51
  but I had to be creative. And luckily I had somebody else
• 29:56
  there with me who had just as creative of a mind as what I did
• 30:00
  in regards to this, because we were filming a movie and we were
• 30:05
  at a tropical location. We were in VA is Puerto Rico.
• 30:08
  Woo, nice. Sounds great.
• 30:10
  Yeah. It's great for vacation.
• 30:13
  Right on. Not great to shoot at.
• 30:15
  OK For several reasons. Well, you've got the the weather
• 30:19
  and the the wildlife to contend. It essentially is a rainforest.
• 30:23
  Yeah. But you also run into the issue
• 30:26
  of the available amenities. And during this time that we
• 30:32
  were shooting this film was right as COVID was still going
• 30:38
  on. It was still, you know,
• 30:39
  everybody was still testing and everything.
• 30:42
  And a portion of our crew got COVID and had to be quarantined.
• 30:49
  And that included the special effects team.
• 30:53
  I was there as a makeup artist, makeup and hair.
• 30:55
  I was not there as special effects team, but obviously
• 30:58
  would provide support as needed. Well, this then turned around to
• 31:02
  myself and one of the other artists being promoted to
• 31:09
  special effects and wardrobe. And so we're.
• 31:12
  Like is that promoted or voluntold A.
• 31:15
  Little bit of both, yeah. So got to get it done.
• 31:19
  We don't have the people. We need you to do 3 jobs.
• 31:21
  Well, so, so there were some things that we had to create for
• 31:26
  these final shots because once we were released and able to
• 31:30
  like, you know, we were all OK, we didn't have COVID, we could
• 31:32
  go back to work. And one of those things we had
• 31:35
  to do was a throat cut, but we didn't have the tools.
• 31:39
  And there's not a, there's not a store that you can just go down
• 31:42
  and get anything. They have these beautiful little
• 31:44
  tiendas there, but the tiendas only get shipments every now and
• 31:48
  then, so. Unless you've ordered this in
• 31:50
  advance, they're not going. To be there.
• 31:51
  And so we're trying to figure out how we're going to do this.
• 31:54
  So we go to one of the tiendas and we get a nebulizer.
• 31:58
  The nebulizer has this specific cord that is a soft plastic.
• 32:04
  And this soft plastic is pliable enough that we can use this.
• 32:07
  OK, we got it. Now what else do we need?
• 32:09
  We need super glue. OK, do they have it?
• 32:12
  Luckily, they had it. All right, we need condoms.
• 32:16
  Every set always does not for. Especially when you're in Puerto
• 32:20
  Rico for several days as. Well, you know.
• 32:23
  Back to that vacation thing. But luckily they had.
• 32:27
  Here's the thing, we needed non lubricated.
• 32:29
  Which are the hardest to find? Yes, they're like impossible.
• 32:32
  Yes. And and of course they're
• 32:34
  looking at us like we're crazy, you know, because we're sitting
• 32:36
  here like, hey, we need this stuff.
• 32:38
  And they're like these little white girls are sitting here
• 32:40
  asking us for all of those, like, what is going on here?
• 32:43
  They're asking for magnums, but they can't be lubricated.
• 32:45
  I don't know what. I don't know what's going on
• 32:47
  here, but so we're we're gathering all this stuff and
• 32:51
  what we created her and myself, she she's phenomenal when it
• 32:56
  comes to this shout out Nessa, I love you.
• 32:59
  We took this and designed with the condom, glued it flat, put
• 33:05
  it down with liquid latex because luckily we did have that
• 33:07
  good. Connected that nebulizer cord
• 33:11
  all the way down, Connected that, glued it to a straw, glued
• 33:15
  the straw to a water bottle to which there was a puncture in.
• 33:18
  Filled that with the blood that we had to make.
• 33:21
  Oh Dang. We had to make that.
• 33:23
  Yeah, that's. And I have video of it.
• 33:27
  It's phenomenal. That's.
• 33:29
  Amazing. Read so well and man, that's
• 33:32
  that's called Macgyvering something right there.
• 33:34
  That is the ultimate Macgyvering because you weren't even, you
• 33:38
  know, you weren't even at home or near like no a quickie Mart
• 33:40
  or a Walmart or whatever. No, we there was there was no
• 33:43
  accessibility to any of the tools that we needed, but
• 33:47
  luckily we were able to pull that out.
• 33:49
  And that is one of my favorite stories to tell people because
• 33:52
  the final product of that read perfectly sounds great.
• 33:56
  And they didn't have to cheat it.
• 33:58
  They didn't have to cheat it. They didn't have to change
• 33:59
  angles or anything because we were she she was incredible with
• 34:04
  her with her, you know, the way she stayed level headed and
• 34:07
  worked through it and everything and we're able to achieve that.
• 34:10
  That right there. That's my favorite story to tell
• 34:13
  about that. I love.
• 34:14
  That is amazing, and I'm also very glad that nobody had a
• 34:16
  latex allergy because that would have I would.
• 34:18
  Have said that would have been like, I don't even know what we
• 34:20
  would have done at that point. I mean, I don't know.
• 34:23
  Right on. Well, before we go, is there
• 34:25
  anything that you want to have or any socials or if people want
• 34:28
  to see your work, Yeah. Or should they check it out?
• 34:30
  Because they should check it out, yeah.
• 34:32
  Well, I'm kind of all over the place.
• 34:34
  I'm everywhere. You can find me on Instagram.
• 34:36
  You can find me on Tiktok. You can find me on LinkedIn.
• 34:39
  You can find me, of course, on Facebook.
• 34:41
  Yeah, you can see examples of my work on YouTube, literally all
• 34:45
  over the place. I've got several films that are
• 34:48
  on Netflix, on Hulu, They're on Vimeo, they're on Tubi.
• 34:54
  Yeah. And so just check my IMDb.
• 34:56
  Yeah, go to IMDb, my IMDb, and you can just see the list there
• 35:02
  and check out some of the fun stuff.
• 35:05
  And I try to be really diligent on making sure that I'm posting
• 35:10
  on different things that I do because I do so much and I do so
• 35:14
  many different things. And so I try to make sure that
• 35:17
  that's, you know up kept as far as like the BTS like you were
• 35:20
  talking. Earlier like I honestly do, I
• 35:22
  don't remember if that was before or after we started
• 35:24
  recording, my apologies. But you are the go to BTS and
• 35:28
  like marketer person for every film locally here, especially
• 35:32
  without them even having to ask for it.
• 35:34
  So if you want to know what projects are going on anywhere
• 35:36
  in the valley, beyond the valley, anywhere in the Treasure
• 35:39
  Valley in Idaho, just follow Amanda Woods on Instagram and
• 35:42
  you will be pleasantly surprised.
• 35:43
  Thank you. Well, shall we end with the
• 35:46
  succinct farewell? I think that sounds wonderful.
• 35:48
  Excellent. Awesome.
• 35:49
  Bye, bye, bye.