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Gavin Booth on his new murder mystery series DREAMCRUSHER · Kvetch & Release

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  Speaker 1: Hey, we're back.
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  Speaker 2: John Leckey here on AM eight hundred ckl W. I
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  Speaker 2: hope you're all doing well. It is ten oh seven
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  Speaker 2: on this August the first.
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  Speaker 1: It's gross. How the heck has July passed us?
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  Speaker 2: Already in studio right now is filmmaker Gavin Booth, who
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  Speaker 2: I'm just gonna ask.
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  Speaker 1: You your thoughts about how did July disappear so quick?
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  Speaker 3: Man, I don't know. I already got to see Deadpool
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  Speaker 3: and Wolverine, like it just flew by. That felt like like,
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  Speaker 3: oh man, that's months away. Still in boom, here we are.
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  Speaker 1: I took the old Man to go see it.
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  Speaker 2: I loved it. I thought it was great. It was
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  Speaker 2: a love story to Fox. It was everything that I've
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  Speaker 2: been wanting to see on screen in real life since
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I was a little kid watching X Men, the animated series.
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  Speaker 2: My Dad's like, dumbest movie I've ever seen, and it's like, well,
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  Speaker 2: you are not the target, Demora.
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  Speaker 3: It took everything in me out to comment on his
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  Speaker 3: Facebook posts, yea, or give him the The old man
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  Speaker 3: yells at clouds in The Simpsons.
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  Speaker 1: As you so aptly put the Adam Sandler with the
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  Speaker 1: long white hair.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, the other one that he loves that comparison.
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  Speaker 2: But hey, that's not why we brought you into the
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  Speaker 2: studio today. Brought you in because as a filmmaker, as
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  Speaker 2: a producer, a director extraordinaire, you've got a brand new
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  Speaker 2: project that's coming up. It was covered by Variety, which
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  Speaker 2: is really cool. It's one of those things where when
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  Speaker 2: a Windsor gets picked up by international media and recognized,
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  Speaker 2: I always go, hey, it's a reminder that there's awesome
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  Speaker 2: stuff that happens here in our city that sometimes doesn't
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  Speaker 2: always get the attention. In this case, you got a
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  Speaker 2: brand new series that's coming out, Dream Crushers. It's really
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  Speaker 2: unique for a number of reasons. First off, because it's
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  Speaker 2: going to be filmed in Windsor partially. It's going to
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  Speaker 2: have some local actors that are in it. You had mentioned,
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  Speaker 2: but there's a one hundred thousand dollars cash prize in
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  Speaker 2: real life. Yeah, and it's a murder mystery, Like what
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  Speaker 2: is this thing?
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  Speaker 3: I'll get to that one second. I'll just say this
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  Speaker 3: is the second time that film and Windsor has been
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  Speaker 3: mentioned in Variety within a week. Really, because there's a
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  Speaker 3: movie called Plan C that shot a big scene here
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  Speaker 3: on just late last week. The local producers Mike Stasko
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  Speaker 3: and Ted Bizarre involved in So that's two goes of
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  Speaker 3: variety for Little Old Windsor Ontario in one week.
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  Speaker 1: In a week. That is awesome. We are on the map.
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  Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about this project that you've got.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so, so, Dream Crusher is season one of a
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  Speaker 3: think of like American horror story, where every that's the brand,
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  Speaker 3: but every season is its own contained anthology story. Okay,
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  Speaker 3: and that's what this is going to be. This so
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  Speaker 3: the overall brand is called Reward Murder Mysteries, and the
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  Speaker 3: idea with Reward is that by being a viewer, you
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  Speaker 3: can passively watch the show and just enjoy it as
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  Speaker 3: we all do, say only murders in the building and
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  Speaker 3: all the other great murder mysteries out there. Or you
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  Speaker 3: can sign up through the website and become an at
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  Speaker 3: home detective. And by doing that, if you follow the
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  Speaker 3: clues and really pay attention to the show week to week,
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  Speaker 3: there are some clues just baked into the show that
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  Speaker 3: you can answer at the end every week, and then
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  Speaker 3: there are other things if you really pay attention that's like,
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  Speaker 3: oh maybe I should go look at that website or
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  Speaker 3: that social media post that the characters talked about, and
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  Speaker 3: there will be clues sort of planted out into the
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  Speaker 3: real world, as well as a newer concept that reveal,
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  Speaker 3: entertainment and reward are putting together called clue hubs, where
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  Speaker 3: there will actually be physical, physical presence clues where you
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  Speaker 3: can go to certain retail outlets, maybe certain restaurants, for example,
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  Speaker 3: and by going there you can also interact a little
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  Speaker 3: bit of Pokemon Go in that sense of like you
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  Speaker 3: have to leave your house to get the better clues
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  Speaker 3: or the clues that might push it further. But at
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  Speaker 3: the end of all of that, six episodes will air.
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  Speaker 3: It's seven episodes total, so six will air, You'll put
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  Speaker 3: in your guests as to who the killer is, and
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  Speaker 3: one lucky viewer will take home one hundred thousand dollars
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  Speaker 3: prize for participating.
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  Speaker 1: Like real money, real money, real not crim money, real money,
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  Speaker 1: so actual, cold, hard cash.
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  Speaker 2: So this follows the story of a pop star who's
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  Speaker 2: found dead on the morning of what should have been
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  Speaker 2: I guess, the day that would have broadered a superstardom.
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  Speaker 2: How do you like, I mean, how long've been working
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  Speaker 2: on this project.
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  Speaker 1: How do you come up with this kind of stuff.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been developing this specific story for about a
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  Speaker 3: year and it's for me. I have what I have
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  Speaker 3: to say about working with these executive producers. You know,
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  Speaker 3: they came to me with the core idea William Chevy,
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  Speaker 3: and he said, I want to do this murder mystery
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  Speaker 3: or somebody who could win money. I want it to
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  Speaker 3: be interactive. And then we've just had like an amazing
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  Speaker 3: brainstorm session for a year or so of all the
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  Speaker 3: different ways we could do that. And on the creative
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  Speaker 3: side of writing the scripts, I've just sort of been
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  Speaker 3: given complete creative freedom, which rarely happens in this industry,
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  Speaker 3: and that, to me is the most thrilling aspect of
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  Speaker 3: creating this is being able to go in wild directions
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  Speaker 3: or do weird things. The films I like making are weird.
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  Speaker 3: Weird doesn't always translate to people wanting to part ways
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  Speaker 3: with their money to make them happen, because weird is
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  Speaker 3: not safe. But it's been a lot of fun and
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  Speaker 3: for me, you know, my history of doing music videos
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  Speaker 3: and working in the music industry, this was kind of
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  Speaker 3: the perfect way to blend all the things that I
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  Speaker 3: love a story about a singer means I gets to
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  Speaker 3: sort of tell and share some of the stories that
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  Speaker 3: I've seen being backstage at concerts or working with artists,
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  Speaker 3: or what that life of a recording artist is like
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  Speaker 3: in the pressures of management and publicity and record labels.
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  Speaker 3: That I could tie all of that into this sort
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  Speaker 3: of you know, the irony of the title dream crusher
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  Speaker 3: is that if somebody was to kill you while you're
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  Speaker 3: pursuing your dreams, that's sort of the ultimate dream crush.
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  Speaker 1: I would say.
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  Speaker 2: So, you know, you've always been doing innovative stuff when
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  Speaker 2: it comes to filmmaking, and fifteen comes to mind the
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  Speaker 2: world's first live streamed film that you did on Periscope,
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  Speaker 2: Last Call featured of course that incredible split screen side
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  Speaker 2: by side.
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  Speaker 1: What is it about, you know, breaking the mold so
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  Speaker 1: to speak? That like why do you do this?
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  Speaker 2: Like you could just go and film a movie like
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  Speaker 2: without having to you know, go and make it incredibly
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  Speaker 2: difficult for yourself.
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  Speaker 1: I mean you think about Periscope and Last Call.
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  Speaker 2: Excuse me, and fifteen, like that's just pulling it off
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  Speaker 2: is so much more difficult than just a traditional scripted
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  Speaker 2: multi camera shot.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I mean, I do have a traditional scripted,
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  Speaker 3: nice lighthearted rom com coming out called Sidney Versus Sean,
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  Speaker 3: So I do like making traditional films. I think the
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  Speaker 3: non traditional stuff one, I think it is a great
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  Speaker 3: soother for my ADHD where I'm sort of forced to
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  Speaker 3: work my brain in different ways and that really creatively
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  Speaker 3: stimulates me. So there's something about doing things that other
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  Speaker 3: people haven't done, or it's a bit of a puzzle
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  Speaker 3: solving that I really like, of how to how to
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  Speaker 3: build something that doesn't exist yet. And also just when
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  Speaker 3: you rally people behind you to do ideas that other
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  Speaker 3: people don't necessarily want to tackle or haven't figured out
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  Speaker 3: how to tackle. When you find the right team, it's
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  Speaker 3: the most creatively fulfilling experiences that I've had of everyone's
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  Speaker 3: there to really we want to make this the best
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  Speaker 3: it can be. We want to like suggest wild ideas
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  Speaker 3: and just kind of think outside the box.
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  Speaker 1: And I really enjoy that.
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  Speaker 3: You know, making fifteen for Blumhouse that was, as you said,
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  Speaker 3: the world's first live stream movie. That's the most terrifying
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  Speaker 3: film experience of my whole life, because we had like
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  Speaker 3: when that started, nothing could go wrong, there was no
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  Speaker 3: starting over redos and we had some hiccups in there
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  Speaker 3: that we had to solve in real time while it
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  Speaker 3: was happening. And after that, even though last call was,
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  Speaker 3: you know, a super complicated technical accomplishment for us, it
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  Speaker 3: was nowhere near as scary as that live stream thing.
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  Speaker 3: So I think by doing that earlier in my career,
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  Speaker 3: it just unlocked that part of my brain of like, oh,
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  Speaker 3: there's nothing to be scared of anymore, so let's just
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  Speaker 3: run at doing these weird, crazy ideas.
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  Speaker 2: So you did the tightrope walk day one. Yeah, now
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  Speaker 2: you're just walking across a plank and going the easy stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Come on, like, I can do this.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we've seen it worked out great for
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  Speaker 3: Steve or running all these other daredevils. So I'm sure
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  Speaker 3: that nothing will ever ever ever catch up with me
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  Speaker 3: doing this.
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  Speaker 1: Of course not.
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  Speaker 2: You know again, I want to bring this conversation back
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  Speaker 2: to Windsor. You go out of your way to do
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  Speaker 2: stuff in Windsor, and there's logistical reasons as to why.
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  Speaker 2: I mean Windsor is a cheaper locale imagine, to book
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  Speaker 2: things easier, to facilitate some things because we're not as
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  Speaker 2: hustling and bustling as major cities.
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  Speaker 1: But I'd imagine that you've got.
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  Speaker 2: The resources to do this stuff wherever. It would probably
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  Speaker 2: be easier to do it in a city that actually
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  Speaker 2: has most of those resources built up in an industry
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  Speaker 2: around it. Why do you bring it back to windsor
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  Speaker 2: So often? Why is it that you want to keep
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  Speaker 2: Windsor on not only you know the map, but your map.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a super interesting question that I'm having to answer.
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  Speaker 1: I won one for this show.
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  Speaker 3: It helps give us like an extra layer and an
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  Speaker 3: an extra sort of like it makes the show feel
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  Speaker 3: bigger by having the ability to shoot in a couple
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  Speaker 3: different countries. You know, we've got California as one of
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  Speaker 3: the locations, Worcester, Massachusetts is the main location, and then
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  Speaker 3: Windsor So just it's going to make this sort of
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  Speaker 3: independent TV production feel larger than it is by having
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  Speaker 3: so many different backdrops and landscapes. But that aside, I
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  Speaker 3: just I've always loved Windsord, even when I didn't live
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  Speaker 3: primarily in the city. I've loved bringing projects back here.
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  Speaker 3: It's just there's something about being away from my like
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  Speaker 3: the eye of more door of Hollywood, where it's just
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  Speaker 3: a little it's a little more freeing. And you know,
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  Speaker 3: I've built up great relationships with crew and cast people here,
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  Speaker 3: So anytime that I can keep working with the same
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  Speaker 3: people that I love working with, I want to bring
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  Speaker 3: it back here and winsor in the last I want
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  Speaker 3: to say it's attribute to COVID. I can't. I'm not
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  Speaker 3: a scientist. I don't have perfect data, but I believe
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  Speaker 3: that twenty one twenty twenty two, a lot of people
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  Speaker 3: who would have graduated the film program or a college
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  Speaker 3: program related to media that would have left immediately and
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  Speaker 3: just packed their bags and gone to Toronto or Vancouver
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  Speaker 3: or wherever the film hub of their choice would be
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  Speaker 3: didn't because the world was uncertain, things were in lockdown,
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  Speaker 3: and they stayed. And a byproduct of that has been
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  Speaker 3: there are a lot more people here making films and
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  Speaker 3: commercials and music videos than ever before. And I can
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  Speaker 3: crew up a TV series like this or an independent
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  Speaker 3: movie without having to bring anyone from another city.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, which is kind of incredible.
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  Speaker 3: You might want to bring some key cast or sure,
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  Speaker 3: if there's a specific technician that does something specialized, maybe,
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  Speaker 3: but we're in a really unique period where I think
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  Speaker 3: now if we run out of we might actually be
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  Speaker 3: able to anchor Windsor as a filmmaking community better than
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  Speaker 3: we've all been trying to do for many years. There's
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  Speaker 3: always been people here making films, you know, Nick Shield's
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  Speaker 3: and Chris Pickele, like two of my early inspirations that
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  Speaker 3: got me into making film, Mike Stasko and Ted Bezaire
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  Speaker 3: that I mentioned. There's always movies and shorts and things
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  Speaker 3: being made here, but right now there's just there's a
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  Speaker 3: lot more people doing it. Obviously the barrier of entry
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  Speaker 3: with the cost of gear and home computing and everything
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  Speaker 3: has also opened up the doors. Amanda Gelman, the Windsor
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  Speaker 3: Film Center trying to offer classes. There's just a lot
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  Speaker 3: happening and it makes me excited to just I want
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  Speaker 3: to double down on bringing projects here, to be one
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  Speaker 3: of the people hopefully anchoring the future.
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  Speaker 2: Film Well, and you live here, you've got buy in
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: in other community. I mean, you don't have to Again,
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  Speaker 2: you could have chosen to decide to simply walk to Martar.
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  Speaker 3: I suppose there's only so many hobbits journeys you want
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  Speaker 3: to do before you're like, you know what, my feet
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  Speaker 3: hurt and I really like just being home with my dogs.
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  Speaker 3: And hotels are great, but they're you know, they're just
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: not home. So yeah, anytime you can work closer to home,
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  Speaker 3: it's a it's a great benefit.
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  Speaker 2: Well, hey, I think this is just this is so cool.
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  Speaker 2: I love any story where windsor gets put on the
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  Speaker 2: map and when it comes to you know, whether it
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  Speaker 2: be filmmaking, TV movies like this is just it's so cool. Gavin,
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  Speaker 2: you do such great work. You're such a great ambassador
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  Speaker 2: for our community. I urge everyone to check this out.
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  Speaker 2: Dream Crusher. It's you could win one hundred thousand dollars.
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  Speaker 2: There's no reason for you not to at least watch
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  Speaker 2: it and dive in and sign up and become that
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  Speaker 2: that detective yourself, I suppose.
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  Speaker 3: And I'll just try to cut it off at the
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  Speaker 3: pass that don't don't ask me who the killer is
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  Speaker 3: because I haven't even told the streaming service who the
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  Speaker 3: killer is.
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  Speaker 1: Not you just that was that was That was my
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: next question. I'm getting getting that question a lot, so
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  Speaker 1: i'd imagine so well people want that hundred grund.
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  Speaker 3: As I said off air, I don't want to end
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  Speaker 3: up in some documentary five years from now. But like
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: the mcmillion scandal of the McDonald's monopoly pieces.
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  Speaker 1: Gavin B.