#5 - Joe Swanberg (writer-director-producer) from Chicago

Joe Swanberg (Drinking Buddies, Happy Christmas) discusses his new 8-episode series Easy for Netflix using the same improvisational style he developed to make his numerous indie features. We talk about: Writing, directing and producing Easy Casting over Skype Improvising vs. sticking to a script Scheduling in movies vs. TV Shooting in Chicago (as much as possible) A typical day on a Swanberg set Pitching an idea to Netflix Post-production strategies Quotes from the show: “There was no rule book for how to do a show like this.” “The characters are all coming from autobiographical places in terms of my connection to them.” “When you put out a movie, you are buying advertising, sort of like throwing rocks hoping to hit the people who might like it, and because Netflix already has that data, it puts the show at such an advantage already to find its perfect audience.” “It’s really wild to think that I made this thing with my small crew in Chicago… but the instant global audience is going to be akin to a big holiday film release.”