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Demystifying The Indie Film Journey
This season of Truly Independent is
supported by the Help Them See Foundation.
Help Them See is a nonprofit dedicated
to supporting feature films that
inspire faith, hope, and connection.
By partnering with filmmakers
that help them see Foundation
brings meaningful stories to life
and shares them with audiences
worldwide, making a lasting cultural
impact through the power of cinema.
Learn more and discover how you can
be part of the movement by visiting.
Help them see foundation.
Welcome to Season three
of Truly Independent.
I'm Garrett Batty, alongside
my co-host Daren Smith.
Each week we'll go in depth with guests,
industry experts, and we'll even share
our own experiences, all with the goal of
demystifying the independent film process.
This season, it's all about the
script from the first spark of an
idea to a polished final draft,
breaking it down for scheduling,
budgeting, and ultimately shooting.
We'll walk through every step it
takes to get from page to production.
Welcome to Truly Independent.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Welcome to another episode
of Truly Independent Daren.
Nice to see you.
How are you doing?
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602: I am
I'm recovering from, everybody got the
winter cold this winter, including myself.
So last week was and today I'm,
I feel 90%, but my voice says
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah,
your voice is a little it's pretty.
So
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah,
it's a lot lower than it typically
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: what?
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602: this
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: You're,
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602: We
could turn it into a radio bit if we
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
you're gonna want that voice, uh,
to talk to our guest because our
guest I'm very excited about with
us in the center panel is Ben Steer.
Uh, Ben, how are you?
Welcome to the show.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: I am.
I'm great, and thank you so much for
inviting me to be on your podcast.
This is, I'm excited.
I've been looking forward to this
since you emailed me late last night.
I'm so stoked, but honestly, I,
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Ben, you're pin you are, you're
pinch hitting for us as far as
the guest today, so thank you.
But that's how, that's sometimes
how we get our best guests.
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602:
This is true.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: Thank you.
Thank you.
Great to
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: good.
Okay.
Well, a as I mentioned, uh, when
we've talked, Ben, you and I met
you and I met, well, I don't know.
We, we started interacting more, uh, a
few months ago after a read through for
one of my projects that you came to.
And, uh, I've just, you sent, you
were gracious enough to send over
some thoughts and notes and reactions,
and I immediately said, this guy
knows what he's talking about.
Let's go to lunch.
And I've just been continually impressed
with with your career and all that
you've done and how willing you are to
share that insight, to share insights.
So
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: Thanks for
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: I'm
glad you showed up to the read through.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah,
I was honestly, I wanted to meet you
Garrett, and and it was just like,
I texted five people I knew and one
of them said, oh he is doing this.
Read through on Monday night,
you should come to that.
And I'm like, all right.
So I figured if I was gonna show up,
I would do the thing I would want
someone to do at my readthrough.
And so I took diligent notes on
all the beats that came to mind.
Typed as fast as I could.
The whole meeting.
It probably looked like I wasn't even
paying attention now that I think
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Is this guy ever gonna stop texting?
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
at my phone.
You're like, who is this?
Who is this?
More on showing up to my table, Reid
just on playing pong on his phone.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
So, Ben, how do you classify yourself?
How do you introduce yourself as far
as when people say, what do you do?
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: I say I'm
a filmmaker, and then they look at me
and and wonder what that really means.
And and I started doing that probably.
12 years ago, and now I,
that's just what I do.
That's what I say.
And before that I, it was very hard to say
those words and I don't know what it is.
Probably that IM pasta syndrome where you
just eat so much pasta that bloated and
you're very insecure with who you are.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Are those cor, do those correlate?
Because maybe that's
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
problem.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
imposter syndrome's a really thing,
but also imposter syndrome is also just
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
You eat so much pasta,
you think you're Italian.
Okay.
So from a overcoming imposter
syndrome, you don't just start
saying you're a filmmaker.
You obviously have some sort of
experience on set or a credit
to your name what was that?
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
I served a mission and after my
mission I was gonna get married.
I was.
I wanted to I wanted to be an artist and
I, the more I thought about it, I'm like,
I don't know anybody that makes, there
was a couple guys in my hometown that
actually that were working artists, but
they were so old and I'm thinking, okay,
I'm not gonna make money till I'm 70
if I choose this career path right now.
These guys were very, and
they took me under their wing.
And they were old and they thought I
could maybe be an artist too, but I.
For whatever reason I decided, you know
what, I'm gonna do something art adjacent.
And I went to advertising
school and graduated from
advertising school and I had.
Had a ton of experience going through
that in San Diego going through the
advertising program that I worked
at a magazine as a layout artist.
I worked for TI Time Warner in their
television department doing graphics
for television and editing, little
comedy news segments for broadcast.
And had all this access to all these
things that were film adjacent.
But then when I graduated.
I was able to get and work at an agency
that did huge national advertising
campaigns and, and when you're dealing
with the advertising campaigns, you're
always hiring the production company.
And so every time we would do a broadcast
spot, which was pretty frequently for
every new product, and we did 14 products
while I was there into major box stores.
That you're interacting with
the production company and
you're on set and you're there.
You're there.
'cause you're an art director over
the project or creative director
over the project and you're seeing
what they're doing and you're like,
okay, what I'm doing is stupid.
What I'm doing is meaningless.
What they're doing is awesome.
How do I do that?
And so that kind of started it
and after eight years of that
one night, I was just obsessing.
I've always obsessed over film and I
made films as a teenage kid whenever
I can get my hands on the camcorder.
I was just I was watching the extras
on my new DVD for Terminator two
and, and in any case, you realize,
oh, you can do these things.
You can just get a camera
and go do these things.
And so I talked to some friends and I
said, Hey, I want to make a little thing.
Do you want to help me?
And they said, yes.
I, 'cause in my mind I'm thinking,
can I do something and make
something from beginning to end
and have it tell a story, A to Z.
We did that and I just screened it in my
living room to 15 of us after it was done.
Took about a month to make this
five minute little short comedy,
short and everyone laughed and had
a great time and I'm thinking, okay.
And they're like, what are we gonna do?
Are you gonna put it in the Sundance?
What?
And I used I, I did everything.
I did the, we did the music.
I hired a, I didn't hire, I asked
a friend who was in a band to,
if I can license their music.
Like I, I didn't want to use
anything that I couldn't.
Commercially released.
And so I, but I didn't, and that, that
film's never seen the light of day.
But it proves something to me, maybe
to my wife, that that a year later
we would be selling everything.
We absolutely owned, couches, televisions,
name it, to go and and try and do this.
So that's my origin story.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Ugh.
That it's so relatable and,
what and what a journey.
At what point what A supportive wife,
you must have to say, you know what?
I'm done making money.
I'm just gonna go try
an independent film and,
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Supportive for sure.
Yes.
Yep.
She was like, okay, let's do it.
This is, this sounds great.
You haven't steered me wrong yet.
And so far I've done
nothing but prove her wrong.
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602:
You maybe share a little bit around
that idea of, 'cause you mentioned
like how important it was for you
to finish it, to do it from A to Z.
It wasn't just an idea, it wasn't just
a thing you noodled with, but like
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah,
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602: how
important was that and maybe how has
that played out for you, throughout your
career to have that earliest experience
be something you actually finished?
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
That's great.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
about this a lot.
If someone.
you're standing on the street corner
and someone hands you a camera
and says, make something scary,
or make something, make something
emotional, you have six hours, right?
Like in your brain, you can analyze
the things in movies you like but it
doesn't mean you're gonna have that
outcome to go make something scary.
There's plenty of short horror films or
short, dramedies that either don't land
or there's something missing or whatever.
So it's like, what do you know you can
do before you start wasting all these
other people's times on your project?
And so that's what you gotta just
that, really that's what film school's
about, I think I, that I didn't go,
but it's about exploring what your
sensitivities are so you know what
you can do, if that makes any sense.
So I ended up spending most
of my career in documentary.
Because, it sounds pretty brave
to sell everything you know and
everything you own, and dive into a
totally new career at, 30 years old.
But.
I think I was still halfway
committed when I did that.
Like as brave as it sounds, I still
got pulled back into corporate
settings, back into, come work on
my startup, back into these things.
And even though I was having success
at times took another eight years of
that back and forth before I said no.
No more of this.
This is what I'm doing.
And when you do that, certain
power will come over you.
I feel like I that in my case,
I, I've probably totally gone
off on a rabbit trail on your
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
No, it's a good point.
It's a good point.
'cause it's some, at some point
you do have to, I don't know
commit to what you're doing.
Independent film is difficult and
hard and challenging or rewarding and
exciting, but it is like all encompassing.
And there, to be able to kind of do
it halfheartedly, um, is, is probably
a, not a good pathway to succeed.
So when you did commit, you said
it took about eight years to kinda,
Before you blew up the bridge.
Is that when you did your Nat Geo show?
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yes.
' garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: cause
that's, that, that, that's, that's huge.
Like that's.
Quite a leap.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: It was,
and it was an interesting experience.
It was we, I.
Going back and forth.
Made a, we made a couple short
films and we were going back and
forth between writing a feature
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Ben maybe just lost you for a second.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
and shooting another short
and doing all these things.
I had someone come to me, a pretty
awesome guy from the corporate world
and he had sold his company and he
just took me to lunch one day and
he is I love what you're doing.
'Cause I left his company and told him
I'm gonna go make a movie basically.
So he, he took me to lunch
a couple months later.
He's I want to invest a hundred
thousand dollars in you.
He's what can you do for a
hundred thousand dollars?
And I think that's where kind of my
confidence was shattered a little bit.
Oh no, he's handing me a camera right
now and telling me to go make something.
I don't know what I can make, I
can only make the, the three short
films that, those are the thing.
I don't know enough to make what he's
asking me to make, or I didn't have
confidence in myself, which I should have
just said make what is in my heart at
that point, which was this little dramedy.
But in any case ISI got together with with
a partner at the time, and we went and.
Pitched lab, a bunch of TV ideas
that we had, and he said yes to them.
And so we started developing
these TV ideas blindly.
And that's not how you go
about making television.
You can't just come up with your
idea in your cocoon and then go
try and sell it to a network.
Networks already have their
agendas planned out for
the next, five to 10 years.
And, it doesn't work that way except in
this fir one case, we met a guy who did
full contact, heavy armor, jousting,
and he was a hardcore dude and he was
driven and he was charismatic and he.
He had it for, he had everything for
that would, that worked through the lens.
And so we added him as a third project
in our projects we were shooting.
And luckily we had a.
Our sizzle reel, which was awesome.
We had at the same time a
news article was coming out.
And it just, all, it like three
things happened all at the same time.
And our lead guy was, since he was in
this full contact sport, he happened
to be on Jim Rome radio show, the same
time the news article and everything's
hitting and boom, all of a sudden
people wanted our show and that's.
That was lightning in a bottle.
It happened once.
And it was awesome.
It was a six hour series called Knights
and Mayhem on National Geographic.
And and we were young and wet behind the
ears, and we were just like, I don't know.
I don't want to, I don't want to
anybody but there was lots of trucks
that ran over us, but there was
also a lot of people that held us
up and encouraged us to keep going
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
But we learned a lot.
So we through that, you meet a
couple network executives and
they say, what else you got?
And we said, oh no.
got these things but
you're not interested.
What do you got?
And they said we're
looking for this, and this.
And that's how you make a second show.
You.
Then you say, okay, they're looking
for whatever extreme barbecue
people, and then you go and you,
where can you find that in America,
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: people.
And in any case, like I, I feel like
it was fun making reality television.
It was it was a super awesome experience,
but it wasn't independent film.
It wasn't what I committed myself to do
and what I'm committing myself to do now.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Well, it, it's interesting because.
You've got these two events or two
kind of moments that feel, um, very,
like you say, lightning at a bottle
or serendipitous or whatever it is.
And that's true.
And I think that's part, that's a reality
of each one of our journeys as far
as becoming an independent filmmaker.
But I want to emphasize
that those aren't exclusive.
Like when you say, Hey, somebody
believed in me and they said, I wanna
invest a hundred thousand in you.
That's obvious.
That's a rare occurrence.
However, it.
It's not exclusive to you.
Like you, you were making short
films, you were following your
passion, you were doing your heart,
uh, you know, doing the work.
And it led to that, right?
Uh, or, or past experience led to that.
And so for people that are listening
saying, oh, this guy was basically
handed a golden ticket to, to make his
dreams come true, that you, it sounds
like you were working your guts out.
You had taken some significant
leaps of faith and.
And somebody invested in that passion.
And that's not exclusive to you, is that?
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
That's kind.
Yes.
I, oh I agree.
That's you to say.
Like there he did see something and
still does, still checks up on me.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
probably wants his a hundred grand back
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: point,
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: And
the same thing with your Nat Geo Show.
You know, say, oh, well, you know,
it was just kind of a fluke thing.
And or, or, yes, it is one in a
million chances, but I think that.
What you have as far as a skillset is
you identified, Hey, this guy's, this
guy's charismatic, this guy's a story,
and there's this kind of energy, or
there's something in the zeitgeist of
full contact jousting, or you know,
these reality, here's an opportunity.
You identified an opportunity.
And we're able to, to
move that into work and.
If, again, for independent
filmmakers that are listening saying,
yeah, I don't own any jouster.
That's not what, that's
not what we're saying.
That's not the pathway.
The pathway is find a story.
Identify a story, make it
resonate with you, and then find
the audience that wants that
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602:
There's that, but too, like what
we were talking about last week,
Garrett, is this idea of he was.
You're someone that they saw that
could solve a problem for them,
whether it's the investor or the
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: I.
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602:
or whoever hired you.
It's oh, we trust this guy,
and there's some momentum.
So you've done something and then
you're trusted to do the next thing.
Like all that plays into it.
It's not just picked randomly out of
the millions of filmmakers who would
love to be in the same situation.
It's no.
You did the things that led to
where you were at that moment.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: But Daren,
I do feel like a couple projects later,
I think I, I feel like I was picked
randomly for one, I don't know if Cal's.
Goodman, but he left BlendTech and they
were floundering for an idea of someone
to take over the will at Blend series.
They,
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
So lemme fill that in.
So will it Yeah,
For, for those that don't know, right.
Kels was with, uh, back when
YouTube was just kind of a baby.
Right.
Will it blend?
They used to blend up different
objects and would get millions
and millions of views.
Right.
On these advertising, their blenders.
So Kels started that, or Kels was
a part of the end was leaving.
So go, go ahead.
I won't, I won't.
I'll try not to interrupt again.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: It's okay.
And so I had so I had a very depressing
year with the television show that failed.
That was a just gonna be a Discovery
channel show which I was gonna be
my big shot at being co-executive
producer tragically ended.
And so I was just depressed
for months on end.
And then I feel like my buddy's
Hey, we're trying to get this
thing back off the ground.
They don't know what direction to go.
They're, they have no ideas.
They've talked to a couple different
people and they're not coming.
They're not satisfied with
the pitches they're hearing.
Come in and say what you
would do with this series.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
With the Blunt,
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: I came in.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
the Will Blend series, right?
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
So I came into BlendTech and I said, I
will do exactly what you have been doing.
I wouldn't change a dang thing.
I would actually double down
on everything that's working.
And for some reason they loved that.
For the next couple years, I wrote
and directed I, in my mind, the
most successful will At Blends we
incorporated high speed cinematography.
We shot on bigger cinema cameras.
We did.
Fun, special effects.
And I had a blast.
It was awesome.
And it woke me back up
to to what you could do.
And and it led me into doing
two more feature documentary
films with some amazing people.
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602:
I missed the part where you
were picked at random in
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
Yeah.
I feel the same way.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
I feel like the guy that called
me, he could have called any of
the creatives that, that he knew,
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602:
My guess is he probably did and it
was, he called you for a reason.
So anyway, not to bit, not to
nitpick around semantics here, but
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
was that old,
TV show?
Was it night court?
And he's like, how did you become a judge?
And it's like there was a list of 25
people that could be the judge, and
he was like 14 on the list and he was
the first one to answer the phone.
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602: There you
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Again.
Yeah.
That's cool.
So it is a matter of coming up with
those creative ideas and pitching
and solving a problem that we've
talked about a little bit on this.
On previous episodes, they had a problem,
they needed a creative take on it,
and you delivered and then it led, you
said it led to two more feature docs.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
One is done, but I I don't know
when it's gonna be out on streaming.
I'm not.
In charge of that portion of it.
And the other one is still
lingering in post world which is.
For most docs.
I think that's good that a couple years
go by since, 'cause it they age great.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: if more
time goes by and we're able to reignite
the spark and catch up on these characters
five years later that, that's great.
So that film's called Gut Buster and
that features a bunch of awesome people.
Dr.
William Furman Pete Holmes, the comedian.
Bunch of other comedians.
And that follows the life of a
standup comedian as he as he turns
his life around, through through diet
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: nice.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: exercise.
And it has a lot of heart
and it's pretty awesome.
And and it's definitely in limbo as
far as like we're gonna get the rest
of the money to finish post on it.
But, and who knows, maybe it's
one of those films that fades
into oblivion and, but who knows?
Maybe we'll be able to
reignite it sometime soon.
I
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: I'm
always, every year I'm taking meetings
and trying to move it forward.
And every year I think,
okay, one more year goes by.
That means everyone's a little bit older,
everything's a little bit new, different.
So when we do finally shoot those
last scenes, it's gonna be that
more impactful 'cause everyone
wants to see the years go by
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: Then
the other film was about the life of
a famed comedian who we interviewed.
And it is in that movie John
Pennett who passed away right
after we interviewed him.
And he, we got along.
He was a fantastic guy.
We had a great couple weeks together
and he was just a wonderful human being.
He remembered who I was, three weeks
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: I
was, I'm walking through comedy and
magic, and he looks over his shoulder
and he sees the top of my head
and he is Hey Ben, come over here.
know what, where was that
chocolate you shared with me?
Where'd you get that
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: He was
just like, he just, he was just a warm
human being and tragically passed away
the week later, and his manager called
me and said, Hey, listen, I know you,
you you have this interview, like we
have some aligning goals and you have
this full running production crew.
Help me make this.
His life story and and that was just a
couple years on the road in Boston and
New York interviewing everyone from his
sister to his brother to you name it,
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
every awesome comedian
you can possibly think of.
Everybody looked up to this guy, everybody
that came out of the Boston scene.
Admired him.
He was a comedian's comedian.
And so we just got to meet and
interview tons of comedians.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
That's fun.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: And yeah.
So in any
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
that was the sex second project
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
So you've talked about some of
the challenges of okay, do we
have funding to finish this?
Or some unexpected tragedies ending a
show or interrupting a production flow.
What do you, as an indie filmmaker,
like how do you face those challenges
or how do you overcome them?
Or at what point do you say okay
this is not meant to happen.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
I think one is you.
You can't give up.
if you believe in the project,
you can't give up on the project.
And, it.
And if you do, you're gonna pay
for it emotionally, you're gonna
pay for giving up on that project.
That's been my experience
If I believed in something.
that I won't give up on it.
It's like your children,
like, at what point would you
give up on any of your kids?
You won't.
It doesn't matter what they're doing
or what life choices they're making,
like you're gonna be there for them
and your films are the same way.
It now it doesn't mean so every year
since I decided to do this, going back
to 2006, I've written a screenplay.
Pretty much, or attempted to.
There's a couple years where I got, to
page 60 before something busy happened
and um, I don't consider every single
one of those, my baby or my child.
Some of them are a hundred,
$200 million epics.
I just wanted to write a $200 million
film and see what that's like.
But every once in a while, I think.
I'm gonna write something this year.
I wanna write something I could
make for under a million dollars.
And those are the ones you fall in love
or those are the ones I fall in love with.
And like the one I'm pitching right
now is this comedy film and I can make
it for a very low amount of money.
And I'm in such love with it that I will
never give up trying to make this movie.
It is endearing to me, and so powerful
and funny and fun that so you pick
your battles as an indie filmmaker.
You double down on what
you know you can do.
If someone hands you a camera, what
can you make and you don't give up.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
Okay.
That's sage advice and clearly
something that's working.
I you've showed me the deck.
For that indie comedy that you're
doing, and it is worth not giving up on.
It's it'd be a very fun one.
I'm so hopeful that you'd be able
to find the support for that film.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
It has to be made.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
That's a tough feeling that
we have sometimes as indie
filmmakers is like that.
Like this has to be made something inside.
This project is making me willing
to stop everything I'm doing.
Pump the brakes on a potential career
or job or paycheck and make this movie.
And I think that we have to exercise
wisdom in that and say, okay, for us
to sustain that, we need to do, we
need to go about that intelligently.
Find the right supporters,
find the right audience.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: when
you have a project from the heart like
that, the more you pump the brakes
and the more laser focused you get
on it, meaning the more you say no to
other projects and no to other work,
the more powerful that thing becomes.
You get, I've.
Said no a couple times to pro to
commercial projects in the past year I was
trying to get this thing off the ground.
And every time I've done that, I've
gotten story beats, newer jokes,
better ways to solve difficult
problems in the screenplay.
Everything becomes better.
That energy that you
would've spent chasing that.
Broadcast spot or whatever, that
commercial spot or that branded scripted
spot, that energy doesn't go into nothing.
able to refocus that.
And it might seem a little strange
or, or cosmic, or loopy in the brain.
But I do believe that energy you would've
spent doing something else is refocused.
And so I'm grateful for that and
I've, that's a lesson I've learned.
I said no to a project in September
and it's done nothing but open new
doors for me physically and mentally.
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602:
That's awesome to hear.
And for me it's highlighting this, thing
that we see a lot with earlier in their
career filmmakers, I don't necessarily
want to assume younger, but like those
that are earlier in their career, if
they've only got one script under their
belt is precious, it is the thing they
wanna put all their time and attention to.
But the market may not
respond in the same way.
Right.
But what you're saying is you've been
doing this for 20 plus years and it's.
Something you've, it's,
you've made it into a craft.
It's not just a passion project, but
then one out of all of these scripts
emerged as like the one, you have that
sense of tension or this pull that's
oh, I have to make this one for me.
That's something I'm always
looking for with projects is
do I feel compelled to make it?
'cause if not.
That has to be there or else the energy
after months and months and no after,
no, after no of whether it's investment
or distribution or collaborators that
you're trying to go after, it's no, you
have to have all those, you have to have
that compulsion to show up every day and
keep moving that project project forward.
So I just think it's a true principle
that you've highlighted again for
us here, that just because you're.
Passionate about it doesn't
necessarily mean everyone's
gonna be passionate about it.
And if you only have one, it may
mean that you're really passionate
about that one, but maybe it's it's
probably not gonna be as good as
your fifth or 10th or 20th project,
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
so, um, then if there is a.
If you, if you look back on some of
those projects that have worked out,
uh, that have done well for you,
what is the, is there a consistent
through line to those projects?
Say, Hey, this is why this went well,
and this is what I wanna try to repeat.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: Oh yeah.
Wait.
You broke up at the end though.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Okay, good.
I, I thought you were pondering my
question, but, uh, it sounds like we
were frozen, so I was just saying.
Is there, what's the consistent
through line in those projects
that have been successful for
you or have had good results?
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: Other
people that are passionate too.
I think I had a really big funded
project, slipped through my fingers, the
beginning of COVID and COVID, I believe
was mostly responsible for that happening.
And so I was just like.
Down on my luck, like everyone else
trapped in your bedroom watching tv.
And my wife says, you gotta just do
something else during this, 'cause
this is gonna last a couple years, Ben.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
said, you're totally right.
Like I gotta do something
with the no budget.
And so I.
I wrote a bunch.
I had a bunch of these science
fiction shorts that I had been
working on over since 2013,
2012, a couple different shorts.
And so I just like cramming together
and I wrote an esoteric science
fiction mind bending feature script.
then I went to some friends I had
since I was in high school who live
locally, and I said, Hey, you guys.
I wanna do this during COVID with me.
And they all said, yeah, let's do it.
And so then I was like, oh, crap.
Now I really gotta try and make this
thing, but I couldn't have done any of it.
I couldn't have gotten to square
one without all of their passion.
Like I, when you're an independent
filmmaker, you accumulate equipment.
just part of it.
There's a certain look you
want, so you have that filter.
There's a certain shot you need, so you
buy whatever a ProE blends, there's,
there you're gonna get this thing
someplace you, you buy, you either
buy it yourself or someone who did.
And so I looked at all the
equipment I had accumulated.
And and of it, I had a really
nice audio package put together
and I'm like, oh, okay.
So I think we, I got everything
I need for audio for this movie.
then my buddy who said he wanted to
help, I turn around, I go to his house
and he bought his entire own audio
kit and had been practicing in his
basement during COVID for the past two
weeks, recording his kids on a boom.
And I'm like.
your mixer is better than my mixer.
'cause all these people, they're
all successful and have real jobs
at big companies, so they can afford
to buy the nicest mixer or whatever.
And your mic is pretty decent, dude.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
it's not better than my mic,
but it's pretty decent, Mike.
And so he showed up every day.
During COVID with his own audio kit,
and I didn't even have to think about
it one time, the quality of the audio,
because he was a software engineer,
he knew technology in and out.
He knew everything there is to know
about being highly technical and
the skills to operating a boom pull.
He taught himself over a week and a half.
Recording his kids, following his kids
around the kitchen and and I'm like, dude,
you can probably go make 600 bucks a day
right now with this kid, and he is I make
more than that programming for Ancestry.
But in any case.
Those are the people that
make your movie possible.
At an independent level is the passion.
Other people just bring, and you as
a director and producer, you have to
identify when someone's coming with just
a good idea that they think is cool, or
when someone is coming with that has the
passion of their life energy behind it.
And I think that's a, this discerning
factor when dealing with people
is you're gonna, you're bombarded
with ideas from everybody nonstop.
Okay.
What ideas are the ones that are
coming at you that if you say no is
gonna hurt that person's feelings?
Because they have honest passion behind
it and and whether it's good or bad, and,
and so you double down on, it's a gamble.
You double down on what you think
is working with the people on
board, and hopefully you don't
lose people and it's inevitable
that you're gonna lose some people.
But if you're honestly thinking about it
every day, every time you show up on set
then you, the people that, that you make
the right bet with, it becomes stronger.
So hopefully
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
I'd say I love that.
I love that.
That's, that's, uh, yeah, it is.
It's, the creative process is
a collaborative process, right?
And there are a lot of people with great
ideas, and I hear from them weekly in
my email box saying, here's an idea,
here's an idea, here's what about this?
There are fewer and fewer that know
how to make that idea a deliverable.
And
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: yes.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: if you
can find somebody, and that's probably
what you've done in the past, been able to
prove that, hey, this short film is gonna
be a deliverable or this, uh, sizzle reel.
We're gonna turn this into a deliverable
series, or these feature length
documentaries, or even the will it blend
stuff Like, here's an idea, do what you do
and we're gonna prove it a little bit with
this equipment and make it a deliverable.
And, uh, I think that's, uh.
An important thing that we as independent
filmmakers have to know how to do
is execute on these great ideas.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
There's a famous quote or not, I
don't know how famous it is, but
there's a famous filmmaker called,
and he is the most dearest filmmaker
to my heart that I can think of.
I read his biography, his autobiography,
and I wanna read it again this year.
He is the most wonderful
filmmaker that's ever existed.
His name's Frank Capra and his entire
filmography starts off in the silent era.
Working with kids and writing silly
gags all the way up to the most
endearing films that have ever existed.
And receiving an Academy Award, he
said this, he, and it's this quote
that's burned in, and it became
more burned into my heart and mind.
After I read his autobiography,
which is called The Name Above,
the Title by Frank Capra.
And I think every filmmaker
should read this book.
I think every filmmaker should read.
That book, and they should also read
Charlie Chaplin's autobiography, and
they should also read DW Griffith's
Autobiography Pen by Lillian Gesh.
I think you read that you are
gonna know the history of film.
But anyway, Frank Crapper said that
as a filmmaker, as an artist, you
have to believe in yourself because
only the valiant can create and
only the daring should make films.
only the morally courageous
of are worthy of speaking to
their fellow man for two hours.
And in the dark.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a, it's an awesome responsibility
that we take on and, and to be able
to do that repeatedly that's our goal.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
There's a mystical power.
There's a special magical
power behind film.
And it's this.
Power that anchors people's, emotions
and the reality of other people's lives.
And it's through story.
So
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Ben.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
That's why I have passion to do
what I'm that, to give up on other
opportunities I could have had in life.
And I don't think it's anything a
computer's ever gonna replace, I feel.
So much pain in my heart to technicians
that lose jobs to computers,
but I feel like that gives them
a chance to double down on what
they're really passionate about.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Yeah, I love it.
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602: man.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Yeah.
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602: good.
yes, sorry.
Thank you.
I'm just making sure I wasn't muted.
I've been coughing in the
background this whole time.
This is, this has been
super helpful though.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: me.
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602: No.
I would do never do that on camera.
No, but it's always great to hear
the journey of a filmmaker and all
the nuance that goes into, having a
career here of different for everybody.
There's no consistency, there's no
plan that you can just like copy paste.
Like it's different for everybody.
So I really appreciate you coming
on and sharing your story with us.
Where's the best place for people
to find you online connect with you?
Like how do you recommend people do that?
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
I'm on Instagram, but I can
always change my handle, so it's
not, I always forget what it is.
But I used to have a website,
but I just recently took it down
because it wasn't serving me.
I'm trying to get really focused.
I think that
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602:
The question was,
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Yeah, it sounds like you don't wanna be
reached, Ben, it sounds like you're going.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Yeah, no, I gonna,
hold on, I have a statement.
If you really wanna talk to
me, please just email me.
It's my name@me.com.
Ben steer@me.com.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
And I can say
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: and
if you really wanna know how crazy
I can get with a camera, go watch
my Future film, girl Without End.
on Amazon.
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602: Perfect.
All right.
We'll urge all of our
listeners to go do that.
Ben, thank you for making
time for us coming on today.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
that's it.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602: man.
Dude, you
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602:
I'm sorry.
We are the, their commute is over.
They've reached their office and
their destination and we gotta,
we keep it within a 40 minute
thing so that people can get,
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
I understand.
I'm sorry I rambled like an 80-year-old
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602:
No, it sounds
daren-smith_1_01-26-2026_100602: here to
listen for your story, so it's all good.
garrett-batty_1_01-26-2026_100602: Okay.
And I wanna have you back, Ben, I
wanna have you back when we, when
you finish your doc or when, uh,
when there's progress on the comedy,
because we need to, we need to hear
that journey of you making this comedy.
ben-stier_1_01-26-2026_100602:
Let's do it.
I'm so excited you guys.
Thank you so much for having me on.
It's been awesome.
This season of Truly Independent is
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Today's episode was edited by
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