- 5 weeks ago
EoM senior interviewer Thomas Manning recently spoke with director Troy Carlton to talk about his new comedy film "Birdies." A filmmaker from North Carolina, Carlton discusses the NC connections from this project and shares stories about what it means to get creative when you’re working with limited resources.
Official Synopsis:
Twin Pines, a failing egalitarian country club where getting hammered is par for the course faces bankruptcy if they don’t win a local tournament. The owner hires Jake Baxter, an ex-golfer with a checkered past to be his golf pro and save the club against their rivals at the snooty club across town, Magnolia Pointe.
"Birdies" will be available on VOD from birdiesthemovie.com on 2sday, 2/22/22, followed by other major platforms.
www.birdiesthemovie.com/
www.facebook.com/BirdiesTheMovie/
www.instagram.com/birdiesthemovie/
Official Synopsis:
Twin Pines, a failing egalitarian country club where getting hammered is par for the course faces bankruptcy if they don’t win a local tournament. The owner hires Jake Baxter, an ex-golfer with a checkered past to be his golf pro and save the club against their rivals at the snooty club across town, Magnolia Pointe.
"Birdies" will be available on VOD from birdiesthemovie.com on 2sday, 2/22/22, followed by other major platforms.
www.birdiesthemovie.com/
www.facebook.com/BirdiesTheMovie/
www.instagram.com/birdiesthemovie/
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Hi, and welcome into EOM Presents. I am Thomas Manning, senior interviewer for Elements of Madness, and today I'm excited to be sharing with you all my recent conversation with filmmaker Troy Carlton, talking about his new film, Birdies, that he directed.
00:14It's a comedy film, kind of in the vein of Caddyshack, and this film is on VOD and on Amazon Prime. You can rent it or buy it.
00:23And it's a really fun conversation. Troy is from North Carolina, and a lot of the crew of the film have roots in North Carolina, and as a member of the North Carolina Film Critics Association, it definitely was fun to talk about those connections and the rich history of the film industry here in our home state.
00:42So I really enjoyed talking to Troy. Once again, the film is Birdies, and you can find it on VOD and Amazon Prime.
00:51Thank you so much for taking the time to watch and listen, and I hope you enjoy the conversation.
00:54Yep. So, you know, I understand that you and some other members of the crew have roots in North Carolina, and I'm from North Carolina myself, and I always love to support the filmmakers and artists from my home state.
01:06So can you speak a little bit more on those North Carolina connections and how that impacted the development of this project?
01:12Yeah. I mean, I'm from North Carolina, you know, Raleigh originally, and then lived in Wilmington since I went to college.
01:21I went to UNCW starting in 2000. So that's, I mean, that was the film community that I kind of came up with and did a lot of independent productions.
01:31And we did an indie film called Half Empty in 2009, and we shot at a golf course in, where is it?
01:41Hampstead. It's in Hampstead, North Carolina. It's called Castle Bay, where we met a couple individuals named Artie and Dave, Dave Longo.
01:50And they had an idea for a golf comedy TV show. So, you know, that's where Birdies came about.
02:01But the film community in Wilmington was always really, like, strong, a lot of really motivated young individuals and artists who just kind of want to make something from nothing.
02:12So we had that gang and we had that scrappy mentality where it was just like, let's just get it done no matter what.
02:19And that's how Half Empty came about in 2009 or we shot in 2008.
02:25But we had zero budget and we were just coming out of pocket as we shot.
02:32So, you know, it's just kind of a by any means necessary type of indie film community.
02:40And that's where we all kind of came up with that mentality of, well, if there's no budget, then we're still going to do it no matter what.
02:48So, yeah.
02:49And you worked on a pretty expansive range of projects, you know, from in terms of production size, but also across film and television and various genres.
03:01So what's so special to you about the comedy genre in particular that, you know, led you to take this on as a feature film, as a director?
03:08Well, comedy is just easy, not easy.
03:13It's really hard.
03:14But for us, it's the most fun and relatable thing where we're all getting together, having a good time and shooting something.
03:24You know, a couple of us do some a little more in the drama and thriller genre.
03:32So Sam, who was a producer on this, who you spoke with, he just shot a movie or we all shot a movie called Harbor, which is like a psychological thriller.
03:42So we all do different kinds of things.
03:46But I feel like comedy is just kind of like, well, if we want to get the guys together and the girls and just have a good time.
03:54But the whole birdies thing was, you know, it's been written for a long time and that's been the most accessible material for us, but also the most marketable.
04:06So that's been top of the list for a long time.
04:09I have other projects that are historical documentary, historical narrative.
04:16You know, you're from North Carolina, so you know all about Blackbeard.
04:22And when I was in college, I wrote a Blackbeard screenplay and I continue to modify that and edit it as the years go on.
04:31And that's just that's like my dream project to one day be able to do that.
04:36So, I mean, that's just I love history and I love those stories.
04:42And I love, well, I haven't been much lately and very, you know, occupied, but love reading history, researching it.
04:55But comedy is just accessible for us as a gang to get together and have some fun and shoot something that we think people will enjoy, you know, kind of unplug.
05:07So, yeah, and I know the film was really a labor of love for you and your whole team.
05:13So can you kind of walk me through?
05:15I think you kind of mentioned the origins of the project back in 2009, working on the short film.
05:20But I guess you didn't really shoot it until a decade later, maybe like 2019.
05:25So can you kind of walk through the origins of finally getting to the point to go into production?
05:29Yeah, we had many stages of production and different products that came out of it.
05:34So in 2009, the idea came along for a TV show and we shot a pitch and not quite a pilot because it was only 12 minutes long.
05:45And that was our pitch to try to get more funding.
05:49And we kind of, you know, we blew our load, as they say.
05:55I mean, we went really hard at it and we hired some really good actors, but they were probably a little too expensive for us.
06:02And it just, it got a little tangled up in the budget and we weren't able to present it the way we wanted to because of some SAG issues.
06:15We just couldn't afford it.
06:17So it had to be like privatized.
06:20You know, we could show it privately and present it that way.
06:24But we had to figure out how to catch people and lure people in to our brand and our comedy.
06:31So we started shooting golf jokes and, you know, putting them on YouTube.
06:39We'd take old golf jokes and script them and we'd go out and shoot them.
06:45And the actors would do some improv at the end of it and give it a little, our own little twist.
06:52So we put those on YouTube in 2010, starting then.
06:56And those went viral, which was, which was nice and gave us a little extra funding to do more and to kind of gain some ground and get some recognition.
07:05Nobody was very interested in birdies though.
07:09So they just were like, these are funny videos.
07:12So at least, at the very least, they gave us a track record of some audience and some popularity and experience.
07:22We did 40 of them, probably just little shorts, you know, all separate.
07:27And they did well for a few years.
07:30And the whole thing fizzled a little, honestly, everybody was doing their own thing.
07:36I always kind of thought that I'd be able to write it into a feature, but I was never really into golf.
07:43And I thought maybe I'd just farm it off to somebody.
07:47I asked a couple of people, golfers, if they were interested in writing it and maybe had a couple of leads.
07:53But eventually I just ended up kind of liking golf myself and missing shooting out there on the golf course.
08:00So I just started going out and playing by myself and learning it on purpose just to maybe, oh, all right, maybe I think I can write this.
08:08I just need to learn more about the game and the comedy of it because it's very like a self-deprecating game.
08:15It's very funny.
08:16There's a lot of jokes in golf when you go out and play.
08:19Everybody's giving each other shit.
08:22And so it's and then you bring in the kind of the dilapidated, deteriorating golf community and how they would bond.
08:33So it gave us a platform for a bunch of, you know, rich characters and just comedy.
08:40Yeah.
08:40And so obviously the likes of Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore were probably influences.
08:47Of course.
08:48Any other specific comedies or comedians that have really had an effect on you as a storyteller and filmmaker?
08:56Yeah, absolutely.
08:57I mean, it's going to be tough to nail down a few.
08:59But I remember, you know, I was always into these ski comedies back in the early 90s that, you know, it's just these teams like the good guys versus the douchebags.
09:12That's kind of where we were centering.
09:15This was like the late 80s, early 90s comedies like.
09:20And even into, I think, out cold was one of Zach Galifianakis' first ones.
09:27So just applying that into the golf community type thing.
09:33And then always influenced by Caddyshack.
09:37I'd say way more so Caddyshack than Happy Gilmore.
09:42Well, growing up, Happy Gilmore was always my favorite.
09:45So probably influenced no matter what.
09:48But we always were like, Caddyshack is definitely the quintessential golf comedy.
09:55We'll never beat it.
09:56We can only try to match it.
09:59But there's no way we'll ever match it with what we have.
10:02So we're just going to try to, like, you know, make our own thing.
10:05I'd say in its day, Caddyshack was raunchy.
10:09And I think in our day, we are.
10:12And this is what Caddyshack doesn't play nearly as raunchy as it did back then.
10:20Yeah, of course, of course.
10:22And I know COVID had a huge effect on production.
10:26So can you kind of walk me through how that impacted and then how y'all adapted to those circumstances?
10:32Yeah, COVID was, man, it was tough because we wanted to shoot in September of 2020.
10:42So when COVID first hit, I think I moved from here to back to North Carolina with the intention of getting ready to prep it.
10:51And we didn't have a budget together, but we always were moving ahead, knowing or assuming that we would get something.
11:01And that's how it happened, but not as quickly as we wanted.
11:06So it did have a big effect on our timing.
11:09I remember, you know, we didn't obviously we didn't get to shoot in September.
11:15And again, we started to fizzle.
11:18There was a moment, I think, where we all just kind of lost touch.
11:22You know, everybody was quarantined and stuff.
11:25And my buddy, Reed Doyle, who's one of the producers, I remember there was a moment where he's like, man, I feel like we're losing energy here.
11:34And what's going on?
11:35And I said, you know, you're right.
11:37You're absolutely right.
11:38We had to kind of refocus and think about, OK, when are we going to come out of this?
11:43And we need to just set a time when we think we can really shoot it and just go for it.
11:52So big thanks to Reed for kind of keeping that energy.
11:56He still does.
11:58And but that was like a key moment where we were slipping.
12:01And we just finally decided me, Brandon Reed and Liz, who are the key producers.
12:11OK, we're going to do it in May of 22 or of 21.
12:18Sorry, we're going to do it in May of 21 and come hell or high water.
12:23And it looked like, you know, vaxes were coming out, being tested at that time.
12:27And for us, timing wise, it worked out perfectly because in May was right when everybody was just so ready to get out.
12:40Just mentally for everybody, it was just such a great thing for the crew and the cast to be able to connect with a group of people.
12:51We were masking indoors.
12:52Mostly everybody was, I guess, for the most part, vaccinated, but being independent production, we're like the rules aren't the same as a as a big production.
13:02And we tried to be vigilant on masking, but we were shooting outside most of the time.
13:07So it was good vibes.
13:09Everybody was happy to be out and doing something.
13:12And I think that gave us a great, big, energetic push, just everybody being really happy, you know, just to be out and hanging, you know.
13:24Yeah. And so is there any comparison to be made in terms of leaning on your comedic sensibilities as you work to maintain a positive outlook throughout, you know, the uncertainties of that whole process?
13:34Oh, man. Well, it was everybody was was just riding such a good high that it made it really easy for me.
13:44I had a lot of hats to wear. I was D.P. and that gave me a lot of anxiety.
13:50But everybody, you know, when I was lighting and getting set was just having a good time, putting a little music on.
13:56Nobody was being obnoxious or anything, but it was just always a good vibe on set.
14:02And, you know, I didn't take a whole lot of time.
14:07Maybe in some instances I could have taken more, but I didn't want to have everybody waiting around on me to light.
14:12And I had to also kind of direct.
14:15So it's like it there there were like just really good times to be had and no real pressure.
14:26There was always kind of a curveball every day.
14:28There was something weird happening and we'd always just laugh it off and find a quick solution creatively and work our way through it.
14:37And we still laugh about a lot of these things today because there's so many, so many things that happened that were like, well, what are we going to do right now?
14:48Yeah. And that kind of leads into I want to ask about the working with such a limited budget and resources.
14:54And I know how that has a way of inspiring levels of creativity that maybe you wouldn't find otherwise.
14:59So, you know, is there any anything you want to share specifically about just how that manifested for you on this project?
15:07Any specific antidotes or tidbits that you can think to from production that you found some really creative solution to an issue?
15:15There were so many things that if I could look at the script and remember how, you know, some of the things I remember the golf carts were also were all supposed to be high powered, like the governors were supposed to be removed on each and every one of them.
15:30And Brandon, who plays dogleg, mentions that in the in the movies, like, yeah, bypass the governor on all these.
15:35But the effect was, you know, we wanted all these things to be just fly, you know, all every single one of them just across the golf course at every moment.
15:46But that's something we had to kind of cut. But there was another, you know, there's a moment where Shansky runs into a trash can and then Zach Conroy runs into it again.
15:59That was written to be like a concrete trash can and he's just supposed to pummel it and break the concrete.
16:07Of course, that was like way too big of an effect for us to achieve.
16:11So I think it turned out way funnier because there was we didn't there was no way for us to predict what happened.
16:19Just that we stood it up. We put a bunch of empty beer cans in it.
16:22But Gary, who plays Shansky, he just he pummels the thing.
16:26It didn't fall over. It just slid, you know, upright until Zach comes in and and just plows it another way.
16:36So that was we all just died on set when that happened.
16:39So many things like that, you know, you just it where you get lucky.
16:47We got lucky in a number of times. Yeah.
16:49And I also heard that there was one night, you know, I guess, however, was some time back in 2021 where you had this experience watching the movie with a sold out crowd in a packed theater.
17:02You know, just can you share a little bit about the emotions of that night and finally seeing this project come to fruition and, you know, having audiences see it as as you intended?
17:11Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that was amazing because we had, you know, 40 people in the cast that mostly were from Wilmington.
17:21So there was a lot of community support around it. There was a lot of excitement around it.
17:25There wasn't much being shot in Wilmington around that time, except for, you know, the bigger productions.
17:32So we were one of the first kind of independents to kind of get get it back going.
17:37And and I edited pretty fast. So we had it released less than a year after that.
17:44It was in January. So everybody's kind of like, yeah, you know, need something to do inside.
17:49And it sold out crowd. But the response was awesome.
17:56I think we have a really supportive community.
17:58I think they were all really hyped to see it and to see their friends.
18:03And.
18:05And the laughter was incredible.
18:08So we had a great crowd, great laughs.
18:13The energy was amazing.
18:14I was on like the third balcony away from everybody just in case, like the projector burned up or something.
18:21I was going to run up there and or the hard drive and replace it.
18:24I was just so nervous.
18:28But yeah, I remember at the final scene when when he hits the when he hits the final shot, I was like, yes, I was cheering up there.
18:37And Sam, my buddy, one of the producers was like, I saw you up there cheering, you know, for the movie.
18:42I was like, no, I'm just cheering because it's like it's over.
18:46Finally, everything happened.
18:48Like we had a premiere.
18:49The hard drive didn't burn up and everybody laughed.
18:53And it was just more of a relief and a release than anything.
18:57Just like, oh, my God, we did it.
18:59People like it.
19:01I feel great.
19:02So.
19:05And, you know, more and more audiences continue to find this film.
19:08You've managed to turn a pretty impressive profit, from what I understand, through, you know, streaming and VOD.
19:14So was that, you know, finding creative ways to distribute the film, was that almost an extension of the creativity that you had to incorporate and making the film itself?
19:24Yeah, absolutely.
19:26Because we just didn't have I mean, we had a plan just like everybody else does.
19:30So we have trailers and posters and you average and you pay to advertise them.
19:41So definitely did that.
19:42And that worked for a time.
19:45And we sort of missed a window in the way that we released on our website first, which wasn't like people didn't quite understand.
19:54They didn't really get it.
19:55Because it's not Prime and it's not Netflix.
20:00And we're like, yeah, but you can just put you can get it on your phone.
20:03You can just cast it.
20:04You can watch it on your TV in 4K.
20:06Like, boom, it's done.
20:08Nobody really cared.
20:09But we spent a lot of money advertising for that.
20:12And, you know, people were like, when's it going to be on Prime or anything like that?
20:18So we took a step back, saved our money until it was available on Prime Video and restarted that whole process.
20:31Trailers and posters and everything.
20:33And that helped.
20:35And sales were happening.
20:37But we were running out of content and interest was going down.
20:44So I took all those old golf jokes that I told you about and resized them for TikTok and reels and stuff.
20:56And as soon as I started doing that, we started, you know, there were a couple that went viral, got more popular than they ever were before on YouTube.
21:04And, you know, I just kind of put birdies on Prime Video right there and just put our branding on these and made sure to slap a bonus content label on most of them.
21:20And and just let them go and just upload them over the summer and, you know, in the morning about once every day, upload a new video or an old, a new old video.
21:32And some of them did great.
21:37Put them on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook.
21:40And they some of them got millions and millions of views.
21:43So every time we saw one of those get a million views, we saw a definite result on Prime.
21:49It certainly was a spike.
21:51Most recently we had I made a video that was just a meme centered around the waste management open, which happened two weeks ago.
22:01And I made a couple of them just to see what could happen.
22:07And one of them ended up getting, what, 600,000 views or something.
22:11And of course, we saw a definite spike right there because our sales have slowed down now.
22:16But, you know, so we see those a lot more clearly when they happened.
22:21And so, yeah, it's definitely had to had to pull some rabbits out of a hat consistently, like for for many months and still trying to, because depending on how you look at it, we haven't really recouped our full investment.
22:38We spent a certain amount going into it.
22:43And then once we started getting money back, we would just cycle it back into our advertising.
22:49So I'd say we're still pretty short of gaining a profit.
22:56But in terms of like if you were to say our box office numbers, like what have we made or what has Prime made in revenue?
23:05It's it's got to be close to 150 K.
23:08And then they split it 50-50.
23:13So we get half that and they get half that.
23:16And then we've had golf tournaments and just our own separate screening.
23:22So we're always trying to create events to promote it and do.
23:27And yeah, it's always just kind of, hey, what can we do now, guys?
23:31Let's let's think of something, you know.
23:34And so that's about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in terms of what a box office would be compared to what type of production budget.
23:44In in cash, by the time we wrapped, like when I was done editing, sixty nine thousand dollars.
23:54And then we've spent probably 40 in advertising or promoting in different forms.
24:05So but OK, so sixty nine thousand was our cash budget.
24:10Well, then you have deferred pay.
24:11So we say our budget was one hundred and forty thousand dollars total.
24:16Then if you add in the post budget, then I guess you would say it was one hundred and eighty.
24:20So. So, yeah, yeah.
24:23So we get half of what Prime gets.
24:25You do the math. We're we're still working on it.
24:28You know, well, I think we'll get there one day.
24:31Film Hub is a pretty good source of revenue as well, where we are a lot.
24:35We are on Apple TV, Tubi, Plex and a number of other ones.
24:39I have no idea what they are, but they're there.
24:42So. And I know you previously mentioned that you're working on a couple other projects as well.
24:49Can you share a little bit about those and how you're kind of carrying the momentum of this into those?
24:55Yeah, we have a few ideas swirling around to to like kind of perpetuate the birdies world.
25:02So, one of them being a sequel, which is in the early stages of development, we're always still shooting more little golf joke videos.
25:14We always kind of have an idea.
25:17We have a group chat where we're just like, hey, how about how about this one?
25:21How about this? You know, this idea or this golf joke I heard.
25:23Now I'm thinking of possibly, you know, stringing those together and somewhat of a of a sketch comedy type show, 25, 30 minutes and and then put that on prime for a very low price.
25:43But, yeah, these days, independent filmmakers can't get their titles available subscription VOD.
25:51It has to be rent or buy TVOD.
25:58So people complain about that who have prime and they're like, why do I have to buy this?
26:04Well, it's because we're not licensed by prime.
26:06We're only available through prime.
26:08So and if you want to watch it for free, go to Tubi and enjoy.
26:14So. Yeah.
26:17Wait, where was I going with that?
26:19I think you were talking about a couple of the almost like a spinoff or sequel for the birdies.
26:26Right, right, right. Yeah.
26:27So prime gives us the gives us the option of having our channel so we can upload new titles to it and we'll keep it in that birdies world.
26:37So that's where we're trying to kind of create a channel, a world and a brand where we have more content available.
26:48Eventually, we'll get to a sequel.
26:51Fingers crossed.
26:52I mean, yeah, I got to write it.
26:55And I'm a slow writer, but I think, you know, we'll get to it in the next year or two.
27:02Hopefully. Excellent. Excellent.
27:04Well, I'll be I'll be looking forward to it.
27:06And Troy, I really do appreciate your time today to talk about birdies.
27:10And before we wrap up, anything else you want to share?
27:14Man, you know, after all this time, I just have the utmost appreciation for our cast and crew who are still like very excited about this.
27:24They all still love it. We're all we're still gaining like hardcore fans that just love the movie.
27:33And that's probably the best, most rewarding part is that some people really connect with it.
27:39Some people really don't.
27:42They you know, it's hard to see through that low budget lens, which we tried to mask as well as we could.
27:49But we it is what it is. And much love to the people who, you know, give us love.
27:55And we're happy that we create created this audience in this community.
28:00And we just hope to keep making more.
28:02Really.
28:04Awesome. Again, Troy, thank you so much.
28:06Really privileged to talk to you about birdies.
28:09And thank you, man. I really appreciate it.
28:11Yeah. And I'll be keeping up with your future projects and hopefully get another chance to talk down the road.
28:15Yeah, me as well. Good luck to you.
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