Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Interview: PILGRIM (Feature) [Dances With Films LA 2025 - Los Angeles, California - Virtual] - Part I

2 days ago

Co-Directors/Co-Stars/Father & Daughter Doug & Scout Purdy talk to Fest Track about story, performance and growing up in regards to their film: "Pilgrim" playing the Features section at Dances With Films Los Angeles 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

Transcript

00:00But DWF is such an interesting

00:29element. But, you know, being from Burbank, you know, obviously, Scout growing up in Burbank,

00:35and, and Mike, you know, how does that influence, to be very honest, inspiration? You know,

00:42does it influence inspiration? How did that sort of feed into what the story you are telling with

00:47Pilgrim is? I think growing up, I was always surrounded by people like, really close to

00:54the industry, because Burbank is like, the quiet, like Hollywood, like, it's not as loud and glittery,

01:01but like, you get a lot of shit done in Burbank. And so you run into a lot of filmmakers and people

01:06who work in the industry there. And so it was sort of hard to escape in that sense, where I knew that

01:13I would be interested in film. And so I was exposed to it often, which let, like, made me more willing

01:23to just sort of just attack my own projects, I guess. But when it comes to actually inspiring the

01:32script, I think we were, Burbank's sort of like a city. It's sort of like a city, but there's hiking

01:40trails all around it. Yeah. We grew up like, I grew up with them taking me on hikes and taking me

01:45outside of just the general town to see like, just beautiful pieces of nature. And it felt like a

01:56really nice escape. And I think we were drawn to that when it came to just thinking about how we

02:03wanted the film to look and the general feeling. Yeah. And I think to dovetail on that, I think that

02:07like, for one thing, you know, growing up, I grew up in LA. And so it's fun, like sometimes

02:12at night, you know, growing up, we would just go for drives like of Mulholland or in different

02:17areas. I'm like, hey, that's the building that so and so this murder happened. And this is,

02:22you know, and so like, you know, seeing like this, you know, different sides of LA, but also

02:28fun vacations. We did a lot of trips like, you know, to Tahoe or Zion, a lot of hiking stuff

02:35out in nature and stuff because it's cheaper. But it's also like, just it's fun to get out

02:41and see different things. You know, we wanted to expose the kids to that early on.

02:45Is there anything you can do to fix me?

02:47Do you think you're somewhat observant?

02:49I'm extremely observant.

02:51Joe, I've moved five feet away from you in the last two minutes.

02:56How about you, Joe? What are you doing this summer?

02:58Uh, nothing.

03:01Let's do something. Let's have a party, you know?

03:04Let's throw a rager.

03:04Maybe, yeah.

03:06I've been told I have a vibe.

03:08Right.

03:09And also, thank you for telling me that my brother got into college.

03:11We thought you might be weird about him.

03:13You're an awkward person.

03:14Why does everyone think I'm going to be weird? I'm not weird.

03:17I worked my ass off and had no social life.

03:19I want you to be a normal kid that goes out and does normal stupid things that don't make

03:23any sense.

03:24Did you shoot this up in Big Bear, if I'm correct, or did you shoot somewhere else?

03:28Yes, Big Bear.

03:29Well, Big Bear primarily, I would say about at least half the film is shot up there.

03:34We went around Burbank to, like, if we needed a pickup or two.

03:39Yeah.

03:39We would just say to the editor, like, you know, this shot's good, but if you could get

03:44the, I'm like, okay, so we'll go out in some morning, wake up, and just find a location.

03:48Sometimes get up at four in the morning and drive, like, two hours north and just find

03:52something.

03:53I'm like, yeah, this works.

03:54Yeah, so sometimes in one scene, you look in the background and it was pine trees, and

04:00then in, like, a certain shot, it was an avocado tree, but nobody really pays attention.

04:04Sometimes in our backyard, just dressing the backyard, you know, it was very a handmade

04:10film, you know, just piecing it together like that.

04:13And what I like about that, and I think that, you know, aspiring filmmakers, like, can maybe

04:21get into it as the fact that you don't have to wait around for the money.

04:25Just go out there and do it.

04:27You know, there's always going to be a reason not to do it.

04:30So, you know, I always said to the kids, and probably also saying to myself, like, let's

04:37just go do it, figure it out as we go.

04:38I'm trying to do something stupid, okay?

04:43For the first time in my life, I'm trying to do something without a plan or a destination.

04:47I'm going to hike.

04:49Are you going alone?

04:50I'm going with my dad.

04:53Oh, did you talk to him?

04:54Not so much in the verbal sense of the word, but mentally, he's totally on board.

04:59Hey, road trip.

05:00I do think we should start thinking about our food intake.

05:10We should either stop eating it or stop feeding it to squirrels.

05:13Who's been feeding it to squirrels?

05:16Aw.

05:17Now looking, you know, obviously co-directing and all this, can you talk about, because

05:21you have to look as the characters to the motivation, but still step outside.

05:26Scott, could you sort of talk about, obviously, you know, you've done it so many times before,

05:31but, you know, it's sort of imparting that, but also, Scott, taking and finding your own

05:36voice in that balance, if you could both talk to that.

05:41I think we had to find a balance pretty early on between how we're going to approach just

05:49acting in scenes versus directing.

05:52So we had to get a grasp on who our characters were really early on in filming, just to make

05:58the whole process easier.

06:01So it, I think, started in the writing of our characters.

06:04We wanted them to be similar to us, so it wouldn't have to be such a large jump from

06:09when we say cut to when we say action and stuff.

06:13But I think we had the characters have a lot of our own qualities or qualities that we felt

06:20comfortable portraying, but also we heightened them and made them a little more interesting,

06:26and we tried to play off of our dynamic.

06:30So we didn't really have to, I don't know.

06:33No, I would agree with that.

06:35And I think another point, though, is we are really close.

06:39Yeah.

06:40So that's one thing that, you know, our characters in the film, there's a little bit of a disconnect.

06:46You know, dad's trying his best, daughter's going through some stuff.

06:51In real life, I think we could connect on stuff much quicker and easier, but we had to

06:56find, you know, and like the hiking being the catalyst for that, of bringing them together

07:00to fill in those missing puzzle pieces.

07:03Yeah.

07:04Okay, I'm worried about rain.

07:09It's summer in California.

07:13Sorry.

07:18Yeah, I found something.

07:20Oh.

07:20It does not smell good.

07:22Do you want to eat that?

07:23Okay, poke it.

07:23If it wiggles, that means it hasn't, rigor mortis hasn't set in that's, and that it's safe.

07:27Okay.

07:29Oh.

07:34Are we in shock?

07:38I don't know.

07:39Oh.

07:41What's with you and the phone?

07:42The reception is horrible, and I got to check in with work every once in a while to make

07:46sure everything's okay.

07:47Everything's completely under control.

07:48How is everything under control, dad?

07:50Why is it that every time there's some major event in our lives, I'm the last person to know.

07:54Because you freak out.

07:57Now having your, because obviously was Brooke filming a lot of this?

08:02Did she shoot?

08:03That's an interesting one.

08:05Brooke would be filming sometimes.

08:07The camera operation was really just like, who's not in the scene?

08:11Like, we would set up the shots, and then, at first, and then, like, you know, Brooke would

08:18shoot a lot of it.

08:20Max, our son, her brother, who is in it as well, and also composed the score, he shot a

08:27ton of it.

08:27And then Riley Dismore was another one who's in the film, and she shot a bunch of it.

08:33And then, at certain points, like, on some of Scout's solo stuff, I'd be filming, and

08:40you actually were holding the camera quite a bit towards the end of shooting.

08:44In the second half, she got a lot more comfortable with it.

08:47And we used to joke around that she would be like, okay, I want one more, and suddenly

08:51she's David Fincher.

08:53Like, are we going to do 90,000 takes of this one, of this one little thing?

08:58But it was a lot of fun.

08:59And, I mean, that's how you learn how to run a camera, just by doing it.

09:03And, I mean, that's what I'm working with.

Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Interview: PILGRIM (Feature) [Dances With Films LA 2025 - Los Angeles, California - Virtual] - Part I

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