It feels like just yesterday, I purchased Hollywood North Magazine and was fresh into the industry looking for other involvements besides Vancouver B Movie Factory, because I hungered for some change. A fellow actor friend of mine, discovered the 48 hour film festival of RNG and had me on his team as an editor. It was certainly an experience like no other, and I wasn’t sure I’d edit in such a short time frame again. Remarkably, I did when I got recruited as an editor by an actor who was supposed to be in another RNG film just last year, entitled Zarathustra by Team Enigmatic Productions. Even though I had retired from film editing and had little to no knowledge of the software I was working with, I managed to piece something together and it looked amazing. Sadly, my edit got deleted by accident but was still used as inspiration for the final cut and therefore I was given credit. It was one of my personal favourites too, telling the story of a young girl named Avery who journeys with an explorer named Elion and his faithful dog Dmitiri. I’ve seen the final result, and it was actually pretty good. The director Marc Kenneth Hazel and I haven’t been in touch lately, but I hear he got another film in this year, and I just might have to watch that one too. Plus, in 2022 I got a chance to cover the event in a summary with a few quips to see how they felt about the content. But there was only one error that the RNG team cared to point out, and I fixed it instantly. We’re still on good terms even, otherwise this article wouldn’t be here.
Now for the full disclosure part. As for this year, I got a small acting part in a film called THE3 by Team Trade Warriors, managed by my good friend Joel Reimer who directed it and even went out to Mexico to get some other scenes done. The flight tickets and the thought of a filmmaker being out there for a short period would baffle just about anybody, including myself, and that’s interesting coming from me considering I took a weekend trip to Bulgaria last year with the sole purpose of seeing my favourite singer in concert, and unexpectedly gained 15 minutes of fame after being invited to participate in the show. But when there’s a will, there’s a way, Joel Reimer once said, which is enough explanation for me on how he organized his trip to Mexico. He had VFS alumni friends and other film connections out there, so I think he must’ve had plenty of plans coordinated in advance. It was all a matter of doing them at the right time, and RNG gave him the right time to do so. But if it weren’t for RNG, Joel probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity quite the same as this, and it’s all thanks to another Joel, specifically Joel McCarthy. This other Joel is also known for videos that help youth understand politics better than all those lessons I got in school, he directed a documentary featuring his associate who took his parents to the last place you’d ever think of bringing them to, and he frequents film gatherings and events as well, showing support with a smile. I’ve also come across him in public at least once since a specific office for benefits just so happened to be near the same building where his studios started in. Let’s get into more of Joel’s origin story, and how he started the event which went from lesser known to most commonly known film competition of today.
When Joel started out in filmmaking, he was young and very nervous going to those events and he wasn’t sure of how to make connections in the film industry. The creation of RNG not only helped him find his footing, but formed connections and make RNG into its own particular contest/showcase that allows just about everything. Joel has made his way through a lot of institutions including Storyhive and Crazy8’s, but with all the internal censorships and such, it was too much, so RNG went on to make something with few to no rules. I wonder if East Van Showcase and VBAFF got inspiration from RNG given their layouts. Of course, RNG did have to consult with lawyers and get a full detailed description of what pornography is. While they have some rules, RNG is dedicated to letting people be free with making whatever they want. Just as long as it’s legal, of course. After all the lessons they’ve learned regarding laws, limits, and legalities (that was a lot of l’s), the point of a decade of RNG is about to be one of the biggest events of the year. There’s a bit of clash with some other events as well, maybe Isaac will write about that at one point. Anyways, I spoke to Joel McCarthy to learn as much as I could, and this was the most thorough interview I’ve ever done. Get ready to read, it may not be 48 hours, but it’s just as informative as one of those 48 hour shoots when you’re a first timer learning to move at a fast pace.
HNMAG: So RNG has been running and gunning for a decade now. Did you ever think something like this would last this long?
Joel McCarthy: Not at all, (laughs) I didn’t think any part of us thought it was gonna get that much bigger or run for anything longer than like maybe 4 years. We didn’t have high aspirations, we were like “Let’s just do something fun!”
HNMAG: And are you hoping it’ll last even longer?
Joel McCarthy: I’m eyeing up an eventual transition-type thing. I’d love for it to continue. I don’t know how much more I have left in me because it’s been a huge undertaking now. I want it to continue, I realize over the years that there is something that is needed in this industry, that Run N Gun fills. But like I said, we didn’t have any visions of grandeur or anything like that. When we started we were like, “This would be fun and punk-rock! And people would just like make films in their backyards and with the cameras that they have” and its obviously changed.
Joel then pointed out my involvement in an international co-production, which is definitely not the same to the kind of content one would expect from those who start out, whether they be in VIYFF or some other type of production. As far as I know, some people have gotten their drawers in a drawl over Joel Reimer traveling out there for some scenes, but you have to give this other Joel credit for being creative and taking things further than one would expect. Plus, it was such a cool experience for me even if I wasn’t out there. Okay, back to this Joel.
HNMAG: With so many teams entering, is it hard for your crew to keep track of all applicants?
Joel McCarthy: Yeah, we have several people that are just like coordinating the filmmakers and in charge of a certain batch that help it kind of work. It’s a really large amount of movies and I freak out every day how like one of them slipped through the cracks and didn’t get put in screenings. But luckily I now have a team that is specifically looking for those things before we announce those things or something like that.
HNMAG: How big is your team in particular?
Joel McCarthy: I think it’s like 12 or 13 people now, for the first 4 years or so it was just 3 of us doing everything. When we finally expanded to a hundred teams in 2021 it was very clear that this is not remotely sustainable or doable at the scale we were becoming. I think the biggest was 60 with a team of 60 people and it was hell.
HNMAG: And does every member on your team have a specific section that they take part in?
Joel McCarthy: Yeah, we’ve got a co-director of the festival, Sasha who kind of deals with overall stuff with me ‘cause even that can become a two-person job. We got our filmmaker coordinators, an amazing graphic design person, we have 3 editors, our events team is 4 people, I guess we somehow became an institution. That was not our plan, but we definitely have a lot more people power now and the appropriate amount we have for films at this point. If we decide to grow or change, we definitely have to expand internally first, because it’s slowly killing us.
HNMAG: Have any special plans been made to celebrate this milestone? Specific rules or even types of events between the screenings?
Joel McCarthy: We haven’t announced this officially yet, but the whole Orpheum Gala is going to be a 10 year old’s birthday vibe and so we’re really kind of leaning into like a birthday party type thing. We have a lot of really fun things, we’re basically throwing the dream 10th birthday, for our main event. We also have some really fun ideas that we’re trying to desparately figure out how they work and if we can get them to work. Right now, we are trying to get a real-life hardworking tattoo artist giving real tattoos at the finals and stuff like that. I think to a cetain degree, we will have a bunch of little surprises that kind of add up, but we’re also like at the same time trying not to spread ourselves too thin. I think definitely last year, we bit off more than we could chew and this year at least we know what we’re in for and the venue with all the chaos of expenses of being at this level. The whole event used to cost a couple thousand dollars and now it’s grown. As soon as you have insurance, this, that and the other, it grows fast so we’ve got a lot of really fun plans. Some of them are still getting locked down right now, but I feel like this year we want to see big and exciting but also manageable. I think last year was one of those growing really fast years where we learned a lot and this year is the year where we feel like we know what we’re doing at this scale and so in a lot of ways I think it’s going to feel bigger and be bigger.
Joel also says the team gives themselves a lot more time before the films start screening, because in the first 2 years, screenings only happened a week later and now they have more time, but they also have consumer protection knowing of their existence which means short films require ratings now. As we discussed how things were going to be like a birthday party, I told him how it was interesting having that vibe, because coincidentally, my niece/guest contributor Phoenix is having her ninth birthday party on the same day just a half hour away from the Orpheum. No, she will not be in attendance with me due to r-rated content. But Joel and I both agreed it was a perfect combo going from a 9 year old’s birthday party to a 10 year old’s birthday party. Yes, events have birthday parties too. That was elaborated on in a show I watched years ago.
HNMAG: As it extends to further reaches and even has directors shooting partially in other locations, will you be extending RNG’s reach with divisions in other provinces or countries?
Joel McCarthy: It’s not the plan at THIS point, I know one year we did team up with a national attempt where there was a bunch of 48 hour film competitions that were joining up together and they wanted a lot of control over our event. We were a very specific voice and had a very specific thing we wanted to do with it. I think there are chances it can kind of franchise in certain ways but I think that the biggest thing that we’ll always come up against is running time. I think what makes our festival special in a lot of ways is that everyone who wants to particpate gets to get their films screened and we are definitely running against some issues now. Our general sign-up this year sold out in 4 minutes and then student sign-up sold out in 9 minutes. We had a lot of upset filmmakers who didn’t get a chance to make something, and that kind of really breaks our hearts because the original idea was we want to just give people an excuse to create something. I know for myself and many other peoples it’s like the years can go by and you don’t make something and it’s tough and it’s hard to schedule. I feel like carving out a weekend and booking it months in advance is somehow easier for people. We definitely have some growing pains for this year because we think it’s fair we are open to everyone but now it’s who hits refresh fast, who can type in their credit number the fastest. Once this year’s over, we’re going to have a good team meeting and try to have to find the fair way to move forward and still give everyone that opportunity because it’s so cool. We have elementary school students who participated this year, some industry veterans who have been working for a long time, it’s a large tent of people and we just want to figure out the right way that everyone has a seat in the table. We can’t have every single person’s film played at the finals, our whole programming for this festival is 10 and a half hours of content. It might even be more than that, so you can’t reasonably ask an audience to sit and watch for 10 hours of shorts. It’s very tough to do, I tried to watch all of the films in 4 days when they come in, and I know I’m more than physically incapable of sitting for 2 and a half hours watching shorts.
HNMAG: What gave you the idea to host an event where people only have 48 hours to make a film?
Joel McCarthy: Well, we’re definitely not the first 48 hour film competition on the block. It was one of those things that was like a mix, it was a perfect storm. When I was in high school, there was a local Port Moody 48-hour film competition, and I loved it. I started in Grade 9, until all the way in my 2nd year of University when it ended. I was in every single year when it existed and I loved it. It was the first time I saw my stuff on the big screen, it was really cool because the first year we were probably best film and by the end, we were there getting nominated for awards, winning awards, we kind of climbed our way up and had us pushing ourselves harder and then there wasn’t really anything like that when we started Run N Gun. I just finished out of film school, did two low budget indie films and I was really lucky to go to festivals in different areas, meet all those filmmakers. I started to see things that I really liked, other places that I didn’t feel were here in Vancouver, and I didn’t love how a lot of the opportunites to be seen in a big theatre and stuff like that revolved around pitching and politics and all that sort of stuff. Me and my friends were just starting a production company, and at the time, we were like “Hey! why don’t we launch our production company with a film event?” and so it was really a production company we don’t really use anymore called ‘This is a Spoon Studios’ but it was just a way to kind of, I guess, do something fun for the community but also raise awareness of our production. I was in my early 20’s at the time and we were just trying to start something. Our idea was creating the fun kid’s table. When you go to a wedding, there’s all these very serious adult tables and then they throw all the teenagers and 20 year olds at one table and they have more fun than everyone else.
Joel explained he didn’t intend for RNG to be the best, but to be for fun. Have exicting content, memes that are shocking (majority of their facebook posts are memes after all), and having the pleasure of making stuff without some adult or grownup who says “Hey, you can’t do that!”
It’s a great experience where you can chill with your inner child, or unleash that rebellious spirit from your adolescence, or even let it expand if you never grew out of it. Who wants to grow up, anyway?
HNMAG: What resources are provided for the teams?
Joel McCarthy: We obviously have our surprise elements and then we have a whole bunch of the industry come together to give sponsorships, meals and stuff like that. It’s not as much free stuff as we’d like, when we had less teams in the early years. There’s like 3000 people participating this year. Most of the gearhouses give discounts, Caveman Cafe got it down to $10 a plate per person for catering. We have insurance discounts, etc so we try to do what we can, but as we’ve grown bigger we have to relinquish a certain level of control. It’s scary because there are a whole bunch of people making films, this is for Run N Gun, not everyone is going to be responsible when they’re doing that. We have the odd people who have a shot you see that’s definitely against the law, and a really dumb thing to do. Some are working with the most amazing stunt choreographers and doing legitimate by-the-book stunts that will blow the mind. We try to do what we can to support, also a lot of classes at something called Run N Gun U, where we make these classes generally $5 each and that’s mainly so people show up. You don’t make money when you generally do $5 classes, but people like spending 5 dollars to commit to spending their day in that classroom. This year we did classes when it came to writing, an armourer came in to do a gun saftey class which was super cool. I know a lot of people haven’t been exposed to proper gun saftey and how to learn handling guns. We had a cinematography class, a class on how to look for grants and things like that, we are really trying to do what we can to give back and basically a lot of the festival is aimed at getting emerging filmmakers to have access to education but also access to other filmmakers. Creating community events that hopefully feel less scary to go to. We try to do cast and crew speed dating to break those barriers.
HNMAG: Some people like to have things made way in advance. How early before the film shoot does the concept have to be made?
Joel McCarthy: They can kind of prepare what they want, at the beginning of the 48 hours we give them a few things they need to incorporate in their film. How much they incorporate those things is kind of up to them, so we usually give a theme, a line of dialogue, and an object or something like that. In theory, people have 48 hours but a lot of the times, people will have a solid idea, they’ll have a set built and an idea of how to use it. There was one this year that was shot at a motel and they didn’t know what the main conflict or script was going to be, but they wanted to have this crazy oner, so they started blocking and exploring how to shoot a oner, and then wondered how to actually make it work. Another team built the interior of a submarine in 3D tools, so there are certain aspects that people will do ahead of time, but the bulk of it comes in those 48 hours and something kind of beautfiul knowing that a huge chunk of the film community is all just for 48 hours once a year they’re focused on being creative with their friends.
HNMAG: Do you find people get stressed while making their films?
Joel McCarthy: It varies, I often will hear stories where people will go: “It was the most wonderful time and everyone was having a great time and were so chill” and then we hear people who will come and be like “Hey! I was on this set and these people were mean to me” It’s one of those things we have a lack of control on, but yeah, there’s definitely stress and pressure and I think a lot of the times, we do make it a competition but we encourage people to do it for fun. I think the teams obsessed with winning tend to have less fun doing it, whereas the groups that are doing silly ideas end up thriving because they’re not taking things so serious and personal. I have no idea of knowing the emotions of the 3000 people but we get to see the snapshots on their social media and it’s like a weird summer camp that everyone enters for the weekend.
Then Joel asked me about my team, and if we were stressed. Admittedly, I was a little bit stressed myself even with all the fun, and once I was wrapped, the actor friend who got me editing work on one of these last year was reported dead, but THAT’s another tale for another time. I still stuck around for the remainder of my shoot, and therefore got caught up in a social media reel AND a group hug, and Joel said it sounded like I had a group of people who cared about me. Even though I didn’t know a lot of them, being with them did make my day feel better. We all really got along.
HNMAG: With the deadline, how much percentage of all submissions do you say make it into the system?
Joel McCarthy: This year, higher than I thought. (laughs) The last 2 years, we kind of capped it around 150, maybe we went a few over, because some didn’t arrive but I think last year, we only had 145 submit in the end. This year we decided, let’s just always make the number 160 and usually it’s days before the event that people drop out. When you contact someone on the waitlist, it’s hard to get a team together in a day. We kind of assumed we were going to lose 10 in the crossfire and then we only lost 2. Out of the 160 teams that were signed up as of the weekend, 2 didn’t deliver. 1 we have not heard from at all, and we contacted, we have no idea what happened to them. Then there was one that fell apart and decided they were not delivering anything.
HNMAG: There’s been other events or competitions like Shits N Giggles. What else do you host in terms of film events or are there ones you are planning to try?
Joel McCarthy: I mean, a lot of people want us to bring back Blood N Guts, which is the horror version of Run N Gun. Shits N Giggles was created mainly because of how big Run N Gun’s gotten, it’s like a very grassroots thing. We don’t allow any sponsorship, it’s at the Rio theatre, it sells out quick. We try to make it as easy to run as possible because Run N Gun is such an ordeal. I think the biggest issue is no one’s making a living wage off Run N Gun. Everyone gets these little honourariums which are nice but that’s the one thing that’s tough. I’m working 48 hours a week on RNG and I’m trying to do my little freelance stuff on the side. It would be really cool to find a way without making it so expensive for filmmakers, to be a little bit more inviting for staff because it would be cool to bring back Blood N Guts or have other events there. There are other really cool ones that have grown recently, there’s the Sketchfest that the Smashed Potatoes put on, we love that festival. There was the Rejected Fest, we just want to encourage people to start other things up and we’re happy to let people know of our events. With RNG, we really see it as a community olive branch and we’re not really that snooty of who we want to support. Right now, I just do Run N Gun, and Shits N Giggles. There could be something more, there’s a small part of me that wants to explore doing something on phones in vertical to just spice things up and try kind of doing new mediums.
HNMAG: And how are the films selected for the specific screenings and sections?
Joel McCarthy: Good question, so how we do it: I really like how we do this, we basically have 12 screeners watch all the films. They have no credits attached to the films, there’s like no “Oh, I don’t like that person” or whatever. Obviously, you can tell who the actors are, and we try to get as diverse as a screener audience. The first round is having these 12 screeners watch all the films, and rate them out of 10. Then we average those numbers together, and from there the top 20 go to finals, the next go to semi-finals, we will make sure if in the top 40 we don’t have student films and youth films, we will make sure that the top one is grandfathered in. We want to make sure that there is encouragement for emerging filmmakers to be a part of it. Then from there, we write extensive notes on genre, vibes, one that starts really sad, one that’s happy or really terrifying, etc. Sasha’s kind of our programming genius, her and I do a lot of the merging from there. The last 3 years kind of broken it down. The Wednesday is kind of like darker and grittier films, like horror films and shocking type thing, Tuesday is morphed into stoner comedy/experimental and it has its own kind of vibe. Monday is a mix of drama, artsy films, feel-good films, feel-bad films, and we’ll throw in a lot of the films that have younger people in them together so they’ll have a chance to meet each other at the festival and stuff like that. Obviously we don’t want those with the grossest, meanest stabby type things if there’s a lot of kids involved. That’s kind of how it works, but it’s a lot of love that goes into those programs. The Rio screenings stil feels like what the heart of what Run N Gun was. Most of the films that play in the Rio screenings are better than the films of the first three years of Run N Gun. It is like this community public access, but also there’s a nice theme to each of the screenings. There’s a little bit more intimacy, for a lot of people. For the finals in the big gala, it could be overwhelming. 1000 people in a room, all trying to mingle and it’s tough where I feel like as an organizer I tend to have a better time and make more human connections at the Rio screenings.
Joel concluded by explaining how it can be upsetting not to be in a winner’s screening, but he feels it’s also a blessing in a lot of ways because there’s a lot more community heart in Rio screenings and a lot less stress for the team running the screenings. The Rio is one of the absolute best according to Joel and a lot of other film professionals. Joel himself has had over 150 screenings there with a variety of projects, and for him, it’s like a sports team playing in their home arena.
Be sure to attend RNG on July 5 at 3PM, but arrive an hour early to get in line for potentially good seats. In fact, maybe come much earlier for the best seats in the house, if they haven’t been reserved for me and major supporters/sponsors first. Of course, it’s important to get those tickets, and while you’re at it, buy tickets for the Cursed Cuts Screening at 6:30PM on June 25 to see the film I had a part in. You’ll recognize my character with the trademark fedora I wear almost all the time. But wait, there’s more! I also did an interview with Sasha Duncan. Keep an eye out for it next week on June 19.