Well, hello, and welcome to Wild Rivers Film
Radio, the official podcast of the Wild Rivers
Film Festival here on KCIW
LP
one hundred point seven FM.
I'm Rick McNamer,
and today, we're talking with filmmaker
Alex Zajicek,
writer and director of Sorry We're Dead,
an official selection of the twenty twenty five
Wild Rivers Film Festival.
Before we dive in, we'd like to thank
the Wild Rivers Film Festival's twenty twenty five
presenting sponsor,
the Tullahwydany Nation, whose generous support makes both
our festival and summer film workshop
possible.
We also thank Oregon's Wild Rivers Coast, Sutter
Coast Hospital,
and the city of Brookings.
To learn more about supporting independent film on
the Wild Rivers Coast, visit
wildriversfilmfestival.com.
If you're just discovering us, welcome.
The Wild Rivers Film Festival is a four
day celebration of indie and local cinema each
August in Brookings,
screening dozens of films across three venues,
plus filmmaker q and a's,
panels, and special events.
This year's festival runs August 13 through the
sixteenth,
and passes are on sale now.
So
I screened the show today and loved it.
So, Alex,
welcome to the show.
Hello. Thank you for having me.
And we're like I said, it was just
a a fun, wonderful film. And
for listeners who haven't seen Sorry We're Dead,
how do you usually describe the film?
Because I was a little surprised
after the title. Yeah.
I yeah. I should I should have a
better pitch for this, especially at this point
in the process. But I guess I usually
tell people it's it's a quirky meta dramedy
about a young woman that wanted to make
movies but has gotten stuck editing college lectures.
Think like TED Talks but lamer.
And she's kinda shriveled up and died creatively
and emotionally from that job.
And then if I have a little more
time to speak, I will Oh, you have
plenty of time. Well,
yes. But, yeah, I guess, yeah, if if
the pitch goes longer, then I say, because
she's a filmmaker,
the film itself kinda plays with the medium.
So for example, there'll be a scene where
she complains about handheld footage, and then the
film itself will start using handheld,
footage in moments.
And so kind of a lot of things
like this will keep happening throughout film, where
the film plays with the tools of filmmaking
itself. Exactly. It kind of usually
hoax the audience and then go you know,
warns them that this will happen beforehand or
kind of Right. Yeah. Doesn't like something like
that. Right. Yeah.
So,
where did the idea originate, and was there
a moment, image, or question that sparked it?
Yes. I mean, of course, it's something as
big as a feature film. There's a million
little different things that,
make the movie.
But at the most basic level, I myself
was working,
one of my first jobs out of college
was filming college lectures for the college I
graduated from, filming and editing lectures. Oh, my.
So you you got that part. Yes. I
I lived that experience.
So after,
I I really didn't film that many lectures.
I was maybe only a few weeks into
the job and,
was just kinda making note of all these
funny coworkers or just, like,
things going wrong, like a lecturer
lecturer's head being cut off in the frame
that, you know, somebody else shot, and then
we're trying to fix. And so it was
kind of this running list of mistakes or
maybe a lecturer was trying to show off
something, but the camera angle was such that
we cannot actually see the thing they are
showing. You know, they we're either raising something
in their hand, but an audience member's head
is directly in the way so we can
never see what it is they're showing. And
there was just a blending list of mistakes
that kept being made or Yeah. Or just
funny things about the job that, a couple
weeks into the job, I was like, oh,
there's something funny here, and I started writing
what I thought at the time was a
short film about this funny job of filming
and editing college lectures. So that's really the
the inception point for the small little thing
that started it all. Wow. Well, so it
sounds like you have a little bit of,
Lana in in you when you doing this
movie.
Certainly. I mean, I think it's impossible to
make a film without
some bit of you in in everything. Sure.
But, yeah, Lana Lana definitely represents some of
me, though I think Lana's a little more
a little more dour than I am. Oh,
quite a bit. Upbeat than she is. Okay.
And, of course and the title is provocative.
So what does Sorry We're Dead signal to
you? Like I said, I I was not
expecting what I saw. It was wonderful, but
yeah. And and because I didn't expect to
laugh as much as I did throughout the
film.
I'm glad you laughed. That was definitely one
of the goals. Okay. Wait. And and I
did many, many times. Yes.
So the title originally comes from the sorry
we're closed sign that, you know, as a
Right. Still might put up when they're closed.
Right. And in the film itself, our our
main character, Lana, puts up that sign kind
of as a joke on her workplace just
because she doesn't want people to bother her,
and then she puts an additional note over
that to cover the word closed, and he
had the word dead on it.
Right. And, so the, you know, the the
title references this moment in the movie, but,
of course, it kind of it's represents all
these deeper things as well. Lana is this
as I said earlier, she sort of shriveled
up and died from doing the job. She
sort of closed off emotionally. So the story
we're closed,
Stein sort of represents her. You know, she
sort of shut herself off from the world
and sort of emotions and from trying to
do more with her life. But then her
putting that dead posted on it is this
kind of silly,
hyper
exaggerated,
sarcastic, dry joke that All of that. Represents.
All of that. But the clear message was
sent by by putting that up, I think.
That would be good. Putting the dead in
there. That would be great. I think it
it's, whatever. It adds it adds that layer
of, like, this sort of sarcasm or or,
yeah, exaggeration that the film will follow. The
title does have the problem that many people
think it might be a zombie movie. I
do acknowledge that that is a problem. Oh,
no. But that's okay.
It it it was fun all the way
through.
Yeah. Thank you. Hell, yeah. And so how
early did you know what kind of story
this wanted to be?
I would probably say right from the beginning.
I mean, it it maybe the very first
things I was writing down were more comedic
in nature. I I kinda thought we were
just going to be making fun of a
bunch of these silly things that happen. Right.
But but also very early on after I
made note of some of the funny things
I wanted to,
put into the story. And then as I
started kind of deciding who the main character
was, the character we end up within the
film, Lana,
was kind of coalesced very quickly as I
was trying to decide what kind of character
I want interacting
and and
having these mistakes happen around her. And I
thought this type of character, you know, this
sort of sarcastic and monotone character was the
perfect foil to some of the more ridiculous
aspects of the job and kind of a
ridiculous coworker I really wanted to write in
there. And then very naturally, a story
formed around her of, you know, kinda trying
to get out of the rut that she's
in and and open back up a little
bit more emotionally. Well, I think all of
us have been through ruts. I think because
I could identify with some of those ruts
myself. Yes. Yes. I mean, same here, of
course, which is how Yeah. It's some of
how that ends up being written. Yeah. Yeah.
And and the film does balance dark humor
with emotional gravity.
How intentional
was that mix?
Again, I would say quite intentional, I think.
Yeah. I used to as as I said,
the film started much more comedic when I,
or the the initial seed had a lot
more comedy,
but, and I always tend to write comedy.
But I found, especially as I was a
college student and writing a lot of absurdist
and comedic scripts that just kind of constant
nonstop comedy, especially when it's absurd as some
of my stuff is.
It does
it it, like, it becomes too ungrounded or,
like, the jokes don't land as much. You
almost need some something else, something to contrast
to the comedy. Yeah. So I, over time,
have have landed in this world where I
will often have I guess, a dramedy is
technically the word where there's kind of Okay.
Kinds of moments of drama in between all
the comedy. Yeah. So this was very natural
of a script for the the way I
have slowly found that seems to work the
best for what I want to write. Okay.
And, yeah, there was plenty of drama in
comedy, and drama is, I guess, is the
perfect way
to describe that.
I guess so. Yeah. And so what themes
felt most urgent or unavoidable
as you were writing?
As you mentioned earlier, sort of we we've
all kind of been stuck in some ruts
at various times in the last Yes. I
think.
And so that theme just cropped up very
early on in in the earliest writings. I
was kind of pretty sure that we would
be
following that theme, and that would be one
of the main things happening with Lana is
her finding that she's stuck in this rut.
I mean, I'm sure,
creative people have all experienced this kind of
having a job that isn't so creative,
and feeling like, oh, maybe we need to
break out of that, or or is it
a good idea to break out because maybe
it's scarier out in the try trying to
actually do a creative job. Mhmm. Even for
those that aren't creatives,
you know, we've all probably felt stuck in
some kind of job at some point in
our lives.
So that was one of the most most
natural,
things to poke at and and all the
themes surrounding that. Like, does it does it
make sense? How how much do you wanna
rock the boat if you are relatively comfortable
in your life, but I do feel like
it needs some change. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Common themes for almost any
I mean, even for me, I worked in
the railroad blue collar field and
I good career. But, yeah, there were times
when I was, man, I don't know. Maybe
I'd I'd like to be a dancer. No.
I'd never do a dance, but anything different.
But yeah. Yeah. It's just yeah. There were
just common themes. And you mentioned so comp
do you like to focus on comedy
in in your movies?
I guess the answer is yes. It's it
is the most default state for me. Almost
everything I come up with is you know,
I usually notice something funny. That's what most
gets me interested in writing something. K. However,
the film I'm currently most focused on actually
contains very little comedy that the film I
hope becomes my second feature film now, is
actually not really a comedy at all.
So it's not exclusively what I do, but
I
No. No. Okay.
To comedy. Okay. Alright.
And were there moments where humor felt like
a necessity rather than a choice?
Interesting question.
The
the initial answer that comes to me is
there would be times when I'm writing that
I would feel like, oh, we've just had
a bunch of comedy, so it's time
for,
time for a more dramatic beat, and then
Okay. No reverse would be you know, we've
just had a lot of drama.
It's time before before the next dramatic beat,
I now want a lighter scene in between.
So so in that way, I I would
sometimes without knowing specifically what the funny scene
might be, I would have this idea of,
like, somewhere here wants to be a moment
of levity.
Okay. So if something like that was going
on where there'll be times where
I felt like the script now wanted something
funny or lighter or in a moment. Yeah.
And and and did the script evolve significantly
during production?
Yes.
Though
the finished film is still quite recognizable. If
anybody read the earliest drafts, they would still
recognize
the general idea of the film and the
main character. Right. But it
started when I first sat down to write,
as I kinda said way earlier, maybe I
thought I was writing a five to ten
minute short film.
Oh. So right there, there was pretty big
difference between the final film here, which I
believe is eighty three minutes. Yeah. Yeah. So
when I first sat down to write, I
think I ended up with 29 pages, which
a page is about a minute when, in
the screenwriting format. So I wrote about a
thirty minute film on my first sitting Wow.
Which was the longest thing I had ever
written up until that point. Yeah. Very unintentional.
I thought I was writing a five minute
piece, but I just kept writing in one
single sitting until suddenly with 30 pages of
screenplay.
Wow. Well, I tell you, it never felt
slow.
It was entertaining throughout. It was really great.
I'm glad to feel that one. Really, really
great. Yeah.
So and and what were you looking for
in casting the lead role?
And did you already have Sarah in mind?
Or
I did not already have Sarah in mind,
though I should have because it turns out
I had actually met her, though I didn't
realize it prior to, casting her.
When when it came time to cast oh,
go ahead, Maria. I'd ask a question. Oh,
no. No. No. That was it. That was
it. Yeah. Okay.
So when it came time to cast,
as I had had a lot of people
read the screenplay and offer their feedback,
one of the notes I kept getting was
that some people were very turned off by
by the character of Lana,
and, like, you know, that her her sarcasm
and and or her monotone behavior or just
like the way she would treat her friends
or her coworkers,
you know, they they they didn't like her.
And I'm I don't believe that a character
needs to be likable necessarily, but I do
think that they're we want to have some
type of empathy with a character at least.
So one of the things I was looking
for as I was casting was, like, who
here do I feel like when they when
they're going to be extremely sarcastic to me,
who would I still
either like or feel some feel some sense
of empathy for as they do their sarcasm?
Several people came in and did did a
did a really, like, biting sarcasm
that was that kinda made me go, like,
oh, if you were a coworker of mine,
like, you you would be sort of difficult
to put up with if that was the
sarcasm you brought every day to your home.
Right.
But then Sarah came in and just kind
of nailed this sarcasm with often this, like,
a little hint of a smile or somehow
just I don't know. She she she managed
this type of sarcasm that I found
fun, and I I I was on her
side when she was doing that. Well, I
found a very against her. I found a
very deep sweet and I gotta tell you,
watching that, I I have
she reminded me so much of my youngest
granddaughter. It was unreal.
My granddaughter's
very sweet, lovable, but and she can be
sarcastic.
Throughout the film, I kept noticing that. So
that was a real plus for me.
It really was.
Oh, great. Yeah. It was. And and and
so what did Sara Lee bring to the
performance that wasn't on the page? But you
probably you've mentioned a few already.
Yeah. Even as I was mentioning there, I
mean, a big one is just her the
the nuance which she brought to to her
her sarcasm and her her monotone
deliveries was, you know, something that not everybody
was seeing on the page. So she she
found a way, at least to me, that,
she really made she made that stuff sing.
I guess for some other some other little
examples I could think of off the top
of my head, just little bits of nuance
she brought to a scene that I had
never intended or even considered.
There's a moment late in the film where
where something bad happens to her or bad
happens
to thing people around her. Yeah. And in
the script, I just had
it written that she just kinda stands there
and watches. And, obviously, she's affected by it,
but she's not doing anything about it. But
in the moment when we actually came to
shoot that scene,
she ended up kind of trying to speak.
Like, she sort of blubbered out some lines
without managing to say any actual words. It's
like, what what what what?
I'm doing a terrible job of that there,
but she she did this thing where she
just, like,
bumbled through a nonsentence
that was just, like, so beautiful, so much
better than the thing I had written, which
was she just stand there and does nothing.
She found this way to do something and
and, like, try to try to do something,
try to fix the problem. Yeah. But the
the script didn't allow her to fix the
problem, but the, Sarah Lee,
the woman who was playing playing Lana, found
a way to
to, like, try to do something without
breaking the script and, like, because she's not
allowed to do anything in that moment. And
she's found this way to, like, bring to
create a line almost, but there was no
actual dialogue that she said. Anyway, that's a
great moment. I always noticed that I had
never written
over just another real silly tiny moment that
I always noticed
is, she, at one point, meets another woman
in a cafe, and that woman is quite
sarcastic as well. Oh, yeah. And and she
asks, can I sit can I sit down
here? Bertha,
yes. Bertha asks oh, sorry. Lana asks Bertha,
can I sit down here? Bertha says something
like, yeah. There was a ghost sitting there,
but it's fine. That's fine. And then Lana
just there is tiny little reaction. She almost,
like, looks at the seat like, oh, wait.
Was there a ghost in there? That was
just I I had not written anything like
that. I don't I don't think I've written
any reaction for her in that moment, but,
Sarah just So there was some ad libbing
going on there in that Yeah. Okay. Definitely.
Yeah. Definitely, the film has some ad libbing.
So, you know, overall, it's still quite
close to what I had written, but Sure.
But I would not say there was no
ad libbing at all. There was definitely lots
of little things that either didn't get according
to plan or that we made up on
the spot or scuppered in the moment. Yeah.
Yeah. Because I sure felt she was just
wonderful in that part. I really did.
Just, yeah, just great.
Oh, yeah. She's amazing. Yeah. She did. And
she she's nothing like her character, by the
way. I you've probably discovered this with talking
to her, but she's she's I know. Warm
and bubbly in person, and not at all
was kind of a monotone and sarcastic person.
And a a a huge thing that we
and I did yeah. We did interview her
just before and was the it sounds like
that the whole work
the camaraderie among everybody on this film
was just wonderful. Cast, crew,
everybody getting along just swimmingly well. That's gotta
be a big a big plus.
Yeah. And that was definitely one of my
goals in in setting down to make the
movie because I I do work on other
people's independent features for a living.
And, you know, they vary. Sometimes they're kinda
grueling, and you work, you know, sixteen hour
days for three weeks straight. And
and, you know, sometimes there's not not always
the most pleasant people around. Yeah. Generally, I
feel like
I I am pretty lucky and end up
on a lot of sets with really wonderful
people, but, you know, you sometimes will end
up with people that
are not the best and they kinda drag
the whole experience down. But I I have
a handful of movies that I've worked on
that were just such a dream to work
on with the the crew all being kind
of best friends Yeah. By the end of
it. And, I really when it it was
actually working on one of those that inspired
me to try to make my own movie
because it was so much fun. It was
some of the most fun I ever had
in my life working on one of those
movies. Wow. I was like, I want to
do that. I want to make that. One,
I wanna make a movie. But, two, if
I could curate the same experience,
that would be
amazing.
Wow. Well, like I said, it it it
sounded like it was just a a wonderful
a wonderful cast and crew altogether.
So were there scenes that demanded a lighter
or heavier,
directorial
touch that you had to deal with?
The certainly the answer is yes. Will I
come up with good examples?
There would be, one of our actors, the
character who the actor who plays Bird, his
name is David Morales. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
He ended up kind of ad libbing more
of his stuff than almost anyone else. I
mean, still, he he follows
fairly closely with what he was written, but
he would often just, like, try a new
little twist, try a different move or just,
like, changing a line in a in a
surprising way where it still gave the same
general thing we needed out of the scene.
So he he I would kind of I
felt like so many times I would just
let him go. Like, I I would almost
not do anything because he just kept discovering
so many things on his own. I didn't
wanna jump in there and break that.
He was just doing so much to to
create his character and find things.
And, yeah, he definitely made stuff out of
whole cloth or out of thin air,
in so many scenarios. There's a moment near
the end of the film where he walks
out of the room and says something like,
the bird is out, and then he he
goes Yes. He took the with the black
feathers as he walks out. That wasn't in
the script. He just made that up as
he left out one of the takes. Yeah.
It's amazing. That was So I guess, yeah,
he might be an example of, moments that
that wanted more light touches or just kind
of, like, set the set the mood of,
like, we're all having fun here. Go for
it. Try whatever you wanna try, and then
just stand back. Yeah.
Wow.
So so what did it mean to screen
this film at Wild Rivers?
I unfortunately missed the screening myself because I
think there was some terrible weather that prevented
a a flight from landing or something. Well,
that happens. I I was going to the
airport, but then kept getting these messages of,
like, flight delayed, flight delayed. And then suddenly,
I got a message that was, like, delayed
to another day. And I was like, I
will miss the screening. I can't do that.
And by the point I got that message,
it was too late to try to find
a backup plan even if I started driving
because I I live in,
in the San Francisco Bay Area. And so,
technically, I could kind of make that drive
in some
eight hours or something. By by the time
I knew, I basically couldn't even pull it
off if I immediately jumped in my car.
So I drove. Okay.
And that's that's a trend up the coast.
Yes. I mean, I I would have been
I hope I can come
maybe for my next film. I'll get to
actually come in person. Oh, that would be
fantastic. Very
happy to be You bet. At the festival,
though, even though I missed the actual screening
itself. Okay. So sorry about that. Oh, no.
Oh, no. That Next film, I get to
be there. Alright.
Now and you say you live in the
Bay Area.
Was that film all shot in the Bay
Area?
Correct. The whole film was shot in the
San Francisco Bay Area. Oh, wow. Okay.
Familiar with it only because I've worked in
that area many, many times, all Oakland, San
Jose,
all over the place there. Yeah. Yep. Wow.
So Not the most What? Go ahead.
I was gonna say not not the, you
know, it's not LA, not the most typical
place for movies, but Well, no. Something always
a little bit of movie work going on
here. Yeah. Yeah. But there's some beautiful god,
it's a beautiful place, I think.
Might be a little crowded, but it's a
beautiful place. Yeah.
If you can get out to the outskirts
in some areas more, and you're still kind
of in the Bay Area, and you can
be in some fairly Oh, yeah. Emptier place
if you'd like. Oh, for sure. In fact,
we've kind of filmed in more of the
outskirts of the Bay Area Oh, good. Inside
the
more densely packed areas. Yeah. Yeah.
So broad question, maybe, but what's next for
you as a filmmaker? Anything right on the
horizon, or you just kinda
taking a little break and figuring stuff out?
So while I was in the editing process
on this film, I wrote two other feature
scripts, which is funny because I'd never written
even one prior to making this movie. I
mean, except for this movie, but I've been
too scared to try writing a feature film.
But then suddenly,
I don't know, that this
the barrier was broken and suddenly writing a
feature film is doable.
So I've written two films
during the editing process for this film, and
then one of those I've kind of
doubled down on and I'm pretty sure is
my next film.
I'm kind of trying to get all the
all my eggs together? That's the wrong thing.
All the all the ducks in a row,
I guess. Okay.
All the ducks in a row to be
able to film it this year. I'm kind
of hoping in the next few months here,
I could manage to film it. Alright. But
things aren't
100% nailed down just yet that I can
give any guaranteed
production date or anything like that, but I'm
hoping we're on it quite soon. Okay. Good.
Well, we just got a couple minutes
left.
I was gonna ask you though, what age
were you what brought you into this, you
know, wanting to do this,
kind of thing in film?
To do this kind of thing like make
make a movie? Yes. Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. I've I've I've no one answer. I've
somehow always kind of wanted to do that
as far back as I can trace. I
have, like, little movies I made as a
kid when I was eight and my parents
bought, you know, a little tiny digital camera.
Oh, well, DVTIC camera. And so I can
find a thing when I think I was
five or six that I no. No. Sorry.
Five or six. That's wrong. I I just
said eight. Yeah. I think I must be
eight. And I'm almost when I made that
little movie, and it's just always been an
item on the list to try to do
a feature length thing one day. Alright.
Well, I tell you, we were thrilled or
we're thrilled to have you here to talk
about this, and it was a wonderful,
wonderful film.
And thank you for being on the show,
Alex Zajic, and I hope I have that
name correct.
I got it right. Thank you so much
for having me. Okay. So Sorry We're Dead
is a powerful and distinctive film, and it's
been great having you, Alex. Thanks for joining
us on Wild Rivers Film Radio radio. I
tried to say that correctly.
Sorry We're Dead will screen again as part
of the afternoon indie series, Saturday,
February 7 at 2PM at the Chetco Public
Community Library in Brookings.
So that's it for this episode of Wild
Rivers Film Radio. To learn more about the
festival, bypasses,
volunteer,
or explore sponsorship
opportunities, visit wildriversfilmfestival.com.
You can follow us on you can also
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and YouTube.
So the recording today was mister Michael Gorse,
sound mixing and editing, Tom Bozak,
producer
Sue Wright,
and today's guest, Alex Zajicek and Sara Lee
before Alex.
We're really thrilled to have you both. And
I'm your host, Rick McNamer.
We'll see you at the movies. Thank you,
Alex. Thank you, everyone.