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We recently talked with filmmaker Josh Stifter, who some may recognize from Robert Rodriguez’s Rebel Without A Crew TV series on El Rey Network. We dive into the feature film he created as a result of the show, The Good Exorcist, which was made for $7,000 during a 14-day shoot, as well as his other projects.
To find out more about his films and his company, Flush Studios, check out his official website and Patreon!
Horror Geek Life: Let’s start with the Rebel Without a Crew TV series. Can you tell us a bit about that experience and what you took away from it as a filmmaker?
Josh Stifter: I’ve coincidentally had a few friends that were on different reality TV programs, so when I first applied for the show I went into it with a bit of a negative attitude. We all know that “reality TV” is about as real as a scripted show, so I assumed they’d be throwing me ridiculous curve balls and challenging me for the benefit of the show over actually finishing the movie. While there were elements that played out a bit different in my process than it would if I was making a low-budget movie on my own, the general theme of filmmaking still rang true. It’s a lot of work and no one is going to do it for you.
The show taught me that you just need to push forward and constantly adapt when creating something – even something as silly as The Good Exorcist. Things can always go wrong when you’re trying to make art and it’s never going to come out exactly how you pictured it in your head. It’s about rolling with the punches. I can’t tell you how many scenes started as a negative moment and with a few minor tweaks became positive! Some of my favorite scenes in the movie were born from something going completely wrong.
HGL: Speaking of The Good Exorcist, the film is available on Troma NOW, which is an awesome accomplishment for an indie filmmaker. How did it all come about?
JS: Being on Troma has always been a dream of mine and, thanks to social media, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many of my heroes. Getting my movie on Troma was no different. I had a few short films that played at Tromadance (Film Festival) over the years, so I reached out to Lloyd (Kaufman) and the Troma team. I mentioned that I do visual effects and animation and would love to help out on any of their future projects. Being a low-budget film company, obviously any help they can get they’ll take! After doing some VFX and animation, I decided to just send them The Good Exorcist and see what they thought. Honestly, I was pretty nervous for them to see it. But I took that leap and went for it and it worked out.
A lot of people ask me how I got on Rebel Without A Crew, or the job with Kevin Smith, or my movie on Troma…it really boils down to not being scared to show off what you’ve made. If they don’t like it: so what. Send it to someone else!
Wayne Gretzky has that saying, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take'”… I think I miss 99% of my shots, but that 1% has worked out pretty well for me.
HGL: Definitely some good advice for fellow filmmakers and creators. With The Good Exorcist, there’s a lot of zany humor. Are there any memorable behind-the-scenes moments you want to share?
JS: So many! On RWAC, there’s a moment where you see me stressing out because my crew is having too much fun. That was a brief moment, but I quickly realized that this process was about all of the fun. I feel like the fun we were having shows in the movie and adds to the enjoyment of what this silly flick is.
When Avery (Avery Merrifield, who played Stanley) is telling the sock hands dream story, I ruined multiple takes because I was laughing so hard. That dude is just so funny to me.
One of the big purchases I made with my $7,000 was actually renting a really nice slider. I figured it’s not my $7k, so why not splurge a little with Robert’s money. The only issue was that I’ve never used a fancy slider before. Daniel (Daniel Degnan, who played Father Gil) and I spent an hour trying to figure out how to set it up, while the reality crew looked on laughing at our ignorance. You could see them getting aggravated with our stupidity and it just made us laugh harder. The entire process was a complete blast.
HGL: Having seen The Good Exorcist, I can honestly say that it looked like a fun time on the set! You have also released Greywood’s Plot, which you also act in. Can you tell us a bit about that film?
JS: Greywood’s Plot is another no-budget feature that we actually started before The Good Exorcist and we had failed at finishing. But the last day on the set of TGE, I turned to Daniel and said, “You know what we gotta’ do…” He just answered, “Yeah. Greywood’s Plot. I know.” Six months later, we were back out in the woods filming it again! And I am SO glad we did.
It’s a little more horror-centric than The Good Exorcist, but still plays off of the campy midnight movie theme that I love. It’s sort of my strange take on the Frankenstein story. I wanted to prove to myself that finishing a no-budget movie wasn’t a fluke based on the reality show. I knew that there wasn’t a studio or producers who were going to give me money to make a black and white creature feature like this. Instead, my three friends and I just did it ourselves with some nice locations owned by our families, a little booze, a few fun props, and a little fake blood.
HGL: With these two productions alone, I’m sure it has been like a whirlwind for you! Do you know what’s next on the horizon?
JS: These last few years have been great and have really opened my eyes to the type of projects I want to make. While I love the idea of actually working with a crew and having a budget at some point, I still have one more very personal story I want to tell in this same medium of no-budget feature. It’s called Scumbag and if anyone is interested, they can follow along as I make it on my Patreon.
Daniel and I are writing a lot right now. We have sequel ideas for The Good Exorcist and Greywood’s Plot, along with new ideas including a haunted house movie, a movie with puppets, and an animated feature. On top of that, I’m really enjoying promoting and marketing these two features and talking about my process with filmmakers who are attempting to make their first feature.
But anything I say could change tomorrow. Gotta’ always be rollin’ with those punches.
Be sure to check out Flush Studios’ Patreon here!
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