*Chris Bellant and Will Pullen in “You Say Hello”*

In 2019 I had the great pleasure of meeting filmmaker Daniel Talbott at Oxford Film Festival when I programmed the short film he wrote, “You Say Hello.” As a programmer, it was always important for me to show audiences a wider experience of what it meant to be an LGBTQIA+ person, including our mental health struggles. “You Say Hello” tells the story Will (played by Chris Bellant) who has retreated to his family’s beach house to end his life. Before he does, he reaches out to a hustler named Mike (Will Pullen) for an evening that could possibly change the course of Will’s plan and his future.

The film is directed by Lovell Holder, who I had not met before, but had always hoped to meet to discuss the process of making the film. I stayed in touch with Daniel over the years, programming his very thought provoking film, “Light,” also starring WIll Pullen, as a very complex and complicated character who experienced religious trauma at Oxford a few years later.

When Daniel told me that he and Lovell were making plans to adapt “You Say Hello” as an anthology series, I was thrilled and couldn’t wait to ask them both about it.

Below is our interview - broken up in sections - a fantastic conversation about filmmaking, what it means to support and encourage each other as artists, the adaptation process, and of course the state of the industry. ENJOY!

Part 1: Origins

In part 1 we delve into the origins of “You Say Hello.” When Daniel first pitched the idea to Lovell, the lead character was a female, Russian sex worker - a part written for an actress that Daniel admired. It was also originally set in NYC. It was Lovell’s idea to move the setting to the West Coast and make it a queer story, considering both he and Daniel are LGBTQ artists themselves. I asked them about these collaborative changes, how the initial conversation transpired and much more.

Part 2: Transition from Short to Anthology Series

In this section of the interview we delve into the inception of the anthology idea and why Daniel and Lovell are planning to make the shift in perspective from Will to Mike, exploring Mike’s life through the different relationships he has with his clients. We also discuss pitching the idea to the powers that be as well as the roles Daniel and Lovell might play as writers and director. We also explore the concept of attaching an actor to a project in a post strike world.

Part 3: Not so Straight Story

I had planned on asking both Daniel and Lovell about Mike’s sexuality and the decision not to disclose that in the short and whether or not that would still be the plan moving forward. When asking about the origins I caught myself assuming that the original character, the female sex worker, was straight, just like I initially assumed Mike was straight when I first saw the short film. This leads to a very interesting conversation about the importance of coming out as characters and as artists, about bisexuality, and the ways our culture as queer people are the same in many ways and different in others.

Part 4: Subjects that Matter

Having seen and programmed two of Daniel’s films - “You Say Hello,” which he wrote and “Light,” which he wrote and directed, it is clear to me that he cares about subjects that matter. The same can absolutely be said about Lovell, especially having now seen his upcoming feature, “Lavender Men,” which I hadn’t seen at the time of this interview. I greatly appreciate the fact that both Daniel and Lovell are willing to take a look at these issues, particularly within our queer community.

Part 5: Directing

It’s been 5 years since I first saw “You Say Hello,” and there are many reasons that I keep coming back to it, and one of those is Lovell’s wonderful direction, particularly in the way he handles the more emotionally intimate scenes. I was eager to ask him about the details of those scenes, particularly in the way he directed the actors.

Another reason the film works so well is the remarkable creative partnership between Daniel and Lovell - one that I am eager to see revisited in the Anthology series.

Part 6: That Industry

In our final segment, I couldn’t talk to Daniel and Lovell without speaking about the state of the industry. I wrote a piece about the WGA and SAG strikes for Awards Watch in August of 2023, and Daniel was one of the people I interviewed. It was a very important conversation to understand what actual people were dealing with being out of work and why they were on the picket lines.

Living in Hollywood I heard - things will pick up after COVID, then the strike. And again, things will pick up after the new year. We are now inching toward another new year and every where we look and listen - trades, podcasts - they are all saying that Hollywood has yet to recover. I find the fact that Daniel and Lovell are making and pitching their idea of turning “You Say Hello” into an anthology series in these challenging times very hopeful. I asked both Daniel and Lovell what inspires them that might also give my readers and anyone going after their dreams the hope they might need in this uncertain time.

To watch “You Say Hello” visit Director’s notes here: WATCH: YOU SAY HELLO

You Say Hello - Interview with Daniel Talbott and Lovell Holder