From Small Town to Hollywood: An Adoptee Filmmaker's Journey with Patrick Thies

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Go to www.betterhelp.com difference for 10% off today. Coming to us today from North Hollywood here in California is Patrick Thies. Patrick is a filmmaker. He's a screenwriter and film director in Hollywood. He has a bachelor's of arts in cinematography and video production, but he's also a professional drone operator based in southern California and he began flying drones professionally during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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He's since wrapped up a horror short about the fentanyl crisis, and he's passionate about visual storytelling and leveraging advanced technology. Patrick brings a unique perspective to his work, informed by his personal journey as an adoptee from Lima, Peru. If you follow him on Instagram, you'll see these beautiful views of Southern California, which are amazing all by themselves, incorporated into film. It's just beautiful, but all by itself. Just please follow him on Instagram.

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We'll link that in the show notes later, but excited to welcome to the show today, Patrick Thies.

00:02:17
Hi Patrick, and welcome here in California to the oworld of Difference podcast today. How's it going there in North Hollywood? It's very warm this morning. It's very warm so far. It's a testament to summer, so I appreciate it.

00:02:32
Absolutely. We've been in this heat wave here in California, it's been wild. And a lot of us in the North Bay, or we're in the south Bay of northern California, and a lot of us don't have air conditioning around here because for years you didn't need it. Right. And so I know in southern California, it's not exactly the same, but we're used to kind of cooler weather, but it's been over 100 for several days.

00:02:52
And, yeah, it's been a little bit wild. So I hope that you're staying cool. I got a fan going on me over here. The windows are open. I should be alright.

00:03:01
Yeah, should be all right. Well, we are such wimps here in California, but it is. It is a thing. I'm from, you know, Chicago, basically, so I should be very accustomed to all kinds of changes. But I've been in LA now for almost ten years, so definitely been more, you know, used to the California weather now.

00:03:24
Yes. Well, you know, it's funny because we live in one of the most expensive areas of the United States. Like the zip codes in our area here in the Bay Area, many of them are in the top ten, you know, and San Jose, I think, was listed the top, most expensive property of the whole United States, which is none of us are shocked about because it's crazy around here, but every time we go outside and it's slightly not, you know, it's not 60 degrees and sunny or something, you know, my husband will be like, we didn't pay for this. This is not what we paid for. It's almost like you pay for the weather.

00:03:57
You know, I tell people that all the time. Sometimes they complain about, you know, it is expensive to live in LA, southern California. Like, we pay for the sun sign, we pay for the sun to be out almost every day of the year. You know, most parts of the country, you don't get that. Oh, you absolutely don't.

00:04:12
We're so. We're so spoiled out here. But yes, we'll deal with our heat wave and we'll stop complaining eventually one day. But probably not. That's right, exactly.

00:04:22
Well, you have some beautiful drone videos and you are also a filmmaker and. And just seeing what your work on Instagram and the aerial views of Southern California are just absolutely beautiful. And so I guess my first question for you out the gate is just sort of tell us a little bit about your background and how you even got started in your filmmaking. Sure. For filmmaking, it all began many years ago, post high school.

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I got my first laptop for my first job. And I bought my first dvd that I must have watched over two dozen times. It was Steven Soderbergh's osen's Eleven with like an all star cast, you know, Vegas heist movie. And the way it played out, I just was so drawn to it, just the way that he directed the movie, the acting, the lighting, the soundtrack, all of it. And I was already kind of a writer anyway, so I'm like, this is what I should do.

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I should just write for movies and tv. And then once high school ended, I went to college. That's what I went to college for, just to learn screenwriting and filmmaking. I went to Southern Illinois University in Carpentale, Illinois, which was a six hour drive from my place in DeKalb, Illinois. And I got very used to that drive, but there was a great experience going there when I graduated.

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I moved to LA about a year or so after graduation, met up with friends in North Hollywood. And that's what began my first LA journey. And I say first because I was so young and I was just so not used to city living, except from a small midwestern town, that I just had too much fun. I spent all my money, I didn't work as hard as I could have, and I went broke pretty quickly. And I was given a choice to either go home and, like, start over or go to my roommate's brother's place in Vegas.

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So of course we chose Vegas. But luckily, through that, I was able to work and make enough money to come back to LA to where I can take filmmaking a bit more seriously. So this time around, I'm like, writing more, becoming more active in the community. And most of my stories revolve around, like, Sci-Fi or horror thriller suspense type movies. If I can keep you at the edge of your seat, that's what I want.

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And right now, that seems to be more horror. I like the idea of scaring people. I grew up reading a lot of Stephen King books or goosebumps. Whatever was scary, I would get my hands on and read it. And I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that I would have sleep paralysis at times.

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So growing up, when you have sleep paralysis, it's really interesting because your body is asleep, but your mind is awake, so you're just there in your bed and you feel like this weight on you. And that inspired a lot of stories, just kind of going through that over and over again. So I just kind of tapped into that dreamlike state and how that made me feel. And I use that just for a lot of my stories, a lot of creative thinking. Wow.

00:07:21
So fascinating. I often wonder when I watch a film and especially listen to the script and the choices of words that have been chosen and the scenarios that they craft and create and wonder what is going on in the experience of the person, person behind it. And so you're telling us that that has absolutely been true for you. And in addition to that, you have a journey as an adoptee. Tell us a little bit about your journey in that regard.

00:07:52
And has that impacted your writing and filmmaking as well? Yeah, definitely over the years, I'm sure it did without me even really realizing it, because I was adopted from Lima, Peru, in 1989. I was like a year or two old, and I was adopted with another peruvian girl, my sister. But she just became my sister through the adoption, you know, process. We were just two separate babies, and I had allergies, asthma, food poisoning, malnutrition.

00:08:24
I wasn't doing good. It was a good thing I was adopted when I was, and thankfully, my mother was a nurse, my father was a pharmacist. So I was in good hands. And when I came back, when I was brought to America, we grew up in northern Illinois and Ottawa, Illinois. Small midwestern town, small midwestern values.

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And it was a good place to be because I was fortunate to grow up in the nineties. And I felt like that was the last, I guess. I don't want to say normal, but more freeing time of place to be a kid, I guess, you know? So I was able to grow up in just midwestern town with my parents, all white family, all white neighborhood, white suburbia. And I just adapted over time.

00:09:13
None of it really seemed too foreign to me, like I would make friends, you know, I was shy at first. I didn't really talk that much at first. And then I talked too much. And eventually I made friends, like, around junior high in high school. And, yeah, no one really, like, commented on the fact that I was adopted, probably because I didn't really mention it all the time, but even when I did, they were like, oh, that's interesting, but, okay, so we can talk about something else now.

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And it wasn't like a focus of conversation, and to me, it just seemed so normal, so I didn't really think about it either. It wasn't until I went to college when I started to kind of notice a difference, because I didn't really see anyone that looked like me up until college, you know, I didn't have exposure to that. And then once I did, it was this whole other experience of like, oh, there's, like, all these other people I can get to know and their backgrounds and see what they're up to and how it compares to mine. And I didn't really meet too many other adoptees along the way. In fact, I can maybe think of one or two.

00:10:08
But just being exposed to that college environment of, you know, multiple people from multiple backgrounds coming together, that was really, like, an eye opening experience for me, just to meet them and being able to talk to them, and they'd be like, oh, you don't speak Spanish? Or you ever been back to Peru? I'm like, no, I haven't. Like, okay, well, you should go. You should really go.

00:10:26
I'm like, yeah, I know. I know. That's always been something on my mind. But as far as the adoption process itself, I was very fortunate to have the family I did. They took care of me.

00:10:36
I was very sick, and I don't know if I would have made it this long if I had stayed in Peru. It would have been very difficult because my mother was, you know, 18 years old. You know, she was on her own. You know, I think her family was kind of against that. She had me, so she wasn't, like, in the best position either.

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So while I'm sure it was difficult for her, it was probably the best choice she could have made. And I'm lucky now, because we were able to reconnect through finding the lawyer that found me and my sister at the agency. I got in contact with him, and I got in contact with my mom, and she actually had a second daughter after me named Karina. And me and her talk, like, once a month or so, like, through Facebook messenger, and I use Google translate because I can't speak Spanish, but we make it work. And she's really sweet.

00:11:26
She always asks about me. She wants to make sure I'm okay, and she always says that my mom says hello, and I do want to go and see them. I was going to during COVID but Covid happened, so I couldn't go. Yeah. And I just haven't really had the funds to really travel back there.

00:11:43
Yeah, it's kind of expensive on the airline tickets. Yeah. But, um, I was glad I was able to reconnect. I was glad I was able to, you know, at least find my mom again and discover I have a half sister. So that was.

00:11:55
That was nice that happened that way. So nice. Oh, it's so nice to hear that. We recently had Cameron on I don't know if you heard that episode. He's an adoptee.

00:12:09
Yeah. And works with adoptees. And one of the things that he often talks about is, you know, a lot of things can be true. At the same time, it could be beautiful to have been rescued out of a really hard situation where there's this mom who's 18 and, you know, we don't even know, I guess if you know how involved the father is, like, there's so many different things that can go on in an adoption situation, health risks and that kind of thing. And at the same time, to have, you know, grief and loss that you didn't get to experience a life there.

00:12:43
All of the what ifs are part of, you know, kind of sometimes some unresolved grief. It's hard to express both lament about what could have been in grief and then gratitude all at the same time. And so it's good to hear your story. And when I think about that and the fact that you're a filmmaker, part of me wants to see a documentary of what it's like to be reunited. Yes.

00:13:07
Travel across the ocean, go to South America. You've been to south. You've probably been to Peru more than I have. I've not been to Peru, but I did grow up in Venezuela. Yeah.

00:13:17
No, because everyone says you got to go to macho future. You got to check out Lima and Cusco and go hiking. I'd love to do all those things. I love to hike, so. Oh, yeah, perfect.

00:13:27
Well, it's the pretty high elevation part, I understand. My dad's been to Lima. My husband's been there. I don't know why I haven't had a chance to go, actually. My brother, I think my brother even went.

00:13:35
Yeah, a lot of people. And I remember in fifth grade, I had a teacher in Venezuela, and she showed us a slideshow of Machu Picchu. And ever since then, I've always wanted to go. It's just such a fascinating thing. Incidentally, a lot of Venezuelans have ended up in Lima and other parts of Peru because of the situation in Venezuela.

00:13:53
I grew up in the eighties and nineties when it was a really different place, you know, a model democracy, and the economy was much better. But the political situation has changed a lot of things, but a lot of Venezuelans are there. So if you go, you'll meet a lot of Venezuelans, too. Right on. Yeah.

00:14:08
I definitely look forward to seeing a documentary or at least some TikTok videos if you're going to meet your, your mom and your sister. Yeah, it's funny, too, whenever I mention this, everyone's like, oh, can I come with you? I know you haven't gone yet, but can I join you? Like, people I just met, they want to come with me. Like, yeah, let's all go together.

00:14:23
It'll be an experience. Yeah, that'd be fun. Yeah. Bring your film crew. You can come.

00:14:28
Yeah, exactly. That's awesome. Well, I do hope that you get to make that trip. I think that would be really beautiful. I know Cameron shared about his experience of going to Busan to meet his birth mother.

00:14:39
And it. It is, yeah. It's got to be an experience that would really enrich your life going forward and help you understand more of who you are, because there's so many layers and nuance to an international adoption story. And one of the things I hear often in recommendations from, I have many friends who've adopted internationally and, you know, babies of a different race than what the family is. And so often the recommendation is, if you're going to adopt a baby of a different race, it's better to adopt a two.

00:15:11
That way that child doesn't feel singled out as the only child of a different race. So you had a sister who was also adopted from Peru into, I assume, a white family. Was that how that went? Yeah. Okay.

00:15:25
It's interesting, though, not that you mentioned that. So, you know, you see me now, my sister, who's also peruvian, is very, very light skinned. She could pass for white. So at first glance, no one's going to think that, like, me and her are the same. So that was also something that, again, I didn't realize as a kid it wasn't really a thing.

00:15:42
But over time, I'm like, oh, got it. Okay. And also, I guess to her credit, she was much more talkative, more extroverted. You know, she was, like, kind of just around, whereas me, I was always reading a book or writing a short story or day dreaming about something or listening to music, just doing my own thing, kind of more private. And so over the years, I think I was okay with just kind of being on my own because that's what I knew from the get go anyway.

00:16:11
And she was okay with taking the spotlight and just kind of doing her thing. So it kind of worked out in a weird way. I was happy just to kind of do my own thing for a while. And like I said, eventually, when junior high and high school came, I did kind of break out of my shell a bit and talk a bit more and made some good friends. And it all worked out.

00:16:29
It took a while to get there, I will admit. Yeah. Well, some of these things take a lifetime to unpack. I know some people visit things in their forties and fifties that really weren't apparent in our twenties and thirties, and that's just kind of part of being human. When you add extra elements like international adoption and the racial components within a family, and you presenting not as light skinned as your sister, and so she probably passed as white in some ways, which is, you know, some people don't understand that about South America.

00:17:02
Is that because of, you know, colonization, we have people all across South America that look more spanish or italian or portuguese, you know, european, and that those bloodlines stayed that way for, like, you know, a long time. If they married people that look similar, and then you have more indigenous populations in all of South America, multiple kinds. Right. And so that can be confusing for some people. I think, in Asia or places, they've.

00:17:30
They've not interacted with many people from South America. So it's so funny, too. Over this holiday weekend, I went with a korean friend to barbecue with Filipinos, and they all thought I was Filipino. Like, oh, you're Filipino, right? I'm like, no.

00:17:44
Like, oh, well, you could pass one. You look just like us. I'm like, okay, cool. Good to know.

00:17:50
Filipino and Hawaiian. Gotten those two. I hear that a lot. My Bay Area friends are like, we have so many Filipinos, we have so many Hawaiians, we have so many Latinos here, and that's kind of a constant thing used. But, you know, in some ways, it's kind of cool in that sense, in that, you know, you could be in a lot of parts of the world and sort of blend in a lot of places, especially after your experience of growing up in a white suburban environment.

00:18:15
And I can imagine what it was like when you got to college and realized, oh, there's people who actually speak Spanish that look like me. And that must have been such a mind blowing experience. Yeah, it was a lot to take in, but I was very fortunate for it. Yeah. My midwestern, the place I grew up, DeKalb, Illinois, is a nice town.

00:18:34
It's a very kind of cliche midwestern. Like, if you saw any movie or tv show, that's basically where I grew up. Everyone knew everyone. Very small town country music, gravel roads, cornfields everywhere. Fall festival called corn fest every year.

00:18:52
So the farmers would bring their corn in, and we'd have, like, a festival to celebrate the corn. That was, like, a normal thing. It'd be corn for rides and food and drink and, like, you know, live bands playing and. Yeah, just spending time outside, a lot of campground, a lot of road trips, a lot of hiking, a lot of fishing. And sports was huge.

00:19:12
You had to know sports. NASCAR, football, basketball, baseball, all of it was very important. You had to keep up with all of it. So that's something I kind of adjusted to, just living there. And that continued on even through college, too, because Carbondale, Illinois, is basically the southern version of where I'm from.

00:19:29
It's not too much different, but they were very welcoming. It was really nice. I had a good time there. But I will admit I do prefer the West Coast. California is where it's at.

00:19:39
I love the west coast, and I love that you have actually, that experience, because I think, you know, when it comes to making film or, you know, tv shows, I think so many people that are consuming that in the United States are from those, you know, small town America. And so the fact that you've had that experience and a very urban experience living in North Hollywood, it kind of gives you the best of both worlds and your filmmaking. I'd love to know kind of what your, you know, desires and dreams are when it comes to film. And how would you describe yourself as a filmmaker? Definitely, as far as my desires and drives, they've been changed a lot and shaped by the big change in the industry lately.

00:20:23
So I know it's not like breaking news, but if you're in Hollywood and in the industry, these past couple years have been really rough, just with the timing of COVID the actors strike, and then the writers strike, and they're just finishing up. The unions were negotiating for a while, and because all that was happening, orcas has slowed down so much, and the introduction of streamers into the industry have kind of changed the landscape of how they do business. And so everything is just kind of at a standstill. Everything's very uncertain right now. Some people are afraid of AI.

00:20:59
I don't think that'll be that big of a deal, but something we do have to adjust to, of course. And right now, as much as I would love to be back on a set and, like, work on production and do all the things, I don't think I need to do that full time to be fulfilled. What I can do is just work at a day job or do the drone work that I love doing, but also on the side, make movies, or at the very least, help others make movies. There's a lot of happiness and bonding that can be found on set or even if you don't, if you're not able to be on set, if you're able to be part of the pre production or post production phase, that's fine, too, because I think when you really want to do this kind of work, all of that's important, all of that has value to it. And depending on where you fit in, whether you're like an actor, writer, director, editor, you'll find where you need to be and find your people.

00:21:49
And that's what I found in the past year or two. So just being a part of the process is what I care about most. If I can get a gig that ends up being something that's great, but it doesn't need to happen right now. I love the idea of just creating. You know, having finished my first short film last winter, that was a great experience, and I love to do it again.

00:22:10
It was stressful, and it was difficult. It was very, very hard. But, you know, I did it. And so I think moving forward, yeah, just being involved in the process, just doing my own thing or helping other people do theirs, I think with everything in a standstill for the way things normally go, it'd be nice for us to branch out and do our own thing. So for independent creators just to go out and make their own stories, whether it's features or sorts or episodes, whatever it is they like, that can be useful.

00:22:42
You know, that could be helpful for everyone just to share new stories. And so if I can just do that, then I'll be okay with that. Especially until the industry finds a way to fix itself, which could be a while. So I don't want to hold my breath and wait for them. I'd rather just go out and be creative, do more drone work.

00:23:01
I love that stuff. Well, the drone work is certainly beautiful and, you know, not actually separate from the filmmaking. You know, there's lots of scenes and movies where you're seeing these obviously drone filmed panoramas of, you know, London seems to always get in there. You know, obviously, California is a beautiful place to film. Right.

00:23:23
But I was thinking about what you were saying, and, you know, we have, you know, been watching the news of the writers strike and the actors strike. You know, we're happy when that got resolved, but realizing that there's so much that, you know, Covid affected and obviously, like you mentioned, AI and. And the streamers, and I think that one of the things that is, I guess, a concern, and I'd love to get your perspective on it, is we are so glad that more voices and more creative minds can be contributing in this space with things like creating, you know, reels on Instagram or on TikTok. But at the same time, having somebody who's been trained and gone and been educated and understood the craft and how to really bring in so many different aspects of the creative process, we don't want to lose that expertise as well. And so kind of what are your thoughts around that going forward?

00:24:15
I think overall, people will take the time it takes to provide really powerful stories. The issue would just be whether or not people can see them. You know, I think distribution always becomes an issue to where everyone can make something pretty cool, just whether or not they can get it out to the masses. And then even if they do well, the masses accepted. Some of them do, some of them don't.

00:24:37
But I think overall, most creatives who really care about this will take the time and consideration to make some meaningful content, some meaningful stories, whether it's on TikTok or Instagram or YouTube or Vimeo, because I've met some wonderful people who know a lot more than me, who maybe don't know as much as me, but they're, like, really earnest and, like, you know, they're excited to learn. And I used to work at the New York film academy in the admissions office. And part of my job there was to review portfolios from students from all over the world because I wanted to come here, and the amount of passion these, these young students had, like, kind of blew my mind. I'm like, I didn't have that kind of discipline or passion when I was their age. The fact that they do and willing to spend the money it would take to come here and do it here kind of was really humbling and also inspiring.

00:25:27
I've also been a reader for many script writing contests and been involved in different things here and there, and people can produce some really amazing stories. The reason we don't hear about is because it all costs money. You know, it's really expensive to do it right. And to get it out there, marketing promotion, you pretty much have to be an entrepreneur. If you want to be, like, a, you know, a creative these days.

00:25:48
You have to go out of your way and learn not only how to make something interesting that people actually want to see, but find a way to, like, get it out there, give people a reason to see it. Because there's so much content, you go on Netflix or Hulu or whatever app you have, there's almost too many choices. So I think the idea is just to take the time consideration to make something that you really care about whatever it is, and do whatever you can to get it out there to the people that you want to see it. And film festivals are a great way to do that. I think a lot of people do go that route.

00:26:19
That's something I plan to do as well because a lot of those people, from my limited research on it all, because it's all still kind of new to me. The film festival operators, they really do want to showcase, like new talent. They want to showcase, you know, new people. That's how they make money. You know, it's all business.

00:26:34
So they want to give new people a chance to really have their film play or whatever it is they're doing, feature short and kind of go from there. And I think that's beneficial for everyone. The more you do it, the more you enjoy it. You find your own community of creatives and filmmakers and everyone just kind of bonds because everyone understands. They've been there, they've been on set for 1012 hours.

00:26:55
They've been in the writers room where they've been in post. So they get the struggle and they're open to talk about it more, which I think is great. That's the way it should be. Yeah. We can all learn so much from each other, really.

00:27:07
That's kind of the point of this podcast. So, yeah, you know, I think about how what you're saying, we're seeing some of that creatives needing to be entrepreneurs and doing sort of their own marketing and all kinds of things like that in many industries, from book publishing to podcasting, so many other areas. Yeah. And it's like you used to be able to kind of do one thing. And so it is interesting to see how this is going to affect us, you know, going forward in terms of the art and the media we consume.

00:27:39
But I did want to kind of ask you a little bit more about a recent project. My understanding is you have a recent project on the fentanyl crisis, is that right? Yes, I do. I do. Thank you.

00:27:49
Tell us about that. That all happened. Well, the origin of the story began from just seeing these news reports on YouTube, these very telling personal stories of families who, like, lost someone or just the way the communities have been affected by the fentanyl crisis and just the imagery alone. When someone is on fentanyl and they're truly gone, their body will kind of lean forward and they're bend over. It's called the fentanyl crawl.

00:28:15
And it's because the drug has an effect on your spine that you can't stand straight anymore. It's easier just to lean over, I guess. So when you're really into the drug, and it affects you on that level. You become. You don't even.

00:28:30
You're not even yourself anymore. I guess that's the best way to describe it. And unfortunately, when you're addicted, you can't go without it, you know, and it's very difficult to, like, step away from that. And just based on my research, I've seen the online news reports, and just seeing it firsthand, you know, in LA, it was something that was really important to me because while I've never dealt with addiction directly, I have had issues in the past with, like, drinking. So I know how that can be, and I know that that can be a struggle to overcome.

00:29:01
And I think people need to realize that. This has been said so many times, but people need to realize you're just one or two bad days or missed paychecks away from, like, not having that life you have. You know, it doesn't take much to push you over the edge. And, you know, as we all know, life can be very hard. So if you let it, you know, you know, take over you and you can't rise above it or something happens to where it's difficult to deal with it, then technically, you know, that could be you, too.

00:29:29
And it's important to realize that we're all human beings. We're all people. We all deserve care. So just because you see someone who's, like, maybe not themselves or not something you want to see every day on your way to work, doesn't mean they don't deserve help. And that was the first point of the movie, just trying to treat addicts with the same respect that, you know, we treat each other.

00:29:52
And then the second half was kind of the horror aspect where through my YouTube research, I randomly found these surveillance videos of, like, ring cameras. And it kind of blew me away of how. How much happens when we're not looking, when we're not paying attention, like, either a front porch or a back patio. I didn't know there were things called ports, pirates. I didn't know they were, like, criminals who would, like, come to your doorstep to take your Amazon packages and, like, walk away.

00:30:17
And that would happen a lot. And when you see that through a surveillance point of view, especially at nighttime, it's truly terrifying. And I think if you put yourself in any of those video of those people who have those videos, it kind of makes sense. If you're alone and maybe it's 10:00 at night and you hear someone at your front door and you're not expecting anyone to be there. You're automatically on it.

00:30:41
You have no idea why they're there, but they're there. Maybe they're knocking on the door. Maybe they're trying to speak to the ring camera. Who knows? But that's terrifying just by itself.

00:30:50
So then I imagine, what if that person was an addict and they were looking for, like, drugs or, like, a place to stay or something? That's also terrifying. So that's kind of where the two points of the movie kind of came together, of the fentanyl crisis and how if it's at your front door, you can't really ignore it because it's there. There's no one to call. There's nowhere to run.

00:31:11
You just have to deal with it. And while I would never want to get to that level, I think sometimes you have to take it there because people find it very easy to look the other way. I think it's easy to ignore things. And a lot of times we deal with the symptoms, not always the problem. And I'm not saying it's an easy thing to solve.

00:31:30
It's very difficult. I don't think anyone has the right answer right away, but I would rather keep the conversation alive and keep it going because so many people are still affected by it. I still see it all the time, and I want to kind of promote something where we can give back to each other by just caring about one another and, you know, having that extra moment of just maybe we can help, maybe we can do something. I don't know what I can do, but let me at least consider it as opposed to just closing the door and turning away and ignoring the issue and just letting it come to my front door. I don't want that to be the future.

00:32:04
So the movie was driven by just the news reports, the surveillance footage, and just trying to do something new for myself. It's such an important topic, and I'm so glad that you addressed it. And I think that film is one of the best ways to address something like that, because art makes us feel something, and there's something about film or a documentary or, you know, something we're watching, and we're immersed in these situations, in the lives of people that gives us a. An opportunity to empathize. And I think empathy is a real key to overcoming these situations sometimes.

00:32:39
You know, I live in the Bay Area, you know, in San Jose or San Francisco. These are individuals that are suffering, and you see them regularly, and it feels overwhelming, and you can start to sort of become, you know, immune to it, where you don't even notice them or notice their humanity. And I think when we can see our humanity connected to theirs, then in a film is one of the best ways to do that. And I, I really appreciate that you took that on because I think it's really important and it tells me the kind of person you are, that you want to make a difference in that way. And I think that's really beautiful.

00:33:11
There's probably people listening in different parts of the world, here in California or all over the world that are considering film. Maybe they're young, maybe they're in a midlife crisis and they're finding what's going to be next. What's your advice for somebody who wants to get started in film? I think the first thing to do is to watch a bunch of movies. Watch your favorite movies, find out what it is you like about them, and then depending on what you want to do, I don't know if you want to be the writer or the director.

00:33:38
I guess you want to do both. Definitely take some writing classes or at least just trying to find scripts online. And that's pretty simple. You type in like a movie name and add PDF at the end, you're going to find the script. It'll be online somewhere.

00:33:50
And so you read that, you understand that. You realize how to break down a script, and then you just start writing. Start taking it one day at a time and try to limit yourself to, like, very short stories. Don't try to make the next Star wars. You know, it's not going to work out.

00:34:06
I mean, I guess if you really want to, I don't want to impede your creativity, but it's very difficult to begin at that level. But start small. Do your research, watch a bunch of movies, and then honestly, just find a community that would support you and your vision. Find people who would also be there to help you out. You don't have to do it alone.

00:34:22
I mean, you definitely can. There's ways to do it, like, completely on your own, but that would take like your own equipment, your own locations, your own, but I mean, it would take a lot. So if you can find a community that's also creative, whether that's actors or producers, directors, or anyone really, who would be on a set with you, find those people and people that kind of know who you are and where you're coming from and just make something together and you can even do it with your friends. You know, it doesn't have to be anything too crazy. Just make it fun for you because it should be fun.

00:34:56
It should be something that you enjoy doing. It should be fun. Absolutely. I love that. It's great advice.

00:35:01
And I also love bringing in other people because, you know, and there are some solo projects out there and, you know, everybody's different. But I think that we really benefit, like you've mentioned, from the different perspectives, and that's part of the creative process. We don't know what we don't know. And I. So much of innovation happens when we're around other people who are being innovative as well and bringing their perspective in.

00:35:25
And I, you know, as a woman, I'm just going to give this plug. You know, so much of film, acting, writing, directing has been so centered around male characters, male perspectives, and so, you know, bringing in female perspectives into the process is very helpful because we like media. We watch movies. Having grown up in the eighties and nineties, so much of film had a lot of, you know, misogyny in it, and I didn't really enjoy going to the movies because of it, but it's gotten so much better. We have strong female characters.

00:35:58
They're not always a damsel in distress that needs to be rescued. You know, they can have, you know, multiple types of characters that are women. And I'm sure, you know, people of color, I know, especially the asian american community, was not portrayed well at all, and, you know, even until recently and sometimes still isn't. So all of that representation in the creative process is so important because people all around the world, men and women, different ages, different cultural backgrounds, watch films. And so I think the more you get perspectives into it, the better.

00:36:28
What is your thoughts? What are your thoughts on that? No, I agree 110%. That's so important. Yeah.

00:36:35
When you see someone on screen, whether it's on your phone or at a movie theater or even like, an ad on YouTube, it's important to see that because that's what our world is. We're very diverse. Everyone is here. It should never just be one mold. Like, for my movie in particular, I didn't even plan it this way, but ended up the entire leading cast.

00:36:57
Even some of the minor characters were all women. And I'm glad it worked out that way because the performances were that much better, I think. And when you have these for my story, there's three different women. The professor, the addict, and then there's the Delta team leader. It's like the villain.

00:37:17
And so these three conflicting voices meet, and they all kind of have their moment where, like, I'm doing this because of this, or I feel this way because of this, and so I thought it was important to have all of them have their moment to, like, shine, because then you get to, like, follow through to the end to see what. What happens to all of them, you know, like, who was right, who was wrong. Do you agree? Do you not agree? It doesn't really matter because they all had their time to, like, say their piece and even, like, I guess I'll just talk about that ending a little bit.

00:37:47
When the story ends, the villain's kind of taken away and the heroes reunite. But in that moment, the heroes still have that empathy for the villain because they realize you weren't like this all the time. You kind of became this way over the years. Society kind of built you down, and you became more, I guess, resentful or hurt. And so this is how you reacted by taking your job to this level and hurting the addicts.

00:38:11
We're gonna still feel for you even though you're being taken away and, like, you're gone now. And I thought that was important, too, because I don't want anyone to be targeted as, like, the main villain. Like, no one's the villain. We all make mistakes. We all lose our way.

00:38:25
And another big thing about the movie is Stephen King had this great quote paraphrasing that monsters are real. They live inside us, and sometimes they win. And I think that's true. I think we all have bad days. We all, like, have bad reactions.

00:38:39
We say things we don't mean. We do things we probably could take back, and that's just the dark half of ourselves taking over. And sometimes that happens. But if you can look past that, if you can forgive that or at least attempt to understand it, then it's not as scary, then it's not as bad. And so that's also a big part of the movie.

00:38:56
I want to hopefully shows through to the. Towards the end between the three women characters because they lead us the whole way. And I thought that was important for all three of them to have their moment. And I just think it's cool to see a representation of Latinx and women and just BIPOC in general kind of come together on screen and behind screen is to make a project happen, because everyone has the skill set, everyone has the experience. And once they meet each other on set, they, like, bond instantly.

00:39:27
That's something that blew my mind right away. I didn't think that would happen that quickly. I thought there might be some awkward moments, but they immediately fell into it. Like, it was like they're. It's like they've been to work together before.

00:39:37
You know, it's so simple the way it happened. And that was important for me because I didn't. It was my first time directing. I was wearing so many hats. All I knew is, as long as I'm looking around and people were smiling and having fun, I'm doing okay.

00:39:50
No one's upset. There's no drama. No one's yelling or crying. We're not saving lives. We're making a movie.

00:39:56
It's all right. And I was really fortunate for the way it turned out and the representation on screen and behind screen, that was important for me, too, and I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Well, it sounds like, in a way, that was no accident. When you create that kind of psychological safety as a director, I can imagine it allows people to feel an opportunity to both bond and be innovative with each other. If your goal was for people to have fun and enjoy the process, that sets a tone.

00:40:24
And then, you know, parts of our brain that might go limbic otherwise. If we have a very toxic environment or people are stressed out, we can't be creative. Our brains aren't available for that. And so it sounds like you really set the tone for that. So I'm glad to hear that.

00:40:38
And it is exciting to think about a movie where it's not just good guys and bad guys, because I don't think that's real life. And a lot of our movies have been that way in the past. And, you know, the reality is we're all a mixture of good decisions and bad decisions, and we have nuance. And when we vilify people as monsters, it doesn't allow us to see ourselves as, you know, capable of being either complicit and evil in the world or, you know, the ability to stop it as well. And so I think, you know, we.

00:41:11
That Stephen quote King quote is a really interesting one. And I would like to see more movies kind of bring in the nuance of the good and the bad in all of us and the different characters. And it's really exciting to see the empathy that you allowed your heroes to have with the villain. That's really cool. And I got so lucky, too.

00:41:29
One of the first actresses to sign on, I met her at this mixer in North Hollywood, and I was so shy and full of anxiety, I couldn't speak to anyone. But she was kind of in the same level. She kind of saw me, she approached me, and we talked for the rest of the night. And she's like, look, I've never played a villain before. I've always wanted to.

00:41:46
Your story sounds amazing. Let's do it. And so that just her signing on was a huge boost just to help me, like, like to encourage me to keep going because there was many, many times I'm like, I don't know if I can do this. This is a lot of work. I've never done this before.

00:42:01
It was very one of those moments where I'm like, this sounds like a cool idea and I am excited about it and I'm glad other people are, but I'm still scared. But having that, having her sign on, having her encouragement, and my friends encouragement, too, was definitely a big plus. And just having it all come together the way it did was eye opening for me from day one. But I'm glad it happened. We're still in post right now, so we're still figuring things out.

00:42:26
But yeah, that first step was key. Just meeting her in that way, then her kind of just killing it. Like everyone said from day one, she did a great job. My editor said she did a great job and I was very lucky to meet her when I did. That's awesome.

00:42:40
Well, thanks for sharing about this with us today. It's been a very fascinating conversation and we will have you hang out for our difference maker community. I'll ask you another question there for an exclusive. But as far as this interview, I just want to say thank you for your time today and would love for you to give a chance for people to find you if they want to see more of your work coming forward. Definitely.

00:42:59
Thank you so much. Yeah. On Instagram, my handle is PJ underscore la. And then for the movie it's called sidewalks and skeletons film. If you look, I don't know if you can see this on camera.

00:43:16
This is basically what it would look like if you type in sidewalks and skeletons. On Instagram. You see that little icon? That's us. Awesome.

00:43:24
Thank you. It's been great to have you today, Patrick, and I wish you all the best with your film. Looking forward to all of your future projects. Thank you so much, Lori. Great art really makes you feel something.

00:43:34
And it sounds like Patrick is the kind of person who's bringing his experience as everybody who does that's an artist into his filmmaking, into the screen, writing that he does, the directing he does. I really appreciate his whole philosophy of it all, of bringing a team together and helping them feel psychologically safe enough to innovate and create and produce this beautiful thing together and allowing actors to really shine and play off of each other and have fun. And I really just appreciate somebody like him bringing so much heart into it, allowing us to be drawn in and making a difference with this film about the fentanyl crisis, having this be in the horror genre, just giving that feeling. There is a. A need to feel shocked about what's happening.

00:44:23
And sometimes we can pass people on the streets here in the Bay Area where I live, certainly when I visited Southern California and downtown LA, I've noticed a lot of people who are suffering. It's heartbreaking and sometimes we can get immune to it. And so a film like that can really help us to wake us up as to what's going on with human beings around us that deserve care and the decisions we make as a society around that. So I'm glad that he's using film in this way. I'm really excited to see what he's going to be producing and writing and directing going forward.

00:44:56
He's really just at the edge of something really great in his career, it seems like. And I really hope that you check out his instagram for all those beautiful views that I mentioned. Really is just stunning what drones can capture. And California is such a beautiful place, and it's just nice, it's a nice stress relief to just see some of those videos that he captures there. But I also really appreciated him sharing about his experience of being an international adoptee and adopted into a family that was racially different than the one he was born into and just the experience of his sister being more light skinned than him, even though they're both from Peru.

00:45:31
And just so much nuance in that conversation. I know that's something that many of you have experienced either in your own families or yourself personally or, you know, people who've experienced that. And if you haven't yet heard the episode with Cameron Lee Small where he describes his own experience as an adoptee from South Korea, also into the Midwest, part of the United States, into a white family, also, just the work that he does and around international adoption and families and that experience as a therapist and his work in therapy redeemed as. Well as his book. Please check out that episode just a few episodes ago with Cameron Lee Small.

00:46:06
It's a really good one. And if you are somebody who has been adopted or are considering adoption or that's a part of your family story in any way, I do highly recommend that episode as well as this one. So please share with anybody who could benefit. And if you're considering considering going into film, I hope this has inspired you. You know, we recently just had the heartbreaking situation here where we live in the San Jose Silicon Valley area of our favorite movie theater closing down.

00:46:33
We're super sad. We used to go on cheap Tuesday nights as a family sometimes, and it's super sad. But what's going on in the film industry, like he mentioned with COVID and the pandemic and also just the writers strike and the actors strike, has really affected the film industry and Hollywood and, and Patrick really feels that in a real way. So if you appreciate film and you appreciate the artists out there bringing us things that help us think deeply or just entertain us or make us laugh or feel something, please support films by going to your local movie theater when possible. And hopefully some of this will bounce back because we want to see more people creating the great work that we've appreciated for so many years.

00:47:12
Our family, one of our long standing traditions is family movie nights on Fridays where we have popcorn and candy and we've done this for years, since we were living in Singapore for ten years and here, and it's one of those moments together with our now teenagers that we still really enjoy. Sometimes friends pop in and hang out with us, too, but there's something special about watching a film together with a family that you can enjoy. So we wish Patrick all the best. Check out his work, keep following his instagram with the drone videos, and we're so excited to have him on the show today. Making a difference.

00:47:44
And once again, he hangs out with us for a little bit in our Patreon community called difference makers, where we talk a little more deeply about people in his life that have inspired him and have mentored him and how they're making a difference for him. And it's a really cool conversation. So join us@patreon.com. aworldofdifference to check out that conversation. You can join us there for free on a trial, or you can pay as little as $5 a month to join us and get a ton of exclusive episodes that we've had in the, in the whole back files.

00:48:17
They're all there, so you can check them out. And we bring new ones to you every time we have a guest. So we'd love for you to join us in a place where we go a little bit deeper in our difference maker community once again, that's patreon.com aworldofdifference and wherever you are all around the world, I hope you're taking care of yourself and just so grateful for each of you. Keep making a difference. Wherever you are, we are coming up on our 200th episode really soon and would love to hear from each of you what this podcast has meant to you.

00:48:43
You can either send me a DM to let me know. You can leave us a review online on our anywhere where you can review podcasts or you can do a voicemail and we might include you on the 200th episode coming up in August. So what you do is you go to our website, which is aworldofdifferencepodcast.com, and on the right bottom corner you'll see a little microphone. You click on that and you can just leave us a voicemail. So if this podcast has meant anything to you, if any particular episode has meant anything to you, I'd love to hear from you and hear it in your voice.

00:49:14
And who knows, we might play it on the episode. So please let us know. And I always listen to every single one of the voicemails. I read every single one of your DM's on any of the social medias. You can find me on Instagram oriadamsbrown, you can find me on Twitter Loriadbr and just send me a little note about what this podcast has meant to you.

00:49:34
And we might read it on the show, but also voicemail because that's my preferred method and I love to hear your voices. So check it out@awororldofdifferencepodcast.com. scroll down to the bottom right click on that microphone and send us a voicemail to tell us what you think about any of the 200 episodes or our podcasts in general. Thanks so much for listening. I appreciate each of you so much.