How did you come up with the story idea for "Hot Rod Girls Save the World"?
It started when I was doing my weekly Cable Access TV Show- Go-Kustom TV. I believe we were the first, or at least one of the first Kustom Kulture TV Shows ever. As the show progressed, the hostess Lindsay Calkins and I became good friends. We were always trying to come up with new creative ideas to bring to the show. Burlesque Dancers, Car Show different bands. During filming an episode at the Hot-Rod-A-Rama Car Show, we met the gregarious Melene Marie Brown and sultry Sheri Johnson. They had a booth selling vintage collectables. You know, I think Sheri won the pin-up contest at that car show. Melene, Sheri and Lindsay became the first official “Go-Girls” helping promote both Go-Kustom TV and Go-Kustom Rekords. I talked them into doing a music video for my song Monster Monster. The video turned out so good, I asked the girls to do another one for the song Evil Undead Girlfiend. As this was going on, in the back of my little brain, the seeds were being sown to make a feature length film. Now keep in mind, I have always wanted to make movies- that was why I started a TV Show in the first place. To teach myself how to film and edit. Who needs film school when you can learn hands-on by doing a Cable Access TV Show each week? So I ask the girls if they’d want to do a feature length film. They agree and I start writing the screenplay with them in mind as the main characters. It really helps me to know who my actors are, how they move and talk before I commit pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). For example, I made Sheri’s character, Betty Petty a mute because Sheri has such a soft voice and manner. When I was half way finished with the screenplay, something came up and Sheri couldn’t be in the film. We found Kimberly Lynn Layfield through J Maki (who plays Nell Petty-Tucker in Hot Rod Girls). Kim really did a stellar job as Betty Petty. I really think she “owns” that character. Anyway, I was constantly rewriting the screenplay. We kept running into little snags and I would write new things in and out at the last minute. That's one of the perks (or curses) of being both the director and the writer. A few times I actually rewrote scenes with the actors on set. I’d be like, “Give me a few minutes- I’m going to rewrite this scene.” So...I guess the short answer is- Hot Rod Girls Save The World was an organic creative process that slowly grew into the final film.
What was the inspiration behind mixing aliens into the story of hot rods/custom cars and hot rod chicks?
I have always loved the old Black & White TV Show like Twilight Zone, Peter Gunn and The Munsters as well as campy quirky films of Stanley Kubrick, Jim Jarmusch and David Lynch. Basically I put together all the elements I like to see in film- cool cars, sci-fi and femme fatales. Hot Rod Girls Save The World may become a very important film historically because it rebirthed the Hot Rod feature film genre and is the first Kustom Kulture film ever made. It just doesn’t feature Hot Rods- this film is a Hot Rod and just like a Hot Rod or Kustom it was hand made and heart felt. Not like the assembly line films of Hollywood.
What was your casting process for this movie? Was it important that the actors were familiar with the "hot rod" scene prior to acting in your movie?
Most of the cast of Hot Rod Girls were fellow musicians, friends and family. Most are part of the local Kustom Kulture scene. As far as casting- I really kept it simple. The alien father was the drummer from my band Mike Ditmore. The alien mother is my wife. Jimmi Davies (Detective Lloyd) is a local musician I met through Go-Kustom TV. Jesse James Stewart (Johnny DeSoto) and Billy Dwayne (Jake Hammerboy) were other musicians I knew and had worked with in the studio. I met Tony Ririe (Dutch), the owner of the main ‘29 Ford Hot Rod, though his brother Mike Ririe who played bass in DragStrip Riot (who actually play themselves in the film). As people started talking, friends would ask, “Can I be in your film?” or “Can my girlfriend be in your film?” I’d say sure and write them in. I know that sounds hap hazard but that's how I work. When I’m in the creative process it just takes on a life of it’s own. The casting exceptions were Kimberly Lynn Layfield (Betty Petty), J Maki (Nell Petty Tucker), David Nance (Buhgabaa) and Tommy Powell (Gus). I found them through casting calls or word of mouth.
Who has been the biggest musical influence on you and how much did that influence come through in the making of your film?
If you imagine my influences as a room, the four walls would be Henry Mancini, The B-52s. The Talking Heads and Dick Dale. Add some Public Image Limited, King Tubby, Cabaret Voltaire and Killing Joke furniture and that's the musical room I inhabit. Oh yeah- don’t forget the Tom Waits throw rugs. This all led to building my own sound in my band Kill Switch...Klick and of course solo work. I think my art, music writing and film making come from the same place. It is very easy for them o overlap. Many times I will hear a song in my head as I am envisioning the scene. Then I just sit down, write the scene on one computer and the basic music idea on my other computer. I have two older Mac G4’s in my studio running all the time. This also happens when I am editing. If I don’t have a song selected to cut the scene too, I will write it as I go. Music really drives my editing process and creative thinking in general. Being a professional musician, I usually think in musical terms. In Hot Rod Girls I tried to mix synthesizer sounds with acoustic and twangy guitar sounds. This was symbolic of the alien and rural human worlds colliding (which they do in the film).
What was your process in selecting the music for the film?
When did you first become interested in hot rods/custom cars?
All my life I have been a “Gearhead.” When I was a kid I played with Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars to obsession (I still have a massive collection). In elementary school I used to ride my bike to the nearby car dealership and dream of owning a musclecar. That was the early 1970’s when they still made “new” musclecars. In 5th grade I made a little comic book series as a class project called Hot Rod Harry. That was the first time I did something creative with Hot Rods. I really dig the recent resurgence of Kustom Kulture. Music, Rat Rods, Kustoms, Tattoos, Burlesque Dancers and Pin-Ups. Working mans art. Proletariat expressionism.We are currently building a 1966 Dodge Charger Gaser for one of my next films The legend Of D.B. Petty. This is a prequel to Hot Rod Girls. Chris Darland, who also had a roll in Hot Rod Girls, is building the Charger in his shop in Oregon. We hope to have it finished by late 2010. I wish I had the time and shop to do the build myself, but I have chosen the musician/film maker path that I’m on. I also write feature articles for several national Kustom Kulture magazines- Car Kulture Deluxe, Old Skool Rodz and occasionally Gearhead Magazine as well as do Kustom Graphic and Poster Art (usually related to my films). That helps with the my Hot Rod jones.
That was an experiment. Very hard to do with multiple filter effects run in series. I picked “Old Dusk Dakota” a song by one of my favorite Seattle bands, Faith & Disease to run under the dialog. As I was cutting the scene I realized how bad the dialog audio was. I decided to try something bold and run only the Faith & Disease music with comic book style word bubbles telling the characters stories. That look interesting, so I decided to go all the way and turn the actors into an animation. I played the scene for dozens of people and they all said I needed to bring back the actors audio. They said it was hard to read the word bubbles fast enough. One of the actresses was not available for the dialog replacement, so I hired a vocal stand in for the scene. As a stand alone music video style piece I think it is very strong. However that particular scene has been cut from the newest “Kustom Edition” version of Hot Rod Girls Save The World. Ultimately I felt it slowed the story line a bit too much. It will always be in the First Edition version of the film and on the “Kustom Edition” special features disc.
If you had double the budget would you have made the movie differently, if so how?
I would have actually paid the actors and crew! Seriously I was lucky to have so many people give their time to this film. I liked making this film for less than $3,000. I love it the way it is. Some expensive CGI alien effects might have been nice- but really out of place in this movie. Hot Rod Girls Save The World is a working class film for working class people. So much money is wasted in Hollywood on bad remakes and bloated star salaries. When you make a film to make money you are nothing more than a corporate whore. Like the music industry, the film industry is becoming obsolete. Creativity has no place being packaged and sold to the minions as “entertainment.” Real creativity comes from the heart. You can’t buy that.
"Hot Rod Girls Save the World" is an Official Selection of Hot Rod Monster Film Festival, how did that come about and what does it mean to you to have your film as an official selection of the festival?
I cheated! Actually the Hot Rod Monsters Film Festival is my film festival so of course my film is going to be in it. I invented the Hot Rod Monsters Film Festival (as the name implies) to promote films about Hot Rods and Monsters. We did fairly well with our first event. Our next one is scheduled for October 2010. Aside from that Hot Rod Girls Save The World was selected for the Backseat Film festival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. That was our first festival appearance. It feels good to get picked, but increasingly festivals are becoming the property of Hollywood. So many festivals are scams. they charge you $20-$100 as an entry fee and have no intention of screening a film unless it has a Hollywood “someone” attached. Most festivals are in the business of making money. How can a festival make money if it plays “unknown” film makers first films, no matter how good they are. Its a numbers game. We are looking at alternative screening ideas like “film clubs” andWith the experience of making this movie under your belt, what will you do differently (if anything) on your next movie project?
Everything. :) Seriously we just finished the principle filming for my next film Rat Rod Rockers! It took just four months to shoot as opposed to the four years it took for Hot Rod Girls Save The World. I learned how to organize my shooting time and how to book my shot lists to maximize the actors and crews time. If you can book consecutive weekends or block a whole month to shoot your film you can get huge amounts of work done. Making a movie can be mentally exhausting but keeping your focus by condensing film time makes the process much much easier. Of course that is not always the case.The other major difference with Rat Rod Rockers! is I took serious time to cast all the lead actors prior to filming. I know that sounds obvious, but using trained actors as opposed to friends and family really makes film making life much easier.
Hot Rod Girls Save The World. Written & Directed by D.A. Sebasstian. Starring: Lindsay Calkins, Kimberly Lynn Layfield, Melene Marie Brown, J Maki, Jimmi Davies, Michael Ditmore, Heather Lewis, Fanovitch Sebasstian. Original Soundtrack by KsK (Kill Switch...Klick) ©2009 Go-Kustom Films.
