The No Film School Podcast

How do you adapt a novel that takes place almost entirely inside the stomach of a sperm whale? For writer-director Brian Duffield and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Kraus, the answer started with admitting they didn't know how to pull it off. In this episode, No Film School's GG Hawkins speaks with Duffield and Kraus about bringing Whalefall, starring Austin Abrams and Josh Brolin, from page to screen. They discuss the scientific research behind the story, the challenges of adapting a novel with dozens of flashbacks, building practical whale interiors with Wētā Workshop, and directing a physically demanding survival thriller. Duffield explains why acknowledging uncertainty helped build trust with studio executives and how surrounding himself with collaborative crew members made an unusually challenging production possible. Plus, Kanopy's Aaron Spears and Matt Lewis stop by to discuss the Crypt Collection, practical effects in horror filmmaking, and the movies that continue to scare them.

In this episode, No Film School's GG Hawkins and guests discuss...

Kanopy's Crypt Collection and its curated selection of horror films, from folk horror and body horror to low-budget practical effects classics

Why practical effects remain a valuable filmmaking tool, with examples from Night of the Living Dead, The Toxic Avenger, Chopping Mall, and other horror films

How Daniel Kraus developed the premise of Whalefall through extensive research with marine biologists and diving experts

How Brian Duffield discovered the novel through a social media post and pursued the adaptation before the book was even finished

Why admitting "I don't know" during early studio conversations about Whalefall helped establish credibility rather than undermine it

The collaborative screenwriting process between Kraus and Duffield, including condensing roughly 50 to 60 novel flashbacks into a much smaller number of cinematic sequences

How the filmmakers balanced the emotional father-son relationship with a scientifically grounded survival thriller

Building the whale's moving stomachs and internal anatomy through practical sets, puppetry, visual effects, and experimentation with Wētā Workshop

How Duffield assembled a trusted film crew and managed unexpected production obstacles, including malfunctioning underwater camera equipment and broken lenses

Using production design, cinematography, and visual exposition to help audiences understand the geography of a whale's digestive system

Why creating a collaborative environment where everyone, from production assistants to Oscar-winning department heads, can contribute ideas leads to better filmmaking

How working together on Whalefall changed Kraus's approach to screenwriting and challenged his assumptions about being a solitary writer

Advice for emerging filmmakers on choosing collaborators, embracing creative uncertainty, and staying open to unexpected career opportunities

Memorable Quotes:

"It's just hiring people you like spending time with."

"I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what the answer to this question is. I, I want help."

"Your definition of who you think you are as an artist or as a person or whatever, it's always in flux."

Guests:

Brian Duffield

Daniel Kraus

Aaron Spears — Kanopy

Matt Lewis — Kanopy

Resources:

Kanopy — Stream films free with your library

Whalefall — IMDb

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How do you bring Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility to life for a modern audience while preserving its emotional depth? Director Georgia Oakley joins No Film School's GG Hawkins to discuss her new adaptation, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles as the Dashwood sisters. Oakley shares how she approached the film through the lens of sisterhood, longing, and the timeless tension between women's expectations and societal constraints. She breaks down her filmmaking process, from shooting on 35mm film and using two cameras to capture authentic performances, to collaborating with cinematographers Arnaud Potier and Tasha Back on naturalistic visuals. The conversation also explores casting, building chemistry between actors, adapting rehearsal techniques to individual performers, and navigating the pressures of an ambitious location-heavy production.

In this episode, No Film School's GG Hawkins and guest Georgia Oakley discuss...

(02:09) How Oakley landed the directing job on Sense and Sensibility and pitched her vision to Working Title

(03:24) Making the relationship between Elinor and Marianne Dashwood the film's central love story

(05:28) Why Austen's themes of women's independence, societal expectations, and romantic yearning remain relevant

(07:16) How modern hyperconnectivity and busyness have fueled a cultural desire for longing and human connection

(09:44) Using nature, stillness, and the passage of time to create intimacy in a period drama

(11:22) Oakley's pre-production process, including storyboards, shot lists, and adapting camera setups on location

(13:35) Collaborating with two cinematographers and using natural light and environmental details to build the film's visual language

(15:04) How shooting with two cameras allowed Oakley to capture simultaneous emotional reactions and spontaneous performances

(17:41) The challenges of shooting on 35mm film with limited takes and tailoring rehearsals to each actor's needs

(19:55) Filming at London's National Gallery under strict time and lighting constraints

(23:24) Building trust with actors through communication, personalized rehearsals, and relationship-focused preparation

(27:26) Casting Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles and developing their believable sisterly chemistry

(33:15) How Oakley uses intense focus and directorial intuition to recognize authentic performances

(35:50) Redirecting actors when a scene isn't working without undermining their confidence

(37:59) Sustaining creative energy through a demanding 50-day shoot and relying on a supportive production team

(40:15) Working with Old English Sheepdogs and embracing the spontaneity animals bring to a film set

Memorable Quotes:

"This is really a story about what young women are kind of led to believe they might reasonably expect from their lives versus what the world is actually prepared to offer them."

"We live in a moment where we're so kind of hyper-connected, and we've invented all of these ways to reduce time, you know, to save time, but then we have less time than we ever had before."

"So much about directing is about being able to tune everything out so that you can have a stronger relationship with the gut instinct."

"None of it is possible on your own, and sometimes it does feel like a bit of a weird solo mission when you're directing something."

Guests:

Georgia Oakley

Resources:

Sense and Sensibility (2026)

Blue Jean (2022)

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Saturday Night Live’s prerecorded sketches can go from first footage to national broadcast in roughly 36 hours. Host GG Hawkins talks with SNL editors Christopher Salerno and Mak Makower about the post-production workflow behind that turnaround, including their work on the Emmy-nominated “MAHAspital” sketch starring Harry Styles. They break down how footage moves from set to the edit, why line-by-line stringouts are essential, how they use Adobe Premiere Pro tools like transcription, Essential Sound, multicam sequences, and reverse match frame, and how sound design helps build tension before a joke lands. They also discuss the differences between editing SNL, commercials, and longer narrative projects, the importance of collaboration in the edit room, and the technical habits aspiring editors can develop to work faster without sacrificing storytelling.

In this episode, No Film School's GG Hawkins and guests Christopher Salerno and Mak Makower discuss...

How SNL goes from Wednesday night table read to a finished prerecorded sketch airing Saturday

What happens when footage begins arriving from set on Friday morning

Why Mak creates “line-by-lines” containing every take of every scripted line

How organizing footage early allows editors, writers, and directors to make decisions quickly

Finding the visual language of “MAHAspital” while parodying HBO’s The Pitt

Using the structure and pacing of a trailer to increase the energy of a parody

Why Mak watched The Pitt during the edit to understand its characters and visual style

How Premiere Pro’s transcription and search tools make it easier to locate specific dialogue

Using the Essential Sound panel, EQ, reverb, panning, and the audio track mixer during picture editing

Why sound design can be essential to making comedy work

Building tension with heart monitors, ventilators, overlapping dialogue, and strategic silence

Keyboard shortcuts that speed up multicam editing and navigation through massive stringouts

How a longer commercial schedule can actually create new challenges by allowing editors to second-guess decisions

Editing Kate McKinnon’s Zoom commercial and balancing comedy with the need to sell a product

Why editors can function as storytellers, collaborators, and sometimes even therapists during long-form projects

Mak’s “puzzle-solving” approach to rearranging footage until a scene or story unlocks

Why trust, openness to feedback, and leaving ego outside the edit room matter on collaborative projects

How SNL’s dress audience functions as a real-time test screening

Why editors should continually learn new software, techniques, graphics, sound, and VFX tools

How YouTube tutorials and experimentation can help editors expand their skills and become more valuable

Memorable Quotes:

“There’s a real intuition you have to have and there’s a real understanding of rhythm and of, you know, how the shoot’s going to make this happen.”

“I feel like sometimes when you have too much time, it becomes almost more difficult.”

“And so, like, it really is about, like, finding each little bit that, like, will match with this little bit that, like, will actually tell a story.”

“As the tools change and as younger generations find newer ways to edit, it’s really important to just stay up to date and not get locked into your old ways.”

Guests:

Christopher Salerno

Mak Makower

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Writer-director Lee Kirk joins No Film School’s GG Hawkins to break down the making of Nimrods, his Green Day-inspired coming-of-age road movie. Kirk traces his path from studying acting at DePaul University to learning screenwriting and eventually directing, and explains how his acting background continues to shape the way he works with performers. He also discusses developing Nimrods with Billie Joe Armstrong, weaving real stories from Green Day into the screenplay, casting and rehearsing a young ensemble, building a collaborative crew, creating a timeless visual texture, embracing improvisation, and shooting a live Green Day concert with thousands of actual fans.

In this episode, No Film School's GG Hawkins and guest Lee Kirk discuss...

How Kirk’s acting training at DePaul University led him toward screenwriting and directing

Learning story structure through John Truby’s 22-step approach and The Anatomy of Story

How Chris Messina encouraged Kirk to direct his first feature, The Giant Mechanical Man

Why an acting background can help directors understand how to communicate with performers

How Billie Joe Armstrong approached Kirk with the initial premise for Nimrods

Reverse engineering a feature screenplay from a predetermined Green Day concert ending

Using real stories from Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool as inspiration for the screenplay

Drawing from movies like The Goonies, Vacation, Footloose, and Risky Business to establish the film’s tone

Making a contemporary movie feel nostalgic through vinyl, cassettes, camcorders, old cars, and other analog textures

What Kirk looks for when hiring department heads and why collaborative problem-solving matters

Turning an Oklahoma City junkyard into a convincing punk venue

Casting Mason Thames, Mckenna Grace, and the rest of the young ensemble

Using actors’ existing talents to add specificity and production value to a movie

Conducting chemistry reads over Zoom when the budget made in-person auditions impractical

Why rehearsal is less about locking down performances and more about making actors comfortable enough to play on set

Helping actors get out of their heads by giving them time, space, and permission to experiment

Using long pauses as a directing tool to help actors access emotion

Why Kirk deliberately maintains a calm demeanor on set, even when production is stressful

Finding unexpected moments through ad-libs and improvisation, including a spontaneous Fred Armisen scene

Shooting 28 days in Oklahoma City before moving to Los Angeles for four additional days

Capturing the Green Day concert with four cameras and roughly 2,000 real Green Day fans

Why Kirk specifically budgeted for large numbers of extras after lessons learned on previous productions

Kirk’s advice for emerging filmmakers on studying story structure, watching films analytically, writing frequently, and taking advantage of accessible filmmaking tools

Memorable Quotes:

“I listen to these tapes and everything changed for me then.”

“I feel like that's kinda like when the best stuff happens because now everyone's out of their comfort zone, but everyone's prepared so everyone can do, make that pivot.”

“Even if I'm not calm, even if I'm feeling so stressed out on the inside, I just put forward this feeling like I'm good. I know what I'm doing. Everything's fine.”

“Story is everything.”

Guests:

Lee Kirk

Resources:

Nimrods on IMDb

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Ryan Koo and Jourdan Aldredge report from Fantastic Fest 2026 in Austin, Texas, where they explore how the festival is expanding beyond exhibiting genre films to helping filmmakers actually get movies made. They break down the first completed feature from Fantastic Pitches, Nicholas Curcio’s Playhouse, what filmmakers can learn from its $100,000 production, and this year’s ambitious winning pitch, Father Figure. They also discuss the value of pitching even when you don’t win, the advantages of designing films around microbudget constraints, and some of the movies and filmmaking communities they’ve encountered at the festival.

In this episode, No Film School's Ryan Koo and Jourdan Aldredge discuss...

How Playhouse went from winning Fantastic Pitches to premiering at Fantastic Fest in just one year

Designing a $100,000 movie around limitations like one location, a small cast, and practical aesthetics

Why microbudget filmmakers need a creative “hack” that makes their limitations work for the movie

How filmmakers can make a live pitch memorable with props, costumes, trailers, and a strong presentation

Why being selected for Fantastic Pitches can create opportunities even if you don't win

The ambitious Technocrane strategy behind this year’s winning pitch, Father Figure

What Ryan and Jordan noticed about the DIY films, filmmaking collectives, and genre community at Fantastic Fest

Why festivals can have a bigger impact by supporting filmmakers before their movies are made

Memorable Quotes:

“With filmmaking it's always good, fast, cheap. Pick two. And with Fantastic Pitches, they're trying to do all three.”

“You've gotta have a hack to make your pitch audience-friendly.”

“The best route is the one that's available to you probably.”

“It's easy to select things that turned out well. It's much harder to bet on them at the beginning and to actually help them bring something to fruition.”

Resources:

Fantastic Fest

Fantastic Pitches

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