Q&A with Devon Diffenderfer
A conversation with filmmaker Devon Diffenderfer on his short film, Love You Tyler.
How did you first get into filmmaking?
I first got into filmmaking with ‘Love You Tyler,’ actually. It's the first film I ever wrote, produced, and co-directed. As an actor in NYC at the time I was sick and tired of sitting by the phone in my apartment waiting to get auditions or for my friends to ask me to be in something that they were creating.
I needed to act, but also had the want and passion to tell my own stories for a change. I always knew I had ideas and decided to give it a shot. Now I live in LA with the writing bug and hope to film more work soon.
What was your creative process for this film?
My creative process for this film was to sit and write the film without knowing where it was going or where I’d take it. I never took a screenwriting class or went to film school, so any rules on writing or production were out the window. Let’s just see what happens and do what feels right and fun.
With the writing, I would need to take breaks, usually when I was perhaps stuck in a place. I would pace around and talk ideas out loud to myself. Reciting potential dialogue over and over again to see if it worked till I was able to catch a new idea. I also gave myself parameters with how many pages there would be, size of cast, and for it to have one location that’s cheap and easy to shoot at/or in, like an apartment.
The whole process, from writing, to filming with my friends was very free-flowing overall, and I’m grateful for how it turned out. I wrote it in three nights, we shot it in one day, and post-production took two weeks before I began submitting to festivals. That type of quick turnaround is thanks to the dedication and planning with my friends and the parameters I made for the film in the beginning to be technically simple, but with a story that is still rich, interesting, and hopefully, at times, funny :).
What projects are you working on next, and how can people who are interested best support or follow you.
I have another short that I’ve written that would make a great feature, and I’m actually working on writing ‘Love You Tyler’ as a feature now, too, and seeing where that goes. If any producers, or directors out there want to collaborate, hit me up! You can follow me on either @diffyderf or @officialdiffyderf and my email is devondiffenderfer@yahoo.com.
