Susan Ilott Interview (Producer, “The Martini Shot”)

The Martini Shot screens on Friday, April 12th at 6:30PM at AMC Ward Parkway. Get tickets now at https://kcfilmfest.org

Synopsis: The Martini Shot This existential comedic drama follows an ailing film director as he begins to shoot what he believes to be his final work of art. What starts out as a normal film for him changes dramatically as the deterioration of his health progresses. The result being a fascinating exploration of mortality and one’s profound effect on the world. The film from award winning writer and director, Stephen Wallis stars Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket), John Cleese (Monty Python), Sir Derek Jacobi (Murder on the Orient Express), Stuart Townsend (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and Fiona Glascott (Brooklyn, Fantastic Beasts 2).

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I had the chance to speak with Susan iot
who is the producer on the narrative
feature film the martini shot that will
screen at this year’s Kansas City
filmfest on Friday April 12th at 6:30
p.m. tickets are on sale right now at
casy filmfest storg all righty so thank
you so much for speaking with me today
Susan uh to start out I ask everyone I
interview the same question uh just let
me know in your own words what the
martini shot is all about
well the martini shot is about
um Steve who is played by Matthew mine
and uh
his imminence and where he is
actually in his life and for him it
is
about he he feels that he’s dying and he
gets the proof that he’s dying and so he
then decides to make a masterpiece of
his
life and join a whole bunch of really
cool cats in the
process yeah and uh you know has such an
incredible cast uh Matthew modin and
John C and uh how was it working
together with the you know the director
Stephen and getting this this incredible
cast
together um it was it it was great uh to
be honest with you I work with Stephen
on many of his
projects and uh he is an up and coming
uh writer and
director um to work with John CLE um was
interesting uh I actually wasn’t there
for that portion of the film but I’ve
worked with him since so uh that was
a a really huge important thing in my
life to get to meet John C uh Matthew
Modine was amazing he
totally he totally ran with the project
and uh he had the most incredible binder
that I’ve never seen another actor have
but was it was amazing and uh he he he
he read from that he he he did his his
dailies from that so that was really
interesting Derek jackaby was fantastic
he came on set he
was professional and profound and uh who
couldn’t love
him yeah and um you know it sounds like
such such a neat experience for for
everyone involved um you know at the
festival we’ll have movie lovers of all
kinds we’ll have people that know all
about the film making process and people
that are just lovers of movies and
learning about films so you uh you
served as producer on the film I I just
uh wanted to know if you could help
contextualize a little bit for average
movie goer what does that producer role
do versus the director and uh what was
your role on this film how did that look
like working with
Stephen sure um everybody does always
ask what does a producer do like because
it is a vague title and you can produce
many things um for me um you have to
raise the capital for the investment um
for the funds for the film and you also
have to make sure that you’re a part of
the building process
so film may have only ran for 14 days
but the pre-production and the
postproduction run so much longer and
the producer is basically looking after
every bit of the
minutia sometimes on a larger budget
film you are able to get
um numerous people to work under you um
on this film we did have a
large a large cast which was very
thankful um but
still you need to make sure that the
budget is adhered to and you need to
make sure that the locations are correct
for the
scenes um almost everything from A to B
a a to A A to Z
actually yeah so uh lots of things to
consider with that you know with KC
filmfest we have a lot of young
filmmakers people doing short films and
their first projects student projects
things like that um what would be your
advice for some of those people that are
getting fresh into the industry that are
looking to uh get support and get
funding for projects and uh how do they
how they build that support what’s your
advice for
that it’s a tough one because most often
you need to go to your friends and your
family and then when that circle’s done
with you need to go out and hit the
pavement and talk to other producers
other
filmmakers and make make yourself known
make
yourself available and and hope that the
people who you’re pitching your stories
to are
real and that they’re able to finance
you because sometimes they’ll say oh yes
this is a great film but they don’t have
any funds to back it which is great we’d
still love them to come and see the film
but it doesn’t help in the actual
production per process mhm
and yeah go
ahead um I I would just like for anyone
um who is doing any kind of new film
make sure that you have a budget that is
realistic and I know budgets are really
hard to do but you have to make sure
that you include all the extras at the
end at the beginning you know um be
because your budget of
$200,000 can quickly become a
$600,000 film and you haven’t blinked an
eye yeah and that’s one thing I I can
speak from personal experience sometimes
the dreamers and the artists aren’t
always the best accountants so you’ve
got to balance those two things
certainly um so just to close it out
here um going into the festival and as
more screenings with the martini shom
what are you most excited for people to
discover with this
film um there’s actually a lot that I
love about this film and um I guess I
would say that I would like them to take
home a thought process because the film
makes you think it it it’s not preachy
but it makes you think and I think that
being able to think about a film and
talk about a film after a film means a
whole heck of a
lot yeah and I I certainly felt that
it’s a film that is thought-provoking
especially if you are into the Arts and
into creating art I think this gives you
so much to reflect on and um I know with
the KY filmfest I encourage everyone if
you’re watching this
come out see the film you’ll be in
attendance there you can uh hear the Q&A
with Susan so uh thanks again so much
for talking with me and I am looking
forward to screening the film with
everyone at the
filmfest thank you so much for having me
I appreciate
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