Co-writer/co-director Todd Downing took a break from repeatedly jabbing a fork into his thigh to chat all things The Collectibles.
Q: How did you get involved in The Collectibles?
I’ve been in a creative partnership with Dan Heinrich for about five years (the bastard still hasn’t proposed), working on various short films and music videos together, and developing my 2007 short film, Ordinary Angels, into a cable television series. It seemed like we were so completely focused on the development side of things with OA that our actual filmmaking skills were in danger of atrophying, so I suggested we do a project during the summer to kind of keep our skills up and remain relevant in the Seattle indie film community (which is one of the best and most supportive in the country, in my opinion). We were throwing around ideas and it was Dan’s wife Trish [Loyd, aka Receiver] who suggested the idea of Super Friends meets The Office. I’d written a stage play years ago called Tragic Heroes which was about a dysfunctional superhero team, and so we started to mine some ideas from that, and create new concepts. Little did we know it would become such a huge time suck – which is odd, because it’s not like we’re new at this.
Q: What was your involvement in the project?
I originated the concept with Dan & Trish, developed the story with Landon Salyer, Cherelle Ashby and Jonelle Cornwell, co-wrote the scripts and co-directed. Meanwhile, I was also writing, coloring and lettering the vintage pulp webcomic Airship Daedalus and directing a Halloween double feature stage production for the Twelfth Night Productions arts organization in Seattle. And trying to be a husband and father. Because I’m a glutton for punishment (cue “I’m Just a Girl Who Can’t Say No” from Oklahoma!).
Q: Talk about the show’s development. What was your process for creating the characters?
Creating characters is probably my favorite part in the development process, but it’s not a complete picture until the actor is on set in wardrobe and makeup, speaking the lines you put on paper. Dan and I would toss ideas back and forth, each embellishing the other’s concepts. The Quick was lifted wholesale from the Tragic Heroes play, as was Death-Wish’s sidekick, Ennui. Other characters from the play were altered in various degrees to become Super Star, Ultrafemme and Aguaman. Shield Maiden was initially based on Sue Storm from The Fantastic Four, but quickly became much more Bugs Bunny from What’s Opera, Doc? Receiver was a whole-cloth creation that came from wanting to explore the juxtaposition of a really powerful superhero stuck at a desk job. So Dan and I would create the skeleton of the characters, and then at various stages our cohorts on the production team would fill in some of the gaps, until finally the actors joined the process to really give each one depth and humanity. That’s the part of filmmaking I love most – it’s truly a collaborative art form.
Q: What was your experience of the actual shoot? Any good stories from the set?
What’s great about this production team is that everyone wears multiple hats, but is strongest in a given area. Landon Salyer is an amazing Assistant Director – he runs a tight ship but everyone has too much fun to notice how hard they’re working. Cherelle and Jonelle, The Gore Sisters, are an entire art department unto themselves. Dan and I can each call shots, but his more rigorous acting training gives him an instant form of communication with the actors, while I have more of an eye for finished composition. Top it off with a really fantastic crew and a super-talented cast, and you have awesomeness incarnate. The shoot itself was two days of really fast work. We ended up doing 47 or 48 setups. And some of those were re-shoots due to lost data from the first day. So we learned that future shoots will have a dedicated data tech to make sure all the SD cards get dumped properly. A highlight for me was having Jim and Kyle from Kirby Krackle portraying corporate tools – completely contrary to their real personalities.
Q: What would you like to see happen in future episodes? To the series as a whole?
We have a lot planned for the series, but in truth I really want to see the rest of the first season shot, cut and released to the public. Nothing gives a filmmaker impetus to do the next project than completing the current one. I’m excited to have The Collectibles join the slate at Zombie Orpheus. To be in the company of JourneyQuest and Transolar Galactica is quite cool.
