POD 14: Ethan Young Music Video Director Wet Leather

Vitaly Bokser and Ethan Young, Music Video Director, discuss his latest music video, Wet Leather “Yours and Mine”. We also delve into his other videos for UV Rays and Humeysha.

Ethan Young’s Website: http://www.ethansamuelyoung.com/

Wet Leather – “Yours and Mine” Music Video

WET LEATHER – "Yours & Mine" from Ethan Young on Vimeo.

HUMEYSHA – “Burma Between You And Me” Music Video

HUMEYSHA – "Burma Between You And Me" from Ethan Young on Vimeo.

UV RAYS – “Brothers” Music Video

UV RAYS – "Brothers" from Ethan Young on Vimeo.

POD 010: Kiira Benzing – Director and Actor

DP Vitaly Bokser interviews Kiira Benzing about her documentary films and her foray into narrative films as a Producer.

POD 009: Jesse Tendler – Producer and Actor



DP Vitaly Bokser interviews Jesse Tendler about his past as a child actor, leading to his present as a Producer for Independent films.

Jesse started as kid acting in broadcast tv shows back in the 80’s such as “The Ellen Burstyn Show”. Eventually he decided to leave the business and pursue a degree… yes he actually went to college and studied business and engineering. During his time at school, his love for cinema got rekindled, and he came back both as an Actor and Producer on indie films.

One of those films, “Leaving Circadia” (that we both worked on), is making the festival circuit currently and gathering a lot of praise. If you actually want to see it, get some tickets its playing at the SOHO International Film Festival in NY May 2015. Heres a trailer below.

Another film we both worked on was “Other Plans” starring Jamie Kennedy. That film is currently planning a release this year in the states. Here is a trailer for that film.

“OTHER PLANS” – Trailer from Rock On! Films on Vimeo.

POD 008: Carlos Almonte – Editor and Director – Part 2



DP Vitaly Bokser continues his interview with Carlos Almonte about his current career editing and now directing commercials, music videos and shorts.

Carlos has worked with filmmakers like Error Morris (Think) to huge name talent like Tom Hanks (Boatlift Doc). So for those links check below. He has always been on both sides of the creative process – whether right by the camera as a director or even a cinematographer or in post by an editing system. In all that time he has always been telling stories.

I have known Carlos for a long time and he is definitely a driven, strong willed, full of vision director and editor, and I do absolutely look forward to seeing what he can accomplish in the years to come. So Carlos if you’re reading this – make a feature!

Links to Carlos’ Directorial Work:

“My Sweet Radio” Julian James – Music Video
My Sweet Radio – We Play only a part of it in the podcast, watch the whole thing here.

My Sweet Radio from Jullian Records on Vimeo.

“Lint” Short Film

‘Lint’ Short Film Trailer from Motion Blur on Vimeo.

“Boundless” Varick – Music Video

“Zip Aviation” Commercial

ZIP Aviation Commercial from Vitaly Bokser on Vimeo.

Links to Carlos’ Editorial Work:

BOATLIFT, An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

IBM Think Forum: Errol Morris & Sir Howard Stringer

Lopez vs. Ortiz: Fight Recap

Red Cross: Haiti 2 Year Anniversary After the Earthquake

POD 007: Carlos Almonte – Editor and Director – Part 1



DP Vitaly Bokser interviews Carlos Almonte about his long career editing and now directing commercials, music videos and shorts.

Carlos started out as a teenager making films with his friends running around Brooklyn with Toy AK’s painted black, stuffed with batteries for weight, shooting Action Sci-Fi Films that he then sold on Fangoria type magazines – all by the time he was 14. This was the 90’s so there was no internet the way we know it today. Editing was also a black art and considered as much back in that day. When Final Cut came out and he was able to move clips in a timeline – his future was set. The magic had become something he could do at home now.

In this podcast we cover his professional career working at big networks and on a large projects. Carlos has worked with people like Tom Hanks and Error Morris and clients such as ABC, Ogilvy, and Showtime.  This will be a 2 part Episode. Part 1 covering his past. Part 2 covering his present, editing work and directing work.

Below are just a few links to his work. More will be in Part 2.

My Sweet Radio – We Play only a part of it in the podcast, watch the whole thing here.

My Sweet Radio from Jullian Records on Vimeo.

BOATLIFT, An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

More to come in Episode 2.

POD 005: John Scholl – Story Producer



I Interview John Michael Scholl about his long career in the TV biz.

John got into the business in the classic Hollywood style we read about in stories. He made his way from a small town to LA with only his car – a 66 Mustang, some clothes, and $500 bucks in cash. After living in his car for a week and showering at Santa Monica beach he decided to get in touch with his Aunt. She got him on a set for a day where she worked and the rest as they say is history. A chance encounter with Kevin Spacey trying to kick him off the lot led to Kevin getting a job for John with Ian McKellen. Yes the Ian McKellen. Gandalf!

John has worked on a multitude of reality and TV documentaries, ranging from The Bachelorette to Nat Geo’s “Border Wars” to CNN’s “The Hunt with John Walsh”.

So check out the episode to hear more and below you can find some links to John’s work that we discuss.

1) CNN’s “The Hunt with John Walsh”

2) Nat Geo’s “Border Wars” (note: I couldnt find the promo but here is what an episode looks like)

3) Travel Channels “Hotel Impossible”

4) ABC’s “The Bachelorette”

POD 004: Evan Mathew Weinstein – Director



I chat with Evan Mathew Weinstein, Writer/Director of “Leaving Circadia”. A Feature film that has been making the rounds at festival circuits and garnering strong praise and recognition for its easily lovable story. The FIlm stars Evan Mathew Weinstein, Drew Seltzer, Reginald Huc, Zack Griffiths, Larisa Polonsky, Michael Cerveris (Fringe, Tony Winner), Ashley C. Williams (The Human Centipede), Christian Coulson (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ), Joseph R. Gannascoli (The Sopranos), Stoya (Adult Film Star)

Evan and I go into detail on the process of making the movie, what lesson he’s learned from shooting his first film, the pitfalls of having a long post production process, and then hitting the festival circuit – to now finally being in discussions with distributors to sell the film.

Its hard making movies – and one thing is clear from my chat with Evan that he will make more films. And I for one want to work with Evan again as his Cinematographer as he is a talented writer/actor/director that clearly has a strong vision for his films.

Watch the Trailer below. And then head on over to the films facebook page to learn more about how you can support and watch the film.

POD 002: Joe Eckardt – Director – Part 01


I Interview Joe Eckardt about his long career in the film business. Starting out as a PA he worked his way up fairly quickly to working under some of hollywoods biggest actors, Nicolas Cage, Cuba Gooding Jr, and Val Kilmer. From that point on he went onto direct his own films and casting known talent basically at the onset of his directing career.

The films we cover here are and whats great is you can go buy them. Links included.

1. “Dreaming in Black and White” – One of his only shorts starring Malik Yoba

2. Champion, a doc about Danny Trejo.

champion. Trailer from Rock On! Films on Vimeo.

3. “High Hopes” which is a stoner type comedy with a long list of cast members we all know, Jason Mewes, Corin Nemec, David Faustino, Lacey Chabert, Edward Furlong, and the list goes on.

High Hopes Trailer from Rock On! Films on Vimeo.

4. “Yitzy” is short film he shot starring Jason Mewes and Alexis Suarez.

Yitzy from 3P’s Productions on Vimeo.

5. Lastly for this first part we touch upon “Pizza Man“, a superhero kids comedy, starring Frankie Muniz but really we delve into it in part 2 next week.

Pizza Man Exclusive NY Comic Con Trailer from Rock On! Films on Vimeo.

In each of these films Joe has managed to sell each film and bring an insight into the other-side of filmmaking that most indie filmmakers ignore – The Business side! Selling movies.

In Part 02 we continue our discussion with Joe and go further into how he got and made Pizza Man, a 2.5 million dollar film Joe Produced and Directed. We also discuss our latest film that we co-produced called “Other Plans” starring Jamie Kennedy.

“OTHER PLANS” – Trailer from Rock On! Films on Vimeo.

So for all those who care about such things have a listen and Im sure you’ll enjoy this POD.

Music for the podcast provided by www.bensound.com. Check him out.

Another Filmmaker Podcast… Oh Boy

So Ive decided after many moons to start my podcast finally. It has been a long journey to get to here. Years in fact. But now that Ive been doing this for a while (meaning being a working Cinematographer) I feel like maybe I do have something to share with folks that may be useful or interesting. Also I feel like I can just simply learn a lot from other filmmakers as I chat with them, about what they have done and what they have learned and what they are doing now. And hopefully we can share something useful with you.

The First Podcast (a video Podcast) has been recorded and will be uploaded soon to all the places I can get it. But to start you off my first guest will be none other than my own brother (I went straight to the well). He is a filmmaker and more specifically an amazing animator who has worked in commercials and narrative films, and now makes games in Austin. His name is David Bokser and you can read about him on his site. His twitter is @dbokser where you can follow him.

As usual you can follow me on @cinemaDP and hit me up on twitter if you have any suggestions for shows or just want to say hello.