Short Films, Slumps, and Staying in the Game
Lowell A. Meyer and I met back in 2021 on the set of Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. in Atlanta. His wife, Kara Durrett (a past pod guest!), had brought me onto the producing team, and Lowell came to visit her on set. I’ve long dug his energy and the way he approaches the work. Back then, we were young, wild, and free. Now we’re in our parent era, and it’s a whole new world.
Lowell has shot features like Other Mommy, Greener Grass, Tuner, and Caddo Lake. He came up as a 2nd AC, kept his overhead low, shot BuzzFeed spots to pay the bills, and said yes to short films with friends until those friends started making features.
One of those shorts was Caroline, a scrappy Texas shoot Kara produced, where Lowell made about $500 for the whole thing. It premiered at Cannes and SXSW, made the Oscar shortlist, and is still taught in film schools. It’s also the project that opened the door to his bigger breaks.
Here are 3 of my favorite takeaways:
Your DP is your ally. When a DP asks for more, they’re usually protecting the director and the movie. Build your own relationship with your DP, separate from the director, and you’ll both get further.
Crew is casting. The people you hire make or break the movie as much as your cast does. Look for allies who will happily wear more than one hat.
Short films are always a good idea. Features are hard to get to. Shorts aren’t. They’re your reps, your calling card, and the place you find the collaborators you’ll keep for years.
We also get into surviving the slumps, why scaling up is harder than scaling down, the case for camera tests, and how fatherhood changed him as an artist.
Keep creating! And as always, thanks for doing this life with me.
xx cg
“I think most things in life, but especially film, are iterative. You’re never gonna get it right on the first try.”
- Lowell A. Meyer
Episode Transcript
