My coverage of Denver Film Festival 44 kicks off with Elias Plagianos, Creator of Hudson Falls, and a champion of Independent Television. What is Hudson Falls? Here’s the pitch from their website:

The secrets of a small upstate town that revolve around an eccentric scientist (William Sadler) begin to unravel when a private eye from the city (Richard Kind) takes on a seemingly mundane job in an effort to rekindle a relationship with his ex wife (Jessica Hecht).

Filmed during the COVID pandemic , the first week production was allowed to start in New York, with no crew other than a cinematographer, a sound recordist and a set dresser.

Starring an all star cast including Richard Kind, Tara Westwood, Jessica Hecht, Robert Burke, William Sadler, and Chiké Okonkwo.

I’ve seen the first episode, and it’s amazing. I cannot wait to see the rest of them. In addition to Hudson Falls, Elias is also the Director of Distemper (available on Amazon Prime), which is the true story of pioneering scientist and LGBT icon Louise Pearce who races to find a cure for the African Sleeping Sickness pandemic as it rages across the Belgian Congo in the early 1920s.

We discuss both of these terrific pieces of work, we dive into what independent television actually is and what he hopes to achieve with it, and why filming period pieces on a small budget is so challenging. More than that, Elias and I hit it off immediately and this chat covers a lot of ground in a very easygoing way touching on everything from why Richard Kind is so great, to why we both love Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh, to ensuring your work doesn’t become autobiographical in a self-indulgent way. It’s a really fun chat.

In addition to the links above, be sure to check out Elias Plagianos at his Instagram.

This episode is available on iTunes, for streaming on Spotify, on podcatchers everywhere, or at the Jon of All Trades homepage.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS