JOSH: I didn't realize how many people
actually watched Netflix and apparently it's a lot.
JEFF: Just the massive reach, I mean,
just through traffic was mind-boggling.
MATT: I don't think this is anything that any of
us could have expected from the start
BILL BURR: People go you got to check out this documentary
KEVIN ROSE: I watched that documentary The Minimalist's
ZACH LEARY: There's a cool little movie out called The Minimalist's
MATT: So a few years ago my friends and I decided to
make a movie. And when we first started out
we had no idea what we were doing. We
had never done anything like this before! And
inevitably we made a lot of mistakes but
we also learned a lot. So what I want to
do right now is go back and deconstruct
how we made this film from the very
beginning. How we went from nothing to
Netflix. This is episode one of a new
series I'm calling Making Minimalism.
Hey guys my name is Matt D'Avella and I
directed Minimalism. So a few years ago
before this project ever got started I
met two guys named Josh and Ryan. They
wrote for a website called The
Minimalist's where they talked about
simple living and how their lives had
radically changed by getting rid of most
of their stuff. So we became friends
shortly after that and within a couple
months Josh wrote me an email. It was
really the foundation for how this film
started. The subject line for the email
was simply "Idea". MATT: "Matt I've been kicking
around the idea of doing The Minimalist's
A Documentary for a while and [JOSH FINISHES VO] I think the tour
might be a good time to shoot footage
for it. Would you be interested in
discussing partnering on a project like
this? If so we can can chat via phone and I'll
give you my ideas and pick your brain
for yours. I look forward to the embrace
of your olive skin and meatball parmesan
fragrance."
MATT: Okay so that part wasn't actually in the
email but, you know, it's frustrating. You
go to one Mexican restaurant and you
order an Italian sausage hoagie and all
of a sudden now everything is a joke
about how Italian you are. Whatever I get
it. So anyway a couple of days after that
email I got on a call with Josh. We
talked about this project and we
narrowed down the concept a little bit.
We decided we wanted to call it
Minimalism and talk about their story
but also talked with experts and figure
out really how we came to this point in
our society. So we had the idea now we
have to put together a team. So we had
Josh and Ryan from The Minimalist's. As
producers among their many duties they
landed and conducted most of the
interviews. JOSH: So here's what we're going to do. We're going to have a
conversation... MATT: They helped provide the
vision for the film and they handled
every aspect of promotion and
distribution down the road. RYAN: I had no
expectations I was just really happy
that we had you who volunteered to go
on tour with us and film everything.
As the producer director my role was pretty
vast. I filmed most of the content,
helped schedule and conduct interviews, I
did research, edited the film. As the
director of a film you're pretty much in
charge of steering the ship and giving
guidance along every aspect of the film.
And then we brought on Jeff, Marla, and
Dave. They built our website, created
every design associated with the film.
They were also instrumental in handling
research and providing feedback along
the way. DAVE: Everyone just came to the table
we understood that there was a film that
we were trying to make. MATT: In terms of
budget it was about as minimal as you
could get. Zero dollars. The six of us who
were executive producers were
responsible for funding the film.
We didn't have any shadow government's or
large companies behind this project.
RYAN: Dude, we had no budget whatsoever. We all
did this as a passion project.
MATT: Although I do have to say Josh and Ryan contributed
most of the funds up front. I have to
give them so much credit for believing
in this film from the beginning.
Lastly we brought on Drew and Nate.
Incredibly talented music composers. More than
anything else they helped to shape the
tone of the film. At this point we just
needed something to actually film.
JOSH: We booked this
insane 100 city tour. 8 countries. 119 events.
JOSH: Ryan and I just finished writing a
book about the last five years of our
lives from being the suit-and-tie
corporate guys to minimalist's. And so now
we're going to get on the road for 10
months this year and promote that book
but really promote a message we really
believe in. JOSH: And so our outlook on this
was, "Hey, I don't know what's going to
come out of any of this, so why not this
time go out and try to film it, and along
the way let's try to interview some
other minimalist's. And then maybe, just
maybe, we can turn that into a
documentary. MATT: Before I set up on the road
with Josh and Ryan I still needed to get
all of the things required to make our
film. You know just the basics. A backpack
shotgun mic. Two wireless mic's. A camera.
Two lenses. Oh and another camera for
over there. A windscreen for the shotgun
mic. And doesn't this look nice. What do you
call it? A go GoBro? Oh GoPro! That makes more
sense doesn't it. I'll need all the
accessories that go along with it.
An audio recorder to capture live events.
Plus the necessary cables, batteries and
battery chargers. A time lapse controller.
Compact flash cards, three hard drives, two
tripods, and one big light that probably
won't fit in our car. In all seriousness
I didn't go out and buy all this stuff
just for the film, I had it already.
Except for the c300 that is something
that i purchased specifically for this
film. The rest of it I had to choose from
even more gear on top of this to figure
out exactly what was going to be useful
exactly what I could bring out on the
road with me so that I could be quick and
not have to worry about my gear holding
me back. Real quick I want to talk about
preparation. We planned a little bit
before we went out and started filming
but honestly we did not do that much.
We had a Google Doc, a couple of Google
Spreadsheets to organize interviews.
I actually had this a journal here that I
was writing in where I tried to organize
and create scenes, a checklist. Much of
it that was never used. One of my
favorite quotes is by Mike Tyson. He says,
"Everybody has a plan until they get
punched in the face." And that was very
much the case with this film. We had to
just get out there start shooting. See
what we got
and then go from there. So this is
actually really funny I was going through
this journal, it's January 2nd, 2014
and I say, "This documentary is huge for
me. It may not win any awards or be seen
by many people but it's the biggest step
I've made towards making something meaningful.
Something with a real purpose. I'm going
to give this film everything I have." Like
we said, we didn't have any expectations
for this film. We didn't really have any
goals. All we knew was we had an idea, we
had a message that we wanted to get
across. So one last thing that we did
which was a little bit unconventional,
before we started actually filming for
the documentary we created and released
a teaser trailer. COLIN WRIGHT: Imagine a life of less.
Less clutter, less stress, and debt
and discontent.
MATT: I want to say we originally did it to
try to create a buzz for the film, and
and you know maybe it did that, but I
think more than anything, more
importantly than any buzz that could
have potentially created for people
excited about the film, was it got us
excited about the film. It was the first
time that we put this out there and we
said "Hey we're going to make a movie".
And we kind of committed ourselves on this idea.
Now this is the real thing.
We actually had to go out and make it.
So we hit the road. We start to film this
tour we were traveling around the
country so it gave us the perfect
opportunity to interview all these
people we had heard about who had been
affected by this thing called minimalism.
JOSH: We had several 1000 hours worth of
footage. Sort of looking at you when we
were dropping you off the air for like
good luck with that man.
Episode 2 is live right now on my website
mattdavella.com
JOSH: We can chat via phone and
I'll give you my ideas, and pick your brain
for yours.
I look forward to the embrace... (haha) wait did I say that?
MATT: (haha) No you didn't. JOSH: That sounds like something I'd say.
MATT: Yeah, I think now that we know each other
you would say that. JOSH: I look forward to the
embrace of your olive skin and the smell of (haha)
Alright, alright alright. Hold on. Here we go. (bursts out laughing)
Are you sure I didn't write this line?
I look forward to the embrace in your olive skin and
meatball parmesan fragrance. There we go!
MATT: That's good. I like how you like
quivered on that last line.