Buffalo, Adjacent.
Tom Paolino | NYC Actor / Producer
05.23.25
Dawn Cochran: Hi Tom! Okay first, we are complete strangers! Do you want to know a little bit about me before I start rambling on and we find out about you!?
Tom Paolino: Oh yes. And I don't think I like the word rambling. I want to hear everything you have to say, and let's start with how I feel like I'm the host.
DC: Let's start with we're both the host!
TP: OK, with the team effort and the collaboration, alright. So yes, I want to hear about you.
DC: So I'm a local Buffalo actor. I have written a couple of things. I've done crew on a couple of things, but nothing really major. No Major League stuff. I also have this Buffalo Starving Artists series that I started recently. I'm also a photographer, and I also work at a car dealership. HA. So I started the Buffalo Starving Artist series, kind of to get names that weren't so well-known out into the community, because there's a lot of people -- names that come up often when you think of like Buffalo artists. Whether it's photographers, musicians, actors, directors... and we have a big arts and entertainment community here. So I kind of wanted to get some other people into the conversation. And also, I know Bill, and I've worked with Bill. So that's how... I mean obviously, that's how you connected with me. And his name is starting to get bigger, which I am so stoked about because I think Bill is a great dude! I mean, I just interviewing him... leading me to you, or you to me. Or both to each other? So it is pretty awesome to me. But now! We're going to flip the script and let's talk about you. So who are you?
TP: Ohhh my gosh. You know what, Dawn? I'm just like you. My name is Tom Paolino, and I'm a person who has a lot of energy for life. And I want to make a difference. That's it in a nutshell. That's who I am. I mean, should I say more about that or??
DC: Yeah. You say whatever you feel comfortable saying.
TP: Well, I can tell you I love Buffalo. I can tell you that whenever I can, I do everything to get back to Buffalo, because Buffalo's been so kind to me. The people in Buffalo have been so amazing to me and my movie that... I'm always looking for a way to give back. Really. You know my movie, and it's really our movie. It's really, truly Buffalo's movie. Because Buffalo is a character in the movie. I think it was Judge Penny Wolfgang who captured it best, and said Buffalo has "fortitude." Courage in pain or adversity. And I really relate to that. On a lot of levels, I feel connected to Buffalo. I think it's important to mention that right off the top that I really can never repay all the people in Buffalo for all they've done for me. But I try.
DC: Thank you so much. So OK, so I want to go back to before Buffalo. So I kind of stalked you a little bit. You're from Connecticut, correct?
TP: Well, close Rhode Island.
DC: Oh, Rhode Island. Oh, see, I got it wrong. Oh my God, how embarrassing. Then you found yourself in New York City, doing theater and doing some acting in some TV series. Is that correct?
TP: Yeah. Yeah, I do some of both, yep!
DC: Is that your main passion? Acting?
TP: I think my... I think, yes. I mean, I have other passions, but that's the one I would call my main one. Yeah.
DC: What are your other ones?
TP: Children. Hockey. Yoga. Nature. Spirituality. Those are the ones that come to mind.
DC: Hockey's a good one. Especially in Buffalo. Except our team is not so good. But that's besides the point. OK so. You're an actor... Have you filmed in Buffalo prior to what we are going to talk about soon?
TP: No, no. The first time I ever filmed in Buffalo was on this project.
DC: Oh, that's exciting. OK. So we'll just dive into it, then tell me about this project.
TP: Well this project began on November 10th, 2022, which is actually the birthday of a guy named Vincent Scarsella. And Vinny was the Deputy Chief Counsel of the Lawyers Discipline Office in Buffalo. New York for 18 years and what that looked like was he would be the recipient, he was the recipient of over 15,000 complaints about lawyers being unethical; doing corrupt things. And his job was to dig and determine if those people were truly corrupt, and if he felt that they were, he would go to court and argue that, in some cases, their license to practice law was taken away. And that was Vinny's job and he was very good at that, didn't make a lot of friends doing it because, obviously, it's a relatively small town. But, he has a deep commitment to justice and was writing the whole time. So he wrote a a four book series called “Lawyers Gone Bad.” He found me, and sent me a Facebook message and said “Will you read my script?” This was in, as I said, November of 2022. And I read the script and I said “This is really exciting!” I raised $18,000 on Gofundme, and we shot a sizzle reel. On April 8th, 2023 and one day we shot in the Liberty Building downtown. Terrence Connors, who has his office is on the 10th floor, was very kind to us. Dennis DiPaolo, (from Ilio DiPaolo’s in Blasdell,) amazing person and super good to us. And we got something we really are still proud of. Lots of local actors involved. All local crew. Incredible people, Joe Wooley certainly comes to mind. We had, just fantastic people on that side. Greg Robbins was our first AD and he became our stunt coordinator on the movie. I mean I could list names on and on, but it really worked. And that piece of footage was integral to me raising the money to make the movie, which we shot this year, February 24th to March 5th, with an entirely Buffalo based crew, and many many amazing Buffalo actors.
DC: Which is huge! And so the project is called “One of the Good Ones”?
TP: Correct. We're in post-production right now and we'll have a finished film soon. In fact, Bill Murray the 3rd, who was the First AD on the feature shoot is editing the film as we speak!
DC: That's awesome. You are the producer, and you are one of the lead actors in the film, right?
TP: I am technically the lead actor.
DC: Oooooh, OK.
TP: And I basically play a version of Vincent. The characters name is Dean Alessi. And I am the guy who is not making so many friends because he's asking a lot of questions that people don't want to answer.
DC: So when you came here to get locations, did you just right off the bat get locations because of Vincent? Or did you have to scout some places out. Like how did the whole process happen? I guess I want to hear the whole story!
TP: Well, you're... haha, I appreciate you. So Terrence Connors, his office is on the 10th floor in Liberty Building, [in Buffalo, NY], became three totally distinct locations for us. We had a kitchen set, where we turned the law office kitchen space into a domestic looking kitchen. We used the hallways of Terry’s law offices and Terry's office became my office. Then we went downstairs, and used the foyer of the Liberty Building for a fourth location. So it was really helpful as far as the production move, you know, being only 10 floors down an elevator.
DC: Right??
TP: Yeah, and. And in the case of the feature, there's a gentleman by the name of Bill Kennedy, who I also met on Facebook, and we had a few conversations, and he said “I'm helpful with the locations and with acting.” So I said, “Ok.” When we got the money to make the movie, I called Bill Kennedy and he was truly amazing with helping. Not only with locations, but also as an actor. He plays Paranoid Perry, which we think is one of the funniest parts of the movie. He became our location supervisor. He's also a producer on the film, and played a really awesome comedic role. Bill did something amazing. The funniest story... We needed a log cabin. We needed the exterior of a log cabin, and there's a log cabin in Niagara that Billy had driven by multiple times-- never met the guy who lives there, had no idea who it was, but we needed a log cabin. And we needed it fast. And Bill Kennedy knocked on that guy's door and we were shooting there five hours later!!
DC: Oh wow, he's got to be a smooth talker.
TP: Yes, yes, yes. So it's the stuff like that. You can't make this stuff up. The city of good neighbors.
DC: Yeah, it really is! So how did you find Bill Murray the 3rd?
TP: So Bill, just an incredible champion of the film. Not only as our first AD with his infectious enthusiasm, but also Bill has a team of incredibly talented, kind, focused, passionate young film makers. Jamison Namingha really is an outstanding cinematographer. Daniel Conklin, grip to the stars. I mean, just a great guy to have on the set. Tyler Kalinowski, forget about it, the guy is a beast of the lighting trick. He paints with light! I mean, I could go on and on. Leigh LeFevre is only 18 years old and an actress. She didn't act in our film, but I have a good instinct about her talent as an actor and would like to work with her down the road. She was our script supervisor. Adam Burke was our sound man...
DC: Adam Burke! He's a good egg.
TP: He's a terrific egg! He was just on it from the first moment. We joke a little bit about how persnickety he was. But that's the quality you want in your sound man! Persnickety-ness. And just a fabulous guy. How about a guy like Alexander Frank?? Who just is extremely knowledgeable. He was our best boy electric. He doesn't say much. He speaks with his behavior on the set. Elle Regan, our first assistant camera, was also the first AC on the sizzle reel. Mark Mendola, forget about it! This guy has the connections to the fire department. He was also our costume supervisor and played one of our villains. When he put on those black rimmed glasses in the courtroom scene, and I looked over at him.. (he was planning Mark Merrick, one of our villains...) I wanted to kiss him and vomit at the same time!! Because he had picked the perfect prop as a costume piece and he was grotesque as a corrupt lawyer, but that fed my process! Gary Nichter, our Director of Transportation. Brady Weatherup, Brady was an undergraduate in college when he became our Digital Imaging Technician on the sizzle. I brought him back for the feature. I mean what was amazing about it, Dawn, was that I had a team in place that had a lot of cohesion. Bill Murray the 3rd had a team in place that had a lot of cohesion. And the two teams came together, and Julie O'Hora, (director and co-writer and also one of the producers,) she said it best; they cared as much about the movie as we did, and we've been working on the movie for a couple of years at that point. Donna Marie Vaughn brought Bill to me. I'll never be able to thank her enough. She's an amazing person. Very, very smart woman, and amazing actress. She is one of our associate producers, but also played Gladys Stanfield. She plays... I don’t want to give too much of it away in the movie. And we just got very, very, very lucky with Bill, and Donna Marie, and Terrence Connors, and all those great people in Buffalo.
DC: Yeah, I'm scrolling through the cast right now and there's quite a lot of names that look familiar. I have one question for you... Rob Ray is in the movie???
TP: That's correct. Razor!
DC: What does Rob Ray do??? If it gives too much away, you don't have to share.
TP: Well, I'm not going to tell too much, but I can tell you that I've had an ongoing question about being a man and... when do you get into a fight? Like as a guy? When do you actually say “OK then. Let's go?”
DC: Yeah, yeah. Gloves off. Let's do this.
TP: Yeah, enough is enough. I thought Rob Ray would be an interesting person to ask that question, so I asked Billy Kennedy, as Paranoid Perry, to approach Rob Ray in the movie. Rob basically plays himself. Frank Strangio plays his agent. (We shot at Frankie Strangio's hotel, the Cambria in Niagara.) So Billy went up to Rob, right? And said, “Are you Rob Ray? I know you fight a lot in hockey. But what about in real life? When do you fight in real life?” and I wanted Razor to improvise the answers. So... I'm not gonna tell you what he says.
DC: Well, no. I have to watch the movie to find out!!
TP: Yeah, you gotta watch the movie to find out.
DC: That's amazing. That's so cool.
TP: Yeah. It was. Man, you can see how many great people were there. I'm looking at the actors myself now. Like a guy like John Patrick Patty. Now John Patrick Patty is Frank Martin in the movie. The movie opens with a scene between he and I. And boy, what an actor. He's a theatre man, and a gentleman, and a voice coach and you know. Bill Benn! Screen Actors Guild member -- Son-in-law of Greg Robbins, was the one of the actors in the sizzle. I brought him back to play the same part in the feature. Sean Greenhouse played my boss, Brad Gunther. Tremendous. Rosanna Pfeiffer plays Susie Hines-Lawrence, our female villain. Amy Zubieta, who we found for the part of Cat Franklin, my love interest... she lives in Syracuse. Terrific actor.
DC: Oh, OK. All over New York!!
TP: Eugene Bofill, forget about it. I mean that guy walks on water as far as I'm concerned. Like it's your mendus tremendous. He's like classic Buffalo. Like just a great attitude, you know, it's all about the behavior. Roselyn Kashmire, beautiful, you know, charasmatic.
DC: Yeah, she's great too!
TP: Yeah, just a great addition to the team. Josie DiVincenzo, amazing. Like just the kind of actor that competes with actors in New York and LA. And has the credits to show for it. Our detective, Jackie Miller, an amazing teacher and artist and actress and person. So we got very, very... Roderick Garr. Oh my God. Roderick is my guy. He plays Stu Foley. He plays my partner. There's another one who was in LA for a long time and just brings so much to the table. Then there’s Liz Dole! Her first movie! She played my wife in the film.
DC: So I think I've known Liz Dole and her husband since I was like 13?? Her husband's a musician so, I'm more into his world and not hers, but I saw her a few years ago and I was like “No shit! She's into acting now??” Like. That is just so cool to me.
TP: She's an amazing person. She got her Master’s Degree at the University of Buffalo, in a program on creativity and she's now an art teacher. In addition to being an actress, she's also an art teacher. There are only a few Master Degree programs in the United States that are just about creativity and Liz, one to one of them. There was right there at UB. Yeah, she's amazing person. I love her. Jo O’Donnell was great as our bartender, Angie. Harold Octavius Jacob played Jason, my legal assistant. I mean, again, Buffalo is a character in the movie, so I instinctually knew that we had to have people from Buffalo. And we had to shoot it in Buffalo.
DC: Absolutely. Now, do you think that you would shoot more films here?
TP: Oh, absolutely. People come back to Buffalo... Guillermo del Toro, and Fred Olen Ray. You know, you look at a guy like Bill Fichtner. That, I mean, he's from Buffalo, but people come back because, it's such a diamond to to, you know, to your film. It's like it. We shot a movie with production quality that is 10 times what we paid and that's because of Buffalo and and it's people. Yes. I have to come back. Looking forward to.
DC: It is amazing what we have to offer here. I feel like it's almost like untapped at this point. Like it's like, it's like a secret. Like some people know about it, but you got to get in now.
TP: Yeah. Absolutely. It's a very special place, and grammatically it worked for for my film too, because my film is really about keeping promises and people in Buffalo take that very seriously. When I think about Buffalo. I think the people here know what life is about. Life is about being a good neighbor, you know what I mean. Like at the end of the day, that's what life is about, helping other people. And people in Buffalo seem to understand that. I live here in New York City, and I don't know what the heck is going on over here. I really don't.
DC: I'm gonna say it's probably a little bit different. Haha.
TP: It's a lot different, so I get to come to a place like Buffalo and I think my faith in humanity is restored, to be honest with you.
DC: Oh, that's really nice to hear. I've traveled. I go places. I see how humanity is in different cities, even different countries. And I guess because I am here all the time, I don't have... I have to take a step back and like realize that I should appreciate it here... I think the weather is my biggest issue. Haha
TP: Yeah. Well, I understand and, but yeah you know. People are very sensitive to each other, Dawn. You know, that's really one of the things I wanted to say in the film. When you keep a promise, everybody feels that. When you break a promise, everybody feels that. So it's like, you know. Take a little extra time to be nice. You know, it's not that big of a deal, man. You know what I mean. It's not, and it's gonna make you feel better. And like, I mean it sounds like I'm preaching but.
DC: Being nice is free. You can preach. You can preach! Preach away.
TP: Well, I mean, I made the movie to to say this very thing. People are sensitive to each other and I don't know what it is? Technology? What's going on in the world? I don't know, but at the end of the day, people are social by nature and and I want people to be reminded of something they already still know, which is. We're sensitive to each other and that's not going to change.
DC: Yeah. Yeah, that's yeah. I mean, I don't think, I don't even think we have to expand on that.
TP: I don't think so.
DC: It's a good message. It's a good message.
TP: It is. It's a it's a good message and it can be an intense message, especially these days, but that's why I wanted to add the comedy. That's why I'm so glad I have people like Bill Benn, Bill Kennedy, and Jacob A. Ware, who plays the DA San Marcum. These guys are funny. You know, these guys are really funny. Eugene Bofill is hilarious. And it makes the material easier to digest.
DC: So I did see that you are going to be submitting this to the Sundance Film Festival.
TP: That's right. We just hired our music composer, and he'll be receiving the rough cut in just a few weeks and then the final delivery is due July 17th, the early deadline for Sundance is August 9th. And the regular deadline is September 23rd. So yeah, we're going to get the film into Sundance and it's got one more year in Park City, UT. So that moves to Boulder. Colorado, but in 2026 it'll be in Park City, which will be... that's the dream is to get to Park City for Sundance in 2026. The final year that will be there.
DC: It's a good dream. When do you think that the? Film will be available to the general public?
TP: Well, that's a good question. It's hard to say right now to be honest, Dawn, you know, we've got 3 distributors interested. They want to see the film when it's finished. And then depending on which distribution deal we go with, then I'll have more specific details about that, but.
DC: Yeah. Yeah, I won't hold it to you. And just, you know, for the audience in case they're wondering, but I can tell them to wait. It's a very.. it's a very hurry up and wait business anyway.
TP: Yeah, we do have a Facebook group page up. I'm glad you're asking because I'm in the process of building the audience right now. And I can shoot you off the Facebook group page and I would love for people to join that because that's basically serving as our website right now with all the updates and stuff.
DC: Perfect. Yeah, I can add that to my intro because I usually post these on Facebook. So everyone can share them with their friends. I can put the link also right into the interview on the website. I'll just share everything that I can share and hopefully this gets to build the audience a little bit better. I know there's a lot of people in Buffalo that will probably be excited to see a Buffalo film. And people outside of Buffalo, let's be fair.
TP: Yeah. Yeah, we struck gold with this. I'm told that dailies is thrilling, Julie has been watching the dailies and I haven't seen them. But I trust Julie. I think we really struck the motherload on this. I really, I really do. My goal was to make a movie that I would want to see that I could be proud of? And I know we did that so the right people will see it.
DC: I really like when people are proud of the things that they do. Like, you're not just doing it to do it. You know what I'm saying? Like yet there's real passion and a sense of like accomplishment behind it.
TP: I mean 100% and like this is no joke, like we had to get the lawyer, and the insurance and, raise the money and build the team... It's taken a lot. But. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You know, Dawn, like dream big man.
DC: Exactly. Yeah, the sky is the limit. Is there anything else that you want to touch on? Uh, we're we're a little over half an hour. I mean, we can go forever. I don't care, but.
TP: No, I think that's good. You know, people are busy and stuff like that. I feel like you've been an excellent host in a lot of ways, but what I'm thinking now is like you're just pulling this stuff that that I feel like I want people to know, and I guess I would just say that you can do it, you know, like if you have a dream. You can do it.
DC: Ah yeah. I am, I agree. Let's tell the audience that they should follow their dreams and they can do it. Alright, thank you so much for speaking with me.
Tom Paolino: Oh yes. And I don't think I like the word rambling. I want to hear everything you have to say, and let's start with how I feel like I'm the host.
DC: Let's start with we're both the host!
TP: OK, with the team effort and the collaboration, alright. So yes, I want to hear about you.
DC: So I'm a local Buffalo actor. I have written a couple of things. I've done crew on a couple of things, but nothing really major. No Major League stuff. I also have this Buffalo Starving Artists series that I started recently. I'm also a photographer, and I also work at a car dealership. HA. So I started the Buffalo Starving Artist series, kind of to get names that weren't so well-known out into the community, because there's a lot of people -- names that come up often when you think of like Buffalo artists. Whether it's photographers, musicians, actors, directors... and we have a big arts and entertainment community here. So I kind of wanted to get some other people into the conversation. And also, I know Bill, and I've worked with Bill. So that's how... I mean obviously, that's how you connected with me. And his name is starting to get bigger, which I am so stoked about because I think Bill is a great dude! I mean, I just interviewing him... leading me to you, or you to me. Or both to each other? So it is pretty awesome to me. But now! We're going to flip the script and let's talk about you. So who are you?
TP: Ohhh my gosh. You know what, Dawn? I'm just like you. My name is Tom Paolino, and I'm a person who has a lot of energy for life. And I want to make a difference. That's it in a nutshell. That's who I am. I mean, should I say more about that or??
DC: Yeah. You say whatever you feel comfortable saying.
TP: Well, I can tell you I love Buffalo. I can tell you that whenever I can, I do everything to get back to Buffalo, because Buffalo's been so kind to me. The people in Buffalo have been so amazing to me and my movie that... I'm always looking for a way to give back. Really. You know my movie, and it's really our movie. It's really, truly Buffalo's movie. Because Buffalo is a character in the movie. I think it was Judge Penny Wolfgang who captured it best, and said Buffalo has "fortitude." Courage in pain or adversity. And I really relate to that. On a lot of levels, I feel connected to Buffalo. I think it's important to mention that right off the top that I really can never repay all the people in Buffalo for all they've done for me. But I try.
DC: Thank you so much. So OK, so I want to go back to before Buffalo. So I kind of stalked you a little bit. You're from Connecticut, correct?
TP: Well, close Rhode Island.
DC: Oh, Rhode Island. Oh, see, I got it wrong. Oh my God, how embarrassing. Then you found yourself in New York City, doing theater and doing some acting in some TV series. Is that correct?
TP: Yeah. Yeah, I do some of both, yep!
DC: Is that your main passion? Acting?
TP: I think my... I think, yes. I mean, I have other passions, but that's the one I would call my main one. Yeah.
DC: What are your other ones?
TP: Children. Hockey. Yoga. Nature. Spirituality. Those are the ones that come to mind.
DC: Hockey's a good one. Especially in Buffalo. Except our team is not so good. But that's besides the point. OK so. You're an actor... Have you filmed in Buffalo prior to what we are going to talk about soon?
TP: No, no. The first time I ever filmed in Buffalo was on this project.
DC: Oh, that's exciting. OK. So we'll just dive into it, then tell me about this project.
TP: Well this project began on November 10th, 2022, which is actually the birthday of a guy named Vincent Scarsella. And Vinny was the Deputy Chief Counsel of the Lawyers Discipline Office in Buffalo. New York for 18 years and what that looked like was he would be the recipient, he was the recipient of over 15,000 complaints about lawyers being unethical; doing corrupt things. And his job was to dig and determine if those people were truly corrupt, and if he felt that they were, he would go to court and argue that, in some cases, their license to practice law was taken away. And that was Vinny's job and he was very good at that, didn't make a lot of friends doing it because, obviously, it's a relatively small town. But, he has a deep commitment to justice and was writing the whole time. So he wrote a a four book series called “Lawyers Gone Bad.” He found me, and sent me a Facebook message and said “Will you read my script?” This was in, as I said, November of 2022. And I read the script and I said “This is really exciting!” I raised $18,000 on Gofundme, and we shot a sizzle reel. On April 8th, 2023 and one day we shot in the Liberty Building downtown. Terrence Connors, who has his office is on the 10th floor, was very kind to us. Dennis DiPaolo, (from Ilio DiPaolo’s in Blasdell,) amazing person and super good to us. And we got something we really are still proud of. Lots of local actors involved. All local crew. Incredible people, Joe Wooley certainly comes to mind. We had, just fantastic people on that side. Greg Robbins was our first AD and he became our stunt coordinator on the movie. I mean I could list names on and on, but it really worked. And that piece of footage was integral to me raising the money to make the movie, which we shot this year, February 24th to March 5th, with an entirely Buffalo based crew, and many many amazing Buffalo actors.
DC: Which is huge! And so the project is called “One of the Good Ones”?
TP: Correct. We're in post-production right now and we'll have a finished film soon. In fact, Bill Murray the 3rd, who was the First AD on the feature shoot is editing the film as we speak!
DC: That's awesome. You are the producer, and you are one of the lead actors in the film, right?
TP: I am technically the lead actor.
DC: Oooooh, OK.
TP: And I basically play a version of Vincent. The characters name is Dean Alessi. And I am the guy who is not making so many friends because he's asking a lot of questions that people don't want to answer.
DC: So when you came here to get locations, did you just right off the bat get locations because of Vincent? Or did you have to scout some places out. Like how did the whole process happen? I guess I want to hear the whole story!
TP: Well, you're... haha, I appreciate you. So Terrence Connors, his office is on the 10th floor in Liberty Building, [in Buffalo, NY], became three totally distinct locations for us. We had a kitchen set, where we turned the law office kitchen space into a domestic looking kitchen. We used the hallways of Terry’s law offices and Terry's office became my office. Then we went downstairs, and used the foyer of the Liberty Building for a fourth location. So it was really helpful as far as the production move, you know, being only 10 floors down an elevator.
DC: Right??
TP: Yeah, and. And in the case of the feature, there's a gentleman by the name of Bill Kennedy, who I also met on Facebook, and we had a few conversations, and he said “I'm helpful with the locations and with acting.” So I said, “Ok.” When we got the money to make the movie, I called Bill Kennedy and he was truly amazing with helping. Not only with locations, but also as an actor. He plays Paranoid Perry, which we think is one of the funniest parts of the movie. He became our location supervisor. He's also a producer on the film, and played a really awesome comedic role. Bill did something amazing. The funniest story... We needed a log cabin. We needed the exterior of a log cabin, and there's a log cabin in Niagara that Billy had driven by multiple times-- never met the guy who lives there, had no idea who it was, but we needed a log cabin. And we needed it fast. And Bill Kennedy knocked on that guy's door and we were shooting there five hours later!!
DC: Oh wow, he's got to be a smooth talker.
TP: Yes, yes, yes. So it's the stuff like that. You can't make this stuff up. The city of good neighbors.
DC: Yeah, it really is! So how did you find Bill Murray the 3rd?
TP: So Bill, just an incredible champion of the film. Not only as our first AD with his infectious enthusiasm, but also Bill has a team of incredibly talented, kind, focused, passionate young film makers. Jamison Namingha really is an outstanding cinematographer. Daniel Conklin, grip to the stars. I mean, just a great guy to have on the set. Tyler Kalinowski, forget about it, the guy is a beast of the lighting trick. He paints with light! I mean, I could go on and on. Leigh LeFevre is only 18 years old and an actress. She didn't act in our film, but I have a good instinct about her talent as an actor and would like to work with her down the road. She was our script supervisor. Adam Burke was our sound man...
DC: Adam Burke! He's a good egg.
TP: He's a terrific egg! He was just on it from the first moment. We joke a little bit about how persnickety he was. But that's the quality you want in your sound man! Persnickety-ness. And just a fabulous guy. How about a guy like Alexander Frank?? Who just is extremely knowledgeable. He was our best boy electric. He doesn't say much. He speaks with his behavior on the set. Elle Regan, our first assistant camera, was also the first AC on the sizzle reel. Mark Mendola, forget about it! This guy has the connections to the fire department. He was also our costume supervisor and played one of our villains. When he put on those black rimmed glasses in the courtroom scene, and I looked over at him.. (he was planning Mark Merrick, one of our villains...) I wanted to kiss him and vomit at the same time!! Because he had picked the perfect prop as a costume piece and he was grotesque as a corrupt lawyer, but that fed my process! Gary Nichter, our Director of Transportation. Brady Weatherup, Brady was an undergraduate in college when he became our Digital Imaging Technician on the sizzle. I brought him back for the feature. I mean what was amazing about it, Dawn, was that I had a team in place that had a lot of cohesion. Bill Murray the 3rd had a team in place that had a lot of cohesion. And the two teams came together, and Julie O'Hora, (director and co-writer and also one of the producers,) she said it best; they cared as much about the movie as we did, and we've been working on the movie for a couple of years at that point. Donna Marie Vaughn brought Bill to me. I'll never be able to thank her enough. She's an amazing person. Very, very smart woman, and amazing actress. She is one of our associate producers, but also played Gladys Stanfield. She plays... I don’t want to give too much of it away in the movie. And we just got very, very, very lucky with Bill, and Donna Marie, and Terrence Connors, and all those great people in Buffalo.
DC: Yeah, I'm scrolling through the cast right now and there's quite a lot of names that look familiar. I have one question for you... Rob Ray is in the movie???
TP: That's correct. Razor!
DC: What does Rob Ray do??? If it gives too much away, you don't have to share.
TP: Well, I'm not going to tell too much, but I can tell you that I've had an ongoing question about being a man and... when do you get into a fight? Like as a guy? When do you actually say “OK then. Let's go?”
DC: Yeah, yeah. Gloves off. Let's do this.
TP: Yeah, enough is enough. I thought Rob Ray would be an interesting person to ask that question, so I asked Billy Kennedy, as Paranoid Perry, to approach Rob Ray in the movie. Rob basically plays himself. Frank Strangio plays his agent. (We shot at Frankie Strangio's hotel, the Cambria in Niagara.) So Billy went up to Rob, right? And said, “Are you Rob Ray? I know you fight a lot in hockey. But what about in real life? When do you fight in real life?” and I wanted Razor to improvise the answers. So... I'm not gonna tell you what he says.
DC: Well, no. I have to watch the movie to find out!!
TP: Yeah, you gotta watch the movie to find out.
DC: That's amazing. That's so cool.
TP: Yeah. It was. Man, you can see how many great people were there. I'm looking at the actors myself now. Like a guy like John Patrick Patty. Now John Patrick Patty is Frank Martin in the movie. The movie opens with a scene between he and I. And boy, what an actor. He's a theatre man, and a gentleman, and a voice coach and you know. Bill Benn! Screen Actors Guild member -- Son-in-law of Greg Robbins, was the one of the actors in the sizzle. I brought him back to play the same part in the feature. Sean Greenhouse played my boss, Brad Gunther. Tremendous. Rosanna Pfeiffer plays Susie Hines-Lawrence, our female villain. Amy Zubieta, who we found for the part of Cat Franklin, my love interest... she lives in Syracuse. Terrific actor.
DC: Oh, OK. All over New York!!
TP: Eugene Bofill, forget about it. I mean that guy walks on water as far as I'm concerned. Like it's your mendus tremendous. He's like classic Buffalo. Like just a great attitude, you know, it's all about the behavior. Roselyn Kashmire, beautiful, you know, charasmatic.
DC: Yeah, she's great too!
TP: Yeah, just a great addition to the team. Josie DiVincenzo, amazing. Like just the kind of actor that competes with actors in New York and LA. And has the credits to show for it. Our detective, Jackie Miller, an amazing teacher and artist and actress and person. So we got very, very... Roderick Garr. Oh my God. Roderick is my guy. He plays Stu Foley. He plays my partner. There's another one who was in LA for a long time and just brings so much to the table. Then there’s Liz Dole! Her first movie! She played my wife in the film.
DC: So I think I've known Liz Dole and her husband since I was like 13?? Her husband's a musician so, I'm more into his world and not hers, but I saw her a few years ago and I was like “No shit! She's into acting now??” Like. That is just so cool to me.
TP: She's an amazing person. She got her Master’s Degree at the University of Buffalo, in a program on creativity and she's now an art teacher. In addition to being an actress, she's also an art teacher. There are only a few Master Degree programs in the United States that are just about creativity and Liz, one to one of them. There was right there at UB. Yeah, she's amazing person. I love her. Jo O’Donnell was great as our bartender, Angie. Harold Octavius Jacob played Jason, my legal assistant. I mean, again, Buffalo is a character in the movie, so I instinctually knew that we had to have people from Buffalo. And we had to shoot it in Buffalo.
DC: Absolutely. Now, do you think that you would shoot more films here?
TP: Oh, absolutely. People come back to Buffalo... Guillermo del Toro, and Fred Olen Ray. You know, you look at a guy like Bill Fichtner. That, I mean, he's from Buffalo, but people come back because, it's such a diamond to to, you know, to your film. It's like it. We shot a movie with production quality that is 10 times what we paid and that's because of Buffalo and and it's people. Yes. I have to come back. Looking forward to.
DC: It is amazing what we have to offer here. I feel like it's almost like untapped at this point. Like it's like, it's like a secret. Like some people know about it, but you got to get in now.
TP: Yeah. Absolutely. It's a very special place, and grammatically it worked for for my film too, because my film is really about keeping promises and people in Buffalo take that very seriously. When I think about Buffalo. I think the people here know what life is about. Life is about being a good neighbor, you know what I mean. Like at the end of the day, that's what life is about, helping other people. And people in Buffalo seem to understand that. I live here in New York City, and I don't know what the heck is going on over here. I really don't.
DC: I'm gonna say it's probably a little bit different. Haha.
TP: It's a lot different, so I get to come to a place like Buffalo and I think my faith in humanity is restored, to be honest with you.
DC: Oh, that's really nice to hear. I've traveled. I go places. I see how humanity is in different cities, even different countries. And I guess because I am here all the time, I don't have... I have to take a step back and like realize that I should appreciate it here... I think the weather is my biggest issue. Haha
TP: Yeah. Well, I understand and, but yeah you know. People are very sensitive to each other, Dawn. You know, that's really one of the things I wanted to say in the film. When you keep a promise, everybody feels that. When you break a promise, everybody feels that. So it's like, you know. Take a little extra time to be nice. You know, it's not that big of a deal, man. You know what I mean. It's not, and it's gonna make you feel better. And like, I mean it sounds like I'm preaching but.
DC: Being nice is free. You can preach. You can preach! Preach away.
TP: Well, I mean, I made the movie to to say this very thing. People are sensitive to each other and I don't know what it is? Technology? What's going on in the world? I don't know, but at the end of the day, people are social by nature and and I want people to be reminded of something they already still know, which is. We're sensitive to each other and that's not going to change.
DC: Yeah. Yeah, that's yeah. I mean, I don't think, I don't even think we have to expand on that.
TP: I don't think so.
DC: It's a good message. It's a good message.
TP: It is. It's a it's a good message and it can be an intense message, especially these days, but that's why I wanted to add the comedy. That's why I'm so glad I have people like Bill Benn, Bill Kennedy, and Jacob A. Ware, who plays the DA San Marcum. These guys are funny. You know, these guys are really funny. Eugene Bofill is hilarious. And it makes the material easier to digest.
DC: So I did see that you are going to be submitting this to the Sundance Film Festival.
TP: That's right. We just hired our music composer, and he'll be receiving the rough cut in just a few weeks and then the final delivery is due July 17th, the early deadline for Sundance is August 9th. And the regular deadline is September 23rd. So yeah, we're going to get the film into Sundance and it's got one more year in Park City, UT. So that moves to Boulder. Colorado, but in 2026 it'll be in Park City, which will be... that's the dream is to get to Park City for Sundance in 2026. The final year that will be there.
DC: It's a good dream. When do you think that the? Film will be available to the general public?
TP: Well, that's a good question. It's hard to say right now to be honest, Dawn, you know, we've got 3 distributors interested. They want to see the film when it's finished. And then depending on which distribution deal we go with, then I'll have more specific details about that, but.
DC: Yeah. Yeah, I won't hold it to you. And just, you know, for the audience in case they're wondering, but I can tell them to wait. It's a very.. it's a very hurry up and wait business anyway.
TP: Yeah, we do have a Facebook group page up. I'm glad you're asking because I'm in the process of building the audience right now. And I can shoot you off the Facebook group page and I would love for people to join that because that's basically serving as our website right now with all the updates and stuff.
DC: Perfect. Yeah, I can add that to my intro because I usually post these on Facebook. So everyone can share them with their friends. I can put the link also right into the interview on the website. I'll just share everything that I can share and hopefully this gets to build the audience a little bit better. I know there's a lot of people in Buffalo that will probably be excited to see a Buffalo film. And people outside of Buffalo, let's be fair.
TP: Yeah. Yeah, we struck gold with this. I'm told that dailies is thrilling, Julie has been watching the dailies and I haven't seen them. But I trust Julie. I think we really struck the motherload on this. I really, I really do. My goal was to make a movie that I would want to see that I could be proud of? And I know we did that so the right people will see it.
DC: I really like when people are proud of the things that they do. Like, you're not just doing it to do it. You know what I'm saying? Like yet there's real passion and a sense of like accomplishment behind it.
TP: I mean 100% and like this is no joke, like we had to get the lawyer, and the insurance and, raise the money and build the team... It's taken a lot. But. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You know, Dawn, like dream big man.
DC: Exactly. Yeah, the sky is the limit. Is there anything else that you want to touch on? Uh, we're we're a little over half an hour. I mean, we can go forever. I don't care, but.
TP: No, I think that's good. You know, people are busy and stuff like that. I feel like you've been an excellent host in a lot of ways, but what I'm thinking now is like you're just pulling this stuff that that I feel like I want people to know, and I guess I would just say that you can do it, you know, like if you have a dream. You can do it.
DC: Ah yeah. I am, I agree. Let's tell the audience that they should follow their dreams and they can do it. Alright, thank you so much for speaking with me.