The Protection Agency, 6min., USA
Directed by Patrick Bates
Aliens invade! It’s up to an elite team to win back the Earth.

Get to know the filmmaker:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
I was a big fan of shows like MANNIX and THE INVADERS, both of which are back on TV on nostalgia networks. I liked the mid-century modern groove and so I went after that.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
A couple of weeks. It was actually longer as the space invaders met with a TV network to promote a new series called FUNNIEST INVASION FAILS but it was getting a little weird with the current state of the world.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Comfortable Fun

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
I struggle with Parkinson’s so routine movements like clicking a mouse can suddenly be over taken with rapid-fire clicking. I would open to many apps on my screen. Trying to close the app by. clicking quit or the red dot would become monnumental quests. Itt was like playing basketball with hundreds of balls all missing the basket.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
I was a little nervoius about the reaction to it being AI based. One of the things that has held me back in my 54 years of creative endeavors is seeing the final product come to fruition. I’ve won many screenplay awards over the years but to date only one was produced and that was a fifteen-minute web series pilot. I viewed AI as the vehicle to present the story that I otherwise couldn’t tell. I told my son what I was doing with AI apps and his comment was ‘you’re draining a lot of water.’ I try to keep in mind it’s just a tool. Desktop publishing didn’t stop books from being printed. People still paint and draw, Music is still written. Movies didn’t destroy live theatre and television hasn’t destroyed movies. It’s just another venue for creativity. Technology changes and we adapt. Having argued all that, I did not turn the script over to generative AI. This was a story I had sketched out and used the tool to make that idea live.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
When I was thirteen and got my first Super-Eight camera and projector. The neighborhood became my back lot and my friends my actors. We’d shoot dozens of films then have an awards ceremony for best performances and most popular film. My cousin worked at a movie theatre at the time and he’d bring home posters we’d based films on. We made Tales from the Crypt, Dillinger, and The Godfather all from the posters, without ever seeing the films, and all in 3 minutes and 30 seconds at 18 frames per second. We made one based on THE CAR, but called it THE BIKE after we all went to the movies.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Shawshank. At one time it would have been Rio Bravo.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
Just keep doing what you’re doing. Stories want to be told. You provide the audience for them to be seen.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
I was part of it when it was without a box. Then life came along and my career shifted. I got into writing short crime fiction. Now I’m retired and there are apps for everything. The site has made it easy to be a part of the community again.

10. What is your favorite meal?
Chicken strips, onion rings and a slaw or a salad.

11. What is next for you? A new film?
I have a one-act musical I’ve written and a while back I did a documentary about my quest to bring my musical about Typhoid Mary to the stage. It’s a little LES MIS/MOMMA MIA/MUSIC MA-ish. I’ve noticed some festival are vehemently oppossed to AI. Others are more welcoming to the story and not the process. I’ve also found fests that are strictly AI. Know your audience.