Samantha N. McDanel

filmmaker, performer, potential rad human-being. chaotic neutral. Chickasaw Nation. she/they

[Samantha N. McDanel @sinmantha]

@fringeblog oh yea. I’m relieved! plus, really this “offload” is them hiring someone to do the assistant edit/assembly work I just don’t have time for rn, so when they’re ready our schedules will line up perfectly for me to hop onboard and do the fun work, and avoid burnout. relieving!

[Samantha N. McDanel @sinmantha]

been working on 3 features films somewhat simultaneously, but found out today that one is off my plate for a couple months which feels very much like fate wanted to align my goals with my actual capacity to avoid burnout…

and thank god bc I was starting to feel the overwhelm

[Samantha N. McDanel @sinmantha]

I love making movies and somehow while editing, I am overflowing creatively! so been writing a horror short that has officially creeped me out lol. v stoked to work on that asap.

[Samantha N. McDanel @sinmantha]

let’s seeee um also got sent 2 more fun narrative features, one to edit and one to possibly produce. awaiting new draft of another to produce next year for sure.

and have one releasing this summer.

[Samantha N. McDanel @sinmantha]

HAVING A BLAST THO

1 doc that was a pilot now a feature after our first pass on things, 1 horror that is finishing filming and I’m loving the additions to it, and my feature doc that’ll pick back up on filming soon and I feel really good about beginning some of post on

[Micah Erfan @micah_erfan]

Why is the mainstream media always talking about California's problems, and never about the insane conditions in red states?

[𝓔𝓶 ♡ @emkenobi]

Imagine being in high school and you get contacted by James fucking Wan because he loved your YouTube videos and wants to make a movie 😭 I couldn’t think of a cooler career beginning for a horror lover. I can’t wait to see what he does in the future.

[Matt Braly @Radrappy]

He's right. Theres a whole legion of adults now who can't even write an email without a machine helping them pick the tone and word choice. Wake up people this is not who you wanted to be lmao

[Eden Dranger @Eden_Eats]

Unfortunately I think the lesson Hollywood will learn from the success of OBSESSION and BACKROOMS isn’t to take a chance on new directors and original stories, it’ll be to like only take a chance on online influencers between the ages of 20-26.

[Samantha N. McDanel @sinmantha]

I don’t know if it’s the hard start caffeine kick from taking midol first thing this morning, but there’s something exciting in the air today…

[Boots Riley @BootsRiley]

And again- this STILL took VFX- comping and clean up- which is not to be undervalued. Just no CGI.

[Vic Vaiana @vicvaiana]

All this in just 4 years.

Remember when they insisted it was impossible to build green infrastructure quickly enough

[Boots Riley @BootsRiley]

For low-budget filmmakers- since you have friends and time- you can figure out how to do a lot more in your movies this way than w CGI. Someone will say otherwise, but they aren't comparing what it takes to get CGI that looks of comparable quality. I Love Boosters is out now.

[DiscussingFilm @DiscussingFilm]

Steven Spielberg gives his thoughts on AI usage in filmmaking:

“I don't believe there is any substitute for the soul. I don't think that's an algorithm that is inventible... don't tell me I don't have the right antagonist in this story, don't tell me how to write my dialogue, don't tell me where the camera has to go…

If AI wants to help me find locations, that's great. Saves us some leg work… Use AI as a tool, but do not use AI as the final word on anything creative.”

(Source: https://t.co/EcBwHitcql)

[Reagan Gomez @ReaganGomez]

Is this what we want for our kids? Hell, is this how we want our billionaires leaders to talk about humanity? Humans have existed/discovered/learned just fine up until now. We do not just have to accept this dystopian future these folks are creating for us.

[Luke Barnett @LukeBarnett]

The key difference between 99% of the “online to feature” breakouts we’re seeing VS the YouTuber explosion of the 2010’s, in my opinion, is that all of these folks are people making truly great short form narrative content first.

They’re getting really good at it before making the jump. These aren’t TikTokers making bad UGC content or vlogging or random low hanging fruit jokes suddenly being given film budgets. So the lesson is yes, make short form content. Figure out your voice, build an audience but also get really really good at filmmaking. I knew over a year ago that Obsession was gonna be great just because of how great their short form content has been. It takes a lot of luck and a LOT of talent. But when that talent is finally given a real opportunity? This happens.

[David Leninhawk 🎃 @DavidLeninhawk]

Horror is a unique genre.

1. Budgets can usually stay low.
2. Doesn't need stars because the genre is the star.
3. Audiences don't mind taking a chance on an original film versus known IP as much as with other genres.

[NickNirmata @NickNirmatAAA]

Every person who's watched this movie early says it doesn't explain a lot, which I think is PERFECT. The Backrooms should stay unexplained and mysterious. That's a huge part of what makes it so unnerving and scary.

[𝐍𝐚𝐝𝐢. @luvblessingz]

Letting a billionaire tell you anything about morality is insane.

[bailey @baileylikemovie]

The ‘youtubers can’t be filmmakers’ crowd been real quiet lately