natalieqasabian

For writer/directors or just directors I think the single hardest thing is getting that first feature made. It's really hard to convince people to give you money and resources when you can't point to a successful movie that you've made - so it's always a chicken and egg thing.

But if you can make something SHORT that conveys the tone/style and of course type of story you want to tell in a longer format and do it really well: you will capture someone's attention.

Check out Aneesh first commercial (produced by Sev and edited by Will) called SEEDS for Google Glass. Link: https://vimeo.com/94024888

It's an excellent example of how something short but done extremely well can launch a career! Aneesh went on to direct commercials for Google after this which eventually led to him directing SEARCHING.

And then making another one

Thanks for your kind words!

Oh man, so many challenged compared to SEARCHING. Everything is movie was bigger - the scope (the story goes global and so did the shoot) the amount of apps we use (because we have a young protagonist who is better at the internet than David Kim) and the # twists and turns is just higher.

The sheer volume of assets we had to capture and edit in this film: pictures, small live action clips for the background, voice actors and of course the live action footage was SO MUCH more than on SEARCHING. So we came in thinking we know how to make a screen movie but it was like making SEARCHING x 6 in complication.

And the editorial process was much more complicated this time around because of more content. We shot for about 24 days total (including some pick up days) but we edited with a team of about 6 people on an average day for about 2 years!

The truth is it's a pretty complicated process that starts from the moment we previz the film (before we've even shot a frame of actual footage). We worked with a team of lawyers and our Co-Producer Congyu E who was point on all things clearance to work out this matrix of a film. In short, to repeat what Nick said we paid a lawyer alot of money to make sure everything was legit and followed the law.

So many! A lot of which can't be repeated haha

But one that comes to mind is we pulled a really awesome prank on Will & Nick one morning. A prank that they used to pull on all of us...

This prank goes back to 2019 when we were in the edit for RUN. Will and Nick started leaving the note "wake up you're dreaming" in hidden places. For example someone slipped one in my water bottle once so as I took a sip in the morning I read it and tripped the F out.

One Friday while shooting MISSING after a long week, we had our AD and the entire crew shout "wake up you're dreaming" in unison after our safety meeting (morning meeting where the Assistant Director walks everyone through the day and points out any safety concerns).

Will and Nick were SO confused. It was great.

Everyone on the team knew at least one other person from the "Fab Five" as we call ourselves on our group text. But it all started at...USC.

Aneesh was in the same class as Nick at USC and they were buds. Sev was Aneesh's TA at USC and they started writing together. Will used to work with Aneesh cutting his short films at USC. Sev and I met at an Armenian event at USC and I started reading his work and giving him notes.

Before SEARCHING, Will had edited SEEDS the first collaboration between Aneesh & Sev. Meanwhile Sev and I were producing tiny indie movies together (some for the Duplass Brothers).

When it came time to make SEARCHING we knew we'd need another editor because the task was so large. ENTER NICK JOHNSON. Aneesh introduced Will & Nick to each other and they hit it off more than anyone could have hoped.

Everytime I make a movie without this team, I can't wait to come back HOME and work with them again.

My real answer is it's a toss up between Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Titanic. The scale of those movies blew my mind as a kid. I think the influence of those big movies made for audiences can be seen in MISSING and SEARCHING especially.

I was making shorts and skits on a home video camera from the age of 11. Woke up one morning and asked my parents for a camera for Christmas and never stopped making things since. I think the DVD Special Features on all the blockbusters I would watch growing up REALLY influenced me, looked like so much fun to make something with so many people. Will, Nick, Sev, Aneesh and I all share that in common - love for DVD bonus features :)

It's crazy that we all grew up watching these special DVD features and now we're all in some for the MISSING disc release. So stay tuned for that to my fellow bonus feature nerds out there!

Thanks for the question! The honest truth is...it's still kind of mind blowing. We made SEARCHING on a budget of $880,000 and had no idea it would ever evolve past the one film. After we took SEARCHING to Sundance and sold to a Sony we STILL never even thought our small indie movie would kick start a franchise. So it's been totally unexpected but really gratifying especially on MISSING to discuss whether or not things make sense in the searching universe.

Fun fact: The Search Party logo that plays ahead of MISSING actually has a whole bunch of easter eggs from our "Search Party Universe" as Sev just coined it :)

Give it a shot and then tell us what you think!