26 - Directing Your First Feature After Shorts with Michael Lukk Litwak (Molli & Max in the Future, SXSW 2023)

MICHAEL LUKK LITWAK is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and cartoonist that was born and raised in Los Angeles. His first feature was ‘MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE’ a sci-fi Romantic-Comedy starring Zosia Mamet and Aristotle Athari and is often described as ‘When Harry Met Sally’ meets ‘Futurama.’ ‘MOLLI AND MAX’ had its world premiere at SXSW 2023, played at BFI London, Sitges, and Fantasia before its theatrical distribution in February 2024 and is currently sitting at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes.

2:21 - Molli & Max in the Future

4:31 - Admission to SXSW - getting in as a director on the 12th try

6:51 - The strategic side of top festival admissions

12:41 - What film festivals are worth it?

14:21 - Getting theatrical distribution for a first feature 

15:21 - Additional benefits of theatrical release: NYT review, Late Night exposure

16:11 - Shooting with new tech - virtual production, volume stages, LED stages & green screen

18:01 - Creative solves to making sci-fi on a budget

26:59 - The Life and Death of Tommy Chaos & Stacey Danger - how Michael’s short that got rejected from every major film festival went viral and landed him representation

29:51 - Landing a $2.5 million Warner Bros show - only to have it scrapped with the shutdown of Go90

38:21 - navigating agents & managers as a director

44:21 - Impact of the strikes

47:07 - Cartoons

49:41 - Being featured on Humans of New York

51:21 - Support & understanding when married to another creative in film 

53:25 - Things are not stepping stones and people won’t rescue you

56:16 - Getting inspired again after low points

58:21 - TIME CAPSULE

CONNECT WITH MICHAEL:

IG: @michaellitwak / @molliandmax

https://www.michaellitwak.com/

CONNECT WITH THE SHOW:

All Platforms: @NoSetPathShow

www.NoSetPathShow.com