An interview with Hangover Lounge co-founder Raymond De Felitta
Film director and co-founder of Hangover Lounge Raymond De Felitta and our Communications Coordinator and Contributor Lauren Taglienti met remotely for our very first posting of XCU: The Viewfinder. From the comfort of their respective social distances (both in their own homes), Lauren interviewed Raymond about Hangover Lounge, Screenplay Resurrection, the community of writers and entertainment industry professionals we’re building, and the future of entertainment, storytelling, and production in the age of Covid-19.
Lauren: Why did you decide to start Hangover Lounge?
Raymond: Hangover Lounge came into existence just by the fact that we started to make a film. And that was the documentary, ‘Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris. David Zellerford, my partner, and I, we started making it without any funding so it was very much what you could call a homemade film. And as a result, it was really a very freeing thing to do. I had directed a movie shortly before that that was the opposite. It was very difficult: a difficult shoot with difficult personalities, and I had to answer to a lot of people with warring opinions and conflicts.
Hangover Lounge became symbolic of freedom and doing something creative, something off the boards, and not following everyone else’s cookie cutter decisions. We made another documentary called Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story, and we’ve developed other projects under the aegis of Hangover Lounge and came to the idea of podcasting. Again, it just seemed like a natural extension of the Hangover Lounge ethos that gave birth to the idea of Screenplay Resurrection, which is in effect saying, “Your script is not limited to just being read—” You know, most screenplays don’t get made into movies, so Screenplay Resurrection is another path that people could follow and say, “My script is not dead, and I can find another way of getting it out there.”
Lauren: That’s interesting to me as a writer and someone who’s read a lot of submission scripts and written coverage. It’s really exciting, from both the writer and the submission-reader standpoint, that Screenplay Resurrection is offering alternative production options to writers. What do you think that means to all of these writers who work so hard and don’t get the results or recognition that they want?
Raymond: Well, we are in the process of building a community as a result of podcasting and Screenplay Resurrection. And what we’re hoping for is that Hangover Lounge becomes an umbrella that other creators can join in and contribute their ideas and develop projects or podcasts or series- so we’re helping to facilitate people’s dreams and craft. That would be a really awesome way to continue and to develop the brand. Also, we’re entertainment-centric. And hopefully we’re amplifying voices that are not frequently heard and spotlighting corners of the entertainment world that might be considered more niche.
For instance, over the years, we’ve been working on a documentary about Cabaret. And we interviewed a lot of cool people, and those interviews are all available. It’s a Hangover Lounge production that could be something we potentially turn into a podcast. I don’t think there’s another podcast running with Shelley Berman, Carol Burnett, Phyllis Diller, Joan Rivers, and Jonathan Winters. We have great conversations with them. So again, it’s a corner of the entertainment business that I would love to see out there in the same way that potentially Screenplay Resurrection or Musical Theater Resurrection could work, which is that the podcasts could serve as a jumping off point for the documentary in this case. We don’t have to just think that there’s only one way to do it; podcasting is a way of putting our work out there that’s inventive, entertaining. I would summarize by saying that we would really like Hangover Lounge to be in the business of promoting dreams and building community.
“What we’re hoping for is that Hangover Lounge becomes an umbrella that other creators can join in and contribute their ideas and develop projects or podcasts or series - so we’re helping to facilitate people’s dreams and craft.”
~Raymond De Felitta
Lauren: And in discussing these different formats of storytelling, I’m curious what effect you think the pandemic will have on theatre, on movies and TV, and on podcasts.
Raymond: I mean I think in a way podcasts are the luckiest format on the block here because you know it’s still safe to do now. We recorded this before the pandemic so we were all in a room together. You certainly don’t need to be. You can do it just like we’re doing this. It’s probably the safest and the fact that— in popularity suggests to me that people are—
Raymond’s connection cuts out. After about a minute, we reconnect.
Lauren: I lost you for a sec. I don’t know what happened.
Raymond: It’s okay. The 21st century happened. We have more technology than we know how to perfect is all. So, I think that the podcast explosion has been about mobility. You can be exercising. You can be driving. You can be doing things. Anything solitary can be accompanied by a podcast. You don’t need your huge TV screen or sound bar. You know, everyone has different feelings about what’s going to happen to movies and TV. My sense is that we’re going to get used to seeing things in different ways. I hate when we hear people completely predict the abolishment of something. There was a time when TV was going to abolish movies in the 1950s, and it never did. Theatre has been written off through the entire 20th and early 21st century, and theater doesn’t go away. I think [the pandemic] it will probably force people to look at how to make things, and influence what gets made with what’s safe for production. Right now the p.g.a., the Producers Guild of America, has been working on guidelines on how to safely shoot a movie, and I won’t go into the whole thing ‘cause it’s kind of complicated. But clearly, there’s only certain kinds of movies that have limited casts and limited locations that fit this model. But then again, there are scripts that there’s just no way to do it without lots and lots of people, and I think that’s going to be tough, at least for a while.
Lauren: Do you see Covid-19 being a popular theme in Screenplay Resurrection submissions?
Raymond: I have a feeling a lot of them will be written prior to all this, but I know a lot of people are also addressing it right now in their writing. So there’s that. But you know, if you have work that you’re proud of, send it. Don’t be shy if your piece of writing hasn’t gotten you anywhere. That doesn’t necessarily reflect on its quality. Because we’re doing something with Screenplay Resurrection that we’re hoping is socially viable with well-crafted writing. Above all, we looking for scripts that we think are top notch that can be adapted to the audio medium. If they’re too visually reliant, they won’t make for a good podcast ‘cause there’ll be too much of having to describe what you’re saying. For instance, for our pilot, which was our own script, “Murdering Michael Malloy,” that’s a group of actors and a couple of locations. It’s not too complicated to adapt it for audio, so it actually worked quite well that way. The narrator basically had to bridge scenes and doesn’t really have to describe much of what’s happening. So that's another element we have to look at. You can have a great script, but some of them will be too visually weighted to make the transition to audio.
Lauren: What do you think differentiates Cinefone from Movies ‘Til Dawn from Screenplay Resurrection?
Raymond: Cinefone is a single episode of a feature-length script as opposed to a serialized dramatic presentation like Screenplay Resurrection. It’s more of an entertaining pitch, if you will: a telling of the story with narration, some dramatized scenes, and sound effects. It’s also a tool for writers to be able to use for scripts that— sorry to say— some people or companies don’t want to take the time to read. But if you send them this entertaining 15-20 minute audio file that they can listen to in the car and get the gist of what your script and story is, then that can encourage people to say, “Alright. I really do want to take this seriously and read it.” So that’s really what Cinefone is.
In terms of Movies ‘Til Dawn which I started doing about 6 months ago, my whole idea there is conversations between myself and other filmmakers. Specifically, what I wanted to do as a self-professed film history geek was talk to the people who have long lists of credits. And, in fact, if they’re not working anymore or working rarely, so much the better. I want to talk to veterans, I want to feel history, and I want to discuss craft with people who have seriously accomplished the top rank of filmmaking. So to that end, I’ve interviewed Peter Bogdanovich, the late John Avildsen who directed Rocky, and I’m about to post Harold Becker who directed Sea of Love and Malice. Also, people I’ve worked with like Andy Garcia. He’s very much still working as an actor and as a director, so it’s a combination of that. And I haven’t heard of another podcast quite doing that. It’s not an interview so much as us conversing. I always want to differentiate it as a conversation. An interview format of a filmmaker who’s working today can quickly turn into celebrity talk, and that’s not what I was looking to do with Movies ‘Til Dawn.
XCU: The Viewfinder is not only our blog, but it’s a community we’re building of industry professionals, a mix of emerging and veteran talent, and a place where you can contribute your point of view and ideas. We welcome guest contributors and would love to hear your thoughts about subjects from the entertainment industry that matter to you.
If you’re interested in writing or recording and posting your POV on XCU: The Viewfinder, please email us at hangoverlounge@gmail.com
