BPS 186: Getting Your 1st Film Off the Ground with Brian Petsos

Today on the show, we have actor, writer, director Brian Petsos.
Brian is the writer director of the new film, "Big Gold Brick"
starring Andy Garcia, Oscar Isaac, Megan Fox and Lucy Hale just to
name a few.

After graduating from art school, Brian Petsos eventually began
acting and improvising. While in the conservatory at Chicago’s
famed SecondCity, he started writing; and later he began making
films. Since leaving Chicago for New York City, he has carefully
expanded his repertoire to include varying wor ks that he has
written, directed, produced, performed in, or some combination
thereof.

Petsos started his company, A Saboteur, with the mission of
producing innovative, original, boundary - pushing films that
challenge traditional expectations and underline artistic
integrity. His work has run the gamut, from short form content on
HBO and spots for commercial clients, to full - length feature
films and writing scripts for major studios.

But today he is primarily focused on writing, directing, and
producing his own distinctly flavored work. Petsos's highly
anticipated feature debut, BIG GOLD BRICK, will be released by
Samuel Goldwyn Films in North America in winter of 2022.

The film recounts the story of fledgling writer Samuel Liston
(Emory Cohen) and his exper iences with Floyd Deveraux (Academy
Award nominee Andy Garcia), the enigmatic middle - aged father of
two who enlists Samuel to write his biography.

Golden Globe winner Oscar Isaac, Megan Fox, Lucy Hale, and Shiloh
Fernandez round out this incredible cast in key supporting roles.
The film was written and directed by Petsos, and produced by Petsos
and Greg Lauritano under Petsos’s A Saboteur banner, with Executive
Producers Isaac and Kristen Wiig.

Prior to BIG GOLD BRICK, Petsos wrote, directed, and produced the
highly lauded LIGHTNINGFACE (starring Isaac, executive produced by
Isaac and Wiig; lightningface.com). The film was an Official
Selection of over 30 festivals around the world — including the
60th edition of the BFI London Film Festival, among other high
lights.

It received a Best Actor nomination for Isaac at the 2017 Vaughan
International Film Festival and a nomination for Best Narrative
Comedy at the 2016 Miami short Film Festival, and it was the winner
of both the Vortex Grand Prize at the 2016 Rhode I sland
International Film Festival and Best Short Film at the 2016
Filmfestival Kitzbühel.

The film premiered online in summer of 2017 as a highly coveted
Vimeo Staff Pick and received an abundance of press coverage — from
The Hollywood Reporter to The Huffin gton Post, from Indiewire to
/Film, to Slate, BuzzFeed, Gizmodo, Film Threat, Nerdist, and many
other outlets globally — which ignited virulent enthusiasm and a
continuing flurry of social media chatter.

Film School Rejects referred to it as, “Quite simply one of the
most intriguing short films of 2017,” adding that, “if
LIGHTNINGFACE is eligible for an Oscar Nomination...the other
contenders should look out.”

Brian and I had a very raw and open conversation about how
difficult it was to get this project.

Big Gold Brick recounts the story of fledgling writer Samuel Liston
and his experiences with Floyd Deveraux, the enigmatic middle-aged
father of two who enlists Samuel to write his biography. But the
circumstances that lead up to this arrangement in the first place
are quite astonishing—and efforts to write the biography are
quickly stymied by ensuing chaos in this darkly comedic,
genre-bending film.

We really get into the weeds about how difficult it was for them to
get it going off the ground. Just because he had major talent
involved doesn't mean that it got any easier getting the budget
together and so many other little gems.

Enjoy my conversation with Brian Petsos.

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