Young director Landon Coats on Stalled: “It was intimidating at first “

“Stalled” tells the tense story of a scummy defense attorney who finds himself trapped in a bathroom stall with an armed and desperate young man. A powerful 10-minute thriller that led ISA to award young filmmaker Landon Coats Gold Best Director (Male) in the round of September.

ISA: What made you decide to make this film?

Landon Coats: I had been writing the script for almost a year and decided it was time. From there, Ashlee Sanchez, (producer) and I assembled the crew and made it happen.

ISA: What budget did you have and how did it affect the production?

LC: We had about $3000 give or take a few hundred. We had a lot of great members of the crew who worked on favors, so that really helped us do it. Aside from that, it didn’t affect the production too much.

ISA: How long was the shooting and which were the main challenges on the set?

LC: Three days in total, two in the bathroom and one at the train station. The biggest challenge was we couldn’t shut down the train station completely so we had to shoot around people from time to time.

ISA: How difficult was it to get access to the train station?

LC: There was a good amount of hoops to jump through, but thankfully Ashlee took care of most of that!

Jose Rosete and Brady Lindsey in Stalled

Brady Lindsey in Stalled

ISA: What impact do you expect to have with “Stalled”?

LC: I hope that people pick up on the themes I wanted to present, but at the end of the day I just wanted to entertain.

ISA: Are you happy with the final result or would you change something?

LC: I am happy with it. There were a few shots we weren’t able to get either because of not having enough money or not enough space, but despite those setbacks, I’m happy with the final result.

ISA: Have you ever felt any constraint by being such a young director?

LC: It was intimidating at first because most of the cast and crew were older than me, but I just help my head high and did my best to articulate my vision, from there we took it one step at a time.

ISA: What are your overall career goals and what’s next?

LC: I want to make a few more shorts, to really sharpen my skills, but after that I want to work on a feature. I’m working on a few scripts right now, so we will see how it goes.

ISA: What meant for you, as a filmmaker, to be awarded in Independent Shorts Awards, among so many films?

LC: Just knowing someone watched “Stalled” is such a good feeling, but knowing someone watched it and enjoyed it too, now that is a really good feeling, one that cant be replaced.