Description

Is there a better titled film in the history of the medium than DID YOU REMEMBER THE CAT (2025)? I'd argue no. It gives you an idea of what it's about -- remembering a cat. The title suggests comedy (it's a mix of comedy, drama, and horror). And it's something you'll never forget as a film title. Perfection.

That's the kind of thought process my guest, filmmaker Daniel Foster, has put into all of his films, and he has such fantastic advice on filmmaking, festivals, crowdfunding, making short films, and more.

Happy Halloween. I can't think of a better person and film to spend it with than Daniel and that awesomely titled film, now streaming on Alter's YouTube channel.

In this episode, Daniel and I discuss:

• do we see the cat in DID YOU REMEMBER THE CAT? YES!;
• how he got started in filmmaking, including film school at Temple University;
• are filmmaking labs a good alternative to film school?;
• what constitutes a bad film?
• what he's learned from each of the films he's made;
• how did they come up with the beyond brilliant title: DID YOU REMEMBER THE CAT?
• horror's role as the ultimate big-tent genre;
• where he got his encyclopedic knowledge of indie films;
• how accurate his crowdfunding campaign was and what lessons he took away for it;
• why he was successful on his first day of crowdfunding;
• why the film was released on Alter and during spooky season;
• what's next for him;
• how he comes up with titles and his critiques for short films.

Daniel's Indie Film Highlight: feathers, not wings, currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter.

Memorable Quotes:

"Of course watching movies is the best way to learn, but specifically to watch bad movies. To learn and then analyze like, why is this bad?" 

"So it's always lure people in with comedy, keep them paying attention with the horror, and then hit them with the message whether it's a gut punch or a little heartfelt like we were going for with, DID YOU REMEMBER THE CAT?"

"I'm a fan of statement titles. I wanted it to be something that somebody would say in the theater."

"My goal and my co-writers goal to make this a film that you would turn on every Halloween and have a fun time with, we wanted it to be a crowd pleaser."

About reading the reviews: "I have a incredibly supportive fiance, so sometimes when they get to me, she turns on a spooky movie and makes us some chai tea and we just relax. But no, for the most part, I love like reading the reviews because I have to grow. I have to get better. Some of the critiques that I've gotten have been super helpful in what I'm hoping to do next."

"I definitely think if you are able to have your short be between like 10 to 12 minutes is the preferred."

"So I think for other shorts, if there's something else like it, there's comps that you can have and that's fine, but when the comps are so similar to what you're trying to do and there isn't anything, a new angle in it, I always think just go back to the drawing board."

Links:

Watch DID YOU REMEMBER THE CAT?

Follow Daniel On Instagram