I developed a group of friends around me that were all as crazy as I was about wanting to make films.

I was writing short films and I was going through this really, really, really terrible end of a relationship that I didn't want to be going through. It was too much for me to process and all of a sudden I had this idea for my first feature film and I knew right away I had to start writing it.

I don't have any ambitions as an actor. I felt very uncomfortable doing it. The first take every day I'd open my mouth and no words would come out. I'd do a couple of takes and eventually I could run the lines.

But I always see myself as the filmmaker. I wonder if everybody else sees me more as an actor.

I am a mechanical techie. I can build things with my hands.

I developed a group of friends around me that were all as crazy as I was about wanting to make films.

I'm from Wisconsin; well, that's where I went to school from, like, sixth grade till I graduated high school.