I like to think of characters in relation to other cinematic characters.

Watching my own past heartache and experience day after day - it was gut-wrenching, cathartic, beautiful, and painful. That and shooting the film in less than a month.

I like to think of characters in relation to other cinematic characters.

I focus on darker things or bad behavior or explicit dialogue because creatively I am more interested in my mistakes and why I made them than my good deeds and my achievements.

I've really carelessly gotten out of relationships that were incredibly destructive instead of being honest.

I challenged myself to write/direct a romantic comedy. People trash talk the rom com, but it's one of the oldest cinematic genres, with stellar origins like Twentieth Century and Trouble in Paradise. I think as audiences lost their innocence, the genre lost its suspense. To create suspense, you need obstacles, so I gave my couple an obstacle that very few people ever overcome: their own behavior and their past.

I want people to understand and recognize that when it comes to dating, you're not as crazy as you think you are. Everyone needs love. We need it like air or water. We just don't know how to get it.