Q: How did you come up with the idea for your thesis film "Traffic Cops"?

 

​A: I was in Script Development Class at The Art Institute Of New York City, trying to come up with an script idea for my thesis film. I knew I wanted to do buddy cop comedy  and orginally I had a script I wrote titled "Undercover Substitute". The pitch I had  for the movie was "Kindergarten Cop" meets Mrs. Doubtfire" but the problem was I wrote it as a feature not a short. So, during class break I took a walk on Canal Street to try to  get some inspiration for an idea. As i was walking down the street,  I saw these two city traffic cops arguing with this bus driver. The bus driver told them he didn't respect them cause in his eyes they weren't "real cops". i thought that was pretty funny and ask myself how funny of a movie would that be about two city traffic cops that get no respect and the idea for 'Traffic Cops" the film was born.

 

Q: How did you raise money for production? Thesis films for film students can be expensive.

 

A: I knew it was going to be expensive and I did'nt know what was the best way to raise money for the film. I didn't even have a fully written script yet for 'Traffic Cops". I just had an outline and I knew who I wanted in the movie. My fellow clasamates and close friends, Giovanni Lozda and Cheron Bey. I decided to raise money on Indiegogo.com. We did a photo shoot with photographer/friend Kermit Mercado and created two movie posters for the film. We then did an Indiegogo Interview Video, with Gio, Cheron and myself,  two promo trailers. We uploaded all that to our Indiegogo Campiagn and before we met our deadline we were able to raise, $1,075 dollars for production.

 

Q: Who is in your thesis film "Traffic Cops"?

 

A: I  have a really talented cast.   A lot of the actors that are in "Traffic Cops" I worked with in numeroues projects that I have directed. Giovanni Lozada and Matthew Napoli I worked with in my short comedy "Flip Off".   Matthew plays  my Captian in the film. The first day of shooting was with Matt, on Halloween Night. We only had a small window of shooting time that night and he gave us a great comedic performance. Eric Douglas  plays Giovanni and myself arch rival in the film, as Officer Skidmark. Eric was my actor in my Movieticket.com commercial.  

I love working with stand up comedians and I was really blessed to have three in my film. I have stand up comedian Camille Theobald, who i met during a screening of one of my films at the Alpha Channel Student Festival. I saw her in one my friends thesis film at the festival and really wanted work with her after that.  We did the end of the world comedy "The World Is Ending...Finally".  Stand up comic Keith Leanza is in the movie. He's been in two prjects of mine, "The World Is Ending... Finally" and my sketch comedy show "Black/White". The same goes for comic Cheron Bey. He is also in "The World Is Ending Finally" and "Black/White".  Cheron is also a co producer of "Traffic Cops".  Gio, Cheron and myself ,we all came up together in film school and created a tight friendship. We plan to keep on working together. We have prison break comedy titled "The Come Up" 2, which is sequel to a comedy I did a few semsters back. We all starring in the film together aswell. 

 

Q: Who is your DP or Cinematographer?

 

A: My Cinematographer is Julie Manso. She also is  an Art Institute classmate of mine. She was my cinematographer for a music video that I directed and she was also cinematographer for my project "The World Is Ending... Finally" as well.  We worked together before, so she knows how I work and we both respect each other ideas.  We talked about the look for the film, lighting scheme and everything. We both knew what we wanted when we got on set. Everybody on set for "Traffic Cops " all go to film school together, so it's like a little film family. ( laughs ). The grips, the gaffers, the sound operator, etc. My 1AC , Christian Noriega, was my DP for my Indiegogo Campiagn Video  for "Traffic Cops" and DP for promo trailer. He also worked with Giovanni on his music video. 

 

 

Q: What's your plans for your thesis film "Traffic Cops"?

 

A: My plan is to first get it done ( laughs ) but after that we want to submit it to a couple of festivals and hopefully get a distribution deal. I personally want it up on Netflix. We plan to turn into a trilogy. The script for the sequel is already done and we plan to film the sequel as well.  We also want to do a spin off of the "Traffic Cops"  police rivals, Officers Shipbricks and Skidmarks, played by actor Eric Douglas and stand up comedian Keith Leanza.  

 

Q: When will "Traffic Cops" be relased?

 

A: "Traffic Cops" will be released sometime this summer in July.  I graduate in September of 2014, So to graduate on time I have to have it done before then. ( laughs ). I want to do  big  marketing plan before we release the movie. We working on releasing some songs off the "Traffic Cops" soundtrack by Bay Area rapper Ase Millticket , film two music videos and  also release an online  "Traffic Cops" video game, based off the movie,  before the movie comes out.

 

Q: Any last words?

 

A: Yeah, go see "Traffic Cops" this summer ( smiles )

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