Just Keep Going: Lessons I Learned Making Self Driver

Self Driver, the debut feature from Canadian writer-director Michael Pierro, is the story of a Toronto ride share driver named D (Nathanael Chadwick) who signs up for a new app that draws him into increasingly horrible ethical dilemmas. Made for under $20,000 CAD — less than $15,000 USD — it was a festival sensation that as of this writing has a perfect 100 on Rotten Tomatoes. In the piece below, Michael Pierro shares some lessons learned.—M.M.

My biggest weakness as a filmmaker has to be impatience. Waiting for permission is not something I’m good at, which can make it tough when it comes to writing, developing and finding funding for a project in an industry built around hurry up and wait. The number of ideas I’ve let die on the vine because I didn’t have it in me to play the long game is hard to think about sometimes. 

It took some years, but eventually I’d come to realize that if I ever wanted to actually make a movie — and I did! — then I was going to have to find a way to make one on my own terms. If I waited for someone to give me permission, I would be waiting for the rest of my life. So when I set out to make Self Driver I knew I was going to have to do it alone or I would never do it all.

I had a five-month window between gigs as an editor, which felt like just enough time to write, prep and shoot something if we played our cards right. So one January night, armed with little more than a half-baked first draft, I texted my good friend and frequent collaborator Kire Paputts, “Hey man, if I made a no budget feature this year, what would you say to producing it?” 

He responded in under a minute. “I would say yes.” 

My plan was simple: work around an idea that could be executed with the smallest crew possible and fill as many roles as I could myself to keep our costs down and crew light. Fly under the radar, work nimbly, without the weight that comes with a traditional crew and focus on the most important elements of a film, story and performance. The concept of Self Driver — following one main character, in an isolated location, over the course of a single night — lent itself to this type of production.

I figured if we leaned into the limitations of our budget and embraced the lo-fi aesthetic, we could make a movie that may not be pretty, but would at least be interesting to watch. 

When I showed Kire the camera I intended to shoot the film on — the Sony ZV1, a minuscule point and shoot designed primarily for vloggers — I was prepared for him to tell me I was crazy. He didn’t. (Though I had a feeling he might have been thinking it.) Either way, he was in and we set our sights on going into production in a little over three months.

Making a film is always an uphill battle, especially at the start of a project when inertia is working against you. But for films like Self Driver, with very little in the way of resources, that hill can feel pretty steep sometimes. It’s a lot easier to collect collaborators when you’ve got the money to pay them what they’re worth.

Not to mention that because of the untraditional approach we were planning to take, a lot of the people we met a long the way, from DPs to actors to funding agencies, were pretty skeptical that we could pull it off. Who could blame them? Our set wasn’t going to look anything like most movie sets, even low-budget ones. And, despite my confidence, I had no track record. There was good reason to believe the whole thing would go off the rails before we even got started.

But for every few skeptics we came across, we dug up one true believer who seemed genuinely excited by our guerrilla approach. Nathanael Chadwick (D), another good friend, was the first on board. I think he said “yes” before I even told him what the movie was about. Slowly but surely we put together a troop of the most talented, dedicated and passionate artists I could ever hope to be a part of.

I’m not exactly sure how it worked out this way, but because of some odd scheduling choices, our very first scene (first setup!) had us rolling up to the pickup-zone of the local international airport and stealing a shot on the arrivals platform. Not only that, but it involved actor Adam Goldhammer (who plays Nic) screaming at someone off camera before getting in the car.

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I was sure that even if we managed to get through the take, we’d have security descending on us as soon as we pulled away from the curb. When we made it to the end of the scene and were coasting down the highway without any flashing lights pulling up behind us, Adam leaned in to ask, “Should we go again?”

 I figured, might as well. Let’s just keep going until someone tells us to stop.

We ended up circling back for four or five takes that morning, getting bigger and bolder each time, pushing the boundaries of what we thought we could get away with. By the time we wrapped the day I was feeling pretty confidant that maybe, just maybe we had a chance at pulling this whole thing off if we just keep going.

That’s not to say there weren’t many moments of doubt. The morning after our forth or fifth night of shooting, exhausted but unable to sleep, I was scrubbing through what we had just shot. I felt sick. The footage was dark, it was grainy, and because we often just let the cameras roll instead of stopping to slate every take, I had hours upon hours to sort through for a three page scene.

I knew this had been all part of my plan, but seeing the reality of what that plan looked like was giving me serious second thoughts. I remember trying to fall asleep as the morning sun cut through the gap in our curtains, thinking, “Was this a huge mistake? Should I call it now, before I embarrass myself?”

Self Driver Director Michael Pierro on Overcoming Doubts

The urge to abandon this project, like I had with so many projects in the past, became very real. But backing out at that stage, despite how much my body wanted me to, wasn’t an option. Not after convincing all these people to help us. Not after all the work they had already given us for free. I owed it to them to see the thing through. I had to figure it out and just keep going. 

That became my mantra throughout production.

When security shuts us down outside a location, find somewhere else to finish the scene and just keep going. 

When the prop gun we rented looks like shit, get creative with some bubble wrap and just keep going.

When the sun is about to come up and we’ve got one more scene to get through, just keep going until the sky gets too blue to film. Then pack it up, get some sleep and come back again when it’s dark. 

Our last night of production was also our most complicated. We had stunts, special effects, fake blood, a fight, and had to shoot the entire climax and final scene of the movie. Nearly fifteen pages in twelve hours. And on top of all that, the forecast was calling for intermittent rain all night. The only night we absolutely had to be outside of the car and it was going to rain! Once again I was tempted to call it.

Thankfully Kire talked some sense into me. Actor Catt Filippov (who plays Angel) was driving back to New York as soon as she wrapped. If we didn’t get it in the can that night, then when would we? Just keep going.

We did.

The urgency of the night was infectious. Everyone understood the stakes and rallied to pull it off. Even the weather played along. Through some miracle it only ever rained when we wanted it to, helping to make the final images of the film some of our most cinematic.

The sun came up as we were rolling on our very last shot of the night. What had seemed impossible twelve hours earlier was now sitting in our rearview mirror thanks to the talent and hustle of our small but mighty cast and crew.

That morning, after everyone else had gone home, I could feel the come-down setting in as I packed up our equipment for the last time. The adrenaline I had been running on for the past few weeks was quickly leaving my body and that familiar feeling of doubt began to creep back. So many people had given so much for this project, trusting that, despite our unorthodox approach, I knew what I was doing. What if I didn’t? 

But what other choice did I have? Just keep going.

Self Driver is available on VOD on May 8 from Cinephobia.

Main image: (L-R) Director Michael Pierro and actor Nathaneal Chadwick on the set of Self Driver. Courtesy of Pierro.