What an honor it was to chat with the extremely talented Director of Photography Albert Arthur. A career spanning over 45 years, his brilliant cinematography can currently be seen on the hit AMC TV series “Better Call Saul”. 

Matthew Toffolo: You got the honor to DP the last episode of “Breaking Bad”. How did that come about? And how was the last day on set? It must have been very emotional.

Albert Arthur: Michael Slovis, the DP for most of the series, and who had been my gaffer many years ago, had been trying to get me to DP episodes he directed for a long time, but my schedule never worked. When it came time for him to direct his last episode, I had to say yes. Then the schedule for the finale got extended and he had a conflict. So I came back to shoot the finale. As you can…

Michael Simmonds is a wealth of knowledge when he chats about his love of cinematography. He is a man who is constantly looking into the future and only looking back when inspiration is needed. He is a rare talent who is able to move seamlessly from documentary to TV to feature films.  It was an honor to chat with him.

Matthew Toffolo: What are the biggest things you learn when you work on documentaries that help you when making live action feature films and TV shows?

Michael Simmonds: There are many ways to approach shooting a Verite documentary. Sometimes you need a complete and editable scene every ten minutes. Meaning, you are constantly getting CU’s, inserts and establishing shots over and over again, regardless of what is happening. Or you can approach a doc like you would going fishing–you stay back with the camera and drift around until something interesting…

Chatting with Tia Nolan about the craft of editing was a pure joy. Her recent credits include: How to be Single (2016), Angie Tribeca season 2 (2016), Annie (2014), Friends with Benefits (2011), The Woman (2008), and Bewitched (2005). She is a wealth of knowledge in the art of making a great comedy – as you’ll learn in his interview. Enjoy!

Matthew Toffolo: What is the role of a TV episode editor? How is this different is comparison to working on a feature film?

Tia Nolan: The role of a TV episode editor is to assemble and fine tune the footage provided to its final broadcast ready product. I have only worked in scripted half hour comedy television. I have found that the craft is similar to feature film editing in performance and timing. The real difference lies in the schedule and who gets final cut. In television, there are usually two…

NATIVE IMMIGRATION, directed by Eric Romero played to rave reviews at the July 2016 Comedy Film Festival. It was an honor to sit down with him and chat about his career and short film.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Eric Romero: I’m an immigrant living in UK myself and it’s an universal topic. I’ve always felt very welcome in Scotland (which is an amazing place, it’s probably the Canada of Europe…) but you could see all that was going on on TV with more right wing parties growing in numbers and I thought it was a good moment to ridiculize all the concept of immigration. Because, after all, what makes somebody an immigrant? That sounds like a simple question, but if one thinks about it it’s a quite complex topic. I really wanted to make fun of cliches and try to show how silly they…

CLEAN BREAK, directed by Tim Butcher was the winner of Best Overall Performances at the July 2016 Comedy Short Film Festival. It was an honor to sit down with him to chat about his film and filmmaking career.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Tim Butcher: I wanted to make a film that was a step up from my others – that had slightly higher production standards and told a bit of a story, rather than just outlining a sketch. Ive always wanted to do something about a break up.

MT: From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?

TB: I’d say about 4 months.

MT: How would you describe your short film in two words!?

TB: Hateful breakup (is breakup one word?)

MT: What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

TB:…