(bright music) - Will you consider this?

You grow up, you like movies, then you try to, you know, dissect them and figure out how it all works.

Well, this young man, and I can call you young, you're considerably younger than me.

David Ferino, did just that, and is doing just that.

He is writing films, directing films, kind of produce, I guess, you're thinking of everything.

- A little bit.

- David Ferino, you grew up in West Peoria for a while.

- [David] Yep.

- And then you moved to another part of Peoria, but welcome.

- Thanks.

- So tell me about yourself.

- Good to be here.

- Tell me about, wow, I don't even know what, where should I jump in?

Where do we begin?

- Well, okay.

So how old, because I remember seeing you, you always, you liked mechanics.

You like getting into things, engineering.

So when did you decide that you thought, well, maybe I'd like to make movies?

We have pictures of you with a camera and everything.

- Yeah, yeah.

I think I've loved movies since I came outta the womb.

I think I've had, I don't know if it's a blessing or a curse, but I've known that this is what I wanted to do since I was just a wee lad.

I mean, my mom tells the story a lot that when I was like four or five, we went to Disney World and there was the Haunted Mansion ride.

And I walked into the lobby, before you even get on a ride.

- [Christine] Okay.

- And there was an animatronic werewolf, and I was terrified.

And I was like, I can't do this.

And my mom said, "Of course you can.

It's just special effects.

It's like a Tim Burton movie."

I thought, oh, okay.

And so all of a sudden, I was going through it, and I wanted to see how everything worked.

I wanted to see how the holograms moved, and the graves popped up.

So, I don't know, it's just weirdly, I think it's just somehow in my DNA.

I don't know.

It's always been there.

- That's crazy.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Crazy.

- And locally, I think my closest access point to movies was theater.

And so, you know, I was a little thespian, and acted.

And then I think, you know, as I was growing up, sort of Prosumer camcorders became more accessible and more affordable.

And as soon as I had one of those in my hand, everything changed.

And it was like, oh, this is really what I want to do.

I'm not sure that as I've gotten older, I think my comfort "acting" has diminished significantly.

And yeah, it was all about actually being on the other side.

- Pretty fun.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Pretty fun story.

Make it work.

So, real quickly, you also grew up in a friendship with Blake Wirth.

- Yes.

- Who's got a show here on the station.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Vibe 309.

So that's kind of a crazy connection, 'cause he kind thought the same way you did.

You were in the same class, weren't you?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Okay.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We were having a bit of a reunion this weekend.

It's very cool.

It's nice to see him.

Nice to see him also doing the same thing.

- How about it?

- Yeah, yeah.

- And you grew up in West Peoria, so you played together.

Did you ever know that you two would be doing this kind of thing?

Did he show an interest in any kind of- - I don't recall.

- Okay.

- I don't think so.

I mean, I just, I do remember Blake being a very animated, you know, outward guy.

- [Christine] Yeah.

- I think we both kind of had that in common, but I don't remember the film thing.

And even at that age too, I think, I don't know that I was quite as laser focused as like, I'm gonna have a career in movies, you know?

I just knew that I love this stuff.

At the time, I think it was just an interest and a passion as opposed to like, this lifelong commitment, you know?

- So you live in Hollywood and, but before you got there, you were at NYU.

- [David] Yeah.

- Which has an excellent film program.

So tell me about that.

Well, first of all, you went to Richwoods High School.

- [David] Richwoods, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- And did a lot of things there too.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Part of the reason I went to Richwoods is that I believe they were, I don't know if this still holds true, but at that time, I think they were the only high school that had a media program.

And that was huge for me, to be able to get my hands dirty on camera equipment, and just learn kind of both the theory side of it, and the technical side of stuff.

And I think it was in that class, that I was meeting more like-minded people, and we were goofing around with cameras, as well as just with my buddies, making little shorts and stuff, you know, nights and weekends and sleepovers.

(Christine chuckles) So, yeah.

So that was, like I said, a big part of why I went to Richwoods.

And then I think was probably my sophomore year of high school is when I was like, oh, film school is a thing that exists, and that's something I should take seriously and start trying to figure out where I wanna wind up.

And it was between USC and NYU, which are both great programs.

And I think I was like Mr.

School Spirit at Richwoods.

I was super involved.

And I worried that if I went to USC, ultimately I worried that if I went to USC, it'd be more of that, it was a lot of Greek life, it's a lot of football, and I thought this maybe be four years of the same.

And if I went to NYU, there was like no proper campus.

They really tried to kind of push you out into the workforce a little sooner.

And so I thought, well, yeah, we'll give that a shot, and I'm really happy with the decision - And see how smart you are, that you thought that through, you know?

'Cause other kids, it's like, hey, four years of party.

(David laughing) You were a little concerned about that.

- Well, there was some of that- - There was some of that, sure.

- In New York, sure.

- In New York.

Yeah, exactly.

So, back to Richwoods, before we get to NYU in particular, what show, what movie did you film and edit and everything that- - [David] Oh, sure.

- That you recall that was like, really, it's like, okay, I'm onto this thing.

- Yeah.

So there was a number of guys that were a year ahead of me that had made this little movie called "Crime and Punishment" that was, despite the reference of the novel, it was, they had staged a kidnapping outside of one of the local theaters, and they got arrested.

And it was, you know, it was just teenagers being teenagers, never thinking that this was gonna turn into something worse.

And so they actually, and they were filming it all.

So they have all this footage of the faux kidnapping as well as the police coming to get 'em.

And they turned it into this kind of epic 30 minute, 40 minute short film.

And my buddies and I were inspired, and did the same thing.

And then I think I took it a step further in saying, "Let's also do a film festival."

And I think, I'm trying, I think we had done it two years.

I think it was my junior year and my senior year.

So yeah, I believe it was my junior year, I kind of hosted the film festival.

And then it was my senior year, it was the film festival, plus we made this ridiculous movie.

I think we were really kind of aping, not necessarily their story, but just their approach of like, we're kids and we don't have access to real cameras, but we can still put something together.

- Right.

- And- - [Christine] Did you edit in camera?

- No, actually at that time, you know, that's when personal computers were getting beefier.

And yeah, that's when I actually was first learning how to, you know, edit.

- Right.

- It's not using the software we're using now, but I mean, we were really cutting, and I think that I was cutting my teeth (Christine laughs) at that age as well.

But yeah, we made this ridiculous movie called "Gandalf 2000", where it was Gandalf the Wizard from "Lord of the Rings" is actually evil, and he has this silly cat and mouse chase with Harry Potter.

(Christine laughs) It was very silly, but we learned a lot, and had a hell of a lot of fun in the process.

- That's fun.

- Yeah.

- That is fun.

A fun memory.

- Yeah.

- Okay, so you finally graduated, you put that aside and you went to NYU and you got serious.

- [David] Yeah.

- So what are some of the first things that you had to do there?

- It was, I remember it being in a, it was, you know, they step you through the paces of every facet of filmmaking, television, you know, studio filmmaking, and TV making, and then as well as documentary storytelling, screenwriting, narrative storytelling.

And I tried it all, but I knew that it was, it was really, you know, feature filmmaking that I wanted to do.

So while I was there, I made two, I mean, I made a number of shorts, but there was two that, you know, were like proper movies with real crews and real lighting, and some great actors.

And, you know, that's where I think I really got to learn the most, was in doing that.

And then even beyond my projects, we were accruing on everybody else's.

- So you learned every single position?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And you know, you're getting to know some more than others, but you are a trying your hand at everything.

Yeah.

And it's also wild to see, you know, how all of us in that class together have grown, and keep in touch, and, you know, a lot of us are still very serious about what we're doing.

- That's awesome.

- Yeah.

- That's awesome.

All right.

So, one of your years, you went out for an internship in LA in Hollywood, and you did an internship for Martin Scorsese.

- In New York, though.

- Oh, in New York.

- [David] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Oh, I thought you went out.

Okay, got that mixed up.

- Yeah, - But I guess your mom said that one thing during a break, there was a special sign right there that said, "Don't talk to Martin."

- So that's- (Christine laughs) There a kernel of truth in that.

- Okay.

- The rule that I was told by his people was you don't talk to Marty unless Marty talks to you.

- [Christine] Oh.

- And- - One of those.

- One of those.

And he was actually incredibly affable, and always quick to be the first to say hello, and "How you doing, blah, blah, blah."

But I think what my mom is probably remembering is there was a day, it was his birthday, and his whole staff was kind of gathered in the break room.

And it was a ton of people that he'd worked with intimately for decades.

And then me.

And he kind of pretended that he was looking through the periscope, and he went around, and then he landed on me, and he had no idea who I was, - What do you doing here?

- And, but he didn't say anything.

- Okay.

- And so I still had baked into my mind, "You don't talk to Marty unless he talks to you."

- [Christine] Right.

- Even though in the, you know, in reality, I could have said anything.

"Hi, I am David."

Whatever.

"I'm your intern."

And, but I just, I froze up, and somebody had to introduce me, and he said, "Oh, you know, these interns, they just come and go.

If I just saw somebody on the ceiling one day, and they said, that's an intern.

I said, yeah, who knows.

Maybe we got an ninjas on the ceiling, or maybe they were just an interns.

I don't know."

And then similarly, I'm never gonna be able to live this down.

I have kept in touch with some of his staff members, and I had the privilege of going to see like a fine cut.

It was close to finish, but one of his documentaries that was on Netflix, this very private, intimate screening.

And I was sitting there, before he walked in, but I was placed nearest the door, and same thing.

He comes in, there's a lot of Netflix executives and people he works with.

- And you.

- And me.

(Christine laughs) And he shakes everybody's hands, and same thing, he came to me, and I'm, you know, in my thirties at this point, but I still had, you know, this 20-year-old mentality of, you don't say anything unless he speaks first.

- Right.

- And he shook my hand and smiled, but didn't say anything.

And I just- - [Christine] So you didn't say anything either.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So ridiculous.

But yeah, it was an awesome, awesome experience.

I think what I took from that the most was he just had just this treasure trove of movies, old, new, foreign, you know, domestic but unheard of, and just weird, crazy stuff.

And so I was able to just like, rent those movies out and watch as much as I could.

And so I think I was just consuming a lot in that period.

- And glean a little bit for your own.

- Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, I never worked, I was never like shadowing him, or seeing him work, but just, you know, if I could overhear a conversation in the office, and in his office, he worked with his editor and so I would occasionally overhear their conversations.

And so yeah, I was picking up whatever.

- Just record that.

Good for you.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Alright.

So most recently, we had a screening of your movie that you shot here.

- Yep.

- "Wardcliffe".

- [David] "Wardcliffe".

- [Christine] Number one, why did you call it "Wardcliffe"?

- [David] So there's a- - [Christine] I know there's a neighborhood, Wardcliffe.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I actually had a friend who lived there growing up, and I had always seen the movie as like a bit of a suburban drama.

Now the movie has nothing to do with Peoria, by the way.

It just happened to be a very convenient location to shoot.

- In 12 days.

- In 12 days.

Yeah, but it's also, it's a 75 minute movie, so it's not like, you know, we did some record setting, you know.

- Right.

- Filmmaking, but it was a quick shoot.

We were shooting a lot of pages each day.

But yeah, the subdivision is just kind of, it just, it felt right in the home that my buddy lived in, also kind of felt like what I had in my head.

And so- - [Christine] Oh, we should mention you wrote this also.

- [David] Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

- So you wrote this, and had it in your head.

Also, you were able to shoot in Elmwood.

- Yeah, so yeah.

So basically, we scouted a lot in Peoria.

And the reason that we went with Elmwood over Peoria, or West Peoria, where I grew up, there was two homes actually that we were kind of deciding between one in Elmwood and one in West Peoria.

Elmwood just had everything very contained.

I mean, we shot almost the whole movie in a two block radius.

And I, at the time, was a little reluctant 'cause it didn't match the aesthetic I had in my head.

But my producer who has made hundreds of movies at this point, or at least hundreds of pieces, media, and probably, you know, possibly 30 to 50 feature films, it's crazy.

This guy's got a great, great resume.

He said, "You're looking a gift horse in the mouth here in Elmwood."

He was like, "You don't get this kind of access in this small setting."

- In a two week, yeah.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He was like- - Or a two block area.

- Believe me, we don't have a lot of time, you're gonna want this.

And I slept on it for 48 hours and thought, okay.

Elmwood.

- [Christine] So he puts up the money for it?

- Yes.

- Alright.

And then, how many people did you have on your crew?

- I would say each day we probably had, it was bigger than I was expecting.

It was probably roughly 20 to 25 people each day.

Which for- - And you brought local people to help out?

- It was, we had some of our key crew members from Los Angeles, and then there was some folks from Chicago, and the Chicago filmmaking and television scene, and then some locals from Peoria as well, yeah.

- So how do you go about getting that group together?

I mean, how do you reach out to do something like that in a 12 day period in a two block radius?

- So Roger, my producer, was very instrumental in kind of finding my key crew in Los Angeles.

And I, because he was putting up the money, I really deferred to him in trusting who he'd bring on.

And they were all incredible, and we're all still working together.

And then in terms of the local crew, and some of the Chicago people, it was, you know, probably as you do anything, I mean, it was a lot of Facebook reaching out, and phone calls to people I knew that were in the arts here, saying, "Do you know anybody who wants to get involved in this kind of thing?"

And yeah, little by little we just kind of put the pieces together.

- So that's how it works.

So you did that, you wrote this based on a true story?

- [David] Yeah.

- And you don't even know the end of that true story for sure.

You just know- - Right.

- Okay.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- So explain how that came about.

This was during the pandemic?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, very, without giving too much away, very tragic family drama.

And I had just come across this article, at the time, I had another movie that I was trying to produce, but it was bigger in scale, and I needed more money.

And then I came across a story and I thought, there's a lot going on here.

There's a lot you can play with thematically and it's just a lot of good meat on the bone.

And I thought you could also do this cheaply.

And I was ready to make this movie for, you know, $50,000 or less, with whatever money I could scrap together through friends.

And then Roger came along and elevated it, 'cause he really believed in the script.

But I think it was just, it was both sparking to this story creatively, but really knowing that there was a good story to tell with limited means, you know, you could do something with not a lot of resources.

- Well, I was very interested in a lot how you thought things through, and the shots that you took and everything.

And in a matter of 12 days to really think that through, did you have a storyboard to follow?

- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Okay.

- I mean, and I, I give credit to my parents.

I mean they, all this stuff, you know?

They fostered as a kid.

I think some people I feel like have to overcome great odds to achieve.

And I really, I've had a lot of support and wind at my back.

But as a kid, I just took to drawing right away, and so they were putting me in drawing classes.

And in high school, I took sculpting lessons with Preston Jackson here at the Contemporary Art Center.

- [Christine] Okay.

- So like all of this was very much fostered growing up, but I've always loved doodling.

And even as an adult, I love comic books and illustration.

And so storyboarding is actually something that I do front to back.

I mean- - Came naturally.

- Yeah, yeah.

And so for every project, I mean there's almost, you know, a comic book of sorts that you could look through, and there's almost every shot has, you know, a corresponding storyboard.

It doesn't always match one-to-one, but there's a lot there.

- So Mr.

Edmonds, we all went on a vacation together, went to Cancun, long time, long time ago.

- Yeah.

- But so he said, "Okay, so what does David, what does David do during the day?"

If you're not writing and producing your own things, you know, directing your own, oh, I don't know what to call 'em.

Your own masterpieces, I'll call it that.

How's that?

(David laughing) That's fair.

So what do you do all day?

- So, it's evolved over the years.

- [Christine] You're not a poor starving artist anymore?

- No, no.

- Okay.

- I mean, it's, no, no.

I mean, you know, I'm making, I'm a middle class artist at this point.

- Okay.

(laughing) - Yeah.

We're not making big bucks yet, but we're making medium bucks, and we're doing it through what we love, so that's, I mean, you know, of course you breach each rung of the ladder, and then you want more and you want more.

- [Christine] Right.

- And one day I'm gonna want my Oscar, and then I'm gonna want four Oscars.

And who knows if it will ever happen, but still you have these dreams.

But no, I mean, for the longest time, it was just, I just wanna be paid to make a living doing what I love most, which is making movies.

And so in the case of "Wardcliffe", I had been doing like branded content directing, kind of making a lot of pieces of media that mostly live online, so they're not full commercials that you would see on television, but it's like docu-style content for different clients that, again, mostly exist on the internet.

- But they know you.

- What's that?

- They're familiar with you, they know you, or do you have an agent that- - No, that's been the craziest thing.

I'm now finishing my second movie, and I've never had a talent manager.

I'm kind of on the cusp of that.

I've been having a couple conversations, but I basically was just, you know, it was networking through relationships to get these branded content jobs.

And then right after we shot "Wardcliffe", I got a job as a director at a trade publication, entertainment trade publication, called Deadline, which is kind of, it's like Variety or the Hollywood Reporter.

It's a little bit more inside baseball in the business of Hollywood, but that was really exciting because I got to meet everybody.

- [Christine] So many people.

- All, you know, you name a star- - And the exposure.

- Yeah, yeah.

And they were all insanely supportive of this movie, because, so to kind of come full circle to your question, while I was doing that, I was editing the movie in the morning.

- [Christine] Okay.

- So my next movie as well, I'm editing it.

So I was editing it, you know, from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM, then I would start my day job, which was often doing, you know.

- This.

- Three camera setups.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

And then I got my line producer on "Wardcliffe".

He was producing a reboot of "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes", which is this cult film from 1978, and he said, "We're looking for a director, would you be interested?"

I said, "Yes, of course I'd be interested."

And he put me up for it.

There was a few other people, you know, that I was competing against, but I got the job, and that was, it's the first time in my life and it's taken up all of 2025, that I've been paid to direct and edit this movie.

- A regular paycheck.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, that's carried me through this year.

And, you know, it'll carry me into a bit of 2026.

And then I'm already kind of starting to pick up, as that movie's winding down, starting to pick up more freelance directing work, actually back at Deadline and creating content for them.

- Wow.

Okay, so this new movie that you're working on, they told me we only have five minutes left.

So tell me about this.

When do you have time to be working on it?

Still 6:00 to 9:00 in the morning?

- No, no, no.

So the great thing about that is because it's a full paycheck, this is my job job, you know.

- [Christine] Okay.

- So it's been a blast.

It's been crazy.

I mean, "Attack of The Killer of Tomatoes" is a big kind of B movie franchise that I remember from when I was a kid, because there was a cartoon show, and that was sort of my relationship to it.

But it's crazy.

George Clooney starred in the second one, in the first sequel of the four movies that are out there.

The cartoon was one of the first cartoons to use computer animation, I guess, especially in their opening title.

And the movie also was kind of around the time that "Airplane" came out, if you remember that spoof movie.

- [Christine] Oh I do, yeah.

- And so it has this cool history, and I've just been so lucky to be getting involved.

And it's a much bigger project too.

I mean, it's almost 10 times the size of our budget for "Wardcliffe".

So I just got to work with a much bigger crew, and departments that I hadn't worked with before, and felt very confident the whole time.

But it was also kind of quietly learning a lot as we were going.

- And you would like to be involved in an independent film festival?

I mean- - Yeah.

- So Sundance, or you don't know, maybe someday you'll go to Cannes?

I don't know.

- I've been to Cannes.

- Okay.

- Not with a film, but I've attended, and yeah, of course.

I mean, so the distributor of "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" is also, the deal's not finalized, so maybe I'm speaking too soon, but they have offered to distribute "Wardcliffe" as well.

So weirdly, that is traditionally the path of this stuff.

You make an independent film that goes to festivals without any sales or distribution, and then you meet somebody who wants to carry the movie into the world.

That might not happen.

Every movie has a different path.

"Killer Tomatoes" doesn't need a festival release in the same way that a Hollywood movie might not, luckily, because there's a built-in niche audience.

- [Christine] Okay.

- So yeah.

I would love that, 'cause they're fun, and even being back here for the festival is fun.

You're meeting artists and stuff, but these movies are kind of zigging zagging a different route.

- Did you ever have any idea that there were so many steps to try to get a film released?

Or you learned that at NYU, or did you?

- Yeah, well, and after NYU, Jeff Broadway, who's a Peoria native as well, he had asked me to, he was producing a documentary music talk about a distant family member of his.

And so me and his college roommate co-directed this documentary.

And I kind of learned a little bit about the sales and distribution side after making that doc.

And so, you know, I knew that it could be convoluted and difficult.

I mean, there's movies that premier at Cannes and Sundance that don't get distribution for years.

- [Christine] That never make it.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Right - It's crazy, and it's heartbreaking.

So, you know, I've been a little bit surprised that "Wardcliffe" hasn't landed at, you know, not necessarily Sundance, 'cause it's such a crapshoot.

And more and more it's getting to the point where you need a name talent to get butts in seats.

But, you know, I was surprised we didn't get something yet.

But at the same time, the fact that there is distribution interest, it's kind of putting my worries to rest, knowing that it'll still find its way out into the world and the public anyway.

- Okay.

Well, we'll just hope that you get to sign, and the ink dries.

- Yes.

- And everything moves forward because- - Yes, yes, yes.

- You know, he, David, and nobody ever called you Dave.

You've always just been David.

- Eh, it's whatever.

- I love it.

I love it.

Well, thanks for sharing with us.

- Yeah, thank you.

This was a blast.

- And the best of luck to you, and we'll keep in touch.

- Cool, thank you.

- Okay, thank you.

- This has been a blast.

- Thanks for joining us.

I hope you learned a lot about Mr.

David Ferino.

Make sure that you remember that name.

And until next time, be well.

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