It is undeniable that all great filmmakers initially cut their teeth on short films. From Nolan to Scorsese and Anderson to Bigelow, all refined their craft with short-form cinema before moving to feature films. Today, festivals and online platforms mean that short films have an even wider audience than ever before.
The Pink Lens has covered hundreds of short films over the years, but in the first of our short film features, we put one under the spotlight, to look at its form, origins and the process of bringing it to the screen.
YOU SAY HELLO (USA)
Starring: Chris Bellant, Will Pullen
Director: Lovell Holder
Writer: Daniel Talbott
UK Distribution: Available to stream on YouTube on Director’s Notes
The Pink Lens’ Review:
“When Will, a suicidal closeted young man, hires the services of a sex worker for his birthday, the intimacy of the encounter leaves a lasting impact. Set on the windswept US west coast in winter, this normally sun-drenched landscape is drenched with the same moroseness that has seeped into Will’s mind. Staying at his family’s beach house, his gun is loaded and the letter to his family is written. The night he spends with this stranger is one of self-awakening and renewal, going from breathless timidity to lucid cognition. A life-affirming story of last-minute human connection, this is a beautifully contemplative short that underlines the importance of living one’s true authentic self. Well-written, nuanced and atmospheric, this is a delectable nugget of masculine tenderness.”
Having seen this short a few months ago, we got the chance to talk to its writer (Talbott) and its director (Holder) about the process of bringing this story to life.
Where did the story for You Say Hello come from?
Daniel Talbott: You Say Hello was definitely born out of wanting to work with Lovell and make films together. It started as a story about a Serbian sex worker struggling to survive in the US. And I believe Lovell threw out the idea of exploring it being a LGBT+ story. The second he tossed that idea in the air I knew he was right and the film found itself, found its legs. Both Lovell and I are LGBT+ and the film suddenly was just more personal, important, and close to home.
Lovell Holder: I second everything Daniel said, and it's such a testament to how gracious and daring Daniel is as a writer that he was willing to explore such a different telling of the story. The minute Daniel and I decided to pursue that alternate version where the sex worker was male, it was remarkable how quickly all the production elements started coming together. For example, my best friend's family owns that extraordinary beach house on California's Central Coast that is the primary shooting location, and they very generously allowed us to film there. Having such regular access to that property meant we could tailor the story to that location on a cellular level and also rehearse there with our brilliant actors Chris Bellant and Will Pullen. That really fostered and guaranteed a level of authenticity and trust that we never would have been able to achieve had the process been rushed.
Which other films were your influences during development?
Daniel Talbott: I love film and watch a ton of it. I try to see at least one film every day. We made You Say Hello a few years ago so I can’t remember what the exact influences were at the time. I know I rewatched Lost In Translation while I was working on the script, and I was also listening to the soundtrack from that film a lot. I also seem to recall Brokeback Mountain being a large influence. The stunning tenderness of “You’re sleepin’ on your feet like a horse.” I hope that seeped its way into our film. The film is so much to me about kindness when you’re at your lowest, striving for kindness as if it’s a light in the dark.
Lovell Holder: I'd add that Eliza Hittman's films definitely informed so much of the film's tone, both visually and stylistically. Beach Rats and It Felt Like Love were consistent touchstones for me and our incredible DP Matt Plaxco while we developed the piece. Once we got into the edit with our amazing editor Morgan Halsey, I also really was inspired by Jean-Marc Vallée and his work with Big Little Lies. The way he captures wealth in an affluent seaside community and juxtaposes it narratively against legitimate and true trauma is pretty unparalleled.
Some may consider the trope of the “sex worker with a heart” an overused cliché over the three decades since Pretty Woman. What new angle does this short give on this narrative?
Daniel Talbott: First off, I love Pretty Woman. It was my Grandma Lou’s favorite film, and I used to watch it with her as a kid all the time. I’m a huge Julia Roberts fan. I root for her always. There is such a stigma about sex work. I love sex, and at its safest and most profound, I think it’s beautiful. So many people struggle so deeply with their sexuality, with the physical act of sex. I think they’re struggling with revealing the softest, most vulnerable parts of themselves. Sex at its best and its most intimate, deepest, can unlock that in you. Lay it bare. It’s extraordinary how physically close you can be with someone. Literally inside them, a part of them, joined.
Sadly, sex is often debased in our society. It’s weaponised. I wanted to look at the sex that these two men have, the love they make together, as healing. I wanted to see it from a different angle. We could have explored all the ways in which sex work can be terrifying, unjust, debased. And there’s a way to tell a story about sex work that only does the bare minimum to humanize a stereotype, but I really wanted to show sex as something that can save you. That the work can be a place of healing and tenderness, care. It can be life-giving. It was important to me that that was at the heart of our film. Sex as kindness and sharing.
Lovell Holder: I'll echo Daniel to say that the tenderness was always the most important aspect to us in depicting and crafting the character of Mike, the escort. Moreover, I think we really lean into the reality that this is a job for Mike, rather than an opening for an unexpected romance (which feels fairly antithetical to Pretty Woman, as much as I too adore that film). I've had friends and acquaintances over the years who have been, at one time or another, sex workers, and they've all had different reasons and circumstances for that choice. Some see themselves as a type of therapy provider, some find it personally empowering, and others simply viewed it as a purely transactional act because they needed the money at the time.
It felt important to keep Mike's reasons private and his own beyond the glimmers that we see, but I do think one of the things I most respect about how Daniel conceived of the character is that he ultimately does not try to make Will a regular client, for a variety of reasons, the most important of which is that he doesn't believe that's healthy for Will but also because Mike knows he can only take on so much with this kid. The boundary Mike sets there always felt deeply real but also incredibly humane, which I still find really compelling.
Mental health and suicide are vivid themes here. How did you prepare to ensure this subject was tackled sensitively?
Daniel Talbott: I’ve struggled with these issues my whole life. It’s cost me family and friends. I feel very lucky to be a filmmaker and to be alive, and this story is close to home and something I know well. As with sex work there is a massive overwhelming stigma about mental illness. I’m scared even writing this but it’s important to say it. There are so many folks out there struggling with it daily. I’m one of those.
Lovell Holder: Similarly to Daniel, I've dealt with depression in the past, so it did feel a bit like we were all dancing with a partner we knew well, for better or worse. I can personally say that I've had moments where it's been a driving force in my life and chapters where it recedes to the background, but it is of course always remarkable how swiftly it can be triggered or rear its head. Nonetheless, I've found it is possible to find the right strategies for living with those tendencies. That was one element that always was crucial to the story.
Mike might intervene and save Will's life for today, but it's up to Will to then take that act and move it forward for himself. Daniel and I both felt that Mike can't be the ultimate easy fix here. He's a catalyst for Will to then begin the work of living for himself, and as with all mental health struggles - be it depression, addiction, anything - the decision to move forward and seek change always has to come from the person experiencing those struggles.
You’ve made several short films now. Are you intending on making the jump to feature films any time soon?
Daniel Talbott: We have definitely dived into features together and will continue to, hugely. My sister and I co-directed and co-wrote our first feature together Midday Black Midnight Blue and shot it up in Seattle. Lovell beautifully produced that film, and it got distribution and came out in theaters during the WGA/SAG strikes, which was hard timing. It’s a deeply experimental feature about grief and you can watch it now on Amazon and Apple.
Lovell Holder: Ironically, features came before shorts for me! Prior to You Say Hello, I'd produced the feature film Some Freaks and also directed the feature Loserville. Both were incredibly valuable learning experiences that helped tremendously with making You Say Hello such a positive process. It's been a delight to continue partnering with Daniel on Midday and our other endeavors.
What other exciting projects do you have coming up?
Daniel Talbott: I have a TV show that we’re going out to network with called Rome, Georgia and Lovell and I have a created a half hour series called Out Call, based on You Say Hello, that we’re actively developing. I’m also getting my new feature He Hangs Brightly out into the world right now. It’s about two young men moving through the joys, heartbreaks, and complexities of falling in love and trying to be together in three different lifetimes: during the Golden Age of Hollywood, at the height of the AIDS crisis in New York, and in the present for a bittersweet farewell at the ocean’s edge near Monterey Bay.
Lovell Holder: I just produced the feature Peak Season, a romantic comedy set in Wyoming that premiered at SXSW and is now available everywhere. My second feature as a director, the very queer film adaptation of Roger Q. Mason's play Lavender Men, is currently out on the festival circuit and will be in theaters in 2025. Lastly, my debut novel, The Book Of Luke, which follows a gay reality star returning to the show that made him famous, will be published in hardcover and audiobook in December 2025 by Grand Central Publishing (an imprint of Hachette), which I'm of course over the moon about.
You can watch You Say Hello here:
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