The Viewfinder Podcast with Chris Hadley

Chris Hadley
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On the Viewfinder Podcast, you'll hear fascinating in-depth interviews with some of today's most talented indie filmmakers and actors as they take you inside the creative process behind their latest productions.

  1. Episode 131 - PN AND FRIENDS Creator/Star/Writer/Producer Todd Montesi

    JAN 30

    Episode 131 - PN AND FRIENDS Creator/Star/Writer/Producer Todd Montesi

    Multi-hyphenate actor/writer/producer Todd Montesi joins The Viewfinder Podcast to talk about the surreal but innovative web series comedy PN AND FRIENDS, now in its final season. Check out all episodes of the show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MONTIKILLAVISION Follow PN AND FRIENDS on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pnisawesome/ Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X @ViewfinderPod On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheViewfinderPodcast The Viewfinder Podcast logo designed by Matison LeBlanc Music by Audionautix.com

    38 min
  2. Episode 130 - ABOLISH EVERYTHING! Host and Comedian Chandler Dean

    JAN 23

    Episode 130 - ABOLISH EVERYTHING! Host and Comedian Chandler Dean

    We ring in another year of great conversations with some of the world's most talented and most entertaining artists on this week's Viewfinder Podcast, and our first guest of 2026 is Chandler Dean, writer, comic and emcee of the outrageous argumentative stand-up comedy series Abolish Everything!, beginning its second season on January 29th exclusively on streaming service Nebula.  On each episode, a hilarious group of stand-up performers and witty satirists advocate in front of a live audience for the absolute abolishment of what they consider to be life's most aggravating annoyances and irritating inconveniences: everything from porn, speaker phones and sports betting to dentists, couples, hot doctors, and even graduate school graduation ceremonies! Challenging them and their incredible positions on those topics is a formidable panel of humorists (a.k.a. “the political establishment”), who fervently champion the status quo and question what they feel are the bizarre beliefs of the abolitionists.  Kicking off every show is the unflappable Dean, delivering uproarious opening arguments for getting rid of his own pet peeves before serving as the enthusiastic ringmaster of this one-of-a-kind, critically acclaimed comedic showcase where being prepared is just as important as being funny. Watch the show on subscription service Nebula: https://nebula.tv/abolish Check out clips from the show on Nebula's YouTube playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLu_AhsJQirp2MtB4Mwc3nGW4FxfbAU2pf Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abolisheverythingnyc/ On TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@abolisheverythingnyc Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X @ViewfinderPod and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheViewfinderPodcast Music by Audionautix.com The Viewfinder Podcast logo designed by Matison LeBlanc

    54 min
  3. Episode 129 - Indie South Network Founder and Producer Brian McCollister

    12/12/2025

    Episode 129 - Indie South Network Founder and Producer Brian McCollister

    While popular streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu deliver countless choices for viewers, only a small percentage of the content on those services is made in Louisiana, and often such content portrays Louisiana and its people in an unbelievably stereotypical light.  Working to dispel those stereotypes through authentic programming made by and for the Gulf South is a new streaming hub called the Indie South Network, a digital service whose diverse and growing library of entertainment exhibits some of the region's best independently produced movies and series, providing both an unrivaled showcase and an unequaled social ecosystem for the visionary filmmakers, actors and musicians that work and play in one of America's busiest and most fertile creative grounds. Check out Indie South and its impressive content on its official website: https://indiesouth.tv On this edition of The Viewfinder Podcast, I'm honored to welcome Indie South's founder and producer, Brian McCollister, who details how Indie South will impact not just audiences who want to watch true-to-life representations of the South but also creators who desire to create them.

    36 min
  4. Episode 128 - EVANGELINE Writer/Director Cory St. Ewart and Co-Star Hick Cheramie

    12/05/2025

    Episode 128 - EVANGELINE Writer/Director Cory St. Ewart and Co-Star Hick Cheramie

    This week, our lens is focused on another amazing short film that was part of this year's lineup at the inaugural Baton Rouge Underground Film Festival: writer/director Cory St. Ewart’s frightening supernatural thriller Evangeline, a story that re-imagines the beloved character from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's classic 1847 poem as a rebellious youngster - played by newcomer Renee Reed - who yearns to flee from the daily abuse inflicted on her by her cruel father (portrayed by Hick Cheramie) after she frequently runs away to the Louisiana swamps that surround their rustic home.  In those swamps lives one of the most fabled and most feared creatures believed to have ever roamed Cajun country: the gruesome and devilish werewolf known as the Rougarou. Summoned by the siren song of Evangeline, and hungering for his next prey, the Rougarou comes face to face with his innocent human counterpart, becoming both the key to Evangeline's future and the ultimate threat to her father's existence.  Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X @ViewfinderPod On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheViewfinderPodcast Show logo designed by Matison LeBlanc Music by Audionautix.com

    36 min
  5. Episode 127 - THE RED MASK Director Ritesh Gupta

    11/21/2025

    Episode 127 - THE RED MASK Director Ritesh Gupta

    Director Ritesh Gupta’s new movie The Red Mask is not just an entertainingly scary indie slasher but it's also a tribute to the classic chillers - like Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street - that spooked and thrilled generations of horror lovers and filmmakers. It's also an authentic representation of queer relationships, and an incredibly timely commentary on how toxic fandom and the “culture wars” in America have done immeasurable damage to present-day society.  The Red Mask is about a struggling queer scribe - Allina, played by Helena Howard - whose next assignment is to rejuvenate a revered but dormant scream franchise in the fictional Red Mask series. Overwhelmed by obscenely high expectations and high pressure from the studio, and repeatedly bullied and threatened by hateful fans online, Allina finds a change of scenery when she and her partner Deetz (played by Inanna Sarkis) retreat to a supposedly peaceful but very distant rental cabin.  Unfortunately for both of them, two unexpected guests in Red Mask devotees Ryan (played by Jake Abell) and Claire (played by Kelli Garner) and a world of unimaginable evil turns their weekend of brainstorming and intimacy into a Hollywood nightmare that increasingly becomes all too real. Ritesh Gupta joins me to tell the full story of how The Red Mask came to life on this week's Viewfinder Podcast. Check out the trailer for The Red Mask here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUNxZWPqlKY Follow The Red Mask's Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/theredmaskmovie/ Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X @ViewfinderPod On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheViewfinderPodcast The Viewfinder Podcast show logo designed by Matison LeBlanc Music by Audionautix.com

    32 min
  6. Episode 126 - 2025 Louisiana Film Prize Recap Pt. 2 - Best Actor and Actress Winners

    11/14/2025

    Episode 126 - 2025 Louisiana Film Prize Recap Pt. 2 - Best Actor and Actress Winners

    Part two of our review of the 2025 Louisiana Film Prize features two back-to-back interviews with the acting winners from this year’s event: from writer/director Alexander Jeffery’s The Old Man at The Bar, Best Actress honoree Abby Tozer, and Best Actor honoree from Girl Dad, Ty Hudson, who’s joined by wife/filmmaking partner Rachael Hudson. Ty wrote the movie and Rachael directed it.  In The Old Man at The Bar, Abby plays a temperamental French waiter who along with her irritating co-worker (played by Noah Silver) becomes charmed by a kind yet mysterious senior citizen (played by Stan Brown from Jeffery’s 2015 Film Prize Best Picture winner The Bespoke Tailoring of Mister Bellamy) with a taste for rare wine and a bittersweet story all his own. Ty Hudson won the 2025 Film Prize award for Best Actor for his emotional and touching performance in the father-daughter time travel drama Girl Dad as a man, Anthony, who experiences the happiness and troubles of parenthood on one special day with Emily, a daughter he’ll never meet - but one who teaches him that a father’s love endures in spite of both devastating loss and the unstoppable passage of time itself. Girl Dad, and Ty’s performance in the film, is a tribute to both fatherhood and to the beautiful memory of the child that Ty and wife Rachael tragically lost themselves. For more information on the Louisiana Film Prize and Prize Fest, visit: https://www.prizefest.com/ Check out Ty and Rachael's "Summers Off" movie podcast here and wherever you get your podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/summers-off/id1407584490 Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X @ViewfinderPod On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheViewfinderPodcast Music by Audionautix.com The Viewfinder Podcast show logo designed by Matison LeBlanc

    45 min
  7. Episode 125 - 2025 Louisiana Film Prize Recap Pt. 1: Best Picture Winner LAST MINUTE

    11/07/2025

    Episode 125 - 2025 Louisiana Film Prize Recap Pt. 1: Best Picture Winner LAST MINUTE

    This past October, the city of Shreveport, Louisiana again became Prize Port as the Louisiana Film Prize showcased another remarkable lineup of short films shot and produced in the Pelican State. This week and next week’s shows are dedicated to the 2025 edition of Film Prize, and you’ll hear exclusive interviews with this year’s honorees for its Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress awards.  On today’s show, I’m joined by three members of the brilliant team behind Grand Prize-winning film Last Minute: writer/director Michael Cusumano, co-star/executive producer Charity Schubert and movie co-star Blayne Weaver. Set in 1989, the comedy stars Schubert as Jackie, a single mom whose procrastinating son Jason (played by Espyn Doughty in his movie debut) waits until - you guessed it - the last minute to work on a school project due the next day.  Racing against the clock, and without easy access to any materials that can help them get it done faster, Jackie and Jason must depend on the generosity and knowledge of her neighbors - Georgia, a science expert (played by Moriah L. Hicks), her brother//rich source of useless trivia Brian (played by Donnovan Roe) - and on a more bittersweet note, Jackie’s ex-boyfriend Ken (played by Weaver). As night turns into morning, the exhausted mother/son pair discover the importance of teamwork - and the value of time. Last Minute won the $50,000 grand prize at the 2025 Prize Fest, and in this interview, Michael, Charity and Blayne recall their unforgettable memories of not just their film’s victory but also the invaluable experience of Prize Fest itself - from meeting audiences and fellow artists to enjoying their work win over movie fans at a festival that’s celebrated the works and talents of some of  Louisiana’s best filmmakers and actors. Find out more about Film Prize and PrizeFest at: https://www.prizefest.com/ Follow Michael and Charity's production company Whiskey Cat Productions on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whiskeycatproductions/ Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X @ViewfinderPod On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheViewfinderPodcast Music by Audionautix.com The Viewfinder Podcast logo designed by Matison LeBlanc

    1h 14m
  8. Episode 124 - THE DEMONIC DETECTIVE Creator Jason Brasier and Co-Star Jonathan W. Robbins

    10/31/2025

    Episode 124 - THE DEMONIC DETECTIVE Creator Jason Brasier and Co-Star Jonathan W. Robbins

    On this edition of the show I’m honored to be joined by two of the brilliant talents behind the spooky audio drama The Demonic Detective: its creator, Jason Brasier, and co-star Jonathan W. Robbins. The eight episode first season of the series is now streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and various other platforms.  Set in New Salem - or an alternate universe of Salem, Massachusetts in the 1940’s - and combining hard-boiled detective drama with supernatural chills in a retro old-time radio style, The Demonic Detective features Robbins as Jack Faust, a downtrodden detective who is, as Brasier describes him, “a detective who’s seen more than he'd like to and who drowns his sorrows in bourbon.” His next case becomes a battle for both justice and his own survival when a childhood pal-turned nun - Madame Zola, played by Jillian Clare - seeks his assistance. Unfortunately for Jack, his soul and body will take on a ghoulish perversion when an evil spirit - Lilith, played by Shelley Waggener - consumes the normally grizzled detective. Doomed to co-exist with that demon by a wicked group of witches dubbed The Coven, and with his reputation destroyed after a brutal split from his former partner, Detective Emmanuel Lawson (played by A Martinez), an emotionally wounded and demonically possessed Jack investigates a world of voodoo, corruption and curses in a town that may never overcome its own historical misfortune as the place where witches died and suspicion lived. Completing the show’s incredible cast are Vanessa Leinani as the powerful coven leader Morogon Allistair, Jenique English as the high voodoo priestess Lady Boleyn, Chris English as her loyal assistant/protege Ezekiel Pendragon, Ryan Smith as the tortured ex-cop Giles Corey (among many other voices he performs on the show), and Ed Robinson as the crusading witch hunter Archibald Huxley.  Find out more about The Demonic Detective on the show's web site: https://www.demonicdetective.com/ Listen to the show on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-demonic-detective/id1843186163 On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/27XmA8xqppTdhBaviPs9eC?si=e7ea3f0990a54055 Follow The Viewfinder Podcast on X @ViewfinderPod On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheViewfinderPodcast Music by Audionautix.com The Viewfinder Podcast logo designed by Matison LeBlanc

    1 hr
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On the Viewfinder Podcast, you'll hear fascinating in-depth interviews with some of today's most talented indie filmmakers and actors as they take you inside the creative process behind their latest productions.

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