Neighbor Josiah Signor Discusses His Film Bastards Of Young, Shot Partially In South Slope

Filmmaker Josiah Signor has lived in South Slope for 11 years, so when it came time to find places to set his first feature film, Bastards of Young, he didn’t have to look far for ideas. Shot in 11 days for less than $40,000, he partially relied on the kindness of neighbors and neighborhood establishments for help in making the movie, which is about discovering a new path in your early 30s, and which is now available to stream.

We asked Josiah a few questions about the film, the places it was shot at in the neighborhood, what his own life is like in his 30s, and more.

SSN: When did you know you wanted to be a filmmaker, and how did you get involved in filmmaking?

Josiah Signor: I come from a small hamlet upstate (too small to even be called a “town”) that most people have never heard of, called Highland, NY. I am the oldest of six kids and always knew I wanted to live in NYC with the hope and dream of becoming a filmmaker; which, apparently, involves working in restaurants and bars most of the time.

I used to make terrible home-movies on an old VHS camcorder with my cousin as a kid. We always had a blast doing so, creating fight sequences with a dummy inevitably being thrown out of a window. High-tech stuff.

It has always been something I have wanted to do, no matter what. And NYU seemed to me like the ultimate place to go to learn everything I needed to achieve that goal. I do not think you have to go to film school to make a movie, but, for me, it made sense. I needed to cram 20 years’ worth of experience into three years and get this thing going. The connections I have made there are invaluable. I feel extremely lucky to have been accepted into their graduate film program; without that, I wouldn’t have been able to make my first feature film, Bastards of Young. (Even though I now have more debt than a small country as a result.)

What were some of the challenges to filming this on such a tight budget?

Movies are challenging, no matter what. And when you have no money at all, it certainly adds to that challenge. Filmmaking is purely problem solving. So we realized what we had to work with and had to figure out how to make this film look like we had some money without going too far. There’s nothing worse than a film trying to look like it has a $200 million budget like The Ninja Turtles, when all they have is a student-film budget. Working within your means while also pushing the limits a bit is really challenging, but very exciting.

So the idea for Bastards of Young was to utilize places in Brooklyn and Manhattan that already had production value for free: rooftops with skyline views; the subway; we even shot at the Halloween parade, all for free. On top of that, we called in a lot of favors.

South Slope has been my home for a little over a decade, so it wasn’t to hard to find great bars or locations that I have frequented and got permission to shoot there. All for little or no money. We were magically able to piece together this thing through volunteers, NYU’s film equipment, and neighbors and local businesses giving us access to their establishments.

Where are some of the local places that you shot the film?

We shot at a couple local bars, mainly High Dive and Commonwealth. If you frequent those places, which I highly recommend you do, you will definitely recognize them. (I even started bartending at Commonwealth, so definitely go there!)

We also shot all along 5th Avenue in South Slope, a bit in Greenpoint, as well as at a friend’s apartment in Williamsburg. Because this movie happens during a Halloween party, we used a bunch of friends as the costumed guests. I would not be surprised if people recognized a few local faces.

Another huge element to the story is the music. It takes place over the course of one night, and that night is a party. Parties have music; all kinds of music, and usually all night long. This was one of our biggest challenges, as music costs money. I realized early on though that many bartenders and servers and neighbors in this community are extremely talented in many ways, one of which is musically. We have something like 35 or more songs throughout the film, most of which were donated by local talent. Bands like Hurrah, a Bolt of Light!; The Tara Lynne Band; Scott Thorough with Junk Science and LUFF all contributed great tracks, and I am eternally grateful for this, as well as their friendship over the years.

The film follows characters dealing with life in their 30s — what’s one of the hardest things you’ve found about living in South Slope at this age? And one of the best?

Relationships and artistic careers are always tricky, and there are a lot of people, like me, in their 30s that are dealing with these things. We want to make art — be it music, movies, writing, etc. — while trying to pay the bills somehow, which is always tricky. The good thing is there is a sense of community and camaraderie within the area that is encouraging and inspiring. People are happy to help others succeed and get the word out about their prospective projects. And the community here is very happy to support one another in any ways they can.

What are some of the things you’ve seen change in the neighborhood, for better or for worse?

For the most part, it has been very positive. There wasn’t much more than 99-cent stores around when I moved in. Now there are tons of great restaurants, bars, and music venues. My street just got a few trees planted on our otherwise industrial sidewalks a few weeks ago. The bad news is costs are inevitably going up, people are moving out, and places we frequent or love are selling to become condos or banks, which is kind of sad, but this is what New York does. South Slope is still one of the greatest neighborhoods in Brooklyn for sure. I just hope we can all still afford it in the years to come.

Any plans to screen the film locally?

I would love to. Freddy’s has a great back room with a screen that we could make work possibly. And we did a small screening for Open House Brooklyn that went well. I am always open to it and will keep you posted! [SSN: And we’ll let you guys know if it happens!]

Anything else you’d like neighbors to know?

This is a truly independent film that we will not make any real money on, most likely, but I would encourage people to see it. We have no advertising budget, so it is all word of mouth. I would love for the local community to be able to check out what they helped make happen. It’s very cheap to rent or buy it now on iTunes, Amazon Streaming, XBOX, or Playstation. And later this year it will be out on Netflix as well.

All photos by Ben Hider