Rhode Island International Film Festival - The Adventures of Adderall Boy
The Adventures of Adderall Boy follows a distressed college student who experiments with a “miracle drug”. Little does he know the pill will invite supernatural abilities, certain challenges, and inherent dangers.
Interview with Writer/Director Conor Holway
Main image: Adderall Boy (Conor Holway) overlooks his campus as he reflects on both his accomplishments and personal growth.
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
First off, I just wanted to say thank you for showing interest in my film. It’s collectives like yours that allow filmmakers an opportunity to share their film with a larger audience, so thank you for that.
I really enjoyed making The Adventures of Adderall Boy. For roughly a year and a half I had been uploading a lot of my work to YouTube which was mostly comedic. Sometime last fall, I realized that I wasn’t really getting the same satisfaction doing short-form stuff, so I felt like I was ready to push myself and create something longer-form. So, logistically, the Adventures of Adderall Boy is my directorial debut. In terms of story, I have always wanted to create my own superhero. Additionally, I have been prescribed Adderall for roughly 5 or 6 years; and once I got to college, and after a bunch of persistent hall-mates were knocking on my door at 3am begging me to sell them a few pills for their tests, I realized Adderall gave college kids a certain type of superpowers.
So it was my mission: to try and create a hero that resonated with all audiences, but more specifically college students. Lastly, as I mentioned earlier, most of the work I had done in the past was comedic, so I really wanted to push myself to add elements of different genres into my work; and I’m pretty pumped how it turned out.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Even if you don’t enjoy the film, what I want everyone to take away is the hard work that was put into Adderall Boy. We personally feel like we made the most exciting student film in the Northeast this past spring; and every aspect of its production was done by myself, my cinematographer Stefan Puente, our Unit Production Manager Daniel, Seabass Barton, and Jack Bigelow. Because of the pride I take in my work, I’m challenging every other local filmmaker to make a film more exciting; we’re waiting on your move (and we got more on the way).
At its most basic level, the film is funny. Although comedy is subjective, there are comedic moments that everyone can enjoy. Although Adderall Boy is just a college student, his struggle is relatable for anybody who has been pushed into a desperate place in their life. I think kids my age - especially - have prevalent stressors that go undiscussed; because essentially, when you turn 20,21,22; out of nowhere society expects kids to assume a massive amount of responsibility and develop a plan on what they really want to do with their lives. Kids in my demographic feel pressured to make decisions that they aren’t necessarily sure about; whether it’s a career path, how they maneuver certain relationships, and overall develop a life plan; and I think Adderall Boy’s decisions and behavior is driven by a lot of this underlying societal pressure.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
In all of my work, past, present, and future I really want to always interlace personal themes; because although it is a director’s job to tell stories, I truly feel like the easiest story to tell is your own. So there is a lot of personal experience woven into Adderall Boy. I starred as Adderall Boy but there was a stage where I truly felt like Adderall Boy. I definitely was addicted to Adderall; it wasn’t a vicious, life-changing addiction, but I loved it. I would be working on videos non-stop all day long, and in turn, it gave me a local following and a lot of attention; at a certain point, popping pills everyday became a habit and it made me extremely introverted, and I ended up isolating myself like crazy.
I kind of got caught in this vicious cycle that I couldn’t snap out of, so I had to just quit cold turkey. It was necessary. So although Adderall Boy kind of mirrors some of my experiences with Adderall it also serves as closure from this kind of dark period in my life.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
I am not a huge script-writer (in terms of dialogue); the most important thing in my work has always been understanding the direction of the project. For me personally as an actor, I feel like having an outline of the dialogue is important but my best takes come from improv. I will always have an outline for my actors but I like to work with them loosely off the script.
In terms of story, the focus of Adderall Boy was originally to be a hero for an entire city, but somewhere along the way I felt like it would be more relatable for Adderall Boy to just be a hero of the students and not all the people, so that was an important turn in the screenplay.
We filmed a small portion of the film before our second semester, but after our winter break is when Stefan and I really tried to get a little bit of filming done each day. We had a couple awesome days of shooting, and near the end of the filming we started to feel like we created a really dope project.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
In April, we did a little pre-screening behind my house in Providence (which also served as a major set in the film), and the response was awesome. People seemed to both really enjoy the film, and they were excited to see the progress I had made from the CoachConnie days. Shout out to everyone that showed up the night after a long day-drink. After the first pre-screening, people started to get more excited about the project, I made a few tweaks based on the response from the first crowd and we screened it again at the Providence College Film Festival, and we were fortunate enough to win the award for Best Short Film. So now the next big date is our RIFF screening, and then we’ll start really planning the online drop.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
No matter what any artist says, they’re wicked nervous about putting something out. Whether it’s music, art, or film; it’s bullshit if they say they don’t second guess themselves. I knew people were going be surprised by the production, but it was a huge relief when people started to say they really enjoyed it. There were some moments that weren’t intended to be funny which people laughed at, which is always a relief, but I think that also means I have to step up the consistency in my films; and having some of my more dramatic moments be more adaptable.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Again thanks for the love; we just hope that people will be able enjoy the film. Because you guys focus on the message of the films, we think it might be cool if people understand the message behind the production and how we pulled it off. I spent my entire bank account, $1,100 dollars, on this film and it took me 7 months total start to finish but we did it; and I think the work ethic has to stand for something.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I love movies and making movies; so I’m more than open to anyone that wants to help out with some of our ideas. The online distribution for this film is going to be really important, so I would love to talk to anyone who wants to discuss the film so we can hopefully reach the widest audience possible. We also have a lot more on the way, so I’m interested in talking to some producers about hopefully accruing the right resources in order to make some more dope films.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I know I mentioned it a little earlier, but this is just a start. If this film is going to serve as anything, I want people to understand that college students who don’t go to Tisch or USC film school, and who have very little film experience, did this. I know it might sound like I think I just dropped the biggest film that this country has ever seen, I know that’s not the case, I just feel we weren’t supposed to make the film we made with the resources we had. I just get aggravated when people settle because they think they can’t do certain shit, because they can.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
I recently had a conversation with someone on the board for the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society, about the distinction between films and movies. I told him that a film is usually focused more on the message of the story, and a movie is all about creating an experience; and the best projects are a cross of both. From this standpoint, I’m interested to see if the audience thinks Adderall Boy is a film or a movie? Let me know seriously, my social media is below.
Would you like to add anything else?
This is one of my first, real, official interviews so shoutout to you guys. Hopefully it’s not the last fam.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I am still writing another short film that should be conceptually different than Adderall Boy, and the format will be much different. This summer I also started working on an animation with my friend, and comic for Adderall Boy’s title sequence, Jack Bigelow. Stay tuned:)
Interview: August 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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The Adventures of Adderall Boy follows a distressed college student who experiments with a “miracle drug”. Little does he know the pill will invite supernatural abilities, certain challenges, and inherent dangers.
Length:
22 Minutes and 13 seconds
Director: Conor Holway
Producer: Golden Deer Productions
Writer: Conor Holway
About the writer, director and producer:
Written and directed by Conor Holway who also served as executive producer, editor, and is the film’s starring actor.
Key Cast:
Conor Holway
AJ Roskam
Brittany Price
Jackson Boisvert
Justice Donoyan
Daniel Barton
Stefan Puente
Hector Lawrence
Rudy O’Konis
Chris Hernandez- Riversa
Timothy Blouin
Adam Hanna
Jamie Fugere
Brendan Kilcoyne
Mary Farrell
Dee Nathan
Kaylee Cummings
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): I would love to speak to distributors/sponsors about the online release of The Adventures of Adderall Boy because we have a lot of ideas we would like to execute in terms of an online marketing strategy. We are also in pre-production for our next film, and we would love to discuss it with anyone interested.
Social Media Handles
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/AdderallBoyShortFilm/
Instagram:
personal: @godholway
film: @adderallboy1
Twitter:
personal: @boachbonnie
film: @adderall_boy
Other:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVgpDdEBn47281EszGhFA_g
Funders: Golden Deer Productions (Self- Funded)
Made in association with: Golden Deer Productions
Where can I see it in the next month?
The Adventures of Adderall Boy will be screened at Rhode Island International Film Festival, August 9th at 3pm in Providence, Rhode Island. Following its screening at RIFF, The Adventures of Adderall Boy will likely be online in September; dependent on entry into a few other local film festivals.