6 BALLOONS Interview: Director Marja-Lewis Ryan And Producers Samantha Housman & Ross M. Dinerstein

Marking both Abbi Jacobson and Dave Franco’s dramatic turns, 6 Balloons had its world premiere at South by Southwest. It is Marja-Lewis Ryan’s second directorial credit, following-up her 2017 comedy, Liked.

Taking place over the course of a single horrifying night, the film follows Jacobson’s Katie, who drives her heroin-addicted brother (Franco) around Los Angeles in search of a detox center that will take him. His two year-old daughter tags along.

I was able to speak with Marja-Lewis Ryan, as well as two of her producers, Samantha Housman and Ross M. Dinerstein, who graciously shared with me their creative process under Netflix, and their exciting experience with Jacobson and Franco.

Hazem Fahmy for Film Inquiry: Congrats on the film! I’ve seen, it’s fantastic.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: Thanks, man.

Right off the bat, I’m really curious what was the process like working with Netflix. One of the most interesting things for me about the industry right now is this shift in indie filmmaking going towards the big streaming services. Like with any big shift, there’s always this phobia with where it’s going, so I’m interested what has your experience been like with them.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: It was pretty amazing. I’ll just speak briefly, they [Samantha & Ross] have way more experience working with Netflix. This movie is deeply personal, and no one else would have made this movie. It was actually funny, we did a screening and had producers from studios come up to us and be like: “Ugh, I would’ve died to make that movie.” And I’m like: “No, you wouldn’t have! Get outta here.” The creative freedom that [Netflix] gave us – they really trusted us – it had a lot to do with our [success].

Ross M. Dinerstein: Yeah, I made six movies with them, and they’re incredible partners–

Marja-Lewis Ryan: He made 1922.

Ross M. Dinerstein: Thanks, yeah, they’re incredibly supportive, collaborative. They’re only there to help, and they really give you a lot of leeway to make the film in respect that it’s a director’s medium. Our job as producers is to also ensure that Marja’s vision ends up on screen. We couldn’t be more lucky to have Netflix supporting us to support Marja. It’s great. And their distribution platform is second-to-none. In the old way, no one would see this movie. In this new way, we’re getting featured as a Netflix Original, they have a 115 plus million subscribers worldwide.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: And Abbi [Jacobson] and Dave [Franco] never saw a single person from Netflix. They really do give you that space to actually make the thing, and they really are there when you need them.

Samantha Housman: Also it’s been incredible [cause] often in my experience with studios and distributors, when you get to the stage of release, it’s hard sometimes to align your distributor with marketing materials and how to position the film out in the world. And so often filmmakers are just a little bit let down, like: “this isn’t exactly how I saw it.” And [Netflix] were so incredibly collaborative and supportive in a way that I have not experienced.

Ross M. Dinerstein: And our materials are anything but conventional, and they supported that. Their first passes were very conventional, sort of very down the line. And we said: “but what about this?” And Marja went out on her own and created some materials and they leaned in on it. They embraced it which, again, they have every right to say: “that’s very nice, but no thank you.”

Marja-Lewis Ryan: Yeah, they doubled down. I was like: “do you know the poster for The One I Love? That’s what I’m seeing.” And they were like: “Okay!” And the woman who did our poster [was] the one who did The One I Love. They just found that woman and [got] her to do the poster for us.

I can definitely see what you mean about that process. The film itself is very unique, especially in terms of what it’s tackling. When I read the synopsis, I expected it to veer in certain directions. I expected it to tackle addiction in a certain way. And I think a part of that is its length–

Marja-Lewis Ryan: Yeah, that’s a real problem I have, if I’m really honest with you. It doesn’t matter how many pages the script is; it’s always 74 minutes. I just did a play, and it was [about] an hour and forty minutes, going in to tech week, but, opening night, that f*cker was 74 minutes.

Ross M. Dinerstein: Again it’s a testament to Netflix. In the old system–

Samantha Housman: You needed, like, an 80 minute movie.

Ross M. Dinerstein: Yeah, like for German television distribution, you need it to be 83 minutes long–

That’s so specific.

Ross M. Dinerstein: I know! And the film would suffer. The cut [was] coming in short, and we wanted the best version of it.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: It really did, it was the best version of it.

Ross M. Dinerstein: It is, it’s the correct version of the film. It’s an exhausting, tense movie. You’ve seen it, you understand. Could you handle another five minutes?

I’m not sure.

Ross M. Dinerstein: Right! In the old system, [we] would have had to add ten minutes to that movie, and it would have suffered. Instead, it’s a ride.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: I [also] know exactly what a studio would have told me, and that was that they would have wanted one more scene, at the end of her, like two years later. I know it. I’ve seen that before.

Ross M. Dinerstein: And Dave would have, like, a crappy beard and a tie on and he would be this boring lawyer.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: Exactly. And I’ve seen that movie before and I really didn’t want that. And [Netflix] never said anything like that.

I totally believe that especially cause the ending really caught me off guard. Especially cause it didn’t feel pessimistic or desperate so much as just accepting of this is how it is.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: You really got it.

Samantha Housman: You’re the right audience.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: Go tell your friends to watch the movie.

Samantha Housman: If they’re anything like you.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: If they’re nothing like you, then don’t.

Ross M. Dinerstein: Tell your enemies.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: Tell them to watch 1922.

I will! So, to pivot off that, one of the most interesting things about the movie for me, especially watching it in this day and age with the opioid crisis going on, is that it’s a very empathetic look at addiction, but one that also highlights how destructive it can be. I was wondering – when writing the script, and developing the character of Seth (Dave Franco) how much were you thinking about the current climate?

Marja-Lewis Ryan: A lot of my work tends to be, like, really pinprick character studies inside major social issues. That’s just my voice, my tone. I don’t think so much about the crisis as a whole cause my thought is that if you watch the movie then you’re in it. This is it. As opposed to telling you about the crisis, like I don’t need a doctor’s opinion on it. [You] just need to see this movie and understand the ramifications of it and the ripple effect of the pain of an addiction like that. I think I really thought more about them – actually, I never really thought about him that much at all. I hate that whole thing of: “he has to be likeable.” I don’t care about that.

I cast Dave Franco for a reason. He feels likeable to me. He feels like the boy next door. And feels like a guy [you] would think that this would never really happen to him. He doesn’t need to act that, he is that. And I thought the same way about Abbi; she is funny, she is charming. I’ve always liked her. All those scenes with her and her friends in the beginning, when they’re getting changed – [Samantha] and I f*cking love those scenes. We were having so much fun on set watching those scenes. Everyone felt real to me because of Abbi. [She] was sort of the connecting point. Once I cast Abbi, I was like: “Now I get to go and find Abbi’s friends!” And that was easy.

Ross M. Dinerstein: And Dave’s inherent likeability, and his performance makes [their] scenes work.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: And their gender, too.

Samantha Housman: This kind of stuff always happens to the sister.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: Yeah, he’s a dick – why do I have to feel bad for him? How many times have I heard in my life: “go help your brother”? That’s how I came to it. And the baby became the thing he has to do, despite his state. He somehow has to change diaper – well, he doesn’t do anything – but those kinds of things have to be done. And those things kept him real to me.

On the subject of Abbi and Dave, one of the most terrific things about the film for me is that – if I had read the script, without seeing anything and was told that this movie starred Abbi and Dave, I would have been so–

Marja-Lewis Ryan: Confused.

Yeah! And now having seen it, I’m like: “Well, of course. Who else could’ve done that?” Especially Abbi. I can’t imagine anyone else doing that role. I’m curious cause this was her first dramatic role–

Marja-Lewis Ryan: And David’s too.

Ross M. Dinerstein: His agent read it and called me. I was on vacation. He said: “What about him?” And I was like: “What’re you talking about?!” It never even crossed my mind. But then I realized it could be really interesting.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: Yeah, I wanted Abbi really badly so we cast her first, and then we set out to find her brother. My first instinct was to find someone who was extremely experienced, so I could focus on her. But then when Dave came on, I [realized] it was the opposite actually; we should all be in the same boat. We all kinda had nothing to lose cause if it sucks, it won’t premiere anywhere and it’ll go on Netflix, and it’ll just be one of hundreds of movies out this week and we can just bury it. And that’s okay [if] that’s the worst thing that’s gonna happen. It’s not gonna come out and bomb. That’s the other thing about being with Netflix; it’s really lovely to have that pressure off. It allows actors to actually take risks without worrying about being a box office poison. We were all together.

Samantha Housman: Yeah, and [Dave’s] moment was like Steve Carell’s in Foxcatcher. No one would have ever thought that that person would’ve been cast in that role, but he was amazing in it, and I think we were trying to do something similar here.

Marja-Lewis Ryan: And they were [both] so down. The first time I met Dave he was sitting across from me, eating a skinless chicken breast, and I was at first like: “Ugh.” But he was so excited, and you need people like that, people who are willing to fail. We all really were.

Samantha Housman: We all did at different moments.

Film Inquiry thanks Marja-Lewis Ryan, Samantha Housman and Ross M. Dinerstein for taking the time to talk with us.