Sometimes the best thing you can do is throw yourself a pity-party. 

Or, if you’re the Drextons, a Sour Party ;) 

After a New York doc went belly-up (catfished, long-story) and another “almost” project collapsed, Amanda and Michael Drexton grabbed a bag of off-brand Sour Patch candy called, yep, Sour Party. What are you gonna do? Cry? Yes, but it’s so much better with sugar. 

Somewhere between chewing and contemplating life choices in the streets of New York City - Amanda, Michael, and Samantha Westervelt had an idea.

Here’s a quick reminder: Amanda and Michael Drexton’s Sour Party is the recipient of Andrews Bernard Award 3, in collaboration with Steven Soderbergh earning $100k to finish their film and this is their newsletter takeover. 

We sat down with the Drextons to dive into what brought Sour Party to life, and in summary: community, a whole lotta audacity, and if we may pat ourselves on the back, a little push from DCP and Steven Soderbergh to bring it to the finish line.

The Drextons didn’t wait for someone else’s greenlight before deciding to bring this project to life. “You are your own greenlight,” said Amanda. 

What began as a short about stealing succulents ballooned into a feature built entirely around what they had: a list of places around LA, thrift-store props, and a healthy dose of confident delusion. 

The production designer, Lauren Argo (the Drextons call her Lala, we're obsessed) deserves icon status: she drove from Kentucky with furniture strapped to her car roof, with enough thrift-store props to fill an entire apartment. An icon, Lala.

The soundtrack is powered by female-led LA punk bands, led by actress and co-story writer Samantha Westervelt’s band Egg Drop Soup and her network. 

Their DP, Steven Moreno, also joined the party and brought all crew and equipment.

"Everyone just came together to make this happen," the Drextons said. "It was such a community effort, it really was."

One of the Drextons’ favorite behind-the-scenes stories is an improvised dance number that reflects the nature of the filmmakers: chaotic, hilarious, authentic. Going with the flow to the point that your farts come out in colorful smoke? Yes, please. 

“We’re a disaster when we’re writing, but a cohesive unit on set,” they admit. They fight over every word, working on one laptop, a Greek tragedy with the soundtrack somewhere between Mozart and death metal. And then, they show up to production in total sync. Marriage, am I right? 

As for their favorite scene… top secret, you’re gonna have to watch the movie. But what we can say is that it’s bizarre, a little magical, and it might make you question your deductive skills.  

Sidenote: that’s not the only little secret we’re keeping…

Beyond the chaos, Sour Party is deeply rooted in Los Angeles. It’s messy, a little ridiculous, full of love, and resilient; just like the city herself. Coming after the devastating fires, the film feels like a love letter to LA’s grit. 

The story itself developed around the places they could film in around the city, making LA not only the location, but a character in the story. 

Yes, Steven Soderbergh has seen the movie. The verdict? No notes, just love. 

FYI, Steven Soderbergh loves fart jokes. He’s just like us. 

Right on, Mr. Soderbergh. 

The Drextons talk about DCP as “the opposite of the black box.” Instead of submitting into a void, they had transparency, Discord convos, and community cheering them on. Voters still ping them for updates.

“It’s crazy to come from a world of no, and then DCP is like, yes. It’s whiplash honestly,” said Michael. 

This is exactly what we want to accomplish, and it wouldn’t be possible without our community, so THANK YOU! 

At the heart of the Drextons is their own determination to get things going. Like they said, “you are your own greenlight,” so don’t wait for permission. Remember that community is your greatest resource. Ask, borrow, beg! People tend to want to be a part of something, so give them something! 

As Michael noted, handle your chain of title and distribution paperwork early. Sexy? Depends on who you ask, but it is essential. 

One bit of advice from your writer today: it’s okay to throw yourself a pity-party sometimes; or in spiritually healthier words: sit with your feelings, you never know what can come out of something sour!

That’s the newsletter takeover, folks. Scroll down for the full Q&A if you want more from the Drextons (you should, they’re awesome), and stay tuned for when and where to watch Sour Party.  

Till next time! 

We were on another project in New York, it was supposed to be our first feature, and it completely fell apart. We got catfished by our subject. It was a documentary, we showed up in New York with a DP [Steven Moreno] and a bunch of equipment, and the floor fell out from underneath.

It was devastating, we were at a friend’s film premiere in New York and Michael said, I need candy… It was an off-brand Sour Patch called Sour Party, and he’s like this is our next movie. 

We had another script, everything fell apart at the last minute. We really for the first time thought about giving up. Michael was like I cannot shoot another short, I have to shoot a feature. So…what if we make this short the cold opening of a feature…and we went from there.

We’re just going to shoot something, whatever pennies we can rub together. The short was called Succulent Thieves… We made a list of everyone we knew and all of the things we could get for free…and created the entire film around what we had to work with. 

Steven’s seen it, we had a meeting with him. He said "I love the movie, as far as I’m concerned, it’s done."

The most surprising thing coming out of this was Soderbergh loves a good fart joke…who knew Steven Soderbergh loved a fart joke?

It’s everybody’s favorite scene… the top-secret scene. We can’t say too much… it is a very bizarre scene, a magical moment, and everyone is thinking where is this going? The end of the scene is not what anyone would expect. 

Also just seeing the film on a big screen with an audience, touring it at film festivals… incredibly meaningful.

We have a soundtrack that’s all female-led LA punk bands. Our lead actress [Samantha Samantha Westervelt], her band is called Egg Drop Soup. To have the voice of Sour Party be a LA-based punk band is very cool. 

When we’re writing, we’re fighting, all-out war in here. One laptop, constant battle. If you don’t have a reason for why you’re fighting for something, it’s gotta be cut. 

By the time we’re on set, the fighting’s over, nothing more to argue about. 

There’s no boundaries, our personal life leads into our professional life. I don’t really want to talk about anything other than film… we’re pretty much one person at this point, it’s so codependent. 

I think the soundtrack varies, there are moments where it’s like a Greek tragedy, and then everything’s in harmony. The music ranges from, like, Mozart to Death Metal, it’s all over the map, a crazy, chaotic explosion. 

We’re so anxious to get it out, it’s been such a long process. So many little yeses with so many major no’s, it’s a roller coaster. We feel like this is our bonus round. 

We shot it in 2022, we’re so ready to get it out. It’s our love letter to LA. 

We approached it like, we’re doing this, it’s happening, do you want to be involved? And so many people came out. We had our production designer who drove from Kentucky with a bunch of stuff that her and Sammy [Westervelt] had got from a thrift store, like strapped to the roof of her car. 

We said we need to fly you out, why don’t you shop everything? And she was like, no, I need my car. We couldn’t believe what it looked like. She had furniture in there. The girl’s apartment was a completely empty, barren space and she filled it. It’s shocking what she did with it in, like, three days. She had no assistant, and she was doing it all for free. 

Our DP [Moreno] came out, brought all crew and equipment. Everyone just came together to make this happen. It was such a community effort, it really was. 

Just love what you guys are doing. It’s like, here’s a way to access unbelievable legends and it actually seems feasible to win. You submit to [traditional festivals] and you send your film out into like a black box, into the ether, and you have no idea what’s going to happen, it’s just a total mystery. At DCP there’s transparency, and the community and having discord and hearing what people are saying about your project. 

We really feel supported. Especially independent filmmaking, it’s crazy to come from a world of no, and then now DCP is like, yes. It’s whiplash, honestly.