We were lucky to catch up with Matthew Appleby recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Matthew, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

In 2022, my first feature film as writer, director, and producer, “Adam and the Water”, premiered. The film debuted at the Washington DC Independent Film Festival, where it won the “Best of Fest” award. After screening at several film festivals, the film was acquired by Freestyle Digital Media and was released on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, and more. The process took five years from start to finish, and was done independently by a small crew.

I started writing the script as soon as I finished my MFA in acting from the Actors Studio Drama School, and the process instantly changed the focus of my creative efforts. The years spent working on the film was a masterclass for me in both filmmaking and business. I had to learn and execute each step of the process, from fundraising, creating budgets, writing grants, and reviewing legal contracts to screenwriting, shot lists, editing trailers, and on-set directing.

Adam & the Water is extremely personal on many levels, including the story it tells. Following a young millennial navigating his OCD and other mental health issues, it is a character study that I hope many connect with, and that are related to some of my own experiences. Making a film of this nature was a risk on many levels, both personally, professionally, and spiritually, but having completed it, I couldn’t be more grateful for the experience and outcome of the film.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a film writer, director, producer, and actor. I moved to New York a decade ago to attend the Actors Studio Drama School, where I earned my MFA. While training in Stanislavski and Strasberg’s method acting, I was also writing and coming up with film ideas as possible projects for myself and my friends to act in. When I graduated in 2018, I signed with an acting agent and manager, and immediately began to focus on writing my first feature film.

“Adam & the Water” follows a young, millennial 9-5er with OCD and anxiety, stuck in his office place routine. Depressed and in a fog, he meets a foreign woman, Eva, who gives him a pill, then continues reappearing randomly throughout his life. Her presence brings color back into his world. As he begins to change, he finds spirituality in his life in New York, but as he discovers some form of self realization, Eva disappears. After workshopping it with the two lead actors (and friends from acting school), the script was ready to be filmed.

Having very little experience and money, we shot the film guerilla style, with a small crew and $20,000, in January 2020. The footage turned out better than I could have imagined, with an extremely passionate team working together for 14 hours a day to bring this vision to life. When we wrapped filming, the pandemic hit just weeks later.

Editing and post production took almost two years, with months spent organizing footage, editing, doing contracts, fundraising (we spent $80,000 in post), creating the music and sound mix in Mexico, and much more. We finished in the winter of 2021, and were soon set to premiere at the Washington DC Independent Film Festival.

We were very fortunate to win the “Best of Fest” Award at DCIFF. The film went on to several independent film festivals and was picked up for distribution by Freestyle Digital Media. After a long distribution process, the movie was released on streaming services (Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, and more) in 2023.

Currently, I am developing and fundraising, along with my writing and producing partner, Matt Consalvo, for our next feature films; “Paramours” and “Translation”.

“Paramours” is a script we began writing in 2018 around the same time as “Adam & the Water”, and that we have continued refining over the past several years. The story focuses on mid-20’s roommates Aaron and Elliot, and their unique, codependent, platonic relationship. The lines blur for the two men as they get older and their relationship grows deeper, and they must eventually confront their love.

“Translation” is a Mexico City based horror film, written by Consalvo, following an American exchange student whose relationship with his host mother and her neighbor takes an unexpected turn. We are co-producing with LA based Upgrade Productions, and the film will be directed by Adrián García Bogliano.

My goal as an artist is to create honest, character driven, thought-provoking, and relevant stories. Inspired by independent, new wave cinema and artists, I really believe in the importance of independent film, especially in the era of streaming dominance. I hope to be able to make films that have an impact.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The best part of being an artist is the constant learning and personal growth. Whether it’s as a writer, actor, or director, each role and story has a historical, geographical, personal, and philosophical context to dive into. Immersing myself into the subjects that build the world of a story is something I truly love. This creates a desire across my daily life to always expand and challenge my own ways of thinking. I remember an early acting teacher of mine say, “an artist must always have a point of view. Even about the lamppost on the street.” I believe that developing a point of view like that requires always diving deeper into yourself and as many subjects as possible. For me, this has been a spiritual, philosophical, and artistic journey all wrapped in one. I want to work on projects that challenge the audience and make people think about the world in different ways, and to achieve this, I have to always be learning and growing myself.

I also love the balance of creative work and business entrepreneurship. Over the course of producing my own independent films, I have spent as much time on the business side as the artistic. From fundraising to advertising, creating and negotiating contracts, applying for grants, managing accounting and taxes, operating budgets, and more, the skills I have had to learn have far exceeded my expectations. Although challenging, I enjoy this part of the work. When I was a student at Boston College, I majored in international relations and minored in theater and economics. I always enjoyed this balance, and didn’t realize how much it would help as a freelance artist down the line. As the saying goes, “they call it show business, but it’s business then show.”

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Everyday requires small pivots as a freelance artist. I’ve worked at a restaurant and event space for years while auditioning, acting in plays, commercials, and short films, and working on screenwriting, producing, and directing my own projects. I’ve had weeks where I’ve worked a film festival premiere and then done a screening of my own movie. So each day is about flexibility and maintaining belief in yourself.

On larger scale life decisions, each opportunity I’ve had as an artist happened quickly. Life, schedules, and routines change dramatically and often, and the nature of most creative ventures is they are a risk. The start of my journey was a big pivot moment. In college, I was planning to move to New York to pursue acting without much of a clear focus how. My roommate and future creative partner, Matt Consalvo, was applying to MFA programs in acting, and needed a scene partner for his audition at the Actors Studio Drama School. He asked me to help, so we drove down from Boston one Saturday morning, and ran into his audition late and out of breath. A few hours later, they admitted both of us into the acting school, and within a week I was enrolled for that fall in their three year MFA program. A few years later, my next big decision was a similar pivot. Once I thought the script was ready for “Adam and the Water” I decided to turn my main focus away from auditioning and acting, and put my time and energy over the next few years into taking this feature film from inception to release. These two moments are among the most important in my creative journey, and both were quick decisions that led to years of commitment and deep work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.matthew-appleby.com
• Instagram: @matthewtappleby
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-appleby-9069aa268
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRdeFa4MnR8
• Other: www.adamandthewater.com

  https://tubitv.com/movies/100020457/adam-the-water

Image Credits

1. William Alden Manning
2. Cory Vanderploeg
3. William Alden Manning
4. Maryland International Film Festival. Uncredited. Shown: Producer Matt Consalvo, DP Bryan Berrios, Matthew Appleby, Producer Ben Dally
5. Washington DC Independent Film Festival. Uncredited. Matthew Appleby & Elisa Alemparte (lead actress)
6. Washington DC Independent Film Festival. Uncredited. Producers Matt Consalvo, Ben Dally, Matthew Appleby
7&8. Stills from “Adam & the Water”