Hotel Film Spotlight

Today’s film spotlight focuses on the feature film Hotel directed by Calob Robinson.

What is the title of your film and what inspired said title?

Our movie is called “Hotel”. This started as a working title, but as my co-writer (Nathon Cash) and I got closer to a finished screenplay we had both fallen in love with the title. So we stuck with it and I’m glad we did. It’s simple, to the point, and accurately describes our film in just one word. 

Tell us a little bit about the story and origins of your film.

I had the idea for Hotel before I had even started filming my first feature “Living with Trevor” but at the time I didn’t really have an idea for what the movie would be “about”. I knew it would be 2 people talking in a Before Trilogy-esque situation but nothing past that. Then in early 2021 my best friend, producing partner, and eventual co-writer on Hotel went down to Portland to meet 2 other folk filmmakers, Jordan Ros and Ethan Hansen. We had a great weekend with them and by the end I felt extremely inspired by the way they make films. We had just released my 2 feature, “Not-So Amazing” at the time and I that was a 2 and 1/2 year production from beginning to end so I was BURNT OUT. The plan was to take all of 2021 off to heal from that experience but then that weekend happened and the cogs in my head started turning. On the drive home I remember nervously bringing up to Nathon that I think I wanna make another feature. Something smaller than I had ever done before. Something easy on a production level. He was pretty surprised but not against the idea so we kept talking and eventually I brought up an old idea I had for a movie in a Hotel room… yada yada. That idea stuck and I asked Nathon if he wanted to co-write it with me, which was the exact thing that needed to happen for the movie to take shape as more than just a loose idea. 

Any films or filmmakers that inspired this film?

My biggest inspiration for the film narratively is Linklater’s “Tape” from 2003. Our film is about different things but the premise of a couple people dealing with a situation all while never leaving a small Hotel room is something both movies share. I think a Tape/Hotel double feature would actually be a pretty complimentary experience. Aesthetically “Anomalisa” from 2015 was by far my biggest influence. In fact there’s a shot early on in Hotel that’s a direct call back to my favorite shot in Anomalisa. Another influence was certainly “Locke” (2013). That film has even more in common with ours than Tape or Anomalisa. All one location, all phone calls, ect. I think I took more inspiration from that film than I realized while in production. Past that though it’s hard to pull out anything super specific. I get inspired by a lot of stuff. Sometimes in big ways, others in small. 

What is the goal of the film for you?

My goal with Hotel, was to make a believable character driven drama about isolation and mistakes. I’ve been wanting to  make a drama since I started directing movies. If you watch my last 2 features, which are comedies, you can see me experimenting with dramatic ideas, but this was the first time I actually got to go all the way and that was extremely satisfying for me. There are very few things I would’ve done differently looking back and that’s a fantastic feeling. I feel more confident than ever now that I’m capable of making some of my more complex drama ideas into real movies. I’m very excited for the future. 

What has the journey been like getting the film into production?

It was more difficult than expected, mostly due to scheduling conflicts with our cast and crew, but still the easiest production of any of my films by a country mile. Once the script was done we only had to find an actress for the character of Jessy because we already had our friend David Rivera as Travis. We actually wrote that part specifically for him. And before we even started looking for an actress for Jessy, our now great friend Riley Barker messaged and basically just said that she liked our last movie and wanted to be involved in whatever was next. Sure enough she was exactly what we were looking for. She killed her audition and we had our complete cast. From there we rehearsed once a week for months until we felt like Riley and David were ready. Then eventually during a 3-night window in January of 2022 we all got together in a Super 8 Hotel room, and made a movie. It was an amazing experience. So creatively freeing and exactly what I needed after Not-So Amazing. I shot the film on the iPhone 13 Pro Max which made the experience particularly freeing. I loved working with it and I’m excited to use it again in some future projects. 

One thing you learned from this project?

I learned that heavy pre-production works. On Not-So Amazing I didn’t do nearly enough of that stuff and the production was a lot slower because of it. With Hotel we didn’t even think about shooting until all the pieces were in place and it made everything move so much smoother and without hiccups. I will never make a movie with minimal pre-production work ever again. 

How can folks find you and your film online?

You can find our film on our YouTube Channel “RC Films” and you can find me on Twitter @Calob_Robinson! 

Any last pieces of advice for fellow filmmakers?

If you wanna make a movie then make a movie. Don’t wait for some suits with money to give you permission. You’re capable of making amazing films on your own with a standard audio set up and your phone as the camera. You don’t need Hollywood to make feature films. Just make your movie. 

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