It's always nerve-wracking when a friend or someone you admire sends you their work.

You go in wanting to like it, but you also want to give honest feedback after you watch it.

And fortunately, not only did I like my friend G. G. Hockens' independent feature debut, I really love my husband.

I really loved it.

I can say without hesitation that it's one of my top 10 movies from 2024, and I'm so excited to have her on the show today. There's a good chance a lot of you already know Gigi. She's the host of the No Film School podcast, which I consider an essential companion to TSL. She even had me on when my feature always Lola premiered a couple years ago, so it's a

real treat to have her on today, but it's not just a favor. I'm actually really excited to talk

about her new movie because she pulled out something rare in today's indie film market.

Her debut premiered at South by Southwest, a top-tier film festival with an actual sales market,

and it did so without any A-list names.

More and more, it feels almost impossible to debut at top-tier festivals without some kind

of celebrity attachment, but Gigi's movie proves that it is possible, and it's exactly

the kind of story so many of you've been asking about that you want to hear about on the show,

so I'm also really excited to have her on. I feel like her movie's a case study as to how

this can happen and still happens, and her movies in theaters now. Because of that, we're splitting today's conversation into two halves. First, the hard production realities of how Gigi made her low five-figure film in Panama that looks like a million bucks. And then part two is a spoiler, deep dive into story and character, because that's ultimately what makes the movie great. So let's get into it. Gigi, how are you? I am very relaxed right now because I just got back from my honeymoon yesterday. I'm still on my honeymoon. I'm just back in L.A. in my apartment. I'm glad to hear it. I was laughing a little bit.

For any of you who are listening who have seen the movie, we'll get into the details, but it's sort of

like the most nightmarish version of how a honeymoon could go. So how has that been psychologically,

like promoting a movie about the challenges of marriage, particularly a honeymoon, while enjoying your own?

It's been a little meta.

You know, I wrote it.

It's about a marriage falling apart.

And I wasn't even engaged at the time that I was shooting the movie I was living with my

longtime partner, who I am now married to. But I do think that, you know,

...