Welcome to a new spotlight feature on the terrencetodd blog. A conversational snippet from phone interviews with filmmakers. One question, one answer. And to kick things off, I’m pleased to feature Denis Henry Hennelly, the director and co-writer of the new apocalyptic ensemble dramedy Goodbye World. We debated the futility of isolation (see Filmmaker Denis Henry Hennelly Discusses Futility of Isolationism) and then proceeded to briefly discuss the evolution of the audience (in terms of their identification as a community).

terrencetodd: When I look at my daughters (ages 12 & 15), film, the watching of it, is so different to them (than it was for me and my generation) today. So, how do you, as a filmmaker, feel about that because your audience is going to be less excited about this form than you are?

Denis Henry Hennelly: It’s funny because that community aspect is less, but in some ways it’s more. They are less likely to go to the theater, to go to the cinema. They are more likely to watch it on an iPad or a computer or whatever, and more likely to watch it in pieces, as opposed to sitting down and getting hit by an experience all at once, so all of that is less communal, but at the same time, there are these feedback loops that exist. Right after watching it, there’s the opportunity to communicate with other people about it or the people who made it. If anybody who watches this movie and wants to tell me what they think about it, good or bad, they can do that pretty easily. You know, they can find me. That’s not something I was able to do. I would have died to have been able to reach out to filmmakers. In some ways that’s way more communal. So, I guess that’s the transition. We’re always going to find ways to form community.