Reel Histories: "Oh, Hi!" ‘The Conversation’ Continues

PROLOGUE

Looks like rain.

Dan Clifton:

There was a whole idea post-COVID—The Mandalorian, LED volumes, high-tech solutions. You can spend a lot of money going down those rabbit holes.

Alex Fernbach:

We’re brokering outcomes, not equipment. If the best answer is an LED volume, great. Not every problem wants a new tool.

Kara Vedder:

“Oh, Hi!”’s rain scenes relied on what Alex calls “retrotech”—effects that have had decades to let us down and still haven’t.



ACT 1

Small film, serious people.

Kara Vedder:

Congratulations on “Oh, Hi!” making it to Sundance all the way from Woodstock!

Dan Clifton:

This was a small film, made by a lot of people who were already doing bigger things—like Molly directing a movie for A24.

“Oh, Hi!” was written by Sophie Brooks, who developed the story during COVID lockdown with actor Molly Gordon, who stars in the film. I had produced Sophie’s first film with David Brooks, who is my friend and her brother. When Sophie had a draft of the script, David came onboard first, then me, and producer Julie Waters.

Alex Fernbach:

Was Sundance always in the back of your mind?

Dan Clifton:

Molly’s film Theater Camp premiered there and sold, so Sundance was always the goal. But it wasn’t a Sundance Labs project and wasn’t on the festival’s radar before we shot it, so it wasn’t a sure thing.

Kara Vedder:

What was it about this story that landed with you?

Dan Clifton:

I always enjoyed Sophie’s writing, having produced her first film. But there are very few modern films about modern dating and modern situationships that feel honest and accurate. The audience isn’t really asked to take sides. You see two flawed people go through a very normal modern relationship story. That was really compelling to me.

People thought it was extremely funny. People thought the movie was really relatable. I could hear young couples talking and arguing about it as we all walked out, which is always a good sign.



ACT 2

“Upstate” is relative.

Alex Fernbach:

How did Upstate New York become the plan?!

Dan Clifton:

Originally, “Oh, Hi!” was a double entendre—it was meant to be set in Ojai, California. We could have made the film on a very low budget there, but at the time the tax incentive was still a lottery system, so there was no way we’d get the California tax credit.

Knowing there was a 40% tax credit for the Upstate bump, we decided this had to be shot in Upstate, New York. A lot of us live in New York or have ties to it, so we moved the production Upstate fairly early.

“Knowing there was the 40% Upstate tax credit, we decided this had to be shot in Upstate New York. The Hudson Valley is a lot more accessible than people think.” “Oh, Hi!” – Producer, Dan Clifton

Kara Vedder:

What were the biggest challenges working with us Upstate?

Dan Clifton:

The biggest challenge was travel, living, and moving—but “Upstate” is relative. New York is a very large state. If you’re shooting where Cobalt’s stage is in Woodstock or around Kingston, it’s much easier to access from the city than people assume.

My first impression was that it was a really great space, exactly where we needed it. It had everything we needed—it felt turnkey from the start.

We walked in, took the tour, saw the setup, and realized pretty quickly that it would fit cleanly into the schedule and the plan. We always had a “day three” mapped out: two very difficult days, then our stage day, then everything else. For us, the stage day felt easy. We felt taken care of.

Dan Clifton:

The end of the film has a lot of rain, with multiple sequences built around it. It wasn’t feasible to do rain practically with towers—we ran out of money and the ability to do that at scale.

At first, we asked all the usual questions: Is it on location? Is it practical? How do we do this without worrying about weather cover? Over a matter of weeks, working with Cobalt, we started to see the shape of a solution.

Talking with Alex and spending time on the stage, we landed on a rear-projection rain setup that really plays well in the film. From a story perspective, it became one of the stronger practical gags.

Because we already had set builds on the stage, once we worked through the technical constraints, it became a no-brainer to move that work there, as well. It wasn’t a last-minute pivot—it was solved deliberately, in prep.

If you step back and look at it, it looks extremely silly outside the frame. But it played incredibly well on camera and totally sold the effect.

As soon as we saw the first demo on the monitor, we knew. We looked at it and said, “Oh wow—this really works.”

Alex Fernbach:

Let’s hear it for retro-tech! No need for a cannon when all you need is a fly swatter.





ACT 3

Don’t be afraid of old solutions.

Dan Clifton:

The fact that it worked so well—and we didn’t have to fix it later or spend more time and money—was huge.

We wrapped September 15 and had to submit a cut to Sundance a month later. That meant four weeks of editing, which is kind of insane.

Doing things practically, in camera, meant we could edit early without waiting for VFX. That really helped the movie.

We’ve all seen cuts where you see “VFX fixed later” or where scenes are missing. You can’t not feel that as a viewer—even in early cuts.

Dan Clifton:

Sundance is moving on from Park City after this next year, and it was a special time to be there. The film premiered in the Premiere section, so it wasn’t in competition, but audiences—especially young people—really responded. It was extremely funny and relatable.

We premiered in the Eccles Theater, which holds about 1,000 people, and you could hear couples talking and arguing about it as they walked out.

This was a small film made by people doing bigger things, so we really appreciated Cobalt as partners—using their expertise to support a relatively low-budget film. We’re grateful, and we won’t forget it as we move on to other projects.

There’s nothing worse than being in the edit and realizing a sequence doesn’t work and needs a reshoot. If something involves vehicle work or effects, get ahead of it early and figure out a controlled plan. Make the plan early. Don’t be afraid of old solutions.

Find good partners.

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