Interview with Filmmaker Scott Fredette (THE WANDERING WOLF)

THE WANDERING WOLF was the winner of BEST SOUND & MUSIC at the April 2020 Documentary Short Film Festival.

Matthew Toffolo: What motivated you to make this film?

Scott Fredette: Yoni Wolf, lead singer in the band WHY?, has a podcast by the same name. We wanted to give it a visual compliment to his Wandering Wolf podcast. I travel (or traveled) for a living for commercial, branding and storytelling work, and had a very similar take as Yoni. And we invariably end up in the offbeat parts of cities we visited. And we were curious by nature, and explorers so this travelogue is an experiment into showing how we experience places. Ultimately, we want to evolve on this into a series, where we visit and explore the underbelly/undercurrent of 2nd tier cities around the country and world…places you don’t travel to as tourists. And through the eyes of artists in the art/music/youth scene, we want to experience what the locals cherish about each city.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this short?

It took rough 5 months and 20 days to actually make. We think we can do it in two weeks now. 🙂

3. How would you describe your short film in two words!?

Underbelly travelogue.

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?

Money. Always money. Not having it just makes everything 3x as hard, from asking for favors to having to do so much shit by yourself. Filmmaking is collaborative.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?

“Wow, I didn’t know Cincinnati was so cool.”
We both know our craft, so we got a lot of praise on the content and how it was done, from visual to audio. People said it was fun to watch.

Watch the Audience FEEDBACK Video:

6. How did you come up with the idea for this short film?

As stated above, this was a visual compliment to the Wandering Wolf Podcast.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?

Weird, I dunno, I always seem to watch Shawshank Redemption when passing by it on TV. And don’t underestimate a ROM COM with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts? Which one? All of them.

8. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway, what are you feelings of the submission platform from a filmmaker’s perspective?

Super Simple. Love it

9. What song have you listened to the most times in your life?

Probably GRAND DARK FEELING OF EMPTINESS by Bonnie Prince Billy or that Don’t bring me down song by ELO

10. What is next for you? A new film?

Working on a beauty commercial Campaign. Continue experimenting with short films, and trying to get 13 episodes of the WANDERING WOLF.