Being around such talented people and learning from them. Everyone from the studio teachers to the writers, to my fellow actors.

Ok, to be honest: no clue what this even means. If we can figure it out...maybe?

Hey Kelsi! You just have to keep on writing them down and trust they'll make sense someday. I've almost gotten in multiple accidents cause I'll have an idea while I'm driving on the freeway and I'm scribbling down notes about some stupid thing. Always have a notepad. Sometimes you'll just get a line of dialogue or a whole story Idea pop in your head and someday you'll look back and you'll go, "Ahha! That's why I wrote that down and also ran over that old lady!" Also finding some people around you that can bounce your ideas around in a safe environment helps a lot. A great book if you are feeling blocked is: "How To Think Like Leonardo DaVinci" it gets you pretty fired up with ideas and keeps you creatively inspired. It does for me anyway. Good luck and keep writing!

Shiloh - I prefer directing if I had to pick. It's all story telling though and as long as people are into the story we are telling - I just want to be part of creating it.

We collaborate with each other, does that count? :) Our editor on The Dungeon Master is a fantastic director himself. His name is Toby Wilkins, he made a great horror film called Splinter (tobywilkins.com). He produced Irish Twins for us and really helped us get started. And our editor on our even newer short Method is another great director himself: Chris Levitus. We haven't submitted to Boston. I guess we should get on that. Keep checking our blog and I will update if/when our films become available to buy. But starting Saturday, The Dungeon Master is screening online here at Tribeca!

Oh God, really? You're going to make me pick a "favorite" from our cast? Never! Favorite episode is a tie: Cory's Alternative Friends and the Scream episode. Then again, I haven't watched an episode for years, maybe my tastes have changed.

Not difficult at all. Dungeon Master came out of a real experience we had trying to play D&D again as grownups (details here: http://bit.ly/hzENZa) without the actual drama, and you know…magic. But since it started from a very personal place, and with an experience we identified with - trying to be cool by trying to be a geek - it was easy for us to find the characters and the arc. It took us maybe three days to write the first draft. We actually wrote Dungeon Master together in the same room, something we usually only do when rewriting. In terms of story, we were always most worried about our main character Shane (played by the great Adam Busch) coming across too mean. The audience is meant to identify with him – laughing at the geeky Dungeon Master - but then halfway through the film that shifts dramatically. We wanted it to come out of nowhere, Shane having repressed his insecurity and lashing out inappropriately. But it also couldn’t be so “out of nowhere” that it was simply confusing. So we wondered if we needed to insert a quick, pointed flashback of some kind – an image of Shane being geeky as a kid, in costume or being bullied – to really make the point. But a flashback in the middle of the film (a short film at that) always felt heavy handed. That’s one of those things you can question endlessly: how much will the audience get, and how much do we need to explain? Will the audience find the wounded geek in Shane or do we need to literally SHOW the wounded geek in Shane? A lot of this came up once we had already begun shooting, so we regret not confronting this issue at the script stage more decisively. In editing, though, we felt that Adam’s performance – he had a way of being mean but keeping a desperation in his eyes and a pleading quality to his voice – told the story well enough. Also, we regret that we couldn’t get a dragon in our movie.

Unfortunately, no. There's no official Irish Twins DVD. We'd have to get the rights to one of the songs we used and they've been a little difficult. Someday, (hopefully soon!) once we've made a feature we'll include it on DVD extras.

It's always hard. If you've done nothing then it's hard to get anyone to watch or read your stuff. If you've been known for one thing (like say, oh, I don't know, acting in a teen sitcom) then it's an uphill battle to convince people you can do something different. They key is to just do the work. Produce content. 90% of Hollywood is filled with people who feel they can make great things, who TELL you they can make great things. The other 10% just go out and do it. Maybe 1% of that is great. But you won't even get to great until you start producing it. And the crazy thing is, once you start writing your material or shooting your films, it's a feedback loop: everything gets easier and better the next time you try it. As far as getting noticed - once you've made something, then festivals, such as this lovely one here, are always more open to new voices and reinvention than anywhere else. We owe so much of our public recognition as writers/directors to Tribeca (in particular, Sharon Badal) and the other festivals we've played. It's the job of agents and producers take a film or filmmaker and think, "How can I market this?" It's the job of festivals to try and take a film on its own terms.

Shiloh: Oh! Also - I think Rider is working on a behind the scenes reel now that our friend and fellow director Jason Marsden shot on location. So stay tuned for that! :)

Shiloh: Great question! I went to school for photography because I really wanted it to help my understanding of composition and light but I also feel it has helped my storytelling in general. In a photograph you only have one frame to try and get a feeling, or story from the viewer - so one has to be very streamlined and to the point. I feel like this has carried over into filmmaking for me as I find myself more willing to cut and focus on what will help the story move and get rid of the superfluous bits.

Wow, looking for some gossip, huh? :) No, I just know that as a group we wouldn't do it. We've all moved on to other things.

Hey Christine, As for school - I went to The Brooks Institute up in Santa Barbara after some community college myself, spent a year at LA Valley College. Rider went to Columbia and then got his Masters at Bennington. Though neither of us studied film at school it sounds like it would be a lot of fun. Besides learning (obviously) it's a great way to build a team of talented creative people to surround yourself with for when you get out and start making your films. Which leads to my advice to you! I wouldn't worry too much about people trying to take advantage of you or your ideas (if that's what you are saying). One thing that is never ending is creativity. As for getting help - you have a HUGE resource to tap into - Los Angeles! Post some stuff on craigslist, or Mandy.com, or Photocrew.com - these are great sites full of people like yourself who just want to learn and meet people passionate about telling stories. You are in an incredibly creative and talented and driven city. The people who want to help are out there, they may not work out well (the internet can attract some crazies) but just remind yourself that you are learning and part of the curve is finding the right people. Hope that helps and thanks for the question! Shiloh

The people. We had a lot of fun.

Michelle, The Dungeon Master was inspired by a real experience we had when we tried to play D&D again. We wrote about it in our Director's Statement (you can find it on the film's website). We've always had a lifelong love of all things fantasy, medieval, and magical - but we tend to like small, talky movies too. The Dungeon Master was our way to do both. We've already finished another short film called Method but now we've sworn off making more shorts. We need to do a feature. The script we have ready to go is a new twist on the romantic comedy, written by the other members of our team, Alexandra Barreto & Chad Crone. Which, actually, will be a lot like The Dungeon Master. Well, without D&D and geekery.

To work on? The Scream episode...I can't remember what it was actually called. We literally had to keep shooting until 1 am because we were laughing so hard we couldn't get through any of the scenes.

was it "and then there was shawn"? because that episode had a lot of screams going on and i never thought angela's character could be that funny. i'm watching it now. LOL!

You might be the only person in the world waiting for "Summertime Switch" on DVD :). I have no clue if it would ever happen. I doubt it though, those TV movies were typically made for a one-time airing only. We had a really fun cast on that little movie.

Thanks so much. Yeah, I actually went and did the Graduate again in Australia last year, which was an amazing experience, getting to revisit the same material years later. It's weird how much you change as an artist - it was a completely different play. Much better (at least, I think). I would love to do more theater. Despite the fact that there is so much talent and really good plays going on all the time - LA's not much of a theater town. Which is a cliche, but it's true. People don't want to deal with parking. Or something. If I knew I could do a play a year, I would be a much happier person. Maybe I should move back to NYC. But the truth is, gotta make a living, and we're putting everything into film right now. There HAS been talk of taking Irish Twins and making it a one-act, it's already pretty much a play. We should get on that...

well this spider man debacle is going to turn the broadway musical into risky territory...people are looking for plays in a big way right now. what does LA have, two broadway-style theaters? SF has Geary street...the new york (smaller) stage is starting to heat up again...many one-acts catching eyes in the village transferring to b-way. take a look. best of luck guys...hope to see you back in NYC soon.

oh and if i ever run into you again in NY i have a funny Ms.Hall story i think you'll get a kick out of about the Graduate opening at the wilshire years ago...can't say it here.

Nope. Nothing planned. There was a moment - about six years ago - when there was talk about a new show with the same characters. They actually wrote scripts for it, apparently. But no, it is most certainly not going to happen now. We should just wait until we're old men and we can actually be like that "flash forward" from season one: "They want you to take the rolls!"

Only a childhood crush, huh? What happened? Was it me, or you? Ben and I will always be friends - after all, we grew up together. He's one of the smartest, funniest people I know, and we spent so much time acting together that we achieved a level of artistic trust that is truly rare.

Excellent questions. Our craft service for our location shoot was provided by our parents, Lin and King Strong and mostly consisted of Costco products. They drove six hours to serve coffee and raise morale. They are amazing. I eat dry Cheerios because I'm a baby. Shiloh prefers Cheez-its.

Shiloh: Full time job for me is the endless mission to get a job in acting / writing / directing or photography. I guess my "day job" is photography, I get some gigs shooting events, or portraits at my studio here and there. I also assist and digital tech (work the computer) on some high end commercial photography jobs to pay the bills. Somehow it seems to work itself out every month but I never know what is coming next. The life of the freelancer.

Thanks, I love Asheville. Last time I was there on a road trip stopped into a bar and they were having a "Tom Waits" night. That's my idea of heaven. Shiloh and I are late bloomers on the comic/graphic novel front - neither of us read them as kids. So we like a lot of the more recent stuff: The Walking Dead is really incredible and reading it has made us better humans. Y the Last Man. Watchmen, obviously. Shiloh: big fan of the The Ultimates and Thor. Rider: don't like superhero stuff so much, loved Fun Home by Allison Bechdel. But really, Blood Merchant is more inspired by films. Gangster films. In particular, Donnie Brasco and Goodfellas. The story, even though it has vampires, is rooted in that blue-collar mafia world. Rob Prior does the artwork and it's incredibly realistic (Shiloh shoots photos, then Rob paints every page) and dark. In terms of feel, it's a lot like the Gaiman/McKean Black Orchid. It's going to kick ass.

You know, I think I would've stayed in school forever. Which can be dangerous. So much of college is a humbling experience: realizing you don't know crap about anything. But at a certain point, I wish somebody (my future self) had leaned in and whispered, "Stop preparing, start doing." Because I think a kind of paralysis can set in during the educational process - I felt like I was endlessly discovering how little I knew about the world rather than using what I did know. So I guess my advice is: when your education is formally over. Let it be over. Then learn by doing.

Thank you. It's still crazy to me that people from later age groups responded to the show - I mean, think about it: you were a one year old when we started filming! As far as I know, Lions Gate will be releasing all the seasons. I've been trying to convince them to do more "special features." I'd love to even produce them myself if they'll let me.

Thank you for responding. :) haha yes, I was 2 when the first episode aired. But its true, today in school a bunch of us were talking about the halloween episode and the Shallow boy episode. And yes please, try to convince them, that would be great!

Simple music with good lyrics. Folk, blues, and rock style stuff. Usually people with unique voices. Tom Waits. Van Morrison. Newer folks I'm into: Josh Ritter, Bon Iver, The National.

Afraid we have not pursued any distribution yet for Irish Twins. Hopefully we can change that soon! If you want to check out www.strongbrothersmagicshow.blogspot.com we'll post info on there once we start getting our shorts out there.

RIDER: I was once told I look like a raccoon. I think this is sad, but true. If I had a choice, I'd be some kind of awesome bird. Maybe an owl. Shiloh would be a dolphin so he could surf all the time. SHILOH: when we were kids, we would make up the perfect animal to be and I still remember mine: magical-underwaterbreathing-flying-talking-dolphin. That covers all the bases. But now? I would probably be a bison. A friendly Bison. Rider is a mountain lion. A mountain lion that is a vegetarian. Even though Rider eats meat as a human.

The biggest transition has been learning how to write a graphic novel. It's essentially like writing and directing at the same time - describing the panels as well as writing the story and the dialogue. We had to learn the rhythm of comics, which is based on page turning: the reader reaching the bottom of a page and wanting (needing!) to turn to the next one to find out what happens next. And comics have a completely different economy than film. In film, action takes up the least amount of time and has the highest payoff - so you want to keep dialogue to a minimum. Comics are the complete opposite: an action sequence (a couple punches thrown) can take up a whole page, but a longwinded exchange between two characters can fit on one panel. So you can get a lot more out of dialogue than in film, and a lot of the fundamental "rules" of storytelling change as a result. The weirdest part is that right now we're adapting Blood Merchant to a screenplay. So all the effort we put into figuring out how to make the story shine as a graphic novel, now we have to undo and rework...but we're not complaining. I mean Jesus, we're writing about vampires for a living.

Vanessa, we would love to come to Spain. In fact, your question reminded us to look into Sitges - we've heard it's an amazing festival and The Dungeon Master seems like it might fit in nicely...we'll try!

Thanks so much. Yeah, Dan is a great director and I was really impressed with how Your Lucky Day turned out. I can't wait for him to do a feature. I've actually been recognized on the street for that role...which just goes to show how much the distribution of films has changed: a short film can get half a million views just by being put on Vimeo. No, I haven't seen Nice Guy Johnny. And yeah, we'll be at every screening, no doubt.

Lot of Boston fans apparently...I guess we'll look into it!

Shiloh - Thanks Jay! I'd love to see Joe's shorts. I don't think there is too much competition in the short film maker world. Ever short filmmaker I've run across is just as excited as we are to be creating and we are always willing to help each other out. We all want to win awards of course! I've found the most amazing thing about working in this medium is the talented people you get to meet and collaborate with when you create a short. So - YES! Always willing to give it a shot. But no more shorts. We need to make a feature now. :)

Hi Shiloh! thanks for the answer! seriously being in the creative world is the most fun thing! i wish you both best of luck in all things you guys are doing now or will be doing in the future!

My hardest job was Borderland. It was not a very fun role to play: being chained up, scared, and tortured. Not only is it just physically uncomfortable, but everyone on set is constantly asking you if "you're ok" when all you want is to try and stay emotionally volatile.

Haha! Nice. Yeah single. ;) Now, do you really care about the first bit of the question I wonder...heh. I feel directing is more exciting for me, I love everything about being in production. On a set and creating a visual story with a team of creative and talented people is a huge rush. Photography can have that feeling as well, but it is less collaborative for me and I love working with people, like this brother I'm stuck with. I like working with him. So I guess we'll keep doing this. :) As for inspiration: it's everywhere - just keep writing things down that I think is funny or interesting, or make a good story. Why I got into film: our father came home in 1982 with a video camera that was bigger and weighed more than both of us at the time and we started making movies with our parents. That moment pretty much has defined our career paths as we've loved telling visual stories ever since. So tanks Dad! And RCA...for inventing that video camera I guess. Always loved movies and been wanting to make them ever since. Hope that answers some - thanks so much for the questions!

Shiloh: I know a huge film for both of us growing up was "Stand By Me" - Rob Reiner is an amazing director and his early films were a big inspiration. Scorsese, P.T. Anderson, Terrence Malick, I love Aronofsky too, Danny Boyle, The Hughes Brothers, (Menace To Society - one of my favorites) Coens or course - Lebowski rules. There are more I can't think of right now. I lean more towards the fantasy, scifi and blockbuster movies than Rider does. "The Beach" and "The Island" are two of my favorite flix. Although I'm not a Michael Bay fan. Go figure. Just love that movie. As for conflicts, I wouldn't say too much arises. I think I have a more visual background and think in those terms and Rider is much more literal - he does have a Masters in English, I'm a master of misspelling words. Yet it's not that black and white, we know each of our strengths and rely on each other to bounce off ideas. Conflict is never a bad thing in the creative process I feel, as long as respect and understanding is always present it just makes for a better project.

This is a good question...I'm honestly very torn about acting. I love it so much, but I think it's gotten a little stale for me lately. You have to pour your heart into every job, but ultimately, you have no clue what caliber the final project will be. You end up being contextualized by the project. I'm really enjoying filmmaking and discovering the process to be much more fulfilling. So...we'll see. I'd like to believe I could do both in some capacity.

This is Rider writing this answer, but I think I can safely say that there are a few films/filmmakers that both of us hold up as perfect or that hit us at the right time in our lives: Stand by Me. Boogie Nights. Picnic at Hanging Rock. Goodfellas. Sideways. Trainspotting. Contempt. Five Easy Pieces. Life Aquatic... This is a pretty big question and our list could go on and on, so I'll talk about the films that influenced our specific projects. Irish Twins: we stole the look for the movie from Scorsese. Casino in particular, with it's bright colors, blown out hot spots, and smoky feel (we basically freeze-framed the Joe Pesci pen-stabbing scene and told out DP to make our bar look like that. He nailed it.) For the exteriors we looked at Miller's Crossing. The Dungeon Master: We wanted it to look like a better shot version of contemporary mumblecore films - Duplass Brothers, Lynn Shelton - which sort of brings the feel back to 90s Linklater stuff, films we love. Ed Burns is also a big influence. We really wanted that improv and talky acting style. Then the movie changes, and we shifted to ripping off Lord of the Rings - and more practical FX fantasy films like Willow - as much as possible.

We've both been to Ireland a bunch, and we love it there. Not to mention a lifelong obsession with James Joyce and Van Morrison on Rider's part. But actually, there wasn't a need for research. Irish Twins is about two American brothers who are born within the same year and were always told they're "Irish twins" without realizing how derogatory that term actually can be - something that was true for us (although, we're actually 18 months apart). The story is about the brothers realizing how different they are from each other; so the title worked thematically in that they: "twins" who aren't really twins. Rider: Still in touch with BMW cast, had drinks with Will Friedle and Jason Marsden just last week. Met Ben for breakfast the week before that.

Nope, more like KITT. Bill isn't much like Feeny - much less condescending and much more smiley - but he is a wise pro that we all looked up to.