I'm Jordan VanDina, I wrote and directed "It's a Wonderful Binge" the Christmas sequel on Hulu where all drugs are legal for one day but I started my career on Reddit posting fake scripts. AMA!

One more question, have you ever consider remaking west side story set in the 1980s but calling it West Side Corey were the two gangs are Corey Haim and Corey Feldman supporters respectively but cannot agree on which actor is better?

The short answer is yes of course. The long answer is when I first moved to LA I lived at the Oakwoods which is filled with child stars hoping to get on a show for pilot season. My neighbor was Corey Haim and I saw him at the convenience store in the complex 3 different times buying D BATTERIES. And if I saw it 3x imagine how many times he was actually buying them. I wonder everyday what he was doing with those. Boom box? That’s what my movie would be about. Thank you.

Lots of things that vibrate take D batteries...

I’m listening…

How high do you have to be to write stuff like this?

It's a good question! One I'm asked all the time. I actually don't do drugs at all. I smoked weed a bit in high school and college but other than that I'm mostly a Bud Light and Coke Zero kind of guy.

It shows in your writing and movie that you've obviously never done actual drugs.

Thank you

Hey dude. We’ve worked together on a few things. WWDD and the 24 Hour Trevor Moore talk show.

You’ve obviously spent a ton of time on sets as a creative. What challenges in transitioning to directing surprised you?

Hey!! What’s up! WWDD was my first paid writing job ever. Aside from answering questions 18 hours a day I was surprised how all consuming directing was to my life. With writing I could jump between projects with directing I was only focusing on one thing for about a year straight.

Holy shit was it really your first?! That’s wild. I was so proud of that project.

Anywho, give Spermer a kiss on the lips for me.

I was too! It turned out so good. And I definitely will! Just talked to him today

Is it worth watching?

Sure! If you like r-rated stoner comedies that have killer owls and grandmas on cocaine.

Does gram show them tiddies? Only way I’m watching

Shit. This is where we went wrong.

Cocaine grandma was my favorite part I think.

Thank you! “Cocaine Grandma” would be a good title for a spinoff

What were some of your favorite bars and restaurants while in Syracuse, besides Dinosaur BBQ?

So many incredible ones. My hotel was next to Pastabilities so I had the riggies there 4x a week at least. The York was pretty great too. A little farther out in Liverpool my favorite bar is the Retreat, also incredible chicken riggies.

We just had the premiere after-party at Three Lives arcade bar and that was awesome food and games.

Overall everyone working in the bars and restaurants in Syracuse was so nice and supportive of the movies, it's really awesome to spend months at a time there. And I'm originally from Long Island so I'm more comfortable in NY anyway.

Im OOTL - I'm assuming Christmas Binge was filmed in Syracuse? Where are you from originally? And, next time go one city over for some great wings and white hits in Rochester. We're better (Sorry Syracuse)

I’m from Ronkonkoma long Island originally! But Jeremy Garelick bought a high school in Syracuse to shoot comedies there. So all the production is based out of there. But I do love wings so I’ll be sure to hit Rochester for Binge 3!

You're my new favorite scriptwriter ever. If you ever need an extra that isn't attractive, is overweight, and can't act for shit, I'm your guy!

You’re 100% in.

What advice would you give for someone who has some scripts under their belt and looking to get their foot in the door in the biz?

Don't be afraid to put some of your stuff out there and reach out to anyone and everyone. I got my start by posting scripts on Twitter and Reddit and DM'ing writers I admired and managers who repped writers I admired.

You'll get 400 no's and 99% of people ignoring you but there are the people that will help you throughout your career. Jon Hurwitz who made Cobra Kai and Harold and Kumar responded to me when I was 21 and I still work with him 15 years later and he's been insanely supportive throughout my career. You never know who will like your stuff!

WHY CAN’T I SEE THE ANIMANIACS CELL I GAVE YOU FOR YOUR WEDDING ON YOUR WALL???? AND WHEN IS THE POOL WARMING PARTY??? AND HOW DO I TURN OFF THE CAPS LOCK KEY???

ITS FRAMED ON MY SHELF OTHERSIDE OF THE ROOM!!!! POOL WARMING SOON!!!!

Uh... are we all invited?

Of course! Will put the date and address on Reddit

What software do you use for your screenplays?

Mostly Final Draft these days but when I started out I was using CELTX and it's almost identical.

Favorite Christmas movie?

So many classics to choose from. My mainstream favorite is Christmas Vacation.

My alt answer to be cool is KISS KISS BANG BANG.

And my odd favorite is "Just Friends." The line "he's from jersey he skis in his jeans" has been in my head for 20 years.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is such a great movie. The chemistry RDJ and Val Kilmer had was so fun to watch.

I just watched it for the first time pretty recently and loved it. RDJ’s line about inventing dice was such a weird throw away line that made me laugh so hard and I can’t stop thinking about.

All drugs were legal in Ireland for a day a few years ago. Did you get any inspiration from that?

I didn’t know about that! I wonder if any owls got into the ketamine and went feral or if that’s only in the movies.

I dunno I have a hard time enjoying the "everyone gets wasted" trope after dealing with someone being an alcoholic. Is this for laughs or is there more to it?

Since this is a sequel I'd definitely say the "everybody getting wasted" trope takes a backseat to the characters in this one. It's mostly about them trying to avoid the binge holiday and getting sucked into random shenanigans. But it's definitely a broad teen comedy.

What do you mean by "posting fake scripts"?

I would post scripts based on IP I didn’t own. Like the Fast and Furious and Batman.I knew these scripts could never actually get made but I used them as calling cards for my writing. I figured if I could go viral I would have a shot at getting staffed on a show, and that eventually happened!

So the writer version of fake it till you make it. Cheers mate!

Exactly!

Will the character nick weiss be back for an appearance in the second binge?

We are using him as a bargaining chip, if Hulu gives us a third Binge we'll bring him back.

Isn't this just a different take on "The Purge"? Following the people who binge on drugs rather than going for violence?

Yeah it’s essentially a comedic take on the Purge. It’s the fun side of the Purge! Unless your idea of fun is murdering people in the street then I guess the Purge is the fun Purge for you.

What's it like to wear a Kirkland shirt at LAX?

A guy asked me if they’re an athletic brand and I said yes plus they make batteries and bulk toilet paper.

Any update on Dumpenstein 3?

It’s in development Hell

Why Coke Zero and not other forms of Coke, like Diet Coke?

I’ll dabble in Diet Coke too. I’m not a purist. Especially since the formula and can change of the Zero.

They changed coke zero? Those bastards! It was perfect from day one.

It was a betrayal to all of us.

The can change is infuriating.

I don’t even drink Coke Zero and this made me mad.

And during Covid, some idiot decided to stop making Coke Zero Vanilla. Now I have to drink sugar. I live in GA now and there are days I think about hoofing down there and making this blasphemy known. But, you know, traffic.

And during Covid, some idiot decided to stop making Coke Zero Vanilla.

I know a little backstory on this because I went through a similar thing with Sprite Zero.

At the height of the pandemic, supply chain issues caused a shortage in aluminum. So soda companies limited their production to the basic formulas to meet that demand and cut production of the others.

They slowly introduced the others back into society, but Coke Zero Vanilla might be lost forever.

/u/shrimptooth, do you have any insight on the aluminum shortage?

Working on my next movie where in the future aluminum is only legal one day a year.

Would you rather fight 10 duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?

Horse sized duck! Don’t want to be outnumbered. Plus I feel like I could reason with a duck. Horses are wild.

First, I must say it was the Kirkland shirt that drew me in. Second, is this about binging on hard drugs? I am in recovery and have done so on all of them and would probably find this entertaining in a counterintuitive and non-triggering way. The titles in your comments are intriguing also. Anyway I'm gonna check this out.

Keep it Kirkland.

Come for the Kirkland and maybe stay for the movie, that’s what I say. My favorite shirt by far. They do some of the hard stuff, cocaine, magical Christmas ketamine etc… #KeepitKirkland

I don’t have Hulu. Is there a chance your film will end up on another platform?

It's on Disney+ in most places around the country. But I think it's exclusive to the Disney/Hulu family for the next decade or so!

Is that Amy Sedaris in the background?! Love her and her brother.

Yep! That’s her

You should watch Purge. It asks the question, "what if crime was legal for one night?"

Damn! Pretty sure they stole that from us.

How long did it take you to write your first script?

What kind of schedule do you put yourself on when writing?

How I got my start was on a website I started called www.WeekendScripts.com where I would write a full script in a weekend and put it online. They weren't necessarily great but they would be based on news stories so people would be like, "how the fuck is their script about CURRENT NEWS STORY already?" And that got me a lot of notoriety for my speed.

Normally if I'm writing a script that I'm getting paid for I really like just getting a first draft out in a few weeks, knowing that I'm going to go back and change a million things. For me having the full draft in front of me is when I can start really analyzing what's working and what definitely isn't.

This is so good to hear. I challenged myself this year to write at least two scripts by writing a page a night - anything else you'd recommend to improve my writing speed or just keeping on track during rough months?

I’d say my biggest advice always is to just finish. Even if you think it’s a hot pile of shit. I think a lot of people get stuck in a trap of trying to perfect the first 20 pages and are too hard on themselves. Once you have a full 3 act script you really start to see what the movie is. It’s also important to remember that if you’re lucky enough to sell something every single step of the way there will be notes. Studio, producer, director, actors, so the draft will probably unrecognizable by the time it gets to the screen.

This makes me feel so much better. For the last decade, I just had so many incomplete scripts but this year was all about just getting it done. Thank you just for replying.

Yes!! Finishing is 99% of the battle!

Do you have any other fake scripts That are still out there?

They are all still up on www.WeekendScripts.com, most of them were so tied to the news of the week that they won’t make much sense but they’re still up!

I’m a bit late to The party, but is it available in Europe (Denmark) too? No Hulu here

I believe it should be on Disney+ there!

Great! I’ll check it out. Congrats on The film !

Thanks!

What is the most difficult part of writing a script?

The middle!! In my opinion it’s easy to start the first act and I usually know the ending but it’s the 40-70 page range that feels like a slog and what I always struggle with the most.

Is being a director as satisfying and fulfilling as you thought it would be?

It is! Aside from the critics that wrote that they loathe me and want me dead it’s been really great! Getting to see it go from a blank page to something on the front page of Hulu is really wild. Also getting to see it in a theater of people is awesome, really need more comedies in theaters. It’s so fun!

How did you pitch the first Binge movie? Did you have a look book or a finished first draft or just a logline?

Finished draft. I’ve sold around 5 scripts at this point and they’ve all been written first. Sure it’s annoying to do the work up front for free but once you have the script people know what it is and I think it avoids years of development when it’s coming from just a logline or a pitch.

Hi, 3-part question: How did you break into Directing? How long did it take you to do that? Have you found being the Director of your work was the only way to ensure your creative vision remains intact from script to screen, free from unnecessary rewrites?

I had directed a bunch of comedy shorts through the years and I was on set everyday for Binge 1 shadowing the director Jeremy Garelick. So when it came time to do the second one he really went to bat for me and told Hulu I could handle it. They were super supportive and let me go as crazy as I wanted. And if you watch the movie you’ll see it’s pretty wacky! I think directing definitely helps maintain the MOST control, but there are still notes from the studio and the actors and producers but ultimately you do have the final say in most decision making. As long as you aren’t some kind of ego maniac jerk! And with a movie like this I think funniest idea wins out. I was willing to hear any and all pitches.

Love it! Would you be down to come on our podcast as a guest sometime and talk about your movie and film career? 🤔

Sure!

What are some of your favorite spoof movies?

All the classics! Airplane, Naked Gun, Scary Movie, Don’t be a Menace, Spaceballs

Favorite cure for writers block?

I always like to start something new. It takes the pressure off of the last thing I was working on and let’s my brain go in a totally different direction. Then when I get stuck on the new thing I jump back!

Bf and I loved both films. Great laughs and silliness that we had been missing. Suck it down pipe.

How is it working with Eduardo Franco? I’ve enjoyed his acting in things. And how did Danny Trejo get cast?

Thank you!! Eduardo Franco is really awesome. He’s obviously incredibly funny but also an insanely good actor. His instincts were always dead on and I never had to tell him much. Also we bond over our lives for 90s nostalgia video games, toys and movies which is the most important.

I wrote the role for Danny Trejo and somehow he agreed to do it. Also one of the nicest guys ever. He gave a big speech at the end of shooting and said it was the most fun he’s ever had on a movie shoot.

According to my neighbor, I live in Flavortown. Why don't I ever see the mayor walking around?

https://imgur.com/a/QoqirbI

He’s more of a behind the scenes mayor, like the wizard of Oz but with donkey sauce.

How many unusable scripts did you write till you finally got a gig?

I think around 10. I kept doing it even after I was getting paid to write too. It’s just fun to get to write without any rules or notes and just upload it to the world.

When you start out do you just send your scripts to everyone? How do you avoid having your ideas stolen?

I’ve never been afraid of having my ideas stolen because I feel like at this point there is such a massive digital trail of where and who you send it to that it would be pretty hard to steal. (Also my ideas aren’t that good) I’m sure it still happens but I’d rather take the risk and send it out then fear getting it stolen. The reward is definitely greater than the risk!

The Irish government accidentally legalized a rake of drugs for one day a few years back. Was this any inspiration for your story?

No! The first time I heard about it was on this thread a few hours ago. But that’s amazing, I’ll have to look that up. Binge 3: This Time In Ireland? @hulu