Five Dollar Friday — Sebastian Zufelt & ‘Private Browser’
A filmmaker and their short film deserving of your attention
Happy Five Dollar Friday!
My guest this week is Sebastian Zufelt, a filmmaker originally from Seattle and now based in NYC.
He’s currently crowdfunding his next short film, Private Browser.
After catching a glimpse of pornography on her boyfriend’s phone, Jane struggles to get the image out of her mind and questions her boyfriend’s attraction to her. Private Browser explores the discomfort of discussing intimacy and the complexities of desire in modern relationships.
I’d say I’m sorry to ask this, but you’re surely going to be asked this multiple times on your festival run: is Private Browser based on a true story? Have you had a partner catch you watching porn?
While it’s not based on a true story, the idea for the film came from a lot of conversations about porn I’ve had with people both partners and peers. As I’ve shared the story of the film with people I’m surprised how many people have found themselves on both sides of the situation, which speaks to the message I’m trying to convey: porn is an invisible omnipresence in our lives, and it's important to communicate about it with each other, otherwise it can open a whole Pandora's box of neuroses.
Communication is so important in relationships. My partner and I talk a lot about ‘dark corners’—the things left unspoken—and how shining a light on them instead of letting them fester strengthens the relationship. But as you mention on your campaign page, conversations about porn can be especially loaded with shame and feelings of not being enough.
In Private Browser, how are you approaching conveying these unspoken feelings to the audience?
That’s the fun challenge of the film, conveying those unspoken feelings. We have to convey them visually and through performance. There are several visuals our protagonist Jane encounters in going about her day which give her pause and hearken back to the inciting incident of seeing porn on her boyfriend’s phone. In her reactions, whether she’s distracted by what she’s seeing, or she’s secretly checking his phone, we see her going on the emotional journey that leads to the point where those unspoken feelings can no longer go unspoken.
When she confronts her boyfriend in the final conversation, we’re paying attention to blocking and how body language conveys the character’s mental state and how those feelings manifest in their behavior towards their partner. And the conversation itself takes its time in exploring different trains of thought that have been building up over the course of the day.
Since the story of Private Browser is being told from a woman's perspective, I'm curious to hear how you plan to balance portraying an authentic depiction of a woman's relationship with porn with your own point of view as a writer and director?
It’s a lot of listening and discussing. I shared every draft of the script with my partner, who always gave great feedback, pushed me to get the characters into increasingly uncomfortable places, and not shy away from the awkwardness because that’s the story. Once the script got to a place that felt right, I reached out to our lead actress, Kate Kearns. We met to discuss the role, and hearing them affirm the script's direction gave me confidence in my portrayal.
As we rehearse and continue to discuss the characters, I continue listening to what everyone thinks and wants to bring to their character. Directing, in general, and especially with actors, is about finding the right people and welcoming what they bring to the table. I cast them because I trust them. If I were telling them what to think and providing no room for discussion, it would be wholly inauthentic.
This is not your first Seed&Spark campaign. I’m curious to know what you learned from your first campaign on Third. Is there anything you did differently this time around?
My first experience with Seed&Spark was incredible. I learned about the importance of an in-person experience paired with the campaign. I flew back to my hometown of Seattle and hosted a fundraiser in my childhood home which was how we were greenlit within days of launching. Having the ability to engage in a back-and-forth with your supporters is way more effective than just being the face behind an email.
This time around, the film is based in my new neighborhood of Ridgewood, Queens, so we’re working with local businesses to make this a local affair and hosting a fundraiser at a local bar. Seed&Spark is all about building a community, and I’m so fortunate to have a great community building in Ridgewood.
I love the notion of an in-person fundraising event tied to the campaign. Very smart! When/where is the event, in case NYC-based readers are interested in dropping in?
Bar Freda (801 Seneca Ave, Queens, NY 11385) at 8PM this Sunday, March 23rd.
I found your campaign for Private Browser hard to Google because Google assumes when I put “private browser” into the search that I’m literally looking to privately search for the other terms. Does that worry you at all in a world where we’re also expected to be expert marketers in addition to filmmakers?
It’s funny, I had never thought about how using a commonplace term would impact SEO. It’s something I don’t put much thought into, my last was titled Third which also isn’t easily searchable.
With this film, I’ve been better about embracing marketing as part of the creative process. Making a film is conveying a message to your audience, not unlike marketing. It exercises similar communicative muscles. All of the promotional materials and the fundraising efforts of my producer Nikki and I have been an exercise in articulating my vision for the film.
Aesthetically I’ve been much more particular with the marketing of this film, which coincides with the specific visual language I have in mind for the film. You don’t want your marketing visuals to convey one kind of movie and then people see something that feels different.
I think that's right. All the time you spend pitching the film, refining the pitch, writing essays for grants and applications, marketing on Instagram... at times it can seem like a lot of busywork but it really does push you—if done properly—to get to the core of what your film is about and help you drill down on theme.
I wish I didn’t have to spend so much time and energy on Instagram, but all the work helps me hone what I’m trying to say, which will ultimately make the pre-production process and the final product better.
Thanks again for letting me watch Third, your contemplative short film about a college student learning the meaning of ‘you can’t go home again.’ I appreciated your lingering camera and the melancholic but beautiful textures of Ballard, WA.
I noticed there was a line mentioned in your film’s Seed&Spark campaign that was missing in the final film: Amy telling David, "I guess I didn't think we were that close." Was that line lost in a rewrite or in the edit? What was the intent behind that?
Thank you so much for watching! Your appreciation of the details means a lot. We captured that line on set, but it ultimately was lost in edit. My intention was to convey their differing social expectations of one another, but that underlying feeling was already conveyed through the conversation and actions in the scene, that line just spelled it out. So rather than telling the audience in ALL CAPS, I decided to let their struggle to communicate speak for itself.
That's so interesting! When watching, I sensed a jealousy from David that may or may not have gone beyond platonic. Removing that line contributed to the ambiguity, something I found compelling even if it wasn’t exactly your intent. That feels like both the risk and the beauty of sparse dialogue and open-ended moments. As a filmmaker, how do you navigate that balance between guiding the audience and leaving space for interpretation?
Thank you for appreciating that! Navigating the balance is an ongoing process. I always intended for that scene to carry an ambiguity that reflected the uncertainty of the status of their friendship after time apart. While I cut the line in the edit, I think having that intention out there for the actors helped them fill their other lines in the scene with said intention, ultimately aiding the scene.
Billy Wilder is one of my favorite filmmakers, and he’s a student of Ernst Lubitsch. Both of them do a terrific job of building scenes, and guiding the audience up to a point where they can piece the rest together.
With Private Browser, a lot of that space for interpretation is because the message is that porn is an ambiguous topic. There are various perspectives on porn and how it should or shouldn’t operate within a relationship. The way our film ends leaves room for that interpretation. We’re not trying to take a hard stance on porn, rather, explore the emotions that result from it.
Tell me about your experience taking Third to the Reykjavík International Film Festival and participating in the Reykjavik Talent Lab.
It was incredible to travel with the film, connecting with people I never would have otherwise. Long-term, spending a week with fellow filmmakers eyeing their first feature was incredibly inspiring. I've been developing Salmon Bay, the feature-length version of Third, for a few years. The feedback on my pitch from my peers provided the fuel for two new drafts. The script is now the strongest it's ever been.
Between screening Third and the feedback sessions of the Lab, it gave me confidence that there is an audience for the stories I'm trying to tell, I just have to keep on telling them.
I love that! Best of luck with Private Browser—cannot wait to see what you do with it.
You can join me in supporting Sebastian and his film Private Browser by contributing to the campaign here:
Thanks to new paid subscribers coming aboard, my weekly contribution has gone up from $5 to now $17 this week.
Again: it’s better for everyone involved if you contribute directly to the filmmaker’s campaign yourself and don’t become a paid subscriber to this newsletter. But, if you ain’t got time for that, you can upgrade your subscription and I’ll contribute a little bit extra each week on your behalf.
💰 Vimeo is offering $30,000 grants for short films! The application window is currently open and closes April 18, 2025.
⏳ There’s still time to contribute to Jon Densk’s campaign for Axolodyssey and Emily Rolen’s campaign for The Shorn Lamb.
🏘 Reader-submitted campaigns looking for support:
Jordan M. Han’s Blood Boys
Blood Boys explores the recent Silicon Valley phenomenon where wealthy men undergo blood transfusions from younger donors, known as ‘blood boys,’ in an attempt to counteract the effects of aging.
Jesus Salazar Montero’s Behind Closed Doors
A closeted guy turns to marijuana to help ease the fear of being seen in public with his boyfriend. When his dependency is found out, Luis must decide between protecting his heterosexual presenting identity, or saving his relationship with Theo.
✍️ And, finally, feel free to write back if you have a question for one of the filmmakers, an update on a short film project of your own, or if you just want to say hi!