Director Michael DiBiasio on Sustaining Vulnerability & Spreading Hope

The Videoblogs is Michael DiBiasio‘s first feature film. It is a character-driven story that is set in motion when Margaret’s private video blog gets discovered by another girl in her neighborhood who faces similar struggles.

Margaret is played by Rebecca De Ornelas, a New York actress who has worked with Michael on other projects. Like their prior collaborations, The Videoblogs gives the two of them an opportunity to encourage positive conversations about mental health, a topic that is important to both Michael and Rebecca.

From beginning to end and without any diverting subplots, The Videoblogs explores a complicated topic, in this case mental health. Considering the number of terrible issues-driven films out there, this could have easily been a recipe for disaster, but Michael and company bring along enough earnestness and vitality to make the film work.

The definition of a human being is becoming more fluid because we’re always staring into screens or interacting on screens.” – Michael DiBiasio

As Michael explains on his blog, he aims to tell “hopeful narratives for complex people.” As far as I’m concerned, The Videoblogs succeeds at that aim in a number of ways.

Those of us who want to tell engaging stories about complicated issues can learn a few things from Michael’s approach. In the episode we discuss

• Why stories like The Videoblogs differ from other narratives and why they matter
• The challenge of sustaining vulnerability in our creative endeavors
• Why “write what you know” doesn’t go far enough
• Working with actors to produce gut-wrenching performances
• How even one honest conversation can snowball into an avalanche of inspiration

Plus, Michael and I debate the merits of profanity and whether there is such a thing as oversharing.

Listen to the Episode