QUESTION#1: What about your film excites you the most?: I love how it just drops you into someone else's shoes for a day, and then after you experience everything he does that day, he just walks off. It's just a passing moment much like life, and what changes or conclusions it inspires are yours alone.

QUESTION#2: What is it about your current movie that will influence your next film?: It's a fundamental change. Prior to this film, I was tragically unaware of the plight of Overseas Filipino Workers and the lengths they go to in order to provide for their families. So, it's been a massive education for me and a fundamental change in my life. The man featured in the documentary and I are now close friends, and I'm in constant contact with his family. And that connection and his influence has inspired a larger, more in depth film exploring those complexities that we weren't able to cover in this 15 minute short.

QUESTION#3: When you’re shooting a film, do you think of time as something you capture or something you construct?: As a documentary filmmaker, it's both. I try to capture time as it is, but often due to various limitations, I can't show you everything we shoot so then we have to create those moments and feelings as best we can in the edit. At this point, I'm most interested in having the audience FEEL the moment, so whatever services the audience's experience best is what I pursue.

QUESTION#4: What’s a limitation you wish you had on your next shoot that would force you into making interesting creative decisions?: Hah! I think I need to go the reverse direction. I start as small as I can and cobble together the best story I can from there. For Diminishing Returns, we were a two person crew following a man through the streets of LA for about 4 miles with nothing but a camera, sound mixer and some batteries. However, to answer the question, I will say that I'd love to have enough footage to do a doc without interviews.

QUESTION#5: If a film shoot is like a living organism, which department do you think functions as its nervous system?: For indie documentaries, I think everyone has to wear so many hats that they are the nervous system. You need all the best ideas from everywhere, field, post, producers, subjects. You can't afford not to have everyone pushing the same project forward.

Social media tags to share with our readers: IG: @samplewhitman website: www.lonemile.com/diminishingreturns

5Q's w/: Colin Whitman "Diminishing Returns" Director, Producer