Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Downeast’s Joe Raffa

Award-winning writer-director Joe Raffa has emerged as one of the defining voices of his generation. His features have been screened at festivals around the country, earning critical acclaim. His latest, Downeast, is set to make its premiere later this month at the Garden State Film Festival.

Starring Greg Finley and Dylan Silver, Downeast dives into the seedy underbelly of Maine and follows Emma Maddox (Silver) as she returns to her hometown years following the mysterious death of her brother. As she reconnects with his best friend Tommy (Finley), the two rekindle their flame and Emma begins to uncover the web of lies the town has been keeping.

Pop Culturalist had the pleasure of speaking with Joe ahead of the film’s premiere to chat about Downeast, collaborating with co-writer Greg Finley, and learned how Joe discovered his love for storytelling.

Career

PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts and storytelling?
Joe: It all started when my family got our first computer. I was seven years old. I always liked telling stories, so my dad encouraged me to type them out on the computer on Word. I would save them onto these floppy disks. I had a floppy disk organizer that I carried around with all my stories in them.

I thought it was so fascinating to have this whole world of ideas in my hands at such a young age. Once somebody put a video camera in my hands, that was it—I knew I wanted to tell stories. I knew I wanted to tell stories through film.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Joe: On a personal level, it was my father. He was the one that took me to movies all the time. He was the one to push me and really helped me discover what I’m passionate about in life. He’s been extremely supportive throughout it all.

On a professional front, there are two people who are insanely important to me. One is Angel Anthony Marrero; he believed in me before I believed in myself. He gave me some startup financing for a feature film that I had written. We couldn’t get the financing for the feature film, but that led to a digital series, which led to another project. That was the first time I also worked with Edwin Pendleton Stevens.

Ed Stevens started APS Films, which is the company that did my most recent feature, Downeast, and my feature before that, Dark Harbor. Without those two people, I don’t think I’d be where I am or on the trajectory that I’m on. A lot of times, people think it needs to be somebody in a position of power to help you, but I find its the peers that lift each other up.

Downeast

PC: Speaking of Downeast, tell us about the film and the inspiration behind it.
Joe: The film explores the often-ignored seedy underbelly of Maine. Emma Maddox returns to the town of Old Port and she starts to uncover this web of lies surrounding her brother’s death seven years ago. That puts our main character, Tommy, a lobster boat fisherman, on this collision course with the criminal elements of the town.

For me, it feels like a modern-day On the Waterfront. It all started with Greg Finley, our lead actor. He auditioned for our previous feature film and he was phenomenal; he just wasn’t right for that role. But he’s from Maine, and Ed Stevens, our cinematographer/producer, is from Maine. He came to us with the idea that he’s been living with for years. I was honored that he trusted me enough to write it. Then, we went to Maine and shot it.

PC: You’ve said in previous interviews that the key to being a successful screenwriter is studying the works of others. What scripts/screenplays have had the biggest impact on your life and this film?
Joe: Oh, yeah. I really enjoy the screenplays of Aaron Sorkin. There’s so much energy to his work; it jumps off of the page. Then, I really enjoy a lot of screenplays from classic films. I always enjoy anti-love stories or love stories between two people who couldn’t be together. I would read the screenplay for films like Blue Valentine, Match Point, and those really helped, because what we wanted to do was, we wanted to focus on the love story at the center of Downeast, even though it’s wrapped in this crime-thriller. A lot of those films really helped.

PC: You and Greg co-wrote this together. What was that collaboration like?
Joe: It was really great. We have the same creative DNA. Greg has been living with this idea for a long time. It could have been very easy for one of us to fall into this hole, like we had this specific vision, but there was a very healthy push and pull between the two of us. We just clicked. We had a lot of help from Ed Stevens as well, and our other producer, Corey Pyke. The four of us developed the script over six months. It was a very, very healthy partnership. I was extremely grateful.

PC: You’re also an actor yourself. How has your work in front of the screen made you a strong a writer and director?
Joe: I can empathize with where these actors are coming from and really embrace their process. Every actor is different; every actor needs something different in order to achieve their full potential. As a director, I really like to empathize and prioritize what they need to get the best performance. At the end of the day, that’s what the audience is going to connect with. All the other positions on set are there to enhance their performance.

I spent a lot of time at Second City Hollywood and studied improv. That helped me handle any situation on set because it really teaches you how to listen, how to collaborate, and how to make sure that you take everything one step at a time. Being an actor not only helps empathize with other actors, but the actual skill of acting helps with anything in life.

PC: The film has made its way around a few festivals and has been incredibly well received. What do you think is resonating the most with audiences?
Joe: It’s a film about people that feel trapped. That’s something we can all relate to, not just with our setting specially, but also with the choices we made in the past. I hope that people are able to watch the film and find one or two characters that they identify with and say, “You know what? I felt that way too in life.”

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Joe: I’ve watched The Sopranos way too much. It’s a masterpiece, but with all the great TV out there, I still find myself binge-watching that again for the twelfth or thirteenth time.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Joe: I love Mean Girls. I could watch Mean Girls over and over again. I feel guilty because of how many times I watched this.

PC: Favorite book?
Joe: Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. It’s absolutely heartbreaking, but equally horrifying.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Joe: West Side Story. I grew up watching West Side Story.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised is on your playlist?
Joe: I’m just listening to System of a Down and Rage Against the Machine right now. It’s crazy how relevant their music feels today, in today’s political climate, especially, and it was recorded ten, fifteen years ago.

To keep up with Joe, follow him on Instagram. Downeast premieres this week at the Garden State Film Festival.