Why did you decide to tell this specific story in "Tequila Flavored Cigarettes"?

Well, my buddy OJ Reyes who directed the first film in this series had pitched me the film to act in it. He was having trouble breaking the story and decided to move onto other projects, but I loved the pitch so much I offered to write the script and direct it. I honestly thought I was gonna get shot down but he was all for it. Something about exploring more of that world that was set up in "No More Lonely People" intrigued me and that film was definitely a straight up drama. I wanted to add some levity and the characters OJ had outlined in the pitch had such a potential to make a good heartfelt comedy. The script came easy after that. I wrote the first draft, and then OJ gave me notes, then we went back and did I think two more drafts. We spent 3 months on the final draft of the script and then shot it 10 days.

When we saw your film, it was fantastic! We're sure it was quite difficult to reach this level of perfection, not only in story and acting but also in unique directing. Can you share how you started and finished this film, what were some of the challenges you encountered while filming and how did you overcome them?

I’m from Monmouth County, NJ. The same county that Kevin Smith, the director of Clerks, is from. He’s one of the greatest people

I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing. He used to run a small comic book store that I would loiter in as a kid and pretty much shaped

me into the person I am today. So a lot of the ways I set up shots is very inspired by him. One thing I learned from him is, you are never

going to make the perfect movie, but if it feels right, that’s what counts. And man, "Tequila Flavored Cigarettes" is a flick, that feels right to me.

Aside from schedule and budget constraints there weren’t many challenges to overcome. Acting and directing was a challenge but I welcomed it.

How did the screenplay shift a lot before/during/after the shoot?

We shot in March. The house we rented to shoot at had this backyard bar area and originally, in the script, most of the film took place out there. But when we got to the shoot days, it was 5 - 15 degrees out and too cold to be shooting a film that takes place in the spring outdoors.

So we had to rework the script to shoot inside the house. Which is what you see in the finished film. In editing some of the scene orders where changed just to make the pacing better. There was a whole scene that wasn’t in the script that we shot that ends the film.