? ?
>> What is the meaning of this?
>> The meaning of what?
>> I ordered this task
to be completed an hour ago.
>> Yeah, you did.
>> You have failed me
for the last time.
>> That's what you said
the last time.
>> I have been too forgiving
in the past.
Do not fail me again!
>> 'Cause that'll be
the last time.
>> Yes, no...
I don't know.
Continue stocking.
>> You certainly do not
see that every day.
That was a clip from
"Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager."
I'm Charles Monroe-Kane.
And this is Director's Cut.
"Day Shift Manager" is short
films about Darth Vader's
younger brother, Chad, who's
a manager of a grocery store
called The Empire.
A great name.
We have the brain children
behind Chad Vader with us today,
Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan.
Guys, first, what the hell?
Where in the world
did this idea come from?
It's got to be the best idea
I've ever heard in my life.
>> Well, you know,
I guess you could say
it came from "Star Wars."
>> We watched "Star Wars,"
and we thought,
how can we capitalize on this?
>> No, were you sitting around,
the two of you sitting around?
I mean, it seems,
were you sitting in a bar?
Were you sitting
in a coffee shop?
And one of you is like, okay,
I got this idea, let's make it
about Darth Vader's
younger brother Chad, and then
it just went from there?
I can't imagine.
>> Well, it's not one of those
ideas that just
comes up instantly, you know.
It developed a lot over time.
>> We were definitely
sitting around a lot.
>> Yeah, the sitting
around part.
That's accurate.
>> That's pivotal.
That's good advice
for young filmmakers out there.
Sit around.
>> Exactly.
>> But it was a friend of ours
who came up
with part of the idea.
And we sort of took that part
and ran with it.
It was the idea of Darth Vader
working in a store of some,
like fish out of water
kind of thing.
And we thought, okay,
well, that's great.
Let's twist it a little bit.
Let's make it so it's not
Darth Vader, cause Darth Vader
would just go around in a store
and kill everybody.
And that'd be the end
of the show.
So we thought, let's twist it
a little bit.
Let's make it Chad Vader.
It's his brother.
He never left the hometown
where they grew up together.
And he's just kind of
a failed person.
He doesn't have the backbone,
or the confidence
that Darth does.
>> It was one of those ideas
that developed over time.
It had a lot of different
incarnations.
>> Well, I respect you guys
sticking with it.
Because it's one of those kind
of ideas that you think happen,
and then you're like, no.
But you stuck with this.
Absolutely brilliant.
Now, you are the voice, right?
>> I'm the voice.
>> And you're in the suit.
So how did that come about?
>> Well, when we first wrote
the script, and we actually
shot the episode, we didn't know
who was going to be the voice.
We didn't have a voice.
>> All we had was a big, long
PVC tube that we were like,
well, whoever does the voice
can speak through this tube
and it'll sound
like Darth Vader.
>> And we had a sound engineer
who was able to digitally
process someone's voice.
But we didn't have someone who
knew how to do the impression.
I just said, well,
I'll give it a try.
And then I remember,
we watched all three movies,
but we just watched
the Darth Vader scenes.
It's really quick that way.
And I tried the voice
and it ended up working out.
>> Fantastic.
Now, you said the voice
is altered.
After you do it, then it's
altered by a sound engineer.
>> Yeah.
>> But my understanding
is that Lucas Productions
liked the voice so much
that you got hired, right?
>> I've done three video games,
four video games so far, and an
episode of "Deal or No Deal."
>> Really?
That's fantastic.
I love it.
Well, I want to see
another clip.
I'm going to make sure people
see more clips from your film.
One of you guys can set this up.
This is Clarissa
being asked out by Lord Vader.
Can you set it up for us?
>> This is Chad's sort of
lame attempt to ask a girl
out on a date.
>> This is Chad Vader, Darth
Vader's younger brother,
asking Clarissa out on a date.
Let's roll that clip.
( clears throat )
>> I noticed your shift
ends at 6:00 tonight.
>> Yeah, Lord Vader.
>> Please, call me Chad.
>> Yes, Chad.
>> I would like you to meet with
me at Gino's Pizzeria to...
um, discuss some plans I have
for a more powerful
laser check-out system.
And for dinner.
>> What?
>> Here, these are for you.
>> Oh!
Um, thank you, Lord,
I mean Chad.
>> I will return
to this workstation at 6 PM
to pick you up.
I have a date.
Chad has a date.
? ?
>> Hey, Chad.
I just heard you and Clarissa
are going out on a date.
>> It is not a date!
It is purely to discuss
the laser check-out system!
>> Yeah, I bet you want to check
out her laser system, eh, Chad?
( chokes )
>> That is such a funny clip.
>> Astute observers will note
that at the beginning of that
clip, he's actually humming the
Cantina theme from "Star Wars."
Not a lot of people
catch that.
>> Thank you for throwing
that in there.
I like it.
Now, I have a question.
You're film is made
for the Internet.
You thought about that.
How is that different, just the
process, than if you were going
to do it for the big screen.
Like, you know this is
how it's going to be viewed,
on this kind of screen,
and on the Internet.
How do you do that differently?
How do you think about it
differently?
>> Well, I think the thing
about our work, is that
we don't do it differently.
We really pay a lot of attention
to production values
and how good it looks,
and really spending a lot
of time on color correction
and things like that.
>> Especially with Chad Vader,
like, we really made an extra
effort to make it, you know,
really as good quality
as possible, and pulled it off.
Because I don't think
the joke would work
if was a lesser quality.
>> I think a lot of people
make that mistake.
They go, oh, it's only for
the Internet, well screw it,
I won't worry about that.
>> Yeah, let's not get a boom
mic, you know, or let's not
spend any time on the lighting.
But that stuff is really
important to make your work
kind of stand out.
There's so much stuff
on YouTube.
I mean, you know, you have
to pay attention to quality,
as well as quantity.
And also, since we put the stuff
out on DVDs since then.
That's even more important,
because people are going to be
watching it on their television.
>> Speaking of YouTube, you guys
are like the bomb on YouTube.
How many times have people seen
Chad Vader on YouTube?
>> Just the first season
of eight episodes,
I think is over 30 million.
>> Thirty million people
around the world have seen it.
You must not have been ready
for that.
Were you ready for that?
You liked what you did,
but you must not have expected
30 million people.
>> We definitely
didn't expect it.
We hoped.
But we had no idea, like that,
you know, Chad Vader would be
featured in all these newspapers
and be in the New York Times,
and around the world, too.
We have fans everywhere
who write to us,
from Brazil and Poland.
It's really great.
We're really lucky.
>> Well, you guys tapped
into the "Star Wars" thing,
you know, and that's a thing.
You guys,
we're all roughly the same age.
So I remember I was ten
when "Star Wars" came out.
That was a big deal,
because you couldn't rent it.
You had to go.
I think I saw it 27 times.
You know, going to the mall.
My parents would drop me off.
What was your first
"Star Wars" experience?
>> From what I remember,
I saw "Star Wars"
at a drive-in in Milwaukee.
>> Sweet.
>> And it was great.
You can't get a bigger screen
than that to see it on.
And you know, just having all
the toys and the merchandise,
I think, made a bigger impact
on me than the movie itself.
>> Sure.
>> Because it was
the first movie to have
such a huge merchandising line.
And so, it really sort of
drove that story into your
consciousness, because you were
able to take these little images
and make up your own stories
and have your own
"Star Wars" adventure.
And I think that was a bigger
thing for me and my brothers,
you know, to extend that movie
going experience to every day
of our lives, basically.
>> Till today.
>> Till today, exactly.
>> And what was your first
"Star Wars" experience?
>> I know I saw
"Return of the Jedi"
in the theater,
but I don't particularly
remember where I saw
the other ones.
I just remember seeing them
a lot, like on VHS tapes.
But I also remember the toys.
I remember getting
the Millennium Falcon.
It was this big toy.
And it had this little section
that you could play in, right?
But I remember in the movie, the
ship was a lot bigger than the
inside of what they had
in the toy, and I was
very frustrated with that.
So one day I was like,
well, there's got to be more.
So I unscrewed the whole thing
and just took it all apart.
Completely wrecked it.
And I was, "Oh, there's just a
bunch of nothing inside."
So I was very disappointed.
>> Now, I was curious, you have
Darth Vader's brother, Chad, and
I was curious that you didn't
go, you never went any further.
You don't have, like, Yoda's
sister or Princess Leia's aunt.
You just stayed, and no other
"Star Wars," I mean, there's
probably a few inside jokes,
but there's no other
Star Wars stuff,
you just stuck with that, why?
>> I think that's kind of
the obvious place to go and
so we didn't want to go there.
>> We also wanted to create our
own world, you know, that's what
George Lucas did
with "Star Wars."
And we sort of took part of one
of his characters, but we wanted
to create our own universe where
Chad exists without
other "Star Wars" characters,
and we created a whole bunch
of different characters
to make it an ensemble series
so that we could have
sort of our own world
and not, there's a lot of fan
pressure to bring in Chewbacca
and Boba Fett, and have them
and have them be hilarious
if they come in.
>> Right, but you don't
want to do it.
Well, can you set up another
clip for us, this one --, this
one is the clip where now Chad
gets in trouble during the day
and now he's been sent
to the night shift.
Why don't you tell us
what happens here?
>> This is, I believe, Chad is
sort of, when he's forced to go
on the night shift,
he encounters sort of the
weirdness off the night shift.
>> Weirdness, Chad Vader
encounters the night shift.
Let's roll that clip.
>> Hello, Lionel,
I'm Lord Vader,
the new night shift manager.
>> 25 cents a can.
>> What?
>> Tomato sauce.
It's on sale.
That lady bought,
like, ten cans.
She saved a lot.
>> Uh, what lady?
>> She was here
about an hour ago.
She saved a lot.
>> Yes.
Well, I must return to my--
>> Muffins, Swiss cheese,
roast beef.
>> Okay.
>> Hey, do you like light bulbs?
>> Commander Wickstrom
reporting for duty, sir!
I have grave news.
>> Where'd you get that hat?
>> Thank you for transferring
to the night shift, Jeremy.
>> There's--
>> Your assistance will be
instrumental in my plan to
regain the day manager position
from Clint.
This will be a night
long-remembered.
>> There's a guy sleeping
on the meat.
>> Let's hit it.
? ?
>> You guys!
Who took my meat pillow?
>> You cannot sleep
in this establishment.
>> Clint used to let me.
>> Clint is no longer
the night manager.
I am.
>> You're a bad night manager.
>> He's right.
>> Lord Vader!
>> Now, Jeremy,
remember the plan.
>> There's somebody shoplifting
in aisle seven!
>> No!
? ?
>> Kill.
>> I'm sorry, Lord Vader!
( lightsaber hums )
( screams )
>> All too easy.
>> How could you not
like that clip?
What's funny is, sitting here
with you guys, and we have the
camera people here, and people
standing around, and you guys
have seen this a million times,
you're laughing
through this whole clip.
>> We actually haven't seen it
for a long time, I don't think,
so it's kind of, it's like we
don't even remember what that
is, like, "Who made that?"
>> It's funny, it's so funny!
Did you get permission from
George Lucas to do this,
I mean, this is "Star Wars."
>> Well, not in any official
sense did we get permission, but
he, hiring Matt to do the voice
of Darth Vader for video games
and for TV, that was sort of
like permission in a way.
And he also gave us the 2007
George Lucas Fan Film Award.
>> Wow.
But you don't have, like,
written permission.
>> No, we were a little worried
about that in the beginning.
>> I can see.
>> Like, "Well, you know,
what's gonna happen?"
But we figured, like,
we can make it or not make it.
We can sit and worry about it
and not do anything,
or we can do something
and at the worst we'll get
a cease-and-desist letter.
It's not...
>> That'd be neat to have,
a framed cease-and-desist letter
from George Lucas.
The thing is, I think, the fact
that you did it with high
caliber, and took all the
effort, I'm sure when they saw
it, that must have helped.
>> Yeah, definitely.
>> I think they definitely
appreciated that, and we
actually pitched the idea to
a couple places
before we made it,
and it didn't go anywhere, and
I think it was because they were
afraid, and so with the Internet
and with YouTube, we thought,
let's just make it ourselves, we
don't have to wait for these
people, we can just make it,
and so we did.
>> Ask permission, wait,
how does it go?
Ask for forgiveness,
not permission?
>> Yes.
>> Okay, so what happened.
When you won the award, tell me
about that, did you actually
get, did George Lucas
actually hand you the award?
>> We weren't at the ceremony.
So we just heard about it.
>> You just heard about it,
you didn't even go?
>> We had, one of our
cast members lives in LA
and he accepted the award
on our behalf.
>> George Lucas wasn't
actually at that ceremony.
He did make an announcement.
>> A press release.
>> "Congratulations to Matt
Sloan and Aaron Yoda for, oh,
I'm sorry, Yonda."
>> Hey, you got that.
>> George Lucas said my name,
that's all I care about.
>> That's fantastic.
>> He said my name correctly.
So I'm excited about that.
>> But in his mind he was
spelling it S-L-O-N-E, so, yeah.
>> He misspelled it in his mind,
and mispronounced it there.
Well, let's see another clip,
and this one I quite like.
This is,
maybe you can set this up.
This is Chad
after he quit his manager job.
Can you set it up for us?
>> He's at a bar.
And he's drowning his sorrows
in chocolatinis.
>> Drowning his sorrows
in chocolatinis.
Well, let's roll that clip.
>> Hey, you ready
for another chocolatini?
>> Yes, make it a double.
>> Little early
to be drinking so much, eh?
>> I love chocolatinis.
They are my favorite
little playmate.
They don't betray you.
( belches )
>> Sorry, Chad, I have to go.
>> Guess who's taking out your
little sweetie pie
tomorrow night?
>> I quit.
>> That job meant a lot
to you, huh?
>> Yes, she did.
>> She?
>> Clarissa.
My supposed former girlfriend.
She's out on a date
with my arch-enemy, Clint.
>> You know, they're sitting
right over there.
( sighs )
>> Yes, I know.
>> You know what's gonna happen
next time?
Yeah, like that!
You like my fist, sweetie pie?
All up in your face?
>> He really isn't that bad.
>> Not that bad?
Have you seen my neck?
It's all grabbed.
That son of a B grabbed me.
So what's up, you having
a good time or what?
>> Get out of my way, chair.
Excuse me.
( belches )
What a coincidence.
Two little lovebirds
are having their little date.
>> Better not mess with our
date, drunkie, you got that?
>> Maybe I should mess with
your face a bit, you got that?
>> Stop it, you two!
>> You want some of this?
Then come get it.
>> Oh my God, I would so love
to have made this film.
I want to be in one of these.
So, what was your budget
for this?
Somebody had to buy that suit,
that's a nice suit, what did it
cost you to make it?
>> The suit was kind of
a big expense.
The suit was like $600.
>> It's a great suit.
>> And yeah, we pay a little bit
of money for the grocery store,
not a ton, and that's probably
one of the big advantages of
being here in Wisconsin,
not LA or New York,
we didn't have to pay $3,000
to rent a grocery store.
>> Yeah, we're able
to get locations.
>> So what do you do, you just
knock on, that's the
Willy Street Co-Op, right?
>> Yeah.
>> Just knock on the door and
say, "Hey, I'm making this film,
can we use your store?"
>> It was hard to knock on the
door because it's one of those
automatic sliding doors.
Every time we tried to knock, it
would open, so that was like an
hour lost right there.
>> And they probably saw you,
and that was embarrassing.
>> So we just went in the store,
and we had actually filmed
things there before, so we had
sort of a relationship with
Willy Street, and they're really
laid back, so we kind of told
them what we wanted to do, and
said we wanted to shoot after
hours so we wouldn't interrupt
business or anything.
And they were
really enthusiastic about it,
and they have been to this day.
We're currently shooting
season two of the series.
And yeah, we get to go in there,
and they're really great.
>> So, that doesn't cost you any
money, and then you have
to buy the suit.
And then you have, do you make
money off doing this?
Can you make, are you making
money, or can someone
make money off doing this
and having this be on YouTube?
You said you're doing
some DVD sales as well,
can you make money off this?
>> Well, we are.
We are involved in YouTube's
revenue-sharing program.
>> Explain that, explain it
just lightly to people,
how does that work?
>> If you're a partner with
them, you post your material
and they attach ads to it.
>> Ad overlays, and they have
ads scrolling across the screen,
so they give you a very small
percentage of that.
>> Per view, you get...
>> So it serves you that
you have 30 million views,
you got to have a lot of things.
>> That's definitely a big part
of it, but the other part of it
is that we've just sort of used
Chad Vader as a jumping off
point to get other work.
>> Absolutely.
>> So we've got
lots of different kind of
income streams happening.
>> It's a great calling card.
>> And do you guys
have day jobs?
Or are you filmmakers
for a living?
>> We are now filmmakers
for a living.
We quit our day jobs
a few years ago.
>> Two and a half years ago.
>> That's fantastic.
Most people
still have the day jobs.
Where'd you get the actors,
you have some good, really funny
moments in there.
Were they all just local
theater people, just friends?
>> Most of them
are local actors and actresses.
Some of them are our friends,
some of them we've met, they've
seen our work and they contacted
us, like Clarissa, who plays
Chad's potential love interest.
She's from Appleton, she saw one
of our movies at a film
festival, gave us a call, and
said, "I'd love to be involved
with something."
And we were just at that time
looking for someone to play this
part in Chad Vader, and we said,
"Come on down, we'll give you
a try at this."
>> Can you imagine being the
actress, being like, "You want
to be Chad, Darth Vader's
brother's love interest?"
They call and say,
"Yes, I do, absolutely!"
What advice, I mean, there are
a lot of young filmmakers
right now, new filmmakers,
I guess, watching this.
>> More than ever.
>> And they're saying
to themselves, there they are,
they're successful, 30 million
hits, they're doing this
for a living.
What's your advice to them?
>> I guess I would say,
my advice would be to keep
making videos all the time.
Because when we had our day
jobs, when we weren't working we
were making videos pretty much,
90% of our free time,
just trying to make something
every month.
>> And that's how
you get better.
You keep doing it and doing it
and keep doing it.
>> Honing our skills, throwing
stuff against the wall, taking a
million different ideas and just
doing them all, and seeing which
one's gonna work, and which
one's gonna stick with people.
>> And taking risks.
I think a lot of people think
that you have to make something
that appeals to the masses, you
have to make something that
appeals to yourself, and that's
what's really gonna catch
people's attention, because it's
gonna be unexpected, and it's
gonna be personal, and it's
gonna be interesting to watch,
it's not gonna be the same crap
that everybody has seen a
million times.
Nobody wants to see that a
million and one times.
So you have to be original and
listen to your own instincts.
>> I want to do another clip,
and this one is definitely
one of my favorite clips,
I laughed so hard watching this,
I re-wound it
like three or four times.
Can you set this one up for us?
>> Yeah, this is the first
big confrontation
between Chad and Clint.
>> Okay, here you go,
let's roll that clip.
>> I've been waiting
for this for a long time.
And the dark
is not gonna stop me.
>> You underestimate
the power of the dark.
>> Emergency power, idiot.
Didn't know about that, huh?
You are the worst
day manager ever.
>> It's useless
to resist your mind.
Oop.
>> This is so easy.
Hey, check that out over there!
( laughs )
>> You know, Chad,
you are such a loser.
You're a loser because you suck.
You've got your head
up your butt!
And furthermore, I hate you.
You're a total A-hole.
A total (---).
>> He's right, I am a failure!
>> Chad, don't listen to him.
>> Lord Vader, I believe in you.
>> You!
What did I tell you
about that stupid helmet?
>> No!
( Clint laughs )
>> No!
>> My helmet!
( laughter continues )
Lord Vader, help me!
>> Chad, everyone here
believes in you.
>> No, they don't.
They all despise me.
>> Hey, I believe in you.
>> Chad, we believe in you.
>> I believe in you, Chad.
I also believe in elves.
>> I believe in you.
>> Chad.
( speaking Spanish )
>> Chad, I'm the mayor,
and I believe in you.
>> I believe in you.
>> I found the goat's milk.
>> I believe in you, Chad,
I believe in you.
>> Actually not the first
confrontation between them,
that's the final confrontation.
>> Yeah, more of a final.
So, you got Mayor Dave in there?
The mayor of Madison.
>> Yeah, twice.
>> So, where is Chad
headed next?
You're doing an episode,
you're doing season two.
>> Yeah, we're six episodes
into season two, those are
currently on YouTube, available.
>> I'll be there this afternoon.
>> Great.
And we've got a lot of other
series and videos that we make,
other than Chad Vader.
We just did one called
"Terrorized by a Bear."
It's about two guys trapped
in a house by a bear.
>> It has weapons.
>> The bear has weapons?
>> Yes, of course.
And so yeah, we're just,
we've got a lot of new ideas
that we're working on.
>> Oh my God, well, they're
fantastic, totally unique,
I absolutely love it.
We'll come back with more.
Send me stuff, come back with
more, we love having you,
I think Chad Vader is
one of the funniest things
I have ever seen.
I love watching it.
Thank you for very much.
>> Yeah, sure.
>> And thank all you guys
for watching today,
it has been a total blast.
For more information on
"Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager"
please go to our Web site
at wpt.org/directorscut
While you're there
send us an email
'cause we love hearing from you.
I'm your host,
Charles Monroe-Kane,
and for absolutely everyone
here at "Director's Cut,"
thank you very much
for joining us.
Check the gate.
>> I am the day manager
of this facility.
What is the nature
of your distress?
>> I bought these chips here,
and they're stale.
>> Yes.
I can feel your anger.
It is strong inside you.
>> Um, I want my money back.
>> Release your anger.
Only your hatred can destroy me.
>> Yeah, can I talk
to someone else?
>> Strike me down
with your hate,
and claim your refund.
>> Did I say these were stale?
I think they're great!
>> Weak-minded fool.
Your power is nothing
compared to mine.
>> (Voice on PA): Chad Vader
to aisle five for vomit cleanup.
Chad to aisle five for vomit.