We at Bascule Entertainment were honored to sit down and chat with Shane D. Stanger (Director/Writer) and Danny Kurtzman (Actor/ Writer/ Producer) about their amazing new film, Good Bad Things, which is released on Apple TV on 4th February. This deeply personal and moving film follows Danny, a young man with muscular dystrophy, as he navigates the unpredictable world of online dating. When he meets Madi, a vibrant and free-spirited photographer, their connection challenges him to step beyond his comfort zone, leading to a journey of self-acceptance.

From capturing authenticity on screen to exploring the profound impact of their friendship, Shane and Danny open up about their insights, challenges, accessibility on set, and what they hope audiences will take away from this powerful and deeply moving story.

Q. How long have you both been friends, and how much of the relationship between Jason and Danny was inspired by your friendship?

DANNY: Shane and I have been friends since the sixth grade. I feel like Jason was definitely inspired by Shane. Brett Dier, who plays Jason, I think also did a fantastic job, not just embodying Shane, but every other friend in my life. Disabled friendship is very unique. It’s this deep heterosexual love that can only be found in a disabled relationship. I’m really honored that we are able to capture that so authentically in this film. Not only for the disabled community, but for the able body community to see that friendship love is quite strong and impactful for us as humans.

Q. Did Danny’s journey in Good Bad Things evolve in the writing process, or did you have a firm understanding of how it would begin and end, from the offset?

SHANE: The story constantly evolved.  It was evolving up until we finished the final cut. I think having been best friends with Danny for so many years, took a lot of pressure off the process.  It’s almost like we were just searching for the version of him that felt most authentic to the set of circumstances we created in this film.  One small story about the evolution of Danny’s character is that up until the very last week of shooting, we hadn’t decided on an ending. I won’t give anything away, but the ending we went with was fully inspired by a conversation we had about Danny’s life up until that point.  

Q. To what extent did you draw on your own life experiences to portray Danny’s journey in the film, and did drawing on those experiences make any scenes easier or harder to do?

DANNY: I believe I went to the full extent lol. The character I play in this film is a true resemblance of my real life, and experience I’ve had as a disabled individual. Regarding whether that made it easier or harder, I think neither- lol. You always want your performance to come off true and authentic, but at the end of the day it’s still acting. There were some tough scenes where I had to go to some tough places. Spoiler alert!

Q. Danny, was this your first time acting on set, and if so, how was it working with the other actors, crew members etc?

DANNY: This was my first time acting. Shane called me up a couple of months before our first day on set and asked me to do a feature film, which I had no idea what that actually meant! To give an example, I showed up for the first day of shooting, and didn’t quite understand the lunch/ dinner/ break schedule! But regarding the cast and crew, I feel like I was the luckiest first-time actor in the lead ever. The team Shane assembled carried me the whole way. Having Brett and Jess as my co-stars was incredible. They pushed me in every scene to be a better actor and deliver a better performance. All the crew members made every day and every scene so comfortable for me to play the role that I was able to play. I hope to have the same experience in the future in another role.

Q. Film sets are notoriously difficult in terms of accessibility, what challenges did you face when you were shooting, and how easily were these overcome?

SHANE: I don’t want to diminish the difficulty of making a set accessible. But at the same time, it is not as difficult as people try to make it out to be.  It just takes someone to care about it before and during the process, vs having to react later when something is wrong.  In my opinion, all it takes to fix most accessibility issues on set are a few conversations, and someone in a position to address them, who cares to do so.  

Q. Were there any obstacles you expected to face, that turned out to be fine, or on the other hand, were there any aspects of filming you thought would be straightforward but ended up being more challenging?

SHANE: I think time was often the biggest obstacle across the filmmaking process. You never have enough of it. As far as straightforward, I never expected that as this was my first film.  The things that ended up being straightforward along the way just felt like lucky wins.

Q. Is there anything you learned during the shoot, that you could pass on to production companies looking to improve accessibility?

SHANE: Listen. Understand. Implement. Don’t be an asshole.

DANNY: Build a comfortable set environment. Shane did an amazing job at doing this. But at the end of the day, we didn’t go into this production, highly considering accessibility for everything. It was two best friends, who knew each other very well, who asked all the right questions, to make sure that I had all my accessible needs met. The cast and crew were so welcoming to all the input that I gave. There’s no accessibility without disabled input. Each one of us has different needs. It takes a cast and crew to just ask questions and listen.

Q. Did you consciously set out to avoid particular tropes and stereotypes in terms of the portrayal of disability in Good Bad Things, or were these naturally and effortlessly avoided in the writing/filming process?

SHANE: We knew we didn’t want inspiration porn. Much of it was natural as we had 25 years of friendship to build off. The story is about a man struggling with his own self-worth.  He happens to have a disability.

DANNY: We were very aware of all the particular stereotypes and tropes that are always included in media around disability. I am grateful to be a part of a community in today’s world that is continually educating on what should be and what is. I am even more grateful to have a best friend and partner in this film that allowed me to continually give my disabled input, dialogue, and tones of the film. But at the end of the day, it was all very natural. We were just doing what we know and what we’ve experienced.

Q. As a director, what was your approach to ensure disability was depicted authentically?

SHANE: Danny was involved every step of the way, from story creation, to writing with me, and making decisions with me side-by-side for the last 3 years.  Beyond that, disability is a vast experience, and my approach was- stick with what I know, and stay authentic to my best friend Danny.‍

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Q. On this film, you are credited as an actor and a writer, did you come on board as an actor first, or as a writer?

DANNY: I came on board as an actor. Actually, Shane approached me saying he had someone writing a script for us which ultimately, when he got, he realized was very ablest. So, he came to me after receiving that script and asked me if we wanted to sit down and write it together. We spent about a week or so building the key plot points. Then Shane went and wrote the script. And then we came together weekly, if not daily, on what was coming the next day and we re-evaluated the dialogue and everything we wanted to achieve. It was quite the teamwork.

Q. Did you always have Danny in mind to play the lead role, or did this naturally develop?

SHANE: This was always about working with Danny. No Danny, no movie.

Q.  As a first-time actor, what did you find was the biggest challenge?

DANNY: Thankfully, it came pretty naturally to me. Acting is definitely not easy, especially when you’re playing a role that is similar to yourself. Honestly, I think the toughest challenge was the very demanding hours and set days. Which, crazy enough I miss lol. And I can’t wait to be back on, hopefully very soon.

Q. Did Danny (the character)’s journey resonate with your own, in terms of how you jumped into the deep end of new and unchartered waters as a lead actor?

DANNY: Yes, Danny in the film resonated very much with myself. Being involved in the writing of this film, I had an amazing opportunity to share my disabled story. I truly believe that as disabled people we are in the driver's seat for what we want. Unfortunately, we have accepted stories that aren’t ours. Stories that society has created for us that we’ve accepted as our own truth. I’m excited to share this movie with the world so that we can, as a community, work together to rewrite what it means to be disabled in today’s society.

Q. Were there any scenes that were particularly challenging or memorable to shoot (without giving away too many spoilers), and were there any funny anecdotes from the filmmaking process?

DANNY: For me, the scenes that were most memorable or challenging were with my (onscreen) dad, and the ending. I don’t wanna give anything away. But those took the most preparation, and are the ones I’m most proud of. Also, collectively, I think we felt that the scene with my dad was a turning point in production where we realize this could be a really good movie -and so let’s give it everything we've got.

‍Q. How do you work to develop the chemistry between characters, particularly in romantic or intense scenes?

SHANE: This was my first film, so my instinct was to do everything I could beforehand to break down barriers and help my actors develop authentic friendships.  Rehearsing was usually just about creating comfort within the scenes between the actors, so they understood the intention each character had.  Then we would just hang and chat the rest of the time.  By the time these scenes came up, the chemistry was already there.  I got lucky that our talented cast were committed, kind, and on the same page with where we were going.

Q. How did you feel filming the more intimate moments in the movie, especially since this was your first acting experience?

DANNY: I’m a very open, free individual in my real life so they weren’t super challenging for me. And again, Shane made me feel as comfortable as possible during all those moments and scenes to allow me to give the performance that I gave.

Q. What do you hope the audience takes away from this film, and what impact do you think it will have on them?

DANNY: I asked myself that every single day lol. Never did I dream that we would be here with this film, it has already had an impact on the disabled community and the able-bodied community. And it hasn’t even been fully released yet. I hope this film becomes the catalyst for change. I hope it shows what is possible when we all come together. I hope this film demands the change that we deserve. I hope this film shows how powerful we are as disabled individuals.

SHANE: … And, I hope people see themselves in Danny’s journey.  

Q. Danny, you are a writer, actor, and producer on the film.  In terms of your career progression and future projects, are you more interested in working in-front of, or behind the camera?

DANNY: Right now, I really, really wanna get back in front of the camera. I’m in love with acting. I’m in love with performing. I’m in love with the idea of getting into a character, and moving an audience with a performance. But at the same time, I do love everything I’ve learned on the backend, and what it took to get our film where it is now.

So, I think in the future- all of the above.

Q. Would you consider working together on another project in the future?‍

DANNY: Absolutely. Without a doubt there will be future projects with Shane and Danny. And of course, Steve Way.
SHANE: Yes. One of my next projects has more of an ensemble cast, and Danny has a role already. It’s a hard ‘R’ dark comedy.

GOOD BAD THINGS IS AVAILABLE TO STREAM ON APPLE TV FROM 4TH FEBRUARY.