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“Only Four Weeks for Prep — Including Casting — and 16 Days to Shoot the Entire Film”: Paolo Maria Pedullà on Producing Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)
Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) Director Joel Alfonso Vargas made Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces list in 2024 on the basis of his short film, Mad Bills to Pay, which is now a debut feature selected for both the 2025 Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals. “A shoestring-budget production” realized by a “minimal team,” Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) is also a debut feature for producer Paolo Maria Pedullà, a UK National Film and Television School graduate whose previous work includes associate producing Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God as well as shorts and various high-end TV shows. Below, Pedullà discusses the film’s swift pre-production and shoot, working with “some of the most ambitious Italian producers” and why producing needs to be a more sustainable practice.
Filmmaker: How did you connect with this filmmaker and wind up producing the film?
Pedullà: I met Joel during my Masters Program at the National Film and Television School in London. I remember the first time I heard him pitching a short he was about to make and how, with just a few words, his vision completely captured me. I knew I wanted to work with him straight away. However, it took another year before the occasion came. Joel was determined to shoot a microbudget feature film in The Bronx, where he is from, making the best of the connections we made during our time at the school. Ours was an interesting clash of worlds: Joel has always been committed to grassroots guerilla filmmaking, while I came from more traditional methods. I believe we both saw the advantage of working with someone with a different approach and seized the opportunity to create something new, a bespoke way of producing that could fit this film’s challenges. When brainstorming for ideas, Joel pitched what became Mad Bills to Pay. Despite being the most ambitious idea from a production standpoint, I immediately fell in love with the story. I knew it was the right one. I could see Rico making his nutcrackers and selling them on the beach. It was a no-brainer for me.
Filmmaker: How long a process was it to produce the film, and if you could break it into stages, periods of time, what were they? Can you also discuss how the financing came together and how long a process that was?
Pedullà: We started working on Mad Bills to Pay in March 2023, almost two years ago. Development lasted roughly four months, during which we went through many iterations of the story to solidify its structure before starting production. It’s one of the times I enjoyed the most as we discovered our characters along the way. I remember Joel writing on his laptop and bursting out laughing from time to time: Rico was taking shape, and some of his flawed characteristics were just hilarious. I couldn’t wait to meet these characters. We then entered a super tight production period: only four weeks for prep (including casting) and 16 days to shoot the entire film. I think the cocktail of emotions and different situations I lived during this period cannot be put into words. What I know is that, despite the incredible challenges the production entailed, I now think of it as one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that will stay with me forever. Post-production was a much longer process, as we had to navigate the challenges of being a shoestring-budget production that could only have a minimal team, mainly working on this film as their second job. When the first cut came out, however, we started seeking additional funding to boost post-production and get the film to delivery. The reactions we received from the people we showed the cut to have been encouraging, and soon enough, Watermark Media and Spark Features came on board to support.
Filmmaker: Did you have important or impactful mentors, or support from organizations, that were instrumental in your development as a producer?
Pedullà: As producers, everywhere we go and every person we meet on the journey will give us something useful for our development. It’s one of the aspects I love the most about producing: we continuously learn and adapt. I was fortunate to have started my career working with some of the most ambitious Italian producers, Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani, who brought me on projects helmed by the likes of Paolo Sorrentino, Luca Guadagnino and Saverio Costanzo. Observing them working with these filmmakers taught me how to work with authored voices, serve a filmmaker’s vision and create the best conditions for their creativity to thrive. Having started right out of high school (I was only 20 the first time I worked with them), I absorbed every aspect of their method, and such a way of working left an indelible mark on me that I will always be grateful for. The Producing MA at the National Film and Television School, under the direction of Chris Auty (now Director at the London Film School), has been another quintessential piece of the puzzle. NFTS is where I found my voice as a producer and allowed myself to reflect on the stories I wanted to champion. Compared to other film schools, NFTS generally has more grown-up attendance: many MA students join the school after some years of industry experience. The luxury of going to film school as a mid-senior professional was that I highly valued the time I spent there – I understood how precious and rare an occasion it was, having two years to focus only on the art I wanted to make. And the support I received from all the tutors and the school staff was incredible. On my journey producing Mad Bills, I’ve been mentored by Paul Webster, whom I admire for his impeccable taste and the number of films I adore that he made (Pablo Larrain’s Spencer being one of the most recent). Paul’s career across Europe and the States is something I aspire to, and having the chance to be mentored by him on my first rodeo as an independent producer was an incredible honor.
Filmmaker: What was the most difficult aspect of producing this film?
Pedullà: Making a film with extremely limited resources is highly challenging and puts you in front of hard choices at any given moment. However, I would argue that any productions I worked on, from indie features to high-end TV, always felt that way. Don’t we always complain that money isn’t enough and time isn’t enough?
The additional layer of complexity here comes from the combination of a small budget plus the guerilla-filmmaking approach: an operation like this can only work if everyone is fully committed to their highest standards and is fully aligned with the filmmaker’s vision. When we started our journey towards production, there were occasions where I felt we weren’t taken seriously, or simply put, some people couldn’t see any viable path for the film; we had to navigate these situations and kept looking for the right collaborators until we found a crazy enough crew to come on board, and then it all came together. So, what it ultimately boils down to is that on a film with these premises, the hardest part is finding the right team that can see through the thick fog of obstacles and realize the project’s true potential.
Filmmaker: What single element of the film do you take the greatest amount of pride in, or maybe were just most excited by, as a producer?
Pedullà: I’m really proud of Mad Bills’ casting, its process and its outcome. These days, especially after the pandemic, you’d reserve in-person castings only for the latest stages; self-tapes have almost entirely replaced live auditions. However, for this film, finding authentic characters that could bring the flavours of The Bronx that Joel wanted was of the utmost importance. So we decided to street-cast to find our protagonists. We distributed flyers, posted on Instagram, and talked to many young people at Orchard Beach to find anyone who could be interested. We then organised in-person auditions, and that’s been a game-changer for us: we could see different versions of Rico and Destiny taking shape in front of our eyes, and in this organic process, we slowly started finding our cast.
Filmmaker: What surprised you or was unexpected when it comes to the producing of the film?
Pedullà: The support we felt from the communities in The Bronx and City Island. Many people were genuinely curious about the film and willing to help in any way they could. Some agreed to play little roles for us, and others opened the doors of their houses and shops. On several occasions, we found ourselves stuck in some of the usual obstacles of production, and I want to say that most of these times, the solutions to these problems came from members of the community. This is something new for me and that I’ll never forget.
Filmmaker: What are the challenges facing new producers entering the business right now at this unique historical moment? And what could or should change about the film business to make producing a more sustainable practice?
Pedullà: To make producing a more sustainable practice and, therefore, more accessible, we need a mentality shift around the development work producers do. Such work usually requires years of effort, meetings, talent scouting, and fundraising. However, development fees to independent producers are rarely paid, causing one of the most significant entrance barriers in this field. In short, unless someone’s able to be financially sustainable via other means (e.g. family wealth or other sources of income), the independent producing route remains hardly accessible. This isn’t a new challenge; it’s always been there, but it’s time for change. Making producing more accessible would bring fresh air and new perspectives to this industry, and I have no doubts that it would be incredibly beneficial to the industry’s economy, too.
Filmmaker: Finally, what advice would you pass on to a future new producers preparing to embark on their first production?
Pedullà: Be flexible. Our job is not to be perfect or to have all the answers. Our job is to adapt and understand. Our job is to listen, and ultimately listen to what the story needs.
