Tony Leech

In Episode 10 of the Downward Facing Spiritual Spiral, I welcome writer/director and filmmaker Tony Leech to the podcast. Tony grew up in Detroit, Michigan and eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue filmmaking. He'll share his inspiration for telling stories and what drew him to tell the story in his latest feature film "Variant." He will also share what drew him to not only write, direct, and produce the movie, but also finance the film all on his own.

 

 

Tony will share the story behind writing the highly successful film "Hoodwinked" which went on to gross more than 100 million dollars worldwide. The success from "Hoodwinked" opened up new opportunities including the chance to work with the Weinstein's so we'll hear how Tony first came to meet Harvey Weinstein and how the Weinstein's went on to distribute "Hoodwinked" and "Hoodwinked 2."

 

 

 

Tony will also tell the story behind "Escape from Planet Earth" where he was hired by Harvey to be the film's writer and director. After their relationship ultimately culminated in a huge falling out, Tony stopped working on the movie and moved to San Francisco to work for a video game company. After a year, Tony ultimately made his way back to Los Angeles to follow his true passion for storytelling and got back to work on his next feature film.

 

 

 

Whether it's in "Variant" or in Tony's short films, I notice a common theme of "feeling at home" or feeling "safe" so we will chat about the importance of home especially living in Los Angeles. We will talk about Instagram and the impact it's having on his life as well as the impact is has on the introverts in our society. We may even get a visit from my cats this week so enjoy the show!