SYNOPSIS:

We hit the trail with Austin’s own husband-and-wife filmmaking duo, Andrew and Melissa Shea. They’ve been married for nearly 30 years, partnered on every film they’ve ever made, and, according to Ben, may be the first couple to pull that off. Andrew’s road to filmmaking was wonderfully circuitous. He started as a New York theater kid, passed the bar in two states, ran a regional theater in Santa Fe for eight seasons, and enrolled at USC film school in his 30s. That’s where he met Melissa on day one and immediately clashed with her so badly that their TA had to mediate (hence the episode title). Three decades and two kids later, they’re still married and still arguing their way toward great movies.

We trace the full arc of their filmmaking lives, from the narrative features SANTA FE, THE CORNDOG MAN, and FORFEIT to Andrew’s pivot into documentary with PORTRAIT OF WALLY, a 13-year legal thriller about a Nazi-looted painting; WRESTLING ALLIGATORS, centered on a chairman of the Seminole Tribe; and BUZZ, his HBO documentary about journalist Buzz Bissinger’s reckoning with Caitlyn Jenner. 

Then we arrive at FLAG DAY, Andrew and Melissa’s first true co-directing effort, more than a decade in the making. The idea began when they fell in love with Three Oaks, Michigan’s self-proclaimed biggest Flag Day parade while spending summers there to escape the Texas heat. Shot with 11 crews during a tense election year, the film is a vérité portrait of a divided community that still finds a way to show up for one another. At its heart is a sunset flag-raising ceremony, scored to Paul Simon’s “America,” that left the entire crew in tears.

Along the way, we dig into what documentary filmmaking borrowed from Andrew’s years in the theater, why FLAG DAY is exactly 75 minutes long, and why the Sheas are giving the film away to American Legions and libraries instead of chasing a paycheck. Plus, a Great Dane at Westminster, a mediator nobody wanted to use, and the possibility that FLAG DAY might just become the Rocky Horror of small-town America.

DISCUSSION LINKS

FLAG DAY (2026) | SANTA FE (1997) | THE CORNDOG MAN (1999) | FORFEIT (2007) | PORTRAIT OF WALLY (2012) | WRESTLING ALLIGATORS (2016) | BUZZ (2019) | I’LL BE THERE (2023) | DR. STRANGELOVE (1964) | FLASHDANCE (1983) | THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Walking Austin’s Lamar footbridge with a selfie stick
02:00 Meet Andrew & Melissa Shea
03:04 Andrew’s circuitous route: law school to Santa Fe theater
06:39 The jump from theater to film school
08:59 USC, meeting Melissa, and a nervous first day
12:50 The short film that went to Cannes Critics’ Week
14:16 The TA-mediated fight that started a 30-year marriage
17:24 From editor/director pairs to full co-direction
19:25 The narrative run: SANTA FE, THE CORNDOG MAN, FORFEIT
20:34 The pivot to documentary with PORTRAIT OF WALLY
24:22 What a first documentary teaches a director
26:44 Community theater energy and the jump to FLAG DAY
28:23 Escaping the Texas heat and falling for Three Oaks
31:22 Building FLAG DAY around eight townspeople
33:11 Understanding people you disagree with
36:16 What they walked away with
38:35 A film about veterans more than a flag
39:06 The sunset flag-raising scene
40:06 Scoring it to Paul Simon’s “America”
43:34 Teaching at UT Austin in the TikTok era
46:36 Why communal moviegoing still matters
49:47 Giving FLAG DAY away for free
51:37 A Veterans Day screening at the U.S. Navy Memorial
52:11 Lightning round: gateway films and best advice
56:12 Great Danes, grown kids, and what’s next