By: Addison Wylie

Many will recognize Max Joseph from his co-hosting gig on MTV’s Catfish, a modern mystery program featuring Max and Nev Schulman helping online romantics track down their ambiguous lovers.  Faithful viewers of Catfish, however, were given episodes early on in season 4 that were absent of Joseph.  This was because the filmmaker was still busy working on his feature film debut, We Are Your Friends.

We Are Your Friends followed a group of pals trying to make ends meet while living in Southern California’s San Fernando Valley.  They all had different aspirations, but they also lived by the same limited understanding of the world around them.  Cole (played by Zac Efron) aspires to be a DJ, and is slowly getting his feet wet in the industry.  When Cole is taken under the wing of hotshot spinner James (played by Wes Bentley) and starts to fall for the stunning Sophie (played by Emily Ratajkowski), his grasp on reality and his road to fame snowball toward climactic crescendos.

I concluded my review of We Are Your Friends by writing, “if the final scene doesn’t make you want to run out and do something in the moment, check your pulse”.  Picking up from where I left off, the film did motivate me to do something spontaneous – I reached out to director/co-writer Max Joseph.

The film is considered a hidden gem to some, and the movie will hopefully gain sizzling momentum through word-of-mouth once Joseph’s energetic flick hits DVD and Blu-ray on November 17.

I talked to Max about his particular brand of filmmaking, which triggered him to explain how he used We Are Your Friends to experiment with different styles.  Joseph also talked about the screenwriting process, comparing Spring Breakers to We Are Your Friends, and the influence Catfish had on the film.