If the world you created in your film became a reality, is that a world that you would want to live in? Is there a Sci-Fi world you'd buy a one way ticket to?

The world of OUTPOST is set in a world that would be somewhat bittersweet. The impetus for the Interstellar Citizens Commission is to send out their explorer-scientists is the slow deterioration of Earth coupled with a desire to seek out intelligent life that might provide some answers. Having to colonize deep space to preserve your way of life is a bit of a bummer, but the possibilities and technologies would be exhilarating.

Sci-Fi excites us because it gives us the chance to ask "what if". There are so many worlds that would be interesting to see (Blade Runner, Jurassic Park, Battlestar Galactica) but plenty more that would be terrifying (Children of Men, Interstellar) or amazing (Star Trek, The Martian). Name a Sci-Fi character you relate to on a spiritual level? Who is your Sci-Fi spirit animal/spirit alien?

Corbin Dallas from The 5th Element. Or at least that's who I'd like to be!

Friend or Foe: humanoid robots with advanced artificial intelligence? What if robots start making their own Sci-Fi films? Will you support their endeavors?

Oh, foe, for sure. We'd just be a bug in the system at that point, a redundance. The last vestige of relevance we would have is our creativity and artistry, so if they start making movies, our best bet is to fall down and worship our robot overlords in such a way that they hopefully find us amazing enough to withhold destruction.

In 1996, Bugs Bunny recruited Michael Jordan and Bill Murray to form the greatest basketball squad of all-time, the Tune Squad; you're bugs, who's on your Sci-Fi Tune Squad?

Corbin Dallas (The 5th Element), Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek; TNG), Ellen Ripley (Alien), Neo (The Matrix), Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian).

You've gotta go through some bad ones to get to the good ones. Tell us one of your bad ideas. How do you get past the bad ones to find your spark?

One of the best parts of being in a filmmaking partnership is we get to bounce our bad ideas off each other before decision-makers hear them. Justin can be overly sentimental, while Ryan can be a bit intellectual. Together, our characters and films get fleshed out pretty nicely. In terms of story ideas, it's hard to label an idea as a bad idea because when one of us pitches something the other doesn't love, we take time to explore the "why" behind the idea and see if it brings something to the table. So they're not really speedbumps or something we spend a lot of time on because they always lead to interesting places.

Do you consider yourself part of a sci-fi community? Or when your brain is in the future and your body's in the present, is that isolating?

Not entirely. We love sci-fi, we make sci-fi, but we've always eschewed genre labels because for us our movies are about asking existential questions about the human condition. The fact that the final product is a horror film or sci-fi film or indie drama really doesn't matter - they're ALL character studies, but with the trappings of genre that help us explore the story.

Do you consider yourself more of an analog or digital person? What kind of balance do strike between the two? Is there a disconnect between the technology you make films about and the technology that you make films with?

Definitely digital. I have a fascination with analog, but I think the internet may forever be the greatest achievement of humankind. The technology it's spawned has made life better on so many levels. Ironically enough, we intend on shooting our first feature on 16mm, so I've definitely got a soft spot for analog as part of the artistic process.

When you're creating the props and sets that make a new world, where do you look for inspiration? How do you create objects that are relatable but unfamiliar?

Everything is driven by the character's need and the practical relationship to the world around it. Once we've established the rules of the world - do they have faster than light travel, are robots friendly, etc - the world builds itself out of those rules. Then we can pull inspiration from almost anything. For OUTPOST, we looked at a lot of NASA footage and photographs and spent a lot of time on space forums like Reddit's /r/spaceporn (not what it sounds like lol).

Lightning round: Star Wars or Star Trek? Philip K. Dick or William S. Burroughs? Practical or CGI? Dystopia or Utopia? Post Apocalypse or Pre Apocalypse?

Star Wars, Orson Scott Card, Practical, Dystopia, Post-Apocalypse