Brandon Night is originally from Texas, but moved to Los Angeles thirteen years ago to pursue an acting career. On set, Night would “become a sponge”, talking to anyone and everyone on the crew, and was immediately drawn to the production side of filmmaking. 

Chris Vanderhorst grew up in North Carolina, moved to Los Angeles, bought a camera, and taught himself how to be a filmmaker. Vanderhorst had been shooting a web series where Night would guest star, and eventually after the webseries ended, they realized they still wanted to work together. Not long after, Night decided to move on from acting and start producing films alongside Vanderhorst. 

The inspiration for their film, Lifelike, started with Vanderhorst’s fascination with where the technology world was headed. He wanted to create a film that would explore the future of A1, while tying in their combined interests for a sci-fi, love story genre. They decided they wanted to tell a story of revenge, loss, and love from a female point of view. After a few days of drafting, the team cast the main characters, rewrote it with their new cast in mind, and began production. 

Both Vanderhorst and Night believe that the quality of the script and casting are the most critical aspects to making a film. The story is above all else, when you have a great story, it attracts people to want to work on it with you. “You can have the worst camera ever but if your script and your cast is on point, you’ve got a masterpiece.” 

The Lifelike creators credit their motivation to watching what other filmmakers are creating around them as well. Both Vanderhorst and Night have a love for TV, and are always talking about what they’re currently watching. “There are certain things filmmakers are doing now, amazing things that for as long as filmmaking has been around, they’re still innovating, and that inspires me to be like that, to be that next voice.”