This year marks a first for the Traverse City Film Festival: Two new films by the same director are playing in the same lineup. Because he couldn't pick just one ("they're so funny"), festival founder Michael Moore selected Bob Byington's two most recent releases, "Registered Sex Offender" and "Harmony and Me," to play in the "Straight Outta Austin" series this week. We spoke with Bob and his producer/star Kristen Tucker about the two projects, and what they have coming up next in the pipeline.

Bob Byington & Kristen Tucker

Traverse City Film Festival: There are descriptions for both "Registed Sex Offender" and "Harmony and Me" in the TCFF guide, but in your own words, could you provide a short summary of each of the films?

Bob Byington: "Registered Sex Offender" is about a guy who gets out of prison and has a lot of community obligations to fulfill. It's a comedic take on his trials and tribulations.

Kristen Tucker: It's about a man who's being required to do something, but doesn't know how to do it.

Still from "Registered Sex Offender"

BB: Yeah, that's kind of a theme in my movies. I like to make films about people who have to do things they have no idea how to do. "Olympia" [made in 1998] was about a coach who doesn't know how to coach. Really, it's an obvious metaphor for filmmaking. No one knows how to make a movie. You just show up at the shoot and do the best you can. So rather than just, you know, make a movie about making movies, I pick metaphors for that.

TCFF: So what is it that the central character in "Harmony and Me" doesn't know how to do? Let go of his girlfriend?

Still from "Harmony and Me"

BB: I'd say that's part of it.

KT: "Harmony and Me" is movie about being stuck, and learning to move on when you're in a place in your life where you're just not going forward.

BB: Stuck. Good word.

TCFF: In both "Registered Sex Offender" and "Harmony and Me," you use a documentary aesthetic, which is unusual for fictional films. Tell me about how you arrived at that style, and why it works for your subject matter versus traditional cinematography?

BB: I think I use that style because I'm most responsive to immediacy, and I like the idea of getting the most fundamental material up on the screen. The doc style fits with my idea of how to capture that.

KT: It provides so much freedom too, for the director and for the actors, because it allows us to capture spontaneity on set. We have the freedom to explore our impulses.

BB: The material we like the most in the films always ends up being those accidental moments from the set.

TCFF: So how much of the film is scripted ahead of time then versus improvised?

BB: I'd say it's about 2/3 scripted, 1/3 improvised.

KT: We always come in to the project with a full script and a planned shooting schedule. But as far as what actually makes it into the final edited film, yes, I'd say it's about 2/3 scripted to 1/3 improvised.

TCFF: How did you get Justin Rice, who might be better known for his band Bishop Allen, involved in "Harmony and Me?"

BB: I saw Justin in a film called "Mutual Appreciation," which is where the idea began to form of writing "Harmony and Me" for him. When I was writing, I had his and a few other images in my head for the role, but by the time it was finished, his was the only one left. I printed up the script and sent it to him, and he called and said, "OK, let's do this."

Justin Rice in "Harmony and Me"

TCFF: You used a number of the same actors, including Kristen, in both films. Have you ever shopped the scripts around in the hopes of getting a so-called "marquee name" attached to any of the projects? Or do you want to keep working with the same troupe, similar to what Judd Apatow or Christopher Guest has done?

BB: That's a good question. I just got off the phone with Mark Duplass ["Humpday," also showing at TCFF] about an upcoming project, and he is becoming a name. He still feels like he's in my world, and we knows lots of the same people, but he's moving up. I want the projects to get bigger and to grow. I usually don't have pie-in-the-sky ideas about cast. But yet, we got nearly everybody we wanted for "Harmony and Me." 85% of that cast was our first choice, and that's out of anybody in the United States.

Still from "Harmony and Me"

TCFF: Kristen, I wonder if you might speak to your experience being both in front of and behind the camera in these films. Do you prefer one over the other? And what lessons did you learn from "RSO" that carried over to "Harmony and Me?"

KT: "RSO" was almost like a film school in a lot of ways. We made a lot of mistakes, and we had the time to try things again and again and again. We learned a lot. We premiered "RSO" in March of 2008 at SXSW, and then a few weeks later went into production on "Harmony and Me." The two projects kind of meshed together. Bob and I have figured out how to work together, what our strengths and weaknesses are, so we're now able to utilize those things for a film.

Kristen Tucker in "Harmony and Me"

I know that I could never be completely satisfied doing just acting. I come from an engineering background, and my day job is in that field. Engineering is a little too left brain for me, and acting is a little too right brain for me. But producing is right in the middle. It has both creative and logical elements to it, which I like.

BB: Kristen brings a problem-solving mentality to producing, which is great. She's not intimidated by obstacles. She has an ability to knock it out of the park.

TCFF: How did you two meet?

BB: Kristen came in to audition for a small part in "Registered Sex Offender," and we knew she was a star and wanted to get her more involved. When you have a star, you have to give them a big role.

TCFF: Are you working on anything else?

Bob Byington

BB: I've got a couple of other projects in the works. There's the one I mentioned with Mark Duplass - that's probably coming up next. Kristen may end up involved with that one.

KT: Yeah, I'm considering a few options right now. I'm actually about to move to New York, so let's taking up a lot of my attention.

BB: One of our producers, Anish Savjani [Anish also produced State Theatre fave "Wendy and Lucy"] is also out in New York. They're taking over New York for us.

TCFF: How has the reception to "Registered Sex Offender" and "Harmony and Me" been so far on the festival circuit?

BB: "RSO" premiered at SXSW in 2008 and had a nice run in there. We shifted our attention to "Harmony and Me" so quickly that we now feel like we're revisiting "RSO." I have this idea that the two play together in this weird way. I don't know if we'll screen them together or package them that way, but I like the idea.

When Michael Moore asked for a copy of "Harmony and Me," we snuck in a DVD of "RSO" when we sent it up. Kristen told me not to, but I did it anyway. I thought he would like it. As luck would have it, he did.

"Registered Sex Offender" is playing Saturday, August 1 at midnight at the Old Town Playhouse and Sunday, August 2 at 9:00 p.m. at the City Opera House. "Harmony and Me" is playing Wednesday, July 29 at midnight at the Old Town Playhouse and Friday, July 31 at 9:00 p.m. at the State Theatre. For ticket information, click here.