A valuable artifact throws a small South Dakota town into turmoil in Director Tony Tost’s dark comedy western, Americana.

Tost’s film finds the lives of a town’s local outsiders and outcasts violently intertwining when a rare Lakota Ghost shirt falls onto the black market.

On August 30, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Tost discussed the making of Americana during a Q&A moderated by Director Mimi Cave (Holland).

During the conversation, Tost revealed how his previous work as a writer and executive producer in television gave him the confidence to tackle directing his first feature film as well as valuable insights into communicating with actors.

“I don’t think I would have had the confidence to do it without it. Knowing the importance of prep. Knowing the importance of hiring great department heads [and] how important those relationships are. I think when I first started on TV, I would speak in paragraphs to actors which is not super helpful. The genealogy or the idea of the scene isn’t necessarily what they need in the moment. So, a lot of those dumb mistakes I got out of my system before I stepped on to the Americana set.”

Americana is Tost’s directorial debut. He became a DGA member in 2022.