{"id":1181971,"date":"2025-11-07T14:38:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T22:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/?p=1181971"},"modified":"2025-11-08T16:18:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T00:18:47","slug":"spit-it-out-ray-sisters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/spit-it-out-ray-sisters\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Ray Sisters’ ‘Spit It Out,’ a DNA Test Exposes a Family Secret"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Spit It Out” filmmakers Austin and Westin Ray, who direct together under the moniker the Ray Sisters, first got the idea to make movies when The West Wing<\/em> came calling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We grew up on an aquaculture farm near the Californian-Mexican border,” Austin Ray explains. “It\u2019s an area often used as a film location because it resembles the deserts of the Middle East. As kids, an episode of The West Wing<\/em> descended onto our backyard and transformed it with military vehicles and actors leading camels down our road. It gave us a front row seat to witness how adults could play pretend for a living. It was in that moment, I think, the filmmaking spark was born.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their interest in film \u2014 and family \u2014 continues with their short “Spit It Out,” playing this weekend at the Coronado Island Film Festival. It stars Eric Roberts as a father and excited grandfather-to-be who tries to learn more about his ancestry \u2014 and makes a discovery that could tear his family apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ray Sisters’<\/a> films and commercial work have won awards from the Directors Guild of America, Austin Film Festival, Savannah Film Festival, Telly Awards, and HBO. Austin Ray is also a composer whose scores have premiered at Telluride Film Festival and won a Student Academy Award. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We talked with the Ray Sisters about making films in the San Diego area, trading family stories with Eric Roberts, and the calamities that can result from spitting in a tube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ray Sisters on Making ‘Spit It Out’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The Ray Sisters: Westin Ray, left, and Austin Ray, right. Courtesy of the filmmakers.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MovieMaker: <\/em><\/strong>How did you become filmmakers and decide to work together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Westin Ray: <\/strong> As sisters who are close friends, there was never one decision to start working together \u2014 it was a magnetic pull toward collaboration, strengthened by our shared aesthetics and a healthy twin-like dose of mind reading. We joke that we don\u2019t advise working with a sibling… unless you\u2019re already doing it naturally. While at Chapman University\u2019s Dodge film school, co-directing was not allowed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our fellow alums, the Duffer Brothers \u2014 the creators of Stranger Things<\/em> \u2014 shared with us that they had been in the same boat. So like them, we did not officially start co-directing, as the Ray Sisters, until after graduating. There are so many brother co-directing pairs in this industry \u2014 where are the sister duos with weird matching boys\u2019 names?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MovieMaker: <\/em><\/strong>The situation in this film is so fraught and complicated \u2014 viewers often get a \u201cwhat would I do\u201d feeling, and are put in the shoes of many different characters. Where did the idea originate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Westin Ray: <\/strong>As the screenwriter of “Spit It Out” and a history buff, I fell down my own rabbit hole of research during the pandemic that led back 12 generations on websites like Ancestry and 23 & Me. Austin gently reminded me that I should relate this time-consuming hobby back to our careers somehow, so I started writing a script. Within the same year, our circle of friends began sharing stories of unexpected discoveries made through DNA matching, and yet strangely, we hadn\u2019t heard of any film or TV stories that specifically dealt with this topic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote a script with a broad range of character perspectives and reactions, because in real life, these stories affect each family member differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin Ray:<\/strong> Spitting in a vial is awkward \u2014 so is the juxtaposition of celebrating your past, while still concealing a lie. These juicy contradictions prompted us to create a story about family dynamics, preconceived notions, spit, and surprises. At our screening Q&A\u2019s, we usually have multiple audience members who approach us afterwards to confess their own family secrets, revealed through these innocent DNA kits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MovieMaker: <\/em><\/strong>Why did you see Eric Roberts as the dad? Why do you think he wanted to take on the role?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Westin Ray:<\/strong> Eric plays charming, yet morally duplicitous very well. He has a history of portraying villains, but we hadn\u2019t seen him embody a loving family man before. These contrasting qualities make for a riveting watch. Eric loved the script \u2014 he and his wife Eliza are similarly fascinated by this topic of DNA tests and have relatable stories of their own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On set, during lunch, he and our whole cast & crew sat in camp chairs and traded stories about unusual family histories and heirlooms, like his dad\u2019s treasured watch. Eric stayed very true to our script, but he improvised one line\u2014which ironically I get complimented the most on\u2014and have to fess up that I didn\u2019t write it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin Ray: <\/strong>On “Spit It Out,” Eric rounds out an ensemble cast full of actors whom we\u2019ve worked with before or wanted to work with. The lead actress Kate Sumpter, who has starred in the BBC\u2019s The Little Drummer Girl<\/em> with Florence Pugh and Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd, plays Eric\u2019s daughter, and her inherent sense of right and wrong is an interesting foil to Eric’s enigmatic character. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MovieMaker: <\/em><\/strong>You have strong ties to the San Diego area \u2014 how does the Coronado Island Film Festival feed into them? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin Ray: <\/strong>It\u2019s actually thanks to MovieMaker<\/em> that we discovered the Coronado Island Film Festival from the 2025 list of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee<\/a> and decided to apply in the nick of time on its Late Deadline submission. We went to high school in San Diego and have family here, so it\u2019s extra sweet to be able to screen at the historic Hotel del Coronado and have our grandparents attend the screening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The caliber of film programming, panelists, and filmmakers make this festival such a hidden gem. Shoutout to the CEO & Artistic Director Merridee Book for propelling this filmmakers’ paradise to new heights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MovieMaker: <\/strong><\/em>Amen. And thanks for the kind words! What was your biggest challenge in making this and how did you overcome it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin Ray: <\/strong>We didn\u2019t have one big challenge, but more of a top three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Westin Ray: <\/strong>Foremost, we shot during the SAG strikes under the exemption of the Short Film agreement. In order to meet those budget restraints, we had to move the production from the Catskills in New York to San Diego, where we had more resources and accommodations for a 25-person crew. Challenges can become blessings. It\u2019s the first film we\u2019ve shot in San Diego, and we\u2019re so proud to have done it locally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Austin Ray: <\/strong>The second challenge was shooting multi-cam. We usually shoot single-cam, but for “Spit It Out,” our incredible DP Chris Koser suggested we shoot multi-cam with two Alexa Mini’s. Shooting like this definitely added to the cine budget \u2014 and footage size on hard drives \u2014 but it was well worth it for the time that it saved in our schedule to capture everyone\u2019s coverage and reactions to lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of our film’s premise of a family gathering, the script includes a mammoth 10-page scene with six characters. Good thing we’re co-directors and have double the eyeballs, because it was multi-tasking on steroids to give notes to so many actors\u2019 performances simultaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Westin Ray:\u00a0<\/strong>Thirdly, in the midst of rehearsals the day before set, a honey bee flew inside my nostril and stung me. Luckily, the stinger was swiftly extracted by my sister. Go teamwork! Later in post production, while Austin was working on the music score for the film, she was stung in the foot by a sting ray \u2014 so this film was made with lots of venom pulsing in our director veins. Still waiting for our superpowers to appear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Spit It Out” plays Sunday at the Coronado Film Festival as part of the Ties That Bind program<\/a>. You can read more of our festival coverage here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Main image: “Spit It Out,” courtesy of the Ray Sisters.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Spit It Out” filmmakers Austin and Westin Ray, who direct together under the moniker the Ray Sisters, first got the","protected":false},"author":1641,"featured_media":1181973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable_comments":false,"cm_data":"","cpt_newsletter_id":0,"tpd_coauthor":[],"tpd_feed_delay":{"delay_type":"default"},"is_tpd_lists_single_post":false,"tpd_featured_posts_arr":"","tpd_franchise_content":"","hide_featured_img_single_post":false,"msn_featured_video":[],"_msn_custom_title":"","tpd_featured_video":[],"tpd_sponsored_post_logo":"","tpd_sponsored_post_logo_link":"","tpd_sponsored_post_logo_width":0,"tpd_sponsored_enable_nofollow":true,"tpd_disable_incontent_ads":false,"tpd_disable_right_rail_ads":false,"tpd_disable_after_content_ads":false,"tpd_disable_header_ads":false,"tpd_disable_sticky_footer_ads":false,"tpd_disable_video_ads":false,"tpd_disable_outbrain":false,"tpd_affiliate_disclaimer":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[41495],"tags":[],"coauthor":[],"feeds":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1181971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-film-festivals"},"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Spit-It-Out_Ray-Sisters_Film-Still-428x241.jpg","fimg_url_thumb":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Spit-It-Out_Ray-Sisters_Film-Still-428x241.jpg","fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Spit-It-Out_Ray-Sisters_Film-Still-788x444.jpg","author_name":"Tim Molloy","author_avatar":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/IMG_1078-100x100.jpg","author_link":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/author\/tim-molloy\/","coauthors":[],"primary_category":{"term_id":41495,"name":"Film Festivals","slug":"film-festivals","taxonomy":"category","url":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/category\/film-festivals\/"},"featured_img_medium":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Spit-It-Out_Ray-Sisters_Film-Still-788x444.jpg","post_categories":["Film Festivals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1641"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1181971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1181973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1181971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1181971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1181971"},{"taxonomy":"coauthor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthor?post=1181971"},{"taxonomy":"feeds","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviemaker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feeds?post=1181971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}