The comedic and dramatic lives of a New York improv group are examined in the film Don’t Think Twice, the new production from producer Ira Glass and writer-director Mike Birbiglia.

They previously collaborated on the Sundance hit Sleepwalk With Me and their latest venture has them exploring a comedy scene both artists are very familiar with.

Don’t Think Twice boasts an impressive ensemble cast that includes Keegan-Michael Key, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci and Birbiglia himself as close friends and members of a struggling comedy improv company. When one of them lands a breakout role on an SNL type sketch show (not-so-subtly called Weekend Live in the film) the friends are both happy and jealous, leading to an entertaining blend of comedic and dramatic reality.

Mike Birbiglia recently traveled to San Francisco to talk about Don’t Think Twice and the real-life comedic lessons he put into the film. The following is a transcription of that conversation.

Q: How much of your own personal experiences as a comedian did you put into this movie and do you feel audiences completely understand improv culture?

Mike Birbiglia: I once read that Ron Howard doesn’t do test screenings for his movies to see what audiences think of the product. He does them to see if his vision is translating to the audience and if it’s not then he goes in to make adjustments. That’s kind of how I see this movie and the improv culture as a whole.

Q: Since this is an independent production and you have so many moving parts to keep track of, what was the hardest thing for you to focus on?

Birbiglia: The editing of this movie was the toughest part. I keep a private journal and recently I’ve been looking back and reading some of the past journal entries and some of those read like a man devolving into a Stephen King novel.

From the moment we were in production to the moment we were in the editing room I kept changing and becoming more tired and protective of the film. I wrote so much and kept going insane it might as well have been a scene out of Misery.

Q: Or the typewriter from The Shining.

Birbiglia: Exactly! That’s a much better example. But the edit was hard because of the calibration of an ensemble film.

Q: Right. You have to give everyone enough breathing room to do their thing.

Birbiglia: Absolutely and finding the right groove where everyone had their moment in the film was tough. Movies that do that well for me are Broadcast News and Terms of Endearment. Those movies not only balance out ensemble casts well but they are also some of my favorite films of all time.

Those kinds of movies don’t get made anymore so we went in with that strike against us before we started making this movie. Studios don’t want to make small movies like ours anymore and sometimes when I pitch these ideas to executives I almost want to scream at them, So all you really want to do is make money?

Q: The answer is yes.

Birbiglia: (laughs) Unfortunately you’re right.

Q: Your movie doesn’t hide the fact that the fictional Weekend Live show that your characters are desperately trying to get on is based on SNL.

Birbiglia: You didn’t hear it from me.

Q: Have you heard from Lorne Michaels about this film?

Birbiglia: No. I don’t know him so I’m not sure if he has or will eventually see it. I’m friends with Jimmy Fallon and Seth Myers and have mentioned the film to them multiple times. I’ve even asked them if the movie would be a problem over at SNL and they both said no so I feel better about that.

Jimmy was a huge fan of Sleepwalk With Me and he also loves Don’t Think Twice. I’ve been talking so much about this movie it may be the reason that I’m starting to get sick.

Q: It’s very possible. A lot of talking can definitely do that to you.

Birbiglia: (laughs) But it’s for a good cause, right?

Q: Yes it is. Since you’re going from city to city and answering a lot of the same questions, is there one question you wish would go away?

Birbiglia: Ah, that’s funny. People always want to know how much of the movie was improvised and for a movie about improvisation it’s a very intricate one to answer. It’s like talking into a wind machine and I can never give a good answer.

Don’t Think Twice is now playing in limited release.