Part 2 of the Interview by John Gaspard

This is part 2 of an interview I did with John Gaspard awhile back for his blog Fast Cheap Movie Thoughts (http://fastcheapmoviethoughts.blogspot.com/)

What's the smartest thing a filmmaker can do before starting their feature? What's the dumbest?

Spend time in pre-production! Too many filmmakers think if you’re not shooting you’re not making a movie. I spend 3 – 4 months easily in pre-production. I try to work everything out long before I start shooting. I rehearse for weeks, just like I’m doing a play. I want all of the actors to know their parts and their characters long before we start shooting.

I only write for locations I know I can get, and I don’t write scenes I know I can’s shoot, (like car chases).

I continue to write throughout this period as well. On Birddog I started pre-production with draft 11 of my script and still made changes throughout the process. On all of my films I don’t even think about shooting until I have done a ton of drafts. I have people I trust read my scripts and get lots of feedback. Your odds of making a good film increase if you have really worked the script over and over. If you have done the work to have a good script the odds get better that you’ll make a good movie. You can still make a bad movie from a good script though, this isn’t a science.

I think you just really need to take your time in pre-pro, don’t rush it. Since I never have any money the better organized I am the more efficiently I work and the smoother my shoots go.

As far as the dumbest, I think that is to hurry up everything so you can start shooting long before you’re ready. And using your credit cards. Using friends who aren’t actors in your films. Your friends aren’t good actors no matter what you think. Get good actors. I think there are lots of dumb things you can do if you don’t take your time.

What's the best advice you ever got about filmmaking?

You need to be a shameless self-promoter and self distribute your work. We always hear those bullshit lines; I make my films by any means necessary! Well why aren't you getting your films out by any means necessary? Why are you sitting on your ass waiting to see if you got in to some film festival? Why aren't you burning DVDs and selling them at screenings? Why aren't you promoting your movie on the internet? You gotta get the word out, and you have to do it yourself. It has to do with getting your films seen. If no one sees your movies how are you going to build an audience? I tour, I teach and I have developed a fan base. One person at a time! Has it been easy? No. It's not supposed to be. At then end of the day all you have is your work and if no one knows about it or you, whose fault is that?

Finally, which current filmmakers (independent or otherwise) inspire you?

I will watch anything that John Sayles does. Same with Jim Jarmusch although I thought that Broken Flowers sucked! I like Danny Boyd’s work, Brian Johnson, Beth Harrington, John deGraff, lots of people that most people have never heard of. Janet McIntyre is a filmmaker to watch, she makes docs.

I watch lots of different types of films so I am inspired by films more than I am filmmakers. I still try and watch lots of docs and foreign films to get a different point of view of the world.

I actually think I am more inspired by writers and musicians than I am by filmmakers. I am inspired by people who don’t give a shit what others think, they push forward and make the things that they want to make. I like things that are passionate in some way or another.

I don’t have a television so I read more than most people and I love to visit museums. That is the way I have always been…

Did I answer the question?

Part One of an interview I did for John Gaspard @ Fast Cheap Movie Thoughts

This is Part One of an interview I did with John Gaspard awhile back for his blog Fast Cheap Movie Thoughts (http://fastcheapmoviethoughts.blogspot.com/)  It's a good site, check it out.

Why are you angry?

I'm angry for a lot of reasons.  I'm pissed that good films can't get distributors because they don't have stars.  I am angry that all sorts of Hollywood 5 and 10 million dollar pictures are called "independent" when they're not.  I'm angry because a lot of doors have been closed to Real Independent Filmmakers and very few filmmakers seem to care.  I see filmmakers give their movies to distributors for nothing, no advance.  If you don't get an advance you'll probably never see any money!

I see too many people wanting to be filmmakers for the wrong reasons, to make lots of money and to be famous.  And filmmakers aren’t working together to help each other.  So many independent filmmakers from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s were going to change the system, and now they are part of it.  They are more interested in money and being critical darlings then fighting the system the way they once were.  They have been sucked in to the system and most went down without a fight.

What's wrong with independent film today?

The independent film industry is no longer even remotely independent. It's been mainstreamed by
Hollywood and is now simply another over-hyped product. Like commercial radio, pop music and Starbucks coffee, the industry has become a homogenized mess of conglomerates owned by a
handful of extremely powerful corporations. It begs the question: Independent from what?

We need to take the word "Independent" back!

Indie has become a marketing phrase. I have a tough time sitting through a ten million dollar "indie" movie. I want people to recognize that "indie" doesn't mean stars and all of that other
crap. WE are Independent Filmmakers" and WE make movies whether WE have a deal or not. I want to see more theaters and media art centers providing places for us to show our work,
instead of just giving us lip service about how they support independent film. I am fed up with these "independent" film festivals that show all these movies with big names in them.

Real Independent Films are still being made; they just don’t have access to audiences.  I always say that independent filmmaking is a live and well, it’s independent distribution that is dead.  You have to play by the industry’s rules to get your film seen if you want a decent sized audience.

I opt to do things differently.  Like early punk bands we have to find our audiences and cultivate them.  That’s why I spend half the year on the road touring and showing my films.

I've told filmmakers forever to never put their films on credit cards. Give me your best argument against that habit.

I’ll use my own experience for this one.

I spent a ton of money on my first feature, Birddog.  A lot of people told me they would help me get distribution when I made my first feature.  I believed them and I probably shouldn't have.  I was the Sound Designer on films like Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho, Far From Heaven and Finding Forrester.  I had my "indie street cred" but that didn't seem to matter ultimately.  I had a screening for friends in LA and everyone liked the movie, then they told me how hard it was to get a distributor and they all walked away.

No one helped.  So I arranged screenings for distributors, I screened in LA, New York, Toronto and London.  We also had it at the IFFM.  The distributors all said the same thing, "We really like this movie but we can't distribute it because it has no famous stars in it".  I told them it was an independent film and they said that was fine, but if you make an "independent" film you still need a big star in it.

Anyway, I ended up owing a ton of money to the IRS...  Since all of these people had said they were going to help me find a distributor I took all of the money I should have paid in taxes and used that to fund the film.  When it didn't get picked up ...  I still owed the money.  It took my lawyer and I seven years of dealing with the IRS to finally get everything straightened out.  Ultimately I had to sell my home of twenty years and just about everything I owned.    It was hell!

I gambled and I lost.  I understand that.  I listened to certain people that I shouldn't have trusted.  Ultimately it was my fault.  I made the decisions and I paid the price.  I don't want others to go through what I did.

There is no guarantee you will get a distributor, (if you want one), and most people end up paying off their movies working jobs that they hate at 30% interest.

Don’t use credit cards or go way in to debt; if you do you’ll be one of those people.

I'll post Part 2 later in the week.  Check back.

John Sayles, the library & other stuff...

July 12, 2009

“If you're a PA, and you're fresh out of school, and this is one of your first gigs, let me give you some advice: the director doesn't give a shit about your opinion!”
From The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide

It's harsh, but true. When we were making Birddog, there was a PA who asked me why I was doing a particular shot from a particular angle. It didn't really look that good to her. As politely as I could, I told her that her input was not needed, especially since this was her first day on the shoot and we had been shooting for two weeks. I tried to remind her what her role was, what mine was, and she needed to take care of her job, and let me do mine. Then I spoke to the AD and said to keep her the hell away from me! Trust me, you have enough on your mind, and unsolicited input from a young PA isn't what you need.

And speaking of books…

Please ask your local libraries to purchase my book.

On most library websites there is a place to suggest books for purchase. Or just send an email.

Here is the information they will need:
The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide: Making the Extreme No Budget Film
ISBN #: 1-4392-3273-3
Author: Kelley Baker
2009

When asked for the publisher direct them to my website: www.angryfilmmaker.com
(The publisher is BookSurge but I make more money if they buy from me...)

Thank you!

On Saturday, August 29, 10am I am going to be at the The Rappahannock Independent Film Festival teaching a workshop. If you’re in the area drop on by. Check it out at http://rifilmfestival.com/.

I am in the midst of re-watching some old John Sayles movies (Return of The Secaucus Seven, The Brother From Another Planet, and Matewan), and I am still blown away by his writing. Some of the acting is a little rough, but the stories are so good. I can’t get enough of him. Whether his films are good or not so good, they are always worth watching. I always learn something about story telling from him. Go back and check out some of his older work, most of the films hold up surprisingly well.

Don’t forget to check out the review of my Sound Design Workshop DVD at http://www.microfilmmaker.com/reviews/Issue43/Sound1.html. While you’re there check out some of the articles. It’s a great site.

On to other stuff.

If you want Moses and I to come to your college, university, media art center, high school, theater or even to your house for dinner this Fall send me a note, angryfilminfo@aol.com.

Don’t forget to check out my tour sponsors, Show Biz Software, (www.showbizsoftware.com), Film Baby (www.filmbaby.com), Pollard Design (www.pollarddesign.com), and Zoom Studio (www.zoomstudio.com). If you haven’t checked out their sites and their services, you better.

As always, feel free to link to my site and you can subscribe to my blog. So what are you waiting for?

Talk later.

Kelley

www.angryfilmmaker.com
www.facebook.com
www.myspace.com/theangryfilmmaker

Why I Tour.

I open my eyes, slowly. I peek my head out of my sleeping bag and look out the van window. I can't see more than a few feet. I am fogged in. Where am I? I'm trying to remember. My dog Moses is sleeping soundly on the floor. Think... It was late last night when I pulled in. Cambridge. That's right, Cambridge — Ohio. Right about now I wish it was Cambridge in England.

I am sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

I am on my way to Baltimore to judge a 48 Hour Film Festival for Creative Alliance. I left my home in Portland, Oregon 4 days ago on my Fall Tour. I remember driving last night until it started getting really foggy. I was lucky to find an exit so I could re-fuel and grab some dinner. After dinner at an "all you can eat" Chinese buffet, I took Moses twice around the parking lot so he could get some exercise before we called it a night. I parked next to two big motor homes and crawled in to my sleeping bag. Around 11 PM a semi truck pulled up near us. I kept waiting for him to shut his engine off, but he didn't. After 40 minutes, I look out and see he is watching TV. I realize he isn't going to shut his truck off.

I get out of my sleeping bag, and head for where I think the Wal-Mart is. The parking lot is so foggy I can't see more than 30 feet. It is 6:30 in the morning and I am in search of a rest room.

This is the glamorous part of our business — life on the road.

I have been touring the US with my movies for 5 years. In the early years, I would fly in to a city, rent a car and do a giant loop around that state for 2 - 3 weeks, showing my films at media art centers, art house cinemas, and colleges and universities. I would end up back near the airport I had flown in to, return the car and fly home. On all of these trips I broke even. I wasn't making any money, but I wasn't losing any either. After doing this for 3 years, I realized that if I wanted to make money I was going to have to make some changes.

It’s a very strange time in our business. In my opinion there is no such thing as “Independent Film” anymore. It has all been co-opted and turned in to a marketing phrase. Hollywood stars working on $10 million dollar movies is not independent — I don't care what their ad campaigns say! The promise of the 80's and real independent filmmaking is over.

The small maverick distributors have either been eaten by the big companies or have become part of them. Unless you make a movie that costs millions and have famous actors slumming in them, or you are an actor making your directorial debut, or even a former independent filmmaker making cheap movies because you can afford to, you are never going to get any decent kind of distribution.

Film distributors and marketers have gotten extremely lazy. Unless they can sell your movie easily, they don't want it. The distributors want famous names associated with your movie. Nothing else matters! They say they can sell a movie with William Macy, Parker Posey, or Bill Murray, but don't give them something with a good plot, witty dialog, and an unknown cast. They can't help you.

Unless, of course, you are in your mid twenties, made your movie on credit cards, got it in to Sundance and won. But even those types of movies don't show up anymore. Sundance has gotten so famous and full of itself that they have forgotten why they started in the first place.

Standing in a Wal-Mart at 6 AM, I am trying to remember why I do this.

It's because of my love of movies. If I don't distribute my own films, who will? I spend between 5 and 6 months on the road each year. I drive 40,000 miles, speak to thousands of film students and aspiring filmmakers. I screen my movies and teach workshops where ever I can. At every stop, I try and sell as many of my DVD's and T-shirts as possible. On some days I make money. On other days I won't. I will sleep on friends couches and floors, as well as in strangers’ spare bedrooms. These strangers will become my friends and I know that next year when I am back this way again, I'll sleep in one less Wal-Mart parking lot.

Life on the road has it's own rhythm. When you have been on the road for even just a few weeks, your internal clock gets totally out of whack, as do your relationships.

When I go out on the road people ask, is it fun? Sometimes. Sometimes it's boring. Sometimes it's horrifying. Snow, dense fog, hail, down pours, ice, high winds, and that was just a few hours in Wyoming. I have driven through rain storms for 3 hours where I could barely see the truck in front of me! Once outside of Chicago, I pulled over in to a rest area as a storm went past. Even the truckers were off the highway.

When it's fun, it's great! I was at West Virginia State University a couple years ago. The professor who brought me there is a great filmmaker and a professional wrestler. Danny Boyd (aka Professor Danger) not only had me lecture to his classes, he had me accompany him to one of his practice sessions for an upcoming match. Like all good filmmakers, I took my camera to film the event. The next thing I know I am standing in the ring with Death Falcon Zero, and Danny is behind my camera. I got my butt kicked! I also learned different moves and that professional wrestling hurts! The Death Falcon was gentle – if there is such a thing.

After a screening in Montgomery, Alabama, I found myself in a cemetery having beers at the grave of Hank Williams, Sr. Apparently, there is a tradition to have a beer with Hank around midnight. Our group included musicians, civil rights attorneys, journalists, and someone who was introduced as an heiress. We spent the night talking about film, civil rights, politics and race relationships. It was amazing. I still think I heard some noises coming from the ground.

I have spoken at many colleges and with few exceptions, I have found students eager to learn about filmmaking. I teach four workshops, but sometimes students want me to just talk about what it's like to be an independent filmmaker – how it was working on some of the famous independent films that I worked on, and why I turned my back on the money and success to make my own movies and hit the road.

I talk to them about the lies, the deceit, and the commercialism of the art form. I tell them not to even bother applying to Sundance and some of the other so-called independent film festivals. Just look at the films they have been showing these last few years, and you will see that we no longer fit in. But people like Jake Paltrow do.

I get asked about the promise of the Independent Film movement of the 80s and I have to tell them it no longer exists. The filmmakers of the 70s and 80s have become part of the establishment. With few exceptions, they have joined the companies they fought against and now seem to be making sure that other filmmakers don't have the same opportunities they had.

I tell them to cheer people like John Sayles who continues to make the films that he wants to make. He does it on his own time frame and he doesn't seem to care about the marketing. That’s a wonderful position.

There are others besides Sayles that march to their own drummer, unfortunately we aren't seeing much from them anymore. Where are Ross McElwee, Steven Okazaki, and Les Blank?

It is no longer about the work, it is about the opening weekend. It doesn't matter how good your film might be. If it doesn't open strong the first weekend, it usually won't be around for a second. Just like in Hollywood. When did all this happen? The very nature of independent movies means that they usually take time to get discovered. They have to find their audience. And they do that best by word of mouth. Not all of us can afford to open our movies in New York or LA and take out ads in the papers there.

Finding an audience is still what it's all about. Ani DeFranco had it right. If the powers that be don't want your work, and you believe in it, then take it to the people. I tour like a punk band, minus the punks and the music! I take my movies out and you know what I learned?

The distributors are wrong!

People do want to see good movies without stars. They want to see things that are different from the crap they are being fed. If they get the opportunity to talk to a filmmaker, they like that even more. People come to my shows and when I go back, the people who saw me before bring their friends. I am building my audience base just like a band. And it is rewarding.

If Fine Line sells 10,000 DVDs of one of their movies, they would consider it a failure. But if I sell 10,000 that is a huge hit for me.

For some reason, filmmakers don't feel they have to get their work out in the same way that other artists do. Musicians tour. Actors & Comedians tour. Why do Filmmakers think they are special and that the audience will come to them? I tell all filmmakers the same thing. Get off your asses and get your movies out there. You are not special! You have to do the work like every other artist. Too many people fall for the press releases from Sundance and other places. They are waiting to be discovered. I have been in this business for a long time, and trust me when I say, “The probability of getting discovered sitting on your ass at home is right up there with getting struck by lightning or winning the lottery.” Good luck with that.

Me? I'll be hoping that Map Quest is indeed right and the exit I want is just a few miles ahead. Now, if I can only see through this dense fog and get out of this Wal-Mart parking lot!

See you on the road.

www.angryfilmmaker.com