I spent Saturday at the IFP Filmmakers Summit in Chicago. I have to say that being there only reinforced something I believe, which is there's no right or wrong way to go about making a film. There's only the way that the film itself calls for. If you can't afford to make your project the way it asks to be made, choose another project you can afford. Making one type of film may rely on private investors or a Major Studio, but making a great film relies solely on you, the filmmaker. So there's no excuse for saying that somebody else keeps you from making a great film. They can only keep you from making a particular film you think could be great if circumstances out of your control were different.
Two panel discussions at IFP were case studies on two films-essentially this involved crew members of a recent film talking about their process. The first case study was for Kissing on the Mouth, an exceptional film I've written about before, shot by four filmmakers who doubled as both crew and actors. Their process of making the film allowed for barriers of intimacy to be genuinely broken down, something rarely seen in film.
The second case study was for Drunkboat, a new film starring John Malkovich and John Goodman, shot last summer in Chicago. It was shot with a union cast and crew and a budget of $2.5 million. The Drunkboat panel was five members of the Chicago crew (the Assistant Director, Location Manager, Executive Producer, and two of the Producers). The first half of the discussion was basically about how great it was to work with John Malkovich, the second half was about how bad it was to work with the first-time director, John's best friend Bob (or Baab, if you're in Chicago).
Together, the case studies revealed the range of creative processes available to filmmakers. For instance, a few of the audience members had trouble with Joe Swanberg, director of KOTM, because he didn't write a script. In my mind, he did write a script. His DV camera, a small and committed crew, and a budget that came from his own pocket meant he could write his film with the camera and actors instead of using pen and paper. The old adage is There's the script you write, the script you shoot, and the script you edit, and they're all different. What Joe did was combine the traditional three-step process of filmmaking into a one-step process: He wrote, shot, and edited his script all at the same time. Actually, John Cassavetes used the same process in 1963 to make Faces, but it took him three years and cost $225,000. Advances in technology have afforded Joe to make his film in less than a year and it cost him $2,000. Yay for technology.
On the other end of the spectrum is Drunkboat. It was shot with a tiny budget according to Hollywood standards (Malkovich's current project, Beowulf, allegedly has a budget of $250 million... yes, a quarter of a billion dollars), but Drunkboat was shot in a traditional manner with professional crew and talent and a script. Bob Meyer, a first-time director who is an accomplished fine artist, had difficulty conforming to the rigidity of shooting a film of this size. He drove his crew crazy. He wanted freedom to explore, but the reality was they needed every dollar to pull off what was written on the page and still make payroll for the cast and crew. In retrospect, I would bet Meyer probably would choose something closer to the Swanberg route for his first film rather than one with a large budget, union crews and huge set pieces, like a boat sinking in a storm.
I guess what it comes down to is there's always a battle going on between art and commerce. The more a filmmaker gives up commerce, the more freedom they gain in the artistic process. The more a filmmaker pushes for a project that requires a hefty chunk of change, the more they hedge in their creative process. More money does not mean less art, it just means less room to make sudden changes and explore. Fortunately, we now live in a time when, no matter what the financing may be, a great film can be made. I believe smart filmmakers don't just have a good idea, but they find the process to make that idea fit what they are willing to spend in time, money, and freedom.
Sorry I missed you Paul, I was down there on Friday. I was counted as some sort of sponsor, but then my employee crapped out, and I was only there for about 4 hours. Kinda bummed, cause I'm out a lot of cash, and got almost nothing out of it. I did run into the Waterfront people tho, that was cool.
Posted by Nat Dykeman on November 9, 2005 12:40 AM