Tention Free: You’ve worked on a diverse range of projects, from Ham on Rye to Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway. How do you choose the projects you get involved with, and what draws you to a particular story?
Overall I have a pretty basic philosophy when it comes to filmmaking, I strive to make films that I believe will have the longest life. I don’t see the point in making something that will be the flavor of the week in a streamer and then basically disappear, forever lost in the depths of the catalog of a corporation. As an example I always use the Wizard of Oz, because this is a film that is from 1939 and it’s still relevant today. In a sense, I’m always trying to make something like the Wizard of Oz.
What attracts me the most to a project is a clear vision that is holistic and unique. After that I figure out what type of people I would be getting involved with, because making a film can take years. You want to be selective of the people you work with, and that there is an understanding that filmmaking is a collaborative effort where you want everyone involved to bring their best work. In terms of story, I look for multidimensional, relatable characters in strong predicaments where the conflicts are well developed and organic to the world of the character. Overall, in general terms, you look at a project and it either speaks to you or not.
Tention Free: Your role as a producer spans various films, including international projects like Kyrsyä in Finland and Crumbs in Ethiopia. How do you navigate the challenges of producing films in different countries and cultures?
I think part of the filmmaking experience is to immerse yourself in the world of the story in order to grow as a storyteller and the story is always conditioned by the culture it comes from. At the same time, the more foreign an experience might seem to you the more aware you are of the differences. I believe that the more local a story is, the more universal it becomes. This is because even though the overall strokes of a culture may seem different, when you look at the details they tend to be similar. In its core, human emotion is the same everywhere regardless of what or how it is triggered. I go into all projects understanding this and although there are specific challenges that come with each project, in general they’re always similar regardless of where you shoot.
When making a film you’re always working to mitigate the risk as much as possible. In my opinion there is one very efficient way of doing this: spend the bulk of the effort in the planning phase so that executing it becomes easy. This is basically how I navigate the challenges.
Tention Free: Dark My Light is one of your recent projects. Can you share some insights into the production process of this film and what audiences can expect from it?
Dark My Light was shot in 16mm film and this means that the entire production needs to be structured around the fact that the cost of shooting film is higher and therefore it must be compensated with more preparation. You can’t go unprepared or hesitant to the shoot because the risk of the costs skyrocketing is very substantial. The second key element is that you don’t have the immediacy of shooting digitally where you can go back and look at the dailies while you are shooting because the process is longer; it could take up to a few days to be able to see what was shot making it very difficult to go back and reshoot. This is also compensated with preparation. At the same time shooting film creates a certain level of excitement within the crew and the talent because the stakes are so high. I personally find this a desirable quality in the production of a film because it requires an increased level of focus from your colleagues which elevates the entire process.
We shot the film in Florida, we wanted the location to have a certain degree of personality and interesting aesthetics that would increase the production value of the movie. The locals, including the film commision and the police were very helpful and did everything they could to assist us which made our experience much more pleasant.
I think Dark My Light is the type of film that will be divisive among the audience, some people will not like the film at all, it’s the sort of thing that happens when you play with people’s expectation of what film is and what it could be. Corporate filmmaking has set a formulaic standard of what a film is and a large portion of the audience has grown to take that for granted, there are countless books about formulas for films and there is predictive software that incentives standardization in the story structure of a film. I think the partial consequences of this have started becoming apparent with the general loss of viewership. Dark My Light is the type of film that takes risks and tries to break the mold pushing the boundaries of what a film could be. Obviously there are precedents for a film like Dark My Light but it is the kind of picture that some people will love and others might take longer to develop a relationship with it, if they do at all. We created the film in such a way that you can view it a couple of times and it will have a different reading. This was very difficult to pull off and we had considerable challenges but I believe we have been able to pull it off.
Tention Free: With your extensive experience in filmmaking, what do you believe are the key qualities of a successful producer?
My answer depends a lot on the definition of success, but also on the definition of “producer”. Unfortunately, the producer credit has lost a lot of its value because the majority of people outside of the industry don’t know or don’t understand what a producer does. Secondly, a lot of people in the industry take a producer credit for minimal contributions so it becomes very difficult to discern between the actual producer of a picture and people who have contributed but didn’t actually perform any of the producer’s duties. With this in mind, let’s define “successful producer” as the person who is able to mold and shepherd a project from its initial stages to its completion and then is able to introduce the film in the market. Once a film is released there are different levels of commercial success or lack of it and this is key because one of the main roles of a producer is to be able to find the perfect balance between commerce and art. A successful producer needs to be two-faced, he must be very creative in order to understand the artistic value of the film, and at the same time business savvy in order to understand the commercial value of the film and how it fits in the market.
Tention Free: You have been involved in filmmaking for over two decades, starting with short films like Kamikaze, The Rising Motel, and Noteworthy. How has your approach to filmmaking evolved over the years?
My training is in writing and directing. Producing only came about later on. For a long time I had a corporate career which caused me to drift away from filmmaking. When I decided to work my way back I felt the need to produce in order to be able to grow as a filmmaker because that’s where I lacked the most skills. But also because making a living has become so complex that developing the skills of producing have become a requirement. I’ve been making features for ten years now and I have learned the ins and outs of the business, this allows me to approach it with a greater understanding of the industry. The more work you do the more you develop an understanding of what resonates with people. This is an essential skill to have because at the end of the day you are making a film for an audience and in hopes that they will choose to have a relationship with the film throughout their life. At the same time there is a hard truth in the industry, which is that nobody really knows anything. No amount of software or tools can predict a hit with 100% certainty, in that sense I think intuition is still key and it is unlikely it will ever get replaced. My approach has grown with the understanding that film is art, that requires commercial value and that the moment you start making a film, it is no longer yours, you’re hope is that it will become a stand-alone work of art that people will respond to intergenerationally.
Tention Free: As someone passionate about content development, how do you stay inspired and continue to generate fresh and engaging ideas for your projects?
I think the most important aspect is to maintain a level of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge that will motivate you to keep moving forward. In the first years of your career you want to absorb as much as possible and expose yourselves to everything that you can expose yourself to. You do that until you reach a point where you are able to understand how ideas flow through different variations, how they morph and change and eventually evolve. Because the truth is that nothing is completely new or fresh, everything is appropriated from something that came before it. The narrative storylines are limited, you can see this in the work of Shakespeare, the religious texts, in Geroge’s Polti’s book, 36 dramatic situations. What you are doing is taking something that already exists and giving it a face-lift, pushing it forward by mixing and combining elements in a novel way, that’s what makes something feel fresh and new.
Tention Free: Your film Crumbs received numerous accolades, including a Special Jury Mention at the Los Angeles Film Festival. What was the most rewarding aspect of working on this film, and how did it impact your career?
Crumbs was the first feature I produced. It was a learning experience for both Miguel Llansó (the director) and I. I think there is a moment in everyone’s career, when you’re getting started, where the thought of making a feature film independently is so daunting and scary that it can become paralyzing. The only real remedy for this is to steamroll ahead with whatever you have available and hope for the best. I think the real impact that Crumbs had in my career was to show me that I was capable of producing a feature film. When you make it with friends it’s even better because then you feel proud of the accomplishments of those that are close to you. Miguel and I have known each other since we were 8 or 9 years old and Crumbs was our first film and one of our first stepping stones in our careers. Furthermore, when you make a film, the moment you release it it is no longer yours. It belongs to the public and they are the ones that decide what relationship they are going to have with the film. They might choose not to have a relationship at all. When I find years later the impact that Crumbs has had on some people, I think that that is the biggest reward you can receive. To know that that little first film that you made your friends has been able to settle into the minds and hearts of people.
Tention Free: What has been your most challenging project to date, and how did you overcome the obstacles you faced during its production?
I think every project is challenging in its own way so the standard answer is that the most challenging project to date is always the last project you make. If the project is not challenging it then you might be settling into a comfort zone that in the long run will affect the quality of your work. I think its important to continue to challenge yourself. To overcome the obstacles you plan as much as possible in order to reduce the potential obstacles and then when you do face them you try and solve them quickly without allowing them to cripple you.
Tention Free: Collaboration is a significant part of filmmaking. How do you approach working with directors, writers, and other key team members to ensure a cohesive vision for your films?
There are two separate but related aspects to making a film. On the one hand there is the creativity inside the film, on the other there is the validation and creation of value of that film. The creativity part stems from the vision of the director but it always needs to be consistent with the world it takes place in as well as the context in which it’s told because movies cannot exist in a silo. In other words, there is a derivative nature to the art of filmmaking and understanding the framing of a particular film within the body of work that precedes it is key to unlocking the vision of what the end result will look like. This is to say that the most important aspect of bringing a team together to create a work of film, is being able to communicate what the vision of the film is both creatively as well as commercially. The best way to accomplish this is to spend as much time as is necessary in development agreeing on what this multifaceted vision is going to be. I think that the biggest risk there is in making a film is not being able to complete it, I believe that the major cause is conflicting visions among the key members of the team. The solutions is to discuss and agree until everyone is on the same page.
Tention Free: Looking ahead, what projects or genres are you excited to explore in the future, and what can your audience look forward to from you in the coming years?
Currently I’m developing a slate of projects with the characteristics defined above. My hope is that they all become original and unique films that will have that special something that the audience might be attracted to. I’m very excited with a project called Blind Cop 2 which we are working on releasing theatrically ourselves. And I’m also working on my directorial feature film debut, which is a psychedelic elevated horror film called “The People in the Stars”. Although I tend to gravitate towards genre films, sci-fi, horror, etc, I’m looking to grow towards more mainstream films. Overall I will continue in bringing beautiful films to the world.
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