The Project:
Interview sources and write a 4000-word feature on filmmaking and what goes into the process. I interviewed 27 filmmakers, gathered photos, and wrote and edited the story, which was the April 2018 cover story of Real Estate Magazine. Zida Borcich, who commissioned the article, edited my work; she also designed the layout, wrote the cover blurb, and secured the cover photo of filmmaker Nandi Bowe.
The Text:
We love movies. They inspire us. Incite us. Invite us to experience other worlds. As for the artists who make the movies, they, too, love the art form. Through film, they breathe life into their vision and share a part of themselves with us. The most successful filmmakers—those talented and lucky few—become household names, and the stories they tell reverberate in our hearts long after we’ve left the theater.
Yet behind the curtain, behind every glamorous Hollywood red-carpet premiere, lies the story behind the story: the winding road that led there, and the workdays that sometimes feel like they last a lifetime, often for low pay and with no guarantee of success.
Unless you’re working on a micro-budget project with a bare-bones team, filmmaking is a major undertaking. Filmmakers find the story, gather the money for it, assemble a cast and crew, and deal with countless details—and in the end, the outcome inevitably depends on a strong vision, inspiring leadership, and other people. Those who devote themselves to making movies do it because they have to; for them, film is a calling that cannot be denied.
For this article, dozens of filmmakers from around the world shared stories of life on set and described lifelong dreams. Though they hail from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, common themes emerged: The value of mentorship. The insatiable urge to create. The importance of persistence, even when everything seems overwhelming. They spoke of intense camaraderie born from working together in the trenches, the thrill of moments of insight, and the elation of finding out their films made a difference to someone.
Curious what making a film is like, from the first inkling of an idea to the finished product and beyond? Here’s a peek behind the scenes, courtesy of the people who know filmmaking best:
BACK TO THE BEGINNING
Even a Hero’s Journey—perhaps especially a Hero’s Journey—has to start somewhere. So, too, did our filmmakers’ journeys…
Screenwriter Denise Cruz-Castino, who co-produced a TV commercial for Women in Film and wrote the upcoming feature 5 Weddings, a romantic comedy set in India that stars Bo Derek, began early. “I started out as an actress in musical theater, but I realized I wanted to be behind the scenes. I wrote my first play when I was about eight.”
“I’ve been a composer all my life. I’ve always had music in me that needed to get out,” says composer and musician Miriam Mayer, who worked with John Williams on Saving Private Ryan, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and Catch Me If You Can and has nearly a hundred credits to her name. “I think most film composers are inspired by some score they heard and thought ‘I want to do this,’ but for me, it was a love of composing.”
Kristelle Monterrosa’s new documentary, Dancing Souls, features her earliest passion: dance. “By age twelve, I had performed internationally; by age twenty-two, I had produced and co-directed Medea Tango. In 2016, I performed forty shows with the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.”
Not everyone heeded the call of the arts before they reached their teens—or even their twenties. Several began their careers as journalists. Others fell into filmmaking by chance and then found that everything clicked.
“Ever since I could hold a colored marker, I’ve drawn animals who struggled with human dilemmas,” says Kate Isenberg, the animator behind existential crisis comedy Dear Death and poignant music video Heads or Tails. “Though I worked for several years after college as a journalist and editor, I remembered my love of telling stories through drawings and music. In 2012, I enrolled in an MFA graduate animation program at UCLA’s film school. ”
Esther J. Han was working retail when she helped studio services for American Idol find styles for the show. One thing led to another, and a contact offered her a position as a costume designer on a feature film. “Working in indie films, the budget forces you to wear many hats,” Han says. “It’s like a fast-track to designing, running, and executing everything costumes.”
Eric Warren started out as a travel writer. “I’d wanted to host a Travel Channel-style show and filmed a couple of series about Maine and mountain biking. Eventually, that led deeper into documentary.”
Mendocino native Justin Lewis was a photographer. “While working on a pole-to-pole project called 70 Degrees West, I was planning a trip to Greenland to tell the story of Inuit traditional hunting practices. I felt the story needed the voice of the hunters and a moving image. I taught myself basic filmmaking before the trip and quickly fell in love with the process.”
Sue Vicory became a filmmaker at the age of forty-eight after her children left for college. “I asked myself, ‘who do I want to be the second half of my life?’ One hour later, I was signed up to film school.”
STEP ONE: THE STORY
“The first thing you need is a good story,” emphasizes Nandi Bowe, who has worked with Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Whoopi Goldberg, Spike Jonze, and others during her thirty-four years in the industry. So how do you find one?
“Stewball came from a very raw emotion: angst,” explains Isenberg about the bipedal horse protagonist (who walks around on two legs and works an office job) of her animated film Dear Death. “I was facing the dilemma of how to translate my degree into a solvent and meaningful work life. Stewball was always about having potential that transcends immediate circumstances. Which is the American dream, so it’s little wonder that people relate to him.”
“Stories are therapy,” she adds. “We understand ourselves by the stories we tell about who we were, are, and might become.”
“I’d much rather work on something I know is awesome for free than something bad for money,” says William DeJessa, who was nominated for Best Cinematography Debut at Camerimage, the foremost [international] festival dedicated to celebrating cinematography, for Kinderwald, a period piece about an immigrant family that falls under suspicion in 1850s Pennsylvania. “The audience remembers the films that have resonance.”
Alessia Cecchet, a director, cinematographer, and animator whose short films have screened from Utah to Tehran, starts small: “For me, stories always start with an image that strikes me. If an image stays with me for a long time, I know I will have to give it life through film.”
Megan Riakos, who wrote and directed Crushed, an Australian thriller that was a commercial theatrical success, uses a similar technique: “A character I stumble across in real life or a situation I see on the news will resonate with me. If I am still thinking about it weeks down the track, I know it has some heat!” An active member of Film Fatales and the president of Women in Film and Television NSW, Riakos adds, “My background has a strong influence on the stories I want to tell. I’m a first-generation Australian with working-class parents.”
Prolific composer Nami Melumad says: “I believe content you identify with will bring the best out of you. Being a bisexual woman, I aim to work on content that provides visibility and advocates for previously unincluded minorities.”
Bowe also prefers stories featuring diverse or unusual characters. “Stories are more interesting when you can’t imagine what’s going to happen or it has a cultural angle that you wouldn’t expect. There are no new stories at this point; it’s man versus man, man versus self, man versus nature. All that we have to give it color is the lens.”
Julietta Boscolo, a director and writer who previously worked as an assistant editor on Happy Feet, seeks thought-provoking subjects: “I pick stories that ask big questions of the audience. I’m interested in stories of people who are trying to live in everyday circumstances and find what we all want, but who see the world differently.” Her short film Let’s See How Fast This Baby Will Go tells the story of a pregnant teenager negotiating to buy her first car—while she’s in labor.
MENDOCINO
Mendocino has been the backdrop for over a century of cinema. To be here is to be inspired. The community is friendly, which encourages creative collaboration—an important part of the process, as any filmmaker will tell you. For young filmmakers who grow up here, that influence is even more profound. The support of parents and teachers gives them confidence, while easy access to nature shapes their creative approach.
“My work mirrors the things I grew up loving most,” says Lewis, whose films Dust and No Reception screened at the Mendocino Film Festival in 2015 and 2017, respectively. “The time I spent outdoors inspired my work in conservation filmmaking.”
“The Mendocino Coast offered me a creative space to learn and grow,” agrees local filmmaker and festival alum Maya Neumeier.
Kiara Ramirez, whose short documentary Detrás del Muro premiered at the Mendocino Film Festival in 2016, attributes her success to her family, the community, and Mendocino itself: “Mendocino has shaped the way I see the world and taught me to find beauty in everything.”
MAKING IT HAPPEN
Finding your story is just the beginning. To quote Orson Welles, “An artist needs a brush, but a filmmaker needs an army.” Some filmmakers relish the process and the thrill of collaboration, even when facing daunting obstacles. Almost all of them warn that there will be obstacles. Be prepared to adapt.
Kate Isenberg learned the tricks of the animation trade from another artist: “I was lucky to be mentored by Sam Hood, a Pixar storyboard artist. Sam taught me that ‘writing is rewriting, and storyboarding is re-boarding.’ I redrafted the storyboard for Dear Death about thirty times.”
“There is this balance between sticking to your vision and surrendering to the circumstances that comes with any collaborative project,” says Abigail Bruley, who wrote, directed, and starred in short comedy On the Dot.
Melumad works to the needs of the filmmaker, whether that means composing during pre-production instead of the more-common post-production or adapting to budget constraints. “In big-budget films, the music department consists of a composer, a music editor, a few orchestrators and additional writers, assistants, recording engineers, mixers, copyists, and, of course, musicians! It takes a village to make Hollywood scores. If you’re working on an indie film, with an indie budget, you’re likely to serve as the music editor, the orchestrator, and even the player or vocalist sometimes!”
“I spend a great deal of time finding and organizing the right team,” says Tasha Van Zandt, who runs a production company and recently filmed a micro-doc about the artist JR. “It’s important to have a diverse range of perspectives on set.” Her work has taken her to over seventy-five countries.
Local filmmaker Pat Ferrero, who was the program director of the Mendocino Film Festival for six years and now programs the festival’s “Pat’s Picks” track, joined the filmmakers’ collective New Day Films after she finished Quilts in Women’s Lives in 1980 and has used that support network for hiring crew, starting new projects, and distributing her work to universities, libraries, and community groups. She says, “New Day Films was founded as a feminist collective that has survived many changes in the past forty years and today it is a thriving filmmaker-run collective/business that successfully distributes social issues films.”
Deedee Benkovich, who grew up in Slovakia and now lives in Los Angeles, says, “I usually have certain people in mind before I even start writing.” As a producer, she is “involved with the whole process, starting from the script, through casting, crew search, location management, dealing with the needs of cast and crew, paperwork, and basically being the go-to person with any issue on set.”
Likewise, “The AD [assistant director] department is a really tough job. You’re first on-set and last to leave,” Riakos recalls. “But it’s also the perfect position to get a bird’s-eye view of a film set—the relationships between the director and heads of department, the way different actors like to work, the creative effect of different lens and shot choices.”
Another factor to consider: you’re going to be spending a lot of time with your cast and crew.
“For Crushed, we were shooting in extreme heat, and certainly no-frills. I needed to be sure the crew we brought on would thrive in these conditions, not wilt!,” exclaims Riakos. “For an indie film, time and budget are always tight, but sometimes those obstructions create interesting results. We used to joke when a problem presented itself that we should consider it a ‘croportunity’— i.e. a creative opportunity.”
“Completing a film can take several years, so choose people you want to be around,” advises Monterrosa.
Even if you have the perfect team, funding can be an issue. When a lack of money stands between filmmakers and the stories they have to tell, they find a way to make it work—even if that means seeking crowdfunding or private donors, applying for grants, maxing out their credit cards, or getting creative.
When asked how she funds her films, actress, writer, director, producer, and editor Jackie Jorgenson replied, “HA! I don’t. All of my projects are out-of-pocket. I write the stories I work on, so I tend to pick pieces that I’m able to produce on a low/no budget.” Jorgenson has won several awards for her Web series Far from Hollywood and her short films Lucky and Howard.
DeJessa knows about budget constraints. “The main reason Kinderwald was set in the woods was because of the limited budget. The woods are the woods.”
“The majority of filmmakers are grossly underpaid,” says Riakos. “We do a lot of work on spec and are often developing projects for years before any funding comes through.”
“For me, [fund-raising] shuts down the creative process, but it is a necessary skill and discipline, so I do it,” says Ferrero. “I have been funded by Rockefeller and Guggenheim fellowships and major grants from NEA and NEH and many other foundations. Museums from the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburg to SOMMA to the African Museum at the Smithsonian have also commissioned films.”
For Boscolo, living in Australia helped. “I have been fortunate to have Australian government support for my projects and am also aiming for network support in the future.”
“Mostly, I’m client-funded. As for my own films, I probably haven’t helped my credit score any,” says Warren. Though he’s run successful Kickstarter campaigns, Warren recommends Seed and Spark. “Not only do they have a tremendous platform, but they make a big effort to help women, minority, and LGBTQ directors.” IndieGoGo is another popular crowdfunding site.
“I think every filmmaker has a different story about how the film gets made,” says Bowe. “Is there some rich uncle? Is there a production company that raises the money? Money is always tricky.”
Boscolo has simple advice: “The budgets are never big enough and the schedules never long enough. So you make the film the best it can be.”
DEDICATED AND DRIVEN
The filmmakers in this article do it because they love their work. More than that, they do it because they have to, in spite of the challenges. As Bowe puts it, “There are things that you can do and there are things that you can’t not do.”
A lack of diverse roles led both Bowe and Anna Kaskeeva, who originally studied acting, to take up directing as a way of creating the change they wanted to see.
“Very quickly, I saw that roles for African Americans were limited,” says Bowe. “I thought, I want to tell the stories, I want to create the roles, and then I can put myself in them if I want to.” Once she discovered directing, though, there was no looking back.
“I tried to be an actress, but [in] Russia, it’s difficult if you’re not white,” says Kaskeeva, a Russo-Mongolian director. “You can be a director, but you cannot be in front of the camera. So I came here, and it turns out it’s not all that much better.”
Other filmmakers encountered sexism on set.
“It’s like there’s a club that you really should be a member of because you meet all the requirements, but every time you show up to the clubhouse, the door is locked. So you have to find a way to jimmy open a window,” says Boscolo. “My advice? Be fearless and don’t be afraid to speak up if you’re treated badly. Above all, never give up.”
“People are used to the status quo, and it’s up to us to say, ‘no, this is actually the truth,’” argues Chicana filmmaker Kayden Phoenix, who grew up in Boyle Heights in East LA, and has worked in a variety of roles, from stand-in to production assistant to director and producer. “Ask for advice, but it doesn’t mean you have to adhere.” (Her latest project, short action film Jalisco, is “the intro to the first Mexican superhero.”)
Benkovich adds, “It’s a very ageist and sexist world out there. You really need to be strong and stand your ground. You have to keep going with plan A and follow what you believe in. Otherwise, plan B will always take over.”
“You were hired for your creative vision, so trust that, but be humble enough to learn from others and their experiences,” says Han. “Also, when you do get the opportunity to become a department head, that’s an opportunity to be the boss you wished you had.”
Riakos emphasizes the importance of trusting your instincts and giving back: “Don’t be afraid of owning your vision and standing up for it, and never, never, never ignore that little feeling in your chest that tells you when something feels wrong. Support not only your fellow female filmmaker, but other groups who are also marginalized. When we can, we [should] reach down and pull someone up behind us—offer advice, mentorship, buy a ticket to their screening! We need to think beyond our own careers and stand together in solidarity.”
“Everyone has a story to tell,” says Van Zandt. “They just need the opportunity.”
The film industry is an imperfect reflection of our culture, including the best and the worst aspects of our society. Like a mirror that is angled a certain way, not everyone can see themselves in it, and sometimes its flaws may distort reality, but the mirror can be repaired. Cinema is becoming more representative—and it’s the better for it. Wonder Woman and Black Panther have shattered box office records, dealing a fatal blow to claims that financial considerations prevent studios from hiring more women and minorities or telling more unconventional stories. Though the industry still has a long way to go, increasingly, filmmakers are working to make their sets reflect the reality they would like to see. To quote Frances McDormand, “Two words: inclusion rider.” (What that means: high-profile actors are putting stipulations in their film contracts that require productions to have a diverse cast and crew.)
“I try to be a positive role model,” says Mayer. “I want other young women to know that they can do what they want in filmmaking and composing. Something like 2 percent to 3 percent of major films are composed by women. But the #MeToo Movement is really helping, and we’re seeing women get a chance.”
“We are at a pivotal moment to be a female filmmaker,” agrees producer and director Sydney Gabel. “People finally want to hear female stories from females. Be proactive and use it to your advantage.”
Interestingly, many make a connection between seeing varied stories on screen and building a more empathetic culture.
“I grew up on the Brady Bunch and the Partridge family, shows that had nobody that looked like me, but their stories still resonated,” says Bowe. “So even though America doesn’t have the habit, necessarily, of finding themselves in stories about people who don’t look like them, it’s happening more, and that’s my commitment: To tell universal stories that make a difference for humanity.”
“Cinema has an amazing ability to tap into what makes us human,” observes Riakos. “To fear, to love, to despise, and to empathize with someone you never thought you would is an amazing feeling.”
Aside from sharing important stories from unusual perspectives, many filmmakers live for the moments when the floodgates of creativity open.
“Everything is a challenge to a certain degree,” says Warren. “Lighting, people not showing up, bad audio, logging hours and hours and hours of footage. But there are these magical moments where a shot reveals itself or a story suddenly falls together in a way I didn’t expect during the edit. Those moments make it all worthwhile.”
“I really, really love composing,” says Mayer. “Some composers love the finished product, but for me, I love the process. I get into that slow state of mind. It’s awesome.”
“Working with other talented filmmakers is always great. I love when something unexpected and amazing happens in front of the lens,” says Lewis. “But for me, the main highlight is the glimpse we get into other people’s lives, industries, communities, and professions.”
FROM DREAM TO REALITY
Filmmakers are a unique breed, driven to keep creating not just for themselves, but for their communities and the culture as a whole.
“Music in films is almost like a superpower, like a magic ingredient. I hope my music reaches the heart of the audience and makes them feel for the characters, helps them connect with the message of the film,” says Melumad. “We filmmakers need to remember we can make a difference. We can influence.”
Warren sees his films as an agent for change: “I’ve had people come up to me and say that a film changed the way they looked at fossil fuels or water quality. I want people to walk away with a greater understanding of what’s going on around them.”
Isenberg aims to bring clarity: “In the short time I have the fortune to be here, storytelling is my contribution: an imperfect, but emotionally true practice of seeing myself and my fellow-travelers more clearly, with more humor and compassion.”
Monterrosa wants her work to help future generations. “I hope [audiences] feel inspired to pursue their calling. I want little Latina girls to know they can become whoever they want.”
Ferrero expands on the role of New Day: “What was wonderful for me about New Day is that it has been a commitment to build community over decades and generations of filmmakers, and it has successfully reinvented itself and is thriving. Filmmakers need to create and control not only the content of their films, but how they make and distribute them. It is a whole process.”
Filmmakers are keenly aware of their audience. And, unlike many other art forms, film almost always requires collaborating with a team. It’s easy to get bogged down as you struggle to make your film match your vision, but never underestimate the power of persistence.
“It’s an easy art form to critique and one that [you] will never perfect. And that’s the beauty of it!” says Jorgenson. “Just start your film. Then just finish it. Then start another. Then finish that. That’s what matters.”
When a film comes to fruition, the result is the realization of a beautiful dream—not just the director’s, but the shared dream of all of the cast and crew. If you love it, you can do it. And you should.
——
Insider Information
The best films captivate the audience and inspire the next generation of filmmakers. We asked filmmakers to recommend important films and filmmakers we may have overlooked:
Female filmmakers to watch: Agnes Varda, Claire Denis, Lynne Ramsay, Kelly Reichardt, Ava Duvernay, Miranda July, Alma Har’el, Catherine Breillat, Anna Rose Holmer, Colleen Atwood, Anne Dudley, and Tamar-Kali Veer.
Independent and foreign films you may not have seen: The Great Beauty, Mustang, Moonlight, Elling, The Fisher King, Whale Rider, The Color of Pomegranates, Song of the Sea, Akira, and Balance.