2010 SHOOT Magazine Directors Symposium

This past week I had the pleasure of taking part in SHOOT magazine's Directors Symposium at the DGA theater in New York City.  I was part of last year's New Directors Showcase, and was asked back to talk about what had transpired over the past year. I spoke on a panel with the very funny Keith Bearden, director of the Tribeca Film Festival hit Meet Monica Velour and very talented spots director for Skunk Films, as well as the very smart Bonnie Goldfarb, co-owner of production house Harvest Films. I talked about the process of wrapping up Running America while still directing spots and other content over the year. Unfortunately, I would have liked to shown more work, as we were a part of some interesting, wonderful campaigns this year for a variety of clients, but Running America really is the biggest milestone of the year.

Photo: Bill Bennett, ASC

Maybe the biggest surprise of the panel was the reaction to my discussion of how to "brand" yourself as a director, and my explanation of why I decided an exodus from NY and refusal to keep going West landed me in Cleveland, and that I was happy about it. This was touched upon earlier in a panel when Laura Belsey of Shadow Pictures, talked about a prominent commercials director (who I'm now blanking on) who began his career in Alberta, Canada. I spoke quite a bit about creative freedom, not getting pigeonholed as a "car guy" or a "sfx guy" and not being a slave to "waiting for the phone to ring" mentality - by going to a smaller market and being proactive with your career. Without the financial strain of living in the NY and LA markets, a young director could explore his/her voice and do more work than in a bigger market.

Photo: Bill Bennett, ASC

I was, literally, mobbed afterwards by young directors wanting to know "how I did it" with questions all the way down to "how much is your rent?" Given the film business climate on either coast, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I guess I just didn't expect that vocal and passionate a response. I ended up missing lunch because I felt like I was holding a "mini-panel" after the real panel. It was great, and I think a real sign of change coming in the film industry. In my opinion, it will be the collision of legitimate and profitable self-distribution of feature films and amazingly affordable high-end image capture (see below: Canon 5D and 1D) that will change the way filmmakers think about their careers and art. But I digress. All in all, it was a great day and I gained so much knowledge myself in just a few short hours, including the amazing footage that Bill Bennett, ASC showed of the new ARRI Alexa camera. It blew me away. No noise whatsoever in the blacks, smoother than smooth motion, oh wow I can't wait to use this camera.  But I digress again. Bill sat next to us during the panels, and was nice enough to snap photos during my panel.

Probably the most exciting part of the day was hearing Caleb Deschanel, ASC speak about his long and storied career. Director of Photography on such landmark films as The Right Stuff, The Black Stallion and Being There with Peter Sellers, a film that has held steady sway in my top 3 since I was young. I was able to talk to him after his panel about the famous "final" shot from the film, where Peter Sellers walks on water, then pokes his umbrella into the water. This was a scene which had a real effect on me as a kid, and I can remember thinking how this movie was different than other movies, and it was the first occurrence where I though you could "say" something with a film. Of course, he was very nonchalant..."yeah, I think I told Peter you should test out the water to see if it's real."  He said the most difficult part of the film was just keeping it together and not laughing while Peter was working through a scene. The crew was usually banished from the set and it was the director, Hal Ashby, Caleb, and Peter shooting the scene by themselves.

Now, I have to go back and re-watch the film, once again.

All in all, a great day.