by Dom Zook.
Good question. I’ve resisted this dilemma for about 8 years now. I’ve known I wanted to make movies since I was in high school but never really considered it something I’d like to do for a living for the rest of my life until I graduated from college. I went down to Irvine for some graduate school auditions (back then I thought I wanted to act) and revisited SoCal – the place I grew up in for the first 8 years of my life. It was my last night there, I was alone, and I walked out in to the balcony and looked up at the sky and I (imagining camera crane lifting up to my eye level) said to myself “This is it. I’ll be back.” I kid you not. I was corny even back then.
Flash forward to 2005. I stopped in LA on my way back from London and got this eerie sense of deja vu. I wondered then just how long it’d be before I had to move. That was the point I determined to make the biggest push for a feature film to be made in Seattle I could.
And I did. If you scroll back through the last couple of years’ worth of posts you’ll see the trials and tribulations. I did it all. Cast negotiations, legal paperwork, business plans, investor talks, budget write-ups, etc. And frankly I had a great plan with a fantastic script (written by Faye Hoerauf and Jessica Baxter) and I knew it would be a hit. Modest hit, maybe, but a hit. Unfortunately no one was buying. No one of influence believed the script would go far. Despite at least one major name in the cast and several more just waiting for an investor to come forward, despite several awards for the script alone, despite a rock-solid business plan with proven talent (and I’m not even talking about me, Faye or Jessica here!), we were denied.
Meanwhile a lot of other movies got made in this town. Many with large budgets. Some with budgets much larger than our’s. Some with budgets much smaller. My job prevented me from ever volunteering or even working on these sets but from the horror stories I’ve heard I’m not sure that was a bad thing. But in Seattle you learn quickly that you either drop everything to work on free shit to build up your name or you hope that gravy train will eventually stop on your terms. It doesn’t. There are no entry level film positions in this town. No one wants to hire a producer who actually demands you add insurance to the budget. Auteurs don’t like to hear their script is unfilmable for the budget they can afford. They also don’t like to hear a plan for raising the money they need when they just want to shoot now and “gee, all I want are 50 extras, a bunch of copyrighted songs, cinematography like that last Ridley Scott feature and Jake Gyllenhaal.” They always end that with “I already know 50 people who’d do it, too.” Yeah, but see, it always sounds great until you tell those 50 people they have to get up at 6am and there’s a strong likelihood we won’t get to them till 4pm, and since you’re a cheapskate all they have are cheese and Nalley’s Beef Stew out of the can. Movies can’t get made that way. Rather, movies SHOULDN’T get made that way.
Not one to feel sorry for myself I continued to make movies here and there when time and money (usually both equally little in amount) would permit. That’s the great thing about the 48 Hour Film Project – it’s one weekend and at the end you have a finished film. Voila! If you’re smart it’s almost no out of pocket and you have one more resume piece. Anyway… I realized that while I enjoyed doing this, I wanted to make MOVIES. FILMS. Features and shorts that you could really dissect and enjoy. I knew, all too well, that the only way that would happen would be to either win the lotto or convince someone with money to give me some and cross their fingers (like I do every day). But Seattle investors are not a keen bunch. Most of the guys with money know someone who’s ponied up cash to other local projects only to see that money squandered by terrible production planning. Newsflash, learn how to control cash flow people! Don’t make your movie if you can’t even post it! Wait till you have the money… trust me, the experience is much better! I cannot think of a good reason to shoot a movie with only half your budget in place.
Then there are the producers who pay the crew a “livable” wage but in doing so have yanked cash from other areas that make a movie a movie – like post production, food, other crew, etc. My mantra is if you can’t afford to do it well, then hold up and raise the money till you can or make something else. It’s a long mantra. Like this post is becoming.
Bottom line: I’m moving to LA. Not because the industry is any easier down there, but it’s THE industry down there. Sure it ain’t easy to get a job down there but it’s next to impossible to get an entry-level job HERE and actually move up the chain unless you’re the guy with the money. Plus, the ocean. OMG the ocean! Puget Sound is not the ocean. Seeing the water, the horizon, the actual sandy beaches… wow. Yes a lot of LA, heck, most of it is full of conceited, narcissistic jerks and working in the film industry will expose me to most of that population. But it’s miles better than working a dead-end job outside the industry and not advancing.
So I’m moving to LA to work in movies. I hope to be back to Seattle with a film project in the very near future and I’ll be doing my darnedest to bring shoots up there. I’d appreciate any contacts you may have in LA and in return I’m more than happy to pass your info to folks down here if you’re looking for work. Who knows who I’ll meet?
Yikes, so that’s the uh, long of it. There’s obviously a lot more I could go on about with this topic. Maybe a later date. This blog will not die, of course, so stay tuned for A Seattle Filmmaker’s Guide to LA.
Nice rant. I agree wholeheartedly with you on all points. this goes back to my 100 Million Local Film fund that I posited a few months ago.
Regardless, I am sad that you are leaving. Having known you on the internet for a couple of years and then getting to meet you at two events in the past couple of weeks. It occured to me that you are a really nice guy and I would have loved to do some sort of collaboration. We probably would have worked out to be long time friends.
Not to say that won’t ever happen but now it becomes more problematic.
Good luck in LA and check out the stills from Fearless on my blog.
Eric
Dom IS great to work with!
I hope your trip to LA works out. I’d call it a move, but you’ll be back and with those all-important LA credentials.
Au revoir, Comrade Zook, we in the underground will miss your insights on local filmmaking. I hope you find what you are looking for down south. You leave a frightened mess here in Seattle, so void of talent that can’t make good on it’s own promise. A pool of people unable to find money locally to fund local projects that don’t get backing by local government nor the local filmmaking community proper.
Still, the US$ is on parity with CAN$. The Canadian film industry is in chaos, at war with itself with one half wanting to imitate US culture and the other half attempting to making Canadiene-style product that is so cliche’d it’s laughable.
A northern market with money but no talent looking to break into the southern market that has no money but talent.
Albeit talent that can’t tame itself.
We will continue the good fight here, comrade. All our hopes go with you southward, hope you find what you need down there. If anyone deserves a good break it is you.
We in the next generation wish you all the best, you have taught us much- Don’t trust the locals for funding, don’t trust the locals for logistical help, don’t trust the locals for anything other that a snort and a laugh.
Trust that the locals who will help you will need help themselves and in that respect it should be noted that we are all doing this on a wing and a prayer. That is what makes a great film community. One where we make the rules on our own accord. Because we don’t have a budget nor a talent pool worthy of the big boys. We work with what we got and it’s up to the guys in charge to make it work and if they can’t than in what sense do we have a film community.
I hope you bring something back from LA that the locals here can use because I, for one, am sick of the small town mentality in this big town full of talented people who can’t get past their own ego’s or ideas that need a second or third going over before commiting to public record.
We few will continue to try and try not to fail. Here, in the rainy city up north. Don’t forget us.
Because we can’t forget what we want most- “I work in film, for a living.”
Later
Hey bud you might want to lay low till the writers strike blows over. Everything is shutting down down there and anywork that may arise will be going to the unemployed union types
Dom, my friend…
Hate to do this to you… but read something interesting on John August’s blog this week:
Source: http://johnaugust.com/
Three blog readers took me up on my offer and joined the picket line at Paramount. In chatting with them about their hopes, fears and immediate plans, I formulated some on-the-fly advice about what I’d do if I were a recent college graduate hoping for a career in Hollywood.
1.
It’s not a great time to move to Los Angeles. The classic entry-level jobs — assistants and PA’s — will be hard to come by in a few weeks as production companies and agencies are forced to lay off people.
2.
If you’re already here, it might be worth looking for a generic job sooner rather than later, since things like Barnes and Noble might fill up quickly. Writers and laid-off assistants will be aiming for those same jobs.
3.
While it’s a bad time to be looking for work in the entertainment industry, election season is ramping up. Recent college graduates are always welcome on political campaigns. It’s an amazing, exhausting experience — and you could do it in any state in the country. (Thanks to Matt for this suggestion.)
4.
You’ll never meet as many writers as you can during the strike. For a change, everyone is out of their office and out of their cars. Get to know some film and TV writers and talk to them about their work. It’s especially good to talk with writers who are at the lowest rungs, to see how they got started and what the challenges are.
So… staying in Seattle?
Rich
Dom,
What kind of work are you looking for to start? Forgive my ignorance about your mad skillz, but I know next to nothing about the film industry. I do know someone who has worked as a producer for HBO and has done post production for feature films. His last gig was John from Cincinnati. Can’t make any promises on his behalf, but I can at least pass on your name.
Stacie