Kenneth Castillo, Filmmaker/Author: One thing in my book I said one thing I kept reading
from “industry insiders” and it bothers me every time is there are three things to
success and that is be kind, be humble, and help other people succeed.
If you’re do those three things you’re going to succeed in our business and I just
think that is such bull.
Because I’m like if those are the three things, that’s what you would use to get
into the business, then your journey wasn’t very difficult.
My experience has taught me that when I’ve been kind, I get taken advantage of.
Film Courage: True.
Kenneth: When I’m humble, people don’t take me seriously as a filmmaker and when
I try and help other people they end up just using me as a stepping stone.
Film Courage: Very true.
Kenneth: I’m not saying those aren’t three things you should be in life but in this business
if you’re starting from nothing you are going to have a very hard time in this business.
But these are all people who kind of had a foot in the door you know what I mean (that
say these things)?
Film Courage: Yes.
Kenneth: And when you don’t have a foot in the door well those things will be valuable
to you maybe everyone is used to dealing with a jerk but you are already somebody and there’s
an agent’s blog that I follow but I called him out on that and he didn’t respond.
But I was just kind of like…I go your last name is a famous last name, you are the son
of a famous agent so you already have a door open to you so being those three things maybe
that disarms people and they go oh yeah, okay.
But when you’re successful already, absolutely that works because everyone goes Oh wow?
They are so kind, they are so humble and they’re helping other people.
But you are already successful, it’s easy.
You’re not going to loose anything by being that and especially if most people are used
to jerks in those positions but yeah I’m going on.
Film Courage: That’s fine but I do agree with you.
I think in life those are good rules.
Kenneth: Great rules.
Film Courage: I think in this business, if you’re going to help somebody you do it
because you want to do it but there is not…I don’t know?
Kenneth: That could be a whole other workshop.
Film Courage: And I think people who would disagree and say that’s being too negative,
I think a lot of them probably haven’t been through a lot.
Kenneth: They are naive in a negative way in terms of the business.
Film Courage: Right, if you want to do the right thing and you want to keep your word
(I think that’s great), what about in search of fairness in this business and thinking
that everyone is going to play that way?
Kenneth: Well I would say this, whatever it is that you’re doing, if you’re a writer,
an actor, a director there is the discipline and craft of doing those things and learning
those things (constantly learning) but it’s also looking and learning and paying attention
to this as a business not in the sense that it will get you jaded but to give you some
type…don’t go in naive.
It is a business.
That’s number one.
I’ve gotten into major discussions with distributors over my posters because they
weren’t artistic enough and I wanted an artistic poster and they just wanted to put
Danny Trejo on the cover because that’s what is going to sell and that’s what they
do right?
So I have to let them do what they do, they let me do what I do which is make the movie
but there is no fairness in this business, there isn’t.
And if you understand that going in then I think you can deal with it a lot better but
if you go in thinking something is going to make sense or your journey is going to make
sense or it’s going to be fair or the outcome is going to be fair you’re going to have
a very difficult time because there is nothing fair.
I know actors that here and have been at it for 40 years and have never been a series
regular.
I have actors who’ve come out here and have been out here 10 years and are series regulars.
Is that fair?
No, but that’s just the nature of the business.
It attracts a lot of different people from all over the world that all have something
to say and that can actually be an empowering thing because to me there is no one way to
get in.
If you took a panel of five filmmakers they would each…let’s say five very successful
filmmakers, each of them would have a different way of how they got in.
I don’t think there are two stories that are the same of how people succeed in this
business.
You just have to find what your story is and commit to your journey and try not to make
it like anybody else.
But go in there with the understanding how the business works to the best of your ability
and unfortunately a lot of that experience comes through failure and so you have to look
at it that way.
I always say the more no’s I get, it gets me closer to a yes.
That’s a pretty true statement.
There are some emails I sent out that were that were not worded right when I reached
out to the show runner and it got back to me and I’m like you know what, I probably
could have worded that better.
But that’s a learning thing.
I didn’t look at it as a negative.
I looked at it as well maybe I should have asked for that or maybe I shouldn’t have
worded it that way or maybe I should have reached out directly to that person but I
don’t know that there is any short of just being a complete douche bag in this business
I don’t know if that any little mistakes that you’re going to make that are going
to be so detrimental to your career.
I’ve made a ton.
It hasn’t kept me from producing, writing and directing because it’s so democratized
now.
Now you can shoot one on your phone and you can learn how to shoot one on your phone,
you know what I mean?
So it’s like you don’t know how?
You can look it up.
How do I make a movie?
How do I make a short film?
So you have to be constantly reading and researching and you got to love it, even the warts.
Because if you don’t it will just eat you.
I’ve seen it happen to people and it’s not to good people because they were so eaten
alive by the fact that it’s not fair, this isn’t fair.
I did all of this work and I sacrificed so much.
This isn’t fair!
Why did their movie get here and my movie didn’t?
Film Courage: So if someone is in that loop, it’s late at night, it’s early morning
- they are waking up and are like “This isn’t fair but if I stop I don’t get to
do X, Y or Z.
I may not get a [festival] laurel and I may not get this publication to pick me as their
new top 25 for the website but…”
Kenneth: That’s funny because I’m not that guy.
I’ve never been that guy who got on a top 25 list.
I’m not the guy who is a film festival guy, but I am the guy who has written and directed
several feature films.
That’s the guy I want to be.
So those are goals and interesting goals but if you have a short film and you’re going
all over the world like a friend of mine is a filmmaker who went to film school, had an
award-winning short, decided he wanted to go to AFI because he thought he would make
more connections that way.
I go “You already know how to make a movie.
Why are you going to go spend $100,000 on AFI?”
And I’m like “That’s no guarantee man.
Yeah, you will meet some people but don’t you think everybody is going for that reason?”
And I just go make something.
How much money did you spend going all over the world with your films?
You’ve already won a ton of awards oh yeah but you didn’t get the next project.
I go I would have taken all of that money and made something with it.
It depends on what your priority is.
I think if you’re ego driven, maybe that’s what drive you?
I don’t know?
I’m just not that person.
I’m driven by storytelling pure and simple.
I’m not a multi-hyphenate either, I say writer/director so people have some type of
perspective for what I do but essentially I just see myself as a storyteller and I’m
using the tools that I have at my disposal to tell the stories that I want to tell and
that’s what drives me.
None of the other stuff does.
All the other stuff would be great.
You know my very simple goal is to just make a living as a writer/director.
That doesn’t just necessarily mean going to Sundance.
That doesn’t necessarily mean being rich and successful.
It just means making a living as a writer/director.
That’s an attainable goal.
Everything else if that happens that’s all gravy but an attainable goal for me is that
and your first time out you are expecting look around, pay attention.
I’m looking at the hardest thing with Marigold the Matador [Kenneth’s feature film from
2018] was I was making an undistributable and I knew it.
It wasn’t my first film, it was my seventh and I knew it was undistributable and having
to keep going because the itch would not go away on telling this story was very difficult.
Whereas if I had a naivety of a first time filmmaker I would have plowed right through
that right?
Because I am making my first film but I’m making my seventh and I am broke and I am
going “Why am I doing this?”
It’s just something that I have to do.
Film Courage: Why was it undistributable?
Kenneth: For many reasons.
Just going from off of my experience it’s about a single woman, there’s a homeless
character and he’s schizophrenic and it’s like a coming-of-age story of this young girl,
it’s an all latin cast.
It takes place in Los Angeles in what I call “The Real LA.”
There are no stars in it.
Camila Banus is in it.
She’s an amazing actor.
She’s on Days of Our Lives and she’s do good.
She was so gracious to be a part of that project.
That was my second time working with her.
Knowing the experience I had and what distributors say I just didn’t feel like it was going
to find a buyer, at least not right now?
Maybe later down the line they will be, we will see.
When Alfonso Cuarón’s movie Roma came out I thought it’s very much shot in that vein,
not to that brilliance obviously but it was a great movie about a story about a woman
who wasn’t a star and everything else and it did pretty well I think so who knows?
But again I don’t have the machine behind me so I just have to sit and wait on that.
Question for the Viewers:
What are your key takeaways from this video segment?