Rory Karpf, Filmmaker: First of all I could just see when I opened the text that it was just coming
through multiple texts and the first thing said “Rory, I'm going to be brutally honest.”
Film Courage: What's the difference between a great story and a mediocre story?
Rory: The way it's told is the difference between a great story and a mediocre story,
everyone has a story, everybody. Everybody has a story, people that you think maybe
are inherently boring…Well why, why are they that way? For instance I don't know, did you see the
movie Everything Everywhere All At Once? The Jamie Lee Curtis character, she's an accountant
and on the surface incredibly boring but becomes very interesting so it's all about how you tell
the story and I I'd heard a criticism of myself once saying he doesn't have a directing style and
to me I try to whatever is services the story best I'm willing to do so in my documentaries
I've had animation I've had recreations I've had narration I've had no narration I've had vérité
I've had anything you can do I'm willing to do because I think every story is different for the
History Channel film I mentioned that we were gonna do Recreations and right away red flags
at History Channel they're thinking it's The E True Hollywood Story recreations and I'm saying
no they're going to be abstract they're going to be shot really well so I actually did a test to
show them we went out and just did it for one act of the the movie it was a two-hour movie and just
to show them what it'd be and then it kind of put them at ease of how this was going to be so
I don't think there's any mediocre stories just mediocre storytellers
when someone gave you that note did they do it to you directly or did they did you
hear it secondhand from someone no they do it directly yeah they're very direct and
one thing that I try to do too in my relationships with people or clients but also in the way I tell
stories is using humor because humor diffuses tension quite a bit it also brings people's
defenses down so when some so I find if I can joke and and keep things light it's usually good and if
you can do that in your documentary your film too they say you make them laugh and you make them cry
so if you can make people laugh for instance in the Nature Boy documentary about Ric Flair
a lot of funny moments in it funny stories funny animation and I think it really brings people's
defenses down so that when you learn about his son passing away from a drug overdose it really hits
you in the gut and and I doing things that don't necessarily spell out exactly what you should
think or feel it's to me it should be music it can be interpreted in many different ways and so
I don't want to say hey this person's bad and you should feel that they're bad it should be
here's what they did and here's the plus here's the minds and what do you take away from it so in
regards to notes which I think was your question yes I try to be direct and I try to also be open
it's there is a bad quality that maybe exists more in Hollywood of passive aggressiveness where
people it's great and then you leave the room oh that's terrible just tell me it's terrible
for instance with my first scripted movie Grace Point I got I sent the first rough cut to Rob Lowe
who just asked to see it his son's in it plus he's just a very intelligent guy very seasoned smart
and I got a text back first of all I could just see when I opened the text that it was
just coming through multiple texts and the first thing said Rory I'm going to be brutally honest
and when someone says the saying I'm going to be brutally honest it's never something
positive comes after it's not Rory I'm going to be brutally honest you're a genius it's so he
was going to be brutally honest that he thinks the movie sucks and all the reasons why now he
didn't say that but he he laid it out and that's one of the things I appreciate about him is he's
direct he he didn't say yeah the movie's great and then talks trash about me or something so
I took his notes to heart after I was a little upset gave myself a day to be upset about it and
then decided I was gonna try to listen this guy maybe he knows what he's doing at first I read
him I'm oh what an idiot but now then I was wait a second this guy's done a lot more than you have
and I'm glad I listened I'm glad that I took his notes to heart
and that is much more what I would want if as long as I can respect the person that
we're going in it with the same plan to make something good now sometimes you can be on a
totally different page with someone and their motivation is not even to make something good
I did a show with Shaq Shaquille O'Neal and I got the impression the network maybe wanted
more of a reality show Keeping Up with The Kardashians kind of scripting scenes well
Jack didn't want to do that in fact he wanted to do it more a documentary so now you're having
two different worlds kind of colliding here somebody wants The Real Housewives of Beverly
Hills other person wants to do more of a vérité documentary we kind of met in the middle a little
but there you you are having some diametrically opposed views but most of the time they just want
something good and you want something good and a lot of it's subjective this is one thing I do tell
friends and other filmmakers show runners you get one battle to fight usually one so pick your
battle everything else if you want to keep working with these people you're gonna have to compromise
on but there should be one thing that you're I'm not compromising on this and and and 99 percent of
the time they'll let you have it because they appreciate you doing the rest well you said
earlier about how you don't mind friendships and work blending because it's a good idea to work
with people that you and that people that you will tell you the truth I think it's important
too when people that you don't will definitely tell you the truth how they deliver it is is also
different well a lot of times it's not not what you say but how you say it I mean think about
people who yell at somebody it's not what the information is but it's how it's being delivered
so I tried to be very sensitive about that on my film set I I watched these videos on this
fantastic YouTube channel film courage and they tell people who have been through the trenches and
it's important to see what what to do what not to do and I wanted to have a very good
atmosphere that was very important for me on my film a very good set environment people are
having a good time not not a good time they're partying or anything but that they just feel
there's a lightness to it that we're all in this together and I learned that actors are different I
had never really worked with actors in this type of environment before I've worked with him as a
narrator but this was way different and I learned different actors different different situations
and how they want to be treated I had one actor Sean Carrigan excellent actor been in a lot of
things he's a former boxer so he likes to be you tell tell me what to do coach I'll do it Hey Sean
can you cry cry doing it let's do it boom tear he's just whatever you need angry he'll do angry
sad whatever he just wants to be pleasing to the director who in his mind is a coach another actor
on the movie this guy Jim Parrack incredible actor I don't think I fully appreciated how
good of an actor until I actually saw him on the big screen his presence everything I mean
a big guy six five intimidating I'm kind of short myself I can walk under most kitchen tables I'm
a little I'm a little guy I'm five six so on a good day I'm five six so automatically I'm
looking up at him while we're talking and he as an actor will not do anything anything unless he
feels his character is motivated to do it hey you're supposed to take a drink here well I'm
not thirsty but it's written here you take a drink I'm not thirsty so right away this can
be could be a nightmare for some directors he told me his favorite actor was Robert Duvall and I said
why apparently Robert Duvall said he wants a director to just shut up and leave him alone
and I guess Francis Ford Coppola did that for him so I was hmm okay good notes to have here
so we have the scene one of my favorite scenes in the movie where Jim Parrack’s character cutter
is by a lake and he's remembering something very personal and we shot this at the magic hour when
the sun's setting it couldn't look more beautiful and he has to do this kind of emotional thing and
he said he said Rory you get you're getting one take out of this so make sure you get my master
in it now it's an independent film we're shooting with one camera on prime lenses and I wanted to do
two shots I don't want to just do one shot and I and my DP and I had this other shot besides
the close-up where we see cutter and then we see Jono and Lowe's character in the background kind
of defocus watching him and I love that shot so I said to my DP let's start with that shot my DP’s
are you sure you just said and I go really want to do that shot and he goes yeah me too so I said
let's start with that so we do that shot and it's great Jim Parrack tear down the cheek it's awesome
but I still need to do his close-up so I'm well how do I handle this should I say I'm the boss you
better do it I'm the boss well that's not gonna work with this guy that's gonna be a bad scene so
I pull them aside privately privately off to a tree off in the woods where we were filming and
he's he's how was that was that good gives me a fist bump that was awesome man now I said to him
I think I screwed something up there look you were so incredible and I'm really worried
that I didn't get it and it's a hundred percent my fault that it happened this way
and is there any way I know you are empathetic to this can you be empathetic to me give me one more
take because I'm worried that I'm gonna get back in the edit and not have what we need and I don't
know what to say I just messed up and he looks at me he's we got it don't worry don't worry he kind
of pats me on the back so he does it motivated him through pure pity on me and he even did a
better take that time he get a tear tear and I told him that story at the premiere and he was
you SOB but he was I was good so it's just how do you get what you need it's not necessarily
how you do it but do you get the result that you want so hopefully that's a good example.