Film Courage: So there is this saying in the entrepreneurial world that is “Don’t go
today.”
And I guess this means try to keep the lights on for one more day of doing this.
So why do you think so many filmmakers don’t make another film?
How do they get there first film made and then go onto their second and then their third
and then their fourth.
A lot of them it seems like don’t go past the first.
I can understand why.
They are tapped out financially, exhausted, they didn’t see it have the kind of distribution
that they wanted obviously but you can ask the same why do people [serial entrepreneurs]
keep starting companies over and over again and then go onto another one if it doesn’t
work out?
Jack Perez, Filmmaker: That’s a really good question.
I think it’s different for everybody.
I think there are people that only have one movie in them.
Or in the making of the movie they realize that that was enough, I don’t need to make
anymore movies or want to make anymore movies.
But I think most people who are genuine filmmakers, if they make a film regardless of what happens
whether it did well or it never got distribution, regardless of what happens, you are constantly
searching for the route to make the next movie whatever it is.
And so why they don’t make a second movie may just be that they don’t have the financial
means to make it independently, that perhaps maybe they’ve gone up for jobs that they
didn’t get.
I mean I’ve been up for millions of jobs that I didn’t get.
I don’t know, I have a lot of empathy for filmmakers who don’t get the next movie
made because I’ve been one of them.
Because I just know what that’s like, it’s a very painful thing to really want to work
and make something and not have the means or maybe the psychological, emotional foundation
to carry forward because there’s a lot of damage that gets done if it doesn’t work
out and often most of the time it doesn’t.
So there has to be something inside of you that some how pushes you over all of that
damage to make the next thing.
And I think those of us that are able to do that are lucky.
But I’m not sure.
I just know that there are a lot of people who want to make movies that don’t get a
chance.
Film Courage: Do you think they feel angry that no one appreciate their work?
Or is it just why bother?
Jack: I think it’s part of it.
I think if you put your heart and soul into something and no one cares, the tendency to
be bitter or disappointed or even broken is very likely.
It’s funny, I remember hearing something about Marlon Brando who certainly had a rich
and varied career and had no reason to complain but they said there was a dividing line in
his work.
It was everything before ONE-EYED JACKS which he directed (his only movie he ever directed)
and after ONE-EYED JACKS.
They said his personality after ONE-EYED JACKS was much more “I don’t really care.”
Because he talked about how ONE-EYED JACKS was he put everything into that movie he wanted
that movie which was the one movie he directed.
He probably wanted to direct more.
He wanted that to make a difference.
And people at the time were like “Ahhh?
ONE-EYED JACKS is whatever.”
And so he was like “Well forget this!
Forget it, I’m not going to try or do this again.”
And he only gave this much instead of this much [motions to smaller effort].
Whether that is true or not, I think it’s understandable.
You can get despondent and it’s like if you’ve been in a bad relationship maybe
if your heart has been broken, you are not going to be like “Yeah!
I’m going to fall in love again.”
You are kind of like “Yeah…maybe I will…”
But I think if you’ve been hurt, you are going to stop.
I know that SEARCH & RESCUE [Jack’s recent successful crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo]
has taken many years for me to get to this point.
Even though I’ve been super lucky to have been able to work on a lot of different projects
over the years, I hesitated putting this into play because I knew I had to do it myself.
That I had to do it in an unorthodox manner that it wasn’t all something that was going
to all just be set up.
I knew I had to do everything and that in and of itself is like once you start to pile
up.
All of the stuff you have to do, that in and of itself can stop you.
So yes, I think filmmaking (like any art) is populated by a lot of sensitive people
because to do anything good you have to have a degree of sensitivity.
But that also makes you vulnerable to the…to what happens in the real world when things
don’t go your way.
And maybe those people feel it a little more strongly and don’t bounce back as readily,
maybe?
Film Courage: You talked about dating and relationships it reminds me of going on a
date and it’s like yeah I’ll have coffee with this person and it’s just like whatever.
And the person that you really like it’s “I…I can’t…I won’t even be able
to speak.”
And those are the projects you want to work on but you’re afraid.
Jack: Because what if it doesn’t work out?
It’s almost like “What if the movie breaks up with me?”
That’s really what it is.
It’s like I’m going to put my everything into this and what if the movie dumps me?
Which is funny, I never thought about it in those terms but all you have to do is look
at Terry Gilliam and he’s said some really interesting things lately.
Obviously LOST IN LA MANCHA is the easiest way of representing the idea of going after
something with everything that you’ve got and then just to be smited when everything
goes wrong and the movie doesn’t happen.
So that experience is something that all filmmakers who have been doing it for years know that
they have gotten this close or they’ve (in this case) were actually shooting [the movie]
and it fell apart.
So the movie can break up with you and that can be devastating and that can be reason
enough not to start it, not to get into another movie relationship.
Film Courage: Sure or you can make your HEARTS OF DARKNESS [A FILMMAKERS APOCALYPSE] and
film it.
Jack: Right, exactly.
At least you get something.
Film Courage: And then you have two things…but that’s a rare instance.
Jack: Right.
I think clearly when you watch HEARTS OF DARKNESS [Francis Ford Coppola] all he wanted was for
him to fall off a pier and break his leg so he didn’t have to finish the movie.
So in that case he wanted out because he thought he was messing it up so badly.
And then it turned out that of course he wasn’t but when you see a documentary about filmmakers
going through that doubt and those fears, those are the healthiest documentaries.
There are not a lot of them but those are the ones I think are the most beneficial to
filmmakers and students because you understand that they are not just professionals and now
they are there and they couldn’t possibly have had self-doubt and they couldn’t possibly
be wracked with anxiety.
It’s like no, it doesn’t matter where you are in your career you are always (if
it matters) feeling those feelings.
And sometimes those feelings can be overpowering.
You have to be able to harness that and use that energy in some other way to get it done
but yes we all feel those pressures and anxieties no matter where you are, at whatever stage
you are at.
Film Courage: It’s kind of like Jim Carrey with the Netflix documentary and forgive me
I’m drawing a blank on the name [JIM & ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND - FEATURING A VERY SPECIAL,
CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATED MENTION OF TONY CLIFTON, he was willing to show various [emotional]
things and a lot of people aren’t willing to go there and I understand why and not everybody
is at the level that Jim Carrey is at.
I think once you get to a certain level, then you can show all of that?
Jack: That’s true.
Or people are afraid of exposing that for fear of losing what you have if people see
that vulnerability or humanness that some how contributes to people taking that away
which you’ve striven for for so many years.
But yes, I think those are the healthiest documentaries for any filmmaker to see.