Film Courage: What do you think of artists who wait
for other people to teach them how to be an artist?
Sophia Cacciola, Cinematographer, Actor, Musician, Director:
I don't think you should wait for anything. I’ve always had a strong sense that I had something
to say even as a little kid. I don't know if it was because I was the youngest of four but I was
“everybody listen to me” and so I started writing songs very young so I was I can do this and I just
have always barged into situations where I want to paint or I want to draw or I want to sing and
made it happen and so when it came to any Cree I and people are always well what's the difference
between doing music or doing filming there is no difference to me creatively it's just how
I'm saying it and it's never been about I need to learn something first it's I'll learn as I go and
I think that has made it so I actually have output because if you wait around to know everything
you're never going to release anything and only once you release something do you learn what you
can do better next time and why don't you to wait I don't know if it's just I'm an impatient person
I've just never depended on anybody to show me the right way to do something yeah it's
just I'm ready to barge in always jump in feet first and and then see what the consequences are
you're a fast learner yeah okay I think fast learner says they don't to wait because they
usually grasp things fairly oh yeah yeah you only need to show me something once
and so with camera I started as an AC just for friends of mine and watch what they did
watch where they Place camera watch what lenses they used and that's how I learned how to shoot
same thing with when I got into film I got into film through music and so we worked with directors
the first couple times we wanted to do music videos and again I was in there in their notes
doing all their help in their pre-production and seeing where I could pull any help I could for
them and in that process basically learned how to do pre-production on a production and then I was
well I can't afford to hire director every time so I'm just gonna start doing it and I think that
was also part of why I don't wait around because I can't afford to hire people so it's well if I
can get a 500 camera and I can go now that I have this knowledge I'll just go do it myself
so I think that's always been part of it too it's what can I do myself to get this done
you said in the past that you charge in where sometimes maybe you don't belong or you just to
just go for it can you give us examples yeah well with film coming from music a lot of people are oh
you've got to go to film school you got to learn all this stuff and I just never felt that was for
me I'm not gonna go to school for four years before I decide if I'm gonna go do something
so it's definitely let's just go make a feature and when we made our first feature a few of our
friends that went to film School were you need to stop I just you're no good just stop now but yeah
we didn't listen to them we're okay well we'll just do another one we'll be better next time
so definitely I've gotten that kind of feedback and as a woman in the industry you always get
that kind of feedback I was AC on one thing once and I was just filling in for a couple weeks and
I overheard the DP tell the camera operator oh we'll get you a guy next time don't worry about
it and I was well what what is that about he was just so annoyed to have a woman on set with him
so definitely I don't let that stuff really get to me because I'll just go to the next set and it'll
be different hopefully but yeah definitely there's always Clicks in every industry and music and film
wherever and you gotta break in or find your own people to make your own little circle around that
you can have that kind of collaboration that's going to make something good do you think in some
ways it's good that you didn't go to film school because you weren't trained to do sort of Cookie
Cutter things you found a more interesting path yeah I think for me going back to being an artist
it's I the weirder stuff I weird lighting I not straight three section narratives I it to go to
different places and and I it to be surprising I don't want to do the same movie we've seen a
thousand times in some ways I think that makes our movies harder to gain acceptance because they are
a little bit out there the sense of humor is a little off or whatever but I think in the long
run it'll show the body of work has this immature type brain behind everything and I'm not sure if
that would have been beaten out of me if I'm oh I must do it the proper way this three-act
structure without not mixing humor with drama and stuff that I definitely it's a lot of freedom to
not knowing the right way to do it and of course you pick it up as you go along because there are
standards for a reason and how to shoot you got your wide your medium you're close that's their
there for a reason so make an edit make sense so you have to pick up a certain base level I think
but yeah maybe it's better not sometimes not to have you must do this way in these boxes
do you see everybody that that went to film School actually working in the film industry
I'm not sure yeah because I definitely know a lot of people that have gone and what I have seen for
some people it's been really good is more the connections that they've made so they all went
to this college and so they all still work on each other's projects they know who to call for
different jobs because they all came up through the same program and so I have definitely seen
that work for people but I think it is I think it's a struggle for anybody film school or not
to get into the industry and gain the experience and be on the list to be hired I think it's
any which direction you come at it it's not it's not an easy industry did someone actually say to
you don't keep making films yeah definitely we were told to stay with the music stay in our
lane stay what we know and I got a letter from that friend years later apologizing oh that's
awesome it was nice because now I'm fifth movie and I'm no you you followed your path you're good
and another one was a person that was in film school and was no it's all wrong one of those
people yeah but definitely my we went straight for music videos into a feature film so we kind
of skipped the learning on short film thing that a lot of people do and so definitely we learned
you can't have a 10 page dialogue just monologue for your end scene so our first film has that and
it was definitely very boring once we cut it we're oh God now we know keep our dialogue a little more
Snappy and so each movie we've tried to hone that a little bit more keep it moving a lot faster and
but we wouldn't have known that if we hadn't done it but it's out there and that's the thing it was
good enough to be distributed and get out there 10 years ago and so it opens it up to the criticisms
of a first time film and you've crowdfunded three times yeah yeah crowdfunding is a journey and so
for our early films we had a good Community so my partner and I were in music in Boston and we
knew hundreds of people doing music in Boston and when we transitioned to film they were very
generous yeah go make a film here's 10 bucks and so we were able to crowdfund I think it was around
20,000 first three movies each which was great we were able to rent mansions and rent locations and
pair crew interactors would which is the way you want to do it I think I never wanted to totally
rely on a lot of favors even though I have also but yeah crowdfunding is definitely difficult it's
time consuming but it does build a good Community around you and it makes people very invested in
the project in where it goes they want to see it through so and you don't have that kind of
organic Community around a film necessarily without that couple hundred people's input
and you finish the projects right yeah finished all of them that's important rewards out yeah
see so a lot yeah where does the urge to be an artist come from I think it just goes back to some
narcissistic idea that I have something to say that's a little bit different than everybody else
and just the urge to create I was saying earlier I need to be moving
I need to have my hands in something I need to be thinking about something and I think during
the pandemic not to dwell on the pandemic but where I wasn't working it was very depressing
and I just I got a dog because I was I can't deal with this not having anything to do and
and I think that kind of put into perspective because I mean I started working again and
started working on my own projects again I was happy again so I think it is partially
that I need to be creating something just for my own mental state to keep me going as a person
what do you think about artists who are more talented than you but they don't want to put
in the same amount of work because they're waiting for their work to be discovered right
well I think I mean what is the saying it's 99 perspiration creating anything I think 99 of it is
physical labor to me it's getting on set knowing all the technical stuff doing the job going into
the edit room for months and months and months it is definitely a slog and it's work and it's
very hard so if you don't have that work ethic in addition to your Genius and your talent I don't
think you're gonna get very far unless you have money to pay everybody to do all that other stuff
for you so I think if you have the talent and not the drive you need some cash laughs I that
that's good that's a good little little saying but there are people out there who are very talented
and then you see that they're just kind of they're they don't want to take certain steps they don't
want to try to make contacts I get not wanting to promote yourself especially in this day and
age where everybody wants to be a quote-unquote influencer it it kind of gets a negative rot
but they just have you seen that in people that whether they went to film school or not they seem
they're not willing to put their stuff out there but they're brilliant yeah and why they why that
is yeah I know certain friends of mine who are very talented directors and things they're just
waiting for that perfect storm of I have a good script I have the money I have producers on board
all this hurricane of things coming together for them and I just feel if you're waiting for
it to be perfect it's never gonna happen so for me we always have a ton of ideas ready to go we
have our ten thousand dollar scripts we have our million dollar scripts and it's if we can just
figure out what resources we have in that moment that's the project we do and but I have script
set in space I'll probably never be able to make but if that was my dream project then I would not
make anything so it's I have these other ideas I'm okay well it's in a house with two people
that one I can make next week if I just have the actors on board and have a location on board so
I think it's really about just diversifying where you are at you as far as what you need to get done
because yeah if you're waiting for that perfect storm it might not ever come for you do you think
it's also about being a realist oh yeah I'm very pragmatic yeah and especially with Perfection I
am definitely a perfectionist at heart but I'm a perfectionist that knows that getting to 90
is maybe okay and because that last ten percent is gonna take you way longer and way more work to get
that last 10 perfect then it got you to the 90 so if you can accept 90 you're good just release it.