Courtney Miller, Filmmaker/Producer/Author/Editor: We watch a lot of Tarantino, we watch a lot of
Spielberg. So what happens is that people try to copy or Aaron Sorkin as a writer.
Film Courage: What was your strategy for becoming a director? Was it just an idea in your head or
you had a very specific plan as you did when you said I want to dance with Michael Jackson.
Courtney: I learned this actually from the corporate world
creating smart goals. Have you heard that term before (smart goals)?
Film Courage: No, I like it.
Courtney: Specific Measurable Actionable Realistic and Time-bound okay so basically what that means
is that you know you have this really big goal at the end of the of the rainbow but
in order to get there you need small little goals to get there and so for me what that look like is
okay I need if I want to be a director I need to learn how to direct but nobody's going to
hire you fresh out of college as a director so it's probably good if I learn how to write
so let me know how to write and then from the writing I’ll use my writing skills to direct
what I wrote now I need something that's going to be a really good calling card something that
I need a short film that nobody else could be able to you know would be able to make other than me
oh I'm a core a choreographer so why don't I make something that actually is kind of like Hamilton
but you know I'm doing it you know in this college campus here so if they had access to red cameras
the really cool thing about the group that was I was in class with there's about 50 of us
and the way they would work is the teacher great teacher amazing guy Charlie Myers.
He now teaches at Chapman University but at the time that Saddleback College so the way it works
is anybody that wants to direct something you go to the front of the class and you pitch your idea
and then the people will vote with their feet if you can crew up based upon your
idea then you can get your your project made so I went up there and explained what I want to do
and initially it was nothing about the musical it was some other you know thing
that it wasn't me and so my teacher was like hey you spent all this time choreographing why don't
you do something that actually showcases your skills and I'm like you know what you're right
so then on the spot I made up an idea for this short film and everyone in the class was like I
want in on that I had no idea how I was going to make it but I went ahead and pitched it
and it's kind of ambitious I mean it takes it's a musical it's a 14-minute musical takes place over
three different time periods the end of slavery the end of segregation of the 1960s and when Obama
gets elected and so we literally go through three different time periods and it's going to highlight
this man named Isaac who's looking for work in America and it shows how America changes over
time but the issues that he was dealing with as a slave and as a man of the 1960s and in the 1980s
I'm sorry when Obama gets elected he was still dealing with and we had three songs original
music we had choreography and that was crazy but we did it and so the plan was to be a director and
I got a chance to direct my short film because I took those small steps by learning how to write
learning how to direct learning grips learning how to edit movies so I learned all this while I was
in school and that helped me to get to that point of making the short film now for anybody that's
out there that is looking to get representation as a director your short film is your business card
so you want to make it as distinctive as distinctive and as unique as you can put
yourself into it because nobody else can make the movie that I wrote because you had to have that
background in order to do what I just did and so as a result of that that's what got me my managers
and then that's what got me my agent and that's what got me the job you know to to write the
Christmas movie so I would say if anybody is looking to to you know give representation
yeah write something that is that is close to you intimate to you that only you could write
telling it from a story from only a place that you could write from and that's what will help
to make you different than any other director out there and that's why people will actually
gravitate towards you and what was the name of the short film reparations okay and you made
that a Saddleback Community College wow and if if anybody will have the link below this
but I mean you also have a beautiful use of like color in all of your projects I notice you do have
an interesting like palette that you work with and when people saw that what do they tell you
did they tell you keep going you should submit this you should use this as your business card
yeah so when I made it I you know put into film festivals it did very well
and then shortly after that I is when I got my manager my managers after that so we kind of it
kind of just snowballed from one thing to the next so you said managers yes managers because
they are a team they work together so you get one to get the other they both own the company
they work together and everything it's kind of a nice situation because it's a black woman
and a caucasian male so it's great because I get two different perspectives because they have two
different backgrounds from two different unique places and so when I write my projects a lot of
my projects actually have female leads I don't know why that is just the way it is it could be
part of it could be business-wise I mean that's what a lot of people are looking for these days
so it's nice to get notes from her because she's coming at it from that point of view and then
he's coming at it from a different point of view and so it's when I get my notes I'm getting this
full well-rounded like almost four-quadrant kind of thing in regard in regards to you know what
is going to work what's how the scene is going to work or what's going to sell so I like that
I have two managers I just you know the company I'm with they just happen to have two managers so
I was lucky enough to have them very cool it's like having two twin sisters yeah that's true
very good what stops most people from finding an agent or manager what stops most people from from
finding an agent or a manager I think the biggest thing well I guess it just depends
on what we're talking about here we're talking about a writer or we're talking about a director
I can give you definitely from the director's point of view it's hard because because I do both
like to me it's not like I got one as a writer one as a director I'm like because I'm a package deal
I got them both but you know the thing is going back to the idea of having a piece of work whether
it's writing or directing that is unique to you that's what it is it's like because of the fact
that we we watch a lot of Tarantino we watch a lot of Spielberg so what happens is that people
try to copy or Aaron Sorkin like as a writer we try to copy that person's work and so when we give
these samples of our work it's not original it feels like a knockoff of these other people so
what's what what a lot of managers are looking for they're looking for people that have unique voices
it's Hollywood everything is packaged so great so here's my example when they send my short film
now that I have a real they see my reel of my work of all the different tv shows and movies
there's a story behind who Courtney is and your managers your agents are going to want to
have something that's able to tell the story so in my story you know I'm this kid from
Compton [California] I choreographed from Michael Jackson you know I have a dance background you
know musicals I mean I'm a writer director like that's a nice story that you can sell to networks
and networks want stories your manager is the same way they need to find a way to make you feel
different than all these other people that are out there there's so many writers there's so
many directors out there so what what's keeping a lot of people from getting a manager or an agent
is the fact that that they haven't figured out what their story is and and the project
that they're writing or the project that they've directed as a short film is not
different enough to separate from other people that are doing something similar some if if they
were to write something that's specific to them you know that would be a huge help because now
I can I can tell that story you know he or she came from you know mexico he or she you know came
from a strong Catholic background or whatever whatever the situation is in their own personal
experience that's what's going to make you easier to sell to a manager sure do you think a lot of
people start looking for an agent or manager and they don't have a lot of life experience
and maybe that I mean maybe that doesn't factor I don't know yeah I think I think some people who
are looking for managers or agents don't have life experiences and you know that means you
need to go out and experience life but even that being the case like if you're 19 18 you don't have
a lot of life experience but you have a family you have you have a legacy within your family
that you can that you can kind of draw from every single one of us have something really unique and
different about our families and the way we grew up that we can draw from and sometimes you kind
of have to put a light on that and folks don't know how to do that they know how to write they
know a structure of a script but they don't know how to tell their own story and that's the issue
until you're able to do that you're not different than any of these other writers
and if that be the case then there's no way that they're going to be able to market you and make
money off of you as a writer without something that's special unique about yourself did you
realize that about yourself at an early age that there was something unique or did it take time
yeah I never even thought about me being unique or different I didn't think about that at all and I
the only time I started thinking about that was when I started writing and directing because I
was saying to myself why would a person hire a 40 year old writer a 40 year old director
what is different about me what do I offer that a lot of other people don't have
and that's another reason why I wanted to learn how to write was because as I mentioned there are
some really amazing directors who are former choreographers so you know whether it's the
other people that I mentioned before the one thing that they can do that I can do is they can't write
and I knew I needed to have something different like why would you hire
me over Kenny Ortega Kenny Ortega has a lot you know he did high school musical like he's huge
so what what is what what do I have that Kenny doesn't have oh I can write and I can direct
so again I'm trying to find again that probably is the competitiveness in me trying to find a
way to separate myself from these other gentlemen who I look up to who I love their work but it's
like no I can do something that they can't do so when you hire me you're getting this package deal
plus I can choreograph plus I've choreographed for the biggest people in the world so yeah I needed
something that you know with my own story my own spin why you think two I mean not to get too
personal forgive me but you were a young father and the pressures that put on you yeah and to
balance all of this I I'm not a parent so I don't know what that's like but I would imagine that's
really tough so you're doing all of this and you're a parent yeah that's a very good point the
fact that I was married at a young age the fact that I was a young father you know and I needed to
do what I needed to do to take care of my family in a legal way that definitely gave me some
life experience that I could draw from so even if I was and here's the thing though it's like even
at the age of 20 I was still dancing I wasn't even thinking about writing or directing but let's say
I had I had that that that that goal like man it would have been amazing to be able to write
back then because I was coming from a different point of view you're right the idea of living life
for the good and for the bad the wins and the losses all of that is nice rich information
that you can use and you can put into your your scripts with characters that have lived life
that's one thing that's it's tough when you're 18, 19, 20 years old you haven't lived life so
the characters that you're right I mean it was very common and it's still common today when when
people that around that age write a movie a short film a lot of the movies and short
films if you're 18-19 years of age is about people that are smoking weed and are high
because that's that that's the reality that's their life but it's like okay we've seen that
before like this what's special about that nothing and that's why and that's why you have to
like if you are that young in your writing and directing look at look at life through
other lenses you know look at your family look at your think about your uncle or your auntie
what they've gone through and you can pull from that even if you haven't experienced it yourself
there's people that you can talk to and draw experiences from and I think even within your own
family that that's possible even if you don't have a lot of life experiences yourself but yeah the
fact that I was a young kid and had a family that helped me a big time regarding life experiences.
How do you get an agent?