Film Courage: What do you love most about being on a movie set?
James Cullen Bressack, Filmmaker: I mean I love being able to
have conversations with people that are all working towards the same goal
and I’ve kind of started to figure out my method of directing has kind of changed over the years I
used to always think that I had the best ideas and I had to everybody had to listen to exactly what
I think and then I started to go oh my goodness I have all these really smart people around me
that are brilliant and have invested their time in this in this vision as well
what I really should do is shape other people's ideas what I mean so what I started to do
is it's much more collaborative so I have conversations in more broad strokes with people
than see what they bring back to me and then I start shaping it from there and so I think it's
much more collaborative in that sense because I feel a good director doesn't have to have
the best ideas they just have to recognize good ones and so what I've started to do is I start to
direct people to to shape it towards something that's more what I envisioned but while still
bringing in what they brought to the table because people come in
and they go I got this bag of tools I could do this I could do this and actors whatever
and you can can you can do that I mean when I was working with mel on this last movie mel
saw the character much funnier than it was written and and and I really loved
that idea and then him and I kind of started shaping that character together and I think
a lot of that when people bring ideas to the table that work for the overall story or or the overall
look of the film it's really great to be able to collaborate with them so I think my favorite thing
about a film set is just having collaboration with the people that I'm working with
what is day one on a film set for you it's probably the most hectic day of the entire thing
I always say it's first day of school blues it's everybody's there and they're still kind of just
figuring out what their place is on set and and and you've had all this prep but how do you how
do you how do you work with these people in a pressure cooker because once you're on set it's
more pressure it's my in prep it's more ah it's this this but how do we work on set when there's
more pressure and so I would say for me I kind of to take it in more on the first day and kind of
figure out where we're at and and figure out the different personalities and how they mesh together
and then and then kind of work from there I it's not it's not it's more of a relaxed first day for
me I mean we're still trying to make our day for sure but it's more of me just fully understanding
how people are so I try to stay away from doing much harder stuff on the first day of a film
shoot so that I can kind of gauge what the actual environment is because I bet you're a really good
read of people you can you can probably walk into a room and be okay this is this and this
is this and I'm going to be over here and I try to I try to think that I try to but I who knows
who knows maybe I am maybe I'm not I try to I try to be a good read of people but it's the
one thing about making movies is you're dealing with a lot of personalities and so trying to
figure out how to manage and get along with all personalities I think is one of the
the jobs of the director because a lot of directors can be angry and this and that but
you get more flies with honey than you do with with with vinegar I mean I try to make it fun and
and joke around and be playful with with the people I work with except sometimes
I try to annoy my DP because I think it's funny but beyond that
I try to get along with everybody I mind you I love my DP but he the most of the DP’s I've worked
with are very stoic people they're very very very quiet stoic people so I've always just been oh can
I annoy them I see is it a challenge it's somewhat of a challenge but I don't I'm just being playful
it's nice they know I'm joking with them it's not I'm being mean or anything but but it's just can I
what about the last day what's that for you on set the last day is usually a rush to get
everything that you've kind of been trying to pick up and do stuff so it's one of those like
non-stop ah and then it's an adrenaline dump of oh it's over and you get the you get that oh man you
wrapped and then you you have all the actors that are saying goodbye they're hey we think
we made something great they're you know they're they're looking to you to be reassuring that hey
job well done we did it so it's I would imagine it's the same as a teacher would feel when
people are all graduating at the end of the at the end of the semester or whatever it's bye guys
good work good luck with everything keep in touch I mean I guess I don't know
i'd imagine it's that what goes through your mind when you wrap a film in your driving home sadly
it's probably thank god I can finally sleep to be honest I think it starts to really come together
a week after if that makes sense and I start to go wow this is really cool yeah we did this it's that
but I mean a lot of the time it's just oh man finally sleep okay so so maybe then I should say
let's say a week after and you don't have anything booked which has probably not been the case for a
long time with you seem you're very busy but let's just suppose you have a little bit of downtime so
once the the fog clears and you're actually on a normal sleeping pattern what what goes through
your mind about the film I mean that's that's hard too because I'm super involved in post so it's
more so just I'm okay I can't wait to see this edit and I start asking the editor who's already
looking at the footage hey what did you did you see this what are you thinking have you read the
script let's start talking I already started talking to the composer I don't stop if that
makes sense so I stay in that world and I try to get all my thoughts going before I lose the vibe
of what I had from when I was on set so I don't know I don't it's hard I wish I had a a better
thing I mean but it's more just okay we got to keep pushing this thing to the finish line
a lot of people have the their job ends when the movie wraps but I spend the next five six seven
eight months maybe sometimes to a year working on this thing non-stop so I that so so keeping in
the same headspace the same vibe that you were on set and then taking that out there into the edit
room yeah trying to there's the movie that we make before we start filming it there's the movie that
we make when we're filming it and there's the movie that we make after we're done filming it
and so before I have all these plans and ideas and this then there's the execution where you're okay
maybe 75 percent of that I was able to do and then there's the there's the there's
the post-production phase where you're okay well this is what I meant to do and you got
to remember okay maybe there was the shot that you shot that was gonna count as a twofer because
you swing down and swing back up and you can but that's something that maybe it's written down by
the scripty maybe it isn't maybe you were moving too fast to say it so you're trying to remember
exactly how you shot this footage and you're okay the the way I shoot footage a lot of the time also
is I a lot of coverage and certain things I do that have to cut to another thing so I'm okay I
want my editor to really know what I was thinking and how I was shooting it luckily the editor of
my newest movies edited two of my movies back to back and now this is the third movie so
he already probably looks at this footage and goes oh I know exactly what he was thinking
because he's dealt with me twice what about the fourth which would be the audience's reaction
the audience's reaction I always hope that the audience is gonna the movie and and I definitely
get excited about promoting the movie to the audience and and excited about talking about
it and and doing the interviews to talk about the film and and I'm always very grateful when people
the movie and they reach out and the whole thing is is is moving towards the audience and that's
probably the scariest part of filmmaking because it's you put a year of your life into something
and somebody could just look at it and just be yeah it's boring and it's this you put a year
of your life into something and it's people just don't it for whatever reason maybe they
had a bad day maybe they had this maybe they had that so for me that's probably the scariest part
so I probably try not to think about that but you strike me as the kind of person that even
though you don't want to just make somebody mad that you're going to do what you're going to
do regardless I try to make what I believe is going to be the best movie possible and
my movies aren't always for everyone but I hope that the people that they are for will enjoy them
do you actively read reviews I read all of them yeah I read all of them a lot of people say that
they shouldn't that you shouldn't but I read all of them because my dad used to read me my
bad reviews he would call me and read me my bad reviews on my movies and we would laugh and he
would say no no don't laugh if you saw he would say if you see five reviews saying the same thing
maybe that's something you can fix for the next one if you have so there's some stuff that's one
way or another way but I'm okay well if all of these people say the second act is super slow
maybe I should have paced that up so maybe I can in the future kind of be cognizant of that
and keep that in the back of my mind so that we have a little bit more stuff to break that up I
mean I'm still learning and growing I'm not I'm 29 I'm still young so I'm still finding
my style and voice as a filmmaker and I think a lot of that is is learning and growing and
and testing stuff and and seeing what works and what doesn't and and and I'm trying to develop
as a filmmaker and learn from everything that I do so I think it's important to look at the
the negative reviews even though sometimes they sting and also I maybe to desensitize
me from people being ah that sucked why so when he would do that in the beginning would you say stop
or did you welcome it because you realized there was he was trying to help you in some way
I mean my dad had a way of saying things that no matter how he said it they were always funny
so and I would always tell him to stop whatever he was doing because
it was incredibly annoying but also funny so probably told him to stop probably didn't listen
my dad was my dad was just a big he was a character he was a living cartoon character
wow that's interesting though I mean that's a good lesson on on being not not just learning
that okay the second act was this or that but also being desensitized because there's so many reasons
that someone's going to say what they're going to say yeah there's not just they're trying to
help you there's different agendas for sure for sure so I mean that's and the thing that my dad
always said about this business is you got to have thick skin and I think it's more true more
now than ever because anybody can make a comment about anything now it's you you a trailer goes up
for one of your movies there's a thousand comments on it within hours nowadays and so it's you gotta
you gotta get thick skin and you gotta hope that the people that do your stuff your stuff
and the people that don't hopefully they'll the next one is it hard to let the good comments in
if you have thick skin if you've been okay all right yeah they didn't it yeah
we got this I totally love the good comments people that my movies I'm for me I mean I'm I
would say maybe it depends I've said a few times don't watch my early movies right I've had people
say hey I love your earlier movies I'm jesus they must not good like oh man why do you that movie
but I definitely appreciate the the good comments I mean I think a lot of people forget when they're
commenting on things and saying things that 100 people 200 people worked on this thing
and the person who made it spent a year a year and a half working on it poured their
they did the best they could they poured their heart into it I think people forget that sometimes
and so I it's very it means a lot to me when people say they
the stuff that I do it's part of what keeps me wanting to do stuff is the the few people that
have really really reached out and said that they really it I think that's kind of artists
we're all sensitive people it's so being able to be told that something connected
with somebody and it resonates with them is is special it makes it all feel worth it.
What do you think makes a great story?