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An Interview with Filmmaker Greg Morgan (Part II)
by Tony Farinella
This is the second part of MatchFlick columnist Tony Farinella's interview with indie film director Greg Morgan, writer and director of the upcoming film, The Substance of Things Hoped For.
You can read Part I here.
You can read Part III here.
TF: Tell us about some of your early work Greg?
GM: Okay. My early work started with 17 & UNDER. It's a drama about a
17-year-old
gang member that had been sentenced to live with a family that had
lost their son to a violent crime. It sounds complicated, but it's
kind of like a fictitious governmental program that assigns these youth
offenders to see the aftermath of what their crime was. Of course, the
kid didn't kill anybody in the associated family. It's an arbitrarily chosen
family that lost their child to
crime in some other way. We cast and did
everything ourselves in our own place. We begged, pleaded, and got all
the people to work on the film. It did pretty well.
It sold I think 25,000 videos and for a small budget film, that's pretty
good.
A scene from Morgan's upcoming film, THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR |
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My second film was the PLAYAZ COURT. It was produced by a guy named Britton
Hein
and he hired me to direct it. Britton also helped me associate produce
my first film and he knew I could do the job for his. So he hired me and
said
we were going to take the film around to film festivals around the country.
Unfortunately, it
was picked up almost immediately by a company called ARTISAN, which is a
pretty big company. It was kinda a bummer to me, since I love the film
festival circuit. But it was the top selling DVD for the first half of
it's release year and that was against much bigger theatrical films.
So it did very well, for a tiny, little movie and it's also been shown on
cable. Actually, it's still shown on cable and I
occasionally run across it. So it did pretty well for itself. After that, I
was
hired to produce a couple other films. I helped produce a film entitled SOFT
TOILET SEATS,
which got a theatrical release. I did another comedy called PARTY ANIMALZ.
Which was kind
of a Latino version of the movie HOUSE PARTY. I also co-write the
script on that. My wife, Jeanne, came up with the idea, and I co-write it
with
another writer, but I felt it was getting a bit too cheeky, for lack of
a better word. I thought this is probably not the kind of movie I want to
direct, so I ended up selling it to Barnholtz Entertainment, but my contract
with my writer was that he was going to get sole credit
to write, and because I was going to direct when I signed the contract with
him, I didn't care, so I ended up getting a co producer credit and the money
for the
script.
Then I did another one called MONKEY LOVE, which I believe is out now.
It was disturbed nationally on VIDEO and DVD. It's with Jeremy Renner,
who was in a bunch of stuff. He's an up and coming actor.
It was shot on mini DV. It's done pretty well for
itself. After I was done producing that, I moved
on to my newest feature, THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR. I
started writing and making that. Right now I'm actually just
finishing music on this it, right now. I'll probably be submitting it
to film festivals within a month.
TF: Being a first time director, during your early work, how intimating
was it?
GM: *pauses* Wow, that's a pretty good question. Since I been making
films since I was 11, I had this strange inner voice in myself that I
could do it. Although, that first film was very hard and I learned a
lot. I just have this ability to command a group of people to make a
film. Maybe because I believe in myself so much. I can see that in
other parts of my life, I would probably be much more timid. I kind of
just fell into it. I hear a lot of people say that when I'm on the set
I really know what I'm doing and control my set. Although when I do
control it, I do have a good time and my crew on the last two films
have said that they really enjoyed working on the set with me. So I'm
not a bastard on the set.(laughs) I'm pretty good to get along with. I know
what I'm doing and I know what I want. So I guess with my first film I
commanded it pretty well and was able to finish the film. So many filmmakers
go onto to make their first films and they don't finish it. Do
half of it then need to raise more money. I've worked on other
films at different positions, so I knew what I had
to do to get this film done in 18 days. So I guess that's the answer to
your question. I think I can control it, I'm good at it and I know it.
TF: Were the actors helpful to you, or were they also first time people,
so everyone was in it fresh?
GM: Half and half. My director of photography, had done many movies. So
he knew he was working with a first time director. He helped me out
considerably. His name is Dave Porfiri and he's
gone onto to become a film professor at a school in the northeast.
There were a lot of people who had done one or two films.
Several of the actors in the film had some experience, but mostly in
short films.
TF: As we sit here today, doing this interview, looking back on your
early work, are you satisfied with it?
GM: Another great question! You're hitting some good ones.
TF: Thank you.
GM: For my latest film, SUBSTANCE, I look back on it and I love it. I think
it's a great film. For my first film and I look back on it and I
cringe. I see my errors. I see my errors and I say I should have done
this, I should have done that. Even though maybe it was the best I
could have done with the experience and budget at that time. With my second
film,
I think I really did a good job for what it was. For it's genre, and
for it's screenplay. But honestly, I didn't write the script, and I
didn't produce the feature. It's not the type of film I would take as
my own. Whereas, my new film, I actually co-wrote the script with
another writer from an idea I had. With
my third film I can say I'm really coming into my own.
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A scene from Morgan's upcoming film, THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR |
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TF: Say you were able to go back in time and change some things with
your film, what would you do differently?
GM: Oh gosh, about a thousand things differently. It's even hard to pin
point one. I could definitely say, there's some acting in the first
film I look back on and say, Wow, that was stiff." I would have chose
different actors. Not all, some of them were great. But I would have
changed some and got one or two names in it. Because now I realize, the
business side of filmmaking and you really have to have that. There's
probably countless things if I would watch it again, but I can't watch my
films again.
TF: How were your films received?
GM: With my first film, it did really well at the film festivals. Then
it got picked up, so a lot of people saw it. Then you read comments
about it on the Internet. And half of the people loved it and half of
them hated it.
TF: I'll be on IMDB.com and read the comments, and there is really no
middle ground. It has a lot of supporters and a lot of nay sayers. No
in between.
GM: Exactly, Tony. Exactly. There seems to be more people that will
comment about it negatively than positively. Same thing with my second
film. Although it got reviewed a couple of times and the reviews were
positive. But on the Internet a lot of people hated it. Just hated
it. That's funny to me.
TF: How can people see your early work, if they are interested in doing
so?
GM: 17 & UNDER can still be purchased on Amazon.com, but it's not
in many Blockbusters anymore. Some still have it, if you request it. PLAYAZ
COURT is still at some Blockbusters, it's still on cable and definitely
still for sale, it was an Artisan film. You can buy it pretty much
anywhere, Netflix, Amazon, you name it. 17 & UNDER is pretty hard to
come by. My other films that I produced are also easy to find. Video
stores and on line stores. Soon, I'll be self distributing 17& Under for
purchase on the web.
TF: Moving onto to your latest film, THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR,
tell us about that?
GM: It's my passion. It came from an idea I had and I had written about 20
pages and stopped for a while, then I pitched it to a friend of mine, who
did screenplays and is a
very talented poet. I thought, well, this is a very artistic film, I'll
pass it his way. His name is Duke Addleman. Both of us passed it back
and forth to each other while writing it. It became this story that
took on a life of it's own. From there, I said, you know what, we can
make this low budget. Both of us pitched it to some studios first. I think
it's a little too artistic for some studios taste. So we tried to raise
the money and I was able to. I went back to some investors from my first
films and they invested in it and then I found some other investors and
boom, we started shooting it in September. We found some extremely
talented actors. Vanessa Lengies whose in the movies STICK IT and
WAITING. We found Ray Wise, whose in the movie GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK
and now 24. We found Shannon Cochrane, who was in the movie, THE RING
amongst many others.
Such a wonderfully talented cast. I have never
really worked with this level of talent before. All of it turned out
great. In December, I started editing. I love to edit, to me, it's like
a second chance to direct. I started cutting the film and the sound and
right now finishing music on it. Like I said, I hope to be done in about
a month.
A scene from Morgan's upcoming film, THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR |
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TF: How did inspiration for the film come about?
GM: It strangely came about when I was
in Las Vegas. I was at the Mirage Casion and they have a pool of dolphins
there. I was looking through this window and I saw this little video
camera shooting these dolphins. The beginning of the story really came
about through science. If you can somehow translate the images of the
video camera, which is 30 frames per second, and put that into a
computer somehow. Somehow match up each frame of what the dolphin is
doing with the sound it's making at that particular time.
It sounds really weird, but I bet a computer, over years of data, could
actually analyze that and come up with a way to decipher dolphin
language. A way to decipher language was the beginning of the story. Yet
the story took on a life it's own as I said and turned out to barely have
anything to
do with that. The science become a complete back story to the film and
really
becasme a story about this girl and her dilemma in life.
Her dilemma is she's pregnant and schizophrenic and what does she do
about that? Take the drugs and abort the fetus within her? Or not take
the drugs and go slowly insane. So that really is what the story is
about and the dolphins became a back story and became what her father's
profession was. She has to seek out her father to make her decision. So
that's where the story came about. It took a completely different road.
TF: How did you go about getting the film made?
GM: Since I know what I'm doing at this point, finally, I was able to
raise the funding through old and new investors and some companies. With
that money in the bank, it's just a matter of producing. I know what
I'm doing there and getting all the cast and crew. Figuring out how can
we shoot this, can we shoot it at this location. Location is a big
problem with low budget filmmaking. There should be very few of them. You
should have no more than three at the most. It's just a lot of planning.
It's just you, working
on it with the help of a couple of other people. I had me, Jeanne, Duke, and
that's it.
We had to find locations and beg and plead. It
takes a long time, but if you really put your pre production into it,
you can really make your shoot go well.
TF: How long did it take to make the film and what was the film making
process like?
GM: 18 days and the filmmaking process was remarkably smooth.
Everything really flowed well. The crew was just wonderful. The cast as
well. These are pretty well known actors in their field and we had one
little honey wagon, which is a tiny dressing room, and that's all they
had. A lot of times wouldn't even go in there, they would just
hang out with everybody on set. It was like a big family, it was really
great. Only one day, we had some problems with the camera, which set us
back a couple of days. Luckily, with a great crew, we were able to
catch up and get ahead of schedule at the end.
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A scene from Morgan's upcoming film, THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR |
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TF: How do you convince name actors to be a part of an Indy film?
GM: Great question and what it is, is simply the script. It really comes
down
to that. In a couple of other cases, it came down to both the script
and me. Because they loved the script and then they want to
know if this director knows what he is doing. In my case, luckily, they
checked out my previous films and they said, "Okay, he knows what he is
doing.". They would not risk their career on a trashy script. To any
future filmmakers out there, write and write a lot. I don't care if the
first scripts are terrible, toss 'em. Just keep writing until you write
one that people love. But don't be scared of throwing it away.
TF: I'm sure these actors get a lot of scripts, how do you get it into
their hands?
GM: I lucked out this time since I was able to
get a casting director involved. Another way is to find a low budget
producer to help you
produce the script. Let me just go through some of the ways ...
You can get a casting director like I did, I got Geno Havens, who had done a
ton of films. I sent him the script and he loved it.
If he didn't like the script, he would not have become
involved. But he loved the script and because of him, we got it to
agents who would take the time to read it. If you send the script
directly to agents, you're going to get rejected. Because there are so
many lawsuits out there, thee agents are just not going to take it. They
need
it come through a lawyer or another agent. A different way is to go through
managers
of some of these people. Managers will
sometimes accept them. Another way to do it is through
something called the "break downs." Breakdowns go through all
the agents and managers in Hollywood. I dunno what the rules are for
getting in the break downs, but I'm sure it's easier then most people
think. Yet, another way is placing an ad in magazines for actors. One is
called Backstage West.
You can advertise in the
back of that. That's what I did my first film. Because I did it
outside the union, non-SAG.
TF: How did you get Ray and Vanessa on board?
GM: Vanessa was a different story. I knew and met Vanessa through
another actor, Arlen Escarpeta, who starred in my second film. Through
Arlen, I got
Vanessa's agent's telephone number and I called him and I told him who I
was and I told him I directed Arlen. He liked me and I was lucky.
For Ray Wise and the others, all came through my casting
director, Geno Havens. His name was on those break downs, so the agents take
it more
seriously. For Ray Wise, I knew his work.. So I
gave it directly to him, if he wanted the part, he had it. He read the
script
and loved it.
TF: With about 100 to 200 Indy films out a year, how do you make yours
stand out?
GM: Luck. My first film had an all Latino cast, which really helped it,
since there were not too many minority roled films.
It helped it to get distribution. My second film was all African American
cast, which I'm
sure it helped it. SUBSTANCE is a more mainstream film. It does have a
wide range of races within the actors. I'd say this one is much more of a
Christian / spiritual type film.
I'm not saying I wrote or directed it that way to go into a certain market.
With this film I
said, "I'm going to write what I want to write and screw it, let's see
what happens." Where as my other films they had a market and I knew they
were aiming at certain markets. I do, however, see a market for this one. A
Christian
and spiritual type market, but I didn't start out that way.
TF: Someone has their 9 or 10 bucks in their hand, why should they see
your movie Greg?
GM: How can I find an answer for that? If you like the trailer,
which is on my website or my myspace site, go see the film.
If you like a film with a spiritual element, go and see my film. My film is
very artistic and
very poetic in some sense. If that's the type of film for you, you'll
want to see my movie. If you like Vanessa Lengies , which I know you
do, Tony, you'll really want to see my movie.
TF: Oh boy (laughs)
GM: If you like Ray Wise, you'll want
to see my movie. If you read reviews about my movie, you'll want to see
my movie. That's really all I can say, I think what my film will do is
start out playing film festivals. I'm positive that my film will raise
enough word of mouth that it will
be one of the darlings of the film festival circuit. Whereas I really
couldn't say that with my other films. I didn't know what was going to
happen with them. I believe in this film enough where I can I'm pretty
that's how
it going to happen with this one. I think it has a lot of potential.
You can read Part III here.
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