Ok, of course I dont claim to know everything. But I get emailed alot because I have alot of experiences for someone my age (34) and I've taught alot of folk over the years, either on set or in the classroom. I always say, GIVE IT ALL AWAY. (Awww, whatta giver, I know.) I've noticed that I've been having to write massive return replies to everyone, and so I dont repeat myself, I'm going to just do it all here and point everybody here from now on. So if you're interesting in filmmaking, the biz, etc., I always say learn from others and their mistakes. So heres a bunch of free friggin' info. :)
Some of these are taken straight from replies to questions. Some personal, some general.
--
an artist has got to be careful never to arrive at a place where he thinks he's at somewhere. you always have to realize you're constantly in the state of becoming and as long as you can stay in that realm you'll sort of be alright. --bob dylan
if the students not better than the teacher than the teacher is a failure. --ginsberg quoting a tibetan monk
my quotes:
I always tell people, you have to keep RAZOR sharp focus and learn from OTHERS--not just what they know, but what mistakes they've made, so you won't do the same.
Most people are lazy slacker dreamers. If you have one ounce of motivation in your little pinky finger, the world is your oyster.
You just gotta set realistic goals, make a 10 yr plan, and keep at it.
end quote.
--
After 9/11, my 10 year plan became to make 10 feature films, each one better than the last. And I'm behind schedule. Gulp! But I'll still make it. (I have til 2011.)
a letter to an aspiring artist:
Well Tim, heres where we left off: The Thug (my first comic) got picked up by DC Comics at the Motor City Comic Con and I moved to NYC and went into development with them. Ultimately, we couldn't come to an agreement on rights. (Plus they wanted to make Sassy blue and take out her belly ring.) So I lived in NYC for 9-10 years and worked in digital media (and taught), loving every minute; While in NYC, I made my first feature in 2001 for 300 bucks, which won some awards and got screened at Cannes. From there, I was able to develop film projects from the money and the buzz and work in film nearly fulltime. I got real lucky on my first film. Real lucky. And from there things just took off.
Around 2004, I moved back to South Bend bc I wanted to teach Indiana students, so I taught wherever I could--at Ivy Tech, and spoke regularly at IU, ND, and Kalamazoo College. There we crewed with students, prepped for a semester, and made my second feature film, shot in Missouri. That experience was probably the second best learning experience of my life--I learned that anything--ANYTHING--is possible (if you're crazy enough). We took the film to Cannes ourselves this time and got distrib offers again--people thought it cost 1 to 10mil to make and we made it for only 2g. (Shhh!) The town where we shot it even got hit by a tornado and it didnt slow us down.
My master plan was always to be totally self-sufficient while making Hollywood-level films on little to no money. I quickly realized I needed to know every single aspect of filmmaking if my master plan was going to work. So I gave up the NY money and moved to FL and taught over 1400 students at Full Sail for 3 years--while doing post on that second film. So I learned everything from beginning to end in filmmaking, and more on distribution. (You never stop learning...)
Then we were approached by big investors and left Full Sail to work fulltime in film again. My wife landed Edward James Olmos (and some lesser stars) to be in my next film. Actually, he called us. We got and lost a HUUUUGE budget twice since then, flown back and forth to Honduras a bunch of times, so its been a WILD year of just development.
He mentored me all year as we worked together on rewriting my script for him as the lead. One of my favorite films is "Stand and Deliver," so it was quite an honor. His other collaborator this past year was Coppola. (It was nice to run in those circles for a year--we met in hotels all around the country--I could write a book on it.) When we lost the budget the second time, Olmos has since moved on... The education, however, was priceless.
Now, the whole world of filmmaking has been turned on its ear by the RED camera--4 or 6x the quality of today's million dollar camera packages--all for only 17g--mine should arrive by November. (red.com) So those in the know are freaking out while we wait. It can shoot IMAX quality, making Hollywood unnecessary.
Ain't she a beaut?
In the meantime, I'm finishing my 3 yr MFA in Film at UCF (gotta have it to top out on the pay scale at a state school) and working for a really cool brand strategy/design company. They have a crazy, totally hardcore process for design. The owner created Starbucks and is a genius, he is teaching me everything. I am learning how to take his process and convert it into branded filmmaking.
Next year, I hope to teach/run the Masters film program at Mizzou, where my wife wants to raise a family, near her parents. With todays technology, I dont mind living in Missouri. I'll get 4 months off every year to write, draw, and make films. I will always teach because filmmaking is so labor-intensive--if that is all you do, you'll go crazy.
And this doesnt have anything about kendras doc work. but i'm tired of talking about myself. i always say, whenever you talk about yourself, you're kicking other people in the shins.
