The Boston Creative: John August Stapp
This episode of Film Center News, we sit down with John Stapp to talk about how to harness one's creative vision.
Transcript
This is Film Center, your number one show for real entertainment industry news.
Speaker:No fluff, all facts.
Speaker:Now, here are your anchors, Derrick Johnson II and Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:Welcome
Speaker:to Film Center.
Speaker:I'm Derrick Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And today we have a very special guest.
Speaker:We're here with John August Stapp.
Speaker:Nice to be here, guys.
Speaker:John, how you doing?
Speaker:I'm doing great today.
Speaker:It's a beautiful day.
Speaker:Thanks for having me.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:The sun is out today.
Speaker:How was the drive?
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:It wasn't too bad.
Speaker:It was about an hour.
Speaker:We're located near mid city and West Adams.
Speaker:But we had that nice HOV lane.
Speaker:So we got through some traffic quickly and we made it.
Speaker:Nice.
Speaker:Thank you for making the drive.
Speaker:I ain't gonna lie.
Speaker:Sometimes I'm in the HOV lane and it's just me.
Speaker:And I, what I do, I put my backpack, in the backseat and put
Speaker:like a little sweatshirt over it.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:Good to go.
Speaker:Get around it.
Speaker:Smart man.
Speaker:Good to go.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Hop around that traffic.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So AI gets smart enough.
Speaker:It's all good.
Speaker:Right there.
Speaker:On the edge.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Tell us a little about yourself.
Speaker:Are you from Los Angeles?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I'm from Boston, Mass.
Speaker:Actually.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:Yeah, so I grew up my whole life in Boston.
Speaker:I went to school out there.
Speaker:I went to Emerson college for film production.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:And then wait if you're, how long have you been out here?
Speaker:Just been out here since April.
Speaker:So two months now.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:You're a newbie.
Speaker:Super fresh.
Speaker:LA super new.
Speaker:So you're from, you're all the way from Boston.
Speaker:Did you come out here, for the industry?
Speaker:Came out here for the industry, yeah.
Speaker:Were you always interested in filming stuff when we were young?
Speaker:Yeah I've been interested in film since I was about 10, 11 years old.
Speaker:Once I figured it out that it was something you could do and you could
Speaker:make movies, I didn't really look back.
Speaker:First saw Jaws was actually the movie that really got me into it.
Speaker:Oh, really?
Speaker:Yeah, which is a kid movie.
Speaker:Crazy little thing.
Speaker:You saw Jaws at 10?
Speaker:Yeah, I saw it on my birthday.
Speaker:My dad was like, you gotta watch this.
Speaker:Now that you're a man, Now that you're 10 years old.
Speaker:It was like, let's see Jaws now, right?
Speaker:Did you have nightmares whenever?
Speaker:No I loved that movie so much because I also grew up like
Speaker:in the water a fair amount.
Speaker:So I was a lot of lakes and, yeah.
Speaker:A lot of oceans and You didn't feel like any sharks were tugging on
Speaker:your legs when you were swimming?
Speaker:Never did.
Speaker:Never did, luckily.
Speaker:It's so funny.
Speaker:My dad talks about when he first saw that movie back when it came out.
Speaker:And he said, like, all the kids in his elementary school
Speaker:were, like, afraid of the dark.
Speaker:And they were like, Turn off the lights and then try to jump in their bed so
Speaker:they wouldn't touch the ground like it's a job to come out of the carpet or
Speaker:something that's the power of that movie dude that's the power of that movie is it
Speaker:just it's so gripping i don't know i'll remember that thing until the day i die
Speaker:it's also such a great filmmaking tale of passion yeah because so you're making a
Speaker:shark movie and the shark don't work yeah right how is what's going on with this?
Speaker:And then you go, you're like 25.
Speaker:You're some sort of supposed to be golden boy, but now you're 10 million over
Speaker:budget in the that's a lot of money.
Speaker:How do you pull this together?
Speaker:I know it's one of the most, I think one of the best stories about movie
Speaker:magic and The power of on the spot collaboration and problem solving.
Speaker:Cause I think about if the shark worked, how much less powerful
Speaker:that movie would be, it wouldn't have nearly any of that suspense.
Speaker:So the fact that you couldn't see that shark and they had to get around
Speaker:all these problems, it's just some of the best filmmaking, I think
Speaker:that's been brought to the screen.
Speaker:So you see jaws at 10 and you're like, okay, I think this is
Speaker:something that I want to do.
Speaker:Was it instantly oh, I want to do horror stuff or was it just like everything?
Speaker:So at first it was really everything.
Speaker:It was, at first I.
Speaker:Literally the next day I picked up a camera and I was like, I just got to
Speaker:start figuring out how to use a camera.
Speaker:So I like went outside with my brother.
Speaker:He's he was big into BMX biking.
Speaker:So I would just film him BMX biking and figured out what iMovie was and started
Speaker:cutting some little stuff together.
Speaker:And then I started being like 10 years old.
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That was like the start, dude.
Speaker:I was like, this is a blast.
Speaker:And then I was like, yo, screw this.
Speaker:I need to like, start making stories.
Speaker:I was like, I need to start making stories.
Speaker:So we started doing like little stories and stuff.
Speaker:Just little skits and stuff in the backyard and around the house.
Speaker:And we just kept doing it all the time, and just trying to figure
Speaker:out like how different shots work.
Speaker:And I figured out, like how editing works and how you can
Speaker:do continuity and everything.
Speaker:And just kept watching more movies.
Speaker:What was the next big movie that you watched that you
Speaker:were just like, Oh my God.
Speaker:After Jaws.
Speaker:After Jaws.
Speaker:I think Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore was the next one I probably watched.
Speaker:I was probably like 11 when I watched that.
Speaker:Who are your parents?
Speaker:You're saying these Yeah.
Speaker:I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker:He's Alice Doesn't Live Here That's like such an obscure I know.
Speaker:My dad was an art history major.
Speaker:So he's a big Oh.
Speaker:He's big into film.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So he put me onto a lot of that.
Speaker:cinephile himself.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Very much and I was like, this is some very refined taste for Yeah.
Speaker:Very much I'm gonna watch Jaws.
Speaker:Then we're gonna watch Alice Doesn't Live Anymore.
Speaker:After this, we're going to see the original Cary.
Speaker:And we're going to watch the clockwork orange.
Speaker:We're going to throw it back to Stephen King.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And then once you hit 15, then you can see Donnie Darko.
Speaker:But not before.
Speaker:You're not going to relate to it as you would.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And then 16, we're going to do a fun movie.
Speaker:And that's 300.
Speaker:I had to see 300, probably when I was like eight years old.
Speaker:I saw that movie mad young.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm the youngest sibling.
Speaker:So whatever my siblings were watching, I was just in the room.
Speaker:Oh, and you were just like, it doesn't matter if you're ready to see it.
Speaker:I was just, yeah, exactly.
Speaker:They were like, this is what's happening today.
Speaker:This is what you're going to do.
Speaker:I was blessed in that way.
Speaker:I always wanted oldest.
Speaker:I'm the oldest.
Speaker:I've always wanted older siblings because of that.
Speaker:Cause he always hear these stories of yeah, I got to do stuff early.
Speaker:I was the one who wasn't allowed to do anything.
Speaker:So I had to break the rules.
Speaker:For my younger sibling to do . Yeah, the older sibling
Speaker:always breaks the ice for you.
Speaker:I always, I used to tell my little brother all the time, My dad would
Speaker:not allow us to have game consoles.
Speaker:So he was like, you're gonna learn how to work that computer, And if you don't,
Speaker:you're just not playing video games.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:And I had to campaign to let my parents Let us play teen games I had to become
Speaker:a young politician to get these games I love it and my little brother did not
Speaker:appreciate it one bit just like to this day I was like, I can't for granted,
Speaker:I campaigned to let it, to let mom and dad let us play Lord of the Rings.
Speaker:That's because of me.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:I had a similar thing like that.
Speaker:If we, if I wanted to get something right, I was getting more into
Speaker:filmmaking and I was like, I think I need to get like premier pro.
Speaker:I didn't even know what Adobe was.
Speaker:And I was like, I need to get Adobe.
Speaker:It costs as much blah, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker:Like I think I'm going to spend my money on it.
Speaker:And my parents would be like, no, you got to Put together a
Speaker:presentation on why you need that.
Speaker:You gotta sell it.
Speaker:You gotta make it worth it.
Speaker:What do your parents do?
Speaker:So my mom's a baker at a muffin shop in my town.
Speaker:Oh, that's cool.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Yeah, so that's pretty yummy.
Speaker:I get sick of muffins sometimes, but that's a good one.
Speaker:And then my dad's a software architect.
Speaker:He's in comp sci.
Speaker:Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker:Your mom being a baker.
Speaker:Do you like go somewhere where maybe at a restaurant or you're
Speaker:out or like maybe, like we're not, we're in an office right now.
Speaker:So it was like, Oh, would you like a muffin?
Speaker:You're like, nah, it's going to be crappy.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I don't like cause you live so used to really good.
Speaker:A little bit.
Speaker:I'm like muffined out now, to be honest.
Speaker:She's worked there for a while and we just had so many muffins and every time I see
Speaker:a muffin now, I'm just like, I'm good.
Speaker:Are you like a muffin expert?
Speaker:You're like, I can tell this is old.
Speaker:I can tell this is this.
Speaker:I think I'm getting pretty good with it.
Speaker:I think I'm getting pretty good with it.
Speaker:Cause they'll have like day old muffins and you can tell it's a little
Speaker:too crispy on top, you have an equal amount of blueberries in the muffins.
Speaker:Did your mom have a favorite flavor that she wanted to
Speaker:give you guys or that you had?
Speaker:Nah, she, she's a, she's like a, she's a weird food person,
Speaker:she likes some weird stuff.
Speaker:So she was a big fan of jalapeno cheddar scones.
Speaker:And I was all about the like normal blueberry.
Speaker:I wasn't really, I'm not trying to be adventurous.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:He was like, I've got raisin strawberry muffins, you want to try one?
Speaker:And she's no, I think I'll stick with the strawberry.
Speaker:We'd give little tastes, but I'd always go back to the old
Speaker:faithfuls, just the old classics.
Speaker:So you're making at home videos, essentially when you're young, you're
Speaker:in high school and stuff like that.
Speaker:How did you know you were like, okay, did you have to convince your parents
Speaker:that you might want to go to college for that, or did you just Yeah, so that
Speaker:was like a, that was a conversation.
Speaker:So I started thinking about I honestly started thinking about that probably
Speaker:when I was like 13 because I was looking at the both roads of it, right?
Speaker:And I was like you can either go to school for this stuff Or you don't go to school
Speaker:and you just try to cut your teeth and make it And I was looking at the options
Speaker:and I figured that going to school if I could get into a good enough school And
Speaker:get a scholarship that I liked it was like So worth it for connections and just
Speaker:for networking with people definitely and also this is coming from Boston there's
Speaker:a lot of things being shot there But at the same time it's like very different
Speaker:there usually people from other places coming to Boston to film that really
Speaker:actually coming out And fly out right exactly So it was like that was another
Speaker:big thing is being surrounded by people that wanted to do the same thing Was a
Speaker:big motivator for me to go to school Just to find that creative community and then
Speaker:to be able to like come up in it as a filmmaker with other people was a really
Speaker:big draw for me Yeah, we had another person on the show from massachusetts
Speaker:ryan And he's not from boston.
Speaker:He's a manga artist.
Speaker:Yeah, but he's he he's they call it neurodivergent nowadays but
Speaker:yeah, You He eventually came out and was on as at LA Comic Con.
Speaker:Yeah, we got him to LA Comic Con, which is pretty cool.
Speaker:Yeah But there's a lot of it seems like what he told us.
Speaker:There's a lot of Potential in Massachusetts right now.
Speaker:And in like the recent growing hub, especially for film.
Speaker:Cause they, they just did a new system of like tax credits, right?
Speaker:Because they're trying to compete with New York and Atlanta
Speaker:and all these other places.
Speaker:Especially after, the departed filmed in New York, even though
Speaker:it's a Boston based film.
Speaker:And they were like, we just lost so much money just cause their
Speaker:tax benefit wasn't as good.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:I'm trying to change that.
Speaker:It's so true.
Speaker:There's so many There's so many times movies and television are not shot in
Speaker:that actual area because the state doesn't want to help them out with shooting it.
Speaker:And it's ridiculous.
Speaker:What do you think Massachusetts needs to do to outside of this one tax cut
Speaker:as someone who comes from that area?
Speaker:And now you're making stuff now, what do you think would
Speaker:attract you to be like, Oh, okay.
Speaker:I wouldn't need to go shoot back there and where I'm from outside
Speaker:of just the hometown thing.
Speaker:Yeah, no, that's a great question.
Speaker:I think in the independent film space, they, there's a couple of
Speaker:small art theaters in Boston, right?
Speaker:There's the brattle.
Speaker:There's the Coolidge Center.
Speaker:There's all these like great ones that show old prints.
Speaker:But I think they need to try to foster the current independent
Speaker:industry there a little bit more.
Speaker:And is there any way you can be more specific?
Speaker:What does that mean?
Speaker:Foster?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So have screenings of independent films that are going on now.
Speaker:And not just bring back the classics.
Speaker:Like obviously that's very important and a great part of that, but if they
Speaker:were actually to uplift people that are making films now and try to get them.
Speaker:Like more eyes on their films.
Speaker:I think it would give a lot of people a little bit of a push and
Speaker:a benefit to go make stuff there.
Speaker:Cause you have a bought an audience already.
Speaker:Like the lead in is an independent film in the classic film is what you go to see.
Speaker:It's like an opener.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Why not?
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And then Can you talk about, so you decide you're going to be a filmmaker, right?
Speaker:Can you talk to us about what that conversation looks like with your parents?
Speaker:That was one of our favorite questions on the show.
Speaker:Everyone has something different to say.
Speaker:Yeah, it's a good question.
Speaker:That's a good question.
Speaker:It's our favorite question to ask on the show because there's
Speaker:always wildly different answers.
Speaker:In fact, we even had someone go, Yeah, no, they were cool.
Speaker:And that was the end of it.
Speaker:Are you serious?
Speaker:They're, like, the luckiest person in the world.
Speaker:Yeah, no, I'm, I was very lucky with my parents.
Speaker:So once I started being like, I think this is all I want to do.
Speaker:They were very supportive about it.
Speaker:They were like if that's what you want to do Just start doing it, they're like lucky
Speaker:thing about the time you live in is there So there's software out there available.
Speaker:There's cameras out there available Like you can watch everything and you
Speaker:can learn stuff on youtube and you can just keep making it Yeah and once they
Speaker:realized I was like really serious about it because I just that's all I spent my
Speaker:time doing they became just like very supportive of it and they're like this
Speaker:is what you want to do like Just go do it it's gonna be hard and stuff, but if
Speaker:you're passionate enough about it, that's the main goal enjoy what you're gonna do.
Speaker:Did they have any rules for you?
Speaker:Did they have any guidelines?
Speaker:Some you know Because your parents weren't actually, they're not, they're not in the
Speaker:industry, they don't know what's going on.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But your dad's an art history guy, so I imagine it was a little bit easier.
Speaker:Yeah, that's why they were very supportive of it, I think, because
Speaker:they appreciate art, and they appreciate the value of making that.
Speaker:He also enjoys writing and stuff, and creative writing, so
Speaker:he was into that space as well.
Speaker:So it made it a much easier transition, I think, for them, because all my
Speaker:other siblings did normal careers.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:So they got their normal, they got the other three are doing normal creative.
Speaker:The other three are good, so you can do whatever.
Speaker:the art kid.
Speaker:They're like, listen.
Speaker:Word, go sit in the corner, do your thing.
Speaker:Look, we got three engineers.
Speaker:The legacy is secured.
Speaker:They were like, you got someone who'll take care of us when
Speaker:we're old, you go do your thing.
Speaker:You want to make pottery in the basement, bro?
Speaker:You go ahead, do your thing, man.
Speaker:No, but I think.
Speaker:I am really lucky because I think they realized that it's not really for
Speaker:me, it doesn't feel like an option.
Speaker:I think if I'm not working on film or doing anything in that
Speaker:space it's just not going to be satisfying and gratifying at all.
Speaker:Like it feels like a, it's like an itch you have to do.
Speaker:Once you start creating something, it's so hard to, To go do something
Speaker:else and be like, I'm not really creating anything right now.
Speaker:Like the feeling of creating, it's just so even if you were like, Oh, you know what?
Speaker:Even if you were in some other job, you're like, I would be doing this on the side.
Speaker:Anyway it doesn't really matter what's going on in my life.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And it'd just be, it would just drive me crazy to know I could be a civil
Speaker:engineer making a hundred grand, but I'd be absolutely miserable.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:And I'd also be getting no sleep because I'd be wanting to do this.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:And how much energy do you have to really put into the art that
Speaker:matters the most, in my opinion?
Speaker:So then so did you go to college out there?
Speaker:You went to Yeah, so I went to Emerson College in Boston.
Speaker:And they actually have a campus out here in LA, which I was gonna do, but then I
Speaker:graduated a semester early, and I did like the, they have a BFA program, so you can
Speaker:either get BFA, so I did the BFA program, but that requires you to be in Boston.
Speaker:So I figured, okay, I could either stay an extra semester that I don't
Speaker:need and go to LA, or I could stop paying tuition and just move to LA.
Speaker:And that's how I got here.
Speaker:Oh, okay that's pretty cool.
Speaker:Pretty good reason why they require you to be in boston for the bfa program Yeah,
Speaker:it's because that's where they have so it's like a workshop you do so you do
Speaker:it for a whole year And the first half is you're doing like pre production and
Speaker:development and planning And the second half you do in post production So in the
Speaker:break you film it and you're doing post and you always are in this like studio
Speaker:And they're just giving you notes all the time And you're just in this big
Speaker:workshop group and they just don't want to run that in la for whatever reason
Speaker:They probably too expensive Yeah, maybe.
Speaker:They have a lot of professors out there.
Speaker:They have a nice campus out here.
Speaker:So they could do it.
Speaker:I think it's really just.
Speaker:Easier for them to say we have everything here.
Speaker:All of our BFA professors are in Boston.
Speaker:Let's just do it Yeah, it's probably the coordination is to get people to
Speaker:do really anything man as I'm sure, you know It's like a director producer type
Speaker:guy, how hard it is to get everybody on the same page It is that's why that's
Speaker:definitely probably why they have those like guidelines just to streamline
Speaker:that process and have no Yeah, me and nicholas are working on working on a show
Speaker:right now and just like The wrangling the above the line people is annoying.
Speaker:Yeah, then wrangling the people below the line It's it's like a lot
Speaker:and I was telling him I was like, okay Cuz we're supposed to go to
Speaker:out of country later this year.
Speaker:Yeah, and I was telling him I was like look man I don't
Speaker:know if we're out of country.
Speaker:Yeah We're scheduled to go to well.
Speaker:Yeah, we're scheduled to go to Japan.
Speaker:It's September and it's like I don't know if we can go man.
Speaker:Yeah, it's pieces together Yeah, if we're gone for you know a month or we're gonna
Speaker:be gone about a week But still it's eight or nine days But the crazy part is it's
Speaker:not the people that just come on board that are ever the issue It's always
Speaker:the day one people that you're like, everything that's going on You've known
Speaker:everything that's going on from the start.
Speaker:How are we confused here?
Speaker:Yeah You No, that's I think part of putting together like a team to make a
Speaker:film is it feels like those people that balance a pole on their hand with a plate
Speaker:on top of it, and other stuff on it, where it's just one little thing can go off
Speaker:and it feels like it's all gonna crumble.
Speaker:You'll get a call or a message from somebody out in the blue
Speaker:from somebody be like, so we think this and I'm like, bro, we've been
Speaker:doing this for a year and a half.
Speaker:With the pod.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We on the podcast for this long.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What, where, like, where did this come from?
Speaker:And also, no, yeah, we're not doing that.
Speaker:It's also quite interesting to, when you talk about building a team, I honestly
Speaker:believe, like when I first ca got here to Los Angeles what was that, late
Speaker:2018, early 2019, I went to film school.
Speaker:Right on.
Speaker:And so I.
Speaker:I originally thought the same way everyone else does.
Speaker:Oh, it's just a whole bunch of gatekeeping because they hate you.
Speaker:Actually some of it is as there may be some truth there, but most of it's because
Speaker:like they don't want to meet new people.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Because new people like having to get a new team again and again, once you
Speaker:find someone that you're working with.
Speaker:You're in lock and step and it just makes it easy.
Speaker:It just makes your life so much more easier.
Speaker:And then most people are not serious about what they want to do.
Speaker:What was that thing?
Speaker:He went to acting school.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What was that one thing they always used to do Oh, let's do
Speaker:something, and then, what'd you say?
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:I went to theater school, right?
Speaker:And, the big thing about in L.
Speaker:A.
Speaker:is, what'll happen, especially if you're in theater school, is you'll meet up
Speaker:at a coffee shop somewhere, because in theater school, it's, Basically a 24
Speaker:7 program because the thing is you got to get there at seven or eight o'clock
Speaker:in the morning You do movement you do?
Speaker:Suzuki you do what your exercise you do all of that and then around five
Speaker:o'clock Then you have to do either sewing or shop or you have to practice
Speaker:your scenes or blocking or whatever then you got to go Home and it's just
Speaker:and then you got to do it all over again with basically no sleep, right?
Speaker:And what'll end up happening is sometimes you'll end up at coffee shops with all
Speaker:of your people because you see each other every day and You sit here and
Speaker:you're like, Oh yeah, we should do this.
Speaker:And we're like, yeah, man, we should do this.
Speaker:And then it'll be like this and it'll be like that.
Speaker:And then you're like, yeah, cool.
Speaker:And you'll spend an hour or two talking about it, writing it down.
Speaker:And then afterwards you're like, so let's get it started.
Speaker:And they're like, ah see, the thing is, and that's 99 percent of the time.
Speaker:And it's really funny when you're on, cause I went to film school.
Speaker:It was almost like.
Speaker:The difference is yeah, this is a great idea.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:We don't have any actors I need you to be in front of
Speaker:camera and that's when they go.
Speaker:Oh Actually, I don't do that man.
Speaker:I don't yeah, we're like, somebody has to do it We can't all be the script
Speaker:supervisor, writer, director, camera op or somebody gotta do it Yeah, that's
Speaker:one of those things about especially about making like student projects is
Speaker:it's just about if you want to make your project, you got to help people make their
Speaker:project and you got to take on roles.
Speaker:You don't normally think you want to do but it's just about everyone's
Speaker:learning, like it's about making it happen instead of just talking about it
Speaker:happening So what do you so we're talking about forming teams right now, right?
Speaker:What do you look for in a long term team member not someone who's oh cuz you have
Speaker:those people like let's say you're doing A whore right and you someone comes
Speaker:out of the blue and they're like, I'm a professional monster CGI artist Great.
Speaker:But they're not going to be someone who might use for everything, right?
Speaker:Those people that you'll be using for possibly everything like,
Speaker:oh, this is my cinematographer.
Speaker:Like this is the guy I'm using.
Speaker:How, what do you look for when you're choosing those long term partnerships?
Speaker:That's a great question.
Speaker:I think I look for firstly, mostly is like communication, like strong
Speaker:communication makes everything easier.
Speaker:And then the second one, which also comes with a little bit of time, is trust.
Speaker:If you trust your partner and you guys have a Good environment to be
Speaker:able to say, nah, not that idea.
Speaker:And then let's keep going on another idea.
Speaker:And you guys trust each other.
Speaker:That's not vindictive and it's not in a.
Speaker:negative and overcritical nature, but to make the project better and
Speaker:to bring the best out of each other.
Speaker:I think that's key to having a good partnership.
Speaker:Trusting each other's ideas, trusting their opinion, and then really
Speaker:communicating the vision and just constantly making sure you're on
Speaker:the same page, but not being afraid to say, Oh what if we tried this?
Speaker:What if we tried this?
Speaker:And there are no bad ideas.
Speaker:Like as long as you can bring it up.
Speaker:It's going to lead to something productive.
Speaker:Usually you see, so basically take it professionally.
Speaker:Not personally.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:It's just, it's not personal business.
Speaker:Especially when you're creating and you're like, you're doing art, which is such
Speaker:something that can be so personal is it's it's not a slight or an offense to you
Speaker:if an idea isn't right for this project.
Speaker:It just means it's not right for this project.
Speaker:Then how do you, so when I say, cause idea can mean anything.
Speaker:So give me a little bit more specific.
Speaker:How are you deciding this is a project I'm going to move forward with?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If I'm excited about it if I feel something from it, whether it be a
Speaker:script or a song or like a exciting idea for a commercial that's how I decide
Speaker:if I'm going to move forward with it.
Speaker:If it your level of interest, yeah.
Speaker:If it clicked something inside of me where I'm like, Oh, I want to be part of this.
Speaker:And especially if the first time I come in contact with the material
Speaker:I'm thinking kind of ideas and seeing how it's going to look.
Speaker:Then I'm definitely hooked because now I want to see that to fruition.
Speaker:And I want to manifest that vision and have that thing happen.
Speaker:Now, you know what, dude, Nick, we totally blasted through something.
Speaker:You only been here since April.
Speaker:I have.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So you recently moved here, right?
Speaker:You want to shout out anything your Bostonians should know when
Speaker:they come on over here to L.
Speaker:A.?
Speaker:The weather's nice and it's mad pretty over here.
Speaker:It's bad.
Speaker:Are you talking about the scenery or the women?
Speaker:The scenery.
Speaker:Both.
Speaker:Both are not bad.
Speaker:But yeah, it's nice.
Speaker:I think the biggest difference, honestly, is like Whenever you go out anywhere.
Speaker:Everyone's just networking.
Speaker:Everyone's constantly talking and it's not like that in Boston So get ready for that.
Speaker:And do you like that or do you dislike that?
Speaker:I like it sometimes because it feels like You're always hustling
Speaker:and you're always on the go.
Speaker:But then other times it's like you can't necessarily always just step
Speaker:back and enjoy the moment and enjoy living here can we just have a coffee?
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Exactly Let's just chill here and enjoy the view instead of talking
Speaker:about Oh, where can you get me?
Speaker:So can you also speak to, since you talk about teams and taking it professionally
Speaker:and not personally, can you talk to the type of patients you've had to
Speaker:accumulate over your time as being A filmmaker because patience is a little bit
Speaker:different than having thick skin, right?
Speaker:There's a difference between having thick skin and having patience deciding walking
Speaker:the tightrope Of what to do what to say?
Speaker:Can you speak to that in your personal for sure?
Speaker:I think patience is is a big key to a successful shoot without anyone like
Speaker:You know wanting to off themselves afterwards I think such a big part
Speaker:of it too is being patient with You Getting the vision you want, right?
Speaker:I think a lot of times where patience is going to be the most useful is when you
Speaker:feel like you're racing against the clock or you feel like something's not right,
Speaker:something's not right, but you have to move on and it's finding that balance
Speaker:obviously of fitting in the schedule and making it happen, but also of saying no
Speaker:let's take a breath let's get this right.
Speaker:And then we can move on.
Speaker:So I think the patience of that, and then also the patience of
Speaker:making a project happen, right?
Speaker:Like we were talking about earlier where it's.
Speaker:hard to get everything pulled together, right?
Speaker:Even above the line before it starts to get something off the ground.
Speaker:You have to have a lot of patience in it.
Speaker:And I think another good thing is dedication.
Speaker:Like you really have to be dedicated to the project.
Speaker:Definitely.
Speaker:And you can't get like you can't get knocked off course just because
Speaker:it's not happening right away.
Speaker:I think that's something that a lot of people get confused.
Speaker:They're like, they see a movie and they're like, Oh man, they probably been
Speaker:working on that for what, the past year.
Speaker:Usually it's been like years coming a lot of the even studios, like a
Speaker:lot of their movies, it's been like, they'll spend two years prior to in
Speaker:development before they start production.
Speaker:And then even on the lower scale, even stuff like eight 24 that is not okay.
Speaker:It's not a giant Marvel movie, but it's still the care and
Speaker:time you need to go into it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:A lot.
Speaker:And it's even if you think about.
Speaker:When you're writing a script, if you have an idea, you might work on
Speaker:that idea three years later, right?
Speaker:And then you're three years into the process.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then it takes, what, you say, six months, a year to write that script,
Speaker:and then it's gonna take another year or two to get it developed.
Speaker:That's a delicate balance, because I tell a lot of people just
Speaker:constantly working on something.
Speaker:Because, here's the thing, you're right, it does take, you might work on it
Speaker:three years later, might work on that script later, six, twelve months, da.
Speaker:But rents due at the end of the month.
Speaker:It's not due in three years when, the script's done, and then it's
Speaker:due in another three years after you've got to let that run.
Speaker:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker:So that's why a lot of people have a whole bunch of projects in the flow.
Speaker:I think that's the key is having a rotating cycle.
Speaker:It's having a full slate that's all in different stages.
Speaker:Because then you don't get, if you have five things in development and
Speaker:nothing in production, you're going to get sick of development mad quick.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But if you have different projects in different stages, it's going to be,
Speaker:it's just going to space it out, make it much more satisfying and give you a
Speaker:constant revolving door for development.
Speaker:And it also tests your organization skills.
Speaker:It does.
Speaker:That's, you gotta be organized, oh my god, you have to be.
Speaker:That's part of the fun though, right?
Speaker:It's like trying to reign in the chaos of making a film and
Speaker:then doing it over and over.
Speaker:The crazy part is I've found at the, towards the end of projects, it's
Speaker:almost I don't know how to describe it, but you have literally sweat, blood,
Speaker:and tears, and sleepless nights, and just oh my god, how is this going to
Speaker:happen, and right before it clicks, it's almost like somebody Or have
Speaker:you experienced something like that?
Speaker:Because that's what makes a geweizhi.
Speaker:He's still at other people's Has to try and throw that last little monkey wrench
Speaker:in there And you're just like what why always like this you know how hard this
Speaker:process has been for us because you've been in it with me Why are you gonna throw
Speaker:that last little monkey wrench in there?
Speaker:My cinematography teacher used to have a saying.
Speaker:He was like, if your production goes perfectly, you better check that footage.
Speaker:Yeah, I know.
Speaker:100%.
Speaker:If everything has gone correctly, you need to watch those dailies
Speaker:and check that footage because that means all of your work All your
Speaker:issues went to the important part.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:No, that's so true.
Speaker:I think that's what I honestly I think looking at all the
Speaker:challenges and everything and all the issues that come up, you have
Speaker:to look at it as a good thing.
Speaker:And right.
Speaker:It's like going back to jaws.
Speaker:It's like that shark work.
Speaker:The movie wouldn't be the movie.
Speaker:It is, so it's every little challenge is gonna, it's going to make it
Speaker:something else, which is part of the amazing process of making this
Speaker:like living, breathing piece of art.
Speaker:Filmmaking is really just a whole bunch of problem solving.
Speaker:It is.
Speaker:That's it really is.
Speaker:That's And managing personalities.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Huge.
Speaker:'cause you couldn't do it without the personalities.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Not at all.
Speaker:And that's that's such a big part of the craft.
Speaker:And that's such an enjoyable part of the craft is like, it's like herding
Speaker:kittens, but with people and then you're trying to get 'em to paint
Speaker:a Picasso, sorry, shouldn't have swo.
Speaker:It's You're fine.
Speaker:Pins the Costa.
Speaker:It's almost, and it's almost like you're like.
Speaker:Greg is really great, but I have to like, contain him.
Speaker:Because, I don't know how to deal with him outside of this.
Speaker:But you're also like, but he makes this stuff.
Speaker:Yeah, there's a song that we work with pretty frequently.
Speaker:Where essentially, this guy has an issue every single day.
Speaker:It's like the worst thing in the world.
Speaker:But it'll be like, So it'd be something as simple as, Oh my gosh, we have the vanilla
Speaker:coffee creamer and not the chocolate one.
Speaker:And the actors are coming in.
Speaker:This is the craziest thing that's ever happened.
Speaker:The actors don't even want coffee today for, it's good.
Speaker:I'm fine.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But to him, it's At the same time, I love the guy because he
Speaker:does pay attention to details.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Because you never know who you could have to where to that one person.
Speaker:It's a really big deal.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:How many times?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's like the key, right?
Speaker:It's like making sure you can focus people's energy into the right spot and
Speaker:not letting it diffract into the wrong spots on set, but really saying, okay, I
Speaker:want that energy, but I want that energy in how our props are going to look or
Speaker:how our world's going to look right and it takes that patience to revert or You
Speaker:know rework that energy to go to that because you can't just expect them to
Speaker:know their energy In their personalities to go where you want it to go.
Speaker:Yeah, it's a constant game Basically, it's like you're like it's like you're
Speaker:walking next to them and slowly bumping them over the line It's that kind of
Speaker:constant game where you just have to always be aware of it You but that's
Speaker:what makes it so fun, like the chaos of a set is just so It's so energizing.
Speaker:It's so unbeatable It's just so it's almost like being a parent.
Speaker:It is like being a parent It's like you're the director and these are all your kids.
Speaker:Yeah, and it's like I hate you guys I love you guys, but I hate you guys.
Speaker:Yeah, it's like a it is It's like a it's like being a parent to like a bunch of
Speaker:other adults and it's like all of them have their own ideas about parenting.
Speaker:Yeah, but you're like, we still gotta make this movie, we still
Speaker:gotta make this project, so let's just try to focus on this.
Speaker:And you're like, you know what?
Speaker:That's a great idea, man.
Speaker:I'm going to put that idea right here on the refrigerator so everyone can see it.
Speaker:Anyway, so what we're actually going to do is In the meantime, let's do it this way.
Speaker:And then we'll talk about that.
Speaker:It's such a big game of like Of getting people to express their
Speaker:ideas, but then making sure that the ideas align with the vision, right?
Speaker:And it's it's almost a little bit slowly working them towards something you're
Speaker:thinking about, but having them realize that it's coming from them as well, right?
Speaker:Because when people realize that it's their idea, they're gonna
Speaker:put so much more energy into it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So that's such a, that's such a fun game of trying to steer people to
Speaker:the ideas you want them to have.
Speaker:Yeah, it's it's like directing but for serious.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Cause you know, when you're a director and you're directing actors,
Speaker:it's okay I can't just say be sad.
Speaker:That's not going to get the emotion.
Speaker:I can't just say be happy.
Speaker:That's awful.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You got to give them some verbs.
Speaker:So you got to make them really understand the character where you're coming from.
Speaker:So that way it emanates from them.
Speaker:But when you're.
Speaker:When you're doing it off camera, it's really the same thing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You're still like still directing them.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's like part of the beauty of it, right?
Speaker:Is there's directing the actors and there's directing the crew.
Speaker:And it's you're using the same techniques.
Speaker:Which one would you say is more difficult?
Speaker:I think that's a great question.
Speaker:Which one's more difficult?
Speaker:I think directing the crew is probably more difficult.
Speaker:Actors are so locked into their spot and their position right into their role and
Speaker:performing for the camera And the crew there's so much stuff to think about and
Speaker:there's so many more moving parts with so many people right The actor's gonna
Speaker:be there, but the camera's not gonna affect them too much in their role, right?
Speaker:But if you change something with the gaffer, it's gonna mess up the grit,
Speaker:so yeah, that's definitely more because there's just a lot more moving parts.
Speaker:It's like you're directing different body parts of one large
Speaker:person Would you say the reason why the crew was more difficult?
Speaker:To direct is because they have multiple different goals and the actor pretty
Speaker:much only has that one goal Yeah, the actor's goal is just performance.
Speaker:Yeah, I think I mean I think that's the key though is making sure that the
Speaker:crew has one goal because when they have different goals, it's like we're
Speaker:gonna make different movies But if we all have that same goal for that
Speaker:one shot, we're going to be locked in and that's going to make it the most
Speaker:efficient and best possible product.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:Admit, it's been great having you on the show.
Speaker:Appreciate it guys.
Speaker:It's been great being here.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Is there anything that you wanted to shout out to any Bostonians
Speaker:or where can people follow you?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So that's a great question.
Speaker:You guys can check us out at spaceshipjoyride.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:That's our company.
Speaker:We're doing a lot of music videos, a lot of marketing content.
Speaker:We have some shorts in the works.
Speaker:We're trying to expand that a lot.
Speaker:So check us out on Instagram at our website and then reach out if you
Speaker:like us and you want to do anything.
Speaker:Cool.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:Hey, guys.
Speaker:This has been Film Center News.
Speaker:I'm Derek Johnson II.
Speaker:I'm Nicholas Killian.
Speaker:And we're here with John August Stapp.
Speaker:And we'll see you next time.
Speaker:See ya.
Speaker:Thank you, guys.
Speaker:This has been Film Center on Comic Con Radio.
Speaker:Check out our previous episodes at FilmCenterNews.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:Sign up for our newsletter and get the Hollywood trade straight to you.
Speaker:You can follow the show at Film Center News on all major platforms.
Speaker:Tune in next week for a fresh update.
Speaker:Until next time, this has been Film Center.
