Thinking about movies today and some of the films that have had the biggest influence on me, I remembered a constant discussion in film school. We would watch someone's film and eventually the question would be asked "what are you trying to say?"........that would start a heated debate about whether or not film needed to have a message or was just plain entertainment acceptable.....alot of my friends making horror films would adamantly dismiss the pretentious assholes making "art"........I was making films about what I knew, Italians in Brooklyn, and trying to balance, the family, the streets, your friends, and some inner morality......looking back, I don't think this was what was going through my mind....I just wrote from the gut, and a story would come out. I was somewhere between the two camps....I was just trying to create films which were as gritty and true to the reality I knew as best as I could......but as I contemplate on the question, and as I continue to write and make films, I have begun to realize that what I see as film, needs to know what it is trying to say...........
...it's interesting, the last two screenplays I wrote, just sort of exploded out of me....I truly take no credit for this...I just have learned how to get out of the way, and that's when the story comes to me. It's then just up to me, to be open and transcribe it the best I can.......and when it's finished, I don't really understand what I have written. It's so interesting to me to begin to understand the true meaning of my own words and stories......as I re read and re write and begin working with actors and musicians, the ideas and emotions of the story begin to coalesce. And what started as a story I needed to write that could be shot for forty thousand dollars with a minimum of locations slowly begins to flower into a series of ideas and contemplations on the deeper meanings of life and the struggles each person wrestles with as they try to survive in a sometimes difficult journey and balance the call of their heart and spirit with the passions of the flesh.
So I guess I'm thinking that as artists, we all need to aspire to something more, we all need to know what it is we are trying to see and we all need to become part of the discussion that will create all of our future. We need to quiet down a bit, and be open to hear the stories that are unique to only us. Let go of our own doubts and stop pushing so hard to please an unknown public or trying to write by some pre- determined screenplay format and start listening to the voice inside us that will create truly unique stories and images. There are enough reality shows that cater to our base emotions, and enough commercial nonsense that caters to a sole financial gain, and enough vacant product designed to inflate egos and support a celebrity culture, that I think it's time that we, who view ourselves as artists, stand up and step up our game, join together, talk, discuss and begin to create art which inspires, infuriates, makes us reflect, makes us question, and dares us to see ourselves, others, and this world in a different way. Open to the spirit that dares us to be more than we think we can be...........I can't wait to see howt these types of films and this type of art will influence all of us.
nice man
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