[caption id="attachment_143" align="aligncenter" width="199" caption="Jennifer left, Victoria right
Photo: David Bukach"]
[/caption]I got the opportunity to interview the sisters of Elgin Road Productions. They are Jennifer and Victoria Westcott. Find out what the independent film landscape is like in Victoria, British Columbia. Find out what the sisters think about movie remakes. Read below to find out more.
What is the current project you are working on?
Jennifer: We start production on our first feature in a week. So exciting!
Victoria: It's called LOCKED IN A GARAGE BAND. A coming of age comedy about a high school garage band on the brink of breaking up that gets locked in their garage for a day.
Did you always want to be a filmmaker?
Jennifer: God, no. I started screenwriting five years ago - I decided to try directing my own work about a year ago.
Victoria: Nope. I'm an inner city school teacher turned entrepreneur turned producer. Never would have predicted this path, but I love my sister and her scripts and producing is pretty fun - just like teaching really. You plan, plan and plan some more - and then have to be super flexible when those plans don't go the way you wanted them to. I like that kind of work.
What inspired you to become filmmaker?
Jennifer: It seemed like the next logical step.
Victoria: The opportunity to be scared out of my mind at the same time as super excited while working with my sister - that's all very cool and keeps me going every day.
What is the best thing about being one?
Jennifer: I like working with actors. It's creative and fun and I love the collaboration - they have great ideas that make mine even better. I can't imagine a better job.
Victoria: I love movies and I love working with my sister. We're totally different - I like asking people for money and free stuff and get a kick out of that challenge, whereas Jen gets hives just thinking about it. She loves writing screenplays & seeing the movie come to life - which frankly, totally stresses me out. What I love more than anything is that we're really well matched as a team - I produce, she writes/directs. I don't think many sisters can say that they work so well together, so I'm grateful that we can.
Plus, we have a kick-ass team of collaborators - the DP, our editor, our sound guy, our line producer, all the actors, our casting director, the production manager, the cook- it really takes a whole community to make a movie. I love that!
What is the worst thing about being one?
Jennifer: The endless script rewrites. You're working alone, the initial high of having a new idea that you can actually flesh out into a full story is long gone and the end product of a coherent, well-structured script seems so far off. It sucks. But you have to go through it, I guess.
Victoria: The emotional roller coaster, but it does go up so...I guess it's necessary.
What is the estimated number of projects you have worked on?
Jennifer: I've written twelve screenplays and directed one teaser. This is my first real experience on a film set.
Victoria: Zip, except the teaser.
Who is your favorite filmmaker?
Jennifer: It depends. I love Edward Burns and Francis Ford Coppola and Kevin Spacey and Joseph Gordon Levitt for what they've done (and continue to do) to encourage young and/or new filmmakers. I love Kathryn Bigelow and Nancy Meyer and Amy Heckerling and Jane Campion and Sarah Polley for being kick ass female directors that I can aspire to. I love theCoen brothers and Woody Allen for their bodies of work. I love Peter Berg for creating the tv series Friday Night Lights. My favourite movies include Little Miss Sunshine, Lars and the Real Girl, Death at a Funeral and The Incredibles. I love good stories well told most of all.
Victoria: The indies that share information on twitter - Marty Lang, Lucas McNelly, Karen and David of Film Courage, Edward Burns, Wonder Russell, MJ Slide - there are so many inspiring filmmakers on twitter, I can't name them all, but every conversation we have helps.
How has your life changed since you became a filmmaker?
Jennifer: My house is much, much dirtier and my kids watch a lot more tv. It's been a crazy year.
Victoria: I'm way more grateful for everyone that's still in my life - it's like getting married, or giving birth for the first time or meeting a guy that you just can't shut up about - I'm completely absorbed by the movie and really appreciate the friends that are putting up with the constant movie discussions. I'll come out of it at some point, I promise!
What is one piece of advice you can give to someone who also wants to make it in the movie business?
Jennifer: If you love what you're doing, then you must not quit.
Victoria: Find people who have been successful in the way you want to be, and listen to them. Ignore everyone else. Loads of people will give you advice (whether you ask or not) and the best thing to do is thank them, be grateful that they cared enough to share, and then ignore everything they've just said. Only listen to the ones that have taken the path you plan to take. Sounds harsh, but ... it works for me.
What are some of your favorite American films? Foreign films? Television shows?
Jennifer: American movies: Little Miss Sunshine, Lars and the Real Girl, The Incredibles, The (original) Stepford Wives, Brokeback Mountain, Stand by Me.
Foreign: Death at a Funeral, Bridget Jones' Diary, Il Postino, Diabolique.
Television Shows: Friday Night Lights. It's spectacular story-telling and performance. I love it more than anything else and never tire of watching it.
Victoria: Damn, Jen took all of mine. I'll add: American - The Big Lebowski, The Bourne Series, The Holiday, The Hangover, Kick-Ass, The Breakfast Club
Foreign: I'm going to pick all Canadian films, since they're foreign to the states, but not to me: Cube, Highway 61, Roadkill, The Red Violin.
TV shows: Friday Night Lights, 30 Rock, Community, Walking Dead, first few seasons of Lost, first few seasons of Six Feet Under, Heroes before it went downhill (first season was awesome, such a shame...), Freaks & Geeks, The Inbetweeners
How would you describe your film education?
Jennifer: I learned how to write in university - I have an MA in History. Nothing teaches you to use as few words as possible and to write clearly and coherently like a History major. I believe it prepared me for screenwriting like no other education could. I've read a ton of books on directing and writing. Actually I read a ton of books, period. And I have very little social life (having three young children does that to you), so I inevitably consume movies and television like there's no tomorrow. I also belong to an amazing on-line writer's group - I've learned more through workshopping my scripts there than anywhere else.
Victoria: books, workshops, twitter.
How would you describe the film "scene" where you live?
Jennifer: In Victoria, BC? Limited. Lots of docs. Vancouver's a different story - lots going on, tons of actors, great crew available, great place to be. Too bad it takes us six hours to get there.
Victoria: Six hours is a bit of an exaggeration - we have to take a ferry to get to Vancouver and Jen hates waiting in the ferry line. It's really only a couple of hours away, but add the wait and traffic...and yeah, we live on an island. Filmmaking is much bigger on the mainland - just the way it goes I'm sorry to say. We set our first film on the island, but we're filming it on the mainland, where most of our cast & crew live.
How has social media changed the independent film industry?
Jennifer: I've only ever experienced the independent film industry through social media and the internet. I can't imagine what it would have been like before Facebook and Twitter and Zoetrope and Triggerstreet. My writer's group is online. My filmmaking friends are online. We communicate with our cast and crew through Facebook and email. We raise our money through Kickstarter. We apply for grants and festivals and make contacts with corporate sponsors all over the internet. It's everything we do.
Victoria: Everything Jen said and more. I absolutely love the openness of the filmmakers that embrace social media - I learn so much from the community and feel supported in being new and taking a leap in making a feature film.
What is the casting process like?
Jennifer: We hired an actor who I knew who was looking to get into casting as our casting director and thank god we did. She knew agents, she knew industry protocol, she could spot a diamond in the rough, she was invaluable. Because of her, the casting process was AWESOME. I know if we'd gone it alone, we would have been up the creek without a paddle. If you can scrape together the money to hire someone (and we paid her far, far less than what she was worth - but like I said, we knew each other and she knew my writing, so she wanted to be involved) you definitely should. Next to your script, your cast is the most important element of your film - get the best people you possibly can.
Victoria: Kristina Agosti was our Casting Director and I honestly don't know what we would have done without her. I looked at headshots and skimmed resumes, whereas a CD knows the training and the teachers in Vancouver so she could read much more from the resumes and know who to call in based on their experience and training. Find some money and hire a Casting Director. Best advice I can give.
How does independent film differ from the mainstream?
Jennifer: Well, I haven't really experienced the mainstream, so I don't really know. There are great mainstream movies, there are great independent movies. There are shitty mainstream movies, and shitty independent movies. That's all I know for sure.
Victoria: It's all about the script - whether it's an indie or a big Hollywood budget. Only difference is the amount of money flying around.
You could go back in time and see any classic film being made. Which film would it be?
Jennifer: Citizen Cane, definitely!
Victoria: ET. It'd be cool to see Drew Barrymore as that little kid.
You could be any animal. Which would you be?
Jennifer: Any flying bird.
Victoria: A lion. Roar.
You could have any super power. What would it be?
Jennifer: Flight.
Victoria: Telepathy.
Do you believe on life on other planets?
Jennifer: Yep.
Victoria: Definitely. Jen used to read books about aliens and freak me out when we were teenagers.
What is your opinion on movie remakes?
Jennifer: Well, if they could all be as good as the Coen brothers' remake of True Grit, I'd be a-okay with them. Mostly, though, I just think, "Why?" Just watch the original.
Victoria: There's room for us all. If someone's willing to buy the ticket, then someone will make the film. Doesn't mean I will buy a ticket, but to each their own. I'm not bothered either way really.
Thanks to Jennifer and Victoria for allowing me to do the interview. I hope I can catch LOCKED IN A GARAGE BAND at a festival near me. I'd love to do a review.
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