INTERVIEW WITH GENE BLALOCK (director) and JAMES BORING (writer) for UNLUCKY GIRL

[slideshow]

WHAT IS THE CURRENT PROJECT YOU ARE WORKING ON?

GENE: I’m always involved in several different projects, but with James, we are currently working on a short film entitled UNLUCKY GIRL.

 DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO BE A FILMMAKER?

JAMES:  No. I am drawn to film, but I'm not sure it’s my passion.

GENE: I’ve had three passions my entire life: music, art, and film.  Every since I was a child, all three have played a huge part of my life.  As it relates to film, my sister and I used to write short stories and act them out.  As I got older and got my hands on cameras, my friends and I would go into the woods and shoot these little shorts.  It was not until university that I realized that perhaps I could do this full-time.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME FILMMAKERS?

JAMES: Gene inspired me to do this project.

GENE: As I mentioned, I have always loved film.  There is something about going to the cinema and seeing these amazing images tell a story in front of you.   I love every aspect of it, from framing a shot to seeing your story come to life with sound, music, and images… it’s really an amazing experience.  I love that escapism that cinema allows.  The viewer is swept away into something they do not get to experience on a daily basis.  Every since my parents took me to see my very first film, I knew there was something magical there that I wanted to be a part of.

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING ONE?

JAMES: You get to create and experience film as it is made.

GENE: Yes, like James said, it’s amazing to be able to have this image in your head and see it come to life before your eyes.  That pure form of expressiveness… you do not get it from many other things.

WHAT IS THE WORST THING ABOUT BEING ONE?

JAMES: You have to worry about money.

GENE:  The business side of it, absolutely.  I hate having to concentrate on that part of it.  It’s the worse part of the entire project.  People seem to think that films just happen, but at least on the indie level, it’s a lot of hard work with very long hours.  There are months of pre-production, scheduling, budgeting, fundraising, and other grueling task that go into a film before the first frame is shot.  It’s an amazingly long and painstaking process.  However, when you finally see your film complete on a 60-foot screen, there is nothing like it.

WHAT IS THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF PROJECTS YOU HAVE WORKED ON?

GENE: That’s hard to calculate.  I’ve worked on a lot of projects – most of them not my own... I’m not really sure…  A LOT!

JAMES:  I used to co-curate an Independent film showcase. This is my only film credit I have moving to Los Angeles.

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE FILMMAKER?

GENE: That’s tough… it really depends on the day.  I love Tim Burton – defiantly one of my top. Richard Kelly, Todd Haynes, Baz Luhrmann – all great.  Recently, Christopher Nolan, John Favreau, and JJ Abrams have all impressed me.  But this list could go on forever including Hitcock, Kubrick, David Lynch, and so on…

JAMES: That's really hard to say. Kubrick I guess.

 HOW HAS YOUR LIFE CHANGED SINCE YOU BECAME A FILMMAKER?

JAMES: It’s become busier as I have to work on the days we don't film.

GENE: It hasn’t really.  I’ve been fortunate enough to do what I love, so my life is fairly constant.

WHAT IS ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE TO SOMEONE WHO ALSO WANTS TO MAKE IT IN THE MOVIE BUSINESS?

JAMES: I like Tim Curry's advice, "Wait to be asked."

GENE: It depends on what side of the business you want to be on.  There are certainly a lot of office jobs in this profession.  However if you want to make films, my best advice is to just get out there and do it.  Don’t wait for Hollywood to knock on your door to hand you a load of cash.  Just get out there and make movies.  Borrow friends and family for talent and crew and shoot on whatever camera you can get your hands one.  Just create great stories and the rest will fall into place.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE AMERICAN FILMS? FOREIGN FILMS? TELEVISION SHOWS?

JAMES: American, The Shining, Nightmare on Elm Street, Maltese Falcon, Jaws, Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, Halloween, Poltergeist, and many others. Forging films, Deep Red, Kronos, High Tension, Zombie, Shaun of the Dead, Demons 1 & 2, The Birds, Frenzy... TV, Twin Peaks, Reaper, Deadwood.

GENE: I don’t watch television really… my film list could get way too long for this interview… I talked about some of my favorites directors, so their films would be among my favorites.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR FILM EDUCATION?

JAMES: self-educated I guess. Gene's the filmmaker; I'm just a person with ideas.

GENE: I went to film school, though I admit, I’ve learned far more just by being out there doing it. Nothing beats hands on experience.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE FILM "SCENE" WHERE YOU LIVE?

JAMES: It's very competitive here. Indie filmmaking is sort of frowned at by some people.

GENE: Well, being in Hollywood, there is a plethora of filmmakers here trying to break in and as James said, there can be some competition. But on the indie level, there are a lot of us that like helping each other out.  There is a cool little community of indie guys that just want to make great films.  It can get frustrating at times here since everything you asked for has a huge price tag on it, but that is when you just have to get creative and embrace gorilla filmmaking at it’s core.  But I will say this, there is no better place to be able to have access to everything you need to make a great film than right here in Hollywood.

HOW HAS SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGED THE INDEPENDENT FILM INDUSTRY?

JAMES: Well the Internet is going to change all entertainment eventually. Right now there's a good opportunity for Indie filmmakers to get funding and reach an audience without going through the studio system.  I think it’s a unique opportunity for those willing to seize on it.

GENE: Like James said, there has never been a better time to be a filmmaker.  You can create something and potentially reach thousand or millions of people.  But in the end, it still comes down to content.  You have to have a compelling story, otherwise people will not watch.

WHAT IS THE CASTING PROCESS LIKE?

JAMES: We're using people that we are already acquainted with for this project.

GENE: Traditionally we would have casting calls, auditions, call backs, and final selection, much like they would in the mainstream setting, but UNLUCKY GIRL was easy.  When James approached me with the idea, he had already thought and talked to most everyone he wanted involved.

HOW DOES INDEPENDENT FILM DIFFER FROM THE MAINSTREAM?

JAMES: You have no money, but you also have total creative control.

GENE: James hit it on the head.  Getting funded is harder and you never have the budget or time that you wish… But that is offset by the control you have; you do not have a lot of suits asking you to change everything.  There is a bit of freedom on the indie level, but that comes with some sacrifice as well.  You often will not be able to get the perfect shot or you have to settle for a less than ideal location… but that also forces creativity.  So I suppose it all evens out.

YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME AND SEE ANY CLASSIC FILM BEING MADE. WHICH FILM WOULD IT BE?

JAMES: THE BIRDS (1963) or TOUCH OF EVIL (1958).

GENE: I suppose it depends on what you consider classic… STAR WARS (1977) would have been an amazing film to be apart of.  Before that, probably The Wizard of OZ (1939).

YOU COULD BE ANY ANIMAL. WHICH WOULD YOU BE?

JAMES: Humans are animals.

GENE: What James said.

YOU COULD HAVE ANY SUPER POWER. WHAT WOULD IT BE?

JAMES: I could stand to be a better judge of character.

GENE: I already have a super power – I’m vegan.

DO YOU BELIEVE ON LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS?

JAMES: I don't have beliefs about things that have no evidence to back them up. Statistically, I think there's a decent chance of it.

GENE: I’m  skeptic in every sense of the word.  However, of all the stars out there, it stands to reason that a least a small portion of them could possibly have life orbiting them. Though, if there is intelligent life out there, I don’t think they have any interest in this planet, nor have they bothered to visit and abduct our country folk for probing.  I’m sure they would see us as a far more uncivilized species that will inevitably destroy our planet and ourselves.