Why Make an Independent Film?
by Steve-O
A lot of people have a script inside their head that goes something like this: write a screenplay, make an independent film, sell the film, make millions of dollars, be famous.
On the surface, it seems reasonable. After all, look at Robert Rodriguez. You make El Mariachi, next thing you know, you are hanging with Quentin Tarantino and making Spy Kids.
But that formula is by far the exception rather than the rule. And what’s the point, anyway? To make some money? Or make art? Case in point — Donal Logue and Tennis, Anyone?
Logue screened his 2005 film yesterday at the tail-end of the Lone Star International Film Festival for a couple of reasons. Part of it was as a favor to his friend, Bill Paxton, who has imported a lot of friends to try and make this festival a success. But another part is his battle to find an audience for his film.
On one level, the film is about a couple of struggling actors trying to make their way in Hollywood. But on another level, the film is a quest for meaning. These guys learn about life and themselves through a lot of talk and tennis. It’s a guy movie. It’s a buddy film. It’s also wickedly funny. I haven’t laughed that hard at a movie in a long time.
And still, the film has had a hard time finding an audience.
Said Logue: “I was on the phone the trying to sell the foreign distribution rights and this woman in Switzerland or somewhere is like, ‘Do you think people outside Hollywood will get it?’ And I’m like, you don’t understand what this film is about.”
And those are just the distribution hassles. Logue has been fighting battles the entire way. After he and co-star Kirk Fox wrote the movie, Logue proceeded to call in every chip he had to make the movie. He borrowed equipment. He got friends to make cameos and make their houses available to shoot. He made the movie on his own dime. You would think that for a guy who was already a film and TV star, this would be easy. But it wasn’t. Yeah, sure, he can borrow $700,000 of Panavision cameras and get Paul Rudd to come in and make some ass jokes. But at the end of the day, you would still hope the thing would make at least some money.
So why bother? Because he couldn’t not make his own film.
“I had to do this,” Logue said. “I learned more about film by working on this than I did in all of my other experiences in Hollywood.”
It’s easy to get caught up in the glitter this week, to think that making independent film is about grabbing the brass ring. But for a lot of people, it’s about more than that. It’s about expressing what is in their souls and understanding their place in the universe. It’s about ria.
And if you don’t know what ria is, I suggest you see Tennis, Anyone? It will all become clear.
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