 |
|
AN
INTERVIEW WITH
BRIAN CREWE |
|
|
|
"The Journey From
Film School to Film
Production..." |
 |
|
Courtesy of Brian Crewe |
|
A Richard Propes Column
|
|
Feb 20th, 2007 |
|
| |
|
Brian Crewe works in the Los Angeles area as an editor for E!, MTV, VH1,
Starz! and ESPN! In addition to his ongoing work as the writer/director
of the short film series "The Rant n' Rave Project," Crewe is the
founder of Film Crewe Productions. In 2005, Crewe produced and
directed the award-winning short film "Learning to Fly," and is
currently developing several featuring film projects including the
Marion Kerr penned thriller "Golden Earrings," horror film "Perfectly
Twisted" and "Sara's Song," a powerful film about sexual abuse
co-written by Natalie Plant.
Crewe sat down with IndependentCritics.com for this insightful,
entertaining look at his past, the making of "Sara's Song" and his
vision of making films that matter. |
| |
Question:
Born and raised in Minneapolis. Worked in a video store for 4 years. You
obtained an Associate's degree in Film while still in Minnesota, then
got yourself out to the coast. What really triggered your interest in
film? At what age did you get interested or was it actually birthed out
of the video store experience? When did you finally start thinking "Hey,
I can make a living doing this?" How did your family/support system
respond?
Brian Crewe: When I was three my mom was
pregnant with my younger sister and my dad started taking me to movies.
The first one I really remember is "Star Wars." There was really no
going back after that. I don't remember a time when I didn't have that
movie memorized. From that point on I just wanted to see more and more
and while it started as just an interest in Star Wars and those types of
films, my tastes slowly expanded. My Dad was a really good sport about
seeing just about anything I wanted to check out.
I graduated high school in June 1993, the day “ Jurassic Park ” opened,
without having applied to any colleges and without a job. That July I
started part time at the mall based video store, Suncoast Pictures, in
Edina Minnesota . Within two years I was managing the Burnsville store.
Now, this was around the time that Kevin Smith made “Clerks” and Robert
Rodriguez made “El Mariachi.” I saw these films and listened to the
audio commentaries on the laserdiscs and it hit me that I wasn’t much
different than these guys. At the same time, I was getting frustrated
working at the store; it was boring after two years. Fortunately, my
Mom, who is a high school councilor, knew me really well and had
broachers ready and waiting for the film program in at Minneapolis
Community College . I don’t think she thought I would end up working in
film, but it was a way to get me to start college.
Within the span of a month I went from managing the video store to
working part time and taking classes. By the spring of ’96, I was
interested in getting a four year degree so my family and I flew out to
LA to look at schools. USC became my top pick pretty fast. The next
year, I applied to only one university, USC. It took a little drama but
I got in.
I graduated in May 1999 and started trying to find work. There have been
a couple rough patches but for the most part I’ve never been without a
job. To this day, I think my family thinks I’m a little crazy for living
my life the way I do but they’ve learned to accept it.
Question: You've worked, quite successfully, as an editor
as your "paid" job while working to develop your own projects. I want to
go into "Sara's Song," of course, but I want to give readers a
background for you. What has led to the point of developing outside
projects? Tell me about "Film Crewe Productions?"
Brian Crewe: Well my primary focus has
almost always been my side projects. To be successful in this business
you have to have a certain amount of ambition and show everyone that you
have your own thing going on. I started writing “Sara’s Song” while I
was still at USC. Fortunately, my skills as an editor have kept me
employed in television so I have been able to make a living in the
industry while developing my own material.
Since nobody else is producing my stuff I am basically my own production
company. Film Crewe Productions sounded like good name. I like that
Crewe has a double meaning. It’s my last name but I do also have a crew
of people I like to work with. I hope it conveys the sense of team work
I try to take into each of my projects.
Question: You've experienced quite a bit of success with
"Learning to Fly," your award-winning short film. It seems that you also
really began following your own advice of developing a collaborative
team (a point you make in one of your interviews about editing). This
beginning phase of developing one's own projects can be a challenging
place...risky (personally and financially), no guarantees of success,
possibly no income...Of course, Hollywood is filled with hungry
actors...but, really, how did you start building your team to support
this vision you have?
Brian Crewe: I started meeting people I
wanted to work while I was still in film school. I was fortunate enough
to have a really talented group of people around me and many of them are
still my friends. Of course, once you start working in the industry you
begin to meet more and more people. Pretty soon you have a whole little
network ready to go. When I start a new project I just look at what
positions need to be filled and 9 out of 10 times I’ll have someone from
my group who can fill the job.
Question: Tell me about your "Rant n'Rave" project
Brian Crewe: “The Rant n’ Rave Project” was
born out of frustration. “Sara’s Song” lost its financing in May of 2006
and there was a big recovery period over the summer, a lot of “what do
we do now?” The Rants were a good way of getting my team and I back into
fighting shape. It was also a fun challenge for me. Working as an editor
I rely on music and having multiple shots to tell my stories. By their
nature the rants are static shots with no music. It’s up to the
costumes, lighting, and production design to tell the story. It’s a good
way to train my brain to think about other disciplines.
Question: When did the idea for "Sara's Song" first start
to develop?
Brian Crewe: “Sara’s Song” started as a
five minute no-dialogue short that I was going to shoot at USC in the
Fall of 1998. At the time it was just the story of Sara escaping from
her physically abuse father. Thankfully, before shooting started I
realized that I was trying to do too much in to short of a time span. So
I instead started developing it as a feature for a writing class. I had
never attempted to write a script so it was kind of an experiment. The
story of Sara and her father became the back story. The primary story
was about Sara leaving a small town and trying to make it as musician in
LA. Personally, I have a very good relationship with my parents, giving
Sara a dysfunctional family life was just a way to give he another
obstacle to overcome. Of course, I knew a lot about moving from the
Midwest to LA and attempting to be an artist so that stuff was natural.
I did like three drafts with that basic story and by 2000 I was working
on other screenplays. Then I met Natalie…
Question: Tell me about your collaboration with Natalie
Plant. I find it interesting the idea of a male/female team writing a
screenplay about sexual abuse. Part of this, of course, would be my own
stereotypes about male/female...but, a huge part of it is also my desire
for that seemingly elusive balance in a script about abuse.
Brian Crewe: Well, you’re going to have to
explain your stereotypes sir!
I don’t know exactly how the male / female dynamic plays into the
writing, I’m not even sure I want to analyze that. However, what is
important is that Natalie approaches the story as an actor and I
approach it as a director. I’m always asking how we can we visually show
this part of Sara’s story and Natalie is always interested in what she
is feeling. That’s really how we write. It’s almost like an improv that
we just write down.
I think the key to keeping the story balanced is just remembering that
no one character in the story sets out to be evil, even the abusive
father has had some tragic background that makes him who he is. No one
human being is all good or all evil and keeping that in mind makes the
story balanced.
By the way, here’s a little history of how Natalie and I came to be
writing partners. After graduating from USC, I was living in a big house
with like seven people. Just before I moved out, Natalie moved in. We
struck up a friendship. She being an actress was interested in seeing my
stuff as a writer and she instantly became attached to Sara’s story and
she really wanted to play her. Having someone take that kind of interest
in my story really lit a fire under my butt and I started trying to find
a way to get the movie made. We went through all kinds of variations
from a 20 grand self-financed feature to a four million dollar budget.
There were a lot of ups and downs and while we were working on the “how
do we make this film?” problem, we also started rewriting the script. It
started with her giving me notes and then slowly I started giving her
pages to write and finally it became a full collaboration.
Today it seems unbelievable but for the longest time we fought making
Sara a sexual abuse survivor. Neither, Natalie or I are abuse survivors.
Speaking for myself I was just plain terrified of heading down that
road. But the question, “Was Sara sexually abused?” kept coming up in
auditions for the father and with potential producers. Finally, as the
writers we just surrendered to it. It made Sara a more interesting and
complex character. It was around the same time we decided to set the
entire story in Minneapolis . We left the girl moving to LA to be a rock
story had been done to death and setting in Minneapolis made the whole
thing a little more fresh.
Question: You've had quite the journey in trying to get
"Sara's Song" filmed. Can you tell me about the journey?
Brian Crewe: I could write a book!
Seriously, I feel like I should get master’s degree for this whole
affair.
This film has been defined by the strength of the partnership between
Natalie and I. To give the short version. By 2002 I had kind of let my
paying work over shadow my personal projects. Natalie’s interest in
“Sara’s Song” re-sparked my desire to starting working my own films
again. I started out convinced I could fund the whole thing on my credit
card and shoot it on video. For the sake of the film and my credit
report my friends talked me out of it.
Next we tried to find an investor at the American Film Market here in
Los Angeles and for a while it looked like we had! Unfortunately, they
disappeared after four or five months. A few potential producers came
and went after that. Finally, after we shot “Learning to Fly” in 2005 we
discovered we had investor interested in helping us. By this time Sara
had become a sexual abuse survivor. Also, around this time, Natalie and
I decided we should look into giving a portion of the film’s proceeds to
charity. All these elements were key to this investor’s interest.
With an investor on board and noble intentions in place we started
working toward shooting the film in June 2006 with a moderate budget.
Unfortunately, ten days before we were set to roll cameras our investor
discovered through no fault of his own that he had hit a major finical
snag and he was unable to give us the funds at that time.
So we regretfully had to lay off our very talented and understanding
crew; many of them where hit hard financially because we suddenly had no
cash to pay them. We placed them on deferred payment, which I was able
to give them out of my own pocket a few months later.
All in all it has been an educational experience. Fortunately, none of
this has changed our passion for the script nor weakened our desire to
make this film. Today we are still actively looking for an investor. We
are also pursuing other projects that will help establish a track record
of success.
Question: I often find myself frustrated with films about
abuse...especially sexual abuse. It's a challenging topic, of course,
but it seems like most films either: 1) sugar-coat it, 2) fall into
stereotypes, or 3) are just plain wrong. How does one go about making a
film that tells the truth but still pleases investors or has hopes to
actually be seen?
Brian Crewe: As we are still on the look
out for an investor, I’m not sure I know the answer to that. Personally,
I think you have to stay true to your characters. Sara was screaming at
us for the longest time that she was a survivor of sexual abuse but we
weren’t listening to her. Finally, we gave into who Sara had become and
the story started to work. Everyone who reads the screenplay today
agrees that it is now a powerful story.
Question: I think the big trap of this type of film is that
you either run the risk of being a Lifetime movie of the week or being a
dark depressing indie-film that only plays to the art house crowd. For
“Sara’s Song” we’ve tried to embrace the darkness but also keep an
element of hope.
I love the idea that you address many "survivor" topics in 'Sara's
Song." For example you bring up "cutting," "flashbacks" and are
descriptive in the way Sara lives out her life. You very clearly do tie
behaviors to her past without ever letting her completely off the hook
herself. You've clearly done some homework here. Why does this story
need to be told?
Brian Crewe: Thanks, we’ve read a lot of
books.
Talk about an opportunity to sound pretentious. For abuse survivors I
think it’s important thing to realize is that they are not alone. They
should feel no shame for their experiences and it wasn’t their fault. I
want them to know there is a reason to look forward to tomorrow. For the
people who haven’t suffered from abuse I want them to watch this film
and gain a glimmer of understanding. We are all so often caught up in
our own journey that we don’t take the time to see the world through
another person’s eyes. Movies give us that opportunity.
Lastly, I think people needed to be reminded that no matter what has
happened in the past it is ultimately up to you to stand up and take
control of your life.
Question: I'm craving a film that truly does an effective
job with flashbacks. Last year's "Don't Tell" attempted it, but in my
opinion did more of a stylized version, but didn't really capture the
experience of flashbacks. I would think your skills in editing are going
to be crucial here. Editing, direction, performance...while they're
always a crucial, collaborative effort...You're really going into
hardcore territory here.
Brian Crewe: Yeah, this is the real
challenge and appeal of this screenplay for me as a director. Lighting
and set design will also be really important. We’ve worked hard to map
out these scenes just right. Reading survivor accounts is essential. I
want to try to keep these scenes from Sara’s point of view as much as
possible and reading real life stories helps place me in the mind set of
the survivor.
Question: You've come remarkably close to actually starting
filming only to experience a setback. What do you need to get this
project off the ground?
Brian Crewe: Somewhere between $300,000 -
$500,000.
Question: You've also made a conscious effort to obtain
survivor feedback and support. Why is this important?
Brian Crewe: Well first, as a non-survivor
we don’t have any experience to draw on. As writers we have to be able
to get inside the character’s head very much like an actor if we are
going make a film that rings true. Hearing the experiences of survivors
helps us add layers to the story.
The reason we’re seeking their support is that we don’t want to exploit
their experiences. That’s why it’s important that a portion of the
film’s proceeds go to charities like RAINN and SOAR. Its one thing to go
to a movie and relate to a character, it’s another thing to go to movie
and know that it is part of the solution to the problem.
Question: You've gotten the involvement of Emilie Bernstein
to do music. How did that come about?
Brian Crewe: Kind of a round about to
story. I used to interview people for movie news shows like “Starz!
Movie News,” “Encore’s CineNews,” and HDNet’s “Hollywood HD.” At one
point I interviewed a woman named Lisbeth Scott, who is a wonderful
singer who has contributed to the soundtracks to “ Munich ” and “The
Passion of The Christ.” I asked Lisbeth to read “Sara’s Song” with an
eye toward helping write the music. She read it and said, I love this
but I’m not right for it. You should check out my friend Emilie
Bernstein’s band Story of M. Lisbeth was right, Emilie’s music was
perfect, I asked her to write the music and the score and she said yes.
It was really that simple. The four songs she’s started working on are
great! I can’t wait to get back to work on the film and finish them.
Question: It's very easy to look at this project and think
"oh wait. I can't see this. It's a film about sexual abuse. too
intense." This film can, and should, appeal to everyone. This is a film
about healing from sexual abuse, about a woman who becomes empowered to
break the cycles in her own life and who does, in fact, discover her
gifts, a small community of support and, in the end, this film is quite
hopeful. What are your goals for "Sara's Song?"
Brian Crewe: To start we will hit the major
film festivals to gain some awareness and find a distributor. After
that, I’d imagine we would have a limited theatrical run in LA, New York
, and Minneapolis . If that is successful I would hope the distributor
would expand the movie nation wide. Given the film’s low cost we should
make the budget back during that run.
I honestly think the film will really find its audience on home video
and more than likely through on-line distribution, which is going to be
huge in a couple of years. I think young women will discover this story
and relate to it, even if they haven’t been abused. I think word of
mouth will have them renting it and downloading it
Also, after we finish the actual film I want to work on making
supplemental materials for the DVD that councilors can use with
survivors. I think this story will be a wonderful starting point for
conversations about abuse and how to survive. The film is about how you
begin to heal but the work isn’t done when the film is over and I want
to make sure we give survivors a path to take the next step.
Question: Have you watched other films on this subject? Any
impressions
Brian Crewe: There are very few films on
this subject matter out there. In mainstream movies it seems to be used
as a subplot for secondary characters. Indie films seem to try and hide
the abuse in metaphor. I’m kind of blanking on a film where an abused
character and the results of their abuse are the main thrust of the
entire story.
Question: What's up next for "Film Crewe?" I read something
about a horror film? What's your ultimate vision for "Film Crewe?"
Brian Crewe: Well, obviously we are working
hard to get “Sara’s Song” back into production. In the meantime I’m
going to be shooting three more “Rant n’ Raves” at the end of the month.
After that in March or April we’ll hopefully be shooting a feature
length thriller called “Golden Earring.” It’s a really cool script
written by Marion Kerr, a wonderful actress I met while casting “Sara’s
Song.” Marion played Mabel in “Learning to Fly” and will play Kim in
“Sara’s Song.”
In addition to that, Marion and I are writing a horror film called
“Perfectly Twisted.” It’s basically “Shaun of The Dead” meets “Nip /
Tuck” if you can imagine that. Natalie also has a role in that film as
do many other member of our “Sara’s Song” team. We are teaming up with a
company called Scary Monkey Productions to shoot that movie in late
April / early May.
Alas, these direct to video horror films are much easier to get financed
than a film like “Sara’s Song.” My hope is that by doing these low
budget films I can prove that I am capable of directing a film that will
turn a profit. Hopefully, that will strengthen “Sara’s Song’s” chances
of getting made.
My ultimate goal for Film Crewe is to be able to shoot my own movies
while at the same time give my talented group a friends a safe place to
bring their projects.
Question: What are some of your other hobbies/interests?
Favorite films? Actors? Actresses?
Brian Crewe: I’m a big skier / snowboarder.
I’ve also picked up surfing here in LA. I’m still a Star Wars fanatic. I
can’t play an instrument or carry a tune to save my life but I love
listening to music. Traveling when I have time and money. My biggest
hobby is just going to movies.
Here’s a sampling of my favorite films: Star Wars (especially III-VI),
Highlander (just the first one), Trainspotting, Run Lola Run, James
Bond, The films of Quentin Tarantino, Sin City, Alien, Aliens, True
Lies, The films of Stanley Kubrick, The films of Oliver Stone, The
original version of Apocalypse Now, The films of Kevin Smith, Lord of
The Rings, Indiana Jones, The films of Cameron Crowe, Superman: The
Movie, Blue Thunder, Back to The Future, Blade Runner, Backbeat, The
Crow, Star Treks I-IV &; VI &; Generations &; First Contact, Top Gun,
Purple Rain, and so many more…
Question: Any favorite experiences thus far working in
film?
Brian Crewe: My favorite experience to date
was making “Learning to Fly.” To come up with that story, improvise it
with the actors, mobilize the crew to do it, and pull off a skydiving
and waterskiing sequence (the waterskiing scene never made it into the
film) all in the same day was just a rush unlike any other!
Question: ACTOR'S STUDIO QUESTION: What's your favorite
word?
Brian Crewe: I should probably make
something up because I’ll probably lose any of the good will I’ve earned
from those reading this but to be honest my favorite word is “fuck.”
It’s just so versatile, not to mention a lot of fun to say.
Question: Brian, thank you so much for your time. I wish
you well with "Sara's Song" and all the projects coming up for Film
Crewe Productions.
Brian Crewe: Thanks again for taking
interest in the film. Please let me know if I can answer any more
questions or if you need more info from me or anyone else involved in
the project.
For more information on "Sara's Song" or Film Crewe Productions visit
Film Crewe's website at
http://www.filmcreweproductions.com or visit "Sara's Song" or at
http://www.myspace.com/sarassong/
|
| |
|
© Written by Richard Propes -
Email Me! |
TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Jacob
Hall's Comment
n/a
|
