As a filmmaker whose first film was made with the DIY tools of digital cinema, I love how the democratization of the filmmaking process and platforms like YouTube enables people to tell stories that in previous generations simply could not be told.
After working for a while, I realized that acting was only satisfying about 30 percent of what interested me about the filmmaking process. Somewhere around age seventeen, I started to realize that if I'm very particular about the people I work with, then I can have the best sort of master class possible.
The filmmaking process is a very personal one to me, I mean it really is a personal kind of communication. It's not as though its a study of fear or any of that stuff.
I think the biggest thing you take from the stunt world is your understanding of the filmmaking process. For years, you've worked with every other department closely. You know hair, makeup, wardrobe, special effects, and you know what everybody's needs are and their expectations. You also know how to collaborate with them.
It's been a dream to work alongside the talented team at Lucasfilm and ILM to make advancements and improvements to the filmmaking process to help tell stories more efficiently.
What I realized is that it doesn't matter how big or small your film is. The actual filmmaking process, the actual storytelling, it's still the same thing. It's still all about creating characters that you like and creating moments that get you excited or get you tense.
My stated goal as a filmmaker is to feel something. Is to have a palpable emotion in my life, carry it through the gauntlet of the filmmaking process and try and have it land for an audience at some point during the viewing experience. That to me is successful filmmaking.
All I know is movies; I went to school, but movies are my reference point for everything. I figured I'd have to P.A. or intern in the art department. Because the filmmaking process is so many people creating to make one piece of magic, so I've always wanted to be involved. With the acting, I doubted it.
I have been a director who has starred, participated on both sides of the filmmaking process.
The filmmaking process is a team effort. A screenwriter cannot possibly do exactly what he wants as if he was writing a novel.
