POE FILMS

Filmmaker Magazine column on 'Ex-Girlfriends

2011-11-15T11:13:00.001-08:00

Check out a column I wrote for John Yost's Filmmaker Magazine's column, 'The Micro-Budget Conversation.'http://www.filmmakermagazine.com/news/2011/11/the-microbudget-conversation-ex-girlfriends/

THE MICROBUDGET CONVERSATION: “EX-GIRLFRIENDS”

By John Yost

Earlier this month I had the opportunity to take a master class with Ted Hope and Christine Vachon. Now out of respect to them I will not reveal all that was discussed, but what I can tell you is that my perspective of things has been altered quite a bit. I first started this blog with the intention of showcasing microbudget work as the passionate filmmaking it is…and fuck the rules. (The whole series of manifestos is evidence of that.) We were making cinema fast and cheap, and we needed to completely re-write the rules; a message that can be exhilarating if not short-sided. Don’t get me wrong, the old way of making films will soon be gone forever, but there are just some tent poles that can’t be taken down. I don’t think the goal of this column has changed, but the amount I have learned from our readers and the wonderful folks I’ve met because of this column cannot go unabsorbed. This is a time for learning and growth in this industry, and my time waiting for the ground to stop shifting is over…it’s time to embrace the future with new ideas built over the skeleton of tradition. One of those beams is Authenticity. A wonderful byproduct of a collapsing industry, like the new elements formed from an exploding star, and if embraced could lead to a community of artists, audience members, and gatekeepers that could spell nothing but Renaissance.

This week our contributor is Alexander Poe, a recent Columbia graduate and filmmaker with plenty of experience under his belt. In this play by play of how he was able to “just go out and shoot” his first feature Ex-Girlfriends, Alex shows us that the “go get’m” attitude has to be mixed in with the foundations of good cinema; story, collaboration, and professionalism.

When I set out to write and direct my first micro-budget feature, Ex-Girlfriends, I tried to find out as much as I could about how other filmmakers had done it. To some degree each film requires a unique approach, but still I think it’s helpful to hear other filmmakers’ war stories and pick up what works for you.

A film shoot lives or dies based on the commitment of the cast and crew and on this one I had a great team: actress/executive producer Jennifer Carpenter, who decided to spend her break from Dexter running around New York with us shooting guerrilla style. My longtime friend and collaborator Joseph Varca who came on as co-Producer, production designer, and script supervisor. Cinematographer Gregory Kershaw who delivered great shots with limited resources. And most importantly, Producer/AD/editor Jennifer Gerber, who carried this film every step of the way through pre-production, production, and post all while somehow going to class at Columbia Film School for a few sleepless months.

Now as we reach the end of post-production I sat down to collect some thoughts on shooting micro-budget and to talk with Jennifer Carpenter and Jennifer Gerber about their perspective on the process via conference call.

2am ideas

It was the kind of decision you make in a bar at 2am… “I’m not going to wait around anymore for someone else to make my movie, I’m going to make it myself.” It seemed like a good idea at the time. I had tried just about every other way of getting to direct my first feature: writing spec features and trying to get them in the hands of “the right people,” working my way up as an assistant, going to film school, making shorts, and sending them to festivals.

Each step had made me a better, more experienced filmmaker, but actually getting someone with some means of production (a producer, a production company, a wealthy investor) to say: “Let’s make this movie” proved elusive. I had made enough shorts to add up to the running time of a feature, but I had always thought that making a feature is an entirely different process than making the scrappy no-budget shorts.

The short films I made had budgets of $50 – $5,000, were shot on some version of prosumer camera, over the course of a few days, with a cast and crew made up mostly of friends working for nothing. We filmed in people’s apartments, sneaking around their landlords, and stole shots on the street and the subway without permits. We often shot until we were kicked out of a place and then re-wrote the script to somehow have that make sense for the story.

Surely, I thought, features were not made this way… Features had real budgets, permits, trucks, production offices that were not my apartment, real locations where you weren’t under threat of eviction every day, catering with fresh fruit and friendly people handing you sandwiches all the time, trailers, the lights the DP actually requested, camera equipment that isn’t called “prosumer,” some kind of veteran producer who is friends with Christine Vachon who actually knows what a SAG contract looks like, AND investors who actually pay for the film.

Well… Somewhere people were making first features like that… But if your number doesn’t come up, you need to find another way to make your film.

Shooting guerilla style in grand central station, moments before getting kicked out.

Staying in the fight

Here’s the thing about trying to get money for a film: you can spend a lot of time chasing it, but at the end of the day if you haven’t actually made your movie you have nothing to show for it. I would rather have a $10,000 movie made today than a $1,000,000 movie that I have to wait two years to get into production. I’m a believer in the idea that work leads to more work and waiting leads to more waiting.

In our conference call, Carpenter hit the nail on the head: “Whether you want to be a writer, a director, or an actor, the secret is really just to stay in it. The ones who make it are the ones who keep fighting.”

All of which brings me back to the bar at 2AM… The place where lots of important life decisions seem to be made… Fortunately, the person I was ranting to over a glass of Jameson in 1020, a Morningside Heights dive bar that would later become a location in the film, was fellow Columbia film student and filmmaker Jennifer Gerber, who had experience as an AD/producer on commercials, industrials, and a bunch of short films. On top of that she is one of the hardest working people I know.

Jen started off by offering to help me put together a script breakdown and a budget that would take into account the small money I had to shoot the film.

Building the team

Ex-Girlfriends was a screenplay I had been working on for a while with the idea that it was something small enough that I could direct myself on a low budget. It’s a New York comedy/drama about three people who realize they’re caught up in a complicated relationship triangle and try to untangle it.

I had written to my resources and set the action in locations I felt reasonably sure I could find: bars, apartments, New York streets, parks, and a house in the Hamptons. Most of the roles were for actors in their 20s, a description that pretty much summed up my group of friends.

My cinematographer was another friend from Columbia, Gregory Kershaw. He lived a few blocks from me in Greenwich Village and was looking to get his first feature cinematography credit having shot a number of shorts. Greg really responded to the script. It was, after all, about angst-ridden twenty-somethings wandering around New York trying to sort out their lives, which is to say, it was about our day-to-day lives. While in pre-production, Greg and I would walk around the village, scouting locations and talking about the script, the visual language of the film and other films we liked that we wanted to use as reference points.

Jen, Greg and I had all studied with Columbia directing guru, Eric Mendelsohn (whose film 3 Backyards won the Audience Award at Sundance last year), and so we had a common understanding of shot grammar and a mutual set of experiences from his weekly marathon class (running somewhere between eight to 12 hours). So lots of our creative conversations would go something like: “Remember that Mendelsohn class where we were watching The Exorcist shot for shot for 12 hours? This moment is like that shot where the detective asks for a cup of coffee and the camera jumps the line…”

Rounding out the team was Joseph Varca, a friend and longtime collaborator I had worked with for a long time doing plays and short films. He would come on as co-producer, adding another voice to our shot list conversations, our location scouts, and act as another eye on the monitor on set in addition to covering production design, additional casting and script supervision.

If you don’t have money to offer, you need to have people who are dedicated to your project and willing to go the distance with you no matter what. In a way, our team felt like a family. After a while we developed a short hand, working together all day, then sitting down for drinks to talk about the next day’s shot list. Without that kind of tight knit group who really believed in getting the film done no matter what, there is no way it would have happened.

Co-prod. Joseph Varca, DP Gregory Kershaw, Dir. Alexander Poe, and Prod. Jennifer Gerber

Cast

Not having a lot of money, I knew that the one place I could really enhance the quality of the film was in casting great actors. While I hadn’t necessarily written with specific actors in mind, I knew a lot of actors in New York who I had worked with at the Williamstown Theater Festival in plays and in short films that I liked and trusted. In true Woody Allen fashion I decided that I was going to play the lead, something I had done in a number of short films and plays. To make sure everything would go smoothly I tried to work with actors that I had already worked with, or find friends of friends.

One week before shooting we had a casting crisis (this was before Jennifer Carpenter became involved).

I got a call from the lead actress: “Vampire Diaries just offered me a recurring role and I really have to take it…“ I turned and looked back at Jen, Joe, and Greg who are in the midst of tech-scouting frigid Hudson River Park for a scene we’re supposed to shoot with her in ten days. In the most professional tone I could manage I told her “I understand” and tried to figure out what the hell I was going to do while trying not to panic.

When it comes down to it, this is not an uncommon occurrence on films of this size (and films in general). Good actors are in demand and sometimes you lose them to other projects. It’s not the actor’s fault, they have careers to consider just like everyone else and sometimes conflicts come up. Everything is always a little bit luck of the draw and you have to just accept, move on and start making phone calls.

Kristen Connolly, the other lead in the film (and a friend from college who I had directed in my first short film) immediately put me in touch with her manager, Michael Lazo at Untitled Entertainment. Michael had been supportive of the project thus far and offered to help me cast the role.

“I’ll just send you over a list of our clients who are available” he said.
“Okay…” I said, still pretty sure the movie was over, or at least delayed for a long time.

An e-mail popped up on my phone. I looked at the list. It had a dozen names of high profile actresses all of whose work I deeply respected. From my perspective at that moment the subject of the email might as well have been: “Actresses who are out of your league.” I called Michael back.

“So… These actresses would actually be in my film?”

“You can offer them the role and they’ll consider it.”

“And they know it’s the SAG Ultra-Low Budget contract?” ($100 a day)

“Yes…” he said as if I was an insane person. “I like your script. So who do you want to make an offer to?”

So several days later I was having coffee at French Roast on 6th ave. with Jennifer Carpenter, trying not to sound like a star struck Dexter fan and also trying to figure out how the hell she was even considering being in my micro-budget film. What I quickly realized is that Jennifer is the type of dedicated actor who is hungry for good roles.

Here’s what Jennifer Carpenter said about signing on to the film: “I had been looking for a role where I could explore my comedic side and I just really liked the script. It’s always been my dream to be in a Woody Allen movie and there was something about the writing that had that same quality that I connected with right away. I remember you saying that this was a film that you wanted to keep small enough that you could make it yourself and I thought that was a really cool idea. Money can create so much unnecessary pressure [on bigger-budget films] and without that pressure there is the freedom to really focus on the script. I didn’t know any of you, except for that one coffee we had at French Roast, but right away I could tell that everyone working on the film was there because they were passionate about the project and I wanted to be part of it too.”

There’s one other thing you should know about Jennifer Carpenter: she’s a total bad ass. She had just run the NYC marathon, was still limping from the grueling race and excitedly telling me about an Antarctic sled race she was going to do with Johnny Lee Miller in a few months. Those actually turned out to be great qualifications to be involved with a micro-budget film: willing to endure long hours standing out in the cold? You’re in.

On the set of Ex-Girlfriends

Crew

The other thing you can do to make your micro-budget film turn out well is to spend the time finding the right crew. No one is involved with a micro-budget film because of the money. They’re there because they believe in what you’re doing and want to be a part of it. You have to rely on people coming up through the ranks who are willing to work for a lower rate in order to get a feature credit and more experienced people who believe in your story enough to come on for cheap.

In our case, the dedication of the core team of Jen, Joe and Greg created an atmosphere of collaboration and openness on the set that made people we basically met only days before shooting feel like an integral part of the creative process. Our AC, Steve McBride, who had brought on his RED to the shoot went above and beyond to get us a superlative image. The sound recordist, Abe Gil, hustled like I’ve never seen a sound guy hustle on such a low-budget project. You have to find people who want to be involved with telling the story, and you have to let them bring their creative talents to the film. The real job of the director in relation to the crew (and in some sense the cast) is to give them the information they need and overall framework in order to give you all the pieces you need in order to construct your film in the edit room. If you tell people what you’re aiming for and then ask them how you can best get there.

All of the money in the world isn’t going to deliver a good film unless your core cast and crew is actively engaged with the story you’re trying to tell. In some sense a micro-budget creates a lot of difficulties because you’re restricted in the equipment you can afford, the number of crew members you can pay, and the number of days you can shoot. But the real advantage is that you start to come up with creative solutions to problems that a larger film would solve by throwing money at it. That’s where getting passionate cast and crew is really going to come into play: when your back is against the wall, you’re out of time, and you all need to pull together to get through the day. In Jen Gerber’s words: “Everyone was there because they wanted to make the best movie they could and they were donating so much more than their time and their skills to make it great.”

At the end of our conversation Jennifer Carpenter summed it up best: “The fact that everyone was in the trenches together really built a sense of camaraderie. The fight is always going to be hard so it’s always going to be about who is going to stay in it and create their own opportunities. If you won’t bet on yourself, who will?”

- Alexander Poe

Ex-Girlfriends is currently in the last stages of post-production and submission to film festivals. Clips, updates and info are at www.facebook.com/exgirlfriendsmovie and www.exgirlfriendsmovie.com

I think the most important thing to take away from all of this is, while it’s good to experiment, build your chops, and learn from your mistakes, NOTHING happens until you have a good story or script. Microbudget is still a wonderful way to do less waiting and more making, and each person is at a different level on their journey, but if you don’t learn from your mistakes, and continue to make films without strong foundations, then micro will never be a viable process. Authenticity, hard-work, and a good script are what you need to make a film…no matter what the budget.

We are still running our sound mix contest here, plenty of time to get your film in and win a chance to have it mixed by a pro!

This week also marks the end of a kickstarter campaign for fellow microbudget filmmaker and supporter Lucas McNeely. The difference between this campaign and his original campaign? This one is being put together by the folks he’s helped over the last few months. This is truly the microbudget spirit in action. Help MBC alumni Martyand his friends help Lucas help more of us!

NYC Fringe Benefit Reading of 'I WAS TOM CRUISE'

2011-06-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

On July 7th at 7:30pm the NYC Fringe is putting on a benefit reading of my play 'I WAS TOM CRUISE' at the Laurie Beechman Theatre as part of their "favorite plays of the Fringe" reading series. Come down and re-live the magic of the couch jump all over again... Tix and information at this link.

http://spincyclenyc.com/index.php/liveperformances/1-live-performances/188-benefits

Rough Cut

2011-01-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

Perez Hilton posting on Zachary Quinto in the 'Bright Side' reading

2010-05-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

After this posting on Perez Hilton the YouTube views jumped from 1,000 to 8,000 overnight: http://perezhilton.com/2010-05-11-the-bright-side-of-zachary-quinto

HD Video of 'Bright Side' reading with Zachary Quinto and Noah Bean

2010-05-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

An 8 minute selection of my screenplay, BRIGHT SIDE, read at the Columbia University Film Festival Faculty Selects Screenplay night. Written/Directed by Alexander Poe. Cast: Zachary Quinto, Noah Bean, Amanda Salvato, Ian Unterman, Ashley Springer, Daniel Sergio, Todd Thaler.

More photos, videos and news at www.facebook.com/reduxproductions

Live Webcast of BRIGHT SIDE screenplay reading with Zachary Quinto, Noah Bean, Amanda Salvato, Ian Unterman, Ashley Springer, Dan Sergio, Todd Thaler,

2010-05-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to the live webcast of my Columbia University Film Festival reading of my screenplay BRIGHT SIDE with Zachary Quinto, Noah Bean, Amanda Salvato, Ian Unterman, Ashley Springer, Dan Sergio and Todd Thaler. The webcast begins at 6pm May 4th Eastern Standard Time. More video, photos and live updates to follow at www.facebook.com/reduxproductions

Video streaming by Ustream

Zachary Quinto, Noah Bean cast in the Columbia University Faculty Selects reading of my screenplay 'Bright Side'

2010-04-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

My screenplay 'Bright Side' was chosen as a 'Faculty Select' at this year's Columbia Film Festival. There will be a reading on May 4th of a selection from the screenplay. The reading will star Zachary Quinto ('Star Trek' and 'Heroes') and Noah Bean ('Damages'). A live webcast of the reading will also be available online if you go to www.cufilmfest.com

To give you a rundown on what the film is about:

'Bright Side' is a dark comedy about Bill, a would-be intellectual slumming his way through the underbelly of New York nightlife reporting. Glitzy parties, coked up celebrities, late night interviews with Brazilian models, it’s all just part of his job at Trend Magazine. Covering stories like the latest celebrity ping pong trend isn’t exactly the ‘New Yorker’ level of writing that Bill aspired to coming out of journalism school, but with a hangover every day, a relationship failing its’ way towards marriage and a tenuous job in an industry where magazines are folding left and right, Bill is just trying to get through life one hectic New York day at a time.

Everything takes a severe turn however when Bill finds himself with a gun to his head during a robbery in an underground poker club. Facing certain death, Bill tries to come up with just one meaningful last thought to justify his life. Racing through the last twenty-four hours leading up to the robbery, Bill takes us on a tour through the decadent and depraved world of twenty-something life in New York. Lying about a story he doesn’t have, trying to figure out if his girlfriend is cheating on him with his arch nemesis, getting ensnared by the sexy enticements of Brazilian model, Gabby, risking all of his money in a high stakes poker game against a guy who looks like Seal and ultimately risking way more than he bargained for, it’s a wild dive through all of the absurdity of life in the city that never sleeps.

I'm currently casting the other actors for the reading with my casting director, Todd Thaler, and getting everything together for the reading. It should be a lot of fun. It will be a 10 minute section of the script followed by short selections from the other 4 Faculty Select screenplays. Then Simon Kinberg (Mr. and Mrs. Smith) gets an alumni award and then it's cocktail time. Details about the Faculty Select Screenwriting Night are all on www.cufilmfest.com

How I Used Those Delta Tickets

2010-04-21T15:37:00.001-07:00

Last year at the Tribeca Film Festival my short film 'The Eight Percent' won the Delta Fly-In Movies Competition and as my prize Delta gave me some Business Class Elite International tickets to go anywhere I wanted.

The choice was clear. I obviously had to go to the most expensive destination possible: Asia. Given how many Asian films I've seen and forced friends to see, it seemed like a much overdue journey.

So I set out on a month long trip starting in Hong Kong, traveling to Japan and then into Thailand, Cambodia and finally Vietnam. It was a great trip, horse racing in Hong Kong, Buddhist deer in Japan, climbing temples in Cambodia, hiking though the hills of Vietnam, you can't get much better than that. I met a lot of great people, ate a lot of good food and saw some pretty amazing places. Traveling by yourself is something I think everyone should do at some point, it's a chance to reflect, to go outside of your culture completely, to meet new people and to do some completely ill advised things that a more cautious traveling companion would dissuade you from doing which nevertheless lead to some real adventures. After a long trip traveling abroad you become so used to constantly moving from country to country and living with your bare essentials in a backpack that when you return home staying in one place seems foreign. All of the stuff in your apartment feels unnecessary and you'd rather just light out for the territories with a few shirts and a notebook. Traveling is definitely partly about seeing new places but it's also about seeing the old places in a new way when you get back.

Now I just need to write a script set in Asia so I'll have an excuse for someone to fly me back. And it sure as hell better be business class, that is one long flight.

Goodbye, Tribeca Film Festival

2009-05-10T09:54:00.001-07:00

The Eight Percent had a great run at the Tribeca Film Festival. After winning the Delta Fly-In Movies Competition the film had four sold out screenings in the shorts program 'Mixed Feelings.' It was great to meet the other filmmakers and to see such awesome work. The parties weren't so bad either of course and it was good to meet the big guy. Of course I'm a little sad that my filmmaker badge will no longer get me into movies for free and get me drinks but then again I'm not sure I can drink any more Heineken or Stoli for a long long time. Anyway, I'm busy revising a feature script that I'm hoping to get into production soon and working on the twenty other scripts that I need to get done. Time for the next thing.

Interview in Quiet Color

2009-05-04T12:20:00.001-07:00

Here's an interview I did in Quiet Color an online magazine that covers indie film, music and art (www.quietcolor.com).

QC INTERVIEW: TFF FILMMAKER ALEXANDER POE

by Steph Berland

I met Filmmaker Alexander Poe at the Babelgum Film Festival Awards last Monday night. He seemed like a really cool guy and had told me that he was the winner of the Delta-Fly-In movie competition, and that I should Google it if I didn’t believe him. As soon as I got home, I turned my computer on and typed his name into my search bar, where a bunch of results showed me that not only had he won the Delta competition, but that he had also made a slew of other short movies and plays. With Tribeca Film Festival upon us, I decided I’d uncover the roots and future prospects of this up and coming filmmaker. So filled with the spirit, I caught up with him at a small cafe in the west village.

Quiet Color: I went to your Web site, your production company’s Web site, and I think its really cool that you do both theatre and film, so tell me a little bit about how you started Redux Productions.

Alexander Poe: I started Redux with Joe Varca and Ben Correale, two friends from Middlebury. We’re all actor/directors so we kind of started a company at the end of my freshman year when I found this Paul Auster book called City of Glass that I wanted to make into a play and just approached Joe and said why don’t we do this as a play and start a company where we do plays every semester instead of acting in other people’s stuff. So we did a play a semester up at Middlebury and then after college we did a few plays here in the Fringe Festival.

QC: How did you get your plays into the Fringe festival?

AP: I just submitted the scripts so I first did a play that was an adaptation of this Kafka novel called 'Amerika,' it was a very loose interpretation, Kafka himself was the main character. So that won best ensemble. The Fringe is a very weird place, you have to have the right title or the right subject to really get an audience, its very pop culture, kitschy a little bit, so 'Amerika' wasn’t a big hit or anything, we did pretty well, it was good to win an award, but its not like people were flocking to see the Kafka play. So I decided that if we were going to do it again I should think of a title that had like some ticket appeal, so the next one was I Was Tom Cruise, even though it wasn't really kitch, it was more of a sad absurd comedy about the notion of celebrity. It was kind of like Faust but with Tom Cruise. So we won the best play award that year. That was fun.

QC: So then you made your experience of doing I Was Tom Cruise into a short film, or shows I guess, episodes.

AP: Webisodes I guss. Yeah well I shot a half hour pilot for a show called 'Theatre is Dead' which was inspired by the experience of putting on the play, but then broke it down into little mini web-episodes to try and get a web series going on. It was fun but we didn't really have the financing to continue making the show so when we were hoping the pilot would get some interest at the New York Television Festival but when it didn't get in the project kind of faded and we moved on to other projects. We just didn’t have any more money to keep doing this series, we had a vodka company sponsor the pilot but then after that, ya know.

QC: Yeah, then not so much?

AP: Yeah, its hard to find somebody to pay for web stuff unless its just dirt cheap, I mean it was pretty dirt cheap but it wasn’t free. We kind of want to do more of that, but its tricky to find the right way to make it.

QC: Now, that wasn’t the first film sort of thing you did, so what sort of transition was there between doing theatre and film.

AP: Well I worked at the Williamstown Theatre Festival for a while and while I was there I made a short film of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock with another friend, Jeff Miller. It wasn't really a straight forward adaptation, it was more like an absurd slapstick comedy version of T.S. Eliot. It was like a really cool experience. You know that movie Maria Full of Grace? So the director of that film, Josh Marston, just happened to be there trying out theatre directing for the summer and he helped edit our movie and pointed out all of the technical mistakes that we had made, breaking time code on every shot because Jeff and I were both in the film and directing at the same time so we'd set up a shot on a tripod, hit play, then run in front of the camera and do the scene and then run back, hit stop and then rewind to watch the take and apparently if you do that and break the running time code on the tape your editor will hate you. Anyway, this was before he had really made his big movie so we all had fun staying up late and trying to figure out what the hell we were doing with him and the other editor Michael Natter.

QC: So that was the first movie you had ever made?

AP: That’s the first movie. And then I made another one at Williamstown with Joe a year later about waiters in a Thai restaurant in Williamstown called Far From Thailand. We just cast all the people that worked in the restaurant, and shot it a Thai language film.

QC: I wanted to ask you about that because Far From Thailand and Please Forget I Exist are both in foreign languages. Did you write the script in a foreign language?

AP: No, I wrote both scripts in English, I mean, I don’t speak any Thai and I don’t speak any Japanese, then the actors just translated it. The owner’s daughter, Nam, who is the girl in the movie spoke both English and Thai. The main actor, Pom, didn’t really speak any English, so that was interesting, like all the directions were just communicated in hand gestures like 'do it faster.' It was very weird, but I mean it wasn't a big stretch for him to play a waiter and I think in the end there's a nice natural quality about the way the acting is in the film.

QC: What inspired you to do them in a foreign language, as opposed to just doing it in English.

AP: Well the main guy didn't really speak any English and I just thought it was interesting that there was this group of Thai people living in the middle of nowhere in Williamstown, Massachusetts where they’re the only Thai people in a one hundred mile radius. I just thought that was an interesting story, plus I was watching a lot of Wong Kar Wai movies so sad longing with voiceover was kind of what I was into at the time.

QC: What was the next film you did?

AP: After that I made another film at Middlebury called February my last semester of school there. I guess it was kind of like a standard college kind of movie, you know, college kids trying to find love and connection etc etc, three different stories that unfold over the course of one night. I acted in one of them while Joe directed, I directed while Joe acted and then Joe and I co-directed the third story. We had a cinematographer film student who kind of wanted to be the director so he would always be making things difficult trying to tell us how he would make the film and he was the guy with the camera and the lights so it was a bit of a tricky situation. Plus there was some other film student making a movie at the same time and there was only one light kit that we had to share so we were usually shooting with about one light which made it interesting. Anyway, it was a learning experience. Joe and I co-directed a few more films after that and then we decided it would be better to just divide up jobs and have one person direct and one produce, it's easier, but we're still very collaborative.

QC: A lot of your movies had time limits, in terms of making them.

AP: We got into this whole cycle of entering film competitions that were either 48 hours or 24 hours, those were just the opportunities around to try and get some exposure for our work and to find an audience while getting some practice. We entered this competition where we had two weeks to make a film with a given genre and subject so we had to make a horror story about an imaginary friend but I think it's one of my best films, I really enjoy that one because of the constraints, we lit the whole thing by candle which was kind of a challenge but gives it kind of a gothic ghost story feel. Deadlines are helpful sometimes for your creative process. We shot that movie in a night. We wasted a week and a half and then I was like “ohh I have to write a script,” and we had to get it done so we just shot it that day. It did well, it got second place, lost to a mockumentary about a garage sale, and that was really annoying. Then we did the New York 48 Hour Film Festival where we won Best Film. And then based on that we were commissioned to make a 48 hour movie for Visa. We didn’t win that, it was another thing where you include some pre-given elements and we were like, “Ok you’re gonna give us some cool elements” but the only element we had to use was a Visa card and the line “Life Takes…” So we though “Ok you want a commercial...” A lot of these competitions with sponsors say they don’t want a commercial but basically they just want a clever commercial, so we made them a film that had a bit of a commercial feel and I think it turned out well. But then another film ended up winning that wasn't like a commercial at all, it barely even featured the Visa card or the line so I guess it goes to show that you should never guess what people want to see, you should just do what you want. Even though it didn't win they did fly us out to San Francisco for the screening though so that was still good.

QC: I watched Valerie, which is really kind of dark. Most of your stuff is really kind of light, so which do you like better? The dark, sort of horror-y ones or the light and fluffy ones?

AP: Well you have to mix it up. I like the dark stuff as long as it still has some sense of humor. That one is definitely a bit disturbing. It's funny, there are a good portion of my movies that involve bad dates that turn out to be comic and then other bad date movies where people end up dead. That was fun to explore something darker. That was a challenge as well, we had only two nights to shoot because you’re always trying to race against how much money you don’t have and the actor’s schedules. But it was fun, it was a total experiment.

QC: Let’s talk about the Tribeca Film Festival. This isn’t your first time at Tribeca right?

AP: Well I had a movie that was part of this MTV student filmmaker award competition a few years ago where there was a big online voting thing starting with 100 filmmakers narrowed down to 25 and then the top 5 filmmakers screened their work at Tribeca at a special MTV event. And then the winner won the award live at the MTV movie awards. But I didn’t end up winning, I lost to another damn mockumentary. It was great to get responses from a totally different audience that I wouldn't have reached otherwise.

QC: How about The Eight Percent, how did you get involved in that?

AP: Well this one I wrote as part of another time limit thing for a playwriting competition where you go to the Reanimation Library in Brooklyn which is this cool place with really old and out of date science books basically. The deal was that that you went into the library blindfolded, picked out a book and then you have to write a ten minute play that’s somehow related to the book. So I somehow picked Biology of Every Man, and I just had no idea what to write about about biology. So the title of the first chapter was 'What Life Means' and I figured that would be a pretty good theme to write about so I started thinking about that and then I remembered a story that I had heard a while back at a dinner party about bees and it seemed like it would work out. And also I ran into an ex-girlfriend and had a very awkward conversation. So the confluence of those events just meshed into that script and eventually I decided that it would be interesting to make it into a short film. I was developing this feature script with Ben McKenzie at the time and were talking about a project we could shoot while I was still writing and this one made the most sense.

QC: What was it like to know that thousands of people were watching your movie?

AP: Its nice, I mean, I don’t know, I’ve never met them personally. Its cool, you get a lot of emails from Germany, just like “hey I really like your movie,” apparently Ben is really loved in Germany. I definitely went after the Ben McKenzie fan sites and they were really cool actually about getting out and supporting the movie and getting the word out. They were really nice and had questions about the movie and were very friendly. I haven’t seen in on the plane. Its weird, you get random emails from people you went to grade school with when they see your movie randomly on a place, that's kind of exciting.

QC: How has it been the past week or so, with Tribeca?

AP: I feel like I’ve just been to an endless string of screenings and parties, it’s been really fun but it's been like a whirlwind. Everyone at the festival is really cool, all very helpful and the other filmmakers are really cool, it’s cool to get to meet the other filmmakers, see some good movies. You know, hang out with Bobby DeNiro. What do you say to him, you know? You don't want to seem like some star struck fan, but I mean, what is there really to say? 'Hi, you're Robert De Niro.'

QC: Which city do you like better, LA or New York?

AP: I like New York, LA is fun in its own way, but I kind of like walking around and not having to drive. Also, it’s more of a late night city and I'm a night owl. I’ve spent six years in New York and only one in LA. I have family out there so it's nice to visit and do some work out there but I like New York. LA's not as bad as people say I guess, its alright. It’s easier to shoot out there, in some ways.

QC: It’s easier to shoot in LA?

AP: I don’t know actually, well New York is much more guerilla, you kind of just go out into the street and film until someone tells you to stop. But in LA, you really have to have everything lined up with permits and all that or else you just can't shoot. At least on this one we had a much bigger crew which was a new process for me. Usually in my other films it's just three guys and a camera, I've never looked at the shots on a monitor before, usually I'm just watching the actors and asking the cameraman if we got the shot. It was good to get to play around with slightly bigger production values.

QC: So are you working on something now that you want to do?

AP: Yeah, I’m working on a feature script, trying to wrap that up. I'm basically working with the same team. So that’ll be the next project I'll direct, I think its time to move on to features. I’ve been in grad school working on short films for a while and now the producers who made The Eight Percent have developed a production company where they have a slate of low budget independent features they’re getting ready to do.

QC: Do you find that your movies have changed since being in grad school, and studying film?

AP: I think they’re all kind of naturally evolving, but you know, it’s never a direct path of movies getting better. Its more like, well this one kind of worked, this part worked about that, but this other part didn’t work out so well, it's always an experiment. Its been a good experience to work with some professors that I connected with but really you learn the most from looking at your work and thinking about how to do it better the next film, you get better just by making things over and over and making a lot of mistakes, and then hopefully making better mistakes on the next film, it's not like you ever reach some point of being a perfect filmmaker, you always have to be experimenting and trying new things that push your range.

QC: Which do you like better, theatre or film?

AP: They are totally different. I like theatre because you can do a lot of visual, inventive, imaginative things that you can’t really do with the realism of film or at least not the type of film that I do. But then again, film lets you play around with elements that you aren’t able to with theatre. I like doing both but recently I’ve been doing a lot more film.

QC: What is your favorite thing you’ve ever done, both plays and film?

AP: I think the Japanese movie is maybe my best. Please Forget I Exist, and I Was Tom Cruise. I really like those projects. It’s really like a sad Tom Cruise play, its not really kitschy and pop. Its kind of like Face Off but with Tom Cruise, he trades faces, its kind of a Prince and the Pauper Faustian bargain type thing. I’d say those two are the things I’m most pleased with.

QC: Do you know if Tom Cruise heard about the play?

AP: It was written up in Variety but I don’t know if he checks, someone in his camp must read Variety. I was kind of expecting to be sued or something, but I didn’t even make it to that status level, I feel a little bit rejected. Sounds like all for the best though.

QC: When you were 17 you wanted to be an actor, did you ever see yourself being a filmmaker?

AP: Well my grandfather was a screenwriter, so the film world was always present a little bit when I would visit LA. Everyone I know in LA through my grandmother is sort of “old school” Hollywood. So, having those people around kind of made film look not so bad. I didn’t initially plan on writing and directing but its going okay so far so I might as well stick with it. I don’t have any other practical skills so I might as well.

Interview in ASMALLMAGAZINE

2009-04-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Alexander Poe on The Eight Percent

by Serena Merriman

Actor, writer and director Alexander Poe put Tribeca on hold to tellASMALLMAGAZINE a little bit about his short film The Eight Percent, which won the 2009 Delta Fly-In Movies National Film Competition

What is The Eight Percent about? How did you come up with the idea for this film?

The film is about two high school exes who meet up ten years later on an awkward date. The idea came to me because I ran into an old girlfriend and had a totally awkward conversation. We realised that we had gone different ways in our lives but were still kind of the same. We talked about getting a drink but never did. I made this movie instead.

Did you enjoy working with Ben McKenzie (star of “The O.C.” and “Southland”)?

Ben is great to work with; I directed him in a play a few years ago at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, so it was good to get to do a project together again. We had been working on developing this feature script together and it seemed like getting out and shooting a short would be a good way to get some momentum going on that.

What has your Tribeca 2009 experience been like?

Tribeca has been great. It’s been fun to connect with other filmmakers and see some good films. I’m just glad to be part of the festival and to have people watching my film.

What filmmakers inspire you?

Woody Allen and Wong Kar Wai

As a writer, director and actor, do you see yourself working equally on all three for the rest of your career? Is there one medium you prefer/want to concentrate on?

I’m more focused on writing and directing. I like acting when the right project comes along, but I like being behind the camera and being able to really tell the story the way that I see it.

What do you love about New York?

The fact that it always presents something new. You never know what will happen. There’s always something unexpected that totally changes your day: you run into someone you haven't seen in ten years, you meet someone new, or maybe you just find a good coffee place you didn’t know about—that’s pretty good too.

Premiere night

2009-04-27T11:26:00.001-07:00

Last night was the big Tribeca Film Festival premiere for 'Eight Percent.' The film screened to a sold out house along with 5 other short films in a shorts program titled 'Mixed Feelings,' one of which turned to be directed by Kate Hudson. Yeah, that Kate Hudson. A good time was had by all and several drinks ensued and an after-party at Bowlmor Lanes where I re-discovered that I have absolutely so skills in that sport. I think I'm gong to stick to the filmmaking instead of going on the bowling pro tour.

There are three more screenings on Weds the 30th at 10:30pm, Saturday the 2nd at 12:15pm and Sunday the 3rd at 8:45pm. Wednesday and Saturday are at the AMC on 3rd avenue and 11th and Sunday night's screening is at Tribeca Cinemas. All of the screenings are sold out but a lot of people got in on the rush line so just come half an hour early and it's likely that you'll get in, come down and check it out.

We won!

2009-04-25T11:06:00.001-07:00

Thursday night was the big Delta Announcement party at the Tribeca Film Festival and our little film 'The Eight Percent' won Best Film. The films producers, Annie Armstrong (right) and Shannon Riggs (left) were there for the event and a good time was had by all. So now the film will be screening in the Tribeca Film Festival shorts program titled 'Mixed Feelings' down at the AMC Village VII on 3rd avenue and 11th street.

Here are the showtimes: Sunday April 26 at 7pm, Wednesday April 30th at 10:30pm, Saturday May 2nd at 12:15pm and Sunday May 3rd at 8:45pm (the last show on May 3rd is at Tribeca Cinemas).

Thanks to everyone who voted for the film, it's really great to screen it at the festival. Also I now have two business elite international tickets to fly anywhere in the world. Now I just need to get the film into a festival in Tokyo!

In-Flight Entertainment

2009-04-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

Voting for the Tribeca Film Festival's Delta Fly-In Movies Competition ends on April 12th so get over to www.delta.com/flyinmovies and keep it up. It's been great to get so many people to see the film, the results are announced at an event on April 23rd and if 'The Eight Percent' wins it'll play from April 26th - May 3rd in the festival.

JustJared.com and the Daily Pop Culture Fix

2009-03-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

It was great to see a posting about 'The Eight Percent' on JustJared.com today. Apparently the Hollywood gossip site reaches a wide audience because my sister noticed it before I did. Next time I need to know what's up in the world of celebrities I'll know where to turn. Here's the post:

Ben McKenzie prepares for a scene in the 8-minute film The Eight Percent, about two high school exes who meet up ten years later on an awkward date.

The short is one of five films that were selected to screen onDelta.com/flyinmovies - the film with the highest number of audience votes gets a special screening at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Watch the film at Delta.com and then support the film on Facebook or on director Alexander Poe’s blog.

30+ pictures inside of Eight Percent ofBen McKenzie…

http://justjared.buzznet.com/2009/03/11/eight-percent-of-ben-mckenzie/

Also, it's been good to get some more questions about the film, this one from a fan of Ashley's:

Q: What can you tell us about Ashley Williams and how did she become a part of this project?

A: I met Ashley Williams at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2001, the same year I met Ben. We were actually all in a play together called 'The Blue Bird.' Ben and I had tiny roles and Ashley was the lead. Since then she starred on this show 'Good Morning Miami' and has been on 'How I Met Your Mother' and 'Huff.'

Ben was on-board the film from the beginning but casting Laura was really difficult, I wanted someone who had kind of a quirky but endearing Annie Hall type quality. We were planning on shooting the film in NYC (because the whole thing was supposed take place in winter in NYC and it was January at the time) and I had a great NYC based actress lined up that I was really excited about but then she went through a nasty break-up and decided to leave town, then I cast another actress who was totally into the project but then she developed a scheduling conflict with another project and had to leave town. So then I cast a third actress who ended up developing yet another schedule conflict and by that time it was spring and there was no snow left in NYC and it seemed like I might have more luck in LA so it seemed to make the most sense to just move the production there and re-write the script.

So I had a film that was ready to go but I still didn't have an actress. Finally my producer, Annie Armstrong (yet another Williamstowner) brought up Ashley who was an old friend of hers and who she thought would be perfect for the role. Anyway, I hadn't seen Ashley in forever so it was funny to see her 7 years after we had done this play together, but she and Ben had a really interesting dynamic when they read together. It's a little different from the typical romantic comedy set-up where two people meet and fall in love because these two characters have already had their relationship and broken up so there needed to be a sense that these two people had some history together, that they had good memories and bad memories about each other and also that since last seeing each other they've both gone through some tough times and set backs in their lives that they'd had to deal with. So there needed to be moments of awkwardness, moments of confrontation, some light and funny moments and then some moments where you see the possibility of these two people really connecting, it's a bit all over the place, it's not like a fairy tale where they just see each other and magically fall back in love, I wanted it to have all the awkwardness and a little bit of the pain that the situation would really have. And so Ashley and Ben had a really interesting dynamic when they read together that kind of hit on some of those notes and added a kind of uncertainty and vulnerability to the film that makes it a little unique. Anyway, it was fun to work with both of them, they're both very strong actors and great to work with on set.

Thanks to Just Jared and everyone on the McKenzie fan sites for being so supportive of the film. Keep clicking over to www.delta.com/flyinmovies to vote for the film!

Our Friend Across the Pond

2009-03-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

Last year Dublin based blogger TenaciousT found my films online and posted this write-up:

"I came across Alexander Poe in YouTube last night- a breath of fresh air and reaffirms my belief that you can find some great videos there…you just have to look very hard or get lucky in coming across them. His videos have excellent production and acting- while some seem to be more experimental there are a couple of ones that have a dark adult theme that are reminiscent of the Asian cinema that I love and I think they shine above the rest."

http://tenacioustimothy.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/alexander-poe-and-redux-productions/

And now TenaciousT has come through with a new posting about The Eight Percent:

"Great to see a new short film from Alexander Poe! I still remember his previous work that I had posted about and Valerie and Please Forget I Exist are memorable and superbly done. His new one, The Eight Percent, is lighter than those stories but has a similar theme of human interaction which is showcased well with Benjamin McKenzie from the O.C. and Ashley Williams who I remember from Huff a few years back.

His film has been chosen to be one of five in a viewers choice competition for short films run by Delta. The winning short will be shown at the end of the Tribeca Film Festival which will be happening at the end of April. I watched the other shorts as well and while some are good, I have to say that The Eight Percent is the best among them so will hopefully get the votes and be shown to the wider audience at Tribeca.

Thankfully somebody has ripped the copy from the Delta site and put it up on YouTube- per Alexander Poe’s blog there are a lot of enthusiastic fans out there for Mr. McKenzie and in his own words ‘It’s a little more jittery than the Delta version but hey, publicity is publicity and isn’t getting bootlegged the mark of having made it in today’s film world?’

I say thankfully because I had no end of trouble with Delta’s video hosting and almost gave up watching the others with the number of times I had to reload the videos and watch them from the beginning again.

Voting ends on the 12th of April so head over to Delta to vote. If you are curious about Alexander Poe’s other projects then check out his production site Redux Productions or his YouTube channel."

Thanks to TenaciousT, it's good to know we have friends across the pond. You can pick up his great blog which has excellent postings on music, music videos and films here:http://tenacioustimothy.wordpress.com/

Q&A

2009-03-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

Day 10 on the campaign trail for 'The Eight Percent' and the Ben McKenzie fans have been great about getting out the vote, every day there are new postings and new links coming up around the net. Some fans had a few questions about the film so I took a few minutes to wax poetic about the nature of cinema on the site Fan Forum.

Q: Where did you shoot the movie?

A: I shot the movie in Los Angeles at the Mandrake Bar on Washington and Venice. The script was originally written to take place in New York during the winter because I wrote the script as a short play for a theatre festival in NYC during the winter, but the logistics of finding a bar with a patio that would let us to shoot overnight on a low budget got tricky. Ultimately other projects brought me to LA so it seemed best to shoot there so instead of a winter New York movie it turned into a summer LA movie.

Q: How did you meet up with Ben and how did you like working with him?

A: I met Ben at the Williamstown Theatre Festival several years before 'The O.C.' started. We were both actors at the time and I was starting to write and direct plays so he acted in a play that I wrote and then years later when I started making short films and he was done with 'The O.C.' we started talking about doing a film together and he liked this script and we decided it would be good to do a short while I was working on finishing up a feature script. The great thing about working with Ben is that he's a smart actor, he's very educated about the world outside of acting and really brings a lot to the table. He wants to really make things feel authentic and he wants to make sure that everything is right, he's not going to do something if it's not true to the character but at the same time if he trusts where you're going with something he's open to possibilities and can find a way to make the lines sound fresh. I think he really brought a lot to the role and he is really great to work with.

Q: When did you decide you wanted to be a writer/director?

A: I started off as an actor in high school and college and then I joined this experimental theatre group at Middlebury College that was putting on new plays and decided that writing was really my first interest (my grandfather was a screenwriter and the Poe ghost kind of took over). So I wrote plays in NYC for a while with my theatre company, Redux Productions, we won the NYC Fringe Festival with a play called 'I Was Tom Cruise' and at the time I was starting to work in film more and more on big budget films like 'War of the Worlds' because making money at theatre is near impossible so we made some films for some competitions where you have 48 hours to make a film and other things like that and we won so we kept making films. This one was a play that I later adapted into a film so it's always been fairly based in theatre. You can see details about my plays and see the rest of my films at redux3.0_index - my film 'Please Forget I Exist played at the Tribeca Film Festival a few years ago and that's one of my favorites aside from this one.

Q: What other films have you written/directed?

A: I come from a theatre background so my stuff tends to be kind of performance based. I've written/directed plays in NYC for a while with my company, Redux Productions, which is me and two other guys I went to school with at Middlebury College. My other films are online at redux3.0_index and on youtube at YouTube - alexanderpoe's Channel I was up for an MTV Movie Award for Best Student Filmmaker for the last two years while I've been wrapping up Columbia Film School, I had a film play at the Tribeca Film Festival called 'Please Forget I Exist' which is kind of a Japanese ghost love story and I'm getting underway with some other short film projects now while continuing to try and get my feature script finished. I'm basically just a student filmmaker so it was lots of fun to get to work with some real professionals. Anyway, enough of my 'Inside the Actors' Studio' monologue, I'm just glad that the movie is getting seen and appreciated by people who support Ben's work. It would be nice to win this thing so that we can get some momentum going for the feature with a budget where we could expand on this short and really do something cool. Thanks for continuing to vote, I like the observation about Ben's yellow and black wardrobe being related to the bee story, that's a cool idea. Really it just came down to checking out a few of Ben's shirts in the trunk of his car a few hours before the shoot, (we didn't really have the budget for the actors to wear anything but their own clothes) but a lot of things in the movie making process are very random at the time but in the finished product gain some significance when you bring in an audience so it's cool to see that pointed out, I like that idea and I'm going to take full credit. Just kidding, thanks for the questions everyone.

You know your movie has made it when someone bootlegs it and puts it on YouTube (or at least that it has Ben McKenzie in it)

2009-03-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

Since 'The Eight Percent' premiered online a few days ago, the Ben McKenzie fans have been hard at work writing about the film on the message boards.

Live Journal users on "The Ben McKenzie Support Group" (http://community.livejournal.com/ben_support/) have commented that "It's always nice hearing him talk" and "He looks so good in yellow." Apparently he is also "so freaking cute, especially at 3:47 into the video." Seriously though, it's great to get some enthusiastic responses to the film, the online community has been very responsive and hopefully the word will continue to build as the voting continues (you can keep voting on http://www.delta.com/flyinmovies until April 12th).

A bootleg version of the film ripped off of the http://www.delta.com/flyinmovies website has also found its' way onto YouTube. It's a little more jittery than the Delta version but hey, publicity is publicity and isn't getting bootlegged the mark of having made it in today's film world? I'm just hoping I can buy a bootleg DVD of it next time I'm down in Chinatown.

I've created a Facebook Group titled 'REDUX FILMS PLAYING ON DELTA AIRLINES' with Behind the Scenes Photos for the Ben McKenzie fans that you can check out and join at this link: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=54535740788 Thanks to the members of "The Ben McKenzie Support Group" on LiveJournal along with the good people over at http://benjamin-mckenie.org, Thanks and keep voting for 'The Eight Percent' on http://www.delta.com/flyinmovies Also be sure to check out the other redux projects over at www.reduxproductions.com and www.youtube.com/alexanderpoe

'The Eight Percent' at the Tribeca Film Festival's Delta Fly-In Movies

2009-03-02T11:55:00.000-08:00

My short film, The Eight Percent has been selected as one of 5 finalists to screen in the Tribeca Film Festival's Delta Fly-In Movies Competition. Starring Ben McKenzie ('The O.C.' and the upcoming NBC Cop Drama 'Southland') and Ashley Williams ('Good Morning Miami' and 'How I Met Your Mother'), the film is a bittersweet comedy about two high school exes who meet up ten years later on an awkward internet date.

The Tribeca Film blog describes it as "a first date tale with the elegance of a sweet, familiar song." The film will screen on Delta Airlines flights and on www.delta.com/flyinmovies

The film started off as a short play that I wrote for a New York theatre festival in which I had a week to write a piece inspired by a randomly selected book from Brooklyn's Re-Animation Library (I selected a tome called 'Biology for Everyman'). With the help of producers Annie Armstrong and Shannon Riggs I directed the film version in July, 2008 at the Mandrake Bar in Los Angeles. The film will screen on Delta until April 12 when voting ends. The winner will receive a special screening at the Tribeca Film Festival. See the film and vote at www.delta.com/flyinmovies