What It Is
by Gregory Schaefer
I didn’t realize I was a filmmaker until some time after completing my last project. When I finally had some down-time it occurred to me that I’ve stopped sleeping. I have acidic sores in my mouth, a knotted coffee stomach, dandruff from hell and I never speak with my family or friends anymore. I’m not sick, antisocial, or really insane, I’m a filmmaker. I’m busy. I stay locked in an empty apartment sitting at a computer editing, writing and thinking.
Thinking about the next project? Sure, everyone with the film virus does that. But I’ve also started to think about what got me here, into this mess–the myth of Hollywood. Everyone has a different story, only mine really IS. It starts in Japan.
I spent three years in Japan and I can certifiably state that it destroyed me. I went there a naive, energetic boy and I came out a gutted, seasoned man with nothing but a little cash, a lot of stories, and a hell of a lot of video tape. It was there that I signed on to produce an independent Japanese film aptly entitled japanned.
Over three years have passed and that little concept, mentioned over a bowl of ramen, is finally done! I never wanted to believe it would take this long, but in my gut I knew it would. I knew this would be the first of many long adventures.
From Japan to Madness to Hollywood–it’s been quite an insane story and I’m going to fill you in on all the juicy squidetails! I’m going to talk about the long journey that making an indie flick is. I’m gonna delve into the experiences I shared in Japan from pre to post on this sucker. I am going to tell you what it is really like to try and make it in the independent film scene today. And I’ll be letting my simian side out to tell you what being a bad monkey in Hollywood is all about!
But this is just a sample–a preview. The feature is about to start and unlike most shit that comes out of Hollywood this doesn’t suck. In fact it’s monkeylicious!
-gregory
