Interview

The struggle for independence

Writer and director Nartin David discusses the trials and tribulations of independent filmmaking - By Constantine Nasr

n between film school and the golden gates of Hollywood, there is a rough, bitter road. Like those who dare to follow that road, filmmaker Martin David has been struggling and fighting his way through to get where he needs to be.
After several years of working in the "business" and learning harsh lessons, David has spent the last year trying to promote his new film, "Walkabout," which he was able to finance on his own and produce for under $40,000. After several screenings and much praise, he has yet to find a distributor for his feature, a misfortune for a film that deserves to find a home.
David, who came to USC last December to screen his film on campus, was excited to talk about how he made the film, and the problems he had with breaking into the reality of Hollywood. David was encouraged when the crowd of USC students hailed the film, which is targeted at that age-specific audience.
Recently, we sat down to discuss the consistent problems he--like many other beginners--has faced.
"I thought I was interested in producing films way back in high school because I was under the impression that producers were the ones who had all the control," David said.
David attended Westmont College in Santa Barbara, where he majored in theater and communication studies. His mentors proved to him the importance of theater within the art of filmmaking, he said. In college, he wrote several plays, and then attended the Summer Film program at New York University in 1991.
David eventually wrote a script that generated some interest at Paramount, and also completed a short film in 1993. But it was his experience working in Paris for a film producer that proved to be one of the most challenging experiences in his life. He spent a year and a half as an assistant director for an American television company before returning to the U.S. with the idea for a new film.
"I had companies telling me they were interested, but it was all a joke," he said. "So I came back in 1995 and was faced with the same thing. (One has to) keep pitching projects (or) work as some assistant, and maybe in 40 years, someone will fund `their' movie. Or the option was to do a no-budget film and just get something in the can. So, I put the money together and made `Walkabout,' which was my first feature."
David, who studied theater in college, felt the necessity to understand both before moving into films.
"Screenwriting, which I think is still a very new art form, is not all playwriting," he said. "I think that a lot of filmmakers' basic problems is that they don't understand plot structure and character development, and at the same time, they don't understand working with actors.
"Having a theater background ... helps a great deal in those two areas. Your audience isn't going to fault you for bad direction. They'll fault you though if the acting sucks or your characters suck," he said.
With this mindset, David set out to write, direct and produce "Walkabout," an entertaining, intelligent and well-made film about a group of seven high school graduates who set out on a five-day trek across the San Rafael desert. They are participants of a church-sponsored program called "Walkabout," a program created in the hope that it would help the students build self-confidence, form bonds among one another, strengthen them spiritually and ultimately prepare them for their adult lives.
While on the trip, a series of misfortunes plummets the kids into a situation where they are without any means of support (food, shelter, adult supervision or a map), a situation oftentimes hilarious, but at other times seriously poignant.
"Walkabout" is an engaging, personal film and--budget aside--it looks and feels sophisticated. David, who used his modest budget appropriately to accommodate his situation, seems to have exercised brilliant skill to make the film by simply adapting to his surroundings.
"It started out with trying to figure out a way to make a film with a little bit of money," he said.
David realized that shooting in the desert would be virtually cost-free and his theater background encouraged the creation of a cast of characters that would all be equally developed with a single group identity.
"Putting a bunch of really different people into an environment, I think, is where you have the best tension," he said.
The cast--Tyme Jasso, Lisa Koch, Kenny Luper, Allison Root, Eric Sachs, Sierra Sandefur and Tommy Stork--like the crew, all donated their time and effort. Together they compose an eclectic mix of teenage characteristics, reflecting a group of kids so used to their own social standing that the outside element of nature, and the act of being natural and truthful, is something almost alien to most of them.
These seven actors pull together "Walkabout" at its most crucial times, and that's where the real fun begins.
David also realized that with little money there would be no room for special camera effects, match-cutting or even dollies. That, along with a tight schedule of 15 days, prompted him to shoot the film in a pseudo-documentary style, "all on the fly," as he says.
"It's a spoof on the Real World--crazy camera, flash frames, the stuff that I hate," David said.
"What is disappointing is that I think a lot of people maybe are thinking that I was trying to be like MTV, even though it was a total parody, a total slam on bad directing, bad framing, bad camerawork," he said. "Whenever we'd set up a shot, it would be like, `What is the worst thing to do here?' And that's what I went for."
Along with his knock at MTV, David had an opportunity to knock obnoxious so-called "indie" filmmakers and the media itself, as he portrays a power-hungry, self- infatuated director named Eddie in his own movie, which he calls a metaphor for "Satan in the wilderness."
As the seven youths are forced to confront the problems within their surroundings and within themselves, they ultimately have to look to each other for moral strength to survive.
"They finally have to stop and ask themselves, `Who am I?' I don't think I attempt to answer this--I think that I am trying to at least ask the question. That's different," David said. "You see all these films that are out there, with kids talking about sex and violence, saying, `That's real. That's real.' That's not real to me. That's a philosophy. I am trying to come with--a completely different perspective, which is that there is something superior to what we're getting fed."
As an independent artist stuck in a pool of clones, David knows he has to stand out to make any real difference for his career. He said he chose to do "Walkabout" because it didn't cater to the expectations of any audience, being true to himself instead.
Unfortunately, his outspokenness about own personal views about the independent method, he's been highly criticized.
"People are offended that you poke fun at their independence and their rawness and their edginess," he said. "Ironically, the no-budget, guerrilla style of filmmaking is completely pass now in the independent world. They close the door for the no-budget guy because nobody finds that hip anymore. Now I'm competing with `independent' films with six or seven million-dollar budgets."
While it was rejected by the Sundance Film Festival, "Walkabout" was received with welcome arms to the Vancouver Festival. Martin believes it was the film's genuine story that gained it favor and, out of the 300 films screened, he is sure that it had the lowest budget by far.
Determined to find a distributor, David held several screenings for executives, and one of the most rewarding was a screening held at Paramount. While he has received interest from several distributors, including Miramax Films, he has yet to find a buyer.
The problem could be the length of the film or the fact he has yet to hit a major U.S. festival. No matter what, David remains unscathed by the lack of determination on the part of the studios involved.
"The attitude in the independent world is as high-minded and exclusionary as the studio system," he said. "It's a whole other studio system, and there aren't enough screens, aren't enough places for our work to be seen, and when 1,400 films are competing for 60 spots, it's ridiculous."
Even though "Walkabout" has yet to find a distributor, Martin David has not let anything get him down. He is consistently working away on new ideas, and is currently developing a second feature script.
In the meantime, he will keep pushing "Walkabout" as far as it will go. It is a serious misfortune that the film has yet to be released, because it is an extremely enjoyable film that has a lot to say.
"I still think of film as the laboratory for human behavior; I don't think of it as pure entertainment," David said. "I also realize it's a business, and you have to sell tickets to continue making movies. So I don't have some super high ideal of trying to change the world with films. But I am fascinated at it on personal level. That's what drives me, and that's why I write and want to tell stories--my own working through questions I have."