Great actors: Film’s (not so) secret weapon

Most short films start with a burning desire to tell a story. Crossroads started with a burning desire to make a film.

The road to becoming a professional filmmaker has many components to it, but transparency is not one of them.

My goal here is to be transparent, share a little about my journey and in the end convince a few up-and-coming filmmakers of a lesson that took me far too long to learn.

That lesson is… to simply write roles for and cast experienced actors. They have more to teach than you are capable of learning.

Now let’s Pulp Fiction this article and jump back in time.

I’ve worked on a bunch of films and directed a handful of shorts. The idea that my next project would be “the one I bet it all on” was never far from mind but with each passing project the only consistent lesson was that there was more for me to learn.

My initial filmmaking philosophy had always been to push the envelope with each new project. I’d change genres, work with new limitations or introduce elements of movie magic like fake blood, breakaway glass or animation.

With Crossroads I shifted my mentality.

I chose a genre that I was confident in and I set out to produce the best piece of work that I was capable of.

I went back to my old stomping ground of Sydney and gave myself six months to get it all done, from gathering the budget to editing the final cut.

When all was said and done I had a single hour to reflect on the process between having my bags packed and taking my ride to the airport. And, I have to admit that there was a hint of regret at my newly learned and very straight-forward lesson.

In finally “betting it all” on a project I was forced to write a screenplay that demanded great actors. From there I cast my leads in Shane C. Rodrigo and Leanne Mauro who came to the project carrying a deep experience in filmmaking.

Those are just the type of people you need to be around to break new ground.

And that’s just the problem, it took me way too long to get here… Most of us step into film school straight out of high school. We’re teens surrounded by other teens, writing stories reflective of what we imagine our 20s will be like.

To put it bluntly, film school can be a bit of an echo chamber. Crossroads was my ticket out of that echo chamber and while I have to give due credit to my talented crew for pushing the film towards something of true quality it was my cast that pushed me beyond any limits that I could have previously perceived.

Even after spending two years in virtual writers’ rooms and pushing my screenwriting to previously incomprehensible peaks, Shane and Leanne broke my screenplay down to its core without breaking a sweat.

Our experience together allowed me to learn more about filmmaking simply through osmosis on the one project where the goal was to do anything but learn. My only regret is that it didn’t come sooner.

So, if you’re gearing up for your next project and you’re wondering how to push it to the next level, just write a couple of compelling roles for a couple of great actors and let them show you what they (and you) are made of.

If you’re an indie filmmaker and you got anything of value from this, there’s a whole lot more over on our Instagram where I share the process of making Crossroads in a similar vein.

Check us out over @crossroadsfilmjournal