Pulp Features

Jeff Schubert is turning out to be a multi-talented figure in the independent film world. With one film – Walking The Walk – already under his belt, he is now hosting Filmnut – an internet TV programme that gives viewers the opportunity to talk to filmmakers, both about their films and what went into them.

And with several scripts in various stages of development and a book in progress, I’m not sure where he finds the time. But find the time he does, and he’s also found the time to talk to Pulpmovies about films, filmmaking and to provide a wealth of filmmaking advice from the trenches.

Paul: In a nutshell, how would you describe Filmnut?
Jeff: The logline is: A live interactive show about filmmaking where the viewer can instant message in questions during show.

What makes Filmnut different from other shows is beyond the typical questions, we try to give the viewer an inside look into the making of a movie. With the time we have for each show it’s kind of like half entertainment interview and half behind the scenes DVD extra on how making the movie was done. We’ll probably interview directors, producers, writers and actors more then anyone else but throughout the run of the show we will cover all aspects of making movies. For example, we have already interviewed a CGI visual effects supervisor, composer, an editor, a director of acquisitions for a distribution company etc. On August 15th I interviewed the co-founder of the Slamdance film festival, writer/director Dan Mirvish.

Paul: In the programmes you talk about both films and about filmmaking.
Jeff: Yes the goals of the show are to be educational and inspirational to the aspiring and continuing Filmmaker. And now that we have message boards on the site I think we can do more of both in addition to giving fans of the show another way to interact with us and each other. Of course we also want to be entertaining, and don’t tell my executive producer I said this but as an indie filmmaker myself I also want our indie guests to be able to use some of the time to promote themselves and their project. I try to be a big advocate for them. I feel their joy… and their pain!

Paul: What sort of audience is the series aimed at?
Jeff: The Universe! Okay, realistically three groups of people, people who enjoy films, how they’re made, and or want to make them. I mean there are some episodes where it’s like seeing how the magic is done. I think it will give many viewers a new appreciation for how filmmaking is done, and will help filmmakers make better films.

Paul: Where did the idea for the programme come about?
Jeff: It is the brainchild of the creator of theStream.tv Brian Gramo, who is doing an outstanding job with the whole network. Our Producer Peter Paul Basler also has made great contributions to the program and sees Filmnut as being an on-line film school but a lot more entertaining.

Maybe the interesting part here is that I auditioned to be the co-host of another show on the stream.tv called The LoveStream, an advice show. A few weeks pass, I follow up because I felt the audition went well and I had a good rapport with Brian. Brian tells me, he’s going with two ladies for the advice show but he saw my resume, and would love to have me solo host a show about filmmaking. So no auditions, the job was mine.

Paul: What are the high points of the series so far?
Jeff: I enjoy good questions from viewers, I really like it after the show is over and the guest tells us what a great time they had doing the interview. They come in kind of not knowing what to expect “with this internet thing” and they leave complimenting us on our professionalism and telling us they’re going to refer other industry guests. Another amazing aspect about the show and the internet period is the ability to reach people globally. We actually have people staying up all night to watch the show so they can instant message us live. Hello Syke in the U.K.!

Paul: And do you have any favourite shows?
Jeff: Ah, I see you’re testing my diplomatic skills on this one. We’ve been on since January of this year. The first of anything is always special. I’d never hosted a show before so it was cool to do. Having the head of Troma Ent. Lloyd Kaufman on was a lot a fun. I had a great conversation with a former jury prize winner at Sundance, Matthew Harrison, Gregory Itzin, an actor from the Fox show 24, has been our most watched show, and I have to mention interviewing a good friend mine actor Jack Maxwell was special. But believe me, I’ve enjoyed them all and appreciate all of our guests!!

Paul: You have also made a film of your own – Walking the Walk. How would you describe it?
Jeff: The movie itself is a mocumentary about a guy obsessed with making a movie on a seven thousand dollar budget. Kind of a play on Robert Rodriquez’s El Mariachi. It was a unique hook when Rodriquez did it but since then it’s kind of become a cliché and I had some fun with it. An interesting point here is for this book I’m working on I interviewed a film critic from The Hollywood Reporter, and he was telling me as a critic I don’t want to hear how little your film was made for, it only matters if it’s good. And from a critic’s perspective, I agree. And now you hear directors touting their movie not based on the film but any bizarre angle they can grasp onto… well in fact, I had this director the other day, he was so excited, telling me, “I shot my whole no-budget action movie hopping on one leg! The whole time hopping on my LEFT leg, it’s like a low budget “The Bourne Ultimatum”, you got to see this!” Okay I made that up but you get the point.

Paul: What sort of problems did you encounter during shooting - and which one gave you your biggest headaches?
Jeff: Not as many as you’d think. There was a scene where the lead female was supposed to be topless. I couldn’t have been more upfront about this scene during the audition process, from day one. However, come time to shoot it, she didn’t want to do it. Of course I wasn’t going to (nor could I) make her, but we wound up shooting the scene both ways and because I’m gentleman and a softy I used the version with her bra on. PS to the story is months later I google her name and she has done some topless lesbian scene in another movie! The serious moral to the story is to do any nude scenes first. This way if there is a problem you haven’t established the actor on camera yet.

We did also have two actors get into fist fight on set that was aptly handled by my first A.D.. and my gaffer no-showed on a day when a friend passed away. That’s where it helps to have a line producer with a rolodex of crew contacts to call. So he was replaced with minimal time loss.

My child star refused to come out of the pool to work a scene. I was two minutes away from writing him out of the scene when luckily his father showed up cause he wasn’t listening to anyone else that day. We got the scene done.

The manager at the bar we were shooting at one night wasn’t informed by the owner (who was now out of town) that we would be shooting there all night and he wanted us out by 2AM. But I smoothed him over.

Ah, seriously it was a very smooth shoot, I felt blessed when it was in the can.

Paul: Are you planning to make any more films and, if so, are there any actors or other film professionals that you would like to work with in the future?
Jeff: As William H. Macy would say in the movie ‘Fargo’ “You Bethcha”. I’ve written seven scripts since Walking The Walk at various stages of development. I’ve already had the pleasure of working with one person I’d like to when I had a small role as actor in the comedy, ‘Orgazmo’ by the SouthPark guys Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Actor wise, sorry to be obvious but Robert Dinero, I see him as being the prototype, the Michael Jordan of our sport if you will. Samuel L. Jackson has a presence and command (he can intimidate and make you laugh at the same time) and I have fun role for him. I have the perfect leading role for Drew Barrymore in a romantic drama (come on Drew I enjoy a romantic comedy as much as the next guy but give me a shot!). Matt Damon, he has that self-made thing going from Good Will, and since then I’ve enjoyed how he’s handled his career on and off camera, plus we could also talk baseball. Regarding directors, Spielberg, Eastwood, Tarantino and comedically Tom Shadyac. A filmmaker who is established but still on the rise is James Gunn (writer/ director of Slither, Dawn of The Dead remake). He and his wife Jenna Fisher (who I’d also like to work with and is now on The NBC show The Office) did a no-budget indie mocumentary Lollilove that I am a huge fan of. I had the Lollilove Producer, Stephen Blackehart on Filmnut, and we just scheduled James Gunn for the show. He’ll be on September 26th.

Paul: I understand that you are also writing a book. What can you tell me about that?
Jeff: Having gone through the process of writing/directing/producing Walking The Walk, I wouldn’t have been able to do it if not for the help and support of everyone involved, cast and crew, but also the research, in terms of books and articles and so forth. But I felt I had something to add to the conversation of making and marketing a movie so I set out to write a book and interview people far more established then I to ask them questions I feel can benefit filmmakers. The title is Beyond Sundance, Hope For The Independent Filmmaker. An A to Z concept to completion book on how to make your movie, form a film festival strategy, and distribution, and self-distribution strategies as well.

The writing and interviews I’m conducting for the book are making me a better filmmaker and have been great prep work for Filmnut. I interviewed Bob Moresco (Oscar winning co-writer for ‘Crash’) for the book and now I have him coming on Filmnut on August 22nd. I’ll probably have a few more crossovers but keep some for book only.

Paul: Do you have any more projects lined up for the future?
Jeff: I’m going to do another micro-budget. At the level I’m at, I do not have the leverage (yet) to attach myself to my bigger budgeted scripts as either an actor or director. So that is keeping me away from making deals with bigger companies. But if you’re a private investor reading this, contact me! Filmmaking will always be risky business but if you know why things fail and you know why they succeed you can put yourself in the best position to be successful. A + B does not always = C in filmmaking. It’s the difference between relying solely on formulas at the expense of chemistry and planning. A filmmaker has to have a grasp of all of the above. So many projects don’t even get off the starting blocks due to insufficient preparation and or strategy. I shoot straight and will explain the process step by step. You’ll have a great experience working with me. (Okay sales pitch over.)

Paul: And finally, if someone else has a great idea for an independent film, what advice would you give him or her?
Jeff: I can go on for a while on this one!

Set short term and long term goals. Accept the inevitability that your project is going to be made. If you don’t know how to do something we live in an age where it’s never been easier to do research.

I do get asked a lot about writing and to anyone who has never written a script and is worried that there first draft won’t be any good, I tell them don’t worry about it because it will probably be pretty bad. A vast majority of first draft scripts written by the experienced and novice alike are bad. The point of the first draft is just to get it out on paper. Don’t worry about it being good. Most scripts that make it to the screen have been through MANY MANY drafts. Get feedback from people who will be honest and not look to please you. A good author to look into here is Linda Seger who I interviewed for my book and has written several books on screenwriting.

Do not underestimate the importance of any aspect of filmmaking or suffer your father’s fate you will (sorry for the Yoda Star Wars reference :) Sound is a big one that you hear about. Audiences can be a little forgiving of picture quality but if they can’t hear?

But also stills and artwork. Napoleon Dynamite may have been made for $400,000 but from what I understand it had a ten million dollar P&A budget once it was picked-up. Most indie films do not have that kind of budget so when someone is at the local DVD store what’s the first impression of you movie they have? Your DVD Cover!

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. (who is going to see your movie and why?)

Shoot anyone who says “we’ll fix it in post”. You don’t want to rely on fixing things in post. I know you have to balance “making your days”, staying on schedule but it is cheaper and more effective to get it right on set. Or at least talk to your editor during pre-production and have realistic expectations of what can and can’t be done in post.

Counter to that: Do shoot your best image on set. Don’t shoot effects that you don’t have to on set. That is something that can be done in post. Another reason to consult your editor in pre-pro.

Production time may be limited but take advantage of pre-production as much as possible… avoid the urge to RUSH… (Develop that script)

Counter to that: Do set a start date. People start moving and things start happening when a date is set.

Rehearse as much as possible so your actors are prepared, have contingency plans in place if things go wrong. What will you do if you have issues with: weather, light, sound, no-shows, equipment failure, police, accidents, bad acting, fights… to name a few. If you’re prepared most can be overcome without causing the stress that can be caused by allowing yourself to be caught off guard or unprepared.

Most important tips for last… Make sure everyone feels appreciated! And feed the crew and cast as well as you possibly can!

Thanks for the interview Paul and for anyone who wants to check out the show it’s on www.thestream.tv Wednesday nights at 8pm pacific standard time and 11pm eastern. (These are USA times). You can access any past episode at www.thestream.tv/filmnut I also do a post show blog for every show that is on the site and don’t forget about the message boards. Introduce yourself and tell me what you think and what you’re interested in!

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