Money Has Nothing To Do With Making A 'Real' Movie by James Kicklighter

Film Courage: I know you made some short films before you made a few of your features. How much money did you have to make your first film for, to consider it a real movie? Because there are these litmus tests, like, "Oh, well, that's not a real movie, it's only eight thousand," or whatever. But at what point did you say, this is a real movie here? And what was the budget? James Kicklighter: I think that's an interesting question, because a lot of people do put these litmus tests on what it means to make a real movie. [inaudible] It's a real movie the second that people are watching it and the second that people are writing about it. And I think that is actually the second most key component, especially in the digital era, when you have YouTube and Vimeo and all these digital platforms that aren't necessarily monetized. If you make a short film that someone writes about, and I mean film journalists, bloggers, all these various things, I think then you've made a real film. It has nothing to do with money, because your career is about creating things and evolving as an artist to tell stories that, hopefully, people are going to access and enjoy. But if they don't know that you're making something, then you're not making a real film, because it's not for an audience. It's then for yourself. So for me, the litmus test always has to do with when people respond to it. The first thing I did where I really had some people respond was a short film that I made for less than a thousand dollars, called The Car Wash, with an actress named Edith Ivey. It was a really neat experience. I had just finished directing a piece in college about the Golden Age of Radio, for the National Association of Broadcasters' education wing in Vegas. Over the course of a semester, while I was a full-time college student, I was taking classes Monday through Thursday, and Friday, Saturday and Sunday I was traveling around the country interviewing these folks on the weekends. It was strenuous, it was awful, and it was a very difficult eight weeks. But over the course of that period I met Edith, who had just finished The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with David Fincher. I had been writing this screenplay because I wanted to make a short narrative, and I thought that Dixie Carter was going to play the lead, because I had worked with her on the first film I ever produced. But she had just passed away. So once I met Edith for this documentary that we were making, I said, you know, she's actually perfect for this role. I sent her the screenplay, terrified, because she had just worked with David Fincher, and here am I, a lowly college student. She read the screenplay and sent me a message back and said, "I can't believe that anyone under fifty-five wrote this material, and I will do it for free." I was mind-boggled by it. Now, of course, I did not have her do it for free. I did a SAG minimum, because I think that's ethical. I paid her a hundred dollars for two days, and we made the film. It went to festivals, people liked it, and it's got a lot of views online. That, I would say, would be my first legitimate film. The films I made afterwards did end up getting more press and such, but I think that's the progression you make.