I did a grad film but that ended up hurting me more than it helped. My grad film was this over the top, gonzo, completely absurd sci-fi thing with non- professional actors. When you have actors in their fifties who are still doing student films, you`re not going to get top-of-the-line. It was a thing with a teleportation chamber, with a mad scientist and it was completely absurd. It cost $60,000, but it was completely campy, Mystery Science Theater 3000" (1988) kinda stuff, so when people looked at the short, they went, `Well, is this how the acting is going to be in Donnie Darko (2001)? We don`t think you can direct actors if that`s anything to go by.` I was like, `Give me a good actor, and I can direct.` It became really frustrating when the short came up and it gave people a reason to pass. I would recommend that if you want to do a short, then do a short that`s one or two scenes from the feature you want to direct, so they can see it. They really can`t think outside the box. If you want to get a feature made, I would go and scrape together whatever money you can get, find an actor who can really pull off one of the parts and shoot a few scenes from your feature screenplay that can serve as a short. That`s the best evidence that you can give them. That`s what Wes Anderson did with Bottle Rocket, it was originally a short film. And it worked."
Richard Kelly
I did a grad film but that ended up hurting me more than it helped. My grad film was this over the top, gonzo, completely absurd sci-fi thing with non- professional actors. When you have actors in their fifties who are still doing student films, you`re not going to get top-of-the-line. It was a thing with a teleportation chamber, with a mad scientist and it was completely absurd. It cost $60,000, but it was completely campy, Mystery Science Theater 3000" (1988) kinda stuff, so when people looked at the short, they went, `Well, is this how the acting is going to be in Donnie Darko (2001)? We don`t think you can direct actors if that`s anything to go by.` I was like, `Give me a good actor, and I can direct.` It became really frustrating when the short came up and it gave people a reason to pass. I would recommend that if you want to do a short, then do a short that`s one or two scenes from the feature you want to direct, so they can see it. They really can`t think outside the box. If you want to get a feature made, I would go and scrape together whatever money you can get, find an actor who can really pull off one of the parts and shoot a few scenes from your feature screenplay that can serve as a short. That`s the best evidence that you can give them. That`s what Wes Anderson did with Bottle Rocket, it was originally a short film. And it worked."
Richard Kelly
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