smith -- interview notes

8/13/2019 Smith -- Interview Notes

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Focus: Local filmmaker, James V. Bulian, discusses his latest films, his passion forfilmmaking and his upcoming work. Interview #1: James V. Bulian, Local Filmmaker QS: “How long have you been making movies?” JVB: “About a year and a half.” QS: “And what kind of got you into moviemaking?” JVB: “Well, it was my calling. I felt it was my calling.” QS: “Do you have any other artistic background, that got you into doing stuff with art?” JVB: “Yeah. I paint. Don’t know if you’ve seen some of my paintings. I have a few hanging in theback [of Old Venice Pizza Co.]. You know, I consider myself an artist. And under that umbrella, a

lot falls underneath there. I paint. I write. I just try to combine it all and then I felt like filmmakingwas were I should place a lot of my energies.” QS: “You write your own movies, correct?” JVB: “I do write my own screenplays. And if I can’t get around to writing it, I’ll hire a writer to doso.”

QS: “Were there any kind of centralized themes your movies were for this years film festival?” JVB: “It varies. No central theme though.” QS: “How long did it take you to make the two films?” JVB: “Long Black Limousine was shot in about 4 days, and 2 pickup days, so about 6. Andediting ran 2 months. I think it was just because the editor had other things going on but that ranabout 2 months. And then getting music rights. So all in all 3 months.” QS: “That was both? All together?” JVB: “That was just for Long Black. Bellringer we did in 48 hours. It was for the 48 Hour FilmFestival in Memphis and we won audience favorite.” QS: “And how long is it?” JVB: “I think it’s about 7 and half [minutes]. When we had to turn it in, we had to turn it in justunder 7 [minutes].” QS: “Is there anything you learned from working on these two films?” JVB: “I think the one thing I learned is to know your role. Whether you’re a gaff, grip, whateveryou’re doing, is to know that role completely and just execute that as best as you can. And just


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let other people do their roles and don’t let one cross over unless if that’s what you’re hired for.You may be hired to be two things. But as long as you execute your role very well then I thinkyou’re going to do good.” QS: “Don’t be too over-bearing and micro-managing.” JVB: “Yeah just do what the role requires you to do. Whatever you may be on set, you may bean AD or Assistant Producer don’t let that bleed over to other areas.” QS: “What were your inspirations for the two shorts?” JVB: “Well for Bellringer we were kind of given the genre and title. We had to use a bell. Theykind of told us we had to do. We had to use a certain line. We had to use a certain character’sname and then we figured it out from there. We wrote a script around that.” QS: “What are some problems you had to deal with on set or during post production?” JVB: “On set I think we had a toilet over-flow on us. So our main actor, poor guy, but he wassuch a trooper, Jeremy Sandy, had to roll around on the carpet in his underwear. Toilet watersoaked carpet. So you have to deal with stuff like that. Stuff you just don’t see coming.”

QS: “Stuff you’d never think about when watching it.” JVB: “Absolutely. So like you get the house. You have to find a house for a weekend so you canshoot in there. And you can’t afford it so you have to find a friend that would allow you to usetheir house. And the weekend that they do disaster strikes. It was pretty bad. We had to vacuumeverything up…you don’t get all the water up, so just prepare for natural disaster. Prepare forthe worst.” QS: “I’m sure that put you behind on schedule.” JVB: “Oh yeah that set us back, yeah. We had the rented limousine, and the limo driver got lost.So we had to flip and…I mean just prepare for the worst. And get ready to change locations at amoments notice. Making films on the fly.” QS: “When and where can we see your films after the festival?” JVB: “I don’t know, I think we’re just going to put it on YouTube. I don’t plan on releasing it onDVD. I don’t think we’re at that point where it needs to go to Redbox. And people are renting ashort that nobody is going to see. YouTube definitely. My channel is Artist Vodka, so I’ll probablyput it on that.” QS: “Any advice for some budding filmmakers in Mississippi?” JVB: “As a screenwriter, do all your work beforehand…before you even put pen to paper. Getthe characters’ names and get to know them intimately. When their birthdays are. Get theirhoroscopes. Just get everything outlined out before you even begin to write. When you get thefront end done, the writing comes out all by itself. It seems to be a magical moment so do asmuch research as you can before you start writing.”


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“And then for directors or anybody else trying to make a film, I think you have to go all in. Youhave to be dedicated to the craft, and if that’s the case then I would suggest starting at the verybottom. Whatever that may be on set just to get on a set. Get experience. And again, know yourrole. Define it. Have it defined for you. And then move on up the ranks. I think that’s the bestadvice I can do give you for sure on making films. Start at the bottom and work your way up,because you can’t start at the top without knowing what everybody else is doing on set.” QS: “What are you planning on doing next?” JVB: “I’m working on two films right now. One, in particular, is called Fleetwood and Deville. It’sabout two half-brothers, specialists for hire. And their personalities, their look about them,they’re stuck in 1972. They never grew out of that era. They have long hair like Andy Gibbsfeathered back hair. The other cat’s got an afro like the lead singer of Electric Light Orchestra.They wear leather jackets with big lapels. They’re kind of like Starsky and Hutch kind of thingexcept raw and kind of raunchy. So Fleetwood and Deville is what I’m working on.” QS: “And that’s a short?” JVB: “No, that’s a feature. So we’re talking to a few investors right now…I mean, as we speakeven. We have some interest. But I also started a vodka company in order to be able toeventually finance my own indies for Mississippi shoots. What we’ll do there, is invest in indieswith product placement of the vodka.” Interview #2: Johnny McPhail, Actor QS: “How many times have you worked with Jim?” JM: “I worked with Jim on two movies, Bellringer and Long Black Limousine.” QS: “Do you plan on working with him again?” JM: “I would love to work with him again and will anytime he asks me.” QS: “What was it like to work with Jim?” JM: “No pressure, he is very polite, soft spoken, kind to everyone on the set. He is veryknowledgeable and gets the job done.” QS: “What did you like about his directing style?” JM: “Jim is one of the best directors I’ve ever worked with and I’ve worked with some of the

biggest in the business.” QS: “What did you think of his artistic drive?” JM: “He has a strong artistic drive and a great eye for what will look good on the screen. I hopehe keeps making movies and casts me in more projects.” Interview #3: Mike Townsend, Fan


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QS: “Did you like the film?” MT: “I mean, I thought the film was pretty good. It touched on a couple of interesting topics, thatI didn’t expect to see at a small film festival.” QS: “What was something unique about the film? What made it stand out to you?” MT: “I’m actually in a criminology class right now, so it was cool to see a film about how murdersand even cannibals have their own personal style. Like he obviously favorited women so it was

just really neat to see that categorized and surprisingly relevant to me.” QS: “What did you think of the directing?” MT: “The directing was actually pretty good. You know, that scene with the elephant maskreminded me a lot of Clockwork Orange. You know, you just see a crazy guy, well with aprosthetic nose, but a little different this time.” QS: “Are you interested in seeing more work from him in the future?”

MT: “I mean yeah, if it stays along the same lines. Keeps it just as creative, interesting, intriguingas this last films was then definitely.” Interview #4: Danny Klimentz, Director of Photography QS: “How many times have you worked with Jim?” DK: “Just once actually.” QS: “And that was on Bellringer?” DK: “Yeah.” QS: “Do you plan on working with him in the future?” DK: “Yeah, we’ve had talks. He’s working on a new script. We’ve talked about when he’s readyto do it, we’d do it together.” QS: “What was it like working with Jim last time?” DK: “It was good. I mean, it was a unique situation because it was a 48 hour film fest. So, it wascool to see how he was able to get the script together so quickly and getting it across to the

actors. Get it across to who’s operating the camera. He’s just really good to work with in theediting room, directing, or what have you. QS: “What did you think of his directing style?” DK: “Yeah it was good. I think he has his vision and he knows what it is he’s looking for. So we

just kept working until we got what it is he wanted.”


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QS: “What did you think of his artistic drive to be better?” DK: “Yeah, you said it yourself. He doesn’t want to…he only wants to produce the best. So Ithink that he isn’t going to do something if it’s not the best quality. Every film he’s worked on,you can see how it’s better than the time before. Definitely something he always tries to getbetter at.” QS: “How did you meet him?” DK: “I met him through another business. My friend and I started a film studio here andsomeone who has another office near us, that knew Jim, and knew Jim wanted to make amovie. So he set up a meeting between the two of us. It was right at the time he was about todo the 48 hour film fest and so we decided why not.” QS: “Anything you’d like to add?” DK: “I think, keep an eye out for him. He’s got a lot of scripts he’s working on. He’s making plans

on to help fund it. So, I think we’ll see a lot of stuff from him.”

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