<p>This is a story about my Dodge son who did a crossover from Screenwriting to Directing on an independent film shot during college years. It was possible because of all the training and film projects with rotating assignments at college, where they take up various jobs and help each other make student films. It also takes a lot of chutzpah for a screenwriter to say, “you know what, I can direct this, too.” </p>
<p>A year ago, S graduated Dodge/Chapman, double major in Screenwriting and History. While there, he wrote many short and feature-length scripts that others directed, very normal student pathway. </p>
<p>One season, he also took it on himself to direct one of his own scripts into a short independent film. He did it in summer after jr. year, with a crew of volunteers from Chapman’s then-current students and recent alumni in LA. The producer was a current Chapman student who obtained a small budget. The 2 lead actors were a female actor auditioned from the wider LA community and his own brother who acts off-off-Broadway in NYC and flew out to be in his younger brother’s film. </p>
<p>That film (“Stateside”) is now in two film festivals this Spring - one just aired in downtown LA, and the other I find particularly exciting, as it’s the upcoming G.I. Film Festival in Washington, D.C., the only film festival in the nation specializing in films about soldiers’ experiences. </p>
<p>On the crossover from Screenwriting to try his hand at also Directing; the skills were attainable, because of all the team projects at Dodge, although the cinematographer was especially important to him to breach the gap on set on many technical points. It was shot on location inside two homes in Santa Ana. </p>
<p>Crew (camera, etc) were Chapman students and recent alums. (Note: Dodge has only “recent alums” but they are loyal.) These alums already working for pay in LA on union BTL jobs. They were very generous to volunteer 4 days to go back to the great feelings of being on a Chapman team project. Very generous.</p>
<p>Actor S from NYC said that, to him, this set didn’t feel like any “student film” but was handled professionally in every way. He was very impressed with the extreme Chapman work ethic and talent on set. His base of comparison was all the NY Independent films he does for students and recent grads of NYU/Tisch, Columbia, NYFA (initials wrong here I know), and so on. While I catered the film (truly fun) I was also stunned at how professional these 20 people handled themselves over a 4-day shoot on location.</p>
<p>Son’s Dodge classmates, with rare exception, all moved to LA after graduating (or before, in a few cases, commuting in their final year). The distance to internships is of issue at Chapman. Even with a car, S found it hard to work in during his school years, but solved it unusually. He graduated in 3.5 years, moved to LA, and did a 3-month unpaid internship with a small firm right then. </p>
<p>Dodge/Chapman alums (and I’m sure this is also true of USC alums) network in LA constantly from various entry film jobs, coffee-pouring dayjobs, indie projects outside of work. Networking is not a rare meeting to discuss a grand project, rather, it’s more family style - meeting to eat several times a week (work lunch breaks), keeping the radar on by cellphone, etc. The same circle of closest talented friends all stuck together and know exactly what each other is doing throughout their week.</p>
<p>This month, S is working very hard: finishing up writing a full-length feature film script with military themes; taking a Spanish course in a downtown LA community college, and going to a 3-week intensive training to become certified as an Emergency Medical Technician. That last is something he has always wanted to do, and holds out hope for being a steady dayjob (with great stories to collect) with full benefits yet allows just enough free time to keep writing. He’s finding that living alone downtown works best for his writing, but most of his classmates live together sharing a more suburban house with pool and barbeque amenities.</p>
<p>He never applied to USC, for particular reasons related to gap year policy. He had hoped, after h.s., to take a gap year as an ambulance volunteer in Israel. But USC was explicit that they don’t allow for a gap year after acceptance. Actually, neither does Chapman but their materials and communication confused him and us. Chap “allows a gap year” but only after attending for at least one semester. They too wouldn’t hold the acceptance for another year, so he dropped the gap year and went right to Chapman. (It worked out, I guess, since he’ll now do ambulance work in LA). </p>
<p>Sometimes, during his Chapman years, I asked if he wanted to transfer over to USC. He said no, for several reasons. He liked his professors, felt that the Chapman program nurtures every student while USC tends to favor their few perceived ‘stars’ each year and can ignore others. I can’t defend or dispute that claim, but I heard it often. Also he was already bonded with the Chapman friends. I sometimes wondered how it’d have been for him at USC, but I’ll say that he’s very pleased with the training and professionalism he learned at Chapman.</p>
<p>Sometimes at Chapman the professors would look at a project being done by a junior or senior director and tell them their script was terrible, and sent it over to my son to fix it up. He was the go-to guy, so I take from that that his screenwriting abilities were appreciated within the department. </p>
<p>If anything peeves him, it’s the humility issue. He realizes that he needs to call upon others for technical help when directing. Meanwhile, the student directors believe and tell themselves, “anyone can write.” Truth is, some directors can write, others can’t. He’d like film programs to teach directors to look at Screenwriting as as much a specialty area as Cinematography, Photography, Sound and all the rest.</p>