Interview: Gerry Williams

Gerry Williams Film Maker, Photographer, Rocket Scientist, Writer— Martian? For a list of Gerry Williams films, click here Interview by David Boyne

WM.US: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Williams: : An astronaut.

WM.US: Whoa. Nothing like dreaming big.

Williams: : I grew up at the dawn of the Space Age. I remember in kindergarten watching Alan Shepard’s flight on television, then our class built space helmets out of 5-gallon ice cream drums and pipe cleaners (for antenna). I’ve been hooked ever since.

WM.US: Yeah, the ice cream space helmets would have hooked me, too.

Williams: : I held on to that dream of being an astronaut for a long time. But I had asthma, and the physical aspects of it were too much... I wound up going to college and getting a degree in physics and I wanted to work in the space industry, to devote myself to working on propulsion systems—

WM.US: Holy smokes. You went from washed-out wannabe astronaut to rocket scientist?

Williams: : I guess I did!

WM.US: So what do you want to be now? A brain surgeon?

Williams: : The funnest thing I’ve ever done is making films. I’m already a filmmaker, so I’d have to say I now want to be a successful filmmaker… which to me means working every day with Hollywood budgets and resources (and with plenty of free time between films to travel and see the world). And not necessarily working in Hollywood itself.

WM.US: When did you make your first film?

Williams: : 1968. I was just a kid, and a friend of mine, also a space geek, saw Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. And it just floored us: it was so real! Not like typical sci-fi movies. I mean, the scenes when the astronauts were out in space—it was silent—the way space really is! The centrifugal walkways... everything was real. We were so excited we went down to my basement and just started making our own space films. We rigged up spacecraft models to move against starry backgrounds, even did small explosions.

WM.US: So your earliest ambition to be an astronaut, even back in high school, was already moving you toward your adult career of being a film maker.

Williams: : I guess it was. I had an early interest in photography, and computers, too. Not that I could imagine that one day I would be a cameraman, then a director of photography for all these films I’ve made. For me, a camera is a camera.

Hey. I'll be frank. The people I make films with, we're bottom feeders. We never have a big budget, big stars... But I love making films. There's nothing funner. And some of the films I made have found a real home, in places like USA Network Tonight.



WM.US: You sound a little like an addict. Are you addicted to film making?

Maybe. I admit that I'm always looking for my next fix. And for me, I'm lucky, because I get my high no matter what part of filmmaking I'm working on, writing a script, ligting, shooting a scene...I remember one of my first films, a horror, Twilight Zone kind of thing, and we were using the Belmont roller coaster for a scene. We had to stay up on and crawl around that roller coaster all night. I never complained. I loved every minute.

One current project of mine is a film called Clementine. I'm writing the script. I'm going to get the backing for making it, and direct it. And I like every job I have to do.

WM.US: What's Clementine about?

Williams: I guess you could describe it as a war film, but it’s set in space, near Mars. Like Das Boot in space. This film is closer to a message film, than any other films I’ve done which are really comedies and fun.

WM.US: How do you research a film that is set on Mars?

Williams: : Well, I have the background, my physics degree, my life-long love affair with space exploration, but one thing I did in research for Clementine is I found this international organization called The Mars Society. And they’ve been incredible. I mean, I wound up becoming very involved with them and even spent three days and two nights on a barren plain in Utah, video documenting the six-person crew who were living in a mock spaceship and living under conditions that closely simulated conditions to be found on Mars.



WM.US: How closely, I mean, to what point did you live as if you were on Mars, and not in Utah? Did you order in pizza?

Williams: : We ate space food! Like astronauts. Anytime we exited the spacecraft, we wore fully self-contained suits, space suits, with helmets, gloves, everything. It took hours just to prepare to go outside. It was incredible. I loved it. We took samples of soil, as if we were really on an alien environment. It was living out a fantasy. And it was so different.

WM.US: How does writing come in to your filmmaking?

Williams: : Writing, a script, is the blueprint for making a film. It starts there, with the writing. But it’s only a blueprint. It’s going to change, be changed; other people will add ideas. I love every part of making a film and I would gladly do anything to be involved with the whole effort. I think that’s what people like most about working with me. Just my enjoyment of the whole thing. I’m like a kid about it and I never want to grow up.

The great thing about writing a script is the control, or at least, the start of control that you have over the project. My ideal goal, is what I’m doing with my two current projects, I want to write the scripts, get the money and backing, direct the films, and photograph the films, or at least supervise the photography, as that’s a real strength of mine. But I can direct, too. I can make two strangers who happened to come into this room fall in love with each other, just by putting them through some intense exercises, making them look, really look into each other’s eyes.

WM.US: Do you always write your own screenplays, or have you partnered with other screenwriters?

Williams: : I’ve partnered with two other screenwriters; not so much as an equal writing partner but as more of an producer/editor who guides the writer to a finished and polished screenplay that I can then option for a year (or more) as a property that I can find a producer (with financing) for with me as the director. You get to know a screenplay really well that way.

The first time I did this we took this particular writer’s short story (a very funny comedy) and worked it into a screenplay over a period of a year. I then optioned the story from her (twice, for a total of 18 months) and attempted to find a producer for it. I found three producers, but they dropped out one by one, as they couldn’t procure financing. I eventually had to let my option lapse. The second time we spent six months polishing an existing screenplay (a low-budget horror film) before I optioned it for a year. Unfortunately, financing never materialized there either.

I don’t think I’d like working with a team of writers … I much prefer a one-to-one relationship with a writer. That way I can get inside their head and crawl around and vice versa and look under rocks for interesting things to put into the film. When you attempt this with more than one person, what are essentially sibling rivalries develop and you spend more time massaging egos than working on a story. Working with one other person is, for me, a much more intimate and satisfying relationship.


WM.US: How do you get criticism for one of your screenplays, when in the early phases, or after you feel you have a reasonably finished blue print for making a film?

Williams: : My wife is always my first reader (being a writer herself with a degree in English), she’s able to ground me in structure and composition and all the technicalities of the craft.

Then I have this circle of friends I’ve gathered over the years, from different parts of my life and career. Rich and Dave are people I met back in the early 80s in film school… both close friends, as well as gifted visual artists. They share similar interests and outlooks with me, and they know me well enough to give me their honest opinions. Then there’s Matt, who is a published author and a spiritual creative brother—we support each other’s art, and I get to read his drafts and he reads mine.

I invite these guys and then also I invite other people I would like to work with again on other projects to come to my photography studio for an evening and to participate in a group reading of my script. So there are other film and video people, as well as actors, musicians, writers and other artists.

WM.US: How does it work?

Williams: : I assign characters to different readers and have a live reading of the script—which I usually record so I can review everything later. This, more than anything else, brings the script to life for me. I don’t read, and if I’m collaborating with another writer on the project, he or she doesn’t read either. We sit back with notepads and listen to the story, to the characters, to the flow to see if it works. I may do this reading a couple of times, depending on what I rewrite from the previous read.

When I’m satisfied with the results, I’ll start shopping the script around to producers and production companies. If I’m working with a writer, I’ll first option the script from them in order that I have a legal interest in the project— this protects my interest in someone else’s script so I’ll eventually be able to direct the project.

WM.US: What are the challenges of directing and filming? How do you work with people?

Williams: : When I first walk onto a film, I take all the actors aside and talk with them for a bit, develop a personal relationship with them and find out what they’re like. This allows me to study them and think how I want to light them to the best advantage for a film. They usually tell me a list of things I need to be aware of as a photographer, like where their cosmetic scars are, their imperfections, which side of their face is best, etc.

Everyone is different but some need more lighting—or UN-lighting—and camera work than others. I had one actress tell me she didn’t have any bad sides or imperfections, which I couldn’t believe. I actually tried to light her bad for an unimportant scene and damned if she wasn’t right—I couldn’t make her look bad!

My favorite part about photographing people, especially women, is when I look at them through the lens and see them in their persona and, through the eyepiece of the viewfinder I fall in love with them. If I can fall in love through the camera, the audience will too. Other times, after a take, I have to lock down the camera and just walk away for a few minutes because the performance was so revealing, disturbing or horrifying that it has unsettled me emotionally—as it will the audience. This is when filmmaking becomes very powerful, when it affects and produces strong emotions.

WM.US: What’s it feel like to have a film that you made viewed by audiences?

Williams: : Sitting with an audience during a film that I’ve worked on is a curious thing, and it’s quite unpredictable.

One premier screening I went to had me in awe of the images I’d captured on the screen —I kept forgetting that I had shot it and I was constantly enamored with the lighting and the feel of it and I kept catching myself feeling envious as a cinematographer. And it was my own work.

On another screening, the audience turned the film into a Mystery Science Theater 3000 environment, interacting with the film and the dialog and basically making fun of it. I know it wasn’t a very good film (the script was weak and the editing was sloppy), but I was still hurt by the audience’s reaction.

It always takes me by surprise when I see one of my films or commercials on television. There’s always a moment of puzzlement, recognition awareness, and an awareness that I was responsible for these images. If I’m not on a schedule, I’ll almost always sit down and watch it to the end.

Being in a theater is even more amazing, knowing that so many more people are watching my work in the best possible venue. Not only is it a shared group experience, it is without distractions like commercials, doorbells, and, theoretically anyway, telephone calls. People are focused on my images on the screen, and on the story I am telling. This is the amazing "high" that I love as an artist.

WM.US: Do you believe in a god/gods?

Williams: : Yes, absolutely. I’ve grown away from the anthropomorphic gods of Judeo-Christian dogma, and I’m constantly looking into other theologies for answers and snippets of truth. I believe there is a life spirit similar to The Force from the Star Wars mythology, a spirit that resonates from every living thing.

Religion is a very personal thing for me, very internal. I feel closer to God on a mountainside or in the desert or on the ocean that I’ve ever felt in a church. I’ve found that as I get older, my own personal beliefs become more primitive…more ancient… more Gaia-centric. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that, when I’m in my 90s, I’ll be worshiping the sun.


WM.US: What drives you to create? To photograph? To write?

Williams: : And to teach. The act of Creation itself is my driver —to make something out of nothing, to pull together many different things—words, images, sounds—and assemble them and give them meaning, purpose, direction and viewpoint.

With writing—whether it’s a screenplay, a short story or even a technical software review for the Mac User Group—I’m creating something unique that didn’t exist before. I filter the words and grammar through my experiences and beliefs much like I put a filter in front of the camera lens to enhance or correct a scene to what I want to say.

I’m a unique individual, and no one on this planet has the same perspective that I do, the same way of saying or illustrating with words, or images, or sounds or style the things that are important for me. I may not ever write or photograph projects with deep philosophical implications, but there is always a great deal of Me that suffuses everything I create.

WM.US: How were you able to make your career as an independent filmmaker? How did you get out of the 9 to 5 non-creative life?

Williams: : It takes constant work when I’m not working to find work. When I’m not actively shooting, I’m sending out resumes, demo tapes and photo portfolios. I’m always attending different functions where I can network with other people in the industry—from screenwriters to production crews to students to photographers.

I’ve found that the trick that works best for me is to build several families of people to work with production families. That way there are several groups out actively pursuing projects at the same time, and, with what I come up with on my own I usually manage to get the rent and the bills paid.

My wife holding down a 40-hour per week technical writer position also helps. That way I can take on some of the riskier and more satisfying projects rather than having to always go for the highest paying gigs.

All of my screenplay writing projects to date have been labors of love, by that I mean, unpaid investments in the future. My personal motto is "Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want." This means that, in spite of never having been paid for a screenplay yet, I’ve earned a lot of experience writing and directing others in writing them.

On top of that, I’m always enrolling in seminars and classes that keep me on top of the knowledge curve. The last class I took was to learn the "Final Cut Pro" software so that I will now be able to edit my own projects right in my studio, and I’ll be able to communicate in their own language with the film editors I hire.

WM.US: What are your current projects and where are you in their development?

Williams: : I have an ongoing series of projects video documenting the redevelopment of southeast San Diego. I’ve been shooting community events and meetings, as well as the construction of Market Creek Plaza and the Elementary Institute of Science, including time lapse camera work.

I’ve got several short films in preproduction, including Wirehead, an experimental film that involves the senses—especially touch, taste and smell; and The Blank Page, a video essay on writer’s block.

Of course, I’m always on the lookout for feature films to shoot, too.

Writing-wise, I have seven stories in various stages. There’s Summer of the Mummy, a low-budget teen summer film and Clementine, a science fiction tale, and both are near the final polish stage. As is a Christmas sci-fi narrative short story that I’ll be rewriting into screenplay format the moment I finish it. Picnic on the Moon and Goblins and The Prisoner are three shorter screenplays I’m writing that I’ll probably combine into an anthology-style film. They’re all on second-pass right now.

And I’ve just started writing a film about the exploration and colonization of Mars, based upon my experiences with The Mars Society these past two years.

I’m putting together a photographic show called "People of a Different Time", featuring images I’ve shot over the last eight years at the California Renaissance Pleasure Fairs.

I’m also prepping a 100-day theme photography project on San Diego county.

WM.US: You really should do something about that laziness problem of yours... Finally, what advice would you give those just starting out who want to make films and work in films?

Williams: : I’ll give the same advice that I was given when I started to shoot films: "Do it ... just do it." Pick up a camera and start telling stories. Pick up a pen and start writing films. Don’t worry about format or budgets or style —there is time to learn all that later on. Go out and tell a story. It can be anything —my daughter’s trip to Sea World, look what the dog dragged in, what would happen if you went for a walk in the woods and met someone from history … anything. Get it on paper. Get it on film or tape. Make it the best you can. Then go out and do it again. And again. And again.

As your experience grows, so will your confidence, your skill, your artistry, your ability to tell the story and evoke emotions in your audience. You have a unique perspective, and you can tell your story in a way no one else can. Film schools are good at this —plus they give you something that I personally need: a deadline.

Film schools also give you the tools—if you can’t afford them yourself. And the theory, the historical perspective, and most importantly a group of people who want to make films, too—a community.

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Links to The Mars Society:

MarsSociety.org

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