John Badham is the critically acclaimed director of dozens of cinematic and television movies, including Saturday Night Fever, WarGames, Point of No Return, The Stakeout, and Bird on a Wire.
In April 2005, he became head of the directing program at Chapman University, where he continues to teach. His first book, I'll Be in My Trailer: The Creative Wars Between Actors and Directors, features some of the most helpful (and sometimes hard-learned) lessons of his 37-year career. I recently had the privilege to chat with John about his experiences as a filmmaker, and what things are essential for microfilmmakers to keep in mind.
Kari Ann: What types of personality traits/quirks should a filmmaker be on the lookout for when considering people for cast and crew?
John Badham: The personality problem is so tough when you’re not able to pay people. It’s bad enough when you can pay people, but, when you have people working for free, often their motivation is diminished considerably. You can talk them into doing it for you… but then they just don’t feel like it or something a little better comes up, that’ll happen a lot. And it doesn’t have to be much better, either; it could be, “Well, I don’t feel like driving to Palmdale today, it’s going to be really hot out there.” So, I think you’re definitely looking for enthusiasm.
And I think that you always have to be aware that this could happen, and try to make yourself familiar with backups if it did happen. Because you can’t hold them there; you can talk about doing contracts with them, but lots of luck on enforcing that. You’re wanting to really work with them to try to make them part of the operation, get them emotionally involved so that they’re really interested. Let’s say in the case of the Cinematographer, what special kind of look you’re going to do or what special, interesting things are going to be different from other microfilms they may have worked on.
KAM: Now what are some of things that indicate someone who could be reliable? Because initially, lots of people get enthusiastic about it, so how can you tell a genuine enthusiasm from one that will die out?
JB: Sometimes it’s literally just a feeling that you get that somebody is more interested than someone else; and they may both say they’re interested, but you get a feeling. And if you can get them involved a little bit before hand (and I’m talking about before the day of the shoot) you may be able to tell stuff. And, very importantly, the most reliable thing I know, is to talk to other people that they’ve worked with. If they haven’t done any film at all, that’s one thing. But if they’ve worked on a film for this person or that person, then you want to call those people up and ask, “How were they on this shoot? Were they reliable?”
I’ve seen on some of our shoots at Chapman [University] where someone who’s the producer --the producer!—leaves in the middle of the day because they don’t know what they’re doing, they don’t know how to be useful, they’re just flaky to begin with. If we were checking up with that person for a subsequent film, we might find out from the director that we need to stay away from this person. In any kind of film business that I know, that’s one of the most important things you can do, is to do your homework on the people [you want to work with] and try to get a picture of what they’re doing. If they haven’t done anything, then you certainly want to be careful with the amount of responsibility you give someone when it’s their first time. You’re always looking for someone who has some experience.
KAM: Because there’s not a lot that we can offer the cast and crew in terms of incentive (other than the fact that we’ll feed them and take care of them on the set), what are some things we can do to ensure that the cast and crew will show up and do what they’ve agreed to?
JB: You’re trying to get them emotionally involved and get them excited about what’s special about this film; what’s the thing that’s really interesting and will make you proud to be a part of this movie? When your name comes up in the credits, you’re going to smile and say, “I’m really glad I worked on this.” Whether we’re trying something different or this story is really special, because it’s very personal to me, etc. There had better be some reason why you’re making this film, other than, “Gee, I’d just like to make a film.” What’s special about this so it’s something we’ll be proud that we worked on?
KAM: In the book, you frequently mention rehearsals (in several forms) and their benefits. Because of the more limited time constraints we deal with, what are ways that a microfilmmaker can work in rehearsals, without wearing out actors that have often been working another job immediately prior to coming to the set?
JB: You try to start early enough; let’s say a weekend before that you’re able to get as much of your cast together as you can and read and discuss it. That’s almost the most valuable thing you can to is discuss it and get people’s thoughts out. You don’t want to hear about these thoughts for the first time on the day of shooting, you want to hear about them beforehand. Because a lot of the time, there’s not really a problem there, it’s just that the actor doesn’t quite understand what you’re after. It might take a night or two of sleeping on it before they get it. And so if you listen to their points of view and try to answer their questions, then you too as a filmmaker can learn something. Because they’re not necessarily stupid people who don’t understand it, they may have a valid point, it’s just that everybody needs to think about it, including the director. Because you may go home and think, “Oh my Lord, I see what they’re talking about. Wow! That’s a really good point, and it’s more interesting than what I had!” It’s not a horrible problem, of course, although there are those too!
