Spotlight: Woodshop

  • Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Videos

    Woodshop: Jesse Ventura as Madson from Gravitas VOD on Vimeo.

    Woodshop: Making a Sign from Gravitas VOD on Vimeo.

    Woodshop: The Story from Gravitas VOD on Vimeo.

    Filmmaker Spotlight: Pete Coggan

    GV: Introduce yourself and your film

    PC: Hi, I’m Pete Coggan and I made a great little film called Woodshop. You will see from my introduction why I am neither a TV host nor a Documentarian.

    GV: How did you become interested in filmmaking?

    PC: It sounds a little cliche, I know, but I was another 8 year old who walked out of Star Wars in 1977 and knew what I wanted to do with my life. Then I hit puberty and realized rock stars were cooler than filmmakers so I spent the next 15 or 20 years in the music industry. I might add that I still think rock stars are cooler and probably better looking than filmmakers but tend to be way too draining in the long run. I saw Rush at Red Rocks last night which shoots this whole theory to hell and brings up serious questions about the relative intelligences of the two professions. I’m working on a new theory. Eventually, through music videos, I admitted that I was more of a visual person than I should be to be in Music, that musicians are a royal pain-in-the-ass, and that I am indeed a rather good photographer and story teller. Or at least my kids think so. After several years of freelancing, I organized 42 Productions with the goal of creating original content funded by our client workflow. And here I am, releasing Woodshop with Gravitas.

    GV: Tell us about your inspiration and vision for the film.

    PC: Inspiration is not always a pleasant thing. The initial inspiration for Woodshop was a changing of the guard at one of the major studios that put the film I was planning on making out of the running. I had a cast and what I thought was only seed funding (It quickly turned into my entire budget) all set up so the critical mass was there. When I heard the news I knew better and skipped denial, worked through the anger on some inanimate objects (I still am really “pissed”), failed miserably at bargaining (but am pretty sure I at least “pissed” someone else off in the process), sadness was “fun” (I got really “pissed drunk”), finally accepted it, took a “piss”, and locked myself in a cabin for a long weekend. I banged out the first draft of Woodshop based on a bunch of short stories I had from my own Midwestern vocational High School experiences by Tuesday morning. My entire teen cast got shuffled into new rolls and we were in Production before we knew it. So I guess necessity was the mother of inspiration in this case. That, and; if you plan on making a film, there is going to be a lot of “piss” involved.

    GV: What were some of the biggest challenges in making and completing the film?

    PC: We have done the work (production and post) on dozens of films at 42 Productions so we were extremely well prepared going in. The biggest challenges were largely the ones we face every day in Colorado which are good actors and qualified crew. We just don’t have great Gaffers falling out of trees in Colorado. The talented people are really few, far between, and extremely busy here. Pre-production and casting were by far the most challenging aspects of making Woodshop.

    GV: If this is your 1st film, what will you take away from the experience that you can apply to the next? If this is not your 1st film, what do you recall from your 1st film that you’ve applied to each one following?

    PC: I am a collaborative person by nature. For example, I love actors and really enjoy working with them. I like their input, their suggestions, and the give and take that can make for magic on set. I am told the mistake I keep making is that I want to make friends with the people I have artistic collaborations with. I think it goes back to the “I love being in a rock band” trait I will never shake. Unfortunately, even the ones you like are idiots sometimes and need to be told so. I think I finally got the fact beaten into me on this project that aside from the extremely small core group of trusted people you surround yourself with, no matter what you do, a lot of the crew is going to hate you before you even roll a camera. Let alone after a bunch of marathon days filming. No good deed goes unpunished.With that said, I have to interject here that I work with the three best people in the entire industry every single day and I am profoundly grateful for this.

    I actually started to empathize with Jim Cameron during the making of this film. I’m pretty sure “Mij” has a bad wrap and his crews are just jerks or he does a terrible job of hiring AD’s. This is where we get to the lesson learned: I am not willing to put up the shields and admit I am going to be hated by my crew. It simply does not make for a creative environment for me. I have realized that a Director like me needs a layer of bad cops between me and the cast and crew. Line Producer, 1st AD, etc., In a small film community like ours, these people all tend to do a ton of work with the same crew. As such they are much more inclined to empathize with the crew instead of the “asshole Director” and are probably jealous they are not making the movie in the first place which compounds this. The thing they also forget about is that it is a really small community so eventually all of this “praise” of said Director by the very people meant to shield the Director makes it back to the Director rather quickly. Why this surprises people is beyond me. Facebook is not private! This makes for an even worse creative environment. So, the next film I make is going to have an out-of-town 1st AD on board. Probably a German or ex-Russian Military sort with a terrible genetic predisposition for aggression and serious chips on their shoulder. I’ve also met some Israeli commandoes I think might be perfect as well. This person will need to be the meanest, scrappiest most detestable person I can find but lives and breathes the chain of command. I seriously want to hire someone for this position that everyone including myself hates and fears. Afraid there are going to be a lot of tears shed in a lot of beers that day, but they won’t be mine. I’ll be asleep with a smile on my face.

    GV: What’s next?

    PC: So many films on the slate. I am working hard to live to be at least 150 because even that is going to make it tight to produce my current list. The next one goes into casting as soon as I get Woodshop out the door. I know my Mom and Mother-in-law are buying the DVD and taking advantage of as many VOD opportunities as possible so I am confident of its commercial success already. The next film is going to be a mainstream yet quirky romantic comedy. Just how quirky and just how mainstream is going to be largely contingent upon my casting efforts. Additionally, I am keeping my eye open for opportunities to be involved with other peoples’ films (and money). We have developed a very interesting end to end workflow and can only make so many films per unit time myself. There are so many tremendously exciting opportunities with the changing technologies and ways of creating and consuming content that are being capitalized on and nurtured by companies like Gravitas. I am extremely excited to be riding the wave of the metamorphosing film and entertainment industry.

    GV: In the spirit of independent cinema and Gravitas Ventures, what is your favorite indie film?

    PC: Star Wars (the first one (yes, I know the name)) is still considered an Indie, right? Yes, I’m piss at G.L. for the last three as well but that certainly doesn’t outweigh my gratitude for the first three and Howard the Duck. There are so many great Indies being made today that I really can’t point to a specific favorite. Kind of like asking if I like water or air better. “Well, that depends on whether I’m inhaling or exhaling”, right? I would, however, like to interject what my favorite film is. It is Mary Poppins. Seriously, it is. The reason for this is it was the very first film I ever saw in the theater when I was about 4 years old. It is one of the only things let alone films I still have that memory from an early childhood perspective. Having three kids myself, I would literally close my eyes, cover my ears, and run out of the room anytime the kids would throw Mary Poppins or the Disney sing along collections into the DVD player. “No, no, no, put in Alien or Halo in the Xbox when Daddy is watching, not Mary Poppins, Sweetheart.” It is really important to me to hang on to that precious childhood innocence whenever possible, and, it is really hard to do. I’m sure if I watched Mary Poppins now as I have with so many of my other favorite childhood films I would be like, “Wow, that looks really sucky and dated. What a lame plot line! I can’t believe I never noticed that terrible continuity screw up! There’s a fracking boom in that shot!” I can be a film snob with everything I see now. I never want to do that with Mary Poppins.


    September 20th, 2010 | jwilka |

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