'Clapboard Jungle': Indie Film Review
Directed by Justin McConnell and featuring interviews with: Guillermo Del Toro, Barbara Crampton, Dean Cundey, Larry Cohen, George A. Romero, Charles Band, Sid Haig, Mike Mendez, Jessica Cameron, Tom Holland, Llyod Kaufman, Kevin Kolsch, Dennis Widmyer, Michael Biehn, Paul Schrader, Don Mancini, Tom Savini, and Dick Miller.
Justin McConnell, producer and director of this documentary, did a phenomenal job gathering all the information from early development of the project to its distribution. This documentary accurately covers the nightmares and the successes of independent filmmakers our there.
Before going into the accuracy of the information, let me introduce myself first and why I find it accurate. I, myself, am an independent producer and filmmaker as well. I went to film school exactly ten years ago in 2011 at Columbia College Hollywood in Tarzana, CA. I have been producing many independent feature films for almost 10 years since I graduated. Some are at different stages of development and production, and some are already released on different formats. I might not have 20 or 30+ years of experience in producing independent feature films, but I know enough that the information in this documentary is accurate. I myself even learned some things from this documentary. I went through all of the hard work that the documentary described, from meeting with the investors to the distribution of the project. Every word in this documentary is something that independent filmmakers are going through.
This documentary covers many angles, from the inception to distribution, from getting private investors to working on a regular job to save money to self-finance your own movies. How an independent director should know how to write, produce, and have a knowledge in legal business in order to make a wise decision without having any legal issues. This is exactly how I thought when I was in film school to study how to produce in order to direct my own feature films. After I doubled my emphasis on directing and producing, one of my professors said the same thing, as did one of the interviewees in this documentary. The interview with actress Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond) addresses that a director should be taking acting classes in order to understand the actor’s process and where the character needs to go in a particular scene. Director Tom Holland (Child’s Play, Fright Night) also says that casting is everything in independent films.
This documentary also addresses how hard it is to get one independent movie off the ground. Sometimes it does not even get made. If you’re lucky, it will get made, but most will take many years to get made. It is not something that always happens easily over weeks or months. Even Guillermo Del Toro said the same thing in his interview: to make movies is easy, but to get it off the ground? That takes a lot of work. And when it’s done, there will be another problem to get it distributed.
This documentary is very informative for those independent filmmakers out there on what not to do in the development of a movie project. From making a pitch package to present it to investors, to getting an LOI (Letter of Intent) proving that you had talked to a specific name actor that can sell the movie who had expressed interest in the project in order to gain interest from the investors so that they can put their investments down. Most audiences watch the movies because of who is in the movie. For example, if Brad Pitt is in this specific film, there will be two different audiences that go to watch that movie: the fans of Brad Pitt and/or the fans of the genre. It gives you that specific information in the documentary why and how.
The interviews with these directors, writers, producers, and actors are very relatable to independent filmmakers. They may even learn more about the business. Apart from going over the process of getting investors, it also covered the basis on how nowadays, as an independent filmmaker, one could just pick up your phone and start filming something. It is easy nowadays for that kind of access. Even director/writer Mick Garris (Hocus Pocus, Critters, Stephen King’s The Stand TV miniseries) said in an interview that it is much better to see a low budget film that lasts for 80 minutes but has characters and story than a 2-hour+ film with expensive special effects and action but empty story and characters. That information is very useful for independent filmmakers out there to make something out of nothing. It encourages one to pick up the phone and start making the best movie one can create.
This documentary also pushes other independent filmmakers to go beyond their limitations, inspiring us to believe that we can do it if they can do it. It also advices filmmakers to leave their ego out the window and be humble by taking opinions from the cast and crew. Sometimes, it makes the movie better than what you had in mind. It is the director’s job to listen to everyone’s opinion, according to director John Landis (An American Werewolf in London, Animal House). Even Michael Biehn (The Terminator, Aliens) says in an interview that the director who has the most success in making films is the one that listen and collaborates with their cast and crew to make the movie better.
This documentary is not just for the independent filmmakers out there, but also for normal audiences who have never been in the film business. It is very entertaining and filled with valuable information on what goes on behind the scenes. It shows how hard it is to make an independent movie without studios backing up the project. It gives one more appreciation and respect for the independent filmmakers and their movies. Audiences can learn the process of independent filmmaking from ground zero to the distribution. It gives a look on the process of filmmaking from the very first step to the last. It is a valuable entertaining piece for both audience, the ones who have never been in the business and the independent filmmakers.
This documentary encourages you to not to give up. Rather, one should keep moving forward even after failing and hitting rock bottom. There are always ways to push that reset button and come back up to make the film. Do not be afraid; keep being motivated until you become successful. An outstanding documentary from Justin McConnell. I will have to give this documentary a solid 5 out of 5 stars.
Clapboard Jungle: Surviving the Independent Film Business is available in the U.S. and Canada January 19th, 2021.