Interview: Low-Budget Master Mark Pirro

POSTED BY Wesley Scoggins, 10 October 2008

 

 

This week, I got a chance to talk to Low-Budget Independent Filmmaker, Mark Pirro. For nearly 30 years, Mark Pirro has been making films on his own terms. In the early 1980's, a full decade before the Indie Film frenzy of the 90's, he completed his first feature film "A Polish Vampire in Burbank" for less than 3,000 dollars. A true labor of love, Mark not only wrote, directed, starred in, edited, and produced the film, he also mixed the sound, and did many of the voices. It went on to become a great success for such a small film, making over half a million dollars in the home video market, and establishing Mark as a recognized filmmaker. Since then he's directed 7 feature length films, consistently maintaining his own personal artistic vision with no compromises. 

I was lucky enough to have a chance to talk to Mr. Pirro and I think he gives some really candid advice on making your own movie, that I think we can all learn something from. So check out the trailer for his first film "A Polish Vampire in Burbank" above (warning, some mature content), then learn something from Mr. Pirro below!

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Wes: What was your biggest initial inspiration to first become a filmmaker? Did you start at an early age, or did it strike you later in life?

Mark: As far back as I can remember, I always had a fascination with films and the filmmaking process.  I got a super 8 movie camera for Christmas when I was 13 and proceeded to make many short films utilizing my friends and classmates.  The films would run 10 - 20 minutes and then we would have 'screenings' in my attic.  At times, I'd take the films to school and show them in some of our classes.  Sometimes we'd put a sheet outside over the backyard fence and have friends come over with sleeping bags for an impromptu drive-in.  I always got great pleasure in showing off the films I made. 

I had made many short films before that, and Polish Vampire was just going to be another project.  Every film I had made before that didn't cost all that much money, so this was no different.  The only major difference, I suppose, was that it was to be feature length.  The longest film I'd made prior to that was "The Spy Who Did It Better," which ran about 45 minutes.  When Polish Vampire was completed, I'd say most of the participants were pleased with it.  Naturally, they were all surprised when it actually got distribution in the home video market and on cable television.  I really never intended to sell it.  I had planned on simply using it as a showcase to possibly get other work.  I think the actors felt the same way.Be well prepared.  Know exactly what you need and do whatever you can do to get it.  Utilize locations you have available to you.  If your actors or crew have access to decent locations, use them.  Write your script around them if you can.  Too many low budget films are shot in two or three locations, and they have that look.  In one of my early films, the occupation of our main characters didn't really matter to the story.  I think they were clothing distributors or something like that.  Well, I had a friend who had free access to a telecenter.  Since the occupation didn't matter to the story, we switched their occupations from clothes clerks to telecenter operators.  We got instant production value and nothing important changed in the story.  Make friends.  You'd be surprised how many people have something valuable they can contribute to a project, either in skills, equipment or locations. 
Back in my early days, it took a bit of a financial commitment to make a film, as least for raw stock and processing.  Any post work had to be done at a lab or post house.  Even something as simple as a dissolve had to be planned well in advance and couldn't be done easily (unless you had a camera that could backwind).  Today, that's no longer necessary.  This is why it costs me less to produce an indie movie today than it would have in the 80s or early 90s.  The technology available today puts a lot more players on the field.  That's a good thing and a bad thing.  It's good because it gives people the opportunity to make films who would never have attempted it before.  It's bad because it gives people the opportunity to make films who would never have attempted it before.  And with places like Youtube, Livevideo, funnyordie, etc, there are plenty of outlets for them. 
It was never easy to get one's work seen.  When there were a handful of independent filmmakers, there were a handful of festivals and competitions.  Now there are football fields of independent filmmakers and there are football fields of festivals and competitions.  I've never been big on festivals, since many prey on desperate filmmakers who want their work seen.  So they pay the ransom to get their films considered, and a lot never get accepted.  I've always felt that was a racket, more so today than before.  Everybody with a video camera is a potential filmmaker today, which does indeed saturate the market.  But whether there are a lot or a little of them, a filmmaker has to be a promoter.  However even being a promoter doesn't guarantee success.  There really are no hard and fast rules.  I say make a film the best you can, throw it in the ring and see if people start to embrace it.  Have a good poster for it and make a great trailer.  Other than that, hope for luck.

Practically every film I've done has had some actor troubles, from my lead quitting in Polish Vampire to my lead losing interest and becoming less available in Curse of the Queerwolf.  When you're not paying actors, you're working for them.  You need to get the actors to feel that they have a stake in the film too.  Get them excited.  The director sets the pace.  If he's passionate about the project, that passion will rub off on the actors - the serious actors anyway.  Some people act for a lark and don't take it all that seriously.  You want to identify them early on and weed them out.  Over the years, I've developed a sense of being able to tell who will follow through with a project and who will most likely flake out.  I've been right about 90% of the time.  I've only had two actors quit on me in over 30 years of filmmaking.  I've had actors who became a bit of a problem during the shoot and in those cases, I would rewrite the script to give them less to do.  Another important thing is to promise them footage of their scenes AND SEE IT THROUGH.  A lot of independent filmmakers don't care about the actors when they've got their film shot.  I know many actors who try to get footage from the director and they get ignored.  My actors always get footage when they request it, even before the movie is finished.  I also offer to put together a demo tape for them as well.My last film (Rectuma) cost around $1000 to produce, the one before that (Color-Blinded) cost less than $500.  The one I'm currently working on, (The God Complex) about $2000.  With budgets that low, there is no raising of initial investments.  It's money I have in my sock drawer.  The film I'm doing right now is probably my most ambitious project, since this movie takes place in biblical times.  It's the first film I've ever made that didn't take place in contemporary times, which created challenges I've never had to deal with before.  The biggest expense in the film I'm currently doing is a set that I built in my backyard (you can see stills of it on my website), that cost about $200 to put together.  We also needed period costumes.  I have a gal who made several robes and such for the cost of material (roughly $100).  Most days we film cost us nothing.  Every once in awhile, I get generous and take the cast out to lunch, but that's not the norm.  There are no salaries, unions, huge crews, or anything else to drain a budget.  We rarely shoot for more than three to four hours at a time (that keeps the actors and crew fresh and happy to be there).  You can see some behind the scenes of The God Complex here.  You'll notice that it's a fun and friendly environment and everyone who is there is there because they want to be and they're enjoying the experience.There's an old saying, "How do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time."  Making a feature film is not that much different than making a short film.  It just takes more time and effort to keep everyone interested.  You need to sit down with your actors and crew at the very beginning and tell them that this may take a LONG time to complete, and then make sure they're on the same page as you.  Assure them that you will always work around their schedule and that they should never have to give up any paying gig for your project.  Be patient and never lose your passion.  If you start losing it, your actors/crew will too and will become less and less available.  If the project no longer seems fun to them, they'll show up less and less and start making up excuses for why they're not as available (usually they'll say that something personal in their life came up or they just need to work more).  Whatever the excuse, the real reason is that they no longer are interested in your film.  If you show up every day of your shoot knowing exactly what you want, your crew and cast will pick up on that confidence and they will feel comfortable with you and your project. 
I kind of answered this above, but you just need to make everyone possible aware of your film.  Start with a website.  Put trailers and clips up on video sites like youtube.  Send out press releases to television, radio and newspapers.  All you need is a few big ones to bite.  Sometimes it feeds off itself.  We once did a film in the early 90s (Nudist Colony of the Dead), that started getting news coverage just from the title alone.  First a show called "Hard Copy" did a segment on it, then "Entertainment Tonight" did one, then Fox News.  Each one became aware of the film from the previous news show it appeared on.  If you can get that snowball rolling, it can get big.  The trick is to get the momentum and that's not an easy task.  You can also try to get a distributor to take the film to the markets like Cannes and the AFM.  The only problem with that is that you will not see any money from them.  If they do manage to sell it anywhere, they will use whatever it earns to offset their expenses of getting it there.  This is very common.You have to want it.  I mean REALLY want it.  I know many people who think they want it, they start a film and either don't finish it or they finish it and decide that they never want to do it again.  Secondly, DO NOT spend a lot of money.  You have a less than 3% chance of selling your film and those are not very good odds.  So if you can make your movie and not go broke doing it, you'll have the experience of making a film and not lose your house, car or relatives.  Three, make friends.  Find people that have a common passion and want to achieve a common goal.  And four, don't make it with the intent of selling it, because you probably won't.  Make it because you enjoy filmmaking, make it because you get a thrill of capturing moments in time and piecing them  together to tell a unique story.  Many artists paint and singers write and record songs not because they make money, but because they enjoy doing it.  Sure, it would be nice to make money off your film, but don't do it solely for that goal.  This is where we lose some filmmakers.  They can't understand why anyone would want to go out and spend all the time and effort to put together a film without the intent of selling it.  Simple, if you enjoy the process, that should be your reward.  Do you refuse to have sex unless you make money from it?  Any financial reward is the icing on the cake, but this is what separates filmmakers who are deluded and those who purely enjoy the craft.  If you're talented, the money will come...eventually

For the last year and a half, we've been working on a biblical epic comedy called "The God Complex."  You can keep up to date on it at www.pirromount.com (we update the info every month) and on various video websites like Youtube.  We also have a toy featured in the film called, "The Submissive Jesus Prayer Answering Talking Head," which we have manufactured and mass produced (my first attempt at merchandising) which is available at www.thesubmissivejesus.com.  The same toy featured in the movie is available for purchase (a trick I learned from Kevin Smith with his "Buddy Jesus.").  You can see a trailer for it on our site as well. 

Thank you so much!

You're quite welcome.

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Check out Pirromount over at Pirromount.com and read monthly updates on his next film "The God Complex". 

 

director, low budget, mark pirro, polish vampire, god complex, pirromount