Creative Collaboration
Filmmakers Louis Sutherland and Mark Albiston shared their recipe for productive collaboration with MC Shuchi Kothari at the Script to Screen Writer's Room.
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Louis and Mark’s two short films, Run and The Six Dollar Fifty Man were awarded a Special Distinction at Cannes, the latter receiving the Jury Prize in International Filmmaking (for best short film) at Sundance in 2010. The evening began with a showing of The Six Dollar Fifty Man, a delightful film that has captured the attention of audiences worldwide. An anti-social young boy’s belief in a super hero sees him undertaking amazing feats – but also finding strength within to overcome his isolation, stand up for himself and face a scary headmaster and some schoolyard bullies.
After the showing, Shuchi began with: Scene One- Boy meets boy – how did Louis and Mark meet and find out they could work together?
“Louis was a personality in our town,” said Mark. “I remember seeing him around, at soccer games and in the neighbourhood. He was good friends with my older brother and I remember our first real conversation which was about some one I had a crush on. Louis was older and wiser and I was young and gullible. Louis was the lead in the secondary school play Dracula Spectacular and a bit of a hit with the college girls.”
The two began working together at Kiwi Cable, making local television shows at a community station which doubled as a farm attracting tourists.
“It wasn’t our highest quality work,” said Louis, “and there were plenty of animals participating in the shows – but we learned how to direct, shoot and edit both documentaries and live multi-camera studio shoots.” It was here that they began to write short films. They were, by their own admission, pretty bad!
They both left cable TV and headed in different directions – literally. Louis went to Toi Whakaari and Mark travelled overseas directing documentaries in the UK. When Mark returned from London he started up his production company called Sticky Pictures and that was when the two started working together on the end of year Toi Whakaari graduation film. Finally they were forced to finish a script and film their first short. It was 15 minutes long and required every one of the 20 grad students to have a moment on screen. It was a hard brief but Dead End was a finalist for Best Short Film at the NZ film and TV Awards and travelled to several festivals.
With the restrictions of Dead End behind them they began working on another script that came from personal stories they shared about their families. Mark encouraged Louis to list some scenes that he’d remembered when growing up on the Kapiti Coast with his family.
They approached Hone Kouka who had started up the Writer’s Block writing group in Wellington. “Hone suggested picking out one scene that told the story of the film,” said Mark. “We’ve found that a very useful tip ever since.” Hone invited them to read their work at Writer’s Block, an emotional journey for Louis that made Mark teary-eyed and engaged those attending the session that day.
A film written by two may often be based on the experiences of one. So Shuchi asked Louis and Mark to talk about the process through which the collaboration finds a way to own the story/experience.
The Six Dollar Fifty Man is based upon an episode in Mark’s childhood when he ran away from school. He shared this memory with Louis. It resonated with him as well (he went to the same school) and provided the seed for the film. Shuchi asked how they took the memory and made it work and Louis said there were commonalities from the start. “We both come from the same world, growing up in small towns where everyone knows each other –we can talk about characters and liken them to people we shared our neighbourhood with.”
Although their earlier short Run and The Six Dollar Fifty Man were both based on personal experiences, they were conceived in completely different ways. “With our first film Run we stitched snippets of Louis’ early childhood together and we didn’t have a plot in mind,” said Mark.
“With The Six Dollar Fifty Man the plot was the first thing we had. Really simply, it was about a day that I ran away from school because I’d been caught jumping off the kindergarten roof and was scared to death of being sent to our headmaster so I ran away from my teacher at the time, Mrs Jeffries. Then we added dimension with scenes that fed the themes. Now Louis is working on our first feature, a story based upon events in his childhood when he ran away from home and joined a shoplifting gang. The genesis of this film started with a straightforward narrative, not unlike The Six Dollar Fifty Man, and now we’re hanging scenes on that.”
Shuchi, who was an Executive producer of The Six Dollar Fifty Man, pointed out that it was only a short film and yet the duo wrote twelve drafts.
“We write until something feels right,” said Louis. “That can take a lot of work but we’re both happy, we don’t let deadlines get in the way, just keep going along until we reach this balanced place.”
Mark said the collaborative way diminishes the sense of isolation many writers feel and can bring about innovative and creative solutions to problems. “Sometimes you come up with a brilliant solution, you talk to one another about it, solve the problem and then it creates even more exciting possibilities, it’s a great feeling…”
“With Shopping for example”, says Louis, “I recently re-wrote a treatment because we needed to re-find our bearings. This can leave me feeling heartless and unmotivated to be honest. When Mark read it he was fired up with renewed passion and shot half a dozen choice ideas at me which in turn got my creative juices flowing again. If the mix is right you lend each other energy when it counts.”
They are happy to involve others too. “We like to have people read our stories,” said Louis. “We welcome feedback. It helps us see what is working. The worst thing you can do is become too isolated.” Louis acknowledged the feedback Shuchi had given for The Six Dollar Fifty Man and how her contributions helped shape the finished product.
Shuchi asked the two to define their roles within the collaboration and both agreed they continually learn from and contribute to each other’s creative strengths. Louis said, “I’ve always been into creating worlds. I used to like doing voiceovers for my Commando comics onto cassette tapes, recreating the sounds of B52’s and machine guns. Mark used to sit in the corner and draw with his crayons.”
Mark elaborated. “I come from a visual background. I wanted to be a painter and I was a bit of a dreamer as a kid. My parents often tell people about me fighting crocodiles in the middle of the lounge floor… Louis is very good at shaping a scene dramatically on paper and with dialogue and I’ll often be able to see it cinematically. When I storyboard I often feel like I’m reading the scene for the first time, because I can see it.” Mark also feels he learns a lot from Louis’ work with actors. “Louis is skilled in drawing raw performance and drama.” Louis then praised Mark by saying, “Mark’s gift is seeing ways of capturing a human moment beautifully for the big screen.”
The dialogue of the children in The Six Dollar Fifty Man is true and convincing. Shuchi asked how the voice was captured so well. “I write a lot of dialogue and then we cut and cut,” said Louis. “Having kids around helps too!” Mark said they played some games with their youthful cast, allowing them to improvise and come up with dialogue themselves.
Louis and Mark collaborate beyond the page too, co-directing The Six Dollar Fifty Man on set. Film crews are used to responding to one person calling the shots and Shuchi asked how the duo divides the roles on a busy and stressful film set. “I have made documentaries where I’ve directed, shot and edited the whole thing,” said Mark. “When creating drama, Louis is a co-director. There are no rules when it comes to making films. It’s all about making the film you want to make. When we work together on set we both discuss the issues and then one person delivers the information – that’s the key – otherwise people don’t know who to listen to.”
Louis described Mark as the ‘team leader’ on set. “But we talk continuously. Mark calls ‘action’ so it’s very clear to the crew that there is one voice. I focus my energy on the cast, ensuring we have the performances for the cut. But if a shot isn’t working, I’ll give ideas. If there’s a performance problem, Mark and I will discuss it together and work on a solution.” The two agreed that collaboration on the project from the very beginning provides an ‘inside-out’ knowledge that enables them to work well as a team on set, having talked about every inch of the film beforehand.
Shuchi turned the discussion towards the feature film and asked how their writing processes were feeding into the new project. They are currently working on two scripts simultaneously: the shoplifting idea and another which Mark is writing (inspired by a story from his own background) that Louis will contribute into in turn.
They meet up at the end of a day to shape and mould their Shopping material and ideas. Meanwhile, Mark is writing down anecdotes from his past for the other feature and when the time is right, they will work together to shape that story. “Spending time in a little room without anyone getting in the way of my thoughts takes me places,” said Mark. “If Louis was there with me, it would stop my train of thought and visa versa.”
Shuchi opened up the floor to questions and the first was:
If the NZFC would not fund your project, would you still make your film?
“I’d make it anyway, some how,” said Mark. “At some stage, you’ll make it because you really want to. Borrow a camera! Spend all the time on your script. If you don’t have a lot of money to make your film, a good story will hold up if the production’s not too good. With a strong script the story will shine through. The story is the thing – it’s the recipe for success…
“I think there are artists and makers in any medium of genre that would fight all the way to the end of a project. It’s all about passion really. Even in film you can overcome cost and budgetary stuff. If your team ‘gets’ the story they’ll go so much further than any dollar could take them. Just be prepared to write long and hard.”
Shuchi added that easier access to new technologies offers opportunities to make films that are less capital intensive. “But the mistake is to rush into it because you think it’s easy. The story has to work and if it doesn’t, all the money in the world won’t fix that.”
When asked how they cast The Six Dollar Fifty Man, Louis said they looked extensively around the lower North Island and eventually found the right boy for the lead character right under their noses in the production office. “You can plan as much as you want but sometimes you just get lucky!” Mark added that they changed the script for their young actor (who played Andy in the film) and the film was better for it.
Louis and Mark were asked if they would write about something they had not experienced themselves and Louis replied the third film they are thinking about would be about their fore- mothers and fathers, a period piece about early settlers. “This will be new for us. We’ll have to do a lot of research.” Mark said such a topic would be ‘a lot scarier’ and it is crucial to get it right.
Another new issue for the two writers is the subject of agents. “We don’t really know what agents do,” said Mark, “but we’re about to find out so stay tuned.” Exposure on the festival circuit has created international interest and agents have been circling. “We did connect with one agent who has set up some meetings for us in LA on the way to the film festival that we will be attending in Aspen,” said Mark. The festival trip is underwritten by sponsor 42 Below.
Some degree of conflict is inevitable in any working relationship and Mark said they do have the occasional problem. “It’s mostly when we’re tired and have been working on other projects. When we’re making stuff together without distractions we get on really well. We sit down and say, ‘far out, we’re lucky to have this space where we can work together and grow things.’ If we do disagree, I let Louis win because he’s tougher than me and I’m scared of him.” Louis said that if they do have a tiff, it feels very odd because it happens so rarely. “However hard it gets if you’re willing to say ‘the work is more important’, you’ll definitely find your way through and I reckon that level of ‘giving’ makes better work.”
Mark concluded the evening by thanking the audience for coming along and urging them to make their films. Shuchi concurred, saying, “If you’re really committed to making something, don’t quit.”
