Interview with Jake Cashill, Director of Oral Fixation. |
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| Written by IndieFilmChat | ||||||
| Wednesday, 14 October 2009 | ||||||
 Oral Fixation is Jake Cashill's feature debut as a writer/director. His writing accolades include being named the Grand Prize Winner in American Zoetropes inuagural Screenplay Contest, for his Irish epic, The Fergus Cycle - which is currently in production. His other writing and directing credits include several short films as well as cowriting a script for Showtime with actor/writer Steve Kampman.Indiefilmchat: Tell us a little about your background and how you came to make Oral Fixation. Jake Cashill: I had been making some modest advances as a screenwriter, getting a handful of scripts optioned and doing a few writer-for-hire gigs, but nothing was getting made, so I wrote Oral Fixation with the intent to raise money for it and direct it myself. The idea for the story came during the filming of a short film I made years ago; one of the producers was recounting how her dentist had to change his phone number and move because a female patient was dropping by the office a lot and calling him at home, generally stalking him. So I thought, Hey that's a real oral fixation, yuk, yuk. And the movie was born. Of course I extrapolated a great deal on the core story, but the essence remained. Then, of course, it took several years to raise the money. But that's a whole other story. Indiefilmchat: Why did you choose to make a thriller as your first feature? JC: My goal was to make a movie that could be enjoyed around the world, and second only to an action movie, which I knew I could never raise enough money to make, I figured a thriller would have the greatest global appeal. I have investors. I want to make them happy so they (or someone else) will trust me to make a second film. And a good way to make them happy is to earn some money. Not very romantic, but it's true. The premise of my business plan was that a well-written, sexy thriller made on a low budget without sacrificing production value can capitalize on the genre's global saleability and make some money. We shall see. Indiefilmchat: Do you think independent films pay enough attention to narrative? JC: I think they try to, but creating a good narrative is very, very, very difficult, and believe me, I'm not claiming to have mastered it. Far from it. A lot of independent films are made by newcomers to the field, people who are trying to make the first screenplay they've ever finished, and although they may think it's the best thing since Chinatown, in reality, it may not be that strong. In fact, it may be terrible for a variety of reasons. But through force of will, they make the film and only after realize the story was fatally flawed. So I'd say they are paying attention to "a" narrative, but they're paying attention to a narrative that's not very good to begin with. Plus, there's always the problem with money. You really have to strip your story down if you're going to shoot it on an ultra-low or micro budget, and, often, important or touching or perhaps even wonderful moments, get cut. C'est la vie. Then there's also the theory that a lot of filmmakers see Hollywood movies with no real story getting made and making tons of money, so they think they can skip over the story part too. Bad idea. Indiefilmchat: What are some films that you feel have influenced your work, or simply inspired you? JC: I've always been a Spielbergian, so to speak. I think one can learn all one needs to know about visual storytelling from studying his body of work. I've also always been in awe of guys like James Cameron, who write their own material and direct these huge films, and, although they're not everyone's cup of tea, his movies are wonderfully engaging and masterfully crafted. I like Zemeckis, too. There's a great book called "First Time Director: How to make your breakthrough movie", and the author references Zemeckis throughout, citing the director's use of moving cameras to not only enhance storytelling, but to add some "professionalism" to one's film. I took this to heart. I tried to have the camera moving in as many instances as I thought appropriate and possible in Oral Fixation. Push-ins. Tracking shots. Some jib shots. Even simple pans and tilts. I think they add a lot to the film. Indiefilmchat: How long did it take you to make Oral Fixation? JC: In a word: Forever. The idea for the story came in 2003. I fiddled with the script on and off for years, always keeping it as something I wanted to do myself; I didn't shop it around. In 2006, I really went into high gear in terms of raising money. I felt ready. I formed an LLC and solicited everyone I knew for little chunks of change. The economy was better then and a number of my friends had been bankers for years, so $5k here and $6k there didn't kill them and added up pretty quickly -- if you call two years quickly. We shot the film in 21 days during September, 2007. It took nine months to edit, as I was only doing it a couple of evenings a week, while working days. Our cast and crew screening was in October, 2008, and it hit video stores in October 2009. So as I said, forever. Indiefilmchat: How did you finance the production? JC: As I hinted at above, I formed an LLC, which one can do very cheaply ($250) through one's respective state's department of labor, if I recall. There's a lot of legal paperwork involved in the actual fundraising though. To do it properly (and legally) you've got to do your homework and probably get some help. I did both and what I ended up with were lawyer-prepared LLC documents that potential investors could see were real == documents they could run by their lawyers and accountants and get the okay from. This is very important. To protect the people you're raising money from (who in most cases are friends and/or family) you have to have an Limited Liability Company. If you don't, and something goes wrong, if somebody gets hurt or somebody sues you, you personally and your investors are prone to legal action. So do your homework, ask around and form an LLC. It puts everyone at ease. You also need a compelling business plan and pitch, something to get potential investors excited about coming on board. This is the hard part, of course, especially now, as the financial prospects for independent film are fewer and fewer, and even the most naive potential investor isn't going to fall for the "we're going to be the next Blair WItch" pitch anymore. What I did was, after a long, long courtship with my investors, solicited modest sums of money -- $5k, $8k, $4k -- amounts these people could afford to lose, but when combined with the thirty other investments I was soliciting, would amount to something I could work with. And then bam, you spend it all in one month of shooting. It's amazing how quickly it goes once you're underway. But that's what it's for. And then when the shoot is over, you have to go solicit more money because post is going to cost more than you thought. It never ends. So be prepared to be in it for the long haul. Indiefilmchat: No film is made without a lot of talented help. How did you assemble your crew, or were you a team from the beginning? JC: I was very lucky in that one of the producers of the film, Billy Mulligan, had worked with a production company called Red Line Studios, in Manhattan, who he suggested we use for the shoot. These guys were amazing. Matt Pellowski, the head of Red Line, is the kind of guy that knows everyone and can get anything for next-to-nothing. And when it comes to independent film, this is the kind of guy you need -- a guy who can stretch your dollar. Matt and his crew are those guys (and gals!). They are some very talented people. From beginning to end -- and I mean the very end, as Matt was the editor and he helped with all sorts of technical stuff through the deliverables stage too. So basically we hired Matt, and he handled assembling the crew, which was made up of trusted men and women he had worked with man times before. Having that familial comfort level helps immensely. Indiefilmchat: The casting of Oral Fixation is brilliant. Too many filmmakers take casting for granted. With one exception, your cast is comprised of working actors. How did you go about finding these actors? JC: Thanks so much for the compliment on the casting. I think we did very well, too. In the beginning, we spoke with some casting directors, but, in the end, we couldn't spare the money, so we gambled and went about it ourselves. We worked with SAG indie, which I think is a must, as it raises your talent level above the mobs of aspirants you'll get if you just use Backstage or worse, craigslist. Everyone we finally signed was through SAG indie except for Emily Parker. She was a woman who had a bit part in a short I made years ago. I thought she'd be perfect, and as it turned out, she was. Indiefilmchat: How would you suggest other independent filmmakers approach working actors? JC: SAG Indie is the way to go. Working actors use and trust SAG Indie. The SAG reps will get you the necessary contracts and lead you through the process. You post your project on their site and the resumes come in. Then you take it from there. Rent out a real audition space for auditions. Don't use your apartment or some dump. Working actors will appreciate your professionalism and see you as someone that's serious. This is very important. Even if they like your script, if they see you as an irresponsible, unprofessional dope, they're not going to waste their time and their talent on your project. If you have the five or ten grand that it will cost to hire a casting director, they are, of course, very useful, too. Ideally, they have relationships that allow them to get your script to actors you alone could not reach. Indiefilmchat: Technically, the film looks great. What led you to use hi definition? Did you shoot on it or transfer? And was it that much more money? JC: Hi definition is the standard now for shooting on video, so there wasn't anything else I had my eye on. I had watched a bunch of ultra-low budget films and checked out what each was shot on, did some research on the cameras and finally chose the Panasonic HDX 900. I think I chose well. I wanted prime lenses instead of a single zoom lens, so we got a lens package also. And to top it off, we got a lens adapter -- something called a "ground glass" filter, if I recall; it fit between the camera body and the lens. This gave the image even more of a film-like look. These things can be expensive, but if you're going to spend some money, spend it on your camera and lenses. I think the lens adapter cost $7k for the month, and the camera package was $10k, and those were friend prices, but worth every penny. Indiefilmchat: In keeping with the technical theme, many independent films look great but suffer from compromised audio. The sound in Oral Fixation is very good. Were you consciously aware of creating good sound and how did you go about doing so? JC: You're absolutely right about independent filmmakers not focusing enough on sound quality. It's ironic because viewers are more forgiving of a visual flaw than of a sound flaw. Bad sound will take you completely out of the moment, which is obviously what you want to avoid. I must admit that I was not as focused on sound as I should have been in the planning stages, but quickly came around thanks to our fantastic sound engineer, Bill Donnelly. You have to have a sound guy who is absolutely obsessed with sound quality if you're going to make a film that sounds good. You have to give them time to do their thing on set -- placing mics, waiting for passing cars to go by, etc. They'll try your patience, that's for sure, but it is all for the greater good. If the sound guy isn't happy with a take, you do it again. Period. We would usually use a boom and one or two lavalier mics, to cover ourselves. And basically, I relied on Bill. He knew what could be fixed later and what had to be done again on set. And this caries over to post-production. Your sound engineer/mixer has to be obsessive about the tiniest of the tiny technical elements. Or else your film will sound bad. Period. Indiefilmchat: Please share one war story from the production that you and your team overcame. JC: War stories abound on every production, and ours was no exception. You may recall that there's a fight at the end between Aidan Sullivan, who played Molly, and Emily Parker, who played Rachel. Aidan wields a knife, Emily a golf club. Well, during one of the takes, Emily really clocked Aidan in the forehead, sending her flying. Everyone gasped and there were tears a plenty. And of course this had to happen at four in the morning, at the end of a seventeen-hour day. But amazingly, Aidan didn't bruise and we were able to continue. But ironically, we didn't use that take in the film. The faked hit looked better. Go figure. Indiefilmchat: What was your favorite part of this process? JC: Watching a great performance. Actors are pretty amazing sometimes. And it's more rewarding when they're saying words that you wrote. I also very much enjoy the editing process, especially when you see your footage and you know it actually came out okay. Putting together a scene and having it work out the way you hoped -- or better -- is awesome. Indiefilmchat: What was your least favorite part of this process? JC: Deliverables. Ha! Just when you think it's over, it ain't. There's a whole host of things you still need to do, and each one costs money. Indiefilmchat: What is your next project? JC: I've got an agent who peddles my scripts, so with any luck, one of them will be picked up, but I'm not counting on that. I've written the sequel to Oral Fixation; it's called Brother's Keeper, and I've got another low-budget thriller that has opened a bunch of doors that I hope opens the right one soon. Also, Oral won the grand prize at the Long Island International Film Expo, which was a week's free Panasonic 35mm camera package rental. We're thinking of doing a short martial arts pic. The details are secret at the moment. Otherwise, just trying to find time to write. Indiefilmchat: Any general advice for aspiring filmmakers? JC: Watch the AFI's top 100 films over and over, read a lot of produced screenplays over and over, and read and memorize these books:
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