| iR:
How did "Bunny" begin? |
| |
|
The idea came out of some research I was doing about what
happened in former Yugoslavia after the civil war. I was
interested in refugees and death camps. I read about this
one family who was adopted into an American family home
in Florida from an ethnic cleansing camp in Eastern Europe.
It's such a bizarre and fascinating idea of contrasting
and conflicting realities. I was also interested in the
idea of world events being juxtaposed against American
pop culture, hence the idea of these immigrants wear giant
bunny suits on the street in "Bunny." |
| |
 |
| Edyk
Dratver and Petra Tikalova play an immigrant couple
who flees their homeland to live in the U.S. in
"Bunny." |
After I finished the script, I showed it to Rebecca Sonneshine
who was working in development and doing coverage for
various studios. Her reaction to the idea clued me in
that this project was unique and worth pursuing. She had
seen quite a bit of what was floating around and was immediately
enthusiastic and supportive. So she agreed to help produce
it. |
| |
| iR:
How long was the shoot and post? |
| |
| 20 days of shooting. 8 weeks of post. So
we finished it around end of 1999. |
| |
| iR:
What happened next? |
| |
 |
| Nik
dressed up as a bunny rabbit at a street corner
in "Bunny." |
Like many people, I tried to make the Sundance deadline
and sent them the unfinished longer version with no representation.
It was rejected. I applied to a couple of other festivals
while I still hadn't finished the film. In December, we
got a call from the L.A. Independent Film Festival and
they were super enthusiastic about the film, and we premiered
our film at the L.A. Independent Film Festival in April,
2000. |
| |
| iR:
How did the L.A. Independent Film Festival go for you? |
| |
| Through getting accepted there, we were able
to get a producer's rep. We had fairly reasonable expectations
in the sense that we knew not many films get picked up
there. Immediately after getting a producer's rep, our
strategy was to aim for the Toronto Film Festival. We
got a good buzz at the L.A. Independent, but we knew that
almost everything depended on the outcome of Toronto. |
| |
| iR:
How important was having a producer's rep? |
| |
| I didn't know before L.A. Independent how
important it was to have a producer's rep. Producers'
reps lobby for you and have relationships with people
who run the festivals. Festival programmers are more likely
to take a film from someone who has a relationship with
them. |
| |
| iR:
Do you think a film can get into a film festival just
on its own merit? |
| |
| I think it's very difficult for a film to
get into a festival just on its own merit. There's such
a flood of films that even a really good one would get
lost. Producers reps choose films that they believe in.
A producer's rep's name and words mean something, and
that he or she taking a film on means something to the
festivals. |
| |
| iR:
You did get into Toronto after all, and what happened
there? |
| |
 Once
we got into Toronto, we started to think about getting
a publicist, especially one that specialized in doing
the Toronto fest. We knew that "Bunny" was an art house
movie with no stars and no genre. But what I didn't realize
was that you had to audition the film even for publicists.
It was surprising. I thought it would be more like going
to a lab. They asked you for a tape and screen your movie.
Certain publicists would even take on the role of bringing
your film to distributors. I ended up working with Jeremy
Walker, and I was really happy working with him. It seemed
to help that he had other higher profile films and that
he shepherded stars along. We ended up getting a good
spread in "Filmmaker Magazine" and good coverage in Toronto
press. |
| |
| I'd love to say that we made a huge sale
at Toronto, but unfortunately it didn't happen. We got
a good buzz and good word of mouth which eventually got
"Bunny" multiple nominations for the IFP's Independent
Spirit Awards. |
| |
| iR:
What are your expectations for "Bunny" at this point? |
| |
| Without calling it a "calling card film,"
it's a first film that has gotten tremendous buzz and
attention. It has opened up opportunities for me to make
my next film. In some way, it's better than just making
the money back. "Bunny" will get out there on cable or
in some limited theatrical release. Some people's films
take 4 years to get released or even until their second
films are made. |
| |
| iR:
In retrospect, would you have done anything differently
with "Bunny"? |
| |
| It's a catch 22 situation. Without a producer's
rep, I might have held off applying to certain festivals
like Sundance. I wouldn't apply to bigger festivals unless
someone is championing the film for me. It's really hard
for festival programmers to single a film out. I would
also seek financing that has some distribution in place.
A lot of people don't know about it, but it's more difficult
to get distribution than financing. |
| |
| iR:
How did you finance "Bunny"? |
| |
| Private investors and grants. Under $500,000.
For a while, we were saying that it was under $1 million.
(laughs) That was before the Spirit nominations. The truth
is you can make a film for a lot cheaper than that (i.e.
under $500,000). |
| |
| iR:
What are you doing now? |
| |
| I'm shifting gears to capitalize on the contacts
of BUNNY and developing new projects. |
| |
| iR:
Can you tell us what projects you're working on now
or coming up? |
| |
| I can't talk to you about them yet. |
| |
| iR:
Ideally, what kind of films would you like to make? |
| |
| I'm more into genre now. Something more marketable.
But that's about all I would say. |
| |
| iR:
Having gone to UCLA graduate film school, what do you
think about the program and film school in general? |
| |
| I learned quite a bit about the craft of
filmmaking in film school. I wouldn't know how to direct
actors if I had not gone to UCLA. My ability to break
a film down and to think about it from a multiplicity
of levels also came from UCLA. I got a lot of training
out of UCLA. However, I learned next to zip about marketing
and promoting my film at film school. You really have
to be there in the market and to be in the midst of it
all. |
| |
| "Film schools
instruct people the skills to make a film but not
necessarily the tenacity it requires. " |
|
| |
| iR:
Would you recommend film school for someone who wants
to be a filmmaker? |
| |
| IIf you can find a two-year program, it would
be ideal. I believe that to be a good filmmaker you really
do have to study it. I decided to go to graduate film
school because I read that Polanski was at the Polish
film school for six years. When you come out of film school,
you have to readjust to the business aspect of filmmaking.
It takes me some time to figure the business out. You
have to educate yourself in a completely different way.
UCLA gives you a structure to make any film you want.
But outside of school, the reality is that it's hard for
anyone having a full-time job to drum up the energy to
even write a feature length script. Film schools instruct
people the skills to make a film but not necessarily the
tenacity it requires. |
| |
| I'm glad that in the end I went to UCLA.
A lot of people from school came back and helped me with
"Bunny." When you've gotten to know the people you had
seen in the dingy hallways, you have a bond with them.
Another reason to go to film school is to create a community. |
| |
| "You have
a better chance of getting elected in Congress than
making a living as an independent filmmaker in L.A" |
|
| |
| iR:
Why do you find filmmaking compelling? |
| |
| It's really challenging, and I came from
an ambitious family. Filmmaking is about as hard as going
to the moon. You have a better chance of getting elected
in Congress than making a living as an independent filmmaker
in L.A. Just think about the hundreds of people who get
elected in Congress every year. |
| |
| iR:
Let's end with one tip you'd give someone who's making
his or her first film. |
| |
Get good stills. .jpg) |
