In the film industry, “making it” can be as
difficult to define as to achieve. While people can rationalize the
issue however they want to, the question essentially boils down to
this: Is it more important to make exactly what you want or to make
enough to get by?
For anyone graduating college hoping to make money in the film
industry, the shiny plastic of Hollywood studios can seem more
tempting than any Miltonic apple. But that may not always be the
best way to go.
As art M.F.A.s use their creativity to make money in the
business world, aspiring artists can also use their creativity in
film to make money outside of Hollywood.
Sure, there’s independent film and the Sundance Festival
and the success of “The Blair Witch Project” five years
ago, but sometimes it seems like the goal of young independent
filmmakers is just to get known and then move to Hollywood, simply
creating a different path to the same goal.
But there is an alternative.
Brad Neely, a 27-year-old comic book artist from Austin, Texas,
is making a name for himself in some New York circles for
“Wizard People, Dear Reader,” a work in which he
rerecorded all the sound to the film version of “Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” playing every role and
narrating the film.
But it’s not your 11-year-old sibling’s wizard
story. According to a June 7 New York Times story about
Neely’s project, “With (the) gravelly narration, the
movie’s tone shifts into darkly comic,
pop culture-savvy territory. “¦ As imagined by Neely, the
three main characters are child alcoholics with a penchant for
cognac, the magical ballgame Quiddich takes on homoerotic
overtones, and Harry is prone to delivering hyperdramatic
monologues.”
On June 4, almost 100 people paid normal ticket prices to see
“Wizard People, Dear Reader” in a Brooklyn movie
theater, on the same night as the release of the newest Potter
film, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.”
Aspiring artists should take note: Success in film doesn’t
necessarily come with landing that huge role or directing gig. And
Warner Bros. hasn’t even sued Neely yet.
In an artistic industry that’s more business than
creativity, Neely’s project provides a refreshing breath of
fresh air, at least for the moment.
Of course, by spreading the project online (at www.
illegal-art.org), Neely’s trying to promote himself, and
maybe he’ll jump at the first producer that comes calling,
reminding us of the tragic but necessary merge between an artistic
medium that costs a lot of money and the business people that
control the checkbooks.
But it’s not that Hollywood is bad; it’s just that
alternatives to it are always good. While Neely’s future
remains uncertain, hopefully he’ll inspire other aspiring
artists to develop their own projects ““ in whatever medium
““ and promote their work.
Granted, a lot of bad work will accompany and probably overpower
(at least in number) the good work, but the turnover is necessary
to the growth of art as a whole. Neely “made it” in
film (Or is it performance art?), emphasizing art’s power to
support artists’ abilities to move from one medium to the
next and still live creatively.
Fine artists may go into business, and filmmakers may leave
Hollywood, but as long as artists develop their creativity, trends
can only support the work being produced.
Neely and “Wizard People, Dear Reader” are only the
most current examples. Hopefully others will follow.
Tracer’s not graduating this year, but, when he does,
he wants to take Neely’s soundtrack and add new visuals.
E-mail him your ideas at jtracer@media.ucla.edu.