Congrats to all those accepted into the Fall 2014 Joan Scheckel Filmmaking 1 Lab: Burt Rutherford, Seth Gabel, Robin McLeavy, Samantha Lavin, Brian Beletic, Cece King, Max Ater, and Ariel Feng!
"How can I become a director? It's one of the most frequent questions I hear these days in LA. I encourage people to write or find compelling material, and then to insist to both themselves and the people around them that they are a director. You have to take it, I tell people. No one will give it to you. But how do you get the tools to TAKE the reins? I steer every person who's looking to the workshops of Joan Scheckel. I was originally pointed in Joan's direction when I was hoping to get my first feature made. I was one of the way-too-many people who had received a rejection from the Sundance Filmmakers' Lab and was feeling a little bereft. I had years of experience as a TV writer but no studio or network would approve a first-time director. Gina Kwon, who'd produced a couple of Miranda July's features, suggested I might like Joan. Like many people, the price tag scared me. I had been hoping to be "selected" for the gift of a free program or workshop, so having to reach into my own pocket to get the experience I wanted felt like a bit of a step backwards... But I pushed through this feeling and signed up. The experience of being in Joan's Directing Lab was not easy.
Big Love to JSFL alum Lisa Leone! She's just released her first photo book, Here I Am, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts is exhibiting her work from September 13th - January 11th! Order a copy of the book HERE
"The Bronx—Paris—Los Angeles—early 1990s—Hip hop. This culture of music, dance, art and fashion is forever in its nascent and most authentic in Here I Am, the first monograph of Lisa Leone’s photographs. From Nas in the first studio recordings for what would become Illmatic to Snoop on the set of his first video, from ingénue Debi Mazar hanging on the stoops of the West Village to Grandmaster Flash at a RockSteady reunion, Leone’s photographs open portals to the sounds, places and, most important, the people who forged and continue to influence the energy that is hip hop." Read more.
"How can I become a director? It's one of the most frequent questions I hear these days in LA. I encourage people to write or find compelling material, and then to insist to both themselves and the people around them that they are a director. You have to take it, I tell people. No one will give it to you. But how do you get the tools to TAKE the reins? I steer every person who's looking to the workshops of Joan Scheckel. I was originally pointed in Joan's direction when I was hoping to get my first feature made. I was one of the way-too-many people who had received a rejection from the Sundance Filmmakers' Lab and was feeling a little bereft. I had years of experience as a TV writer but no studio or network would approve a first-time director. Gina Kwon, who'd produced a couple of Miranda July's features, suggested I might like Joan. Like many people, the price tag scared me. I had been hoping to be "selected" for the gift of a free program or workshop, so having to reach into my own pocket to get the experience I wanted felt like a bit of a step backwards... But I pushed through this feeling and signed up. The experience of being in Joan's Directing Lab was not easy.
