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Transcripts Are Auto-Generated

Christina Beck:
I always say to my students, Pick stories that you love. Pick stories that you feel like you have to tell because you're gonna be living with that story and pitching that story way beyond the script. You're gonna be pitching it for grants, you're gonna be pitching it for festivals, you're gonna be pitching it for people to watch it online. You're forever pitching these stories. But to say something visually is powerful. I think it can change minds and hearts.

Michael Jamin:
You're listening to Screenwriters Need To Hear This with Michael Jen. Hey everyone, this is Michael Jamin and you're listening to Screenwriters. Need to Hear This. We got a special guest for you today. If you are an indie filmmaker, an aspiring indie filmmaker, you're gonna wanna listen to this. You're gonna wanna meet Christina Beck, who I've known forever. She's an old friend, independent filmmaker, but she's you. She also teaches at Loyola Marmont University and the Fame Stella Adler Theater where she teaches screen screenwriting as well as film producing filmmaking, all that stuff. Well Christina, welcome to the big show.

Christina Beck:
Thank you. Thank you so much. I was gonna call you Mr. Jam and it's a habit. I can't help it.

Michael Jamin:
It's a habit. There it is. Cause cuz Christina briefly worked for me as an assistant for me and my partner on a show. And then I force you to call me Mr. Jamin

Christina Beck:
<laugh>. it just kind of fell into this thing. Yeah, no, you did not force me. You didn't force me at all.

Michael Jamin:
I never did that.

Christina Beck:
But I will correct you Mr. Jamin. So I actually don't teach at Stella Adler. I teach at least Strassburg, but I could see where you would choose that. Oh, at least Strasberg. Yeah,

Michael Jamin:
Just I would think,

Christina Beck:
Right. Well, they're all,

Michael Jamin:
They're East Strasberg. Go to that one.

Christina Beck:
Yeah, <laugh> but sad. They're not around anymore. But the legacies are for sure.

Michael Jamin:
I haven't been to West Hollywood forever. Yeah. And you guys see, you got your one sheet from, That's from Perfection. Let's talk about what you're at, some of your movies that you've done, cuz Christina is an indie filmmaker. She's a hustler. She makes her movie, she writes your stuff. You also started as an actor, right? Where, let's take me back to the beginning. You basically started, you wanted to be an actress, right?

Christina Beck:
Yes, yes. Yeah. So I grew up here in Hollywood, actually not in Hollywood. I grew up in the Valley. Let's get real about that. So I like to call it the main streets of Studio City. And although it was very different back then, I know today it's a unaffordable, you can't even get in there. But back in the day it was the suburbs, basically. And my folks were in show business. My father was a screenwriter and an actor, and my mother was an actress, a model kind of actress. She ended up studying in New York with some very significant people. Sandy Meisner had a full scholarship for the Neighborhood Playhouse, which was a big deal back in those days. But my beginning with acting really started just as a kid. <laugh> being extremely bored in the valley and putting on shows. I was that kid. I was putting on shows, arranging the stuffed animals. If we ever had company, they were held hostage to my extravagant. Really? Yeah. It was Cabaret 24 7 and <laugh>. I know. Yeah. You didn't know that about me. Yep. I didn't know that. Yeah.

Michael Jamin:
I also didn't know your dad was a screenwriter. I didn't know that as well. Did he work a

Christina Beck:
Lot? Yes, he didn't work a lot as a screenwriter. He worked a lot as an actor. So when he came out to Hollywood, he's from Texas originally, and he came out to Hollywood and straight away got signed to William Morris, got put under contract at Universal and did a bunch of movies. But then he did westerns. I always played the bad guy on Bonanza and

Michael Jamin:
Yeah, Christina, I didn't know your Hollywood royalty Well,

Christina Beck:
A little bit, yeah. Yeah. Oh wow. Definitely the lineage is there. Yeah. But his real love was screenwriting. He didn't love acting. He really did fall into it. And he had a great look and he was a cowboy, so he played a cowboy, but he wasn't even really a cowboy. He's just from Texas. But yeah, there's this really great story. So Robert Blake, who some of us know strange stuff all around that guy. But that said, back in the fifties, he was friends with my father was friends with him, and Robert Blake had a part where he had to ride a horse. And my dad said, All right buddy, I'll take you out. And they went to, I think probably, well, I don't know what it's called now, but it used to be called Pickwick, which is in Burbank near Disney. They went out over there and not only did he teach him how to ride a horse, he helped him learn his lines. And because I heard this story later after my father passed Robert said, Your father, he really sat with me in this tiny little apartment and he had me drill my dialogue and I got the roof because of him and just very sweet old school. Wow. Hollywood, stuff like that. But that said, when my father wasn't working as an actor, he was always in his, it was dad's den type, type type, type type. He was always working on screenplays and he loved writing.

Michael Jamin:
Yeah. Do you feel the same? Do you acting more, writing more for you? Well, are you like your dad or

Christina Beck:
Not? No. Yeah. No, I'm not like my dad. I, there's bits of me that I like him, but it's more acting was definitely the first bug. And like I said, putting on shows at home. But then I got kind of lucky, I was in the valley still. So on Ventura Boulevard near Vineland there was this place called Moral Landis Dance Studio. And my mother used to go and take a jazz class there. This is the late seventies. And next door was a place called the American National Academy of Performing Arts. So I kind of wandered over there and at this academy place, and I ended up joining an acting class. And my very first acting class, an acting teacher, was a man named Francis Letter. And I didn't notice at the time, so I'm like nine years old, 10 years old, and he is about 80 <laugh> or maybe seven in his seventies. And so I joined this acting class and then he asked me to be in the adult acting class, and I gotta play all the juicy, the bad seed and just fun stuff like that. Oh wow. And so it turns out that later on I found out that he was a big deal and he was in Pandora's Box, the silent film starring opposite Louise Brooks. And he's, and he did a ton of stuff for a long time. And then he was part of the actor studio in New York, and he was from Eastern Europe, but came over here right before the war, I think, <affirmative>. So that's when I really just was in heaven as a kid acting in this class. And then I also did some commercials with my brother. We were in some commercials. And then I became a teenager, <laugh>, and then I became really rebellious and mm-hmm <affirmative> got into the punk rock scene and completely fell in love with music and artistry. I mean, really at that time too, this was the early eighties when punk rock wasn't necessarily vi What's so funny,

Michael Jamin:
Cause I can't picture you doing being into punk rock. I guess it,

Christina Beck:
I got pictures. I got pictures, and I've actually written the whole <laugh> show about it. Yeah, I <affirmative>. But all that to say, yeah, I, I never wasn't like the punk rock chick. I more, I liked the artistry of it. I liked the right, And when I say that, I mean there were a lot of wonderful, cool artist people that I'd met mostly, much older than me at the time, but they were musicians and writers and actors. But they were on this kind of rebellious thing where we don't need permission to do anything, we just get to be creative. And that's what I loved mostly about that whole scene. And then there were different facets of it that were cuckoo and, and intense and lots of drugs and lots of alcohol and lots of inappropriate stuff. But then I got cast in a movie, so now it's my late teens.

And my best friend, she was well there is a woman named Penelope's Theorists who has made films that we know of Wayne's World and different Hollywood films. But at that time she had made a documentary called The Decline of the Western Civilization, which is a really amazing film even to this day because she really got into that la punk rock scene at that particular time in space. And it was an incredible film. And she wanted to make a narrative film. So she wrote a script and got it produced by a furniture salesman guy. And I think Roger Corman of course. And so I got cast in that. And like I said, I was in my late teens and at that time I was kind of over punk rock and I was like, Eh, don't wanna, this is stupid. But I ended up doing it. And that is where I really was like, okay, this is the way I wanna spend the rest of my life.

I loved being on set. And to answer your question, it's really tricky. I love in the realm of all that we do in terms of writing has its moments and then the pre-production, but being on set to me is definitely my favorite. And post is a whole nother exploration. But yeah, so it was from that moment on that I was just like, Okay, this is what I wanna do. And I did a couple more films with Penelope and then I moved to New York City and I wanted to be a real, I also felt like, okay, I didn't really, I need to be a real actor. I really have. And so

Michael Jamin:
A theatrical actor, is that why you moved to

Christina Beck:
New York? Well, yeah, I mean I love theater and my very best friend, you might know her, Cynthia, Man. Oh, okay. Yeah, it's Shannon. Familiar <laugh>. Yeah. So we were

Michael Jamin:
Frozen. That's how I met my wife. That's how I met her. I met you through her. I met you honestly, Christina. That was the first time it was really, I met you really on real early on, but go on. When I was with Cynthia. Really? Yeah. Tour or something.

Christina Beck:
I know, it's so great. <laugh>

Michael Jamin:
But go on. And

Christina Beck:
So Cynthia was in New York and at that time, for me, I felt like I really wanted to study and be a serious actor because I come from more of a film background. I did study a bit with Francis, but I really wanted to pay my dues as an actor. And I, I studied with a bunch of different great people. I auditioned for everything that was there at the time. And

Michael Jamin:
Tell me, I'm gonna interrupt for a second, hold on. But tell me what your thoughts are, the difference between acting for film or television and acting for the stage.

Christina Beck:
Well, in my experience and what I'm also kind of revisiting lately, well when you're acting in film, it's very subtle. There's a camera and the camera picks up everything. And so when you're on stage, you are playing to the back row. People in the back need to see and understand what's going on. And it's just a very different, and I think most actors can do both. Some are, I guess more comfortable doing one or the other.

Michael Jamin:
But when you study and you train, do you sometimes study specifically or did you specifically for film versus

Christina Beck:
No, no, I didn't. No.

Michael Jamin:
Are are classes like that? Yeah. Just for

Christina Beck:
Fun. Yeah. Yeah. There's like on camera classes where people, it's for auditions I think, but also to get to practice how you come off on camera. Yeah. I never did that <laugh>. I never, yeah. Really did that. But here's a weird, maybe creepy thing. Ever since I was a kid though, I always felt like there was a camera on me. <laugh>, I would visualize, I could almost disassociate a little bit, this is a psychological thing here, but I felt, I would kind of imagine walking to school, what would it be if this character was walking to school? I almost was above myself a little bit watching myself. And that's a weird thing to say cuz actually when you're acting in a film, you really shouldn't be watching yourself. But that's where I am also a director. So

Michael Jamin:
In other words, you were visualizing visualize how you would shoot yourself or is it more of Yeah. Was it more of a fantasy thing or how would I appear on, I wanna shoot myself if I was walking down the street?

Christina Beck:
Yeah, it's more the that one. And of course a little bit of fantasy, but it was escapism. But it was also, I was sort of able to take myself little Christina walking to school fifth grade out of it and see it from this other angle. And I don't know what that's about, but I do now I I see things that way all the time.

Michael Jamin:
Really How you would shoot it, where you would place the camera <affirmative>

Christina Beck:
Or where is the camera? Yeah. And it's such a funny thing cuz we live in a world now where everyone has a phone and everyone is documenting, everyone is shooting themselves. And that's a little different. But I guess it's similar in a way.

Michael Jamin:
Did you have film equipment when you were that Young? 

Christina Beck:
I mean, Well my dad I none. We really didn't. My dad, no, my dad did my made some super great films and <affirmative> actually. Yeah, we did a lot of home movies when I was little. So I was used

Michael Jamin:
To with sound.

Christina Beck:
No, no sound. No, it's

Michael Jamin:
Interesting.

Christina Beck:
So yeah, yeah, being tied up on a tree and then my brother coming up on a horse and all sorts of me crying. Yeah, I got it. I got it all.

Michael Jamin:
Wow. Then so after New York, so how long were you in New York?

Christina Beck:
Three years. I was there for three years. And

Michael Jamin:
Then what made you decide to come back?

Christina Beck:
Well, I wrote a play and that's kind of what happened. So I'm in New York, I'm studying, I'm auditioning for Everything film. I remember that there was one year where I really went out for everything that was shot in New York or anywhere around there and didn't get anything. And at the time I was studying with a woman at Playwrights Horizons who was a writer and an actress. And she said, Listen, you guys really should start writing characters that you feel you could play or just <affirmative> more of an empowerment in terms of instead of waiting around for everyone to give you a role, write something. So a bunch of us did, and it really started out by writing monologues. So I was in a group of women and we formed a little theater company and so we wrote characters and monologues for these characters and then we put it up and that was really great. And then I got

Michael Jamin:
You. Don't skip that step. How did you put it up? How do people stage plays

Christina Beck:
You a lot of time? Well, at that time, <laugh> at that time, which was a long time ago we raised a little bit of money, kind of similar to a lot of independent film stuff. But we raised a little money, family and friends type of thing. We actually did it at the Samuel Beckett Theater, which was where Playwright Horizon, I think they're still there on 42nd Street, I think eighth and ninth, 42nd Street, <affirmative>. And we put it up for a weekend and we got reviewed and we got in. It was great. It was super fun. And it also felt like I started to feel more complete as stuff that I could do as an actress. I always, I didn't, waiting around, I don't waiting for, I just felt like I have more to do and I was always journaling and stuff as a kid and as I got in my teens.

And so writing to me didn't feel that far off from what I was already doing. And coming into it as an actor, I knew I've read enough plays and I've read enough monologues to understand how to write in that form. So I ended up when I was living in New York, I'd come back to LA and visit in the summers. Cause summers are horrific in Manhattan. So there were some musicians that I met that were doing some kind of cool stuff. And this one guy played, he had a character that he did. And so I wrote a play. I kind of inspired me to write this play about him. He was playing a lounge singer and he, his friend had this group and it was kind of rock and roll stuff, but then they would go into a lounge sort of thing. And I thought, oh, that would be funny to, what would it be if these lounge singers had a kid and tried to live their life? And it was a little autobiographical, the father's alcoholic and the mother's sort of obsessed with her beauty. And so these themes started to come up in my work. So I wrote this full length play and there was music in it too. And then we also shot some video footage, so it was sort of like a multimedia thing. So I kind of had to come back to LA to do that.

Michael Jamin:
So you staged it?

Christina Beck:
Yes. I didn't direct it, so I wrote it and I starred in it. But a friend of mine this woman named Modi, who I met from the punk rock days, but also she was Penelope's assistant on some of the film stuff I worked on with her and was a video director in her own. And so she came in and she directed it and it was great. It was amazing. It was.

Michael Jamin:
And how do you even get the theater to put it up?

Christina Beck:
We raced a little bit of money and then we got producers and they put it up up.

Michael Jamin:
What do you mean? How does that work? You got producers, what does

Christina Beck:
That mean? Yeah, so the woman who played my mother in this is an amazing singer, artist, actor. Her name is Jane Cotillion. And so she loved the play and she said, Oh, I know this guy Billy DeModa and he's a casting director and maybe he could produce it. And he did

Michael Jamin:
<affirmative>. This is just from being out here, just from honestly, just meeting people, being in circles, taking acting classes and <affirmative> because that's the thing about la everyone's trying to do something right?

Christina Beck:
Absolutely, yeah. I mean think it's now because of Zoom and different things in the world and there's so much more accessibility. I think it's possible to collaborate and not be here. But all that said, especially at that time, you had to be here. And I do think it's still important to be in the place where you wanna be if you can. And these people I knew, so I knew about the guy, his name is Manny Chevrolet and he and his friend had this act and they were opening up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and I knew them from suburbia, which was the movie I did with Penelope I knew. And so it was kinda a group of people that I already knew. And then the musical directors, this guy named Tree, who's good friends with, and they were just all these people that kind of organically came on board.

Michael Jamin:
Interesting. And tell me, but how do, you're also, obviously you've written and directed and produced a bunch of movies, indie movies, some are shorts, some are full length, but do you go about, alright, so you work on the script. How long do you work on the script and when do you know it's done?

Christina Beck:
Yeah, that's a great question. And then everything's a little bit different. So with short films, <affirmative> well I'm teaching a course right now, so I feel like I already have this in my mind. Short film is one idea and that script can take a long time to write. It's not easy to write a short film because basically you're trying to squeeze in this one idea in a way that has a beginning, middle, and end. So you don't have the luxury of necessarily three acts, but you have to have this.

Michael Jamin:
How long is it short for you? Well,

Christina Beck:
Okay, so that's another great question because what I have learned now, I think a sweet spot for a short is anywhere from 10 to 12 minutes. I think if you can sit, do it in a shorter amount of time, even better because depending on what you wanna do with it. So there's a whole film festival world, which is pretty much the best place for your shorts to be seen if you can get them produced. So it's a matter of programming these films. So if you have a film that's 20, 25 minutes, that obviously takes up more time. And most film festivals, they program the short films in a block. So they're literally trying to pack in as many as they can and good ones. And it's all different too because the academy nominated films, they can be up to 40 minutes. But even again,

Michael Jamin:
When you say program, when they're looking for blocks, what is their intention?

Christina Beck:
Well, they're

Michael Jamin:
Showcasing what I mean, you have to understand that right as well. How does the film festival, how do they make money so that they would want you?

Christina Beck:
Right. Well that's a whole other thing. So there's different kind of aspects to that. So there's short films that are star driven, meaning you can put a star name in it. Now <affirmative> that always brings money and cache to a festival but not you can make a great short film and not have a star in it, is really what I wanna say. Because a good short film is something that has a very original idea. Again, it's short enough where you want more basically. And it's not making a feature and then picking a scene from the feature and making a short out of it. Sometimes you can create characters or create a separate script. So I made a short film for Fox Searchlight, I got in this new director's program with a feature script and they would not let us just take us a scene from the feature.

They were like, no, no, no, you have to make a short on its own, but with the same characters and the same relative premise. So that's kind of how I learned about that trap. But to answer your question the short films that get noticed at festivals or can even get into a festival are ones that are very authentic to whatever the genre is and the writer's vision. What are you talking about? Is it something, And that's also a weird trap too, because as a writer, I don't wanna be thinking about a festival, you know? I mean that's way down the line. But you have to live in both of those realities in a way. Because if this is a calling card as a writer or as a director of Indy films you have, it's good to keep in mind, okay, I'm not gonna write a 45 minute short film and expect it to be programmed. That would set myself up to fail if I could write. When

Michael Jamin:
You say programmed, you mean, what do you mean by programmed? Are they gonna play for that weekend?

Christina Beck:
Yeah, so in a film festival, they have a program of films they have, whether the festival is a week long or a weekend <affirmative>, depending on what festival it is. But for instance, let's just say Sundance, I believe a week. So there's some pretty intense statistics that I just found out from a friend of mine. So they had the largest amount of submissions of short films this past year than ever over 10,000 short films. And they only program 59 films. So wow. <laugh> like, oh my God. And Sundance is wonderful and amazing and if you can get in, great, It's not the only festival. There's a gazillion festivals and anyone is a great experience to get in and go to have that festival experience. But to answer your question about programming <affirmative>, are we there? The people that program the festivals are people that watch the films and decide, we have a three short film programs, A, B, and C. This is just making this up, but it's kind of how they do it. We have 30 minutes in each block, so I gotta squeeze. It all depends. Sometimes there's a film that's a little longer, but they really like it, so they're gonna put that in there. And then there's less room for other films.

Michael Jamin:
<affirmative>. And how much does it cost to submit to a festival? Usually?

Christina Beck:
It varies. It definitely varies and it varies. Sometimes they have early submissions that are always a little cheaper. Also depending on you can always ask for a waiver. Sometimes they give them to you, sometimes they don't. So it can be anywhere from 20 bucks to 75 to 150 bucks. It definitely can add up.

Michael Jamin:
When you make a film, how many festivals will you submit to?

Christina Beck:
Again, that all depends. There's certain festivals that you can target for. Again, there's the big five seven festivals, Sundance and Berlin and Toronto Telluride and then those are kind of the biggies. But then there's everything that tears down from there. So yeah, it can get very expensive and super daunting. And that's a whole other conversation. The film festival world. Huge, big.

Michael Jamin:
Now let's say you get into a festival into a big prestigious one. What is the goal? Eventually I And what is the goal? You got, you're short, eight minute film is in Sundance. What are you hoping?

Christina Beck:
Right, right. Well you're hoping for Eyes on the Film and that's a really also interesting question that you asked because back when those festivals, especially Sundance is a very different festival today than it was when it first started as most things are. But those, that would be the eyes, all the, everyone would be there and you would get would just get the cache of this is a Sundance film. It would give you opportunities to meet agents and if you don't have representation it'll help with that. And it's still, those things can still happen, but now you can get eyes on your film, on the internet, you know, can generate that if that's what you really want, if that's your goal. So know we need those things, but we don't as much anymore. It's a very different business today. But initially you wanna get eyes on your film people to see your work, hire you for more stuff.

Michael Jamin:
And when you say on the internet, you mean YouTube or Vimeo or what's the platform? Both.

Christina Beck:
Yeah, I think YouTube is, I don't know if Jimmy I don't know how many people, I mean you can certainly send people there, but I think YouTube a little more, right,

Michael Jamin:
People find right. But what do you tell your kids in your class today? Are you telling to do more on social media? Are you like a TikTok or what else are you telling to get found?

Christina Beck:
Well don't <laugh> more talking about the actual craft of the work, whether it's directing or screenwriting. I don't come up with all of that in terms of my work is as a writer director when I made my feature, I was very fortunate to I submitted the script to well I got into that Fox Searchlight program, which no longer exists. But there are other programs, there's lots of diversity programs, different studios have programs for emerging writers. And that one <affirmative> at the time I was one of two women, there were all men. There was like 40 men and two women. And nowadays it's definitely even doubt a lot. But all that to say that helped with, oh she was in that program, so let's take a look at her script. And then I submitted to an organization in New York called the If P, which now is called Gotham, but they do the spirit awards and Filmmaker magazine, which is something that I started reading very early on and I got nominated for best screenplay. So from that I got on their radar. So it's kind of just taking steps to be seen. It's always about people. Knowing what you're doing and what your vision is for this work,

Michael Jamin:
Do you go to a lot of film festivals even when you're not in them? Do you go just to watch or to meet people or anything?

Christina Beck:
I do in town. Yeah, in LA I will. I went to right Berlin when I didn't have anything in Berlin sadly. But I was there, I for a meeting with some European producers and then just happened to watch some amazing films. Film festivals are great cuz you meet like-minded people, whether it's people in the industry but also you meet other filmmakers, other writers, other directors, people that are maybe a little above you, maybe you've done a little more than them, but it's <affirmative> a really cool, cause the energy at most festivals I went to Can God, when was it 2006? I was trying to get my feature made and I was very naive. I made a short film version of my feature and I went to Can and I had my DVDs and I had my little pitch idea and I didn't really know that these meetings that they have, cuz there's a film market, some festivals have a film market and that's always really great. Berlin has one there's a film market here at afm. Kind of different energy though for sure, but can, it was like, oh my god, I was so lost. I was just like, what am I doing here? It was amazing and it was horrible and it was like that within each hour I just felt like I was in, was so over my head and yet really cool, wonderful things happened and I met people there that I'm still in touch with today.

Michael Jamin:
Hey, it's Michael Jam. If you like my videos and you want me to email them to you for free, join my watch list. Every Friday I send out my top three videos. These are for writers, actors, creative types. You could unsubscribe whenever you want. I'm not gonna spam you and it's absolutely free. Just go to michael jamin.com/watchlist. People ask me this a lot, but do you find from where are that, it's that right meeting writers and actors and directors. Do you feel it's like collaborative or is it competitive?

Christina Beck:
Well, I think it's collaborative and you can kind of sniff out people that are competitive. I, I've been in quite a few groups of women especially, so back a couple, one when my first short film screened with the American Cinema Tech, not my very first short film, but the first short that I directed. And I met a woman there named Kim Adelman and she's amazing. She's written a book about short films. She's incredible and she supports a lot of female directors. And her and this guy named Andrew Crane created a program at the cinema tech. And so through that we made this thing called the Female Filmmaking Collective. And so we would bring other women directors and this was kind of, well this is like 15, 16 years ago. And then there's been other women's filmmaking groups. The film Fatals, a member of the a w Alliance of Women Directors.
So all that to say there's, for the most part, the energy is very much like, yay, how can I help you? And then there's a few people that are anywhere in the world. It is, it's their personalities, the spirit of, I try to stay in the spirit of that there's enough for all of us. Cause otherwise that makes me uptight and I don't wanna be uptight. But definitely, yeah, I think I don't write with other people. I haven't yet. I've tried to in different increments, but it just hasn't quite felt right. But I do collaborating for sure. And especially filmmaking when you're actually getting in production that's like all about collaboration,

Michael Jamin:
Especially with the good dp, you know, What are you shooting? What do you like to shoot on? Or do you care that much? What kind of camera?

Christina Beck:
Well, I like things to look like film <laugh>. I mean, we shot my first short that I wrote Disco Man that was shot on 16. And my dp, I found him at USC Film School and he's a really good friend and we just shot something this last spring. So that was a long time ago. He became chair of the film school that I teach at now. But all that to say, yeah, again, it's the people that you meet here, you meet them there, we're all still here and still love film making. So that said, my DP for Perfection, my feature, his name's Robert Psal and he's amazing. Cause this guy, not only is he super talented, we shot that film for two years on the weekends, two and a half years. So to get someone to literally, okay, we got a little more money, Rob, come over, we gotta shoot this other would. And then a lot of times just he and I would jump on a bus and I'd borrow a camera from a friend. We had prime lenses, which if you put that on digital cameras, it gives a more cinematic look. So we had those for a while. We shot that film literally in four different formats, meaning four different cameras. And I Did

Michael Jamin:
You find it matched? Okay, Did it

Christina Beck:
Worked for the film? I don't know. Recently someone asked to see it, this wonderful DP that I was talking to, he lives in France and I felt a little self, cause I'm like, Oh my God, he's gonna see how, And he is like, Oh, it's shot so beautifully. And I'm like, wow, nobody knows

Michael Jamin:
All this.

Christina Beck:
Yeah,

Michael Jamin:
Why you don't have to worry about that stuff. Well, and what about

Christina Beck:
It's gotta be in focus, let's put it that way, <laugh>. Yeah. And sound is a big deal too,

Michael Jamin:
For sure. Absolutely. That's huge. It's hugely important if you can't hear it. Right. But what about how concerned are you when you shoot the stuff crossing the line or the cameras? Are you relying your DP for that, making sure that you know, don't have these jump cuts because the character's looking the wrong way? And

Christina Beck:
Is

Michael Jamin:
That your concern or you let the DP handle that?

Christina Beck:
Well, because so far I've been mostly acting in the stuff that I've shot. I definitely rely on my DP as well as my script supervisor. <affirmative>. I mean, I can tell myself when we're setting up a shot and then sometimes you can cross that line and it's okay, it's not gonna be an editing nightmare, but you sort of have to gauge it. And I don't make those kind of decisions by myself. And I really do rely so much on my DP and my script D because it's, it's that funny thing for me. What the reason I became a director in film was because I made a short that another different short besides Disco Man that it's called Blow Me. And I didn't direct it. And I did a lot of directorial stuff on that project. And my director at the time was busy with other things.
And so we weren't really able to finish the film for a long time. And actually my co-star was an editor as well. So he kind of got the film and he edited and we worked on it together. And what I learned, and this goes back to the film festival thing. So in film director has the say in everything in terms of how final say on music and different stuff. And being a screenwriter and an actor and even a producer, I didn't have the same access to the vision that I had. So I thought, ooh, I need to direct this stuff <laugh>. So

Michael Jamin:
Yeah,

Christina Beck:
That's how that shifted. How

Michael Jamin:
Do you go about, but how do you go about fundraising for all this stuff and what kind of budget do you usually try to get?

Christina Beck:
Well, it's tricky. That's the hardest part. And I just was at a film festival here in la, it's the American French Film Festival. They have it every year at the dga. And I was listening to a panel of producers and directors and from Europe and the UK and Los Angeles. And the thing is, those foreign countries, they have film funding built into their system, literally the government. And there are different types of ways that those more character driven films. This is what I'm pretty much more interested in what we would call art house films. <affirmative>, especially right now, there's just this huge divide, which is very mm-hmm <affirmative>, much like the whole world that we're in right now. So there's tiny budgets and huge budgets and the middle size budget isn't really around anymore. No support for it. And it's happening in Europe too right now. So I was listening to see, okay, are they going through it too? So that said, yeah, there's different ways. And I would say for first time directors that are making a feature or a short film for the first time, Crowdfunding's great, there's amazing platforms. I did that with a company called Seed and Spark and they were really supportive and helpful. And we have

Michael Jamin:
Some, Well what do they do? What do they do that's better than putting it up on what's some crowdfunding site?

Christina Beck:
Well they are a crowdfunding site, but

Michael Jamin:
Why not just use your own, I don't know what's the difference between, well go fund me or whatever.

Christina Beck:
Well I don't, yeah, get, well go Fund Me I thought was more for donations. Yeah, so there's fiscal sponsorship, which is something you'd need so that people that are donating to your project get an actual tax write off that's properly done. So you wanna do that <affirmative> but they help curate and they have a platform. I mean, look, you've written the thing, you're doing all this work. Are you gonna set up a website so people can give you money? So, and maybe you're really good at that. Places. Well indeed, Gogo and Kickstarter, and I mentioned Student Spark because they're someone that I did it with, but all those places haven't already. It's like, why reinvent the wheel? They've done all that work. So literally you can just send people there. They take a small percentage of whatever you get and different platforms have different things. I don't know. I know there's one that if you don't make your gold then you don't get any of the money. So I didn't do that one <laugh>, but

But going back to someone who's starting out and wants to make something a short or a feature and hasn't already exhausted their family and friends, there's nothing wrong with doing that. Also there's grants and And those aren't easy to come by, but they're there. And depending on, there's different places. There's like in San Francisco, there's the San Francisco Film Society has very specific grants for people that shoot in the Bay Area. And a lot of films have gotten made through that grant. They give a significant amount of money. So there are ways, and it's not easy. I mean really, ideally a private investor is great and there's gonna be a loss. So now most of the indie films, and these aren't Es, and I'm not an expert, I'm just speaking from my own experience. But an indie film may not get a theatrical release. I did not with my feature. What I did get is I got the theatrical experience in film festivals and I was lucky to be programmed in Los Angeles through the American Cinema Tech. And I got to see my film at the Egyptian Theater, which was heaven. And I was there for that. You were there. So, and now it's available to stream. So most projects go to streaming and huge projects go to streaming now. So it's just in this very different

Michael Jamin:
World. Is it, where is your playing, where is the streaming now?

Christina Beck:
On Tubby? Tubby <laugh>. And

Michael Jamin:
This is per perfectionist. Which one is

Christina Beck:
Yes. Perfection.

Michael Jamin:
Which, yeah,

Christina Beck:
Yeah. Okay. And all that's on my website. Christina Beck do com.

Michael Jamin:
Christina beck.com. Interesting. Wow, that's interest. But

Christina Beck:
This is, and my shorts are on there too.

Michael Jamin:
All your short. Is there a down, getting to a big festival, that's gotta be a game changer. But can a little festival help you?

Christina Beck:
Well, yes, because again, you see your film on a big screen, you see your film with an audience, you meet other filmmakers and yeah, as you know, Mr. Jamin, everything in this business is preparation and luck. So you're honing your craft <affirmative>, you're doing what you love. There's no slam dunk guarantee. Even with the bigger festivals. I know people that have gotten into huge festivals and got big representation and then a year later nothing. So it's like nothing. Yeah. Yeah. I guess I always say to my students, pick stories that you love. Pick stories that you feel like you have to tell because you're gonna be living with that story and pitching that story way beyond the script. You're gonna be pitching it for grants, you're gonna be pitching it for festivals, you're gonna be pitching it for people to watch it online. You're forever pitching these stories.

But to say something visually is powerful. I think it can change minds and hearts. So I come to it with that. And it is frustrating. I have a feature that I wrote last year that I have not made yet. We shot a few scenes in the spring with some of my students and my first dp, me, Kyle to kind of see where it lands and figure out do we wanna do a crowdfunding thing? Do we wanna try to get in Grant? Like what? And I don't know honestly, I don't know if I have the bandwidth to go through that hustle for getting financing right now. Right now. Because

Michael Jamin:
If not that, Oh well I was gonna say, if not that, then what? You know.

Christina Beck:
Well, right. Well, I mean look, ideally if we were all Henry Ja or somebody who has a trust fund, independent filmmaking is for people that have a trust fund basically.

Michael Jamin:
Or can fund, right? Or you,

Christina Beck:
Yeah, I'm teasing, right? Yeah.

Michael Jamin:
<affirmative>, how many, when you shoot, how many people on set, How many crew members do you wanna have? What's your skeleton crew?

Christina Beck:
My skeleton is probably 12 people

Michael Jamin:
That I'm surprised it's that big. So who,

Christina Beck:
Well

Michael Jamin:
Let's walk. You mean you've gotta skip supervisor DP

Christina Beck:
Happens fist. Yeah. Okay. Scripty, dp, ac sound mixer, boom. Makeup, hair. That could be one person blah. Who am I forgetting? Producer. Of course

Michael Jamin:
You're gonna want someone with the lights.

Christina Beck:
Well, right. Lights, gaffer, grip. Then we have,

Michael Jamin:
How many cameras are you rolling at once?

Christina Beck:
Oh, one <laugh>. Yeah, one. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. This isn't like tv, but I did actually, I made a short film with three cameras. Once I did that one I did for search site. Yeah, that's true. But that was a, people were like, Why did you do that?

Michael Jamin:
But that's still not even year 12. That might be, I don't know. I lost count.

Christina Beck:
Well, I'm missing people. I'm on the spot here. I'm trying to think. I'm totally missing people. I mean, there's craft service,

Michael Jamin:
Right?

Christina Beck:
Oh my God. Probably like the most You got people person, Yeah. Anyways, yeah. 10 to 12. It just adds a pa. You need a pa you need, yeah. Yes. But yes, you can do it with five people. I've done it with three. I mean,

Michael Jamin:
Are you pulling any permits or are you sort of shooting

Christina Beck:
That? I do permits when I am renting equipment. And I have, I've also completely gorilla so many things.

Michael Jamin:
Wait, if you have, why do you have to have a permit if you rent co equipment they require

Christina Beck:
Because yeah, you have to have insurance and there's film LA and yeah, there's a whole thing that needs

Michael Jamin:
To happen. Yeah. People get paid off. Yeah.

Christina Beck:
<laugh>. Well, it's kinda a, Yeah,

Michael Jamin:
It's hard and happens. Yeah, it's hard. It's a hustle. But you do it cuz you love doing it, right?

Christina Beck:
Yes. Yes. That is true. Right? That is true.

Michael Jamin:
And how many scripts do you have that are just sitting around that? Are you, I guess I won't even try with that one or,

Christina Beck:
Yeah, I know that breaks my heart cuz I was at a ratio of, at one point having everything produced. I was like, I don't remember everything's been produced. But now I've written more scripts. I like, Yeah, I have probably, but not a ton. I have a couple features and I've written a few series, so yeah, Not yet. Not yet. But

Michael Jamin:
What about just something you could do and now we'll wrap it up cause I don't wanna keep for chill up. But what about doing something where you could just shoot it in your apartment? Write it specifically for your apartment?

Christina Beck:
Yeah, well I would still need to get permission from my landlord. I'd still need to get equipment. Cause you can't shoot without permission if you wanna have insurance and you have to have insurance. Now look, my <laugh>, my feature perfection in my old apartment, I actually did have permission from my landlord, but we shot so much of it just really running gun. And that can be done. That can have, But you still, And also I wanna pay people. I'm at a place where I can't ask people to work for free. Now if it's your first project and stuff, I encourage everybody to ask people to work for free if you treat them well. And if they're newbies too and it's a shared experience of discovery and stuff and they feel connected to the work and you feed 'em well, you gotta feed well. You gotta give

Michael Jamin:
'em some very, But it seems like you have the perfect person for that because you have a bunch of students who wanna just get their names on stuff.

Christina Beck:
That's true. That's true. Yeah. Well, and I would probably and probably will end up shooting this feature with, And look, my students are amazing. They are so talented and professional when I get on their set. So this year I've had two students cast me in their short films. So I got to show up really as an actor on these. That's fun. Well, it's great because I was talking to the other film professors, because we work with them on the scripts and we sign off the scripts and then they go off and shoot. So these, they're kind, they're on their own, they're chaperoned and then they come back and bring, and we work on the edit and stuff, but we don't know what really goes on in those sets. So I was saying to this other professor the other day, I'm like, Yeah, I was there. I gotta be there and see what, And the truth is these students are wildly professional and I wouldn't really honestly wanna work with anyone else. But then they are so good. So

Michael Jamin:
Someone called me up a student, I don't wanna say where they needed a 50 year old man. Now I don't play 50. We all know that. I play mid thirties of

Christina Beck:
Course.

Michael Jamin:
But I was like, right, I didn't really wanna do it. I was like, all right. And then he goes couple weeks later he's like he's like, Yeah, well we're gonna need you to read <laugh>. I was

Christina Beck:
Like,

Michael Jamin:
I'm off only <laugh>. Oh my God. I didn't want it that bad. But I think that was part of the experience that they wanted to have was they wanted actors. I'm not reading dude <laugh>

Christina Beck:
Great. Well they're trying out their stuff I guess. Who knows? In terms of, Yeah, but wrong guy. They got the wrong guy with you.

Michael Jamin:
<laugh> offer only.

Christina Beck:
That's right. That's right. Mr. Jam <laugh>.

Michael Jamin:
How funny. Yeah. So, alright. This is so fascinating cuz this is a world I know nothing about this whole people cause people ask me all the time I got India. I don't know, Ask Christina. So where do people follow Christina back on? How do they learn more about what you're doing?

Christina Beck:
Well, like I said, my website and then my

Michael Jamin:
Give it to you again so that,

Christina Beck:
Okay. It's christina beck.com. There you go. And yeah, and then I'm on Instagram X Beck. And

Michael Jamin:
What do you mean wait, X dyna? How do you spell that?

Christina Beck:
X I don't remember that. T I n a.

Michael Jamin:
Oh it. So it's X.

Christina Beck:
Yeah.

Michael Jamin:
I dunno why you said Ina. We'll work on this later. <laugh>

Christina Beck:
Put a little thing up there. We don't have to talk about it. Yeah, yeah. And I just wanna say lastly, I am so not an expert on this. Please. I've been just finding my way as I go. But you know, I've watched other writers, The path is just, it's just not a straight line. And I think to stay connected to purpose and okay, I feel like I gotta tell certain stories. And when I talk to my students about this, okay, why do you have to tell this story? And we ask ourselves those questions and why now and all those things. Which in as far as indie film goes, I feel like we're in a little bit of a dip right now where the character driven independent films, at least in America, are not being celebrated as they once were. <affirmative>. And I believe that that'll shift.

And I talk, I've talked to many people about this and we've gone through so many different, you know, can look back in the 1970s where Paramount was like studios were making beautiful character driven films. And I don't know if we'll ever go back to that, but I do think like you said, you can have a tiny crew and you could make something. I could make something in my living room. Absolutely. And one of my favorite filmmakers is a woman named Barbara Loden. She sadly passed away a long time ago. She was an actress. She actually was married to Ilie Kaza and she made a film called Wanda. And it's an amazing film and you can find it online. It's on the Criterion Channel and different places like that. But she had a tiny crew. She had maybe six people. And <affirmative>, sometimes people besides the attacks right off, they wanna contribute. They wanna be a part of it. They wanna be a part of this passion storytelling.

Michael Jamin:
Sometimes they also wanna give you their notes. Right?

Christina Beck:
Well

Michael Jamin:
Sometimes that money goes and comes with strengths

Christina Beck:
Or here's the other thing. Yeah. Find an actor who really wants a great part that has some dough that wants to coce or something. And you guys can collaborate on that and you can write something that's really great for them that they would never get cast in. There's a lot

Michael Jamin:
Of you recommended. That's a great idea. That's a great idea. You recommended to me to watch Thunder Road. Remember that? Oh yeah,

Christina Beck:
I watch that. The short.

Michael Jamin:
And I loved it That and I loved, and I didn't realize I didn't, it was actually, I watched the scene from it, but it was actually, I guess a feature or whatever, but the scene stood on its own. I go, this is a beautiful it short. But it was a beautiful scene.

Christina Beck:
Oh, so you watched from the feature or did you watch the short film?

Michael Jamin:
Yeah. Yeah. Cuz I think you gave me the link to Vimeo or something. Oh

Christina Beck:
Okay.

Michael Jamin:
I just watched that one church scene where he was

Christina Beck:
Like, Yeah, yeah.

Michael Jamin:
So over,

Christina Beck:
Yes. That guy is amazing. He's the real deal. He's a guy to follow. Cause he's Joe Independent film. He, Jim is his name actually <laugh>. And he makes stuff and he works as an actor. He'll do commercials, whatever. And then he'll take that money and that's what caves did. Caves made whatever he was working in television stuff he wasn't crazy about. And then he would take that money and then he would just make the films he wanted to make. So maybe it hasn't changed at all. It just goes back to that thing again where if you have this story you gotta tell and it does start with the

Michael Jamin:
Story. What kinda stories do you feel you have to tell?

Christina Beck:
Well I feel like I almost keep telling the same story, but I, I'm really

Michael Jamin:
Love different versions of

Christina Beck:
It. That's right. That's, as I get older, I get this different perspectives of it. But I do, I love the story of people, characters that have perceived limitations or real ones and they slowly find their way out of that predicament. And yeah, I like happy and things. I like to see the journey of someone of starting off in a place where they don't feel and they get a little better.

Michael Jamin:
And you said before I cut you off, you was, it all starts, the focus has to be on the script.

Christina Beck:
It's all about the script. That's the blueprint. That is the blueprint. Especially if you're shooting with no money and no time. And because you don't have the luxury and we never have the luxury. You see it all the time and any budget level. But the truth is, the script really is everything starts there. That's how you get anybody on board. That's how you can refer if a DP who's maybe a great DP and wants to do something small because he loves the story or he loves the subject matter and that script should be tight and ready to shoot

Michael Jamin:
<affirmative>. Right. And because you could shoot something and you get the biggest crew and the biggest budget and it looks like a movie. But if the script sucks, so what? No, it's not anyone's gonna wanna watch it, but it may look like a movie. Yeah,

Christina Beck:
Yeah, that's right. And then it won't get programmed really in festivals cuz there's so much competition. I just think that thing that we kind of all know, make it a personal story, doesn't have to be autobiographical, but make it something that you really connect to or a topic that really you do have some experience in that you can bring something that maybe we haven't seen yet or we haven't seen from that angle, like you said. Yeah. That's the stuff that's really gold. I love that Thunder Road short. It's such a great example of a guy who just took a very, very simple premise. And the other kind of novelty of that short is he shot it in one take, which is pretty cool. That's not easy to do.

Michael Jamin:
That's not easy. What I'm saying. He did it and that's a novelty. But as you pointed that out, I forgot. I like the story of it.

Christina Beck:
Well that's the thing, you should just be looking at it like, oh, where's the cut? No, we wanna be engaged. And that was very engaging and that was a very personal story. I mean, I don't know about his personal story, but I know that I felt that in his work. Yeah,

Michael Jamin:
Yeah. It's all about that. It's all about being vulnerable and about sharing something that's that only you can do, right?

Christina Beck:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean hopefully, I mean, I don't know, I think it's two, there's too many topics now that people are dealing with in terms that need to, voices that need to be heard in the world, I believe. And yeah, this is a powerful way to get our voices out,

Michael Jamin:
But that means writing. So that's what I think cuz everyone's looking for diverse voices and voices that have been underrepresented. So that means writing about, I think your experience, that's what we want from you

Christina Beck:
Because Well, I think so too.

Michael Jamin:
Yeah. Now's your shot.

Christina Beck:
Yeah, I think so too. No one can steal your idea. That's a whole thing too. Sometimes people are like, Oh no, someone's gonna steal this idea. Well there's real, there's not that many ideas really when you think about it, the same story over and over. I'm still telling the story of someone overcoming. I love characters that overcome their limitation or their perceived limitations or their background. I come from alcoholism and all sorts of other things. And that doesn't mean that I'm gonna keep getting it on the nose with those topics, but it informs the way I look at the world growing up in that environment. And today I'm really grateful for that. But when I started writing, I was still very tortured by that. So <affirmative>, but keeping it, that process of keeping it personal and having that point of view with those circumstances makes it only something that I can say

Michael Jamin:
I Christina, I think everyone should start taking your class <laugh> one of either your classes, but the LMU one is a little difficult cause they have to enroll, but the other one Yeah.

Christina Beck:
Well, yes, is different. Yeah. I mean, I'm also, I do workshops too sometimes, so,

Michael Jamin:
Oh, you do private workshops?

Christina Beck:
I do screenwriting workshops.

Michael Jamin:
And Is that on your website as well?

Christina Beck:
Yeah, not right now, <laugh>, but it was, Oh,

Michael Jamin:
How would that basically work? Yeah.

Christina Beck:
Well, I've worked, so I've done six weeks workshops where we really start off with, Okay, what's the story you wanna tell that's most personal to you? And so it's literally creating a character or that story from the point of view of the storyteller and the steps to take, whether it would turn into a series or a short film, or a feature or a play.

Michael Jamin:
And it's six weeks and it meets once a week or something.

Christina Beck:
Correct.

Michael Jamin:
That sounds really good. How many people are in that course, or outta time?

Christina Beck:
Well, it's different times I, It's been usually pretty intimate. Not a ton of people <affirmative>, but now we can do stuff on Zoom, which is great. Right.

Michael Jamin:
Wow, that sounds pretty cool. Yeah, people should check you. Yeah, you better put that up once this, I

Christina Beck:
Guess. I guess I'm Do that. Yeah, I guess so. But

Michael Jamin:
Tell people where to find that again, so in case that you make that happen, that sounds like a beautiful thing.

Christina Beck:
Oh, thanks. Yes. Christinabeck.com.

Michael Jamin:
Christinabeck.com. Christina, thank you so much for joining me. This is a good talk. I thought this was

Christina Beck:
Really helpful. Thanks, Mr. Jamin

Michael Jamin:
Now I wanna be an independent filmmaker.

Christina Beck:
No, you don't

Michael Jamin:
<laugh>. No, you don't.

Christina Beck:
If you wanna make money. No. There are some that make money. There are some that make money, right? Yes, yes, yes, yes. But yeah, thank you. Thank you so much. It's so fun to talk with you, Mr.

Michael Jamin:
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I'm gonna sign up, right? Everyone, Thank you for listening. And yeah, for make sure you get on my free weekly newsletter michaeljamin.com/watchlist. What else we gotta talk about? We have a course. Yeah, we can check out my course at michaeljamin.com/course. And if we post this in time, I don't know, but I'll be doing two shows in Boston, November 12th and 13th from a paper orchestra. It's my stage reading, and then two shows in December 10th and 11th. And for tickets, go to michaeljamin.com/live. All right. Thank you again, Christina. Wonderful.

Christina Beck:
My pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for asking. Yeah.

Michael Jamin:
Hey, it's Michael. One more thing. Come see me perform. I'm going to be in Boston area, actually, Amesbury, Massachusetts on November 12th and 13th at the Actor studio, performing my show, a paper orchestra. And then I'm gonna be back in Los Angeles on December 10th and 11th again at the Moving Arts Theater Company. So tickets are on sale. Go get 'em at michaeljamin.com/live. It's a small, intimate venue. I'm gonna be performing for my collection of personal essays, and each one's gonna be followed by like a 20 minute q and a. We get to talk about the work. It's a fun event. So I hope to see you there. Go get them tickets again are at michaeljamin.com/live, and of course, sign up to my weekly newsletter that's called the watchlist at michaeljamin.com/watchlist.

Phil Hudson:
This has been an episode of Screenwriters. Need to Hear This with Michael Jamin and Phil Hudson. If you'd like to support this podcast, please consider subscribing, leaving a review ,and sharing this podcast with someone who needs to hear today's subject. For free daily screenwriting tips, follow Michael on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok @MichaelJaminWriter. You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok @PhillaHudson. This episode was produced by Phil Hudson and edited by Dallas Crane. Until next time, keep writing.