THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9412020063
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KENISHA WIGGS, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
THOUSANDS OF TEENAGERS watch scores of television shows and millions of movies, fantasizing about making it into the Hollywood big time as directors.
But can they? According to the experts, breaking into the field takes a lot of dedication and hard work.
There are 10,000 film and television directors on the roster of the Directors Guild of America, the guild for film and television directors and their assistants.
Those in the industry say that film and television directing is extremely competitive with limited opportunities. Aspiring directors often become actors or work in fields other than show business to pay the bills.
As a student at Herkimer County Community College in Ilion, N.Y., Steven E. Schrader, 34, majored in broadcasting. After he graduated in 1980, he worked at a television station in Binghamton, N.Y., running a camera. Later he moved on to directing at a television station in Portland, Maine, and now he's working at WAVY TV-10 as a producer and director.
``Money depends on how big the market is,'' he said. ``In Norfolk, the lowest (salary) is $15,000 a year and the highest is probably $35,000. If you live in places like New York and Washington, you probably get paid more.''
Most directors in television have two- or four-year college degrees and majored in communications or journalism.
If you do become a film director, you're in charge of all aspects of the film from the beginning to the end, said guild spokesman Chuck Warn. This means dealing with the budget, making sure you have well-suited actors, finishing on schedule and overseeing the editing. Warn said the pay of movie directors varies depending on their contracts with the studios.
Harrison R. Cornell, a member of the film department at New York University, said, ``Usually if you are making your first film, you probably won't get paid anything because you're dumping all of your money into your film. If you have someone backing you who has money, then you are lucky. (Otherwise) you'll probably be eating peanut butter sandwiches for a while.''
Director Spike Lee used a lot of credit cards to make his first film ``She's Gotta Have It,'' Cornell said. Director Matty Rich also used credit cards and received donations to make his first film, ``Straight Out of Brooklyn.''
To make an independent film, it could cost from $2,000 to $100,000. Independent directors don't get paid during production because their work is not backed by any studio; it is speculative. That's why they go to film festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival, which is primarily in Park City, Utah.
The Sundance Festival was founded in 1978. In 1984, Robert Redford founded the Sundance Institute, which now presents the festival. It supports the production of artsy, independent, low-budget films for a variety of markets. Submitting a drama to the festival costs $50. To submit a documentary, it costs around $25. That can mean a lot to a budding film director.
Robert Rodriquez, an independent director who is on the way to making it big, sold his body to science for medical research to bankroll his first film, ``El Mariachi,'' which appeared in the festival in 1993. And director Rob Weiss had money given to him by friends and family to make ``Amongst Friends,'' which won an award at the Sundance Festival in 1993.
Quentin Tarantino's film ``Killing Zoe'' was also in the Sundance Festival. He worked in a video store for minimum wage before he struck gold. Now he's making it big again with ``Pulp Fiction.''
Mark E. Schwhan, who works in the Sundance Festival offices in Los Angeles, said, ``We exhibit works we believe in; we have premieres and competitions with dramas and documentaries.''
One of the best things that can happen to a director at a film festival is for one of the big studios to truly love the film and buy it. That means an income.
There are several well-respected film schools in the United States, and admission is competitive. At the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, the largest film school in the world, approximately 900 undergraduates are in the program. Only 50 students each year are accepted into the three-year graduate program.
``If you apply for the film program and don't get accepted, then your other choice would be The College of Arts and Sciences,'' said Jason Gray, a senior at NYU.
Charlie Greiner, 19, a 1993 Franklin High School graduate, is a sophomore at the University of South Carolina studying screenwriting.
Is he going to make it in the film industry? ``I'm confident. . . I don't have any doubts,'' he said. ``I don't want to sound like I have an ego, but I'm confident.''
Charlie wants to go to graduate school and perhaps live in New York or Los Angeles. Charlie's influences are Quentin Tarantino, Oliver Stone, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman and Steven Spielberg.
But you don't have to go to film school to make a film. ``It's really not that important,'' said Cornell of NYU. It's creativity that counts.
If you do become a big time director making lots of money, you will start receiving ``residuals.'' Residuals are fees directors receive after repeat showings of their movies or television shows. So even if you are not directing, you still get a paycheck.
The experts emphasize that directing is a risky career path. You must love it and be willing to pay your dues. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Kenisha Wiggs is a senior at Kempsville High School.
by CNB