[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: How do you become a professional director if no one will give you a chance?
Jason Satterlund, Filmmaker: That’s such a good question and I think that’s the question that everyone asks every day. How in the world do you do it? Two nights ago I was just having dinner with two filmmaking friends, one was a producer/director, the other was a director. We asked ourselves the exact same question (the maddening question) of how in the world do you get in, break in, get work? I do think that there are ways to do it butthe first thing is I think there’s multiple steps. The first step is to understand that there is no way, there is no path. If you want to be a doctor, if you want to be a lawyer, there is a set A, B, C, D to do it. You go to school for x amount of years, you get your residency, you do your interning, they have mapped it out for you. That’s not like that in film and I’m often asked How did you do it? Or someone will say Should I go do the DGA [Directors Guild of America] program and go up that route? Sure there is that way of doing it. There are certain courses that they’ll have lined out, different networks will do it like Warner Brothers might have their little internal program and you can go in and study under somebody and work your way up. If that works, great that is a way. Should you make an indie film? Yes, sure if you can do it and pull that off, that is a way, but it’s not a guaranteed way. That’s super important to understand. I heard a screenwriter describe it once as it’s like we’re all blind men with our hands against a wall trying to find a way into the magic kingdom and we’re all feeling our way along and one of…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
Jason Satterlund is an award winning film director who has been working on films for over 25 years. He has extensive experience in all areas of production including directing, producing, writing, cinematography, and editing. He works all over the world directing, commercials, documentaries, music videos, and feature films.
Early on he developed his skills as a storyteller and uses them to this day on projects as diverse as sci-fi steampunk action films, high end commercials, underwater sea life in the tropics, television shows, top country music artists in Nashville, Tenn, and feature films. He is the only person ever to conduct a night shoot in the ancient city of Petra, and the first person in America to use film lenses on an HD camera.
Satterlund has done extensive work for clients such as Warner Brothers, Bon Jovi, Amazon, Microsoft, Jack White, CNN, Hallmark Entertainment, ABC, and the country of Jordan.
He is creator and director of the award winning feature film, “The Record Keeper,” which premiered at the Raindance Film Festival in London, and won the first annual Geekie Awards.
Satterlund’s latest film THE ABANDON (written by Dwain Worrell) features a wounded soldier awakening in a strange cube that tests his physical and mental limits as he attempts to find a way to escape against a ticking clock.
ABOUT THE ABANDON MOVIE:
U.S. soldier, Miles Willis, is shot and wounded during an intense firefight in Iraq. As he tries to radio for help, a sudden blinding light surrounds him, and he awakens to find himself trapped in a strange, colorless cube with nothing inside but his own combat gear. As time passes, the cube begins to change: fluctuating extreme temperatures, random shifts of gravity, and strange writing appearing on the walls. His only communication is with one person — a mystery woman who calls him on his satellite phone, claiming to be trapped in a similar space. As the clock ticks, the two of them must figure out who has them, why they were taken, and how to escape. Watch the trailer here.
A film by Jason Satterlund
Written by Dwain Worrell
The film stars Jonathan Rosenthal, Tamara Perry, and Regis Terencio
Produced by Victoria Hadeler and Regis Terencio
Executive Produced by Jonathan Rosenthal and Jordan Foley
Edited by Jason Satterlund
Cinematography by Ray Huang
Music by Geoff Koch
From Mill House Motion Pictures
Runtime is 1 hour 36 Minutes
This drama/thriller film is not yet rated
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