[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
P.M. Lipscomb, Filmmaker: You can’t judge somebody based on their money or their weight because it fluctuates the rest of your life.
Film Courage: We had this comment come in on our YouTube channel and that is “The only way to become a filmmaker is to make friends with rich people.” What’s your reaction to this?
P.M.: Depends on what filmmaker you want to be. If your goal is to make movies with millions of dollars, you’re probably not going to make a very good movie. Look at how many movies come out for millions of dollars and there’s no soul behind them, no comprehension of it. It can be an incredibly expensive art form. There can be a side of it that is really a high amount of money that needs to be spent but also you can make a lot of films for no money. Look at…what’s that film… the one that came out with Shudder, Skinamarink. That movie was made for almost nothing and then suddenly it went on this giant theatrical run.
I feel like if you start to…I have a lot of friends who have wanted to make films and never went out to actually do it because they have this great idea and they’re like it’s going to cost $5 million. I say Well, hold on a minute, why do you think it’s going to be $5 million? You’ve never even budgeted a movie before? or Why did you attach this price point?
I started to realize that a lot of people attach price points to stuff that cause them to not be able to do it. I think filmmaking in a large respect is about overcoming obstacles. Financial sides of filmmaking are just obstacles, so don’t create an obstacle before you really start the process.
Also, I am a huge believer in the idea of just keep showing up. I relentlessly just kept showing up to every movie I’ve ever made. For instance Devoted In Time this new film I’m doing with the painter Rob Prior, we’re shooting the whole thing on the Bolex 16 mm film and that film for the first month, there was no money involved. I wasn’t able to shoot any film yet. I show up every day to the studio and did audio interviews every single day. I just kept going back and going back and going back and eventually just kind of snap together a donor to put some money into the picture who doesn’t even own any…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
BIO:
P.M. Lipscomb has passionately made awarding-winning movies since April 23, 2006. He has made three feature films and thirty-six shorts presented at a dozen film festivals across the country. He strives to make work as a means of escape for the audience from the everyday hardships. After receiving the Emerging Filmmaker Award in 2015 for his decade of work in film, he was hired as a documentarian in Toronto, Canada to follow Jacob Barnett. P.M. Lipscomb has also taught film editing at the Academy of Art in San Francisco for a year and learned from experimental filmmakers such as Nathaniel Dorsky. P.M’s first feature film, CLOWNING was released through Gravitas Ventures and is available across many platforms. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, P.M. Lipscomb has now moved to West Hollywood, where he is preparing his next feature film. It is in the genre of horror, and is called Bickle.
WATCH ‘CLOWNING’
CONNECT WITH P.M. LIPSCOMB
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