Liam Finn: So what compelled you to enter a reality TV show contest? And did you already have a film or did you make a film for submission?
Will Bigham: My original submission was my thesis film from Florida State. Florida State sends out alumni letters regularly and in it was a notice about On The Lot looking for submissions. I checked out the website and said, “I should probably give this a try.” I sent in my submission video and filled out the application and a couple of weeks later got a phone call; they wanted me to make another movie. I had a week to make a movie. I submitted it and a few weeks later I got another phone call asking for me to come in for an interview. I interviewed and then from there … I think they had two or three hundred people making movies and from that they paired it down to fifty people and that’s when the show started.
LF: What kind of parameters did the show give you to work with?
WB: This competition really gave me the chance to go out there and do what I wanted and came to Los Angeles to do. Basically, there were two tracks. The primarily comedy track and the mixed genre track…the one’s that did horror, action and then they went into comedies. I was pretty much in comedy the whole time. We were able to play around in those comedies like we had the romantic comedy week. A log line which we could basically pull from anything, but for the most part I was primarily one of the comedy guys. But the parameters they gave us week by week…the challenges that they gave us more than anything else was the fact that they would give us a location and a set number of actors we could use. We would write scripts according to those parameters. And of course our biggest parameters were our running times. We were always given a running time of… your running time can’t be longer than two minutes and next week it was two minutes and twenty seconds. And that kind of a thing and one thing that I think helped me greatly in this competition was that I was able to write a two-minute script. Where a lot of the other contestants would write a five-minute script and shoot a five-minute movie and cram it into two minutes. And I got that skill or I developed that skill I guess with film school because we had the exact same parameters when I was going to Florida State University.
LF: When you where making that thesis film I assume you were using the other people in Florida States film program. Now that you have this opportunity and access…is there a core group of people you work with? Or is there anybody you’re hoping to work with and bring along that was there in the struggle with you?
WB: I’m kind of restricted as far as the contract goes with DreamWorks about who I can work with and what I can do. I know that right now my main job at DreamWorks is to find the next project, the first project. And so I’m definitely making a lot of phone calls to people I’ve worked with in the past that have scripts. I’m reading their scripts and seeing if that’s the project I’m going to go with.
LF: Are you looking for something specific? Any genre?
WB: There are no parameters. They haven’t said what they want me to do yet. I know I have a meeting with them next week. I’m pretty much going to pitch every idea I’ve ever thought of. And we’re going to see what sticks and doesn’t stick. I’m asking for more specific directions. If one of my ideas is good enough to go forward with, then that’s what we’ll go with. It’s kind of an open page right now: genre, story - anything. But I think the direction I’ll probably end up going is a quirky comedy, something Cohen-esque, that kind of flavor.
LF: That’s great and I’m sure you have a million ideas. The deal with DreamWorks has always been couched as a million dollar deal, but how does that breakdown? Is it a million dollars to make the movie?
WB: A two-year salary, two years of overhead and a discretionary fund to option/buy materials. (NOTE: Will tells me the specific monetary breakdown, but I decide not to publish it. I see it like publishing a film’s budget before a distributor has purchased it, it doesn’t help the filmmaker.)
LF: And how about representation, did you wind up getting any agents or managers?
WB: Doug Dransen and Val McLeroy were managing me before I entered this contest and they’ve stuck with me through all the bad times, so now I’m sticking with them through all the good times. Their good people and they’re already hitting the pavement trying to find scripts for me. And as far as representation what I’ve decided to do is stick around with DreamWorks for a couple of weeks and let DreamWorks know that I’m here to do business and not to just sit around and collect a paycheck. Then we’re going to go out and talk with the agents and tell them the ideas were going with.
LF: Of the movies you made during the contest is there one that you are most proud of and why?
WB: You know I love “Glass Eye,” just because we did that one with
two-hundred bucks and some friends. It was a one-day shoot and I was able to tell a three-page story with a minimal amount of shots and barely any camera movement whatsoever. So that was kind of an accomplishment. Other than that, the “Yes Men,” the last one I shot…that one because I was able to….I don’t know… leave the comfort zone and try and use a style that I’d never used before and it succeeded.
LF: What about the whole meeting Spielberg? How did that go? How did that feel? What was that like for you?
WB: Well, I’ve talked with him twice now. The first time…the one that was televised…that one I wasn’t quite there. My head was definitely way in the clouds. So I don’t remember much of that…I have to watch television to watch what was going on there. But it was incredible. He was a very down to earth guy, very welcoming. Since then I was able to have lunch with him the other day and again another surreal experience eating lunch with Steven Spielberg. But…he really cares about this. I had a fear going in to the DreamWorks building that I was going be looked at and laughed at like here’s a reality guy. He tricked his way into the office, but everybody there is extremely welcoming. Even the receptionist…she pulled me to the side and said you know if we’re all kind of staring at you and smiling it’s because we’re all really big fans of you. I said, okay. It’s a crazy thing to hear coming from somebody at DreamWorks. It’s definitely a good thing.
LF: Are there any actors you’re hoping to work with?
WB: There’s a ton of actors out there that I think are fantastic that I would love to work with eventually. Too many to name I guess….I would hate to leave anybody out. There are some actors out there like Gary Oldman; I’ve always respected his performances in everything I’ve seen.
LF: And when did you know that film was a calling for you?
WB: Well my wife Cat and I both started as stage actors. As soon as we graduated…got our undergraduate degrees at Texas Tech we moved to Abingdon, Virginia and we acted on stage for five years at the Barter Theater and during that fifth year I was starting to get burned out and it’s kind of crazy to say if you’re a working actor you should be grateful no matter what you’re doing but we were on stage at least 340 days a year and it was starting to take its toll after five years. And one day I just decided to…you know I love performing on stage, but I don’t necessarily love watching theater. I like it but you know…if I go see the best play on earth I might find myself fidgeting once in a while, but if I go see the worst movie on earth I could be highly entertained from beginning to end. So I figured…I decided that I wanted to spend my life doing something where I loved the product as much as the process. So we decided to try film.
LF: Is there a filmmaker or film that inspired you or is it a general sense of liking film? Some people get inspired by a film they watch, some by a filmmaker, sometimes it is an aggregate of movies in general that clicks on a light switch. I’m curious as to where it comes from for you.
WB: I definitely have..there are directors out there and movies out there that have inspired me. There’s one in particular that…during that time when I was at the Barter…I was kind of juggling back and forth should we go to film? Should I do this film school thing? Or should we just continue doing theater? And I went and saw The Road to Perdition, Sam Mende’s movie. After I saw how beautifully crafted that movie was, I knew that I had to go into film. That’s what I had to do. But I guess my love of film kind of all spurred from when I broke my leg in the sixth grade. And I..previous to this I was kind of a known liar…like I would tell people that I’d seen this movie or that movie and I had never seen it. And I have no idea why I would tell people this, just to impress them I guess. When someone saw Revenge of the Nerds, I would say, “Oh I’ve seen that,” having never seen it. But then I broke my leg and I was bed ridden for about two and a half weeks. During that time I watched every single movie I that had ever lied about watching and so I saw a ton of movies when I was in sixth grade. And that’s where I kind of became …I don’t know…well versed..well read I guess..in movies.
LF: Prior to this great opportunity, you were a struggling filmmaker with a family trying to pay the bills and make ends meet for your wife Cat and two kids. Was that the reason for making the DVD exercise series, Empowering Pilates?
WB: Absolutely. When you’re stuck in a never-ending hole and you just keep digging yourself deeper, you either jump to try and get out or you just keep digging. What we were doing with that was, trying to jump to get out. And when you jump, you can end up landing further in the hole than you started out in, but we decided we had to take a shot.
LF: Not only were you making the show on spec, but you also chose self-distribution to release it, how do you feel self-distribution has worked out for you?
WB: Self-distribution is not necessarily easy, but I think it can be more rewarding. I think you make that your job…you decide that that’s what you want to do and you push it to the limits, then I guess…as soon as you start making profit it’s all the more rewarding. It’s been slow going, but I’m happy with the product we ended up with, Cat’s really happy with it as well. Our biggest markets are the schools, like high schools, Jr. high and right when the product came out, schools closed for summer. So…school is just starting up this week and next week, so we’ll see how it’s going to hit.
LF: Look into the future for yourself. You’ve got this access and opportunity and you want to turn it into a clear career launching moment, but where do you think or want it to take you?
WB: We’ll it can go either of one or two ways. I could waste this opportunity or I can use this opportunity to the fullest and there’s absolutely no way I’m going to waste this opportunity. I’ll give up sleep for the next two years if I have too. So it all depends on my first project. This is definitely going to be a tricky situation to be in because I have to find something that is just right. If I settle on a script just to go out there and start directing right off the bat I can end up screwing myself big time. There are a lot of people out there, since this is a reality show, hoping I’m going to fail with my first film. Then there are a lot of people hoping I’m going to succeed with it as well. But it’s the skeptics that I’m keeping my eye out for and there’s no way I’m going to give them the satisfaction.
LF: Do you have any advice for filmmakers?
WB: The best advice for any filmmaker is just pick up a camera and shoot at every opportunity you get. Because throughout this competition I grew as a filmmaker and it was because I was shooting a movie every week. And that is the only way you grow by going out there and doing it.
LF: Thanks Will and congratulations to you and the family. Hopefully I can call you back in a few months and follow up to see how it’s going for you.
WB: Absolutely, feel free to call any time.
