Real Independents Go (for) Broke

The filmmakers at Sundance may think of themselves as true independents, but Mike Grundmann, a Los Angeles Times copy editor and part-time filmmaker, begs to disagree. Grundmann has made several documentaries, including “Face First” about people growing up with facial birth defects. His films have been shown on public television and at a number of film festivals.

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“Independent film.” Ha! Lately that label has been put on the rack and stretched till it applies to $20-million movies. Those nasty snowball fights over distribution at January’s Sundance Film Festival make a once-modest “indie” event high-altitude indeed.

I’ll show you “independent.” I make films in the low five figures--with no decimal points, I swear. But films on that level have won Oscars, such as best short or best documentary (whoops, there goes the separate short-doc Oscar, yanked in January by the academy for the 2000 ceremonies).

So allow me to draw some distinctions between those well-heeled major-league “indies” and us bottom-feeding real indies, for whom every cut is a director’s cut because we don’t have the money to pay anyone else.

Before we continue, a little background. I work full time as an editor for this newspaper. It’s not hard to make a living as a true independent--it’s impossible. Most adults have families to support. I raise films.

From my vantage point then, here’s how you tell the difference between pseudo and real indie filmmakers:

FINANCING: Pseudo indies have to rely on the studios. Real indies use MasterCard.

CLOUT: Pseudo indies acquire negotiating strength after three or four pictures. Real indies are treated the same whether it’s their first film or their 10th: “And you’re with . . . ?”

CONTACTS: Pseudos, like the big shots, keep fattening their Rolodexes at the office. Real indies keep costs down by using their address books at home and recording office sounds on their answering machines.

LOCATION SHOOTING: Pseudo indies have scouts who take Polaroids, pay property owners and pull out permission contracts. Real indies save time by scouting and shooting simultaneously.

BUZZ: For pseudos, that’s the rapidly spreading word on the street about their new releases. For us real indies, it’s that annoying soundtrack problem we still haven’t figured out.

TRACKING SHOT: Pseudos actually lay down track so the camera, mounted on a platform that holds four people, can follow the subject on wheels. Real indies follow their subjects on foot as they cross the street, confident that drivers will yield to the spectacle.

CREW ACCOMMODATIONS: Probably a middling hotel for pseudos, if they’re trying to stay on budget. For me, the last one was a motel with a beer-flattened shag carpet and a hole for the shower fixture big enough to fit a raccoon.

FOCUS PULLER: Like big-budget directors, many pseudo indies will use this specialist, who does nothing during the take but turn the focus ring on the lens. Real indies use their pinkies, while the other fingers change the f-stop, insert the neutral-density filter and vary the shutter speed. Camera work can be pretty shaky with all that going on, and that’s only one of the reasons why you have to have a strong stomach to be a true indie.

RELEASE DATES: Pseudo indies get a “platform” release--at a few upscale theaters next to a cappuccino bar--before heading to the megaplex. Real indie films open in their in-laws’ living room before going wide at the local rec center.

SOUND BOOTH: Pseudos will use this expensive, padded walk-in box with fancy microphones to do their voice-overs. True indies like myself just use the back bedroom, although I have to start with a 45-minute break in the morning until the leaf blowers are finished on my street.

COMPUTERIZED EDITING: A powerful tool that speeds up the process for pseudos. But I get a deal by renting an inexpensive model. It crashes all the time and throws my footage out of sync, but real indies have no studio-imposed deadlines to keep them from solving these problems.

DOCUMENTARIES: Pseudo indies who feel they’ve conquered the fictional form will try some hard-hitting reality subject, even conducting their own interviews. More power to them. Meanwhile, I ask the questions, run the camera, monitor the sound on headphones, watch the footage indicator and . . . I’m sorry, could you repeat that last answer?

Now, documentary is my thing. My last one (“Face First”) was about four people, including me, growing up with facial birth defects. Here’s where being a real indie comes in. With a story so close to home and being a one-man crew, I’m on intimate terms with my subjects. They see me struggle with my 40-pound tripod in one hand and jury-rigged camera in the other. Out of sympathy, they offer dinner, or a room to stay.

One of those four people decided to become a public speaker and humorist--not despite his deformity but because of it. I thought, that’s worth another film, and so I’ve begun one. More real-indie advantage: We’re already close friends because of the last film, so he says to me one night before he and his wife go to sleep and I hit the mattress on the living room floor: “Hey, you need a shot of me without my teeth in. We can do it tomorrow.”

So when do I get away to shoot? I use vacation time. When I returned from an exhausting 10-day shoot in November, I told my boss, “Now I really need a vacation.” She was slightly amused.

You may then ask, what drives me to such lengths? I’ve wondered about this and I think the answer was given to me during the November shoot. I realized that I start sweating the moment I turn on the camera. That’s my low-budget stigmata. Let the pseudo indies stay cool and dry.