Thursday, April 2, 2009

AFI Dallas short film director interview: Jasmine Kosovic for Kate Wakes

By John P. Meyer

Kate Wakes was one of the first films in the AFI Dallas lineup I had an opportunity to preview, and it's one of the ones (along with an impressive student-produced effort) that caused me to recommend that everyone attend one of the short film presentations during the fest.

Unfortunately, Jasmine Kosovic - filmmaker of Kate Wakes - was unable to work the logistics of visiting town for the screening of her film. However, she kindly offered to answer a few questions from us regarding her background as a filmmaker and the making of the film itself. To wit:

PEGNEWS: Give us a bit of personal background. How did you get interested in/involved with filmmaking?

JASMINE KOSOVIC: I’ve been a film geek for as far back as I can remember. My fascination took off when my parents divorced (I was 10, my brother was 8), and we spent time with our dad. It was all about the R rated movies that Mom wouldn’t let us see, and that Dad was too clueless to know we shouldn’t. My parents are immigrants from the former Yugoslavia, and my father especially (maybe because he’s a doctor?) had, at that time, absolutely no interest in movies. That's since changed seeing how it's my profession now. But back then, he was blessedly out of touch with that aspect of the culture. All we had to do was sit him down in an aisle seat, where he’d stretch out his long, weary legs, and go to sleep. He was working long hours and was grateful, I’m sure, for the nap time. We were in New York City, when movies played in theatres for long stretches, and revival houses were everywhere. So our too-young-to-fully-understand eyes got to see anything from HAROLD AND MAUDE, to CHEECH AND CHONG movies, to ALL THAT JAZZ to SUPERMAN and THE SHINING (although that backfired because Dad woke up when we ran screaming out of the theatre during the final sequence. Movies were on hiatus for a long time after that).

A turning point came when I was a teenager and saw Jim Jarmusch's STRANGER THAN PARADISE. Some in the audience fell asleep but I was riveted. It was the first time that I saw, really clearly, that film is more than just the sum of its parts: image, music, sound design, editing, etc. And I could see it because Jarmusch was combining them in a way that I'd never encountered before, creating a truly singular emotional effect. He conveyed the theme of being a stranger in a strange land, in the context of the immigrant and first generation experience, in a funny way that I understood deeply.

My own road to writing and directing wound through journalism and producing.

After working at the McNeil/Lehrer NewsHour and CBS news over several years, I saw that broadcast journalism wasn’t for me and, soon enough, I made my way to movies.

I started out as a PA on the streets of New York, my walkie-talkie firmly in hand. My mom thought I was a security guard when she visited me on set one time. I worked my way up the ranks, eventually to supervising post-production and producing.

I produced some wonderful movies (THE ADVENTURES OF SEBASTIAN COLE, JUST ONE TIME, and D.E.B.S., my only studio film, for Sony/Screen Gems), as well as a few terrific shorts (LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD (featuring Christina Ricci & Quentin Crisp), FROG CROSSING (Jamie Babbit & Ari Gold, directors), and D.E.B.S. (on which the feature film is based). I was nominated for the esteemed Independent Spirit Award in Producing Achievement, an incredible honor. I also taught the IFP/West Producers Lab and mentored young filmmakers through its Project Involve program.

But, while producing D.E.B.S., I realized that what I was truly passionate about was writing and directing. It scared my socks off and I knew needed to take the leap.

I decided to set producing aside, return to supervising post-production (which is not as all-consuming), and embark on my own, home-made film school: I made two short films. When I made my first one, EASTER SUNDAY, I felt like Goldilocks when she found the chair that was just right. I still had that feeling while making KATE WAKES.

Next is a feature film I'm writing and plan to direct.

PEG: Tell us about AFI's Directing Workshop for Women - and how you found out about it.

JAS: It's an amazing program and it's how I made KATE WAKES. The DWW selects just 8 women each year to take part in its tuition-free program, which provides an intensive training workshop, some financing, some equipment, and some insurance to set you on your way to making your short. I'm not sure how I found out about it. I'd heard about it for years. And I applied to it twice before getting accepted, which, it turns out, is pretty common. So I say, if you've applied and didn't get accepted, try again.

courtesy Jasmine Kosovic

Jasmine Kosovic

PEG: How did you decide on the title for the film?

JAS: We had a bunch of options, most of them conveying a comedy ha-ha kind of vibe, which I didn't think was true to its tone. A fellow filmmaker I showed it to as we were cutting it said that it was funny, but not a comedy. Of all our options, I thought that the title, KATE WAKES, was most in keeping with that feeling. It refers to Kate waking herself out of this work-trance she's been trying to lose herself in, so as not to feel the feelings of loss that came with the break-up of her relationship.

PEG: How did you secure the locations? (apartment and office space) - and how many days did it take you to shoot?

JAS:My producer Nancy Leopardi and our incredible location manager, Nate Taylor, found the office, a room at the DWP (Department of Water and Power). They have a commitment to allow student films to use their locations for practically no money for a certain number of days per month. And Nate got us in there. He also found the apartment complex, which was a major challenge and a major coup. We really wanted to keep company moves to a minimum so the ideal situation was to have the same location for the interior and the exterior, which he made possible.

We shot in 5 days because that's how long AFI gave us some equipment for.

PEG: How did you cast for the two lead actors?

JAS: I found Antoinette Valente ("Kate") through "Tuesdays at 9," which is put on by the theatre company, Naked Angels. "Tuesdays at 9" started in New York (it's actually still happening there) and what it is is this: writers bring 10 pages of a script or play, and actors cold-read it, in front of an audience. I'm told that Kenneth Lonergan developed a few scenes of his terrific film, "You Can Count on Me" at Tuesdays at 9 in New York. A bunch of actors from Naked Angels in New York made their way to Los Angeles, as actors are wont to do, and started doing "Tuesdays at 9" in LA too. I first saw her reading something she wrote, a monologue, and I had her in mind the whole time I was writing the script.

My producer Adrienne Gruben made it possible for us to get Adam Goldberg. Adrienne and I met when we were both nominated for the Spirit Award for producing a few years back. When I knew that I would be making the film, I sent it to her to get her feedback on the script. I value her opinion a lot. I also really wanted her to produce it!

She called me right after reading it and suggested Adam. She knows Adam very well, having produced the films that he directed. I wasn't thinking of him when I gave her the script so my response was, "Huh? Wha?..." And then: "PERFECT!" I am forever grateful to her for that.

PEG: Kate reaches out to Jared via email (or is it instant msg.?) - which both he and I found to be remarkable, given the fact that they're seated across the table from each other. But it's also endearing, and those of us who are shy can certainly relate to it. Do you think that modern communication modes have allowed some who would otherwise have ended up as wallflowers to improve their chances of making a romantic connection?

JAS: I do. But I also think that we can hide behind those same modern communication modes! There's the paradox for me.

PEG: Did you write a lot of yourself into Kate's character? Or are you totally unlike her?

JAS: I'm spazzy with the post-its, the way she is. And I've definitely used work to try and avoid feeling difficult feelings. Ah, workaholism...! and I've felt the way she's felt. But I'm not shy the way she is. I'm more shy than I appear, but it doesn't manifest the way that it does with Kate. That came out of the symbiosis of having written it with Antoinette pretty much in mind, I think, and Antoinette's performance, of course.

PEG: Did you make any changes in the script after you started filming, in response to either a brainstorm or adverse conditions?

JAS: After we did what was scripted, I let Adam and Antoinette improvise and some of that made it into the final cut. That was fun to work in.

Also, Adam needed to grow a beard for a movie and he was in that weird in-between place of the "muss-beard" so I wrote in that part of their conversation. Though the term, "muss-beard" is pure Adam - I love it.

Oh yeah, and we were never able to get an art department together! So I became it. (It's really hard to crew up when you're not paying anyone (!) and, for some reason, it was especially true for the art department.) Not the ideal situation but it's how I re-wrote the script to have it that Kate's relationship very recently didn't work out. Originally, the script had it that she had been broken up for some time. It was easier to furnish the empty apartment we got with boxes, than with actual furniture. And the way we approached locations was that we were casting them, as is, rather than thinking of them in terms of how to dress them. We just didn't have those means. I think it made the story stronger. That happens a lot: where what seems like a limitation actually reveals itself to be a means to make the film stronger.

PEG: This is your second short film directing effort. Would you consider taking on a feature-length directing project?

JAS: Absolutely. I'm writing a feature length script right now that I plan to direct. But if you know of a great script in search of a director, let me know - !

PEG: What kind of movies draw you to the theater? (Or to the DVD player?) Do you have an all-time favorite film?

JAS: It's such a broad range, but with a definite preference - an insistence, almost - for the theatre.

I don't have one favorite film, but I remember listing out my top 20 films once and it included MY LIFE AS A DOG, RAGING BULL, STRANGER THAN PARADISE, Mike Leigh's NAKED, TALLADEGA NIGHTS, the first tree STAR WARS movies, and E.T., so go figure.

PEG: Will there be a sequel? And if there were, what would you call it?

JAS: I don't have a sequel planned and I'm afraid I'm not witty enough to think of a good title for one. What do you think?

[ED. NOTE: maybe Kate Fully Conscious?]

clip used with permission

See more stories in:

• Arts > Movies / Film > Film Festivals > AFI Dallas