Tales From the Roger Corman School of Filmmaking

Saying Roger Corman makes movies on a shoestring is a giant understatement -- to him,corner cutting is an art form. How else could he have made over 300 independent filmsin his lifetime?
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In my interview with Peter Bogdanovich, he best explains what it's like working forRoger Corman: "Roger just throws you into the water and if you learn how to swimgreat and if you don't well too bad!" This played over and over in my head on myway down to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to capture Corman on set while he filmed hislatest film, Dinoshark. I was at the tail end of shooting my first film, a documentaryabout Corman's life and career called Corman's World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (which opens in theaters on December 16!).

Saying Corman makes movies on a shoestring is a giant understatement -- to him,corner cutting is an art form. How else could he have made over 300 independent filmsin his lifetime? Films, of course, that usually feature scantily clad women, some sortof monster, and on a good day a disaster of epic proportions. I interviewed dozens ofwriters, actors, producers and directors who started their careers working for Corman.People like Peter Bogdanovich, Ron Howard, Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro, JamesCameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Catherine Hardwicke, and Martin Scorsese all sharedcountless war stories with me about Roger cutting down budgets whenever he could.Nicholson summed it up best, "If you don't understand money in the motion picturebusiness, it's like an artist that doesn't understand paint. And Roger told me, 'Well Iunderstand paint so if I have to, [I] thin her up with turpentine or there's no picture!"

My producer, Stone Douglass, had approved a small budget for my crew and I to traveldown to Mexico and follow Roger around for one week. We met Roger's entire crew onthe first day at a resort in Nuevo Vallarta called Paradise Village that was chosen becauseevery single location in the script could be shot there.

Everyone had at least four different jobs. One production assistant was handling catering,casting, transportation, assisting with special effects, recording sound and also servedas a Spanish to English translator. The line producer doubled as the First AD whilesimultaneously acting as one of the main characters in the film. You got to hand it tohim, Roger's not afraid to multitask either. He also played a role in Dinoshark as theastute scientist who pieces together that the underwater villain is actually a prehistoricshark. One minute you'd see him in the corner rehearsing his lines with the leading ladyand the next minute he's yelling at her for taking too much time in hair and makeup.

As you might have guessed, only two days had passed before my crew and I wereenlisted -- no, maybe drafted is the appropriate verb here. We were asked to shoot somevisual effects plates, a task I wore like a badge of honor.

I took notes on other ways Corman saved money. For starters, this was an action moviewith no stuntmen. Luckily the actors had enough experience and were willing to pulloff their own stunts. Problem was, I had been in Mexico for a week already and hadno footage of classic Corman elements: no blood, no gore, and most importantly, no

dinoshark. I couldn't leave without getting this stuff, but my budget had run dry. I hadto make a quick decision: I sent my crew home and made a deal with Roger to stay. Hegranted me a shared accommodation with one of the production assistants in exchangefor assisting with recording and shooting second unit. While he was at it, he made mean extra in a few scenes. All this as I was shooting and doing sound for my own film!This was great in theory but I had never recorded audio and was still a beginner with thecamera. My DP and sound mixer gave me speedy tutorials before they left the country.I tried to act cool and calm as best as I could but I was totally freaking out inside. I was a 29 year-oldfemale and being left behind in Mexico ... oh yeah, and this was right when that wholedrug war was just starting up. I couldn't believe that I had agreed to share a room withsomeone I barely knew. Sigh. It was time to start swimming.

The visual effects person finally arrived into town with his treasure chest of fake blood,severed body parts, bloody heads and of course, the dinoshark. My prayers had beenanswered but now I had to stay focused and remember how to shoot. Admittedly, thefirst few days were rough. Rookie mistakes included forgetting to turn the audio on,shooting with blown out exposure settings, and forgetting to press record! I even had afew moments on boats where the waves completed came on board splashing up againstmy equipment. The camera crew felt sorry for me and helped me out with a plastic trashbag contraption that would keep my camera dry from then on. This is actually the firsttime I have told anyone about that because we did not have water damage insurance,couldn't afford it. My producers made me promise never to go in the water ... but I wason a Corman set ... permission and permits don't apply here.

After a month down in Mexico, I got what I was looking for. For my documentary Iwanted cool behind the scenes moments of what it's like to make a monster film withRoger. But off-camera I got the biggest lesson of all. I learned how to shoot, recordsound, produce, and in general, look out for my own safety.

I also had wrapped shooting on my first film as a director. I was walking away withamazing footage but also invaluable lessons about how make a movie through my timespent watching Corman and living through one of his pictures.

On the plane ride home I realized that I had now graduated from the Roger CormanSchool of Filmmaking. I had experienced it for myself and I think it was safe tocategorize myself as an average swimmer.

Back in LA, it was now time to start editing. A few weeks later I got a call from Rogerasking me for those visual effects plates. Somehow it had escaped me to send them overwhich I apologized for. We briefly caught up about what was going on with him. Hewas terrifically excited because he had just figured out how to squeeze another film outof his prized Paradise Village location. Title: Sharktopus.

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