Wednesday, July 22nd, 2015
Cool words from Robin Bougie of Cinema Sewer and others
by Warren
Over the past couple of years I’ve been drifting away from film and more towards words and pictures in the form of novels and comic books. My creative process has followed this path as well, with more interest in writing short stories and comics, and even trying my hand at drawing, to mixed results.
One of the keys to procrastination (which is a constant whatever the medium you’re working in) is looking for inspiration on the internet, and the first such quote comes from Robin Bougie, the guy behind the Cinema Sewer zine (made here in Vancouver, don’t click the link if bewbs offend you.)
He branched off from writing about pornography to actually making some, and whatever you may think of that particular genre and his life choices, the fact remains that the fimmaking process is more or less the same for porn as any other kind of movie. He said, in an interview for the Druid Underground Film Festival, that:
“But it made me realize that I prefer comics as a storyteller. It’s so much more fulfilling. I get to be the director, actor, producer, cameraman, and my whole budget is the cost of $6 worth of drawing supplies. And better yet, I don’t have to rely on anyone else. If you can’t afford to pay your cast and crew (and I couldn’t), how can you expect them to be as passionate about your project as you are? My cast and crew on a comic is *me*. And all of me is passionate as fuck!”
This is exactly the kind of attitude I’m moving towards. Film is what I grew up with and aspired to, but I could have been working towards a more achievable goal such as writing or learning to draw. As it is I’m trying to make up for lost time, but I’m also finding the experience much more pleasant, because as stated above, I can rely solely on myself to get things done.
Another interesting point, and this applies more to the professional echelons of creative pursuit, is the Jackass Factor. The more money that’s involved, the more likely the people involved in that medium will be jerks. Or as author and smart guy Charles Stross once said:
“The prevalence of sociopathy in (the creative) industries scales with the amount of money in play.”
Even from my position interviewing creators and others for both Radio Free Skaro and The Electric Playground, I’ve found this to be the case. Film, television and music people are hit and miss (though I must stress almost everyone involved with Doctor Who has been unusually welcoming and lovely), but generally speaking authors and those in the comic book industry are a pretty humble and approachable bunch. Even at the lower rungs, people tend to look out for one another, which certainly isn’t the case with indie film.
What am I hoping to accomplish by writing all this? Nothing beyond actually making a point of writing more on this blog, and also encouraging others to not give up their dreams but to maybe re-orient them towards more achievable (and friendlier!) goals. Or as a friend of mine once said, “getting older makes you sane.”