Zack Green In Hollywood
Zack is a Northwest University Communication Major now spending a
semester studying film in Los Angeles, CA.
Spring 2007
Well, I’ve officially been here at the
Los Angeles Film Studies Center about a couple months now and so far everything
has been great. During our orientation week we, the 44 film students
from colleges across the country, were able to get to know each other
while getting settled in for the busy days to come. During the first few
weeks we were encouraged to explore Los Angeles and Hollywood and our
school planned events to help us to so.
More about the LAFSC
We toured the Kodak Theater where they hold the American Idol finale and
more notably the Academy Awards. In the theater, I sat in what I was
told was Joaquin Phoenix’s chair when he was nominated for portraying
Johnny Cash in “Walk the Line”. We then went right next door to the
famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre where all the handprints and signatures
of celebrities are.
We also attended at
taping of the CBS sitcom “The Class” which was a good lesson in how
television works. Half hour shows that feature only about 20 minutes of
footage take about 4 hours to shoot. Other than that I’ve just been
enjoying the people I’ve met here and watching lots and lots of movies
both for school and for pleasure. These past two weeks I’ve been
wrapping my first in a series of three films that I’ll be making during
the semester for one of my classes. I wrote the script, pitched it to my
class, made revisions, cast the film, and spent the last couple weeks
shooting it and chopping in order to reach my deadline. The film is
entitled “Wallflower” and I just finished screening it yesterday for my
class.
In
addition to the three films I’ll be writing, producing, directing, and
editing on my own, everyone in the program is involved on one of 5
different crews whose job it is to make an 8-minute, $1,800 budget,
festival ready film by the end of the semester. From the 44 of us, there
are 4 crews of 9 and one crew of 8 which happens to be mine. Each film
has one director and two producers who make most of the decisions in
regard to the film’s direction or vision. Alongside a girl from Florida,
I’ll be producing a script entitled “Vision”, which is actually written
by one of my 4 roommates.
As producers we’ll be in charge of finalizing the script with the help
of the writer and director, location scouting, dealing with people in
the business, keeping the crew on task, managing our limited budget,
casting actors, and other jobs that go along with running the production
of a film. It’s our job to make sure the film gets made.
Along with the classes we take here, another huge part of the program is
a 20-25 hour a week internship that each of us takes part in while we’re
here. With the help of a faculty member who councils us in the process,
we decide where we’d like to work. Already our people are in place all
over Hollywood. One of my roommates is helping to stage the Independent
Spirit Awards show on Santa Monica beach in the coming weeks and another
roommate is working at Dreamworks studios.
We have people working at “Tyra”, Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions,
Jennifer Lopez’s JL Enterprises, and countless other companies
throughout the city. We have people at post-production studios, casting
agencies, management companies, and so on. I’ve yet to start my
internship, but I found out this past week that I’ve been hired at
Overbrook Entertainment. I interviewed almost two weeks ago and I’m told
I’ll be starting most likely sometime next week. Overbrook is Will
Smith’s production company and it therefore serves as his personal
office in Beverly Hills.
They’ve produced, via the help of other larger companies, his last
string of films including “The Pursuit of Happyness” for which he’s
currently nominated for an Oscar. Also, his office partner is a man
named Joe Pichirallo who’s most recently and most notably executive
produced the George Reeve’s biopic “Hollywoodland” starring Ben Affleck,
Adrien Brody, and Bob Hoskins among others. I’m excited and anxious to
start.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the semester and I truly believe that this is my springboard in to what I would like to do with my life. I’m tentatively planning to stay here after I graduate in May and make a go at a life in film. Although, I’d love to return to Seattle at some point if the opportunity is there.
Peace in all things --
Zak “Bynx” Green
More about the Northwest University Film Studies Concentration
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Me and Darth Vader at Graumans
My foot next to The Duke’s boot print
The LAFSC Guys at our formal party
Two of my roommates and I
Me on the set of a
film in which
I played a Mugger
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