Meet Daniel Johnson - Part 3

"If you are going to tell people the truth,

be funny or they'll kill you."

- Billy Wilder

When you talk to a film-maker it is important you get to know people's influences and inspirations, as so many people have a direct impact on people's work.  Having previously skirted over such issues in my previous interviews with Daniel Johnson, I felt it important to get a bit more specific with him, what is it about his influences that strike a chord with him, and which films of his heroes are his favourites. Starting with the work of Charlie Chaplin.


You admire Charlie Chaplin greatly? Why does his work still resonate today? 

He was there at the beginning of cinema. He helped shape so many of the storytelling devices that we still use today. If you look at 'The Kid', from 1922, it feels so modern compared with everything else from that era. 

I think that Chaplin's 'The Tramp' was a real beacon of light, a piece of cinematic magic, the type that we have not had since. He was a character who brought out the best of human nature, both hilarious, heart-warming and heart-breaking. That image is iconic, and buried deep in the psyche of nearly everyone in the world! That's why it resonates.

My favourite film of his is Modern Times. It has so much originality. And more hilarious jokes in it than most writers are able to pull off in a lifetime. 

Cameron Crowe hit a rich vein of form with Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous, why has his style or brand of film-making become less popular?

Personal movies are really hard to get made in the studio system. I love Elizabethtown and We Bought a Zoo too. In fact, even though We Bought A Zoo is an adaptation, it is still very much a Cameron Crowe movie. 

I don't know if he got less popular, or if he just worked on other interests for a while? I think every director has a golden period. Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous are two absolutely perfect movies. Does he need to match them again? No. I'm just happy he's still creating movies. 

Almost Famous - I just relate to it so much. The love for music, the drive and ambition of William -- so much in that film just resonates deeply. 

Woody Allen is another person you admire, do you hope for a career to match his output and longevity?

I think Woody Allen is one of a kind. I don't think anyone is going to match his output and longevity. To begin with, I don't even think his kind of career is possible in this day and age. But even if it was - who could match the masterpieces he's created? 

Manhattan Murder Mystery - It's a film Woody himself dismisses as being merely a trifle, unimportant, etc - but it's Woody at his best -- a truly hilarious film. 

Billy Wilder, the original cinematic sceptic, and the first writer-director auteur in fact who put his signature on many a film. Elaborate on your admiration for him.

I wouldn't say he was the first auteur, but definitely one of the best. My admiration for him is that his movies fill me with wonder. They're magical. How can you not get swept away in Double Indemnity or Some Like It Hot?

The magic with Wilder was in the screenplays, his care for the words. Who do we have today who can do the same thing? Aaron Sorkin, perhaps, but compared to Billy Wilder he's an amateur

The Apartment. Every frame of it, every piece of dialogue, all of the music ---- just makes me extremely extremely happy.

Is there anyone else I have missed out, where do you stand on the Coens or David O Russell?

Coen's I can take or leave, and usually leave. David O'Russell I enjoy, but his work doesn't resonate with me personally in the way the people above do. 

And Spielberg, I've never heard you speak of him as glowingly as the other people.

I love Spielberg in the way I think any film fan does. I go through stages every few years where I'll watch all my favourites of his, which are usually Duel, Jaws, E.T and Saving Private Ryan. Maybe Jurassic Park too. 

I think my mind has gravitated in recent years to smaller, independent movies, so I spend less time watching the work of Spielberg. But he's one of the greats, of course.

If you would like to see more of Daniel Johnson's short films then please seek out his website http://www.danieljohnsonfilms.co.uk/ and follow him on twitter @danieljohnsonuk





Watch this teaser trailer of Sally the Life Coach, a web series Daniel has created with Natalie Gumede (Coronation Street, Stictly Come Dancing), the series should go live in early 2014.

Meet Daniel Johnson...Part 2

“I wanted nothing more than to be a foreign filmmaker, but of course I was from Brooklyn, which was not a foreign country. Through a happy accident I wound up being a foreign filmmaker because I couldn’t raise money any other way.”

 

- Woody Allen

Following on from my earlier interview with up and coming film-maker Daniel Johnson, now is the time to talk to Daniel about well, now.  What is he working on currently on a part-time basis and long-term what is on the horizon for him in the coming months, I also ask him about his feelings about social media and the current YouTube phenomenon for young film-makers.

Daniel, thanks for talking to me again. What are you currently working on?

My web-series, 'Sally The Life Coach', and working on a screenplay for another production company.. and considering starting a new script of my own. I'm also creating quite a few showreels for actors.

 
Do you do other work apart from your own screenplays and directing?  Many people must imagine that you sit around writing all day and editing.
 

Most of my work at the moment is creating showreel content for actors, and also some directing work I do in Rugby for Harlequins TV. Being a freelancer, lots of other things pop up -- could be writing a script for someone, or doing some editing -- last week I even did some sound recording for a job -- so it all varies! 

Where do you sit on the YouTube generation?

I think there is a new, younger generation coming through, who totally know how to find an audience on YouTube. I was there at the birth of YouTube, but it's not my generation. You get these kids now, aged 15 or 16, and they have millions of viewers -- but what they create is really niche stuff, specifically targeted at their generation. Like if you look at someone like Jenna Marbles, she makes a living through YouTube videos.  They have great talent and a connection with their audiences that I find us older directors find harder to make. 

 
Has the growth of social media been a positive for young filmmakers aiming to break into the mainstream? Or do you think young filmmakers can have a voice without having to pine for the mainstream due to the proliferation of the social media?
 

Social media is a great way to connect with people and to share your work - but I think people also get far too caught up into it. The key to success isn't nagging people on Twitter, the key is to keep creating great work, that's how you get better. So I think social media serves its purpose, but you don't want to focus on it too much. It can be great but it can also be distracting, so you need to think about how you use it.
 
Do you attempt to make films/stories that will appeal to a wider audience whilst still having your identity on the product?
 

It's difficult to get right. What draws me to making films is to do what I want to do, what I think will appeal to people. But my audiences are far lower than I would like, so it's tricky. There are TV shows and movies out there that I don't think are particularly good, but people really love them. So how should I deal with that knowledge? If I try to make things to fit a market need, then I'm likely to be losing a bit of myself.  I think essentially you need both. To create things that people want to see, but viewed through your own outlook, your own take on the world. It's not an easy thing to do. 

Can you elaborate a bit more on 'Sally The Life Coach': how did it gestate and what is it like working with an actress who has worked on a nationally loved show?
 

Working with Natalie [Gumede currently starring on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing] has been a really great experience. I think at first I felt a little bit of pressure, because she was coming off this huge, iconic show, and then here she is in my web-series, and I was thinking, "Oh God, what if my project is really shit? How will it make her look?"  But then I got over that. All you can do is what you do, and you try and create the best project you can. Working with Natalie is a blast, she's SO dedicated, and so hilarious too - it was really a lot of fun.  I've known Natalie for many years so more than anything we were just excited to be doing a project we both really believe in.

 
Where you apprehensive of working with Ms. Gumede giving her experience on bigger productions?
 

Working with more experienced actors like Natalie is actually a real pleasure. And we both knew what 'Sally The Life Coach' was, it's a smaller, more personal project that we both believed in. But definitely, when you're working with someone who is a TV star, it does make you pay extra attention -- you want to be professional and you want it to be valuable for the actor. 

 

What are your expectations of the web-series?
 

I just hope it gets seen by as many people as possible. My big hope is that people get to discover some great actors through it -- Will Hartley, Steve Mitchell, Elizabeth Guterbock and Tony Craig are all great actors, and they've all had some great successes already, but I'd love to help their work reach a wider audience. And with Natalie, I want people to see it because she's really funny in it. So far people have see the Kirsty character in Coronation Street, and they've seen her incredible dancing on 'Strictly Come Dancing', but I feel this project will really show people how versatile she is.   And for me, I guess this is my way of showing people I am capable of longer form projects, of writing episodically. I really like working on this format and I hope it leads to more for everyone involved. 

If you would like to see more of Daniel Johnson's short films then please seek out his website http://www.danieljohnsonfilms.co.uk/ and follow him on twitter @danieljohnsonuk

Natalie Gumede can be followed on twitter @NatalieGumede

Keep your eyes peeled for more interviews with Daniel Johnson

Meet Daniel Johnson...Part 1

"In the future, everybody is going to be a director. Somebody's got to

live a real life so we have something to make a movie about"

- Cameron Crowe

 

Welcome and thank you for taking the time to read this the first part of a series of interviews with the young, up and coming director Daniel Johnson.  Johnson has been making short films for quite some time over the last ten years, and is currently in the process of finalising his web series, Sally the Life Coach starring former Coronation Street actress and current member of the Strictly Come Dancing series Natalie Gumede.  The series is scheduled to go live in the early part of 2014.

 

 



 

 

Dan afforded the opportunity to talk to him at length about many aspects of his film-making career, but as one singing nun once said, 'Let's start at the very beginning, its a very good place to start'. I started by asking where did Dan get his passion for film-making from?

I don't really know! I've always loved stories, I was a big reader as a kid. I remember my passion for film coming more in my teens; when I started watching films at a ridiculous rate.

 

 

What was the first film you remember seeing and thinking I can do that?

 

I actually think it's the bad films that make you think 'I can do better than that!'.  But I think with the films I really loved growing up, it was more an aspirational thing-- I'd think, 'I'd love to be able to create something that makes people feel something the way that film made me feel.'  The films that make me want to make films are the great ones, or at least ones I consider great -- films that resonate with an audience, that leave you thinking about them for days after.

  

 

What did you do to enhance your film education? Did you go to a film school?

 

I watched films and re-watched films and wrote films and made films and then did all those things a hundred times over.  I'm self taught in the sense that I have very little in the way of filmic education. I went to college at a time when the industry was going through a digital revolution, but they had us shooting on S-VHS and editing analogue. It was a really wasteful time for me, or would have been, but I kept making films in my own time and got to build contacts through my own work.  The college improved a lot in the years after I left, they were just behind things at that particular moment.  I got accepted at Bournemouth Uni but decided it wasn't for me. I started a film degree in London but quit after two weeks, I hated it.  Its strange because a bunch of people from my course applied to me years later to be runners on my productions. There are no guarantees in this industry, the most important thing is how you educate yourself and who you work with.
  

What was the first script you wrote?

 

I wrote a 50 page script called 'Growing Up'. It was a coming of age comedy drama about a bunch of small town kids who were reaching 18 and trying to figure their lives out.  It was pretty crap but my heart was in the right place.

Who are your major influences in writing and/or directing?

 

I like writer/directors who tell personal stories in their own unique ways; so in that respect I like Charlie Chaplin, Billy Wilder, Cameron Crowe and Woody Allen. They all have styles that are unmistakable. And they've alll made crap films too. But I much prefer a well-intentioned bad personal movie than a giant Hollywood film that dies in a puddle of intentional mediocrity.
 

Do you have a favourite film, or a film you keep going back to time and time again to remind yourself of your passion for cinema?

 

Nearly any Chaplin film. Or a Cameron Crowe film like 'Almost Famous' or Jerry Maguire'.
 

What's your favourite cinema? And most memorable cinema viewing experience with a full audience?

 

I love the Angelika in New York, and also the Film Forum. In London I like the obvious ones like the Prince Charles and the Screen on the Green.  I also really like the main screen in the Cineworld Haymarket, it's big and old.  I think the best screenings are on opening nights, when everyone is massively excited. Unfortunately I don't go to these much now, as they're not my type of movies but I think if there's a film like Harry Potter coming out, or a superhero movie, those audiences are massively energised and it becomes a communal experience.

 

What movies do you avoid and just generally avoid?

 

I find things that are very genre specific hard to watch. Like if something is clearly horror or sci-fi, I tend to get bored because those films are ruled by the conventions of their genre. And even if they break those rules, they're still doing it in reaction to an expectation.  I prefer films that feel kind of genreless, they just wash over you and tell a story, like 'Almost Famous' or 'The Apartment'. Unfortunately these types of films are a rarity..

 

I hope this portion of the interview has been of interest to you.  If you would like to see more of Daniel Johnson's short films then please seek out his website http://www.danieljohnsonfilms.co.uk/ and follow him on twitter @danieljohnsonuk

 

 

Stay tuned for more interviews with Daniel Johnson in the weeks to come all the way up to the release of Sally The Life Coach. Watch the trailer here