Storytelling uses many mediums and books are but one. Alan White, film director and scriptwriter, has long used the medium of film to tell compelling stories about the human condition and most recently released his fourth feature film "Reclaim".
Better known in film circles for his ability to direct powerful, sometimes dark Art-house films whilst at the same time making some of the worlds most popular television commercials for corporate giants, Alan White's calling has spanned more than twenty five years and launched the careers of many actors, most notably Australia's Hugh Jackman, after casting him in his dark movie portrayal of Australian family life, "Erskineville Kings".
Reclaim is Whites first foray into an 'action movie genre' but rather than ask about the films plot lines and overarching message I took the opportunity to talk to White about making films and choosing scripts and what's next.
IBR: Is it true that a screenplay must stay formulaic in order to reach a mainstream audience?
Alan White: It certainly makes it a lot easier to conform to 3 Act structure and the hero’s journey “formula” of film narrative if you are in search of a mainstream audience. That said the ambition should be to come up with an original story that works within that framework. Mainstream audiences do not look at film as they may do Art - they demand to be entertained and the “formula” has been around since human’s began telling stories. What makes films “formulaic in the pejorative sense of it is the paucity of original ideas and the pressure from financiers and studios to replicate old and clichéd stories already told.
IBR: Television drama has really come into its own in the last five years. The story lines and character development that they are able to achieve across twelve hours of screenplay must be difficult to replicate in a hundred and twenty minute movie script - how much has this phenomenon effected how movies are written and produced n 2014?
Alan White: What is amazing about television is that fresh and original takes on the film making formula have been allowed. The Anti Hero’s journey is just as encouraged as the heroes. Think of Breaking Bad or Mad Men as examples. There are countless others. It’s not so much the amount of time as the promotion of very cool and original ideas.
IBR: Your previous films often carried a dark narrative on the human condition, whereas Reclaim seems to be more action driven, have you enjoyed the change of pace?
Alan White : Yes I’ve enjoyed it! I would actually like to tell more optimistic, dramatic and romantic tales. Getting softer! But also to challenge myself as a film maker. Most importantly I need to have a personal connection to the material and I tend to be offered darker material as my canon of films are darker. The thriller genre allows me to lighten the drama and respond more cinematically to the telling of the story. The last 20 minutes of RECLAIM has very little dialogue - the visuals drive the narrative. I would like to continue exploring other facets of my life - the more optimistic, the romantic, the rites of passage, the funny!
IBR: Half of your film productions have been filmed and produced in Australia whereas half have been shot and produced in the United States. From the viewers perspective, the feel of Australian movies are very different - what about from behind the camera - is there a big deference in the approach to shooting a film in Australia as to the United States that colours the finished film?
Alan White : Yes, there is a significant difference but I think it’s colored not by geography or accent but by the fact that 90 per cent (that’s a guess but what it feels like!) of the world’s film and tv content is American. So the American film is really the Global film. Australian films are considered “foreign” films - they might as well be subtitled. So from behind the camera when I’m watching it unspool within an “American” film it feels like a more universal story that’s being told - it feels part of a larger “genre” tradition. The Australian films seem more parochial - because they are! You worry with Australian films that they won’t “travel”. And very, very few find an international audience - because most cinema goers do not want to watch a “foreign” film. But in pure film making terms it makes no difference to me - I don’t approach an Australian film any differently to an American film. It’s all the same personal film language - my own vision of the story regardless of place.
IBR: As a Director how do you look at scripts? Is it solely the story or is it the practicality of telling that story in pictures?
Finding a personal connection to the story and believing it will work as cinema. There is a difference in choosing between art house or mainstream scripts. Mainstream means my family gets fed! Arthouse, which speaks to me much more personally as a film maker, unfortunately does not have the same financing structure behind it and my kids go hungry!
IBR: How hard is it to find that script that speaks to you as a film maker?
Alan White: Since my first script I have written others which have been optioned but never financed or made. My own writing speaks to me the most but the marketplace reality is that I have to find scripts that financiers are looking for directors for - that I then feel a personal connection with. It’s hard!
IBR: The last 10 years has seen the barriers to making film and distributing filmed content completely removed. Literally anyone can create filmed content cheaply and distribute via youtube. How has this effected the film business and its approach to telling a story?
Alan White: I feel that nothing has really changed. Out of nowhere there can be one film made for nothing with nobody starring in it and it takes off inexplicably. That has always been the way. And that studios put 90 per cent of their money into tent pole movies that they spend the same amount of money promoting. Independent film is a very poor and distant relation. It’s almost by pure chance that an independent film finds a significant life.
IBR: How has your success in commercial advertising industry shaped your approach to long form film making, has it had an influence or is it two different completely different disciplines?
Alan White : Two different disciplines. As a director on a film you have more creative control and more opportunity to fulfill your own vision. You can rewrite the script for example and play with different edits. On a commercial that does not happen - you are more an interpreter and collaborator with the ad agency creatives who are responsible for the script and guide the edit which can then be all changed by the client who is paying for it. That said working in commercials has taught me to how to collaborate and interpret and I love the challenge of telling a story in 30 or 60 seconds and bringing my own visual spin on it. It has definitely made me a better, leaner film maker.
IBR: Australians have seemed to have had a really disproportionate success in the USA compared to the size of the country, is there any one trait that Australians have that translates well in the USA?
Alan White: I think Australians grow up with the “mateship” ethos and that teaches you very early on how to collaborate very effectively with others and gives you an empathy and sensitivity to other people’s behavior. And that is a big part of directing - understanding the psychology of the characters and then collaborating with others to create the images within which that behavior is played out.
IBR: What's the next project for Alan White?
Alan White: Another thriller - set in the snow and the cold! I have also written a bio pic about the Australian surf legend Bob McTavish - a rites of passage film and am currently editing Westerly - a documentary about the amazing trans gender transformation of the very male Peter Drouyn, former Australian and World number one surfer, into the very female Westerly Windina.
Filmography
Alan White (2014) Westerly
(Documentary) (filming)
Alan White: (2014) Reclaim
Feature Film (Ryan Phillipe, John Cussack, Jacki Weaver)
Alan White (2008) Broken
Feature Film (Heather Graham, Jeremy Sisto, Tess Harper)
Alan White (2000) Risk
Feature Film (Bryan Brown, Claudia Karvan, Tom Long)
Alan White (1999) Erskineville Kings
Feature Film (Hugh Jackman, Marty Denniss)
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