JACK C. NEWELL TALKS REPORTING FOR CHRISTMAS
"They all have things the audience expect"
Daniel John
In ‘Reporting for Christmas’ an reporter meets a Christmas toy-manufacturer, inspiring her to search her heart to find true happiness. Your second Christmas-film after ‘Christmas with Felicity’, what made you want to get back into Christmas spirit?
I am always in the Christmas spirit, who isn’t?! That’s a joke! I think you would go insane if you were always in the Christmas spirit. Anyway, for me film-projects are mainly about two things, the script and the people. If I connect with the script, irrespective of genre and think that my participation in it will help to make a better film, then I want to get it made. And then the people, filmmaking is about collaboration, and working with people is my favorite part of making films. I’ve worked with the producers as well as a lot of the cast and crew before, and so being able to bring this story to life with friends and great collaborators was sort of a no-brainer. I have been very fortunate so far that I’ve been able to pursue projects based on my interests, for the most part. I make comedies, documentaries about international economic development, dramas, commercials, and so on, my filmography up to this point is pretty eclectic. I have many interests and am able to explore those interests in my film work.
Filmmaking is never easy, or the same, even within a genre. Working with new casts and crews changes things up. Though experience do count, was there anything from your previous film that helped you capture and deliver the Christmas vibe. One that, in some ways, has to feel even more Christmasy than Christmas itself?
The joy and challenge with filmmaking is that the lessons you learn making one film are almost always useless for the next film you make. Each time you endeavor on a creative project, the specific mixture is different, new script, new cast, new crew, time has passed, the world has changed, you’ve changed as a person and you’ve changed as an artist, because of the last film you made, and so it’s always different. So, that’s great, it makes it always interesting, exciting, challenging, frustrating. I’ve worked with hundreds of actors by this point, ran hundreds of rehearsals and blocked camera as many times as well. It does probably get easier because you have more experience to pull from and more tools in your toolkit, it could be harder though, because of your expectations whenever you’re walking into this scenario. I mean that to say, you might walk in and be like “I got this, I’ve done this before,” and then when the scene isn’t working for some reason you could get more frustrated because it worked last time, why not this time?! So, I suppose with more experience the pitfalls are your own ego getting in the way? To the Christmas specific part of your question, I think that having done one, you learn the conventions of the genre and so you can pull from that to help make choices. I see Christmas as a genre like horror, thriller, monster movie, and so forth, they all have the things that the audience expects. Our job as the storytellers is to deliver on that. That’s why they are watching, my contribution to that is to try and make it as good as possible. For me, “good” means organic, authentic, well acted, and so on and so forth. I want the things to happen when you think they should based on your understandings of the Christmas-genre but I also do want those things to happen in an authentic and organic way.
Anything new this one brought along?
Yes! But to be honest, the answer would turn this into a directing lecture, that I don’t want to get into. The simple answer to that is every film teaches you something and you get new tools and techniques for the next one. You also make new friends! How’s that for Christmas spirit?!
What film do you always make sure to see at Christmas?
I’m a sucker for any version of Charles Dickens’ 'A Christmas Carol', with 'A Muppets Christmas Carol' being at the top of the list for sure. Here in Chicago, The Goodman Theater does a yearly performance of it that we always go to see. I would consider 'A Christmas Carol' the sort of “source-code” for all Christmas stories that come after it, steering clear of any religious ones here. Put simply, every Christmas movie is just 'A Christmas Carol' with the specifics changed. So, to that end I like to go to the source and enjoy the purity of that story. The nice thing about the stories and films you revisit every year is that you change, but the film doesn’t, so it is a chance to see something new each time.
It was your parents who got you a video camera in high school, along with perhaps not the best-editing software out there, but at least good enough for you to get started. What was it about it that made you endure all the constant editing crashes and keep making films?
It’s funny because the specifics change but the core doesn’t. Back then I had an idea of a story, movie I wanted to tell and I was wrestling with the technology to get it out there. Now, I have stories, movies, I want to tell and I’m wrestling with financing, casting, budgets to get them made. If I did anything right, it was just not giving up, when literally every single thing is pointing you towards how much easier life would be if you did. And yes, easier maybe, but also boring as fuck. I like the challenge, I like being a person who has the opportunity and privilege to dream and tell stories and bring joy to people’s lives.
As said, your work in film spans all the way from fictional, very cosy, Christmas–films, to documentaries taking a look at real life. What does a story need for you to want to “report it”?
That’s a really great question. I’ve found up to now that the documentaries that I have made, '42 Grams' and 'How (Not) to Build a School in Haiti', have come from a genuine interest in the subject matter and a desire to engage with it in the way I know how, or the way I like to, in film. So the documentaries up to now have been more organic or based on an initial inspiration and it was not designed or controlled or manufactured in any way. Narrative fiction films are, by nature, lot less organic and far more manufactured. They take too much intense time and cost too much! (laughs) The writing process and then fundraising and then everything that goes into it you need to be far more deliberate. Docs, I guess, you can just pick up a camera and start shooting. And you can’t do that with a fiction film. Now, that’s a wild oversimplification and probably one that people would not agree with, but that has been my experience. It also might be because I went to school for narrative fiction filmmaking, and so I probably take it too seriously. Documentary is a mode I discovered and fell in love with and so maybe I put less pressure on myself in that. What does a story need? I think it’s about where you’re at in your life at any given time and what speaks to you in a script you read, what inspires you to write whatever script, or pick up a camera and start filming whatever subject or idea, so it is a constantly moving target. Again, because I’ve intentionally built a filmography that is trying to defy categorization or being put into a box, I can not really answer the question, I need all stories to be about X. I find life more complicated and interesting than that and want to make films that are representative of the person I am at any time. I will answer the question though. I heard once that there’s only two types of stories that exist. First, person goes on a journey and also, a stranger comes to town. Which is another wonderfully oversimplified over–simplification, but from a basic mechanics point of view, a story would need to have or be one of those two things. Also, what I'm looking for in a story, is that it should be good.
What awaits next, is there anything you are ready to talk about yet?
Lots of projects right now, at lots of different phases, some in post, some waiting to hear back from festivals about, some I am fundraising for, some we’re casting, and a few docs that are being shot as we speak! Watch this space!
