Nick Veronis’ Filmmaking is No "Day at the Beach"

While I was doing all this, I talked to a writer who suggested that I sit in on an acting class in order to get a better grasp on dialogue. He put me in touch with Marilyn Fried, a long-time member of the Actors' Studio. The first time I went to Fried's studio, I heard all these sounds coming from behind the door: screaming, crying, laughing, etc. I was too frightened to knock, so I just left. Two weeks later I thought to myself: if I'm too scared to go and observe an acting class then I'll never make it in film. So I went back. Freed wouldn't let me just watch and take notes, but she did invite me to participate. So I did, and I loved it. For me, that experience was invaluable. Much more helpful than anything I learned at NYU or from the books I had read. By then, I had the film bug pretty bad. I was determined to make a film. After four years at the paper, I quit and decided to make "Day at the Beach."

iW: "Day at the Beach" experiments with several styles and genres: it's part crime story, part coming-of-age story, part love story, and part morality tale. What were your ideas for the film?

Veronis: The weekend before shooting I panicked that the film didn't have a steady tone; that it wasn't one type of film; that it switched gears midway through. I was also very worried about the film's balance between reality and farce. I literally spent two days just before shooting rewriting the entire second half of the script. I was frantically sending out the new script to friends, begging them to read it and give me some feedback. I think that getting criticism on a script is very important. What it costs to fix a script at the writing stage is nothing, just your fingers on the keyboard. Trying to fix a script that doesn't work while on the set or in post- production is very costly. Too many people out there trying to make films refuse to show their precious scripts to anyone. Anyway, I think the film does switch gears. The first half is this character driven, New York-based story that follows these kids around. The second half becomes much more plot oriented, particularly when they get out to Long Island and the mob story becomes prominent. It's a flawed first script; its got problems, certainly. But, I think it's different as well. It's not a perfectly linear story. It is not this heavy, meaningful film. I look at it as entertaining. And whatever people say about it, I feel that at the very least it is not formulaic and predictable.

iW: You not only wrote, directed and produced the film, you were one of the lead actors as well. Did you find juggling all these different responsibilities difficult, especially on a first feature? Did you prefer one role over the other?

Veronis: In the beginning, I wasn't planning on directing my script. I simply decided to write a film that, if I couldn't sell it, at least I could go out and make it for peanuts. The house in the Hamptons and the ravioli factory are locations I knew I could get through friends of mine, for example. I didn't plan on acting in the film, either. I tried to get actors for the part of Jimmy. I contacted all the talent agencies. I would get these assistants on the phone who would ask me what my budget was. The minute I said $70,000, the next thing I heard was a dial tone.

I think that when you are playing all these different roles on a film there's a credibility issue. Cynical people may view the work as another vanity production. Fortunately for me, my actors were fully behind my script. As for what I like doing best, directing turned out to be my favorite role. Writing is immensely satisfying, but I would never describe it as fun. Writing is hard work, and you really have to be very disciplined. Directing, on the other hand, is pure joy. If I had to rate them in order of importance, I would say that the most crucial thing on a film is a good script, then come the actors and proper casting, and then, a distant third, would be the director. Actually, I think the most important thing a director does is casting.

iW: How much did it cost to get the film in the can?

Veronis: I shot the film in October and November of 1995 in 24 days. I was able to raise about $85,000 from personal savings, family, friends, and credit cards. By the time we were in and out of the lab with all our Beta tapes for editing, it was up to approximately $115,000. To complete the edit and get one final print took all of 1996 because I kept running out of money. Add to this all the expenses of the festival circuit for a year-it took me a while to raise the money just to do the film festivals-and I was probably up to $170,000 by the time Arrow Releasing [the film's distributor] stepped in. Arrow paid for the 35mm internegative and release prints, the re-mix of the sound track, and the music licenses, which came to well over $50,000. Altogether, the film cost over $200,000.

iW: Talk a bit about working the film festival circuit and trying to get distribution. Most people don't realize how involved and complex this end of the filmmaking business can be.

Veronis: I think having a certain amount of ignorance going into the filmmaking process is probably not a bad thing. Being in the dark about what post-production entails and how expensive it is might be good in terms of getting a film done. If I had known what I would have to go through to get my film distributed, it would have been far too daunting and I would have backed out. I was on the festival circuit for basically all of 1997, which is not a cheap thing; it's very expensive, very time consuming. I didn't make the A-list festivals like Sundance and Toronto, so I decided to go to the smaller, regional ones. And they're great because you can always drum up local press. You get a list of the local journalists covering the festival, you send them a copy of the tape, and hopefully you'll get a review or a mention. Once you start collecting press on your film, then you have something to show a possible distributor. Because, at that point, you have to convince a distributor that this film is worth investing in. Programmers are also a potential source for creating a buzz. If they like your film and it plays well to the audience, they'll tell other festival directors and programmers about it. I took "Beach" to 14 festivals in the U.S. and in Europe, including Mannheim Heidelberg and Athens. I was getting a lot of good feedback, and I had a lot of close calls with second-tier distributors (Major distributors, such as Miramax, October, Fine Line, and Fox Searchlight passed the film up), but no one wanted to put up the finishing funds. Finally, Arrow and I worked out a deal but I had to give up worldwide rights; however, I get a favorable split if the film makes money. It's not easy for small distributors, either. Putting up money for an independent film with no stars is a big risk. It's highly unusual for a second-tier distributor to put up finishing funds.

iW: What's your next project?

Veronis: Unlike my last script, which I wrote on the fly, I've spent a lot of time on this new work Briefly, it's about a young man who is made the scapegoat for a scam that others involve him in. It will be another low budget, independent feature.

[A version of this interview appeared in the weekly newspaper, The GreekAmerican.]

[Cleo Cacoulidis is a freelance journalist who has written for Cineaste, The GreekAmerican and the Independent Film & Video Monthly.]