From the "People" Archives:

by Rebecca Sonnenshine

The short film has always struggled for an audience, not to mention respectability. Venues are limited. Funding is practically non-existent. In Hollywood, short films are perceived as a "calling card" rather than an art form, an obligatory hoop for a rising filmmaker to jump through before that big break comes. So what is Frank Chindamo doing making a career out of short films?

Despite the odds, Chindamo has accomplished the rare feat of making over 50 short films, on spec or on commission for entities like HBO, MTV, CBS, Comedy Central and Playboy. "Most people have done one [short film]. Some people go on to do two and very, very few people do three or more. I'm the only person who approaches the number 50," says Chindamo. Along the way, he has collected an armful of awards and admirers, becoming probably the most successful short filmmaker in the U.S. And what exactly is the key to Chindamo's success? Comedy, plain and simple. His films are audacious, colorful, loud. They feature sharp performances by stand-up comics. All of them run on pure energy, with perfectly pitched directing, editing, and writing. On Friday, August 21, a compilation of Chindamo's shorts will be airing on PBS affiliate WNVT at 9:30 pm, before rolling out nationally on other PBS stations.

Actually, Chindamo stumbled into filmmaking by accident. Three years into a psychology degree at Queens college, he took a film class -- mostly because it met only once a week and showed movies. But Chindamo had an epiphany of sorts -- instead of helping one person at a time through psychology, he could reach thousands of people at once through filmmaking. He transferred to NYU and completed his B.F.A. in film, then went down the yellow brick road of P.A. work, getting gigs on movies like "Ghostbusters," "After Hours" and "Desperately Seeking Susan." By the time he'd worked his way up to assistant director work, he was looking for a more creative outlet. He applied to Columbia University, where he produced and co-wrote an impressive nine films, all of which won awards.

His day job may have been film school, but his night job was producing stand-up comedy shows, which, in the late 1980s, were at the peak of their popularity. Taking stories that the comics told in their routines, Chindamo adapted the jokes into a visual form and created his own brand of short film, usually under four minutes in length. And then came "The Jelly Donut Saga" with stand-up comic Maxine Lapiduss ("The Jeff Foxworthy Show," "Rosanne"). Chindamo and his producing partner had taken a story in her act -- a hilarious bit that claimed jelly donuts were the perfect defense against subway thugs -- and turned it into a short film. After the director pulled out at the last minute, Chindamo jumped in. "HBO got hold of it and said, 'This is great! What else have you got?' And I said, 'Well, that's it. It's my thesis film.' HBO said, 'Oh, well, call us when you have more stuff, because we'd love to look at it.'" A director was born.

Forming his own production company, Fun Little Movies, Chindamo began collecting assignments from Showtime, HBO, MTV, Comedy Central. He even created a pilot for CBS with comic giant Alan King -- "a half hour show about comedians in a comedy club." Chindamo also started a four-year relationship with the Playboy Channel, writing and directing short films for a series called Playboy Late Night. He taught courses about comedy and comedy writing in New York and Los Angeles. He relocated to Los Angeles and became a script consultant.

Eventually, as all filmmakers do, Chindamo began thinking about the brass ring: the feature film. He wrote several feature length scripts, two of which have been optioned -- several times -- but never made. He is currently planning to direct his next project, "Tricks of the Trade," in the very near future. "It's about a group of graduate students who accidentally start shooting their thesis film about a hooker," he says with a smile. "Lots of sex, no violence."

Does this mean that he's giving up on short films? Not exactly. "I would love to keep making them," he says. "But I would like to make them in a venue that is better financed. The commercial possibilities of a short are very limited." After making over fifty short films, Chindamo says, "I can tell you for sure, it's a money losing proposition. You have to do it only because of love. There is no possibility of making your money back on that short. Sorry, there's a 1 in 5000 chance that you'll make your money back on the short." Even having sold his films to Japanese, Canadian, British, Turkish television -- just to name a few -- Chindamo suspects that he may be just now breaking even. "But that's the point -- it's not about the money. It's about learning how to write, learning how to produce, learning how to direct. And if you are extremely talented, that will shine through, no matter how low the budget is."

And despite the challenges, Chindamo has nothing but praise for the process. "Short films are great. And they're especially great for people on the way up. Filmmaking is...telling a story, knowing where to put the camera, knowing how to talk to the actors, knowing how to create art on screen in a way that will, I think, at it's best, entertain and give people something to think about. Short films can [teach you] all of those things. And you learn, in making a five minute film, 60% of the lessons you would have learned if that five minute film had been a 90 minute film. Because you're still working with actors, you're still blocking shots, you're still creating art to go on the screen. And it's less subject to commercial constraints and more available to artistic experimentation."

Whether it's short or feature length films, however, Chindamo has no shortage of material. "Most of the time, I'm thinking in comedy, because comedy is something that brings joy to people's lives and it's thought-provoking and it makes people think." With "Tricks of the Trade," Chindamo will once again draw from his roots in stand-up comedy, bringing in a cast of, if not-quite-household names, certainly familiar faces in the world of comedy. "A-level comic geniuses. That's the pool I draw from for my short films and that's who will be in my feature. People say that stand-up comics can't act, but that's not true -- they can, if you give them the right role and the right direction."

He will also draw support from The Filmmaker's Alliance, the second largest group of indie filmmakers in LA, of which he is a very active member. "We make a shitload of films...and they're all really good," Chindamo enthuses. "It's like a social cooperative of filmmakers. I'm a big supporter. Through the Filmmaker's Alliance, "Tricks of the Trade" is going to get made for a very low budget and very high screen value." As for what lies ahead, Chindamo is anxious to continue building upon the path that he has carved out for himself. "The kind of feature films I really want to make [are] an extension of the short films. Low budget, off-the-wall concepts. There's no reason why something can't be commercial and still be totally artistic."

[Readers are encouraged to check out the Filmmaker's Alliance at www.filmmakersalliance.com or call the hotline at 310.281.6093]

[Rebecca Sonnenshine is a freelance writer, filmmaker and cookie baker living in Los Angeles.]