What is the story for Glass, Necktie? ^ I’d describe it as a dark drama about infidelity and control with a strong undercurrent of perverse, menacing humor. One of the things in the Film Threat review, and the other reviews for that matter, focused on was the inventive quality of the story. The story takes you to a lot of different, unexpected places but it boils down to being about a guy who gets caught up in an odd relationship with a married couple.
Were some of the experiences of the characters similar to your own life experiences? ^ Ha, I wish… ^ I’d say that the emotions and thoughts of the characters are similar to mine and hopefully people who watch the film can relate to them. The excitement and charge that come with infidelity, the anger and fear of being betrayed, the desire to control people and situations around you and the strange and sometimes violent outcomes of these things – I feel strongly connected to all that. But the actual experiences of the characters, the events they go through, by and large, did not happen to me.
What was the budget and how long did it take you to make it? ^ The budget was $30,000, most of which went into shooting the film – I caught a lot of breaks in post-production with people helping me out, so the post budget was only a few thousand dollars. It took 18 days of shooting and about a year to edit, mix and complete it.
Can you give me a breakdown of a timeline for making the movie? ^ We’re talking about a 2 to 2 ½ year timeline for the film. The script took about 2 months to write. Then it took about 6 to 8 months to raise the money (from friends and acquaintances). Shooting and post took a bit over a year. A few months after that we put together a screening at Glaxa Theater in Los Angeles and got a nice review from the LA Weekly.
What problems did you run into during production in terms of keeping that budget so low? ^ Well, the main thing was we were still raising money when we started the shoot. I knew we had enough to get us 13 or 14 days. Now there were two or three investors who we were counting on to come through by the end of the second week of principal photography. It was pretty nerve-racking, but they came through in the clutch.
What were some of the scenes you had to cut? ^ The only scenes affected by our budget were the exteriors — we shot without permits, so the exteriors were shot on the fly, with very little or no coverage.
How did you go about casting? ^ About half the cast came from actors I’d seen in plays in the Los Angeles area and the other half came from an open call ad we placed in Dramalogue. Los Angeles has a really good theater scene, very much underrated. So I try to see as many plays as I can and when I see an actor I like, I hang around after the performance, introduce myself and ask for a head shot.
Tell me what you’re working on now. ^ I just finished a feature-length script called “Resilience” which I plan to shoot in 2002.
For more info about Glass, Necktie, e-mail Paul Bojack or visit the official Glass Necktie web site.
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