by Camila Gonzalez
Making movies isn’t easy, especially when a filmmaker doesn’t have a big budget or A-list actors. But University of Oklahoma alumni at the 2014 deadCENTER Film Festival in Oklahoma City proved these aren’t needed to make great films.
Dylan Cox liked playing basketball in front of a crowd, so it made sense for him to become an actor. His first acting job was in a lottery commercial during his time at OU. At first, he had “no aspirations” to be a director and producer. But he loved working with a good team to get a project done.
For this year’s festival, he produced The Lightning Round, which focused on a couple’s quick attempt to get to know each other that instead got awkward.
Cox said seeing this film – the first as a producer – was “awesome.”
Bryce Holland credits Star Wars for his interest in filmmaking. Life’s a Bitch, and then You’re Dead, which told a love story from a zombie’s perspective, was the first festival film he wrote and directed. Holland appreciated horror movie stereotypes and making unusual films with horror concepts.
To him, there is only one zombie movie.
“Every other zombie movie is basically a riff on Night of the Living Dead,” he said.
Holland said seeing his film at the festival was “wonderful.” The movie “was kind of my baby,” he said.
Todd Greenlee had been to the festival in 2011 and 2013. He was impressed that it is “always growing.”
Greenlee made movies with his brother and went to the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute growing up. He called it an “eye-opening experience.”
He worked with fellow students on the senior CAPSTONE project Landmark, the story of a man who crossed dangerous lands to find the body of his brother. Mt. Everest climbers whose bodies were not taken off the mountain and became landmarks inspired the film.
Chris Ivanoskis wasn’t a newcomer to the festival, either. His farce nature program Bush Country was shown in 2012.
Ivanoskis had “always been a very creative person.” He was happy when he learned filmmaking could be a real career.
His deadCENTER film was Because You Watched. It was about the odd suggestions that came up in a Netflix queue after the main character’s roommate watched some strange films.
Ivanoskis liked the idea of looking through his Netflix and asking, “Why the hell did it recommend this?” He wondered what it would suggest after watching weird movies.
OU helped each man become a filmmaker. Cox – a 2006 graduate — studied advertising, which helped him focus on what his target audience wanted.
Holland went to the College of Fine Arts. Combining what he already knew and what he learned at school “created a weird confidence” in him.
Greenlee met OU alumni in the film and TV industry on a senior trip to Los Angeles. It exposed him to a new world.
All four men have turned their passion for films into a living.
Holland has some short films in the works that should be finished before the end of the year. He hopes to have a film in the next deadCENTER.
Greenlee lives in New Orleans and plans to shoot a film in Oklahoma with his brother. Don’t get too excited. He said it would take a few years.
Ivanoskis has a post-production company, Mayhem Media, in Dallas.
The men said the best way to become a filmmaker is to make films.
“Make as much stuff as you possibly can,” Greenlee said.
Ivanoskis echoed that advice. “There’s no replacement for experience,” he said.
He also advises future filmmakers to be nice to people in the industry because they’ll see everyone again.
Holland’s advice is to “take risks.” Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, he added.
Cox said filmmakers have to love the job because it isn’t easy.
“I love it,” he said.
Easy or not, the local film scene, unlike the zombie in Holland’s film, is clearly alive and kicking.
