Mark Borchardt "coven"

[Vespasian]

Does anyone know this guy? Has anyone ever seen Americain Movie. Mark should be an inspiration to us all. I was just wondering if anyone has ever met him, or knows how I could get a hold of him.

[8th Man]

There is not a person on this list who shouldn't own the DVD of American Movie. It is what inspired me too move toward doing some live action shorts again. It is a fascinating look at one guys atempts to make a feature film with almost no money. Unfortunately his talent and his determination aren't equal.
You can e-mail him through the links of
www.americanmovie.com
I once wrote to him to ask a question and got no reply so who knows.

[Matt Pacini]

Inspiration?

Yeah, I saw the movie, and I both laughed and was depressed, because I thought the guy was a totally talentless loser.
I felt really bad for his sick grandfather (or uncle, or whatever he was).
The guy was literally about to die, and here this guy's trying to get him to give his last dollar to him before he dies, telling him he hasn't done anything significant in his life, so he should finance a movie.

The footage he shot for his Coven movie really looked like something unwatchable.
Really bad.
The most entertaining thing about the documentary to me, was that the guy was such a burned out stoner, that he was way beyond having any idea if something sucked or not.

Sorry, I don't mean to insult your opinion, but there are lots of beginning filmmakers you could look up to other than this guy.

Matt Pacini

[Vespasian]

**** Matt I thought you where cool until i read your ****** up reply. For one thing the guy isn't a loser he is a man with passion, and what more could ask from any human being than that? The Greeks only asked one question when a man died:

"did he have passion?"

At least Mark wanted to do "something" and thats a lot better than most people, that donothing with there lives, except pay a mortgage and car payment.

I will always look up to Mark, no matter what anyone says, and yes he did have a drinking problem, and probably a drug problem as well; but through it all he made a movie. You said he was trying to skim the last bit of money from his dying uncle. What, three thousand dollars? If you would have watched the whole movie you would have known that his uncle had 280 thousand dollars. Also when his uncle died he left Mark 50 thousand to finish Northwestern. He gave the old man a purpose with the last days of his life. I just wish someone in my family had the kind of passion Mark does.

So whatever Matt, you think how you want to think, but Mark should be an inspiration to us all.

See you on the dark side.

[Vespasian]

**** Matt I thought you where cool until i read your ****** up reply. For one thing the guy isn't a loser he is a man with passion, and what more could ask from any human being than that? The Greeks only asked one question when a man died:

"did he have passion?"

At least Mark wanted to do "something" and thats a lot better than most people, that donothing with there lives, except pay a mortgage and car payment.

I will always look up to Mark, no matter what anyone says, and yes he did have a drinking problem, and probably a drug problem as well; but through it all he made a movie. You said he was trying to skim the last bit of money from his dying uncle. What, three thousand dollars? If you would have watched the whole movie you would have known that his uncle had 280 thousand dollars. Also when his uncle died he left Mark 50 thousand to finish Northwestern. He gave the old man a purpose with the last days of his life. I just wish someone in my family had the kind of passion Mark does.

So whatever Matt, you think how you want to think, but Mark should be an inspiration to us all.

See you on the dark side.

[Vespasian]

I'm hardly idolizing the guy, I just respect the fact that he actually wants do something. So what if the guy has kids he wanted to be with them, I don't think he was blowing off his family responsibilities. I still look up to all of you filmmakers though including you Matt.

[8th Man]

Whether you think Borchardt is a loser sans talent or a passionate man with a dream, you have to admit a certain fascination with him as the subject of this film. For some it's like watching a train wreck, and for others it's seeing a guy attempting to overcome obsticles to realize his dream. Of coarse, his biggest obsticle is himself, but then again that's probably true for everyone on this board and everyone else too.
He reminds me of a guy I know from back home. Lots of talk about his dreams and his future and a lot of talk about "this time I can't fail" etc., but all in all, it's mostly lip sevice 'cause for whatever reason he's still talking about all the same stuff twelve years later.
We proably all know someone like this. Borchardt did finish his Coven short (both pronounciations acceptable) although it was only to raise money to finnish his Northwestern feature, a film that he has still not been able to finnish five years later despite the the sales of Coven and his uncle's bequeathment of $50,000.
People like this will be suffering the same problems ten, twenty, thirtyears from now, but they will keep on going. Imagine what results could be had if you mixed in talent and ability into that mix.
Maybe that's where the inspiration comes from.
I just figured I could do a better film than Coven and I bet most people on this board could too.

[hightreason]

Oh, c'mon Vespasian. American Movie was a well-made documentary and I definately look up to Chris Smith for his awesome job, but I have little respect for Mark Borchardt. The whole documentary seemed to be a lesson on how NOT to make a movie. There are lots of people on this very board with as much passion as Mark, if not more. And if Mark has that much of a passion, he would have put a little bit more effort into learning HOW to make a movie before just trying to do it. The truth is that I see Mark Borchardt as one of those annoying people who want jump right into making a movie and think all they need is a camera and a little cash and it will turn out great. Kind of like a kid that wants to be an astronaut but really doesn't want to put the effort into getting an advanced degree in physics.
If you want to see people in dire financial circumstances passionately trying to make their filmmaking dreams come true, just look around you. Don't idolize a drunken fool.

[Matt Pacini]

I wasn't referring to how much money the uncle had, what I thought was over the top, is the fact that Mark was degrading the guy, telling him basically that his life hadn't amounted to anything, which is really cruel.
There are lines one should draw, in trying to get your film financed, and degrading a dying relative is definitely one of them, regardless of what the dollar amount is.
The old guy wanted nothing to do with it, you could see he was an invalid, and here Mark is trying to force him to act in these scenes, etc.
Just too pushy, you know?

Also, here he has a kid, and he's just blowing off his family responsibilities, and thinking it's OK because he thinks he's gonna be Spielberg with his little Vampire movie.
He wouldn't listen to anyone about anything (I call these types "non-learners"), even to admit that he was pronouncing the word "Coven" incorrectly. Just a hard-headed, close minded irresponsible guy.

I'm sorry if you think I'm a jerk for not looking up to the guy, it's just that he's a totally irresponsible human being.

I thought the movie was really a sad portrayal of someone who's checked out of the realities of life, who can't see through his own drug and/or alcohol induced fog to have one bit of self examination to see what he's doing wrong in life.
And watching him being laughed at in the David Letterman interview was embarrassing. I mean, I haven't heard anyone say "wow, man" so many times in a sentence, since I last heard a Cheech and Chong album as a kid. The guys brain is toast!

I'm sorry, I guess we'll just have to disagree on this one, and I'm sorry if that tarnishes my image in your mind (not that I thought I had a pristine image anyway).

Matt Pacini

[Matt Pacini]

I guess maybe I was being a little harsh on the guy.
I mean, at least he's trying to so something.
But now, knowing that he got $50K and STILL hasn't been able to make his movie, makes me really wonder even more about his agenda.
I wonder if he spent it all partying.

Anyway, Vespian, I think it's helpful to look up to people for a while, but at some point, it holds you back, because you always will put yourself on a level below that person.
You need to say to yourself that you can do whatever so-and-so can, (even if you can't) and just do it!
It's hard to make a movie, but it's not impossible.

I'm sure everyone knows the story of how Spielberg got started, but just in case you didn't here's the condensed version:

He always idolizing Hitchcock, John Ford, etc., and made a zillion 8mm films as a kid.
But there was a point where he had the confidence that he could do anything anyone else could do, and started sneaking into Univeral's back lot, hanging around in the editorial department, getting to know the editors, telling them he was a filmmaker.
He would show them his 8mm films, to impress them with his filmmaking abilities. (He would drag an 8mm projector in there and project on their wall.)
One of the editors was really impressed with his little films, but at some point got impatient with it all, and told Steven to stop showing him his 8mm stuff.
He said shoot something in 35mm then I'll be interested.
So Spielberg raises $25,000, shoots a 20 minute silent short film on 35mm (Amblin) brings it in and shows the guy, and he's blown away.
(I'd really like to see Amblin someday. I'll bet it's not that good by today's standards, but who knows... Anyone seen it?)
So the editor calls up Sid Sheinberg (head of Universal TV) shows him Amblin, and Sid signs Spielberg to a 7 year TV directing contract.
So, at 21 years old, Spielberg is directing Joan Crawford in a TV episode of Night Gallery. (I loved that series). This is in the day where 21 year olds did NOT direct professionally. You had to spend years and years working your way up through the camera department to be a director.

So the moral of the story is, you gotta have the balls to just KNOW you can do whatever your former idols can do, and just set out to do it.

You have to leave your idols behind, acknowledge them as regular human beings who just had a great idea and worked really hard at it, otherwise you will never subconciously allow yourself to accomplish what they have done. (This has been one of my problems in the past. It took me years to figure this out. That's why I'm such an old **** at 44, doing what I should have been doing at 19!!!)

So just start shooting some stuff!

Matt Pacini