Jason Headley talks the about the laughs and nerves behind a a successful first outing
A Bad Idea Gone Wrong.
It’s possible I was just too dumb to be nervous.
That’s what people kept asking me before my first feature film, “A Bad Idea Gone Wrong,” premiered at SXSW: “Are you nervous?” And I honestly didn’t understand the question. The movie was finished. I’d watched it enough times, building it piece by piece, to have no perspective on it whatsoever. But I still had a low, lingering feeling that I’d made the movie I set out to make. So my work was done. All I had to do was sit in a theater and watch it with a bunch of strangers.
“I’m excited.” That’s what I would tell people. And I meant it.
Then the rain started.
Our world premiere was on a Saturday afternoon and it was raining pretty good. One thing I hadn’t considered was the possibility that I might not watch the movie with a bunch of strangers after all, but with a smattering of wet, grumpy people in a mostly empty theater.
I started to get nervous. There was a lot going on as the doors opened. We were quarantined in a green room underneath the theater for a while, either due to a health scare or because we were being too noisy. (It’s because we were being too noisy.) When we got let out of detention, we had to take various configurations of photos on the red carpet and I honestly had no idea how many people had gone into the theater. Finally free to take a look, I saw nothing but sweet relief: The theater was full. Three hundred people, some of them wet, none of them grumpy.
I was back to being excited.
People were laughing from the very start. The movie is a comedy, so that’s a good thing. Great laughs and gasps in all the right places. It was a true rush listening this bunch of strangers go on the ride. To the point where, near the end, my awareness of all the effort it took to get here — all the failure and rejection and opportunities made and teamwork required — began to cause a disturbance in and around my eyeballs. I was about to cry. Luckily, I come from a place where we stifle our emotions with great rigor and proficiency. I wasn’t about to cry my way through my Q&A. So I pulled it together and just felt some good, old-fashioned joy about the whole thing. A rare indulgence.
Three days later, we all went to the awards ceremony. I was neither nervous nor excited. I felt the same as when I took my brother’s girlfriend to prom: Certain I had no chance. Our film was in Narrative Competition, but it’s a comedy and comedy doesn’t win awards. Even at the Golden Globes, where Comedy has its own category, “The Martian” won. The. Martian. So I was just sitting there, minding my own business, when judge Scott Mantz started talking about our movie. He was talking about a Special Jury Recognition for Best Ensemble. And suddenly we were onstage and I got to sing the praises of my cast — Matt Jones, Eleanore Pienta, and Will Rogers — into a microphone in front of a thousand people.
Jason Headley
It was a superb experience all around. We finished the night at a diner at 3 a.m., too tired to eat but too wired to sleep. Just like that, my first feature was out in the world, all on its own. And I’m ready to get started on the next one.
– Jason Headley
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A statement on the proposed budget by the President of the United States that has called for the elimination of the National Endowment For The Arts.
While SFFILM will not be materially affected by any reduction or elimination of the NEA, It will have a profound effect on our many sibling organizations upon whom we rely as programming and marketing partners in the Bay Area, especially those who provide arts learning for young people and access to art and artists in underserved communities. The elimination of cultural funding dramatically undermines the bonds that make our communities strong and must be opposed.
It is also important to note that these proposed cuts are clearly motivated by political animus. That is a terrifying idea. When people in power seek to silence the creative voices that contextualize our sociopolitical life that is an attack on democracy itself.
Furthermore, the stated arguments for the elimination of the NEA are highly troubling. To deny the full potential of a child’s imagination or to suggest that people living in certain communities have less need of cultural sustenance as a direct trade-off against spending on tanks and bombs can only be characterized as morally repugnant.
We join with our peers to oppose this terrible proposal and call for the full funding of the National Endowment For The Arts to be maintained in the coming federal budget.
Noah Cowan
Executive Director
SFFILM — The 60th San Francisco International Film Festival
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SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM works hard to bring the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.
Exploring Disney Pixar’s Short Film Piper with Filmmakers Marc and Allan and SFFILM Education
Academy Award-nominated short Piper filmmakers in the classroom.
Gosh, do we love what we do! Just recalling a day a few weeks back when we spent hours chatting all things Academy Award-nominated short from Pixar, Piper. Our guests were director Allan Barillaro and producer Marc Sondheimer. Fantastic guys, and great filmmakers.
The day began with a multimedia presentation at the Alamo Drafthouse for 300 Bay Area students/teachers. Allan gave the students a little insight into the inspiration for the film. The short tells the story of a hungry sandpiper hatchling who ventures from her nest for the first time to dig for food by the shoreline. The only problem is, the food is buried beneath the sand where scary waves roll up onto the shore.
“We enjoyed seeing how deeply one needs to study the ocean, the sand, how bubbles reflect light and then pop, how the sound effects and theme song went from scratch ideas to full orchestra, how quick sketches turn into fully rendered characters. How composition frames positive and negative spaces. It was all just so fascinating.” — San Francisco Teacher
The audience then got to view the film, which was followed up by a behind-the-scenes look at how the whole thing came together. Marc and Allan covered a wide range of topics including computer science, narrative storytelling, art history, musical composition, and even coastal wildlife biology. No rock unturned with Pixar. We finished things off with a Q&A, giving the students a chance to discover even more about the animation process.
“My students came home excited to create. They were able to expand their understanding of the creative process and wanted to apply it to projects they were already creating as well as new projects.” —San Francisco Teacher
Academy Award-nominated short Piper.
In the afternoon, we took Allan and Marc over to a class of 4th & 5th-grade students at Jefferson Elementary where, along with the regular presentation, Allan was also able to give the kids a bonus drawing demonstration.
“These special events, outside of the classroom, are what students will remember. Fortunately, this program, like all the SFFILM programs I have attended, is full of important information and insight about film and animation making. And it doesn’t feel like work.” —San Francisco Teacher
Educational opportunities like this one are also available outside of our SFFILM Education programming. This year’s Festival features two masterclasses with Pixar artists. There will also be an opportunity to see the newest short from the studio, Lou, during our Shorts 5: Family Films program at the Castro on April 15th. Director Dave Mullins and producer Dana Murray will be in attendance at the screening.
Stay In Touch With SFFILM
SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM works hard to bring the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.
I remember the first time I went to Sundance. It was 1999. I was a young film student and my head was exploding at all the films taking their first step out into the world: American Movie, On The Ropes, Regret To Inform, Three Seasons, Tumbleweeds. But what really made it special was seeing Jon Else win the filmmaker’s trophy for Sing Faster: A Stagehand’s Ring Cycle. It was in that moment that the seed was planted.
Peter Nicks wins the Directing Award in the Documentary category at Sundance Film Festival.
In the intervening years I attended the festival, but never with a film. In 2012 I submitted my first feature documentary THE WAITING ROOM, but didn’t make the cut. I knew many worthy films didn’t make it in, but still, I wondered what it would be like to stand on the stage at the Egyptian or the Temple. When I finally got the call I was in my garden, pulling weeds in between wrestling with a cut of my new film THE FORCE, a film that resisted completion at every turn. Sundance programmers Caroline Libresco and Harry Vaughn were on the phone. I immediately knew I had gotten into Sundance.
The Force (2017) Photo courtesy of Peter Nicks.
The festival was the culmination of years of work to develop my craft. And it was to a large extent the result of my 5-year collaboration with producer Linda Davis and editor Lawrence Lerew that began with THE WAITING ROOM. They were not just collaborators. They were difference makers. And then there was Dave Eisenberg and Lois Vossen at ITVS and Independent Lens again by my side again as co-producers. And of course it was no accident that Jon Else, who inspired me so many years before — and had become my mentor & friend — was now my executive producer. This is how the film got into Sundance.
The Force (2017) Photo courtesy of Peter Nicks.
The days and nights of the fest were long, and sometimes stressful. A record amount of snow was dumped on this ordinarily sleepy mountain town. I fought off a threatening cold with liberal doses of Dayquil, which seemed to contain magical qualities. My wife Vanna, daughter Karina and son Paolo came for a visit at just the right time, giving me the perspective to understand that we do not do this alone. And then it happened. I was on stage accepting the prize for best director.
These are some of the people and the memories that will sustain me for the remainder of my career. This business of independent filmmakers is brutal, unforgiving, and fulfilling beyond description. And as we turn our attention down the road we’re excited to think about how special the homecoming will be at the San Francisco Film Festival in April. See you then!
Best,
Pete
Stay In Touch With SFFILM
SFFILM is a nonprofit organization whose mission ensures independent voices in film are welcomed, heard, and given the resources to thrive. SFFILM works hard to bring the most exciting films and filmmakers to Bay Area movie lovers. To be the first to know what’s coming, sign up for our email alerts and watch your inbox.
