But Doug’s skills extend beyond acting – he wrote, produced and directed the short film War Hero, which was in competition at numerous film festivals including the Hollywood Film Festival, LA Shorts Fest and NYC Shorts. He then wrote and directed the short film Jubilee (2009) which was selected for the 53rd BFI London Film Festival and was shortlisted for the Satyajit Ray Short Film Award. Not content with such impressive achievements, Doug studied yoga in India and produced and directed a Yoga DVD with his father: Sam & Doug Rao’s Yoga for Any-Body.

Creative Mapping spoke with the intelligent and accomplished Doug Rao to find out more about the life and lifestyle of those glittering creatures whose job it is to entertain us – the actor.

Doug Rao – Showreel:

CM: Tell us briefly who you are and what you do.
I’m an actor primarily – I’ve worked on stage, in film and TV both here and in Los Angeles, but more recently I’m turning to writing and directing. I have lived in London for most of my career, but find it hard to settle anywhere, so I don’t say I live here anymore, I’m really just passing through.

CM: How did you become a professional actor?
Before I went to drama school, I wrote and wrote; plays, poetry, scripts – anything and everything, mostly not very good. I produced my own plays on the London fringe in my late teens and starred in them and turned a profit! I wrote and spoke poetry and monologues in pubs. But all that stopped as I entered “the business”. I hadn’t lost the need for that kind of all-encompassing storytelling, but the process of becoming an actor in the commercial world of casting directors and TV contracts and PR reps drew my focus away. That might sound odd – but for the most part, being an actor is a limiting part of the storytelling process. The overall vision of a play or film or TV show doesn’t belong to us. I feel as though I’ve been in transition for a while now. Or at least a return to what I once was. I’ve been working as a professional actor for almost twenty years. I had to bring myself back to where I started, as a storyteller, to keep my intellect and my spirit alive.

CM: What inspired you to become an actor?
I had nothing else, really. But I come from the kind of place where the arts aren’t really encouraged. I left school at sixteen and was lost for a while before I started meeting a few people with similar aspirations. I met a bloke who lived in a house with no furniture – just vast shelves of plays. We’d drink into the early hours and just read; Chekov, Mamet, Pinter, Brecht, the Jacobeans – and we’d play scenes and talk and read until we’d pass out. It was a really good education actually. Eventually, I made the move into London and started working in fringe theatre. I thought drama school was “silly”, but my mum made me audition for the Central School of Speech and Drama and I was on my way.

CM: For those of us who don’t know the process for an actor, do you have an agent or do you generate work yourself?
It’s a common refrain of actors that they get most of their work themselves! As you continue in the business, casting director’s get to know you and will call your agent if you’re right for a part they’re casting. But your agent is submitting you (you hope!) for parts meanwhile.

CM: How do you know when you’re onto something good re a film? Is it the script, the director, the other actors?
The script is always the most important thing. It’s very difficult to screw up a brilliant script – it sort of takes care of itself. Working with bad scripts however is like trying to “make shit shine” – it’s just very tiring. In fact, I’ve seen poor directors carried by a great script and Script Supervisor (me, on my first film!). I’ve worked with actors who were barely able to do more than get out their lines – but the lines were so good! Of course, it always helps if you’ve got a great script and you’re surrounded by talent – but alas, that isn’t always the case. In fact, it’s rarely the case ha ha!

CM: You’re also making as well as starring in films and TV – can you tell us more about that?
I wasn’t happy being an actor in television. I was a regular in a long-running series and it wasn’t challenging me in any way and I felt my intellect rotting by the day. I had to write again. The great thing was, even though I wasn’t fulfilled by the television that I was doing, I was surrounded by other people who also wanted to stretch their talents – so I cobbled together a crew of like-minds and made War Hero – which I wrote just after the Iraq War broke out. I’d been on the massive marches leading up to the declaration of war and when our protests went totally unheeded; it
was a sharp wake-up call. War Hero was born out of the ensuing frustration. I intended it to be a filmic protest. Everything that I write now has an anger that manifests itself into a story. The story is king but it must be supported by a theme. I’m not preaching to my audience; my duty is to entertain them, but I want them to go away with at least a subconscious impression of that anger.

CM: What has been the highlight of your career so far?
As an actor: I was at the Royal Shakespeare Company playing an American lawyer in a vital play by David Edgar called “The Prisoner’s Dilemma.” It dealt with conflict resolution and Islamic fundamentalism – phrases that weren’t on our lips then as they are today. By chance, we were scheduled to give a question and answers session after the show with the audience on September 12th 2001. Most of our audience were made up of shell-shocked American tourists but I remember that we were all able to make some sense of the tragedy using the play as context for our discussion. That’s the kind of work an actor dreams of being involved with. As a director: making Jubilee was an intense experience. Hardly enough money, fast-paced in the blistering heat on an estate whose residents didn’t want a film crew there. But when were accepted as the only British short to play before a feature at the BFI London Film Festival and the UK Film Council listed it as one of their best films of the year, I felt validated as a storyteller. I don’t seek validation in terms of
awards or fame as a rule, but I think there was still a part of the teenage kid who couldn’t believe somebody had actually given him money to make a film! And that there might be people who wanted to see it.

CM: What are some of the challenges you face as an actor – both personally and professionally?
Poverty mainly! Intermittent bouts of poverty laced with serial rejection. Ha! Doesn’t sound very glamourous, does it? It’s a difficult and strange career choice. Actually to call it a “career” is considered sacrilege by most actors. A career is something that has a ladder that your hard work and talent allow you to climb. Being an actor is generally to be at the whim of others and arbitrary decisions like; “Do I like his hair or the other guy’s?”

CM: Which directors or other actors do you admire right now?
I’ve always been inspired by the daring and bold choices of Gary Oldman and Daniel Day-Lewis – in fact I started out just copying them. I admire Gael Garcia Bernal for the type of work he associates himself with – he’s one of those rare actors whose films are entertaining activism. But all actors inspire me to some extent, some you’ll never have heard of; older stage actors who haven’t had the opportunity to work in telly or film but will blow you away in supporting roles in provincial theatres. Most of those actors would be swimming in Oscars if someone threw a decent film script at them!

The company of actors always delights me. They’re a rare breed and we have our own language and humour (at least British actors do) that is often impenetrable to other members of a crew. And a brutal sarcasm that’s bred out of years of rejection! Ken Loach is my hero. In many ways, my own work is a clumsy attempt at homage to his films; which are always intensely political, social documents. I don’t see the point of making a film just to make a film. If I write something, it’s never going to be a gangster-comedy or teen-horror or whatever else is fashionable; it has to have
resonance for me. Perhaps that limits my chances of commercial success, riches and red carpets; so be it.

Of directors working now, I greatly admire and love the films of: Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie, Delicatessan, City of Lost Children), Jacques Audiard (Une Prophet, Rust and Bone), Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master with Joaquin Phoenix) and Walter Salles (On The Road – with an all star cast including Kirsten Stewart and Viggo Mortensen, and produced by Charles Gillbert (MK2) amongst many others.

CM: When you’ve finished a film or TV show, are you ever truly satisfied with your performance? What makes a film successful to you?
I’ve worked with actors who’d come off stage or set and beat themselves up (sometimes literally!) about a bad a scene that they felt they’d played better the night before, or they’d read it brilliantly in their trailer, etc. I never understood this. Our art is purely human – only robots can deliver “perfection” on demand. So I am always satisfied. Any art form demands compromise; in fact it’s an intrinsic part of any artistic process, but in film and telly this is especially true. The constraints of time and money force compromise at every turn. The trick is not to get frustrated by these compromises but to see them as vital components of the finished product. This is the same for actors and directors – yes, perhaps I saw myself doing it this way, but then I was forced to compromise and do it that way. Who am I to say that my premeditated choice was better or that the audience won’t prefer this “compromised” version? After all, we’re doing this for the audience, not for ourselves. Embrace compromise and the surprises it brings. That’s not to say we should lack the ability to be self-critical or strive for excellence but what’s the point in being disappointed – you did the best work you could under the given circumstances. So be satisfied and move on.

CM: What advice would give to younger or new actors starting out?
This is a very different business than the one I entered. I left drama school early to play a lead role in a big TV series with a big budget – they rarely make that kind of show anymore. And if they do, now you can guarantee it will be full of established stars. When I left drama school, there was no reality-TV, the internet was a fad and we weren’t in a crippling recession. And we had a government who weren’t hell-bent on destroying the arts and education as they have done in recent years. The simple fact is there is less work around to sustain actors. My advice would be: take advantage of digital culture; write and shoot your own work and get it out there. Actors have to make their own work to survive. And we’ve been doing that since our profession began. Imagine what Shakespeare or Brecht would have done with a DSLR and Final Cut Pro!

CM: What inspires you about living and working in London?
The fact that we are surrounded by great art and great theatre and literate, informed people. The dirty beauty of its secrets and histories. The simmering threat of violence on a Saturday night! The wit, the banter, the insults! I lived in Los Angeles for a while and found I couldn’t write. I hardly wrote a word in almost two years. Life’s too homogenised and sanitised there. I’ll go back for the weather and my lovely pals, but I’ll always travel to write!

CM: What would a dream collaboration in film be for you? What kind of script, director, actors?
Any collaboration of artists with some vision beyond themselves and the furthering of their career. Too many artists make choices that don’t serve the story because of selfish motives. They force parts for themselves in stories that can’t accommodate them and remain true. They choose overtly “clever” camera moves to draw attention to the brilliance of their direction. They don’t support the other actor when it’s not their shot. The story is king but often egos want to dethrone it. I’ve been guilty of it in my time though, so “people in glass houses…”!

CM: 5 favorite music tracks that help you work?
Music is rife with storytellers that inspire me! Bruce Springsteen is the absolute master – often his songs are 3 minute films scripts with a perfect three act structure. “The River”, “Highway Patrolman” (which Sean Penn turned into The Indian Runner) and “Thunder Road” are immense examples. Tom Waits’ “Invitation to the Blues” is about a bum who falls in love with a waitress behind the counter at a bus station. He doesn’t speak a word to her but his life-story plays out in the three minutes it takes him to decide to give away his ticket and stick around to make a life with her. An immaculate minimalist lesson for the screenwriter! Leonard Cohen’s songs are largely autobiographical love stories, but his dark melodies and incantational voice are perfect for writing to.

CM: If you had to live another life entirely, what would you be doing – and why?
It might not be too far off! I’ve got plans to head back to India. I studied to be a yoga teacher there many years ago and I’m going back to make a documentary about an orphanage that I’ve worked with in Mumbai. I could see myself living in India for a while. I could teach yoga, I could write for sure – I could do a million things! I love India, there’s such a feeling of untamed possibility there. These last twenty years have been an adventure, but perhaps it’s time to open a new and infinitely more compelling chapter. Life isn’t a dress-rehearsal, I’d hate to look back and say that I hadn’t lived it to the full.

Jubilee Trailer – Written and Directed by Doug Rao:

INTERVIEW

Creative Mapping © Copyright. All rights reserved.

Clemens Schick Showreel 2012

CM: Where did you grow up?
I grew up in the South of Germany because my parents met there and studied there. I grew up with lots of brothers and sisters which was a very nice start (to life). I did high school – which was a nightmare, then I started studying acting.

CM: How has your acting career progressed?
I did ten years of theatre and since 2006 moved more into the film business, so in the last seven years I understand myself more as a film actor than a theatre actor.

CM: Where did your passion for acting come from?
When I was twelve, I read a book about an artist, a circus artist, and I got hit by it. Then there was a theatre group in our school and I joined it at fifteen and spent two years in that group… then I went to another theatre group in Stuttgart; they had a great collaboration between the State Theatre of Stuttgart and some youth organization, a theatre group with students where you were meeting once or twice a week and developing your own theatre pieces and plays. I was there for three years and when I finished high school I went directly to acting school. I never asked myself what I wanted to be because it was always sort of obvious.

Photogaphy © credits: Micha Meinhardt and Geography of the Hapless Heart

Creative Mapping © Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

CM: What was your experience of acting school?
I realised it was totally boring, so superficial, so narcissistic – always dealing with yourself. It’s a part of studying acting, you have to go through this process – but I thought it was boring. I was thinking a lot about life, what I wanted to do with my life, and I realised I wanted to be more radical… and that’s why after a year of acting I decided to go into a monastery in the middle of France.

CM: What compelled you to make this unconventional choice?
I think Capitalism is totally boring because everyone is working for his own goals, working for his own interests, and in the end lots of people have to suffer because of that, lots of people have to suffer because of the luxury we live in. Everything is unbalanced. We are in this bubble in Europe, a bubble of luxury. We are world champions at ignoring what’s going on in the world – and I’m part of that, so I’m not talking about others, I’m talking about me as well. I realised I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to live for something higher, for an ideal, for a real passion. So I found this monastery which was close to Lyon in France – and found these people who had this great idea that it’s not about being Catholic, it’s not about being Protestant, it’s not about Anglican; there’s one belief. They were very open, they were very radical. Every year they checked how much money they had, how much money they needed – and the rest they gave away. And that’s how Christianity started, in a very radical way.

Creative Mapping caught up with Charles at MK2 offices in Paris recently to find out more about the work of a film producer and some of the challenges he faced making On The Road.

INTERVIEW

CM: Tell us a little more about your work and your background in film…
I produce feature films, a lot of international movies. I started out producing short films, I didn’t study that much – just two years in legal stuff. It was really interesting in the late ‘90s as all the new tools (computers, cameras, sound stuff) gave (filmmaker) the ability to go from sound to picture to video, so I was running with that kind of new wave of filmmaking; it was all about a meeting between music, cinema, art video.

CM: What makes a successful film producer?
It’s about having identity in your work and making sure when you add together all the movies you’re producing, it means something. You start by working with a director or scriptwriter and you feel confident about and you try to make things concrete and to find the best people to work with them… and you have to be able to talk to them about the budget the (marketing) strategy, all the things that the artist doesn’t want to touch. So you have to translate into that field to find the money and the people to do the work.

CM: How do you choose a film you want to produce? Is it from the script?
I’m not that good at starting from the script – it’s all about directors for me, so it’s meeting somebody you want to work with, someone whose eye (vision) tells you something.

CM: What are some of the biggest challenges of your work?
We just produced the film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s book On The Road with director Walter Salles – and that was very difficult because you want to keep the lightness and craziness of that story and keep true to the history. There were big stars and a lot of pressure on the project.. for the American industry it was about an un-adaptable project/book with drugs, sex and rock and roll, so very tricky for the box office.. very difficult at every level. For me personally it was also very tough, we got the rights (to the book) and because of the actors and the nature of those rights we had to shoot the film three months later, whatever happened. So we had to prepare and finance within three months; I went to Montreal to prepare in May and said I’d be back in two days – I came back in December! That’s the kind of thing you do one time in your life.

CM: In a practical sense, how do you work with a director?
You have to make sure you discuss everything; the script, the characters, the way the film’s going to be shot – and the best way is to talk about the economic matters through cinema. If we’re talking about a big crew and everything, it’s going to change the way actors play – it’s going to be slower. You don’t just say why do you want to use such expensive things (equipment), it’s not an interesting discussion and you don’t learn more about the film you’re producing, but if you’re going to talk about how they use the camera, what are you trying to get from the actor etc… you’re working on the budget and at the same time you’re working on the (creative vision of the) movie.

CM: Does the budget put constraints on the script?
You have to have constraints which are creative – so what kind of constraints are good for the movie? Knowing the director, knowing what he’s done before… if his last film didn’t do so well, then the industry is seeing him like he’s fallen a bit, or he’s had a big success…. you try to bring him into different spaces and different fields because it’s what is good for him and that’s where he’s going to make the best movie. It’s also about trust to because if you say to a famous director ‘let’s do a $2million movie’, he has to trust that you are doing it because you’re looking for the best movie – and not because you’re trying to save as much money as possible.

CM: Is there is a specific style to the way you work or the films you produce?
It’s as complex as human beings, we are looking for filmmakers who have a contemporary eye on life in a very universal way.

Grand Theft Parsons – Trailer

Tell us briefly who you are and what you do.
I’m a writer. Over the years, I have written films (including GRAND THEFT PARSONS), television (BAD SANTAS), video games (BATTLEFIELD 2: MODERN COMBAT) and I have a novel coming out in the late summer. I’ve also been commissioned to start work on a musical stageplay, which will happen later in the year.

How did you become a screenwriter? What was the journey from finishing your studies to being here today?
I left school at sixteen and had a variety of jobs until I started my ‘proper working life’ as an advertising copywriter and eventually ended up as the co-creative director of a large communications agency called Visage. Then, completely bored with the concept of writing something in the fewest possible words, I left and became a full-time screenwriter. It wasn’t actually a good time to do this as money was tight and my son had just been born, but I had managed to get an option on the true story which became GRAND THEFT PARSONS and I used that as an excuse to jump ship.

How did that come about?
Years before, I had heard a fantastic story about a guy who stole his best friend’s body and cremated it in the desert to fulfill a promise each had made to the other. When I discovered that the dead guy was Gram Parsons and the Burner was still around, I called him up and asked him for an option. (The Burner, not Gram Parsons, obviously.) The guy was called Phil Kaufman and he tried to get rid of me by saying ‘I don’t talk on the phone, so you’ll have to drop by’, knowing that as I was in Surrey and he was in Nashville, that wasn’t likely to happen. Except that I didn’t realize it was a brush-off and flew over the next day. My return flight wasn’t booked for another three days, so I pretty much moved in and bored the rights out of him!

Can you elaborate on what it is you do?
I just write. Generally, I come up with an idea, spend weeks working it up, months writing it and years trying to get it sold. Like most creatives, I’m pretty useless at everything else – but I can write.

When writing a film or show or game, are the scripts or ideas brought to you, or do you actively seek out new material to develop?
Generally, I come up with my own ideas, although sometimes I’ll be asked to adapt something. On rare occasions, I have polished other peoples’ work – this pays well and isn’t hard, but feels a bit like cheating. I prefer to start with a blank page and go from there…

How do you know when you’re onto a winning idea?
Unfortunately, not until the work is finished and I go back for a read after a couple of weeks of allowing it to percolate. I have thrown away scripts which took six months to write because they just didn’t work, which is pretty wrenching. Also, my idea of winning is often no-one else’s idea of winning, although I am always right. Mostly.

How long does it take to bring a script idea to fruition, from the initial concept to completion and handing over to the producer?
About four months. I spend a very long time on the step outline, which will end up as a list of every scene in the right order – hopefully containing the right words – but without dialogue. Perhaps six weeks on that, then another six on the dialogue, two weeks percolating and then a two-week polish. If you are writing for producers, they may stipulate a first draft in three months, which is actually pretty tight – as screenwriters don’t ever show anyone a first draft.

What do you want to achieve with your films and the stories you write? The bigger picture so to speak?
With all my writing – not just the films – the aim is twofold: To entertain and to earn enough money to get by. Neither are easy, if I’m honest.

What are some of the challenges you face as a writer?
Going back to the last answer, I would say that actually making a living is the biggest challenge. I’ve done pretty well over the years, but I can still go a whole year without income, which is scary and impacts on my creativity in quite an alarming way. In broader terms, I was finding it hard to even get my British scripts read, such is the parlous state of the British Film Industry (sic.)

I tend to write bigger, more overtly commercial projects, and they don’t easily get funded here – which sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? If you write a film about life on a northern council estate, you can get public development money which isn’t available if you write about a diamond heist in Mayfair. Once I switched to writing films set in the States, things became immeasurably easier.

Which directors or actors do you especially admire right now?
I’ve always liked Fincher and the late Tony Scott. (He’s dead, but I still admire him – so that’s allowed, right?) I can see these are pretty unadventurous choices, but I tend to admire the scripts, rather than their directors.

What are your three favourite scripts?
I love the script for SE7EN, which is perfection – where else would the bad guy give himself up after the second act and the tension still build to a fantastic reveal? The first two GODFATHER films are wonderful, of course – perfect exercises in the exposure of character and the relentless build of conflict and drama. And ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST is gloriously, riotously perfect.

When you’ve finished writing a film script, are you ever truly satisfied with the end results or are you always tweaking and perfecting?
I tweak a lot. Because I spend so long on structure beforehand, I tend to rewrite less than do many others once the first draft is complete – but I’ll normally tweak dialogue, cut extraneous scenes and finesse the thing to death. My last script had twenty-eight draft numbers before it sold, but the changes between each version weren’t that massive. Of course, a lot depends upon the notes you get and often you’ll make changes which you aren’t especially happy with, because the people who are paying for the work want you to do them. That’s the nature of the beast.

What work are you most proud of in your career so far?
I think the last script I delivered is my best work so far. It’s called THE DROP and is in ‘real-time’, which is something I’ve been trying to get right for years. I hope I’ve nailed it this time, which means that the hook doesn’t constrain the entertaining telling of the story. If you watch it, I hope you’ll decide that there was no other way to tell it…

Is writer’s block ever an issue? If so how do you deal with that?
The rather structured approach I take to screenwriting means that once I have my extensive step-outline, I always know what I’m going to be writing next. I do often have problems with constructing that initial outline, although that is less ‘writers block’ and more ‘how the hell can I make this work?’

What advice would you give to young screenwriters starting out?
Don’t write what you know. Everyone always says ‘write what you know’, but that’s insane advice. Write something extraordinary – something that you HAVEN’T seen! (Although you should expose emotions in your characters which you are comfortable with, I suppose.)

What would a dream film collaboration in film be for you?
I would love to write for David Fincher, with Michael Shannon and Natalie Portman in the cast.

5 favorite music tracks that help you work?
I listen to music constantly whilst I work. Looking back at my playlist, I can see lots of action around the Soundtrack to Cabaret, plenty of Dirty Sweet, some Urban Voodoo Machine, quite a bit of Stones & Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – and a decent sprinkling of the Dropkick Murphys. (I cheated the numbers slightly there, didn’t I?)

If you had to live another life entirely, what would you be doing – and why?
That’s a very difficult question to answer. I love to write – but if I couldn’t, I would like to direct. As I can’t actually do that, I suppose I would have stayed in advertising; something which made me lots of money but offered little challenge and absolutely no pleasure. Thank god for words…

Creative Mapping caught up with Jérôme and Louis, two of the members of Clownage, to find out how they work at a team and how their respective rock hearts burn to play live.

INTERVIEW

Creative Mapping © Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

CM: Jerome you work as a sound engineer – how easy is it to work on your own music?
Jerome: It’s something I really don’t like – I don’t like to mix (my) work with Clownage. So we worked with Mike Major, a famous producer (At The Drive In, Sparta etc..). It’s better for me that someone else mixes the music and brings a new eye to our work.

CM: Does being a sound engineer change the way you write and produce music?
Jerome: Yeah of course, we always think about the sound – we try new things and will try more in the future the way we record, the way we write songs. We were working a lot at the beginning with computers, trying a guitar and sampled drums, then we work with the band.

CM: What inspires you to write a song? How does the process start?
Louis: A mood, a story with a girlfriend, anger, melancholy, it’s always about the mood.

Creative Mapping © Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

CM: So when you write a song do you start with words or music?
Louis: It starts with the music. We play guitar, we exchange ideas, play the riff and build the song together but sometimes when he (Jerome) is uninspired I go to him or he comes to me with a whole song – almost.
Jérôme: There are three ways for us to write, when we write a song together, sometimes we write our own songs and sometimes it comes from the band – something comes out of the chaotic energy and I personally love that kind of writing process.

CM: Why are your lyrics written in English?
Jerome: Most of the music we listen to comes from England or the US – that’s our influence. With this band, which is strong rock and roll, we want the attention on that (the sound). When you write in French, you get the attention on the lyrics. It’s not that the lyrics aren’t important, we just don’t want people to focus on this – (we want them) to feel the music – then discover the lyrics.

CM: Louis are you passionate about playing guitar?
Louis: I think I don’t have passion for my guitar but…
Jérôme: You don’t sleep with it?
Louis: (laughs) No – I used to. I use it as a tool. I’m not a tremendous guitar player, and I’ll never be. But I love the instrument because you can do many things; you can play using the strings, you can scratch them, tap on them and create sounds you never thought about before – so it’s a tool for me.
Jerome: You can do anything with a guitar with all the sounds you can create, with the pedals and computers – there is no ending to its creativity. The piano used to be the keyboard and was the reference for all kinds of songs – now you can do that with a guitar too.

CM: What’s your musical genre?
Indie rock. Alternative rock. Strong music – but always with a melody.

CM: Is there a healthy French rock scene?
Louis: There’s a huge hole in France in the rock scene – there is no rock scene.

CM: Tell us about your new album Trails. Is there an emotional theme to it?
Louis: You can find songs like Tyson, Trails or Queen. They are all very different songs, different themes and atmospheres and it’s about personality.

CM: How important is playing live for Clownage?
It’s the reason we play music. It’s where we have the most fun, where you can be challenged. We spend so much time in the rehearsal studio that (on stage) we want to explode!

CLOWNAGE – TRAIL

Creative Mapping © Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

Sultry New York-based actress Juliette Bennett is one of the lucky ones. She began acting just a few years back, and already has over ten indie films under her belt, either as the lead or supporting actress. She’s also won several awards, including Best Actress at the Manhattan Film Festival, Best Actor in a Comedy & Best Actor in a Short Film at San Francisco’s ‘Best Actor in a Film Festival’.

Creative Mapping caught up with Juliette to find out more about what makes an actor tick:

READ MORE

Photography © credits:
Kelley Van Dill – Jennifer-Stepany – Damien Mardel – Alan Glaze – Paloma Pargac – Pavel Antonov.

Creative Mapping © Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

“I THINK YOU NEED TO BE COURAGEOUS IN LIFE. I’M AN ACTOR BECAUSE I LIKE TO BE COURAGEOUS AND CHALLENGED WITHOUT ACTUALLY GETTING KILLED DOING IT.”

ABOUT JULIETTE

Did you study acting, if so, where?
Michael Howard Studios and the Michael Chekhov Acting Studio. At Michael Howard, I studied scene study, vocal production, sense memory, Alexander Technique, and Shakespeare. I also took classes and am in an ongoing workshop group with the wonderful Lenard Petit at the Michael Chekhov Acting Studio which is a psycho-physical approach to acting.

How did you get into acting?
I was first a dancer and then got into acting after a narrative drama I was in called “The Other Woman.”

What kind of work do you do as an actress?
I currently have a lot of film work but hope to doing a play as there is nothing quite like a live performance. My work is to tell stories with my body, the way an artist works with a paint brush. It takes practice every day. Luck is a skill!

Your favourite role so far?
A Serbo-Croatian cook, who does “other things” to make money she can only hint at on her ‘cooking show’. It was a fun role.

I got a lot of laughs for the role of Tulip in “The Couple.” I play an New York actor who changes and wants to move to LA after the success of her first Indie film.

Congratulations on your Best Actress win at the Manhattan film festival!
I was really honoured that I won Best Actress at this festival, which showed 132 films at the beautiful Symphony Space.

Any interesting roles you have coming up you can tell us about?
I have been cast in a feisty role for an upcoming Mike Canzoniero feature film called ‘Cagney Cried’ starring Steve Randazzo and Louise Lasser. I’m also cast in another feature called “Words” about an alternative reality.

CREATIVE PROCESS

How do you prepare for a role, is it different every time?
My teacher Lenard Petit said acting is an artistic lie that you make a truth. I find many different ways to find that truth.

Do you ever experience creative blocks?
If I am thinking about what I should be doing rather than doing it, I’m blocked. I avoid that.

Tell us more about the casting process.
I go to a audition before casting directors, or with directors and just do my best and try not to worry about it.

Who and what inspires you?
I get inspired by anything new; dancing and singing, reading great books and meeting interesting people. Some actors I love to watch are Ingrid Bergman, Simon Signoret and Liv Ullmann.

Do you think you need courage as an actor?
I think you need to be courageous in life. I’m an actor because I like to be courageous and challenged without actually getting killed doing it.

Is chemistry important with the people you work with?
Yes, chemistry is so important, so is the imagination.

Do you have to memorise lines ‘ how hard or easy is it?
I think memory is like physical exercise and the more you memorise, the easier it gets. I’m not sure there’s one way to memorise, but I like to learn new songs, texts, tongue twisters, just to keep my brain alive.

I was in Theatre Masters “Top Ten” where John Lithgow chooses ten minute plays for actors to perform in only a day or so. I had a very long monologue to recite while walking on someone’s back at the same time.

CREATIVE LIFE

Are you a member of any industry groups or clubs?
I’m a member of New York Women in Film and Television and The Players Club.

What makes you so passionate about acting?
I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life and I’m passionate about life. I’ve always been interested in human psychology and myths and love being a part to telling stories that inspire and entertain.

What is your acting goal?
I’d like to continue to do creative work and entertaining projects that I can be proud of.

What would be your dream project?
I’d love to work with an Elia Kazan-like director. His films were about elemental passions, nothing complicated.

Material:
I’m not getting my stories from books, they’re more inspired by the people I meet. I just like to experience the human behaviour and show that in my movies.

Jack has been responsible for stills on some of the most exciting, award-winning films around; Fifth Element, Nil by Mouth, Joan of Arc, Tyrannosaur and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Directors he works with include Luc Besson, James Ivory (of Merchant Ivory) and Gary Oldman to name but a few.

And with his boundaries pushing beyond film, Jack has photographed celebrities from Audrey Tatou, Pete Townshend, Helena Christensen, and Andy Warhol to Chet Baker and Eric Clapton. His photographs, famous the world over for their ability to really capture the truth of their subject and wouldn’t be out of place in the National Portrait Gallery.

Some have been exhibited as part of a Paul Smith exhibition, traversing Berlin, Los Angeles, and New York.

In London recently, Creative Mapping met up with Jack who told us more about his collaborations, as well as the creative process he applies to the work that has resulted in a massively successful career spanning over two decades and counting.

JACK ENGLISH INTERVIEW

Creative Mapping © Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACK ENGLISH

Creative Mapping © Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

Furniture designer Jason Lewis is one of those rare souls who prides himself on very carefully designing and crafting each piece of furniture he brings to life, which is made to last a lifetime and beyond.

Creative Mapping spoke more with Jason about the process of design…. and the inspiration of his home city – Chicago:

READ MORE

Creative Mapping © Copyright. All rights reserved.

“MY MAIN FOCUS AND PHILOSOPHY AS A DESIGNER IS SIMPLICITY, I AM TRYING TO DO SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL AND UNIQUE BUT ALWAYS WITH A CONSCIOUS EFFORT NOT TO DO TOO MUCH. TO CREATE FURNITURE THAT IS LUXURIOUS BUT STILL FUNCTIONAL AND COMFORTABLE.”

ABOUT JASON

Can you tell us what you do?
I’m a woodworker and designer and run a custom furniture studio in Chicago IL. I produce and sell a line of my own original furniture designs and also do custom fabrication projects for residential and commercial clients. I also do some pure design work for other furniture manufacturers.

What did you study?
My study was primarily related to craft rather than design – I spent time as an apprentice to a woodworker here in Chicago, working in the shop on his projects and learning the technique and process of building wood furniture. Beyond that I am just self taught.

What was the journey to becoming an established designer?
Seems obvious, but it has really just been a process of designing and building a lot of stuff. I’ve been building up my catalogue over the course of ten years, it takes time to put together a body of work and experience.

Do you ever work from a brief? How do you begin developing your ideas?
It really varies from project to project. For custom work, sometimes a client will come to me with a full CAD drawing of something to be built – in that case, my input is mostly just construction related, making all the little decisions about how the piece will come together. Other times, a client will come to me with a rough sketch or just a general idea for something they need. In those cases it’s more of an interactive process where I take their input and do some concept drawings, then we go back and forth to work out the details of the function and design.

How do you document these ideas? Sketchbooks, models, computer programs?
Typically I start by just sketching really roughly, by hand, but my drawing ability is sadly limited. To do anything more fleshed out or detailed I use AutoCAD or, more often, Google Sketchup.

CREATIVE PROCESS

What materials do you use? What attracted you to working with these?
My primary materials are domestic hardwoods – Walnut, White Oak, Ash, etc. I love wood as a furniture material because it is, on the one hand, very solid, durable, authentic – and on the other hand, really beautiful and refined in a finished piece.

Tell us more about what’s involved in creating your furniture? What makes your pieces so unique?
All my furniture is built using traditional wood joinery – starting with rough material and carefully cutting pieces to fit together and hold with just glue, not really screws and nails. I think what makes my work unique is the level of hand work, the sculpting and shaping of a seat back or arm rest. Also, the overall attention to detail and execution.

What are the time frames involved in making a piece, from concept to completion?
This can vary pretty widely depending on the complexity of the piece… anywhere from two weeks to two months.

CREATIVE LIFE

What is your philosophy as a designer? What are you trying to create with your furniture?
My main focus and philosophy as a designer is simplicity, I am trying to do something beautiful and unique but always with a conscious effort not to do too much. My aim is to create furniture that is luxurious but still functional and comfortable.

What inspires your work in your city?
Chicago is full of amazing builders, fabricators, manufacturers, ranging from individual craftsmen to big hundred year old companies. A great resource, but also a source of inspiration for me – I am inspired by people who do great work.

Does sustainability affect your work?
My work doesn’t have an overt ‘green’ focus, but I’ve always felt that I make sustainable products. One reason is the careful production process, these pieces are made individually by hand which allows for judicious use of material and little waste. The other is the overall quality and longevity of the product – this not disposable furniture, it’s meant to be used and passed on.

Who would you love to collaborate with in the future? What does the future hold?
I’m hoping to work more in the coming years with showrooms and retailers and expand production on my furniture line.

- D&AD Awards 2009 Winner in Illustration

- NYF 2009 Print Bronze

- CLIO Awards 2009 Print Bronze

- RED DOT DESIGN AWARD 2008 Best of the Best

- EPICA Awards 2008 Press & Poster Silver

- CANNES LIONS 2008 Design Silver

- CFEVA Fellowship 2006 ‘ 2007

- International Animation Film Festival 1988 Best Art Director Prize, Paris, France

- OISTT competition ”The Tour Theatre” 1986 Second Prize, Stockholm, Sweden

- UNESCO ”Rehabilitation of a Decayed Urban Environment” 1982 Third Prize, Poland World Architectural Biennale ”The New Urban Space” 1980 Second Prize, Bulgaria.

Impressed? We are.

Now based in Philadelphia (where he also worked as a stained glass designer and architect), Mark Khaisman is a colourful character with a totally unique approach to creativity. Creative Mapping caught up with him to chat about inspirations and artistic processes.

Creative Mapping © Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

“MY WORKS ARE ALWAYS IMAGES OF IMAGES. THEY’RE ABOUT RECOGNITION: RECOGNITION OF A TACTILE SENSATION OF THE MATERIAL I USE, RECOGNITION OF AN IMAGE, RECOGNITION OF A MEMORY. THEY’RE VERY MUCH PLAY-IT-AGAIN; IT IS THE VERY ESSENCE OF MY WORK. I DON’T DO SKETCHES, MY WORKS ARE TAPE SKETCHES IN A WAY.”

ABOUT MARK

Where do you live – and what did you study?
I live in Philadelphia – and studied at Moscow Architectural Institute (now State academy of Architecture)

Your creative medium?
I do fine art.

How did you become a professional creative, who are your clients and finally how do you market yourself?
I started to be involved with fine art from my college years. Usually my clients are art collectors or art institutions. I don’t market myself – I work with galleries.

CREATIVE PROCESS

Preferred working programmes/tools/materials?
Packing tape, blade, clear plexiglass, light.

What is your process; from inspiration to development to the execution of your product?
My process is:

1. Finding the right image. I always have a plan. I go by motivation: I conceive an idea and live with it, and if, in a while, it still feels right to me, I start looking for images. I use movie stills, my own photographs, images from books, images from internet. My works are always images of images. They’re about recognition: recognition of a tactile sensation of the material I use, recognition of an image, recognition of a memory. They’re very much play-it-again; it is the very essence of my work. I don’t do sketches, my works are tape sketches in a way.

2. Execution in tape. I apply a stripe of brown translucent tape on a clear backlit acrylic panel, and if I don’t like it, peel it off. If I peel off less frequently than apply, a chance is that an image emerges. The whole process is reminiscent to the red room photo development in the pre-digital era in a way, as my hands do the job, and my mind is witnessing the appearance of the image, then the only concern becomes to not under – or overdevelop it.

When do you know your project is finished and are you ever truly satisfied with the end product?
I work till I am satisfied, if I’m not satisfied, I destroy the work. The work is finished when I no longer want to work on it. I feel that work is completed when I no longerunderstand how it’s done, when it doesn’t feels that it is my work, when it feels as if ithas a life of its own.

What are you most proud of to-date?
I came back to fine art when I was about 45, after almost 20 years intermission for various reasons, and was still able to get somewhere. I guess it’s an achievement in today’s world.

CREATIVE LIFE

Your biggest challenges as a creative (blocks, loneliness etc…) and how you deal with it?
I deal with it by not seeing my art activity as meaningful to begin with. I do art because I like to do it, to feel good and to make a few bucks at the end. When I’m working, the biggest challenge is for me to free my mind from everything, except for what I am doing at that moment. When I’m finished working, I also like to free myself from what I’ve done.

Best place to escape?
1. In a swimming pool.

2. On the couch with good wine, good dinner and good movie.

What inspires you creatively the most in your city?
Philadelphia is a nice place, but I don’t find inspiration from reality. It might have something to do with my Soviet upbringing. I was growing up without expectation to see much outside of the Iron Curtain; probably this is when imaginary replaced reality. I’m after an Imaginary City

Listen here:

Stay by me

Walk with me

Our child

You know me

INTERVIEW PART ONE

Creative Mapping © Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

CM: How did you become a musician and singer?
When I was very young, around four or five, I was very into music… my father was very into music. I was taught the flute… I’d go to the stairway where there was some reverb – and I’d just stand there in the dark playing the flute hours. When I left school I went to music school and met a guy called Romain Tranchart. He was a friend I used to see from time to time and I heard him say he wanted to make some electronic music and he’d bought a sampler etc.. So (we got together) and made the song ‘Lady’ and some of his friends said to take the track to record companies, and we did and it (the song) became very famous – and that was Modjo. After (Modjo) I wanted to make my own music and then Yann Destal (solo act) was born.

CM: What was your journey to becoming a professional singer/songwriter? What does music mean to you?
When I was little, I thought real music was instrumental…. and if you put a voice on it it’s like a parasite or something because music has to be a language disconnected from reality, and if you put a voice with it, it’s too close to the normal way of communicating.

Creative Mapping © Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.
Photography credits © Diane Navarro.

CM: What other musicians or music inspires you?
I like to listen to music from films and, I don’t know why, but synthesiser music, Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre and so on. If you get into it and you listen to it with your headphones with your eyes closed before going to sleep, you find yourself in a another world, another galaxy. I was fully into it and was travelling very far away with this music. I don’t really know what inspiration is about, I have some artists I listen to, like a model if I want to do the same – I do my own thing but like to know how someone else does it. It (the inspiration) may be from way back, another time.

CM: What is it you do musically speaking?
I compose music, write the lyrics and play the instruments.