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How did you get started in filmmaking? 

Right, well— first of all, I was born in Brooklyn, grew up in Queens, then began going to the movies in the city as early as four. Retro houses etc. Taken by my Dad. So by fifth grade I’ve seen Mean Streets, 400 Blows, The Last Waltz— Waltz is where I witnessed my first jump cut, heard Scorsese’s voice on the track, before even Godard, so I understand right away that a director is making these. A person’s vision at the wheel, experimenting, guiding, building the film with their literal hands. Later, through experience, I’d learn about crews, departments, collaborators. But that’s later. 

So the early films you loved were…

Yeah, the seventies auteurs. But, like, also poets, authors, all of it, music— you go by indexes. Dylan leads to Ginsberg leads to Rimbaud leads to Baudelaire etc. All roads back to Blake. But then to Japanese literature, to Kurosawa. To Sergio Leone. Peckinpah. Katy Jurado. Forty Guns so Barbara Stanwyck. Dizzying. But that’s my teens. Listening to Lou Reed, following his music to a soundtrack for a Wim Wenders movie, so to Wings Of Desire… to Bruno Ganz, Dennis Hopper, it’s goes on and on— still going… 

Cassavetes…?

Okay so the nineties, incredibly furtive time for Indies, so Kim’s Video, this basement haven for all things film, becomes life blood for me. VHS. Big plastic cases. I’m seeing Indian Runner at The Angelika. Dogma. Sayles. Lone Star. Mamet. American Buffalo, so now I’m once again in the indexes. It’s Pope Of Greenwich Village. The Harder They Come. But Cassavetes’ shelf is always empty because people are ripping him from the walls like toilet paper in twenty twenty. I’m snatching them as they come in. Woman. Bookie. Minnie Moskowitz. Love Streams is like some dream you had. I’m saving money for the late fees because I need real time with these videos. I may never see them again!  Who would just return Shadows? Faces? No. That’s gold. Worth the fees.

How do you enter the professional world?

As a New York actor.  Studied. Worked on stage. Then Law and Order, all of that. Big parts in Indie films. Tiny parts in studio films. But I’m also always writing. Directing theatre. Then I get a part in a film called The Undeserved. Eventually, I’m re writing that script with the director, producing it, crewing it up, I sell it to IFC, we have a nice release so I’m learning by doing. I begin to meet the best filmmakers of that time, any time really. Just by being around. Paying attention. Trying to be of service. So, my mantra becomes— if I’m not the smartest guy in any particular room then find who is then go stand next to them, see if I can help. Journeyman. So when that guy is Paul Thomas Anderson, we become friends. I’m watching laser discs of Vincent And Theo with him into the night then breaking down Bad Day At Black Rock in the morning. I meet Abel Ferrara, work on scripts with him. Then I meet Tom McCarthy which changes the game. He becomes a best friend, a mentor. Eventually I go write The Cobbler. I’m there through the entire process. Rewriting every day. Rehearsing Buscemi, Dustin Hoffman, Ellen Barkin— Sandler, who I meet for the first time. I work with every department. Adam takes major notice, brings me to LA— so now I’m writing a big weird Hollywood movie version of Candyland the game for Hasbro and Sony— but then the Sony hack happens. Adam makes that unprecedented deal with Netflix, which was barely a studio at the time, so now I’m at the threshold of the new streaming world. We make three movies in a year and a half including Sandy Wexler which I originated. Very special. Then the touring. Then Leo. My move back to NY. So much in between. I’m grateful. But I should stop talking…

New York City

December 1, 2023