Why one young filmmaker found he had to leave Hollywood to start making movies. (Part 4 of the series Art Outside the City)
by Lauren Silverman Durban, writer
Alexander Jeffery is one of those enviable young people with big talent and even bigger dreams. At 24 years old, his films have started receiving international attention, most recently winning him the Rising Star in Filmmaking Award at the 2012 Canada International Film Festival. He even looks the part of "fresh-faced young filmmaker". (It's totally the glasses.)
Alexander Jeffery
So it shouldn’t be surprising that, after graduating from the Johnny Carson School at the University of Nebraska with dual degrees in Theater and Film, this native Canadian didn’t go home. He did what young actors and filmmakers are supposed to do-- packed his life into his car and drove to Los Angeles. “Because film is in LA, right?”
He got an agent, did various industry jobs both in front of and behind the camera, and learned the lessons about surviving as an actor in LA. But after the film he made as his senior thesis started gaining traction in the film festival circuit, he found his attention refocusing. He started wondering if devoting his time and energy toward acting was really what he wanted.
“And suddenly the people who I loved and trusted most were confirming these feelings that I hadn’t even said out loud. They were saying Alex, you’re a filmmaker. This is what you do.”
That realization led to another one-- it was time for another move.
“For actors, you do have to be in a big market. But I’ve always needed to make things, and LA is not a city to make things. LA is a business town. For a true independent filmmaker, it can seem impossible to make things there.”
So, a year and a half after his initial move to LA, Alex packed everything back into his car and came back to Nebraska. While it certainly doesn’t seem like the obvious choice for a young Canadian filmmaker, he thinks it’s exactly where he’s supposed to be.
“We have free reign to get better here. Technology has caught up to the point where we can get the images anywhere. Here, I can write, I can shoot, I can even distribute independently. There’s a talent pool here, but I can bring talent in if I need to. And I can do it all on a small enough budget that I don’t have to compromise what I’m trying to do.”
When he says small budget, Alex isn’t kidding-- he just completed his first feature-length film, One Way, for a whopping $6,000. He refers to it as “entrepreneurial filmmaking”, and says that, at this point in his career, the small budgets allow him to keep the focus on the work.
“There’s a work ethic I like in the Midwest, whereas sometimes LA felt like a lot of talk. You just roll up your sleeves and do it here.”
And now that he knows that, he wants other artists to know it too. His next goal is to raise the bar on what theater and film are in the Midwest by bringing people in and showing them what he’s discovered.
“Films are being shot. New plays are being produced. A huge advertising community is bringing in all these young, cool people. And I want to make movies here.”
LAUREN SILVERMAN DURBAN
is a freelance writer, former tv news anchor, mom of 3 tiny humans, musical theater fanatic, native Los Angelino, and guacamole enthusiast living in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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