Q and A Transcribed
Interviewer:
So we’re here with a question and answer session with Mark Murphy notable film and TV director episode one. Now we’re going to talk to Mark about an introduction to his life and early work so, welcome Mark how are you?
Mark Murphy Director:
I’m okay thank you very much I apologize in advance if the Amazon delivery turns up in the middle of this.
Interviewer:
Don’t worry, it just makes it more realistic okay? So Mark when did you get started when did film and television as a career become, I suppose an early aspiration and then a reality?
Mark Murphy Director:
The specific point where I knew I wanted to be a film director was when I saw Batman in 1989, the best version with Michael Keaton. I was in the cinema during the trailers there was an
advert for Carling, Black Label, where they had a riff on King Arthur throwing the sword into the lake and the way it was shot was so beautiful, even though it was just a pastiche advert, it was just the way it was shot and set up the mood, it just engaged me to the point I was like “I want to do that.” Then following that when the film started I was like yeah I want to
do that.
The film was the first film I’d ever seen that really sort of sucked me in. I was about 12 at that point when I realized this was what I wanted to do. I thought it was a pipe dream so I thought well it would be lovely to be that but let’s be realistic. So I thought I’m gonna follow in my Dad’s
shoes, which is to be a pilot because I love travelling, but then I realised the qualifications I’d need, things like physics, I absolutely sucked at. When I was about 17 I went up to a film School
up in Yorkshire and got offered an unconditional place there so I was like “okay well let’s let’s give this a go” and this was in the middle of my A-levels so from that point on I actually just completely gave up. In fact, so much so that in my maths uh a level I decided to
have a sleep after answering half a question. I just thought that there’s absolutely no point I’ve got this I’m wasting my time here and to this day I’ve never been asked to provide what A-level results I’ve had.
Interviewer:
I mean it doesn’t have a lot of bearing in a lot of Industries doesn’t it let’s be honest.
Mark Murphy Director:
Well because I went to film school, not a university because back then there wasn’t a lot of practical courses in the way there are now because obviously, equipment was a lot cheaper back then. There wasn’t really a thing as digital cameras it was all either tape format or films and the same with editing. There were very few places that we’re offering that and that’s obviously what I wanted that’s when I knew and after graduating I did work in film but at the sort of a bottom rung as a runner. I didn’t like that so much, or rather I was impatient so I thought I was gonna make my own way there and I shot a 30-minute film then this being 1997. Again no high def digital cameras, I shot on super 16 mil I was like “great, here we go this is my calling card. ” I got it onto TV onto ITV and then nothing happened for about eight years.
We had no idea what I was doing. I had an agent who didn’t really operate within, well she operated within TV but not for directors, and so I just kind of floated around, having to take Jobs here there and everywhere until I decided to sort of re-invent myself. I learned how to edit, started working on as many low budget projects as I could to build up the CV, and then managed to get a gig when I was 28, directing a six-part drama documentary series on Casanova. This was an excellent learning opportunity because I made so many mistakes and it was a great opportunity to actually see, okay these are all the things you shouldn’t be doing, which I understood very well. I started doing filming when I was 35 in about 2012. That’s when I managed to focus on one genre as it were or part of production and that’s what I’ve stayed in since – film production
Interviewer:
You write as well don’t you as well as filming is that correct ?
Mark Murphy Director:
Yeah, I mean unless you’ve got a career in something like commercials or an established filmmaking career, it’s actually very hard to make a name for yourself, and even harder to have someone put money into a script. You then need them to say “you know what we’d like you to direct this” so quite often you have to make your own luck and create your own opportunity. If you’ve got your own script, then at least you can try and raise money off that. Otherwise you are sort of counting on the charity of other script writers to give you something. You can tell and the reality is if people are going to let you have their script for basically nothing. It’s usually because it’s not an experienced writer who’s written it, so it’s better to create your own opportunity and after a while it just became habit.
Interviewer:
You said you found your own niche, you found the thing, the bit of film that you love?
Mark Murphy Director:
Yes, the first two that I did, the first one was a horror, the second an almost psychological thriller and I realized I’m really not any good at horror. The last three films I did were comedies. That seems to be a happier fit, usually unromantic comedies, but comedy anyway and that seems to be where my strength lies.
Interviewer:
Do you think that most filmmakers go through that sort of evolution? You’re trying a few different things and then you find the one that really really suits you?
Mark Murphy Director:
No and I mean, it’s not that I did a horror because I thought that’s what I might be good at. I did a horror because that’s what I was able to do. Horror is basically a cheaper genre to film, you don’t need big names. you can do it in less locations and the budgets for horrors tend to be significantly lower than other genres, so that was the reason it went into to horror. I think most people go into filmmaking knowing the genre that they’re sort of keen on, because they connect to various films that inspire them, and that’s what sort of leads them to to go down that genre.
That being said, films that inspire me aren’t necessarily comedies, so in my case yeah I think it was a bit of dabbling to see what works for me, but that being said there are some scripts that I’ve written which are drama and there’s even one which still comedy but it has a bit more action in it.
Interviewer:
But surely that’s part of an evolution as well that you grow and your projects go grow and change also?
Mark Murphy Director:
Yes, but when you’re playing with that much money you shouldn’t be, you know exploring your potential with someone else’s money to that degree. You should sort of have a little bit more of a foundation beforehand. I’m sort of impatient, so I was like okay here’s an opportunity, I’m just going to grab it whether I’m right for it or not. The first film I did was very low budget, so there were no expectations, but by the second one, it was like “Okay this is money we need to make money back on this” so that one was okay. It’s actually got a small fan following funnily enough.
Interviewer:
Do you feel a sense of responsibility to your financial backers?
Basically yes, I mean as anyone should you know, it’s for two reasons. They’ve put the money in, they’ve taken a leap of faith in you, so there is a responsibility to give them money back, but from a selfish point of view if you don’t give them their money back you’re not going to be getting more money from them, and you’ll get a name for someone who’s losing people money. I mean it’s hard enough to get investment in film at the best of times, it is poison to investors. So yeah, you don’t want to be someone who loses people money otherwise that’s a career over.
Interviewer:
That is the case and is that the biggest pressure as a filmmaker, the funding and then the returning that investment?
Mark Murphy Director:
No, I mean the toughest thing in filmmaking is getting money, money is the most important thing in film. In terms of making money back, if you’ve done a decent film, then you know that’s all you can do at the end of the day. After that it’s down to the sales agents and distributors to do their job. Of course, it’s inevitable that if the film doesn’t sell, there’s gonna be finger pointing and it is going to come down to the film rather than was the sales agent or distributor capable or not, so there is, but like I say once you’ve done the film there’s nothing else you can do but keep your fingers crossed and hope that the other people handle it well.
Interviewer:
What type of movie inspires you? What do you turn to for inspiration?
Mark Murphy Director:
I don’t know I mean, in some ways I look at things for inspiration you know, if I’ve got a project of mine. Usually, I’ll avoid films that might be inspiring if I’m working on a certain project, because then you might find yourself imitating it without realising. Sometimes it’s a good idea to avoid them. If there’s a film that makes you feel something emotionally, and it takes you into the moment, then that’s all the inspiration you need really. Whatever the genre, it’s usually about the character and and that particular story arc, which can be applied to so many different genres and situations There’s really not that many films that I find inspiring, I used to go to the cinema three times a week, I’ll go maybe three times a year now. There’s a lack of inspiration at the moment put it that way.
Interviewer:
Do you have an old favourite movie, one that you will always see as your favourite?
Mark Murphy Director:
I have a top four that’s always there. No one can have a favorite film but my top four are Jaws which is an unbelievable film no matter what people say. Thin Red Line which is a fantastic film and I’m saying that one next because the next two are gonna sound cheesy. Batman for obvious reasons, as I said that was the film that, you know got a 12 year old me excited for Cinema. Conan the Barbarian, now that obviously sounds like I must have cheese for brains or something, but it was written by Oliver Stone so the script is good, it was before Arnold was Arnold so there were no pithy one-liners or stupid kind of cheesy looks to camera or anything that followed after that. It’s a John Milius director film and he did amazing films like Big Wednesday and he wrote Apocalypse Now. I mean this is a really sort of special pedigree of filmmakers that were behind it. It is just an incredible film, I mean I think Arnie has about 20 lines in the entire thing, but I definitely recommend people check it out. Yeah for me I just think it’s just it is an incredible bit of movie making, there’s actually a fifth one and it probably supersedes most of those. Se7en, I think that’s an incredible movie that draws you in.
Interviewer:
If you if you were sat in front of a class of aspiring film makers, or scriptwriters even, where would you start them off in terms of advice? What would be the things you would say to them?
Mark Murphy Director:
I mean it’s tough really, I mean you can sort of give sort of more clerical advice, like you know look at the market, who’s your audience, what is it that studios would want to put money in, what sells. Don’t write something that no one’s going to watch, but then at the same time know your strength. If you’ve got a a personal story that only you can tell, then do that as well. I think for a bit of advice I’d give going forward, is just the format of how you do it. I used to sit down and just write a script, you shouldn’t do that, you spend proper time going through a treatment. Write out the skeleton of the film, write out the the storyline subplots etc for the characters, and just be able to see if it makes sense. See what’s missing, see how characters are in interacting. Once you’ve got that then writing the script is basically just fleshing out the dialogue, which is going to be a lot easier. My second bit of advice is when you get to the script writing stage, just write until the end, don’t start stop in terms of do 20 pages and then go back and read it, otherwise it’s gonna get very stilted. It’s like, I don’t know, cutting your hair, doing it half and then thinking actually I’m going to do this bit again. When you start writing the script just go to the end before you try reading anything.
Interviewer:
That’s really interesting, so all the drafts go through as one draft and then you go back and edit as one and you just go from beginning to end?
Mark Murphy Director:
Yeah, and the other thing is, don’t put yourself under pressure in terms of a target of how many pages you must write a day, that’s not how it works. I mean in a sense for some films out there which are very formulaic, then I guess they probably would put a target down, because the structure is pretty much already there. For something original, let the thing write itself at its own pace. Don’t still feel bad if you don’t write much in a day.
Interviewer:
Mark we’ve taken enough of your time up for today we’re going to come back to this as another episode and another segment soon and we’ll talk some more about your projects that you’ve just finished, projects that you’ve got coming up and some more advice for people who are currently just starting out. I think sitting and listening to someone who’s done it all before is going to be really helpful for people.
Mark Murphy Director:
I can definitely give advice on what they shouldn’t do and also I don’t need any competition so my principal advice is don’t do, just wait for me to get a bigger career and then you can consider starting.
Interviewer:
Mark Murphy thank you so much for your time, I think that’s everything we need.