#BonfireStories — Introducing Filmmaker, and writer C. Craig Patterson
1. When it comes to storytelling, where do you get your inspiration from?
I’ve been lucky enough in my life to have always found myself in the company of interesting people. Some good. Some bad. All interesting. What made them all memorable was how they dealt with situations and that’s all that stories are — people dealing with situations. So even when my stories don’t draw biographical lines straight back to one of them, they’re always there in the mannerisms or decision-making aptitude of some memorable interesting soul that I’ve met along my way.
2. What is the toughest challenge you’ve faced so far?
Realizing what New York does in a day, LA does in a week.
3. What kind of world do you want to see now that your film “A girl” is made? (For clarification) We know that there is a message you as a filmmaker are conveying to your audience, what is that message?
I have a great deal of interest in the pressures that can exist within familial bonds and how one can navigate them or if one should navigate them. My hope is that we told a story, with a GIRL, that asks the audience “what’s the biggest lie you’d tell for your brother?” and encourages them to answer that question for themselves.
4. As a filmmaker, what are some key lessons learned so far?
Coming to the realization that there is very little art without finance and that the investor’s pen is every bit as powerful as the painter’s brush.
5. What do you know today that you wish you knew when you began your journey as a filmmaker?
Making movies is a beautiful journey. Even the bad days are better than average.
6. What would you say is your unique responsibility as a filmmaker?
On the grandiose side, it’s to show the audience a piece of themselves that they may have never met before. Sitting in a dark, quiet room watching someone make choices that they themselves may have made in a particular scenario. Roger Ebert was right to call movies “Empathy Machines.” My responsibility is not to let the machine go down on my watch. On the practical side it’s, don’t bore the audience.
