Independent Filmmaker David Sarich: Better Movies Are on the Way

David Sarich is an independent filmmaker in Atlanta, Ga. He has written scripts, made movies and attended colleges from NYU to Georgia Tech and Georgia State. With training and experience in many aspects of film, Sarich is well-qualified to offer commentary on the current state of Hollywood movies. He also runs his own production company and continues to work on quirky documentaries outside of the L.A. blockbuster movie scene.

The huge social power of celebrities has been argued as being to blame for the recent wave of thought-lacking movies with interchangeable plots, since celebrities are often seen by studios as always able to produce a sure hit. Sarich feels that the societal pedestal on which we place celebrities is natural.

“We tend to put celebrity ahead of intelligence. We tend to put celebrity ahead of many important ideologies,” Sarich said in an interview on November 3. “But it’s narcissism. We look at people and we look at how we want our lives to be. … We want to see ourselves sitting on the sofa with Jennifer Aniston.”

Sarich also questions whether or not movies have lost their edge forever or whether America is simply going through a phase of plot-less, characterless movies.

“The one thing that I love in films (is) character,” Sarich smiled. “In the seventies and eighties, there was so much emphasis put on dialogue and character. You didn’t have a lot of explosions, you didn’t have Vince Vaughn saying really funky things, but you had really strong stories that you kind of got sucked into.”

Despite the arguably sad state of affairs at the box offices today, Sarich Is quick to say that, in his opinion, better movies are on the way.

“I have a feeling that we’re going to get back to more intelligent character studies,” he said. “Only because it’s really easy to make films right now, with the advent of (new technology).”

In terms of college students who one day (or currently) make movies, Sarich confesses that there are a lot of negative aspects to working independently that may, for some, outweigh the positive aspect of being one’s own boss.

Simply put: “If you don’t have a trust fund, it sucks.”

Handling financial woes as an independent filmmaker is ultimately up to each individual. Whether it is going to venture capitalists and asking for money or, as one now-successful filmmaker did, convincing your mother to mortgage her house, there are ways to achieve your goal. Sarich discourages, however, one particular way of getting money for a movie: credit cards.

“Everyone who has used credit cards to fund a movie has declared bankruptcy at some point,” Sarich blushed. “I’m convinced of that.”

Many college students do not understand the free technological equipment at their disposal. Tempting as it is to make a movie completely on your own, Sarich suggests grabbing the education and equipment that’s already offered to you.

“A lot of times you think you have to do things outside of school because school will tarnish it,” he said. “Use your school for whatever it has.”

David Sarich is the creator of Mad Dash Films (www.maddashfilms.com) and is currently working on a DVD release of his award-winning movie about Neil Diamond impersonators, “Feel Neil.” He started shooting a movie on American Juniors tennis in February 2006.