I first started storyboarding in the early 80s, when there were countless low- and micro-budget independent features being made. The Blockbuster/direct-to-video market encouraged everyone and his brother to cobble financing together for their pet projects and take their shot at the big time. Most of them were action-adventure or rom-coms.
I worked with a couple of producers of the cynical “we know this is shit; so what?” variety, but most of my gigs were with people who were sure that their film was something special, the one that would get major-studio distribution and make a nice profit. The sad part is that their movies were weak pastiches of last year’s mainstream hit. Even when breaking down the shots the directors would say, “you know that scene in [big-budget success] where they [nifty camera move]? Give me something like that.”
Some of these guys were genuinely nice people and it was depressing to see them pour their time and money into a project that even a nobody like me could see would go nowhere. But I think they deserve credit for putting their asses on the line and making the effort. LA is always crawling with self-described directors talking endlessly about the film they’re going to make. These people actually did it.
