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Triple Threat!
Part Four
<< Continued from Part 3
CinemATL (MK): I think that would be nice, but one of the things about Atlanta may be, when you mentioned having pulse, is that maybe Atlanta's too big...it's too big for that. Because I notice that the film community is very fragmented into sides, and sections, and things like that. So, maybe it's too big right now, that we can't have this pulse going through it, but maybe there's a way that eventually we can get there.
CinemATL (LW): Fragmented is the thing...I don't think it's too big, I think it's too fragmented.
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| Jen Kelley and Mary Kraft (photo: Eric Bomba-Ire) |
Lisa: I don't know anybody—it's like we're the underbelly, the world I live in.
Mary: Where do you live???
Lisa: No, I'm saying [the world we work in], from a production standpoint, we're considered the lowest on the totem pole.
CinemATL (MK): There's way lower (laughing).
Lisa: No, because it's cool when you're doing some indie low budget thing, but I'm talking about just in terms of...
CinemATL (SJ): In terms of respect...but you're the only ones who are making money on a continuous basis, though.
CinemATL (LW): But then people are like (disgustedly), "You work on music videos!"
Lisa: Yeah, like (sarcastically) "When's that last time you did a film?" (laughing)
Mary: Atlanta's a very spread out city, but as far as people making films, it's sort of...you'd think that you would be able to say anybody's name who works in independent films here, or works in production on films for paying type jobs...and they don't know who you're talking about. I'm like "You don't know [so and so]? (laughing)You don't know Mary Kraft? How could you not know me! My God! (laughing)
Jen: But when this [cover story] comes out! (laughing)
Mary: But people, directors, not knowing each other, who've actually done Atlanta stuff. Like how do you guys not know each other? It's crazy...it's crazy.
Lisa: It's all about synergy though, because somehow you get different people together and something can translate into something else because somebody else is tapped in with a whole different community.
CinemATL (LW): I was talking to somebody last night and they said that they had gone to Florida to work on this independent film, and when they got there, there were all these other people from other places, and none of the logistics worked out—because they weren't local. If you are gonna do independent stuff you need to be home. You need a house and a bed to go crash in; you don't need to be sleeping on somebody else's sofa.
Those things are right here, you know? Then, when you get all these people coming in from other places, music industry especially, you get people coming from LA, coming from New York and what not, and they come here, and they're like, "We want this, this, this." In New York sometimes you can get things a little different than you can in Atlanta. But, I mean, we can get it here, but it's just...it don't work like that here.
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| Lisa Cunningham, intent listener. (photo: Eric Bomba-Ire) |
Lisa: But there's something so cool...see, my glass is always half full (laughing). There's something so cool about dispelling myths—I am like the myth dispelling queen. I did this Army commercial with Helen [Urriola, production manager]—I never do commercials, but Helen begged me to do this Army commercial, and as soon as I meet the producer, she was such an elitist. She had this accent that just made you want to clown her. You couldn't place it, it was just a ridiculous, Mad TV type of accent. She was a caricature of a producer. She really was.
So, it was really hard not to just break out laughing while she was talking. She's sitting up here, you know, and she's down in the sticks known as Atlanta, and you could feel that energy. But, midway through the day I busted the myth—we busted the myth. Helen just did this Verizon Wireless commercial that's running, and they're like (in a baby voice) "Well we didn't know, we just didn't know that we could come down here and have a great shoot and an awesome crew." They were just in amazement.
CinemATL (LW): Like, "You don't have green teeth..."
Lisa: Right!
CinemATL (LW): "...and you're not chewing tobacco!"
Jen: We get a lot of the same, like, "What, you have real actors?"
Lisa: One at a time. One person at a time, you gotta bust the myth.
Mary: They cast me in Omaha, Nebraska —I never even met anybody from Omaha. I did a commercial there. They're flying people from Atlanta to do commercials, in another state, because, obviously the talent pool here is....
CinemATL (LW): Right. It's close to LA I guess?
Mary: I don't know what that was about (laughter). They couldn't get anybody from LA to go there (laughter)!
CinemATL (LW): Nobody from LA would agree to go to Omaha (laughing).
Mary: I think that might be more of the point.
CinemATL (MK): So, Jen, what's one trait that you think makes a good agent?
Jen: The ability to multi-task. You definitely need to be able to handle a lot of jobs at once and have patience dealing with all sorts of personalities. It's tricky, because you're the liaison between the talent and the director, producer, ad agency, casting director—whoever's on the other side. You want to try to get the best rate possible. That's another thing—the rates in Atlanta, and talent being willing to turn things down, because....
Lisa: Ah, that's a good point.
Jen: That's a whole other story...
CinemATL (LW): Next month!
Lisa: But you feel like they should, though, sometimes, right?
Jen: They need to. Because the more you accept these low paying jobs, then you're setting...the bar is going down. Why would a production company pay? "When we have more of a budget we can do that." But that doesn't happen because, they're used to getting people at this amount, why are they gonna pay that amount? And the minimum here in Atlanta is so low...what we try to get is so low compared to other markets. And yet they try to bypass the agent, and they contact talent directly, and actors start thinking "Well, I wasn't doing anything else that day, I might as well shoot a Burger King commercial for $300 with a forever buyout."
Lisa: Right.
Jen: And they don't realize, "Wait a minute, that means I will never be able to do another fast food commercial as long as this one's running."
Lisa: Oh, I didn't realize this. Oh, wow.
Jen: I mean, there are so many things that come into play. It's different with film, because film you're not creating product conflict and stuff like that. I always encourage, if it's a good script and a good project, if there's no budget—you do it for free. A lot of people do, because you want try to get the project made and sold.
Lisa: Right.
Mary: You wanna act.
Jen: [Independent films] are the things you do for free, but in the commercial world or the industrial world, where people are actually buying these, and they're marketing a product...to take these lower rates and to try and undercut your agent—you're hurting Atlanta, and yourself, and people don't see that.
Mary: You wouldn't like Atlanta when it's angry (laughing)!
Lisa: That's very funny. Very funny.
Jen: Actors have a hard time saying no. You wanna be wanted, and you are happy someone wants you...so you're gonna take it.
Lisa: But it's also a bottom line of money.
Mary: So you panic sometimes.
Jen: So anyway, back to the original question. Being able to try to make everyone happy—mostly your talent, but still keep the job—it's tricky. Every once in a while you have to, as the agent, just say no. You try as many things as you can: "Ok, what if you only use it for this amount of time instead of this amount of time?" I try to do everything possible before I turn down a job. And most of the time, the people we work with are usually...at least they know the minimums. So we don't really have to turn down that much, but keeping the rates up is part of it.
I think when other people come to Atlanta and you're selling yourself too cheaply, you're setting an image. It's like when someone says, "Choose a necklace, this one is $10, and this one is $500." Which one do you think is better? You automatically think the $500 one is better, even if it is the same quality. It's the same with actors. You have to feel you're worth those rates. Like actors in other markets, I think the perception will help if we perceive ourselves worthy of making the same as other people make.
Mary: "Atlanta —we're not the Big Lots of the industry!"
CinemATL (LW): Yeah, there you go! (laughter)
Lisa: Very funny.
Mary: The Dollar Store!
CinemATL (LW): Take it on to Florida !
CinemATL (MK): I appreciate you guys sitting down with us and having this conversation. We appreciate your time and coming out. I thought it was very insightful, and we appreciate your views.
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