San Francisco multimedia artist Michael Dean and directors of photography Chad Beck, Peter Spicer, Richard Kern, Aneikit Bonnel, Bryan Madole, Sage Eaton and Charles Cohen have produced a documentary on 30 artists who exemplify and embody the D.I.Y. ethic. The film profiles a unique group of icons and unknowns working in various media including print, film, graphic art, performance art and music. The three-dozen interviewees are mavericks that operate outside of any "studio system", are beholden to none, and produce influential, quality art regardless of a continuous paycheck. Unlikely to sit around waiting for their next assignment, these are American artists that are uniquely compelled to create and share their vision. Several of our subjects have found an enthusiastic audience and even financial success despite overwhelming odds and marketplace indifference.

Most of these people are able to make a somewhat comfortable wage at their art. Some are just scraping by. A couple are millionaires. A few have been major influences on modern culture. However, they all have a common denominator: The need to make art is their biggest reason to get up each morning. They all feel driven to express the complexities of how they relate to the world, and to do so in a useful form for other people. The documentary examines the personal, as well as economic, forces compelling them.

We will learn why some turn down a huge record contract to maintain the artistic control of running their own small label for far less money. We will discover how others manage to survive on 20 dollars a week and live to create powerful portrayals that move people and have the ability to change lives and unite communities.

In short, we have asked all of these virtuosos, "What's it like to be you?"

We also touch on the importance of the digital revolution, which has aided independent artists by taking the means of production and dissemination out of the hands of a select few corporations and bringing it within the reach of anyone with a job.

Another point covered is the lone wolf aspect of operating as an indie artist: living alone with the struggles of the job, and conversely having no one to share in the triumphs.
 

The project has fiscal sponsorship in the form of 501(c)(3) non-profit status from San Francisco's Intersection for the Arts, who have consistently sponsored select, cutting-edge projects that expand the definition of community for over 35 years. The contacts for the project are:
 
Deborah Cullinan or Jackie Jordan
Intersection for the Arts
446 Valencia Street 
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415)-626-2787

Michael Dean has long been moved by independent artists in every genre and medium. While producing his own multidisciplinary art in the form of writing, music and filmmaking, he has been inspired by many of these same subjects. He has planned for years to create a documentary that could capture the essence and spirit of his many influences and contemporaries.

The mixture of covered mediums, genres and artist lifestyles are woven together by narration and Q&A segments featuring Dean's disarming interview style (honed as a fanzine writer and college radio DJ).

The wide choice of subjects runs the range of filmmakers, writers, musicians, Web designers, dancers, publishers, cartoonists and more. Also interviewed is one catalyst who helps match artists and resources to facilitate other peoples' art. (This is an important facet often overlooked in presentations of the art process).

The list of interviewees includes men and women; several gay artists, lesbians and people of color. This will bring a cross-section of the vibrant independent arts scene to many viewers who would not experience this world otherwise.

Through a juxtaposition of mediums and genres we show independent art as a whole, and encapsulate it in a bold and unique one-hour presentation.

Mini-DV technology has kept costs down while maintaining quality.


Our basic criteria for inclusion, is that all subjects meet 3 out of these 4 criteria:

1. Make a living at art.
2. Influenced many people in their respective medium
3. Do something very unique
4. Impress the heck out of us

The secret 5th criteria is that they didn't ask to be in the film. That's an automatic disqualification. Part of what makes someone a successful artist, in our eyes, is humility. Confident but not cocky. And not needy.

---------------

Mike Watt is on a major label, but we made an exception because he fits the spirit of the project.


HISTORY AND IMPORTANCE OF TITLE

The first half of the documentary's title, D.I.Y. or Die is an old war cry of the early punk rock movement, circa 1977. It was a response against the prevailing belief that the way to be accepted as an artist was through conventional channels: schooling, nepotism and being one of the lucky few to gain distribution through established corporate media outlets.

Many inspired youngsters began working around the "culture industry" to create new channels of creative dissemination. They put on their own concerts, made their own films and videos, started tiny but influential record labels out of their basements and used their bedrooms to do the paste-up for hand-Xeroxed "fanzines" to review and promote each other.

The world sat up and took notice, and a movement was spawned. The D.I.Y. I-Think-I-Can ethic exists today, driving everything from garage rock bands to the largest software companies in the world.

Unfortunately, in San Francisco, New York and other cities, the dot-com invasion has raised rents exponentially and forced many of our beloved artists out of affordable live/work spaces. Because of this, and decreases in private, corporate and federal funding, artists have more than ever had to take production and distribution into their own hands. The documentary will cover these facets of the struggle as artists attempt to survive, create and form communities against a backdrop of adversity.

The locations for shooting were San Francisco, Washington D.C., New York, and Los Angeles. We traveled to these cities and interviewed the artists in their own studios and neighborhoods.
 

The intended target audience is a wide swath of the population, similar to that of public television: mainly those who wish to be culturally informed and are curious about the workings of the mind of the artist. The selected subjects however, will undoubtedly also attract a hip, urbane Gen-X/Y contingent.

This film gets inside the heads of many artists, and presents their life in a format that is compelling and accessible to all. It was the filmmaker's wish to create a viable document that will appeal to the common human theme of inquiry.

"It's all about art. All artists just wanna reach beyond the mundane and scratch into something real. Whether you're painting the ceiling of the chapel or banging out three shaky chords in the garage, you are declaring your intentions to smear your fingerprints on the veil of the infinite."
-Cash Newmann (musician)
 This film explores that sentiment and the modern manifestation of its thread that runs throughout all cultures and throughout the ages.
 
Stylistically, we are taking a different approach than many other documentaries: We do not consider it a violation of the "purity" of the process to actually use good production values. We do some set dressing, use good lighting and high quality synch sound. We feel that the best looking footage augments, rather than detracting from, the impact of the subjects' words.

We have interviewed people in their own settings: their homes, studios, kitchens. And in many cases, we brought our young interns literally "to the table" to provide more dynamic and natural feedback, and avoid the "one-static-shot-on-a-talking-head" aspect that weighs down so many promising projects.
 

Money is being sought primarily through queries of corporate foundations and funds (public and private) that have financed fiscally sponsored documentaries in the past. Also through contributions of friends and family, and in-kind donations of goods and services of local and national companies.

The Foundation Center, in San Francisco, has been most helpful in the research of available funds.

The intent is to attempt to make a return on the cost via licensing for broadcast, festival inclusion and ticket sales.

We may partner with an indie label to produce a soundtrack album/CD-ROM (music and spoken word), which will aid in promotion and help us garner attention for the project via college radio, etc.

The film is being circulated via independent film and video festivals with the producers leaving open prospects for TV, DVD, VHS, cable and Internet distribution.
 

Timeline to complete: 9 months after conception: GOAL MET

The project is currently in the final stages of editing. The thesis has been formulated, all the interviewees filmed; resources, locations and personnel have been utilizeed. More funding will allow the work to be promoted.

april 1 2002: Editing finished. GOAL MET


$4000 in cash has been raised and spent. 5000 out of pocket has been spent on top of this.

$10,000 of in-kind donations have been secured.


Michael W. Dean's writing and directing experience includes Still Rockin' in the Free World, a promotional film produced for Warner Brothers.

His first novel, Starving in the Company of Beautiful Women was published November, 2000 by kittyfeet Press, (ISBN 0-9705392-0-7, Library of Congress number: 00-108701).

Dean has produced a screenplay based on the book.

Dean has worked for 20 years independently producing art (films, videos, music and books), and spent two years as a singer on a major label. He has experiences from both sides of the independent fence, and understands the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches.

Dean graduated from San Francisco City College and has been invited back as a frequent guest lecturer on media technologies and their place in commerce and art.

He is a member of Film Arts Foundation.

"Michael W. Dean is a talented and dedicated artist with a steadfast work ethic. . .I'm sure that he will be enjoyed for years to come."

-Author (2.13.61 Press) Don Bajema

Director of photography Peter Spicer studied film at The Academy of Art College of San Francisco, and worked for eight years as a television production director in Oregon. He has produced many short films, as well as the feature The Chase.

Sage Eaton is a student at The Academy of Art College of San Francisco

Charles Cohen produced promotional videos for Warner Brothers and lives in Los Angeles.

Promotional trailer editor Jeff Gottlieb worked on many independent features, as well as corporate presentations for Atlantic Records, McGraw/Hill, Publishing, New Line Cinema, Panasonic, and on commercial films, including Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.

 

The Crew:
Michael Dean: Director, writer, producer.
Camera: Chad Beck, Peter Spicer, Miles Montalbano Aneikit Bonnel, Richard Kern, Bryan Madole, Sage Eaton and Charles Cohen.
Miles Montalbano, Editor
Tracy Talley: Production
Andy Owen, Lights
Brian clothier, sound
Greg Anthony Benjamin, Still Photos
Adam Anderson, extra camera
Lena Toney, makeup
"Li'l" Mike Martzke, synergy
Interns: Annie Vough, Jeff Ng, Emily Greene, Nathan Daly, Tracy Qualls, Christina Farnetti.

LEGAL REPRESENTATION: Marc Alain Steier, Esq. Koehler & Isaacs LLP. New York City.

Web Hosting: Todd McNeill.

Thanks to Sticker Guy! and William Talbott Hillman Foundation, Inc.

 

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