Debut Hit
Filmmaker Jeffrey Bemiss talks about "The Book and the Rose," which has been short-listed for an Academy Award nomination and screens at the Director’s View Film Festival this month.

By Amy Souza

Rehearsing the picnic scene.  L to R: Jeff Bemiss (Director), Matt Hughes (Production Assistant), Inga Kleinrichert (Art Director), Jamie Koogler (Assistant Production Manager), Thomas Hargis (Director of Photography). [Click to enlarge]

Having screened at numerous festivals and garnered several awards, "The Book and the Rose" Jeffrey Bemiss’s directorial debut has been short-listed for an Academy Award nomination in the Best Live Action Short category. The 29-minute film based on the short story by Max Lucado tells the story of a young man in 1942 who becomes intrigued with a woman named Sarah when he begins reading her scribbled notes in the margins of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina." Eventually, he tracks her to a Philadelphia address and begins a months-long correspondence that brings them together. Bemiss shares some thoughts about the film, and filmmaking in general, with NewEnglandFilm.com.

AS: What’s your background? I saw on your bio that you attended USC...when was that, and what do you feel you got out of the program?

 Bemiss: I'm 33, born and raised in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. I went to USC film school as an undergraduate, 1988-1992. My wife, who is a mathematician, did her graduate work at UCLA, then got a job teaching at Trinity College in Hartford. She is now at Western New England College in Springfield. I stayed in LA for several years, producing and assistant directing in independent film. Eventually, the bi-coastal thing got to be a drag, and I finally moved to New England a couple of years ago to be with my wife. We currently live in Springfield, MA.

As far as the film program at USC goes, I would say it introduced me to the world of filmmaking. It's a good place to learn the technical side of the craft. I think the best thing I got out of it was meeting a lot of talented would-be filmmakers. In fact, some of them worked on "The Book and the Rose."

AS: You also attended the Sanford Meisner Academy; can you tell me a little about that?

It’s your typical hole-in-the-wall LA acting school. It's run by a master teacher named Martin Barter, who worked and studied with Sandy for 14 years. Sandy Meisner was one of the great acting teachers to emerge from New York's original Group Theatre, purveyors of what has become known as "the Method" in acting. I did the full two-year program there because I wanted to learn how to work with actors, something USC doesn't really teach you. What I got out of it was a whole approach to directing.

AS: Can you tell me why you chose film as your storytelling medium?
 
Bemiss: I was eight when "Star Wars" came out. I wanted to make films ever since. It's a cliché now, but I really did rescue my dad's Bell and Howell Super 8 camera from the family garage sale. At USC, I discovered that "Star Wars" and the early movies of Spielberg are what sent a lot of us to film school.

AS: What draws you to a particular story? Do you write scripts, as well?

Bemiss: I know that when screenwriters ask producers what kind of scripts they are looking for, they go into conniptions when the reply is, "good ones." But all I can say is that I like stories with good drama, interesting characters, and some kind of humanity. Beyond that, it's hard to say. It has to be a good fit with where my head is at the time. For instance, when I heard the story that "The Book and the Rose" is based on, I was on the verge of proposing to my high school sweetheart (who is now my wife), and the depth of love in the story appealed to me. It's very subjective.

I do write scripts, but it's not my passion. My standard joke is that I'm the best writer I can afford.

AS: What do you like about directing?
 
Bemiss: The satisfaction of building something. Like an architect might feel. The script is the blue print, and the pleasure comes from seeing it made real.
 
AS: How did "The Book and The Rose" come about?
 
Bemiss: The challenge was to convince the author of the underlying short story, Max Lucado, and his people to let me make a short film out of it. It was an incremental process. I had to write the script to get them to say "maybe," then outline the production to get them to say we could do it. The final part was that Max had to see the finished film to grant his name. Somehow we put it all in a one-page agreement. Max seemed to understand that short films are basically calling cards for the filmmakers, so he was very kind to us. In the end, he gave me the rights for free.

AS: Can you tell me about the process of taking written fiction and preparing it for the screen?

Bemiss: Max's story is only a few paragraphs long -- mainly the final scene of the film, plus a few lines of set-up. It needed some expanding to make the twist ending work better. Also, it's a love story where one of the lovers can't be shown until the end of the film. It was a challenge to make that character's presence felt throughout, even though she's on screen for only two minutes out of 30.

AS: Is the author of the short story the Rev. Max Lucado who runs the UpWords Ministry?
 
Bemiss: Yes. I usually don't volunteer that part, because I've seen people roll their eyes, thinking it must be some kind of religious film. In fact, I'd never heard of Max Lucado until I heard this short story. I went to the bookstore to find it, and there was practically a whole wall of his stuff. He's very prolific. It's been good for the film in that I've never met anyone who knew his name that didn't love his work.

AS: How did you find the short story, and what attracted you to it?
 
Bemiss: I wanted to direct my first film, and was looking for material. I didn't care if it was a short or a feature. I'm not a regular churchgoer, but I was invited to church by my now wife and in-laws, and the minister related this story as part of the sermon. The twist at the end got me. It made me wonder whether I would have passed Sarah's test. I thought it would be great to make an audience feel that.
 
AS: Where was the film shot?
 
Bemiss: We shot it 85 percent in Indiana, the remainder in Los Angeles. We chose Indiana for a couple of reasons. At least half a dozen of the cast and crew hail from Indiana. Also, the film called for a vintage train station. Indianapolis has a beautiful, perfectly restored union station, which is not easy to find.

AS: How was it filming in Indiana? Was it easy to get the required permits, etc? How did it compare to filming in Los Angeles?

Bemiss: Overall, it was great. Indianapolis had some of our key locations, such as the train station, and permits and location fees were less of a problem than they would have been in LA. In fact, we shot at a working military base, Camp Atterbury, south of Indianapolis. It's an older base and has some vintage barracks buildings. One of the sergeants you see drilling the soldiers in the film is actually the colonel of the base. We asked him on the spot to play that part, and he was a one-take wonder. It was that sort of enthusiasm that made shooting in Indiana enjoyable. As far as the drawbacks, it required extensive planning. If we suddenly needed a special piece of equipment that wasn't on our truck, too bad.

AS: Did you edit the film, as well?

Bemiss: No, it was edited by a very talented editor named John Axelrad. John has worked in the editorial department of a long list of major films, and is currently editing the CBS show, "Hack." We met as students at USC.

AS: Can you tell me a little bit about the challenges of recreating 1942? Did you have to do a lot of research, and if so, who helped you with that?

Bemiss: I don't know if I'd attempt another period film on a low budget, because it's one more limitation. There are the fun parts, like shooting vintage automobiles and trains, but there are also the tedious parts, like hours of Internet research to find the exact date the "Victory" postage-stamp was implemented. For budget reasons, I did much of that research myself, while trying to the keep the project moving forward in the larger sense. As a result, some of that research was done poorly. For the military sequences, we solicited WWII re-enactors, who were wonderful because they knew everything about the period.
 
AS: Is it hard being on the east coast now, since it sounds like many of your filmmaking friends are in California? Do you think living in Massachusetts will affect your career in any way?

Bemiss: It has meant some extra traveling, although I think location has a different effect when you're in the middle of a project, than when you're between projects. The short film was in post-production when I moved to New England, and for a while I had trouble finding certain equipment and services to finish it. But there were also some fortunate coincidences. John Axelrad was in Boston at the time, assistant-editing the Martin Lawrence film, "What's the Worst That Can Happen," and cutting "The Book and the Rose" after hours. Whenever he had scenes to show me, I'd drive up and sit down with him. Also, believe it or not, a negative cutter lives up the street from me -- Northeast Negative Matchers. A couple of times when my print has come back jumbled from a festival, they have straightened it out.

But now that the short is finished, my day-to-day routine involves marketing it, writing the next thing, and, eventually, raising money. Most of that can be done anywhere. It's also worth mentioning that I am teaching film production at Western New England College. There's no way I would have that opportunity in Los Angeles.

AS: Which part of the production process do you like best, or can you even choose?
 
Bemiss: That's a tough one. Shooting is definitely the thrilling part, but it's chaos. Post-production is quieter, and there's time to think. In the case of this film, we had an arduous shoot, so post-production was soothing. Plus, when you're working with guys as talented as John on the picture editing, and our composer, Gregg Conser, on the musical score, post-production is a blast.
 
AS: How do you choose which film festivals to attend?
 
Bemiss: I have this complex method of going wherever we're invited. It's like the old Will Rogers line, "Don't invite us if you don't want us."

AS: Are there particular festivals that you like better than others, and why? (Are the audiences more receptive in certain parts of the country? Are some festivals better organized than others?)
 
Bemiss: Indie filmmakers could go on for days about this. The answer is yes, yes and yes! I definitely know my favorites, as well as the lame ones. Sometimes the disorganization gets to be funny. I was at a festival I will not name, where they ran out of spare film reels. The projectionist proposed to show reel one of our two-reel film, then bring the house lights up for an audience Q&A, while he threaded up the second half of our film. He wanted to show our short film in two parts, like a miniseries. Overall though, the festival circuit has been tremendous fun. My personal criteria for a good festival are: quality of films shown, audience and filmmaker attendance, screening facilities, and overall organization. There are other factors, like whether they organize formal Q&A sessions between filmmakers and audiences.

AS: I understand "The Book and The Rose" has been short-listed for an Academy Award nomination. How did you find that out?
 
Bemiss: I got a call from the Academy. They needed a second print of the film.

AS: What did you feel when you heard the news?
 
Bemiss: I was standing in line at the post office, and my cell phone rang. It was the Academy's short film liaison. He told me my day was about to get a lot better, and then informed me the film has a 50-50 shot of going to the Oscars. I wanted to turn to the person standing next to me in line and say, "That was the f*****g Academy on the phone!"

AS: How do you feel now?
 
Bemiss: Very lucky. And I'm telling everyone, because I figure it may not get any better than this. It's going to be a long three weeks until the final announcement.

AS: As a kid did you used to practice your Oscar acceptance speech? (I know more than a few people who aren't even involved in filmmaking who have an Oscar speech prepared because, they say, you never know!)

Bemiss: This is boring, but I never had a fantasy Oscar speech. Maybe I'm too serious about filmmaking, or have a pessimistic streak, but I never quite let myself go there. I mean, I'm an indie filmmaker. We don't get nominated for things like that.

AS: Do you have a next project picked out? Are you working on it already?

Bemiss: I don't have the next project settled yet, but I am working on a couple of screenplays. I'd love to adapt something again. Read any good books with available screen rights lately?

"The Book and The Rose" will be screened at the Director’s View Film Festival in Stamford, CT, on Sunday, February 16, 2003. For more information about the film, visit Chartercrest Films.

Amy Souza is a writer and media producer living in Burlington, Vermont.

Sponsors: