Izac Brodrick is the writer and director behind the film "Flesh & Ivory" He speaks to us about his journey as a young filmmaker.
What drove you to want to get into filmmaking?
There's definitely more than one thing. I always liked playing dress ups as a kid, and creating stories with my action figures. So storytelling has always been there for me, in some capacity. I've always loved and enjoyed the process of making something and seeing it reach completion. One of the things that definitely pushed me into filmmaking as an outlet, was seeing 500 Days of Summer when I was 15 years old going through my first heartbreak. That film wasn't the “defining film of my life” or anything, but watching it in the emotional state that I was in was therapeutic. It's always interested me that a film can do that.
What has been the biggest help in your career so far?
Going to film school and being in a community of people who love film. Getting to have discussions and arguments about film everyday with Calvin Sim, Noah Gerometta, Scott Dunbar, Samuel Vayro, Toby Masterson, Jackson Kanaris, and others, for the three years that the course lasted definitely made a lasting impact on me. I still have those debates with them to this day. They all have great film minds. They're also absolutely some of my best friends so meeting them during that time was a blessing.
Have you faced any challenges? If so, what are they?
I've faced lots of challenges. I'm still at the beginning of my career so the learning curve is a steep one, and I'm finding myself having to figure out new things pretty frequently. Deciding to direct Flesh & Ivory instead of just writing it was a big one. That was a confidence hurdle I had to get over. I got past that by just being overly prepared for the shooting process. That put me a bit more at ease. Also I had a great team around me which helped massively.
How do you promote your projects?
Just through the Calligram Pictures social media accounts at the moment. We're not quite paying for ads on TV yet. Social media is super prominent obviously so that works well for us for now.
What kind of projects do you like producing?
I usually lean towards surrealist projects, or films that are very dialogue heavy. Largely because that's what I find most interesting, but also because that's what's most achievable at an indie budget at this stage of my career. A lot of my influences are either very dialogue focussed or surrealist leaning, or both, like Charlie Kaufman, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Jim Jarmusch, Richard Linklater, or Paul Thomas Anderson.
How do you get funding for your projects?
We've been lucky enough to have some private investors see enough potential in our work to invest very generously, so that's helped us. Most of which approached us which was very flattering. As projects get bigger in the future we'll need to find more funding elsewhere, however, at the moment we're receiving enough to make the films that we're passionate about so we're very lucky in that regard.
Do you plan on basing yourself in LA eventually or staying in Australia? Why?
I love to travel, and would absolutely move to LA if I found sustainable work over there, or if an opportunity arose. I had a brief stopover in LA on my way back from Mexico recently and had one of the best burgers I've ever had in a little 24 hour diner in Manhattan Beach. So my relationship with LA so far is good I'd say. I'd probably still want to be based in Australia purely because my family is here though. I also just love Australia.
What did you like about filming in Mexico? Any dislikes?
With regards to the travel, meeting the people and getting to learn some basic Spanish was the highlight. Mexican culture is beautiful and the people are very very friendly. I was over there for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), and was touched by what a beautiful tradition that is. With regards to filming over there, I was given the opportunity by William Phillips to assist him in shooting two luxury fashion campaigns and loved every second. The thing that really stood out to me which made shooting super exciting was the architecture. At the location we shot at there were these super interesting, orange, and bright blue buildings, which created so many opportunities for Will and I from a composition and colour standpoint. Reminded me a lot of Picasso's cubism, which I guess makes sense..
How enjoyable or challenging is it for you to write a film?
Writing is just as enjoyable as it is challenging to me. It's enjoyable to see a product that is finally taking shape, but getting there is hard obviously. Writing always feels best when it's coming from a curious standpoint in my experience. So there's a lot of digging around in yourself and your emotions, which is confronting to do sometimes, because some ideas are less kind than others. There's also an awful feeling that you get when ideas aren't coming. Feels incurable sometimes. But then ideas start to flow again because you hear a lyric, or see something at a bus stop or shopping centre that sparks something, or something like that. Writing is my favourite thing to do in the world though. I base a lot of my thought process around it. I couldn't really live without it.
What you say is the hardest role: producing, directing or writing? What is the easiest?
They're all hard. I really couldn't rank them.
Have there been any scenes so far in your career that have been particularly challenging to film?
I just shot a short film called "Co-Stars" that I co-wrote with Skye Fellman. I loved directing that film, but I've never tackled something with the tone that film has. It's juggling a lot of things. Joel Drabble and Skye, the lead actors, are great to work with, so getting to figure it out with them was a bonus. Flesh & Ivory was much more straight forward tonally. So I'd say navigating the tone of "Co-stars" was definitely quite challenging but I'm happy with what we ended up with and can't wait to get into the edit.
Did you expect to win an award for your work in Flesh & Ivory? How does it feel to be an award winner?
I really didn't know what to expect with awards for Flesh & Ivory. When I wrote the first draft of that script in university I was given a fail by my lecturer, but I liked the heart of it, so I persisted with it and developed it. Now it's winning awards at multiple festivals in Europe and Asia. As far as how it feels to be an "award winner"; I honestly just feel a bit confused. The validation is nice I guess. It's not like receiving the award had made me grow though. I did my growing when I was writing that script, figuring out problems. The award is a nice acknowledgement of that growth though I guess.
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