Past Filmmakers

Karrie Crouse
The Tragedy of Glady

1. How did you come up with the idea for the film?

It’s difficult to pinpoint where an idea comes from.  For me, a variety of images begin to center on a particular theme, idea or character, and the writing process serves to connect those images and form a narrative.  I believe Glady stemmed from a childhood memory in which I would spend long summer days stretched out on the limb of an old oak tree in my best friend’s backyard.  I don’t remember any particular conversations we had during those long hours, but I can recall a particular feeling, which is so specific to adolescence, that we were on top of the world. 

2. How long did the production process take?

We shot the film over eight days, but when you count pre-production and editing it took almost a year to complete.  Come to think of it, that’s about eighteen days per minute of film. Yikes.

3. What challenges did you experience in the creation of the film?

When you’re making a film in school or the low-budget realm everything becomes a challenge.  Whether you are begging for pizza to feed the crew or persuading a high school principal to let you shoot at his or her school, there are trials at every turn.  Of course this is also the fun and joy of low budget filmmaking – responding to challenges with ingenuity.

4. What is your favorite memory from creating the film?

Mostly I find that the images I’m capturing don’t quite live up to my initial conception.  However, there are occasions when an actor gives a look, the sun tucks beneath a cloud at just the right moment and the scene turns out better than you could’ve hoped.  It doesn’t happen often, but these are moments that make everything worthwhile. 

Another great moment happened early on in the shoot when one of the actors, Steven Gonzales, was covered in stage-blood for a scene and he had to rush back to work.  Long story short he didn’t wash off the blood before driving, and a local police officer pulled him over thinking he had stumbled upon some major crime or accident.   In the end Steven ended up posing for photographs with the police officers.

5. When someone has finished watching the film, what do you hope they take away from the experience?

I hope, quite simply, that the audience has felt something.  Whether people like or dislike the film, I hope they take away a feeling, an image, a mood or character that stays with them.  

6. What type of reaction has your film received from viewers?

I have been surprised by the positive feedback from audiences.  Of course, I look at the finished product and see everything that’s not there, but I have to trust that the viewer sees something different. 

A filmmaker can’t get too pompous though, because the people tapping your back at screenings aren’t going to say, “Nice try, but I don’t really think the film worked.”

Every audience has a character of its own.  When I showed this film in Munich, the German audience really got the dark humor in a way that American audiences never did.

7. What advice would you give to aspiring young filmmakers?

I’m still an aspiring young filmmaker, so maybe I should be receiving the advice.  I guess that I would say that the most important thing is to work hard.   This sounds really simple, but makes all the difference.  Treat each project as if it were your last.  Try to avoid mediocrity in story and execution.  Make movies that you would want to see.

8. Please tell us about the next film you plan to work on?

I have written a new short, which will be filmed in North Carolina later this year.  It’s about a guy who goes on a journey, does a few things and is eventually changed.  Is that too vague? 

9. What are your thoughts on the film industry in NC?

There is an emerging group of North Carolina based filmmakers, which really excites and inspires me.   I am currently living in New York studying film at Columbia University, but I miss North Carolina desperately and hope to make many films there in the future.