 |
|
Back Story
How indie film was produced is a plot of its own
as filmmakers overcame personal tragedies
Charles Remsberg, Screen Magazine
It took a horrifying explosion that burned half his body, the
sacrifice of a six-figure job, a humbling failure in Hollywood, and
the investment of his life savings—but at last 30-year-old Craig James
Pietrowiak is living his dream.
That dream is a feature film.
'Experimental Me,' written, directed, and co-produced by and starring
Craig James Pietrowiak, premiered recently at the Copernicus Theatre.
"All the excitement I've ever enjoyed in my life was balled into that
one evening," Pietrowiak said. "The audience fed off the film, the
laughs were all there, the enthusiasm was there. It was phenomenal!"
The feature was produced under the Squid Brothers Inc. banner, an
independent production company Pietrowiak founded with fraternity
brother Dale Spencer, 32.
Now in final edit is a second feature, 'I promise, I'll Never,' which
actually was begun before 'Experimental Me,' and in development are a
challenging array of other projects, ranging from four more films to a
pilot for a TV dramatic series called 'Wrigleyville.'
It hasn't been easy.
Pietrowiak was two weeks shy of his 21st birthday in 1991 when he
suffered massive burns over his face, hands, arms, and upper body. He
was pouring gasoline from a five-gallon can onto a pile of brush
during a summer landscaping job. The fuel splashed down onto live
embers from a previous burn secretly smoldering under the branches,
and the can exploded in his hands.
During his slow rehab, marked by multiple skin grafts and agonizing
pain, Pietrowiak came to appreciate that "life is too short not to
puruse what you really want. And I wanted to go to Hollywood and be a
movie star."
First he returned to NIU to complete a specially designed major in
entrepreneurial management, with a minor in theatre. "My family was
guiding me toward business, with emphasis on being a nine-to-five
person."
At his Delta Sigma Phi fraternity (colloquially known as the Delta
Squids), he struck up a close acquaintance with fellow Chicagoan, Dale
Spencer, who had been permanently paralyzed and confined to a
wheelchair after breaking his back in an accidental fall from a
bridge.
"Dale helped me deal with my burns emotionally." Pietrowiak recalled,
"and as we talked we discovered we had a mutual interest in acting and
the theatre."
After graduation, Spencer picked up print modeling jobs and acting
gigs in commercials and industrial films, while developing real estate
investments and co-ownership in a hair salon.
Pietrowiak, after a few years of "floating," managed a Park Ridge
mortgage company. He negotiated an equity position and pulled down
$100,000 a year, which he felt would let him "finance an acting career
without being a waiter" when he finally hit Hollywood.
By 1998, his mortgage partner was itching to write a novel, and
Pietrowiak was raring to storm L.A. They sold the company that June.
It didn't take Pietrowiak long out West to realize how difficult it
was to break into the movie industry. After a year, he still had
nothing on his acting resume.
He did, however, have a screenplay. 'I Promise, I'll Never' is a
"relationship" film about two guys and a girl who learn a lot about
themselves and each other during a false-alarm AIDS scare.
With entrepreneurial resilience, Pietrowiak had written it in hopes of
improving his Hollywood marketability.
Once he asked Spencer to read the script and the two decided they
would bankroll and produce it themselves. Pietrowiak returned to
Chicago and Squid Brothers was born.
'I Promise,' starring Pietrowiak and directed by David Baer, was not
yet completed—bogged down in "complications" of editing, Pietrowiak
says—when Squid Brothers embarked last year on 'Experimental Me,'
about a young man whose frustrations in dating women cause him to
question his sexual orientation and to explore dates with men before
finding his one true love.
The digital video production took 21 shooting days over a two-month
period last fall in Chicago and suburban locations. The 40 volunteers,
who handled production, crew, and post, included Ken Nilsson, DP; Curt
T. Jones, assistant director; Mary McCann, production manager; Lou
Coty and F. William Ryder, script and editing consultants; and Anthony
Kern, editor. The script called for 40 speaking parts and 104 extras.
Squid Brothers is now submitting the picture to major independent film
festivals in hopes of attracting distribution and future financing.
Pietrowiak and Spencer are eager to talk to anyone interested in
financing independent filmmaking that promises to showcase Chicago
talent.
Supplying his portion of the $46,000 budget for the 102-minute
production tapped him out, Pietrowiak said, forcing a part-time return
to the mortgage business. But the experience has been worth it. "I
made a ton of money at an early age," he reflected, "but it didn't
mean anything compared to the excitement of making a film."
A personal bonus for Pietrowiak came premier night at the Copernicus
Theatre when his biological mother and his adoptive mother met for the
first time. He had decided to search out his birth mother after
recovering form his burns.
As it turned out, she lives about a block from where he stayed during
his disappointing sojourn in California, although he did not know it
at the time. She works as a researcher for NBC and on the side has
pursued acting, singing, and photography most of her adult life. |
