Josh Clayton directs his cast on the set of The Bull
Josh Clayton graduated from the College of William and Mary in May 2008 with a B.A. in Film Studies and English. And just half a year later, he successfully wrote a script, raised money, hired a professional crew, and directed his first (non-student) independent short entitled The Bull. This is, to say the least, quite a feat for a recent college grad, particularly one who majored in English (and don’t forget in this economy.)
After a messaging back and forth a few times, Josh shared with me the long version of how the film came about:
I came up with the script idea in April and wrote it in May. In June I visited a producer up north to see if he would help me out. He is a family friend because when he was just starting out as a car salesman, my grandfather was one of the first people to buy a car from him. His business expanded, and now he owns a ton of car dealerships in NJ, as well as some independent baseball teams (i.e. he is very rich). He also produces/finances films (mostly shorts and documentaries). I sat down with him and gave him the script and he said he would finance half of the budget (up to a point) basically as a favor to my family. I would have to secure the first half of the budget, and then he would drop in his money halfway through production.
So I went back to Durham and tried to fish around for some investors (hard to do because you must have a prior relationship with the investor otherwise the SEC gets involved and it gets sticky – so no public posting on craigslist for investors, if that even works). Found a possible investor, a local film producer down here, but he was busy trying to get a previous film he had produced ready for the American Film Market, and then became really sick, so he was unable to help me. So I decided to procure the money through a more traditional route (my family and my own pocket) and with that in order I started casting and getting crew.
I sent out crew and cast ads to the raleigh/durham craigslist and also posted on tarheelfilms.com (a NC film website). I got talent responses and auditioned them and picked out the two I wanted. I got crew responses, but once I chose my DP, he basically picked out people he had already worked with, so I just had to okay his choices and rates (so I ended up not hiring anybody, other than the DP, who had contacted me through Craigslist).
Finding a location was a trying process that deserves its own section. I had written the script based on a location in NJ that I thought I could use, but was later told I couldn’t. So with a very specific setting in mind, I talked to the NC Films Commission. They didn’t have anything for me, but they suggested I look at real estate websites. So I perused real estate sites, looking for a house with the look I wanted (and then google mapping the address to see if the surrounding area was what I wanted.) Finally, I did find a location only 3 weeks before the shoot date (which was set in stone basically because it was the only time my DP wasn’t busy), and arranged everything through the real estate agent (who was actually pretty pumped to have a film shooting on one of the properties he represented).
On location for the Bull
To see more pictures of the shoot click here.
To find out more about the film and to view the trailer please checkout the film’s website: www.thebullthefilm.com
The film’s synopsis from the website:
The Bull is about a newly married couple who have moved to the country to start out on their own. While unpacking, they have to react to the dynamics of their suddenly new relationship. They move around their new house, yard, and the nearby field, as well as the metaphysical space of their marriage, aware of their new freedom and physical confidence. They come to realize that marriage was supposed to be more than this lustful discourse of their own power and they become uneasy and distant, yearning for something that still must be beyond.
After successfully completing the film, Josh has sent it out to several festivals including Tribeca, Athens (OH), Toronto, and Seattle. He has also submitted locally around N.C., and even internationally, having successfully shipped the film off to a festival in Germany.
While Josh most likely won’t hear back about the festivals until sometime in March, he isn’t waiting to start the next step. He has already written a script for a feature length film, The Virgins. He hopes that his short The Bull will help build a base for him to market the financing of The Virgins while also looking to family, friends, colleagues and anybody else for potential support. Even though a feature length film will be a good deal harder to produce and much more expensive to finance than The Bull, expect Josh to find a way.
Please support Josh and his film making pursuits by checking out his blog at: http://joshclaytonfilm.wordpress.com/
Josh Clayton is a Tribe Filmmaker.
