Meet Luci Schroder — a young, spritely, Australian lass, who at twenty-eight has hardly been around the block. But rather then waiting until she became an ‘I’m-too-busy-sailing-my-solid-gold-yacht-to-Cannes’, award winning director, we decided her brain was ripe for picking now, goddammit. After all, so many of the people we talk to these days are kicking-back in old-age, the early days of their careers long forgotten. Luci on the other hand, she’s fresh out of her mid-twenties with all that difficult ‘foot in the door’ stuff out of the way. So! If anybody here wants to become a director, listen to Luci’s story, and take inspiration from that fact that being a hard-working go-getter can really, truly, pay-off.
Junior: Ok Luci. From the top. How did you become a director?
Luci: I never knew I wanted to direct, it just kind of happened. But I’ve always been obsessed with making things.
Jr: So where did you start, tell us where you got your first job?
L: I’d gone for this job in the tape room at Image Stream/Digital Pictures during the end of uni. I’d had an interview with this guy, I’d given him the spiel about how I saw myself as a creative person, I showed him a couple of animations I’d made and he asked if I would be happy just dubbing tapes – because I’d be dubbing them for at least a year before I’d get to do anything else. He then said that the only way people move up in the company was if someone dies or leaves.
Jr: Ha! What a banana.
L: And that I’d be doing shift work, the salary was shit, and I’d be doing long hours. I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy at this prospect, but he told me I was the front runner for the job – we’d already found out I barracked for the same footy team, had gone to the same primary school and I liked soccer – so it was almost a done deal.
But luckily at the same time, my brother who was friends with Germain, (one of the directors from Directors Group (http://directorsgroup NULL.com NULL.au/dg NULL.html)) told him they were looking for someone to answer the phones. So I gave Craig the owner a call and went in to meet them. When I saw their reel I knew it would be a great place to work. I ended up working for them the next week running on a Target TV commercial as a free-bee, so they could make sure I wasn’t a spaz (http://www NULL.google NULL.com NULL.au/search?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org NULL.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=P3y&defl=en&q=define:Spaz&ei=luBxS6yXN4qI6gOJoPSeCA&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAcQkAE). I then played my cards saying that I’d been offered a job elsewhere, and did they want me to work for them, as I had to let the other people know. Luckily they did. At that stage they were about to go and shoot Megan Gale in Shanghai for David Jones, and then off to Greece for a Leggo’s pasta sauce spot, so basically the first month there I answered the phones, booked hotel rooms, watched DVD’S and ate pistachios.
Jr: So it was basically about being in the right place at the right time in a way.
L: Yeah, but I did work it a bit to get the job at Directors Group, as Craig had said he was still looking at others for the position, I was trying to get the other job at Image Stream just in case, which possibly could have happened.
Jr: And you might still be in the tape room till this day.
L: Yeah, no disrespect to Image Stream but I’m glad the cookie crumbled as it did.
Jr: And so falling into the producer role was never part of the plan?
L: Nope. But going from answering phones to production assistant, director’s assistant, production manager, and then producing meant I really got to learn the ropes. Also it’s a small company so you get to try your hand at many things, I had lots of opportunities to work in many areas of production which maybe wouldn’t have happened at bigger companies and as time went on the guys gave me more responsibility, I helped with scouting, treatments, casting, etc.
Jr: So after being hired as the receptionist how soon did you progress onto the other stuff?
L: When the guys came back from overseas, I was pretty much production assistant, then soon production coordinator, then I was down as producer on the next music clip that we made. It was a bit of a joke though; the gaffer even came up to me and said it was the quickest progression he had ever seen. I guess I like to aim high. But I was giving my uni library card a work out straight away to borrow books for pitches and stuff. But doing time is important, there’s so much you need to know.
Jr: At what stage did you then go, well, I’m not Luci the producer, I’m not Luci the girl who answers the phones.. I’m Luci Schroder the director.
L: I started getting really frustrated early on. I could see all this great creative stuff going on and I really wanted to be doing it rather than organising and sourcing it. A MAFMAD (http://www NULL.mafmad NULL.com NULL.au/) TAC competition flyer came in the mail. I thought it was worth a crack and the prize was pretty handsome. I procrastinated for a while and was pretty busy at work. But the night before it was due I stayed up all night writing the outline… and I ended up winning (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=nBxdhgTcFiE). That experience was pretty cool, especially the fact that your film goes to cinema, you get to go through all the processes that goes along with that, it was really exciting and it made me realise how much I enjoyed the challenge of it all and that I wanted to do this permanently.
Jr: It must be hard putting the hours in pitching on a job, only to have it go to another director or have it canned. Does this happen often, especially since you are still in the early stages of your career?
L: It can get you down, but you have to try and not take it personally. A lot of the jobs I pitched for last year were ones that were a bit rickety to begin with. They didn’t have enough money to make them how they wanted to and the client was nervous about spending the money during the economic downturn – the jobs were kind of doomed from the beginning. 98.6% didn’t get made.
I also had this crazy experience where twenty-four directors were pitching for a job. I didn’t know this at the time, I was really excited about it, I had three days to do the treatment over a weekend, and I missed a really great party to do it properly. I found out that no one ever got the job because of client politics. So there were twenty-four people who spent the time and effort and no one got the job – pretty frustrating.
Jr: It seems like a well thought out treatment is pretty important thing. What makes a good one?
L: It’s debatable. I’ve seen different ones from time to time from different people. I think you need to be thorough yet clear and succinct, and with a little enthusiasm.
Jr: How much time do you think young directors should spend on a treatment?
L: Well it’s different depending on the size and scope of the job, I’m a bit of a procrastinator, I get stuck watching movies and searching for pictures, listening to music, making pancakes… but 2 to 3 days is good. I find it good to sleep on my ideas, it’s amazing the difference a day makes.
Jr: It seems like there’s a real art to getting jobs as a young director. What’s your strategy? Do you look at the jobs you have done and think, “I’ve got six things on my reel and two I’m really proud of,” and then try to counteract any shortcomings with a great treatment?
L: Yeah, I feel that the work I’ve done shows promise. I get better with every job I do. But of course the better the reel the better your chances. What I did learn through working with directors like ‘Nice Trees’ at the Directors Group is that you always need to have a really good treatment as well. They go together like crackers and cheese.
Jr: Music videos. You’ve done a few. You’re finishing one now. Do you think for young directors that music videos are a massive career starter?
L: I think so because you have a lot more creative freedom in music video land, however it seems the budgets are less and less for a lot of good local acts which sucks. But it’s a really good way to cut your teeth.
Jr: What’s the deal? No one is watching Rage anymore?
L: It seems the music industry in Australia is tight with finding money to make clips so if you can make something cool with a good concept that’s maybe a bit lo-fi or somehow cheap to make, that’s really going to help you.
Jr: I suppose that’s where young, up and coming directors can show their ideas as well.
L: Fresh eyes and a smart brain is a good thing,
Jr: Do you think that’s part of just breaking through, working with shit money?
L: Definitely. You kind of have to get more creative when you have shit money, and be more resourceful. It’s a true test. But it’s good because it makes you do things that you wouldn’t have thought of because it’s easier to come up with the big ideas than something for a smaller budget. I like the idea of turning shit into gold.
Jr: Everyone who we’ve interviewed have all said that.
L: I did a film clip (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=TaTo1IicCtA) recently for Cordrazine’s new single still yet to be released which was made for $3000 and a lot of favors, it’s tough but do-able.
Jr: It’s pretty amazing what you did with not much money.
L: I’m just finishing another small budget clip for an independent artist, with the budget just $2,000! It was almost impossible, and it’s definitely more lo-fi, but it has its own charm. But I will always love high production values and having a budget to work with. It’s a struggle to let go of that sometimes. It’s exciting times we live in though, there is so much material, varying technologies and influences to use and pull from.
Jr: What do you reckon about being one of the few female directors?
L: I think people will work with you because you do great work and you’re good to work with, not because you have a penis or a vagina. I just really wanted to say penis and vagina. Can you leave it in the interview?
Jr: We will definitely leave that in. Do you have female directors that you look up to?
L: Off the top of my head my favourite female ones are Naggie Noda, the female director that did Fish Tank – Andrea Arnold, Sophia Coppola, Alex and Alaine and Radical Friend – but they are both boy/girl duos so that’s kind of cheating.
Jr: Do you think for people trying to become a director, is it a case of getting a job, whatever that job is, whether it is answering the phones or running and then start building opportunities?
L: It felt right for me, but some people might just go straight into it. It was never that obvious to me to begin with. I started out not knowing exactly which role I wanted to take on within the industry – cinematography, director, animator, creative producer, editor. It’s good to have a network of people around you who are inspiring and ultra talented and I was lucky enough to have that throughout the journey so far. The film medium is a collaborative process, I think having good people skills is going to help you, and if you understand crew roles and what they have to deal with, it can only make you better at communicating what you want and how to go about making it happen. Surrounding yourself with the best makes you better. I like having the knowledge and background experience in all those other areas of the job. It makes me feel prepared; luck favours the prepared mind or something.
Jr: So many young creatives we talk to are so busy, they’ve just started their first jobs and they’re not getting out and about as much as they use to. How do you feed your brain when you’re working such insane hours?
L: It’s super important. I find I tend to re-evaluate everything all the time, ask questions, restocking your creative fridge, travelling, reading, getting amongst it, keeping open to new influences, absorb and poo it all out again. I’m a big observer, its sounds creepy but I always love watching people. In general, human beings are rad.
Jr: And what about building your craft as a director?
L: I’d done acting and lots of dancing at school, but I hadn’t done much acting since. I had a major curiosity about all the different types of acting methods out there, the many varied ways to get a performance out of an actor or even a regular person. I want to increase my knowledge so I can work out what kind of director I want to be. And you can only get so much out of reading books and watching other people direct. So for the last year I’ve attended acting classes. It’s been really fun, and quite freeing. There are lots of ways to direct but until you actually get up on a stage or on set and give acting a go you really have no bearing of what it takes, and what the actor feels. I’ve come from a visual back ground, been around mostly visually bent creatives, and doing some theatre acting has given me extra tools for my tool kit.
Jr: Speaking of extra tools – you’ve got that production knowledge and experience. So you could do a whole job own your own, you know, two pay checks?
L: Ha! Nah, I like collaborating. I always try to work with the best people so it’s a good vibe, it’s good to know who you’re working with. I think a big part of working with people is being able to articulate what you want, and know the best way to get great performances out of your crew and cast. Everyone plays a part in making the pictures, I value everyone.
Jr: So where are you at now?
L: Recently when Nice Trees disbanded, I thought that it was the perfect opportunity to jump into directing full time. I set goals for myself, kept busy creating clips and writing, but you can’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t reach your goals by a certain time. You’ve got to put it out there and be brave – it takes time.
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