Roger Spendlove
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Trisha: First of all, give me your background as a student and making this film, the
purpose behind it.
Roger: Well, my background, I'm a bit older than most students, obviously I have a
wife and three kids, and this is my first intention as a career. I went to undergraduate
in cinema productions but I didn't turn it into a career. I got out of filmmaking for ten
- thirteen years, I think. I felt God calling me back to filmmaking, and he was making
the road possible for me to come back.
Trisha: I think you made a wise choice. This was good, this was very good.
Roger: Thank you. This film, this is kinda like my culminating experience here at
Regent; not officially my portfolio piece, the final thing they do to graduate, but
obviously a little bit bigger production than most students/class projects.
Trisha: You'll be graduating this year?
Roger: Yes, this is my final semester right now. I'll be graduating in May, assuming I
complete my comp exam next week. Which I'm sure I will but... (light laughter)
Trisha: And what are your plans after this?
Roger: We're praying and waiting for God to show us the way. We'll probably move
away from Virginia Beach. We just don't feel that there is a whole lot of filmmaking
going on here. There's some but not enough.
Trisha: More in North Carolina?
Roger: Well, we don't know. Maybe Austin, or Lousiana, or...
Trisha: Because I know around Wilmington, North Carolina, they do a lot of filming...
Roger: I've heard there is a lot. And some TV series have been there. "Dawson's
Creek" has been there and they're gone now. So, it kinda comes and goes. So,
Wilmington is a possibility. We thought about that. But, we're just open to wherever
God opens the door for us to go, someplace, a city that has enough independent film
going on where I could be employed either as a director or maybe as a director of
photography which I know is some talent God has given me and is a position I've done
a lot of times at Regent with films here. So, we're just gonna go wherever I feel there is
a place where I can be employed enough to pay the bills.
Trisha: I really wish you a lot of luck on this, I really do. And of course when you
become this big major director, you will remember me, I'm sure.
Roger: I'll remember this, yeah.
Trisha: Give me some background with you and DJ Perry, how you came about
meeting up with him.
Roger: Well, I first met him working on the film "JUDGES". I was the second
assistant camera operator on that film and he was the star of course. So, I met him
there and got to know him a little bit. We didn't get to chum around a lot. But, I got to
know him a little bit. And then when I was doing this film, the casting, I'm not sure
how he heard about it. To me it seemed out of the blue. I got an email from him
including one of his headshots where he's holding a gun and he's in a rustic looking
cabin looking like he's about to be ambushed or something. And the email said, the
only thing it said was, "Have gun and will travel." And I instantly interpreted that that
he was interested in at least checking it out. So, I wrote back and said, "I assume by
that that you mean you would be willing to come to Virginia Beach to play in my film.
If so, great! I'd love to have you. Here's the script. Let me know what you would like
to play." And so, it just went from there. We exchanged emails quite frequently, and he
let me know that he thought he would be interested in "Oklahoma Kid" but he might
play other roles. But that was what he was interested in. I thought I'd definitely cast
DJ as the "Oklahoma Kid". He'd be great in the role, and he was.
Trisha: Did he take direction well?
Roger: He did take direction well. Actually, I probably received some from him mostly.
He and all the other actors had comments, suggestions, thought, ideas on what to do,
how to play the character, how about if I do it this way, and they are all professional
and DJ definitely knew what he was doing. And for the most part, I said, 'Yeah, let's go
with that', or 'Hmm, how about this way?' I made suggestions and I had ideas of how
I wanted some of the performances to go but, mostly, when I saw them rehearsing... we
did get together for one rehersal before the shooting day... and I just saw what they had
done bringing the characters to life. This is great! This is either what I wanted or
more, or better than what I wanted, or I didn't really know what I wanted and this is
awesome.
purpose behind it.
Roger: Well, my background, I'm a bit older than most students, obviously I have a
wife and three kids, and this is my first intention as a career. I went to undergraduate
in cinema productions but I didn't turn it into a career. I got out of filmmaking for ten
- thirteen years, I think. I felt God calling me back to filmmaking, and he was making
the road possible for me to come back.
Trisha: I think you made a wise choice. This was good, this was very good.
Roger: Thank you. This film, this is kinda like my culminating experience here at
Regent; not officially my portfolio piece, the final thing they do to graduate, but
obviously a little bit bigger production than most students/class projects.
Trisha: You'll be graduating this year?
Roger: Yes, this is my final semester right now. I'll be graduating in May, assuming I
complete my comp exam next week. Which I'm sure I will but... (light laughter)
Trisha: And what are your plans after this?
Roger: We're praying and waiting for God to show us the way. We'll probably move
away from Virginia Beach. We just don't feel that there is a whole lot of filmmaking
going on here. There's some but not enough.
Trisha: More in North Carolina?
Roger: Well, we don't know. Maybe Austin, or Lousiana, or...
Trisha: Because I know around Wilmington, North Carolina, they do a lot of filming...
Roger: I've heard there is a lot. And some TV series have been there. "Dawson's
Creek" has been there and they're gone now. So, it kinda comes and goes. So,
Wilmington is a possibility. We thought about that. But, we're just open to wherever
God opens the door for us to go, someplace, a city that has enough independent film
going on where I could be employed either as a director or maybe as a director of
photography which I know is some talent God has given me and is a position I've done
a lot of times at Regent with films here. So, we're just gonna go wherever I feel there is
a place where I can be employed enough to pay the bills.
Trisha: I really wish you a lot of luck on this, I really do. And of course when you
become this big major director, you will remember me, I'm sure.
Roger: I'll remember this, yeah.
Trisha: Give me some background with you and DJ Perry, how you came about
meeting up with him.
Roger: Well, I first met him working on the film "JUDGES". I was the second
assistant camera operator on that film and he was the star of course. So, I met him
there and got to know him a little bit. We didn't get to chum around a lot. But, I got to
know him a little bit. And then when I was doing this film, the casting, I'm not sure
how he heard about it. To me it seemed out of the blue. I got an email from him
including one of his headshots where he's holding a gun and he's in a rustic looking
cabin looking like he's about to be ambushed or something. And the email said, the
only thing it said was, "Have gun and will travel." And I instantly interpreted that that
he was interested in at least checking it out. So, I wrote back and said, "I assume by
that that you mean you would be willing to come to Virginia Beach to play in my film.
If so, great! I'd love to have you. Here's the script. Let me know what you would like
to play." And so, it just went from there. We exchanged emails quite frequently, and he
let me know that he thought he would be interested in "Oklahoma Kid" but he might
play other roles. But that was what he was interested in. I thought I'd definitely cast
DJ as the "Oklahoma Kid". He'd be great in the role, and he was.
Trisha: Did he take direction well?
Roger: He did take direction well. Actually, I probably received some from him mostly.
He and all the other actors had comments, suggestions, thought, ideas on what to do,
how to play the character, how about if I do it this way, and they are all professional
and DJ definitely knew what he was doing. And for the most part, I said, 'Yeah, let's go
with that', or 'Hmm, how about this way?' I made suggestions and I had ideas of how
I wanted some of the performances to go but, mostly, when I saw them rehearsing... we
did get together for one rehersal before the shooting day... and I just saw what they had
done bringing the characters to life. This is great! This is either what I wanted or
more, or better than what I wanted, or I didn't really know what I wanted and this is
awesome.
Trisha: Now, you mentioned about submitting this to some of the film festivals. I
mean, I have no clue about how...
Roger: Well, I'm just learning that too, as I go. That's one thing that we don't really
learn in class that much, is what to do once the film is done. But I do know that getting
a film shown at a festival is one of the major ways that people start a career as a
director or a filmmaking producer or whatever. So, I plan to go that route. First I'm
going to submit it to a couple - the two film festivals that Regent sponsors here for
students. And then, beyond that, I plan to... I am currently researching all of the
festivals that I can find. There is... on my database, there are thousands of them all
over the country and the world. So, I need to figure out which twenty or thirty are good
shots that I have a chance of getting accepted at. I might submit to Sundance Film
Festival, that's one of the biggest in the country, but it's also one of those pie-in-the-sky
kinds of things to me. But I might submit to it because they might...
Trisha: You should. I really think it was good. So, by all means. I would push you to
do that.
Roger: I know I will probably submit to the Virginia Film Festival that they show in
Charlottsville. I'm not sure when that is.
Trisha: See, you're in my backyard then.
Roger: And I think UVA in Charlottsville has a student film festival, I just found out
about from my professor, and I'll submit there.
Trisha: How long did it take to make this?
Roger: Preproduction, a couple of minths. This was a project for a class for a
semester. So, last fall I went in the advanced directing class and I knew that the
requirement would be to make a five-minute film but I didn't have a script or an idea. I
started the class without one and I then talked to my friend, Todd Murphy the writer,
and he didn't have any, but he had some ideas that he pitched to me and I said, 'I like
that one. Why don't we do that.' And that's what it turned out to be, this one. So,
preproduction, writing the script, look for locations, casting, getting all the crew... about
two months. It was pretty fast. Maybe a little more actually. I remember going on
quite a few wekends of scouting locations. The shooting... two days one weekend. Each
day was about twelve hours one day and thirteen the other, which was a little bit
overtime but not bad.
Trisha: It was actually shot in two days?
Roger: Two days, yeah. We had 42 shots which I trimmed down to 39. But 42 shots to
do in the two days, which actually is a lot. For setup---to setup the cameras, rehearse
the moves---anytime the camera is on a dolly or any kind of movement takes a lot of
rehearsal and practice in making sure that the acting happens right at the point when
you want it to with the camera move--- and special effects going off... and the gun
jammed frequently on DJ.
Trisha: Did it?
Roger: Yeah, when he is shooting the sniper, that shot in particular, the gun jammed
on him quite a few times. But we got a couple of takes where it went off.
Right as Roger spoke those last words, the recorder stopped. I had ran out of tape...
mean, I have no clue about how...
Roger: Well, I'm just learning that too, as I go. That's one thing that we don't really
learn in class that much, is what to do once the film is done. But I do know that getting
a film shown at a festival is one of the major ways that people start a career as a
director or a filmmaking producer or whatever. So, I plan to go that route. First I'm
going to submit it to a couple - the two film festivals that Regent sponsors here for
students. And then, beyond that, I plan to... I am currently researching all of the
festivals that I can find. There is... on my database, there are thousands of them all
over the country and the world. So, I need to figure out which twenty or thirty are good
shots that I have a chance of getting accepted at. I might submit to Sundance Film
Festival, that's one of the biggest in the country, but it's also one of those pie-in-the-sky
kinds of things to me. But I might submit to it because they might...
Trisha: You should. I really think it was good. So, by all means. I would push you to
do that.
Roger: I know I will probably submit to the Virginia Film Festival that they show in
Charlottsville. I'm not sure when that is.
Trisha: See, you're in my backyard then.
Roger: And I think UVA in Charlottsville has a student film festival, I just found out
about from my professor, and I'll submit there.
Trisha: How long did it take to make this?
Roger: Preproduction, a couple of minths. This was a project for a class for a
semester. So, last fall I went in the advanced directing class and I knew that the
requirement would be to make a five-minute film but I didn't have a script or an idea. I
started the class without one and I then talked to my friend, Todd Murphy the writer,
and he didn't have any, but he had some ideas that he pitched to me and I said, 'I like
that one. Why don't we do that.' And that's what it turned out to be, this one. So,
preproduction, writing the script, look for locations, casting, getting all the crew... about
two months. It was pretty fast. Maybe a little more actually. I remember going on
quite a few wekends of scouting locations. The shooting... two days one weekend. Each
day was about twelve hours one day and thirteen the other, which was a little bit
overtime but not bad.
Trisha: It was actually shot in two days?
Roger: Two days, yeah. We had 42 shots which I trimmed down to 39. But 42 shots to
do in the two days, which actually is a lot. For setup---to setup the cameras, rehearse
the moves---anytime the camera is on a dolly or any kind of movement takes a lot of
rehearsal and practice in making sure that the acting happens right at the point when
you want it to with the camera move--- and special effects going off... and the gun
jammed frequently on DJ.
Trisha: Did it?
Roger: Yeah, when he is shooting the sniper, that shot in particular, the gun jammed
on him quite a few times. But we got a couple of takes where it went off.
Right as Roger spoke those last words, the recorder stopped. I had ran out of tape...
