Interview with Filmmaker Sebastian Corbascio

Film Synergy: Why are you pursuing the film business?

Sebastian Corbascio: I got "touched" in 1989 after seeing "sex, lies, and videotape", "Drugstore Cowboy", and "Do The Right Thing" and have never looked back. These films spoke to me about life outside my front door, as opposed to life in outer space.

Film Synergy: Who are your influences?

Sebastian Corbascio: The usual suspects: Scorsese, Kurosawa, Kubrick, Hitch, Woody Allen.

Film Synergy: There's always the chance, on any project you work on, that the end product might not live up to your expectations. Is the quality of the work experience more important to you than the finished product?

Sebastian Corbascio: That is a very difficult question to answer. Jody Foster once said something along the lines of that if the shoot is bad, the film generally won't be any good. The general mileu on the set always ends up onscreen, so it's hard for me to separate the two. I've never been on a bad shoot which turned out a masterpiece after cutting, and vice versa.

Film Synergy: Tell us about your latest project, "Sarah Luger" What genre is it? What audience are you going after? What is it about? How far along is it? Where can we expect to see it?

Sebastian Corbascio: "Sarah Luger"is a murder mystery; I am basically going after women in their late teens early twenties and without, in someone's words "talking down to them." I am only six million dollars or so away from getting it off the ground.



Film Synergy: A little more on "Sarah Luger" What was the shooting schedule like? What was the budget, what did you shoot on, how large was your crew?

Sebastian Corbascio: The shooting schedule was brutal for me, since the cast were mainly teens, and myself, the camera man, and the sound person were the only people who had experience making films. The other folks were enthusiastic beginners; they were often heroic, but needed flexibility. We had about $3000, a majority of which went to pay the camera person; money well spent I might add. Our crew was about seven people. For what we got, you would never believe it.

Film Synergy: What has been your biggest challenge thus far, whether it be related to "Sarah Luger" or in the overall pursuit of your entertainment career?

Sebastian Corbascio: The biggest challenge has been finding people to work with; there is so much unprofessionalism in this business, at every level. Some of the fourteen year olds in Sarah Luger were ten times as professional as some of the people I have had to work with in the past. So the old adage of working with animals or kids in my experience is half true, I've never worked with animals, but I'm sure my neighbors dog is ten times the artisan/producer than some folks.

Film Synergy: What advice would you give a young filmmaker starting his career?

Sebastian Corbascio: John Mortisugu was once asked this same question and his answer was something along the lines of "Nothing. They are going to do it or not; nothing I say will change that." I think that is pretty profound.