Professional Motion Picture Production and Distribution NEWS

The Collaborative Art of Storytelling: Q&A with Actor, Screenwriter and Producer Jordon Hodges

By Kelcie Des Jardins
posted May 23, 2013, 15:49

Jordon Hodges began his career as an actor before transitioning into the role of screenwriter and producer, finding himself more passionate about the story, “the art of it, the complex collaboration of artists working together towards a common goal”. After starring in the period drama Mary’s Buttons, Hodges was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Michigan Independent and Uptown International Film Festival. This fall will see the release of his newest film Sand Castles.

How did you first start in the film industry?

Jordon Hodges: I am one of those people who think most life changing things happen for a reason, it was kind of by fateful chance. I was in college at Indiana University, a business major with a minor in fine arts. For my fine arts minor I had a slew of classes to choose from to receive credit. The only class that would give me credit and fit with my schedule perfectly was the 'Fundamentals of Acting' on Thursday morning. I was at the edge of a failing grade because I didn't take the work seriously, to bring up my grade my instructor told me I had to go to an audition at a local play that was coming up in the Spring. I went to the audition without a monologue or anything prepared, instead I just told the director and casting director the story of my loss of innocence when I was around 13. Days later the word came back to class and I was cast; when I asked the director why he cast me, he simply said, "If someone can open up and be vulnerable to total strangers, then they surely can have no problem being someone else on stage." I fell in love with acting through the course of rehearsals. At the end of that semester I quit college while on the Dean's List and moved to Chicago to pursue acting full time.

After three years in Chicago, I felt that I had hit a "personal ceiling" where there wasn't enough opportunity for what I wanted to do exactly, so I made the voyage to Los Angeles County. The glamorous parts of the business that many people only see when they are starting out, simply were not at all important. What was important was story, the art of it, the complex collaboration of artists working together towards a common goal. I started not wanting to do any kind of movie anymore, the script became more and more important to me or whether I wanted to put everything I had into the project or not.

Within 5 months of being in Los Angeles, I wrote along with Bugs Moran a 43 min. pilot called 'Impulse Black'. I produced it myself, just from what I had learned putting myself on sets as a classroom the previous years. I also lead the film with a great supporting cast consisting of Emme Rylan (Guiding Light, General Hospital, Bring it On) and Robert Miano (Donnie Brasco, Fast & Furious). Making that film really cement the foundation of confidence that I could make a film and carry it from A to Z.

Do you find yourself thinking like an editor when you're writing the screenplay or like a director when you're acting, or do you find the roles overlap?

Jordon Hodges: I think you almost have to when laying out the screenplay structure. Some writers will make a treatment of the entire story before ever writing the screenplay, but I am the opposite. I start right away in Final Draft with a couple ideas floating around and just see where it goes. I imagine that I am writing an actual film in my head, try to place myself in a seat watching it, so naturally you will start editing the film in your head to know what scene should come next. Being an actor, of course you kind of have an idea which role you would like to play when writing, so you write it extremely challenging. If I write a scene for myself, and I am not somewhat nervous or scared to actually act that scene out, and as long as it's right for the story, then something is up. So I think they all overlap a lot. The most overlapping though goes from the producer’s standpoint. When you're writing, and planning on actually making the film, which will probably be on a low-budget, I am writing locations and things that are not extremely expensive to shoot. Some would say that limits you, but I think working within limitations brings out the better story; it's challenging, so you're always pushing the story more and more as you're forced to be clever. I am not going to write in a huge helicopter explosion to show the death of a character--instead it’s "How can this character die in a very realistic and subtle way, but be even more powerful?"

What do you find to be the most satisfying part of the filmmaking process?

Jordon Hodges: As a "job", acting. I feel free in front of the camera. I have such a passion for finding the character before showing up for set, to have my script covered in notes of subtle details and thoughts. That love carries over for my love of writing. On the other spectrum, the process is definitely the people and the bonds. Making a film with friends you respect and admire is simply pure fun. A great group of people, all working together and living out their dream. The memories, the experience, the wisdom, the friendships, the love are all invaluable.

Based off the trailer alone, Sand Castles is going to be a deeply emotional, dramatic film. How did you try to convey those emotions through the camera?

Jordon Hodges: I wrote the film of course, and I had spent so much time thinking about the character Noah's point of view, and did all my homework with the character, that it all just kind of happened. I never planned on what exactly what I was going to do in a scene or anything specific. I knew the place in my soul where I was coming from. I knew what I was supposed to say. I left how I would feel in those moments out in the open. Try to let them happen naturally and trust my gut instincts, but most of all trust my director to point me in the right direction and let me know if we got it or not to move on. You must 100% trust your director; if you don't then you will always second-guess yourself.

It was a character story, and the kind of film that would challenge the entire cast and crew on some level. We all want to be better in our craft, to do that we have to challenge ourselves. It could be shot on an extremely low-budget in comparison to most films, but only if it was made with complete preparation and passion. To film on location in the town I grew up in was an experience I cannot explain. The entire community offered to help--on locations, food, cranes, trucks, etc. They are miles away from Hollywood, and they don't see this kind of thing everyday, so they were all about it. There was no major company or studio that backed this film. Just a couple people who believed in the script, including Scott Jemison who really helped take the project from a dream to a reality. It starts with script, and it ends with the script.

In October 2012, we shot Sand Castles on location in my hometown of Goshen, Indiana over the course of about 20 days. Chris Faulisi [Impulse Black] shot the film with 2 RED Epics on Steadicam and sliders, equipped with old lo-mo Anamorphic lenses.

Could you describe one of your most memorable experiences on set? How did this event change your perspective as a filmmaker?

Jordon Hodges: I was in Chicago, working on a feature-film called the The Express starring Dennis Quaid. I was just an extra football player on the film and it was my first bigger budget set I had been on. It was the first day I showed up, location was Chicago Studio City, which is pretty much a studio lot, a couple of huge blank white walled rooms where they build sets.

I walked on to the set to be in the background of a scene that had a bus in front of a green screen. I got on the bus, Dennis Quaid a couple seats in front of me, thinking this was all crazy. Trying to take it all in, they called "action". As soon as that magical word hit, the bus started shaking a little bit like we were moving from crew outside using 2x4's to bounce it. Other crew members were spraying the windows with water to make it look like it was raining outside, the camera started moving ever so gracefully, and Mr. Quaid started speaking like an everyday subtle conversation. I was amazed. At that moment I knew I wanted to be in films the rest of my life.

What are three tips you would offer fellow filmmakers?

Jordon Hodges: (1) You better love it, and there is nothing else you would be happy doing. If you're looking for money, fame, power--then quit now. The life of a filmmaker has a lot of ups and downs, and it's a long, hard road too. But if you truly love it, then it is a road well traveled.

(2) You're who you surround yourself with. Surround yourself with people who are smarter and more talented than you are, leave the ego at the door. If you don't, you will never learn anything or get any better. Being a big fish in a small pond has little room to grow, and I never plan on swimming there.

(3) Just do it. Humans are very strange, in the sense that we can do amazing things if we put everything we have into something. It will be hard, it will be scary, it will seem impossible. You will laugh, you will cry, you will think you're dying because you're so stressed. But you get through it all and come out having accomplished a great battle at the end. Remember that nothing comes easy, and the best careers are usually the ones that take the longest to unfold.