SIX OF THE BEST: Chris Folino – Director, Producer & Writer Of Sparks

18th March 2014

Welcome to another edition of SIX OF THE BEST, the semi regular part of BRWC where we fire six questions at lovely people. This one is about Chris Folino – Director, producer & writer of Sparks.

How did Sparks come to you?

In the summer of 2007, I was in a hotel room with my family in San Diego. We were going to Sea World the next day. I remember the story idea for Sparks clicked that evening and I ended up writing about 12 pages that night.

At that time in my life I had a lot of professional frustration. It was a year after making our first movie, “Gamers”, which, despite getting some great reviews, didn’t take off. Also at the time, I had been working a long time at a company with zero chances of being promoted. The idea of making another movie wasn’t an option financially so I began writing a comic book and the idea of a regular guy with no powers who wanted to avenge criminals but failed felt real.
And that led to the main underlining theme in Sparks, which is if someone has real powers, would they use it for good or evil?

What do you think our reaction will be to your film?

Lets look at the facts, you guys have named your website after a famous line in one of the greatest American movies ever made by Quentin Tarantino. My last name sort of rhymes with Tarantino which is Folino. HMMM. You guys are going to hate it! l predict you will call me the White Castle “double cheese slider.”

Was it tough to put together?

Most no-budget movies are either horror films or romantic comedies. However, Sparks has over 450 effect shots and is a period piece.

When we started Sparks, I just wanted to try to make a narrative movie and prove to myself that I could do it. So when we reached out to our friends for help, the project kept getting bigger in size and better in quality in terms of the cast and crew. Before I knew it, Ashley Bell, Jake Busey, Clint Howard and Clancy Brown were attached and then our editor/producer Max Carlson called up Hans Zimmer, and Jacob Shea and Daniel Kresco were recruited. Suddenly this small little project became the biggest opportunity of a lifetime.

Sparks was completely self-financed without any kickstarter funds and it was shot primarily in 12 days with 2 crews going at the same time. It was the only way we could afford the location and the gear. We filmed it mostly at nights from 4PM to 5AM with lots of rain towers and snow machines.

Every member of the crew and myself have day jobs so it’s been a rollercoaster ride. You wish you had more time and money, but we know with the schedule the actors had we did the very best we could.

And thankfully, the talent involved from start to finish made Sparks into something special!

Why should people see your film?

This isn’t a Marvel or DC movie, so we don’t have to answer to anyone when we kill off a lead or show a superhero get morally corrupt and go real dark! Sparks is a film noir thriller with superhero elements and it explores the question “If you had powers, what would you use them for?”

What are your thoughts on the future for filmmakers in your shoes?

If you want to make a movie then go for it. Do it for yourself. Do it only if you can’t imagine life without it. Because nobody tells you how much the odds are stacked against you. After you go through shooting, editing and finishing your film the most difficult part is promoting and never seeing a dime back on what you invested because the real money is in distribution. There’s no real risk for the distributor and the deal an indie filmmaker gets is about as fair as a used car salesmen.

For example with Sparks we sold our movie to the Middle East for a flat sum and we were told it was going to be VOD and DVD only. I later got an email from a news reporter asking for artwork and we accidentally found out Sparks was playing for one week theatrically in over 30 theaters. That kind of greed and crap infuriates me and it’s so unfair to everyone involved.

So I hope in the near future that APPLE goes the same route they did with ITUNES for musicians. Let the filmmakers place their movies directly onto ITUNES and give them a shot at making 70 percent of the gross. Let the filmmaker spend their own money on marketing and advertising. At least you will control your film’s destiny more and not worry that your movie is directly paying for other films.

And I wish people would stop giving money to big celebrities like Zach Braff and Spike Lee on Kickstarter for their Passion projects. It destroys the ability to help or discover new talent! I would rather give the unknown kid from Omaha who has a passion for storytelling a chance or the girl in Argentina who wants to make a movie. Zach and Spike can go gather a few bucks to make their “Passion Project” can’t they? And I wish big festivals like Sundance and SXSW didn’t reward Zach Braff or Veronica Mars. I kind of feel like those movies should have screened for free online on Kickstarter first.

What are you working on next?

Thanks to the amazing crew and cast I got to take my shot. Unless Sparks turns into a cult indie hit, I will be working hard at my day job and saving money up. And maybe in a few years I can give it another shot because I want to do it and I can’t imagine life without it.

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