Filmmaker of the Week – Matthew C Temple
Episode 38 of Filmmaker of the Week featuring Matthew C Temple!
Give us a brief introduction of yourself, where you’re from originally and where you are now if different
I’m originally from Los Angeles, but spent much of my life living in other parts of the country… and other parts of the world, including Germany, Mexico, and Kenya. I’m currently living in the Bay Area.
I started my creative journey as a musician, poet and actor. In my early 20s I toured Europe with my a cappella group. But when I finally came back to the States and enrolled in college, it was as though the world had very clear plans for me but didn’t let me in on it until after I took a screenwriting 101 class and that first script became my first feature film, Senses of Place.
After graduating from film school, I moved back to LA and began my filmmaking career, in earnest.
What is it that first got you into the world of filmmaking?
Probably what gets many artists into the field of making movies: wanting to tell stories that will make a difference in the lives of the viewers. I learned pretty quickly that in order to make a living, I needed to take whatever jobs I could in order to gain the skills I would need to do that.
As my career developed, I found I was able to move back towards that original catalyst, but with a new twist: supporting storytellers from generally under-represented communities in telling their stories, as well as focusing my own work on stories of those who had not seen their stories told.
Share a little bit about your specialty in the film world
This is a two-part answer.
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I have always been able to make a movie shine and come to life on limited budgets. I made a feature film on just a few thousand dollars, I’ve made an animated movie on under $10 million (which, for those who have worked in animation know, that’s quite a feat)
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I specialize in amplifying marginalized voices. Whether this is in the form of making a documentary on subjects that are often neglected or misunderstood, or helping with other filmmakers seeking their first breaks. I spent nearly two years in Kenya, mentoring young creatives to learn the craft of filmmaking and storytelling and overcoming the obstacles of making content with little to no resources.
What has been your most challenging project to date?
The most challenging are the ones that never got made. Like this great project I was developing with Kevin Costner and Beacon Pictures. We had partners that were acting in bad faith and at the end of the day, that movie got tied up in lawsuits and will sadly never get made. It was also one of the best stories I’ve ever had the privilege of telling.
‘Hardball: The Girls of Summer’ was my first documentary – and that was certainly a challenge. It was the story of the top female baseball players in America. Being that it was not historical but an unfolding story, I was also dependent on what was happening in real life to to give me the story structure. The real-life story took an unexpected turn half way through filming. So, we edited the first half of the movie and then took another year of filming and story development in order to get the movie to work.
The good news is that the story came together and it really worked. A year or two later than planned, but it did. And we sold the film to Vertical Entertainment so you can see the movie on most streaming platforms.
Tell us a bit about your latest project.
My latest film project is a documentary I recently started shooting about spoken word poets from low-income neighborhoods and informal settlements (slums). They use their voices and words to create meaning out of difficult situations, to heal themselves, and share their healing with others in their communities who long for connection, understanding, and the healing power of the spoken word.
Non-film projects are “The Creative’s Handbook,” which is a book I’ve written to help creatives be creative and my podcast “Tapping Creativity.”
What is one moment you’ve had in any part of the filmmaking process where you learned a really valuable lesson?
I’ll share two – one in filmmaking and the other in writing for the screen.
I was writing the script for The Luckiest Man Alive and my first draft was pretty much my final draft. That had never happened – it was good right off the bat (and hint, it’s never happened again since). But the characters felt a little derivative, like I had seen them all before. If you watch it, try and guess which characters were women who became men, men who became women and a straight character became gay. I just switched up my assumptions and the characters totally came to life.
When I was producing The Advocate, I had rented a police car from a picture car rental company in Los Angeles. As it was a little indie picture, I decided I’d pick up the car and bring it to set. Unfortunately, the company hadn’t finished the re-registration process and the car was confiscated by the police on the way to set. As I sat there wondering how I would get a Ford Crown Victoria to set where the entire cast and crew was waiting for me, I saw the perfect car at an apartment building across the street. I knocked on every door in that complex until I found the owner and convinced her to rent me her car for the day.
We made our day, she got paid and credited in the movie and I went from being the biggest loser to the hero. The lesson: stay on your toes and stay sharp. There’s (almost) always a solution to the problems of filmmaking.
What are some of the 5-year goals for you as a filmmaker/creative?
I hope to make movies with filmmakers from underrepresented communities here and abroad. I’m really interested in diversity in storytelling. Not just diverse voices in the US, but also voices from places and countries that don’t have easy access to tools and distribution.
If you could work with one idol of yours, who would it be?
Francis Ford Coppola. He did an interview for “Hardball: The Girls of Summer” and after he viewed the final edit, he called me to congratulate me on a “job well done.” You can imagine, I was over the moon. He also gave me a filmmaking masterclass over the phone on how using symphonic theory in making movies.
Honestly, I did some small fixes and pulled his notes into how I scored the movie with composer Adrian Lee. It took the movie to the next level.
To be able to work with him and see The Godfather put that into action first hand would be a dream come true.
Name three films that have inspired you most in your journey.
Star Wars – for making me fall in love with movies
Monsters Ball – for showing me how the end of the movie can be the beginning of the story and how bittersweet is maybe the most delicious flavor to end a movie with.
The Godfather (or There Will Be Blood) – for expertly taking time to invite us into the nuanced world, without rushing or manipulating our attention.
Where can folks find out more about you online?
www.matthewctemple.com
www.instagram.com/matthewctemple
www.facebook.com/matthewctempleofficial
www.templepilgrim.com
Any last thoughts or pieces of advice to filmmakers out there?
Don’t do it.
But if you DO do it, do it because you love the challenge of actually making movies and telling stories. If you’re doing it so you can be done with it (get awards, fame, money, etc), then you will spend most of your time chasing the future instead of living in the present – and that’s a sad way to be a filmmaker.
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