Filmmaker of the Week – Peter J Wacks

Episode 49 of Filmmaker of the Week featuring Peter J Wacks!

Give us a brief introduction of yourself, where you’re from originally and where you are now if different

Hi there! I’m Peter J. Wacks, born as Jebediah Jason Zarathustra Janney Shults, but was quickly reminted to a sane name (though I never really recovered a sense of normalcy in my life.) 

Call me Peter (or Zarth, whatever, it’s cool).

I’m from all over – I’ve travelled to 37 countries (before turning 18), hitchhiked across the United States (very funny, no, I didn’t hitchhike to Hawaii – though that’d be a cool story… hmmm…), and backpacked across Europe. I love fast cars, running 5Ks, space travel, and armchair physics. 

I’ve been an actor, game designer, writer (novels, shorts, essays, scripts), editor, musician (composer), and magician… and am getting super into making films now. My body of works can be found by looking me up online (even if it seems a little cyber-stalkery, don’t worry, go for it!) 

In my book biographies I always mention that Strawberry Daiquiris, Laphroaig, great IPAs, and really clever puns are the best way to start conversations with me. 

…Are we still here? I think I forgot the brief bit…

…On to the next question!

What is it that first got you into the world of filmmaking?

I lost a bet made over a bottle of Merlot. Just kidding, though wine is part of the story! I was down in Houston at a Comic-Con as a writer guest, and I had a friend with me who said “Hey, we should try to film like a little viral video thing. Maybe we can get some of the other guests involved.” Little did I know…

So I figured hey that sounds like fun let’s do it. We came up with a fun idea that it would involve several of the writers and potentially a whole bunch of the actors that were there. I’ve got this philosophy of never being afraid to ask anyone/anything… So I went to a dinner for the guests (I was super lucky to be invited and was the only non-headliner there) and over a bottle of wine that I kept tipping our glasses from I went ahead and asked one of the actors from Doctor Who… A former Doctor… to go ahead and be the main person in the little video that we were shooting. He said sure it sounds like fun. At that point I just started getting everybody that I could together until we had people from Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Dune, and a whole bunch of other amazingly talented people involved.

I guess I stumbled my way into filmmaking because people just kept saying yes that weekend – And they were all so friendly and supportive. In the space of 48 hours we managed to put together a short film from inception to execution that was about five minutes long. I think from that first moment I was addicted lol.

Share a little bit about your specialty in the film world

I honestly don’t think I have one yet.

The things that I have been doing are all fascinating to me. Most of what I’ve focused on so far is on-set producing and script consulting and development. When I produce I like to be the person on set solving problems and removing obstacles for everyone else.

I was a child actor and I’m definitely looking at doing some acting again as well but… I am definitely looking forward to giving directing a shot, though I have a few more things I want to learn before I tackle something that big.

What has been your most challenging project to date?

In a way that very first one that I mentioned above. I knew nothing about how to pull the pieces together and was getting a lot of really tremendous advice from the industry pros who were volunteering to be in it. Even with some fantastic advice and a lot of help pulling it together I probably went about 48 hours with no sleep trying to make sure it happened. While there are always challenges When putting together a film, they’ve never been quite as daunting as that first time when I knew nothing.

Tell us a bit about your latest project.

Right now I am helping a friend with his student film— And he wants to build something that looks like a pro film that he can submit to festivals rather than just filming as a student project. The script is very beautifully structured as a powerfully emotional family drama and I think his directorial vision is going to create a beautiful film. It’s a really interesting experience because my more recent projects have been $200,000 to $300,000 indie films. Switchi gears like that to pull something together on a micro budget presents a whole different set of problems to figure out how to solve. It’s really amazing getting to work with students because they have a tremendous level of passion and drive that you sometimes lose when you’re on a larger set.

What is one moment you’ve had in any part of the filmmaking process where you learned a really valuable lesson?

Actor delivery. As a writer first who came to filmmaking later I had always thought that good writing was good writing and bad writing was bad writing. It’s the natural state for a writer to exist in lol. What I discovered once on set was that that’s actually not the case. The shocker for me was that great acting can fix bad writing, but great writing cannot fix bad acting.

What are some of the 5-year goals for you as a filmmaker/creative?

I tend to live in the moment more than I make 5 year plans…

But thinking about it, since the question has been asked, I guess I do at least have some vague goals. I write science fiction and fantasy with a very tight focus on making my characters real people. I guess a big thing for me in the next five years would be to have an opportunity to film a science fiction or fantasy piece that would reflect those creative values of putting a very real person in extraordinary circumstances.

When I write I pour my heart and soul into it to create a piece of art and especially in today’s marketplaces it’s easy to lose track of that and just think about putting out a product that people will want to consume. It’s important to me to remember that films are works of art also… Works of art that take tremendous effort from an entire team of people to create. Whatever successes or failures I encounter over the next five years my goal would be the five years from now I still look at the act of creation that same way.

If you could work with one idol of yours, who would it be?

William Goldman. He was a tremendously talented creator. In my opinion he was one of the few people in the world who could create both novels and films at the same level. My go-to example when people ask me to name a film that’s better than the book is The Princess Bride— though in that instance I believe that the book and the film are equals though different.

If I was to choose someone living, I would have to say Hayao Miyazaki. The way that he explores crosscultural storytelling with characters that become beloved and important to viewers on a personal level —it’s just mind blowing. If I ever got the opportunity to work with him I would just learn so much I know it would be an amazing experience.

Name three films that have inspired you most in your journey.

This is a harder question than it should be lol. I think for me a lot of my process is constant exploration forward forward. The most inspirational films tend to be tied to excitement for finding the next great film.

But digging into the archive there are definitely things that influenced me in the moment and inspired me in the past. I think top of that list would be Dreams by Akira Kurosawa. In particular the wedding of the fox is very powerful to me.

Second on the list would be The Princess Bride. I was just a kid when it came out but I used every penny of my allowance and everything I had saved up and took extra odd jobs around the neighborhood just to see that movie in theaters over and over again. Not only did it inspire me because Wesley taught me that I could do anything I put my mind to, I was already writing short stories at that time and it kind of leveled me up in my own storytelling.

3^rd and final would have to be Primer. I’ve always loved time travel and never shyed away from a complex storyline. Primer is a transcendent example of using nonlinear storytelling techniques to create something truly unique.

Where can folks find out more about you online?

You can find me on any of the standard places like Twitter or Instagram, IMDb or any of the others just by searching for Peter J Wacks.

http://authorpage.com/peterjwacks/

Any last thoughts or pieces of advice to filmmakers out there?

I guess… I’ve put work in across a lot of different creative industries and met thousands of creators. What’s fascinating to me and I think, or at least hope, is great advice for other people would be:

There are thousands if not millions of ways to succeed as a creator, the only actual failure story I’ve ever heard is the words I stopped trying.

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