Championing Workers' Rights: Making Baristas vs The Billionaire

Introducing Mark Mori: Renowned Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker and Emmy Award-winning TV producer, Mark Mori is at the forefront of social justice storytelling. As the former chair of the Non-Fiction and Documentary Committee of the Producers Guild of America, East, and a seasoned union activist, Mark has consistently used his lens to capture powerful narratives. Currently, he is directing "The Baristas vs The Billionaire," a groundbreaking documentary showcasing the generational uprising of Millennials and Gen Z as they courageously battle Starbucks owners for their right to unionize. This film sheds light on the plight of America's disappearing middle class and their resolute stand against corporate oppression, offering a gripping portrayal of a community fighting for its future. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Love South Radio.

SPEAKER_03 0:13

Hi and welcome to the Art of Film Funding. I'm your co-host, Claire Capan, along with Carol Dean, author of the best-selling book, The Art of Film Funding. Carol is also the founder and president of From the Heart Productions and the host of this show. Our very special guest, Mark Morey, is an Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker and Emmy Award-winning TV producer. He's past chair of the nonfiction and documentary committee of the Producers Guild of America East and a former union activist member of the United Steelworkers of America and the Teamsters Union. Mark is currently directing The Baristas versus the Billionaire, a new documentary in which he trains his camera on a generational uprising of millennials and Gen Z as they battle Starbucks owners for their right to unionize. The film looks at how America's disappearing middle class has had enough and is standing up to fight for its future. Some of Mark's notable films include the Academy Award nominated Building Bombs, which just received a 4K restoration from the Motion Picture Academy. Kent State, The Day the War Came Home, which received a national Emmy Award. Betty Page Reveals All. And the Academy Award-nominated Blood Ties, The Life and Work of Sally Mann. And Carol, I understand Mark's documentary film Baristas versus Billionaires is sponsored by From the Heart.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

Yes, Claire, it is. We're honored to work with you, Mark, and thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_04 2:19

Well, Carol, I'm thrilled to be working with you again. We've worked together in the past, and I think I even appeared on your podcast some number of years ago. So uh and I'm uh just so thrilled that you're helping us on the baristas versus the billionaire.

SPEAKER_02 2:34

It sounds like an exciting film. So let's start with why you chose to make this documentary.

SPEAKER_04 2:43

Well, what I saw was um, you know, I in an earlier life, I myself was a union activist. I worked in a steel mill for five years. I was fired for trying to organize texto workers into a union. Um uh and when I saw Amazon workers trying to organize an independent union, and then I saw the Starbucks workers organizing a union and having some success, I realized this is the beginning of a new movement. This is like a turning point in history. You know, for 40 years, the working class, the middle class has been driven down, jobs exported, and now young people s don't see any future, and so they're standing up. And I thought this is a good thing to make a film about.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

It it certainly is. I saw a video with Mr. Schultz, the president of Starbucks, and he was saying that when people arrived in Auschwitz, they only gave one blanket for eight people, so that they had to share their blanket with others, and he told his employees that he wants them to do the same thing. I mean, is he really uh saying that?

SPEAKER_04 3:58

Well, yes, what he was trying he was I don't know why he chose to talk about the Holocaust in this way, but he's trying to say we're sharing Starbucks management is sharing its blanket with the workers. We're already doing a lot for you, so don't ask for anything else. That's essentially what he's saying. He thought he was being noble in some way by saying we're sharing our blanket like the prisoners did in the Holocaust.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

Well, it didn't go over well. The people that were at that meeting were really upset that he would use that.

SPEAKER_04 4:36

Yes, that meeting was actually that meeting took place in Buffalo in late 1991, and it was a last ditch effort to stop the union vote, to to try to convince people not to vote for the union. This was the very first two or three stores in Buffalo, New York that were organizing the union. This was late in 2021, and he he was trying to talk them out of voting for the union, but all and there was people that we show in the film that were skeptical of the union, were not necessarily in favor of the union. But once they heard Schultz, they thought, okay, he's out of touch, he doesn't know what we're going through, we need to be for the union.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Right. Uh well, what has he done uh since then? I I heard that he ha he was promising benefits to non-union members and denying those benefits to union members.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

Exactly. One of the tactics that that Starbucks management and Schultz are using to try to defeat the union, and they've been doing this for two years now, is they offered a raise and other benefits, but you only get it if you're not in the union. If you're in the union, you don't get it. Now that's illegal. And and Schultz was called before Congress because of this. He's been uh ruled against by the National Labor Relations Board. In fact, one of the Starbucks cases is going to the Supreme Court this spring. Whoa.

SPEAKER_02 6:02

Really? And and what is the case? Can you tell us a little about that?

SPEAKER_04 6:07

In in Memphis, Starbucks fired seven baristas on the same day from one store for union organizing. And uh a judge reinstated them with back pay, said Starbucks had illegally fired them, which they certainly had, and it's just one example of many illegal union busting tactics the Starbucks has used. And then so then a judge reinstated them and gave them back pay, and Starbucks has appealed this, and the Supreme Court decided to take it on. That's incredible and wonderful for the people. Well, it's it's an important the the fact that Schultz was called before Congress and and testified and was called on the carpet for their activities, and the fact that the Supreme Court is taking the case demonstrates how critically important the Starbucks union drive is. And if the Supreme Court rules against the Starbucks workers, it's gonna be a be a defeat for unions and for working people and middle class people all over the United States. So it's a critical battle.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

And what's the name of it so we can follow it?

SPEAKER_04 7:16

Well, it's uh I I don't know the name of it. It's the Memph the Memphis, it was the the the firing of the Memphis Starbucks baretas. That's what the case is about.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Okay. Memphis Starbucks, okay. Well, uh, you've got extensive experience with documentary filmmaking. So can you tell us how you approach balancing your storytelling with raising awareness about social issues?

SPEAKER_04 7:43

Well, yes, I mean it is about storytelling, telling a good story, a human story, uh how people change. Like, you know, you can't just give facts and figures. People don't want to watch that. I mean, some do, but uh, you know, it's it's it's about telling a good story. Like in in one of my films, my first film, Building Bomb, that was mentioned previously, uh it's about n it's about a nuclear weapons factory and all the haphazard disposal of radioactive waste. But the protagonist is a whistleblower. We found a whistleblower, one of the top people at that bomb factory, who was willing to sacrifice his career to expose what's going on. So that's a human story that people can relate to. And that's that's the kind of thing I the way you tell a good story to raise awareness about social issues.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

One person telling their story. And a good story. Well, and you have that in the baristas film, right?

SPEAKER_04 8:44

Yes. Well, um, yes, you know, the the baristas have been or spontaneously organizing these unions all over the country. I mean, once it became clear that they won the vote in the first couple of stores in Buffalo, then it kind of spread like wildfire all over the country. And so it's when I got into it, I just to some of my local baristas and started talking to them, and some of them had organized a strike. And then we went to others in the area, and finally I realized that the union was, you know, sort of born up in Buffalo, so I thought I had to go talk to them. And that's where I found the real core of the story is how they had to stand up against Schultz personally coming in. He sent in a hundred of his top management, what he even called a SWAT team. You know, that's what the police call special weapons and tactics. He sent a hundred managers in to Buffalo to go into each of the local stores to basically harass people, intimidate them, talk things talk them out of voting for the union, and it blew up in his face. Oh isn't that wonderful?

SPEAKER_02 9:50

He doesn't realize that these young people have no future. I mean, they because of the low wages they're being paid. And and that's uh I think a lovely job. They they're the first person in the morning we see, and uh we look forward to getting our cup of coffee, but we want to smile with it and a happy person. I don't think he realizes the p place that the coffee shop has in your life.

SPEAKER_04 10:16

Well he's he's he's completely out of touch with his employees. I mean he's worth five billion dollars, has this gigantic yacht, and he that seems to be, you know, s how hard he can squeeze employees to make more profit. That seems to be his number one concern. And on the other hand, you have these young people who see no future. So what what this I think the these baristas that are organizing the Starbucks Workers United, they're on the cutting edge of a new rising movement of young people, uh uh uh gener Gen Z and millennials who are rising up and realizing that they have nothing to lose. They have to fight for their future, and that's what they're doing.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Nothing to lose, right? Exactly. And they have to stick together, that's what it's all about. Well what are s what are some of the challenges that you've encountered during the production of baristas? And how did you overcome them?

SPEAKER_04 11:18

Well, you know, we're making this film completely independently, and we do that so it can remain truthful. We're I'm not gonna go to to anybody, you know, some network who's gonna tell me you can say this, you can't say that. So we're completely independent, but that means we are we we are raising money on our own and we're not you know going to you know some network that's corporate controlled. So that's a challenge, and that's something we're working on and we're dealing with. Um and uh, you know, we have a we want support from the public, that's what we need, and we have a new Facebook page. So if you just go to Facebook and go to the baristas versus the billionaire on Facebook, just search for that and go to our page, like, like it, follow us, and I want to let people know one reason they should do that is because we're gonna have a big announcement about the film next week. And so they will get the announcement if they go to our page and follow and like us.

SPEAKER_02 12:18

Wonderful. And next week would be uh February uh what, 15th, around there, 15th or 17th.

SPEAKER_04 12:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

Okay, good. All right. That sounds wonderful. Well, um, so I think that uh y I know you need help to get this film made because From the Heart is always working with filmmakers to help them raise money. And it's the people who always d come in uh and it's and that fifty dollar, that hundred dollar donation means a lot because if that's what they can afford, that's what they give. And the power in the uh in the donations from the in small people mounts up to so much energy, good energy in backing. Uh, and of course, you need even more than money, you need a lot of things. You like social networking and uh and do people doing research and people chatting and uh promoting the issue, all of those things are very important. This is being made for the people, so it really needs to be supported by the people, right? Yes, isn't that what you're finding?

SPEAKER_04 13:35

Yes, absolutely. And we have a team of volunteers that's all of us working on the film. We're not taking any pay. I mean, hopefully one day the film will do well enough that we get paid, but we all believe in this so much. You know, we've got three producers, a professional TV writer, uh, and a whole group of volunteers who are doing research, who are doing the filming, because they all believe in this. So um, you know, this is we wouldn't be asking people at some point to give us money unless we believed in it that much ourselves.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

So absolutely. And that energy carries forward. Uh it's it creates this unit uh which really is achieved is the beginning of achievement is the total unit with dedicated to seeing the future. And this is really important. What you said in the beginning that this is there's a movement of foot in the United States, uh, and this is a uh critical time. So supporting this effort uh is very important.

SPEAKER_04 14:40

Well so um, I'm sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

No, I I just w you're you intend to distribute this film all over the world, so this is a world issue.

SPEAKER_04 14:51

Yes, yeah, we intend to distribute it all over the world. But I mean if if the the number one purpose of it is to support the baristas and help them be successful in organizing their union. Uh another purpose is to show people how they can organize a union, how that works, how these kids came together to first organize the union and make it successful, and um and and we're we want to garner public support for that and and more of awareness in the public that there is we're in the beginning stages. I mean, this union movement is gonna go on for some number of years, and it's gonna get bigger, and and it's so it's important if at these early stages for people to support what they're doing.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

Very, very important, right. So um it's it would be horrid if the young people of Starbucks couldn't unionize. That'd be shocking to all of us and it would mean a uh really a reduction of opportunities in the United States, right?

SPEAKER_04 15:55

Well, yes, I mean a lot that that the reason they're fighting is that a lot of opportunities have been have been um you know are are are not there for them. I mean, really since for the last 40 years, they've been shipping jobs overseas. This is all connected with uh money power being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, more and more people leaving paycheck to paycheck, or not even that, you know. Uh I mean the average American, or many of them, don't even have enough money in the bank for an emergency because they're just getting by. And so for 40 years, these jobs have been shipped overseas, people have been ground down, the they've been t the corporations have been taking more and more profit, and now that situation, we're in the early stages of that turning around and that changing.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Oh, that's wonderful. Because you're right. I've read that uh an urgent uh bill of three hundred and fifty dollars, most people can't handle that. To for one, just have one m urgent bill. It's over. It's over their budget, they can't handle it.

SPEAKER_04 17:07

I think people's some people are living off of their credit cards. They have no other means except to, you know, the credit card debt in this country is higher than it ever was. And all the stuff you hear on the mainstream media about how the economy is doing well, that's that's those people. That's the uh elite, they're doing well. The stock market's going up, they're pumping, they're printing all this money and pumping it in, and the stock market's going up, but 90% of people aren't even involved in the stock market, and and it's not really reflecting the reality of everyday people.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

No, the stock market doesn't seem to have any idea of what's happening in the real world. I watched that with amazement, you know. It's fascinating.

SPEAKER_04 17:52

Yeah, well, I think the stock market will have its day of reckoning, but right now they're trying to use that to tell people everything's fine in the economy, and most people know that's not true.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Right. Well, speaking of um people funding films, I remember when you were raising money for Betty Page. Betty Page Reveals All. That was a fabulous documentary. And I remember a discussion where you said you'd raise uh over 80,000 on your website by putting people's name on the film. It seems that you had asked us editors to create short videos, you put them on YouTube, and that drove people to your website where they donated, right?

SPEAKER_04 18:34

Yes. Uh we uh we actually raised over$100,000, and among the things we did is we just had a you know, you you're out there filming a lot of stuff, much of which doesn't end up in the finished film, and we were putting some of that on YouTube and other social media. We had several million views on our YouTube channel, and we offered people things like a DVD, a poster, a t-shirt, and uh getting their name in the credits of the film, and we raised a hundred thousand dollars from twenty-six countries for that film.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

That's amazing. That is a great job. And and look at the uh uh audience. I mean, you were marketing to your own audience, who I'm sure they all uh bought the download or got involved from watching the film, right?

SPEAKER_04 19:25

Yeah, well the film is that film came out about ten years ago and it's still doing well all over the world. I heard it just was screening in India, and um yeah, and it it won some film festival awards. It's probably been more widely distributed of all the films that I've done.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

How amazing. That was such a great story, too, and really well made.

SPEAKER_04 19:51

Well, well, thank you. Yeah, and I mean Betty Page is just an amazing person, and of course, we're still carrying on with that because we're doing a podcast called the official Betty Page Podcast, and people can just go to their where the wherever they listen to their podcast and look it up. We just we just did another one. We uh interviewed uh Betty's nephew, Ron Bram, and Betty's his mother was Goldie was very close with Betty. The they were sisters and they did a lot of uh modeling and performing together, and he he pulled out a lot of old photographs and even some of the costumes, and so that was a very fun uh podcast that we did.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Oh, great. I'm sure that that would be interesting. Good. And uh raising money all over the world, that's exactly what you're going to be doing with the Starbucks, because even though we are just one country, uh the it's the uh uh issue at hand for all the world, and they see that because the you know, a lot of what I've heard is that a lot of times people going to college will take a part-time job or a t job at Starbucks to help get by, but they know that they're going to have a degree and go on to something bigger. So uh but it's not them that matter, it's those who really have no future, who don't have the money for the education, and yet uh they want to like their job and they want to work in comfortable surroundings, and those are the ones that we really need to support by getting the uh wages and the benefits increased.

SPEAKER_04 21:31

Well, and I think even s even some of the people that started in college at Starbucks maybe have ended up being there longer than they thought they would because they haven't been able to find other jobs. I mean, two of the key baristas who or helped originally organize the union in Buffalo, Michelle Eisen had been working at Starbucks for eleven years. She was a theater person, and that was her main job, and she went to Starbucks to uh to get benefits, and but she was the For eleven years, and then another guy, Sam Amato, was there for thirteen years. He was uh he was one of the top guys at his store. And because they were union activists, so they've been there longer, but because they were helping organize unions, Starbucks fired them. Whoa. And and Starbucks has hired, I think, several hundred union activists.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

And what does that mean? They hired union activists.

SPEAKER_04 22:26

No, they fired the union activists.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Fired them. They fired them.

SPEAKER_04 22:29

Yeah, in other words, if they think they're for the union, they look for an excuse. Oh, you were late today, you're fired. You know, it's they're doing that. And and there's specifically a directive went out from Starbucks management. Anybody who's a union activist, apply the rules more strictly to them. Find something to fire them for. Gosh. It's illegal, and and there they've got a lot of charges but for the NLRB, and that's that's what this case going to the Supreme Court is about.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

That he's not paying he does he pays no attention to uh any time that he gets reprimanded or anything, any sanctions on him, he just keeps going, doing the same thing. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 23:14

When he testified before Congress, and we had Schultz, the the CEO and founder of Starbucks, when he testified before Congress, um he's he you know they've had hundreds of labor law violations. They've been found guilty. And but Schultz says and is oh, we have not done anything illegal. Well, he's saying that technically because they've got it on appeal. They're going to the Supreme Court, they're trying to get rid of it. They've got the world, the number one union busting law firm advising them. But that's like saying you go and you get convicted of a crime and then you appeal it. Oh, I'm not guilty because I'm appealing it. That's essentially what he's saying. Oh, right, of course.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Oh, have to look at the whole picture, right? Well, let's uh talk about um the motion picture that the Academy recently created, uh, a restoration, a 4K restoration on your award-winning documentary, Building Bombs. Actually, that's quite an honor, right, Mark?

SPEAKER_04 24:17

Well, yeah, I mean it was an honor. That was my very first film. Took me five years to make. It came out and it got an Academy Award nomination in 1991. It's about a nuclear weapons factory in South Carolina, a whistleblower, all the massive radioactive waste contamination. They were burying radioactive waste in cardboard boxes. That's the thing that most people remember after they see that film. Uh but so so that film is, you know, that's over 30 years ago, but now the Motion Picture Academy has restored the film, uh, a 4K restoration. So 4K is, you know, a better looking version than it has ever been. And uh so it's gonna it's being re-released now because of the new 4K restoration, and it's gonna be in film festivals this spring and this summer. It's gonna be in the International Uranium Film Festival, which is touring around the United States, and it's gonna show in Rio de Janeiro. It's also gonna be in the Jacksonville Film Festival, my hometown, and we're in discussing discussions with a bunch of other film festivals and places who are gonna screen that. So we're really excited about that.

SPEAKER_02 25:27

Oh, you should be. That sounds exciting. Uh so it it'll be in film festivals, and then will you re-release it on a streamer or something like that?

SPEAKER_04 25:36

Yes, I mean the current version of Building Bomb is available right now streaming. I know it's on MusicBox Directs, Music Box Direct, and if some other places I think it's on Amazon. I mean, if you Google it, you can you can uh find out where to screen it. Uh and then we're gonna re-re-release the new version. And also, this has inspired us to come up with a sequel to that film. We're gonna pick up where Building Bombs Left Off. Our working title is Beyond Bombs. It's what happened with the nuclear weapons factories and the nuclear waste over the last 30 years, and where are we at today with nuclear weapons and nuclear waste. So that's gonna be the new documentary.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

Oh my gosh, that's wonderful. And that's what we'd all like to know because they keep telling us how safe this is. Uh, and we we need to hear what's the true story. Good.

SPEAKER_04 26:32

Well well, there's nothing safe about it. In fact, I'm reading that they're talking about cranking up the production of nuclear weapons again.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

Oh no.

SPEAKER_04 26:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

Right. Well, d do you often work on two documentaries at the same time?

SPEAKER_04 26:49

Well, not often, but I happen to be at this point. Because uh you know, we've well th there there's the re-release of building bombs, there's the baristas versus the billionaire, which is in in production, and then I'm executive producing a a documentary about Orson Wells. It's um Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

Tell me about that. I'd love that.

SPEAKER_04 27:11

Yeah, it's about it's about the uh the the main title is Exiled from Hollywood, Orson Wells' Lost Masterpiece, and it's about the magnificent Ambersons, uh his Orson Wells' second film, you know, his first film, Citizen Cain, many considered to be the greatest film ever made, and he made that when he was something like twenty-three years old and he came to Hollywood, and he considered the magnificent Ambersons to be his greatest film, but that was before the executives at the studio got a hold of it. Uh they they took over they took the film away from him, they chopped it up, they reshot some of it, they ch put a happy ending on it, and so uh it despite all that, it still won some Academy Awards, but uh there was only Wells was sent to Brazil, this was during World War II, to to make a documentary down there, and they sent his his director's cut was sent to him down there because they were he was still working on it at that time. But while he was in Brazil, that's when they, you know, cut up his film, and that basically ended his career in Hollywood. That's why we called it Exile from Hollywood. So so it's the story of of of him making that film and Orson Wells. I mean, I uh part of my purpose is to bring Orson Wells to a new younger generation, one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

Yes, please do, because uh he was a genius. He created so many things um just because it seemed natural. He realized that the uh the camera was like a human eye, and he thought that that could go anywhere your eye goes, and um and sometimes he cut holes in the floor and took his camera all the way below uh floor level to get the angle or the shot he wanted.

SPEAKER_04 29:07

Right?

SPEAKER_02 29:08

I mean I know you know all about it.

SPEAKER_04 29:10

Yeah, you can see that in Citizen Kane, that's where he innovated that with his great cinematographer, Greg Tolen, and you see that in the magnificent Amersons. He was a great innovator. I mean, modern Hollywood, you could say, was birthed by Orson Wells. So, you know, that's how great he is.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

Absolutely right. Um and sound, I mean, the um the opening five-minute scene of Touch of Evil is still one of my favorite uh sections in a film. I mean, uh that was an incredible five minutes where these people walking down the street and uh they get all of the local music. They get uh all as they walk down the street, you pick up the sounds coming from the restaurants or the uh bars or uh just uh uh radio on in a shop and uh that and and they walk down the street and then you it's the beginning of the film and it maybe is a five or six minute shot, totally with no cuts. And now when he was editing it It's so good, wasn't it? Well when he was editing it this the sound uh mark he m he told the sound engineer you have to go outside to uh on I want you to go outside the of the building when you are editing this, and I want you on the concrete outside you get those that sound, that feeling. And he left explicit instructions for the man on how to do it. And that's why this that sound is incredibly important. He was into every detail.

SPEAKER_04 31:00

Yes, well uh Orson Wells understood film and filmmaking in ways that uh a lot of people don't. And that that shot you're talking about, that opening shot in A Touch of Evil, one of my favorite films by him, that can where you it's a continuous shot for all of those minutes without a cut, it's one of the most famous scenes in filmmaking. He's you know, that's one of the things that people always refer to when they talk about Orson Wells.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

Absolutely. And even and in that film, further in, when he's in the room and they're they discover the shoebox, that's all one scene, and that's like three or four minutes. It's a stage play that he set up with the camera moving. Uh and his cinematographer, Greg Tolin, was brilliant.

SPEAKER_04 31:46

Yes, well the two you had two innovators working together at the height of their creative power. So that's that's uh you know, that was fortunate for the movie going public that that they they were able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 32:00

I remember in uh what was it the wind uh the documentary they did on his life that came out recently, The West Wind or The Wind.

SPEAKER_04 32:11

I f forgot the name of it, but there was his film, The Other Side of the Wind, that was finished after he passed away, and then there was a documentary made about that.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Okay. It may have been the documentary that was made about it, because in the documentary, this cinematographer collapsed. Greg collapsed. And they said, Greg, Greg, are you all right? Oh my god, he's collapsed again, they said, and they try to take him to the hospital because he was so overworked, malnutrition, they said, and he needed a rest, and they had to stop shooting while they got him with.

SPEAKER_04 32:53

I'll think of it. He was so devoted to Wells, that's what you're describing. He was so devoted to Wells, and he understood what genius he was working with, that he just he'd just drop everything whenever Wells said, Come, we're gonna make a film, and he just worked himself to death, and that's that's what you're describing.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Yes, it was Gary, because he had the company.

SPEAKER_04 33:15

Gary Graver.

SPEAKER_02 33:16

Graver, Gary Graver, and he bought shard ends. He would come in to the company I owned and say, Oh my gosh, we got some money, Arson's gonna shoot again. We sell him to shard ends and RCU care.

SPEAKER_04 33:32

So your company was dealing with Gary Graver and selling short ends for Orson Wells films. That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 33:38

I know, years ago, and it was so much fun. And we all got a hoot out of Gary because he w he always looked like he'd been up for twenty hours or more. And he probably had because when they got they got money, it was like, okay, we're on, let's shoot.

SPEAKER_04 33:55

Right, exactly. And a lot of Orson Wales, like you see him on these back in in the day, back in the 70s, you'd see him do like a gallow wine commercial. He did that and he'd take that money and make a film. That's why he was doing those kind of things.

SPEAKER_02 34:11

Right. He's a dedicated filmmaker, right. So this is a great story of the the lost print. Well, do you have any idea where it might be?

SPEAKER_04 34:23

Well, uh, Turner Classic Movies gave us some money to go down to Brazil and look for the lost print. And of course, since we're still in production, I can't really say more than that, you know. But you know, they have found other prints, like if you remember, the there was a uh the original an original version of Metropolis, the great Fritz Lang film, that was found in some vault in Argentina, you know, 60 years or however many years after after the film was made. And there was another recent film, a Russian documentary that thought had been lost, and that was found. So, you know, and Brazil has these great film collectors, and they were big fans of Orson Wales because he came down there. So so just suffice to say, we're we're hot on the trail of of the it's it's really his director's cut of the magnificent Amber. That's the lost print.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

The director's cut, yeah. Wouldn't that be wonderful to see that? Well now, is this on your website? Can people follow that on your website?

SPEAKER_04 35:26

Yeah, there's a there's a website called the Lostprint.com for the Orson Wells film. Oh and there's also a website for the baristas film, baristas versus billionaire.com.

SPEAKER_02 35:41

And the Facebook page, let's say that one more time.

SPEAKER_04 35:44

So Yeah, the Facebook page for the baristas versus billionaire, and that's the main place to go to get the information right now and to see our big announcement next week. Just go to Facebook search the baristas versus the billionaire, and you there's a lot of activity on the page. Please like, please follow, and watch out for our big announcement next week.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Okay, so that sounds like fun. Well, um as a uh terrific seasoned filmmaker, what advice do you have for aspiring documentary filmmakers, especially those who are passionate about social justice issues? What can you tell us?

SPEAKER_04 36:24

I mean that describes me, you know. I'm that's why I got became a filmmaker because I'm passionate about social justice issues. Uh and it took me five years to make my first film. So you have to have the passion and commitment, you know, and then you just have to um and these days it's a lot easier, you know. When I started, we were actually shooting film, and I was buying short end to make my first film. Uh, you know, I bought the t at that time the TV stations were switching from film to video. So I was going to TV stations and getting their film that they didn't want anymore. And that's part of how I was able to make that film. So you need that's part of the creativity. The creativity isn't just in how you tell the story, the creativity is is is what you can apply to to figuring out how to get the resources to make the film. It's easier these days because you can you can buy a camera inexpensively. You can use your iPhone. Part of the baristas film is shot on my iPhone, and that's that's 4K. Um and uh, you know, you can you can edit on Premiere. Uh you don't have to buy a big uh big editing system like the old days. So in that sense, it's much more accessible for people. And then then you've got to surround yourself with like-minded people who want to help you. Because making a film is a team effort, it's a group effort. It takes a bunch of people, and um, you know, that's that's that's what I have to say.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

So I mean I'm that's gr that's incredibly important. Um this whole thing, what you're saying is that most filmmakers get so involved in the creativity of making the film that they say, oh I don't want to worry about I you know, I can't think about raising that. I mean, that's I don't do that well. No, in today's world you you have to know the budget, you have to know how to reduce the budget. You there's so much you need to know. And the only way to do that is what you just said. Take your creativity that you use on the film and create the income. Where will you where's your audience? How can you get in touch with your audience? Because they'll fund your film, but use your creativity in all aspects of film funding, is what you're saying, right?

SPEAKER_04 38:39

Yes, I'm that's definitely true. And and you know, band together with like-minded people. It it takes it's a group effort. You can't do it by yourself.

SPEAKER_02 38:50

And you find those. How do you find those?

SPEAKER_04 38:54

Well, I I was when I was making my first film, I was there was a media art center that was supportive of filmmakers. That I that's where I found a lot of my team who volunteered to help me make it. Uh that's where I even found my a person who became my co-director and co-writer on the film. And um, you know, so there are there are organizations, there's the International Documentary Association, there are local organizations. You've got to get connected, that's a good way to get connected with other people. There, there are you can connect with people on social media, that's that's you know, a lot easier these days. So just do whatever you can to find like-minded people.

SPEAKER_02 39:34

Well said. Oh, Mark, thank you very much for all this great information. It's your passion, I think. That is so uh wonderful to hear the passion you have for filmmaking and filmmakers. So thank you for the work you're doing.

SPEAKER_04 39:50

Well, you have to have a lot of passion because it's very difficult. And the passion is well what get you through and help you figure out how to get around all the roadblocks that are in the way.

SPEAKER_02 40:01

That's it. And and tenacity. You have a lot of tenacity, you're still at it with your building bombs and building better bombs years later.

SPEAKER_04 40:13

Yes, well, you know, it's I I wouldn't know what else to do with myself, but it's it's it's it's uh it's a difficult road, but it's worthwhile.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Well, thank you. We all thank you because this is what you bring important issues to light, you keep us up to date, you touch on the heart of things of important things. Is it we're at the crossroads, like you say, in the beginning with the baristas versus the billionaires film to tell us how difficult it is to unionize when it should be very simple, but not when money uh and power are against it. So we have to uh work together on that, just like you do as a team in filmmaking.

SPEAKER_04 40:56

Yeah, I think m I think most people are aware of the level of corporate power, including the media, in this country today, that makes what should be, what used to be, sort of more common or or uh maybe easier, you know, or something as simple as organizing union. But the you know, technically it's legal, but the corporate power structure, like they do in many areas, makes it difficult for people, makes it hard. All they care about is the money. We care about people before profits, so that's really what it's about.

SPEAKER_02 41:30

People before profits, exactly. All right. Well, perhaps we'll we can get an update with you in eight months and nine months and see how things are going. How does that sound?

SPEAKER_04 41:41

Well, I would love to update you, Carol, and listen, I just want to express my appreciation to you. We've known each other over the years and worked together at times, and I appreciate your support. And all that you're doing for filmmakers. I mean, one of the things anybody who wants to make a film independently, they should get in touch with Carol Dean. Because you have an organization from the Heart Productions that it does everything. I've never seen anybody else, an organization that does more to support independent filmmaking than you do.

SPEAKER_02 42:10

Thank you, Mark. What a nice compliment. And Claire, we really appreciate that. Thank you very much, Mark.

SPEAKER_03 42:17

Yes, we do.

SPEAKER_04 42:18

Thank you, Claire, and thank you, uh Carol. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

Okay, thanks. We look forward to hearing from you in the future. So bye.

SPEAKER_04 42:26

Yes. Bye.

SPEAKER_03 42:27

Thank you, Mark. Be well, everyone. Bye.

SPEAKER_04 42:30

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 42:31

Now, in its second edition, Carol Dean's popular book, The Art of Film Funding, has 12 new chapters to cover all areas of film financing and how to avoid expensive pitfalls. Learn how to start with an idea and end with a trailer. How to make an ask for money. Create your story structure and your trailer. Legal advice, fair use, successful crowdfunding, how to ask for music rights, and what insurance you can't shoot without. Available on Amazon under Carol Dean and at FromTheHeartProductions.com. I want to remind our listeners that David Rakelin is a brilliant and talented award-winning musician who scores films and can compose music for a trio or for a full orchestra. David is a very good friend to the independent filmmaker and comes highly recommended by From the Heart Productions. If you need music to help tell your story, please contact him at Davidrakeland.com. That's david R-A-I-K-L-E-N.com. And Carol and I want to thank you for tuning in to the Art of Film Funding. Please visit our website at FromTheHeart Productions.com. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter. Good luck with your films, everyone.

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