Filmmaker of the Month: Isaac Hirotsu Woofter - Breck Film

Meet the filmmaker: Isaac Hirotsu Woofter

Filmmaker Interview Questions:

Tell us your backstory. How and why did you get into filmmaking?

I started as an actor, got my masters at Columbia University in acting. Some TV, Film, Commercials, tons of stage. I love Shakespeare, but my specialty was physical theater in the style of Vaudeville, Slapstick, Silent Movie, Clown, and Italian Commedia del Arte.

At one point I realized I didn’t like what I was auditioning for. Then one day I woke up and decided after 30 years of telling other people’s stories all over the world, I wanted to tell my own. I took a beginning screenwriting course, fell in love with it, and called my acting agents and told them I’ll let them know when I’m ready to audition again. I never called back.

What are the specific qualities that, in your opinion, make a film great?

PHYSICAL ACTION – I want to watch a story infold in front of me, I don’t want to be told by the dialogue what is happening or how I should be feeling.
CHARACTERS – I love multi dimensional characters that are good and bad. If I don’t care about them, I stop watching the story.
EMOTION – I want to laugh, cry, and feel everything in between.
SURPRISE – I love being taken on a journey where I have no idea where I’m headed. Unfortunately these days I’m not surprised by most movies because they follow whatever book as broken down as “the correct screenplay structure,” which for me leads to predictable boring stories.

What films have been the most inspiring or influential to you and why?

I love films that punch me in the gut and linger in my brain and heart for a long time. Here are a few.

OLDBOY (Korean Version) – This modern day Greek revenge tragedy has innovative cinematography, daring conventions, and one of the most amazing male performances.
CITY OF GOD – An ruthless and beautiful story that depicts life in the barrios of Brazil.
MICMACS – An incredibly inventive film filled with a unique aesthetic and the quirkiest band of heroes.

What’s harder? Getting started or being able to keep going? And what drives you to continue making films?

Tough question, both are hard. Screenwriting is for BRAVE people who can ENDURE and PERSIST…or at least you have to be a little bit CRAZY.

It’s scary to write something private and make it public, because if it doesn’t make you scared to share, it’s probably not that good. Plus your first draft is probably going to be bad.

I tell people you have to be OK at being bad at something for a long time to finally have something to shoot. And then once it is shot, you have to start all over again. This of course doesn’t even take into account raising the money or confidence in financiers to take a chance on you.

But once you get one under your belt, you know the challenges. So if had to choose, I would say getting started.

How do you know when your story’s finished, when to walk away?

If we’re talking about the ending of writing the story, this is always the hardest part for me. I think I wrote 5-6 endings for BOUND. It needed to break your heart, not be sentimental, be realistic (meaning no Hollywood ending), feel like it was resolved, leave a lasting emotional impact on the audience, and leave the audience understanding why everyone behaved the way they behaved. When I wrote the one we shot, I cried. I knew I checked all the boxes I had set up for myself.

How many films have you completed? What is your favorite project you have worked on and why?

BOUND is my first completed full length feature, so I guess this one is my favorite and least favorite! Each script of mine I explore something totally different, so they all have a different special place in my heart. In BOUND I fell in love with all the imperfectly imperfect characters, their individual journeys, their humanity towards each other, their friendship and growth as humans.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

My imagination, my love of collaboration, and my desire to leave stories behind that hopefully make people more understanding of our differences from from one another. For BOUND, I really kicked it into high gear when I saw that Parkinson’s was getting a hold of my father. I wanted my father to see a film I made when he could still understand it.

What is your favorite aspect of film production?

Solving problems. This happens at every phase of production.

A – Got to rewrite that first bad draft.
B – Got to rewrite on set when the weather doesn’t cooperate or something breaks or an actors leaves.
C – Got to fix all the writing, acting, directing mistakes so the story flows and makes sense. and starts with rewriting that first bad draft.

At the end of the day, nobody cares how “hard it was,” the audience wants to be entertained. They are giving us the most precious gift we have, time. I guess I like to know I am responsible to make sure they get their most bang for their buck.

Why did you choose to submit to the Breckenridge Film Festival? What do you look for in a festival where you hope to show your film?

This was my first real film festival experience. I didn’t know which festivals to submit to, so I researched festivals that had been running for a long time and 44 years is pretty epic.

Now that I know more about festivals, I would choose certain festivals for these reasons. Industry exposure, filmmaker networking, a supportive film community (which includes the festival staff), to see a quality slate of films, a beautiful destination, and a unique experience.

You are a collaborator. Did you make any connections at the Breckenridge Film Festival that have led to collaborations with other filmmakers?

I made some wonderful connections at Breck! We’ve partnered with BTSADV who I met at the panel for DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON SCREEN and they spoke and attended other festivals we’ve been at.

Brian Russell, another filmmaker, helped me get into another great festival.

There are many other filmmakers who I haven’t collaborated with yet, but we’ve kept in touch and support each other’s projects by viewing, liking, giving notes, sponsoring, etc.

Can you describe the business behind independent filmmaking and how you are trying to get your film seen?

Let’s make something clear. Anora was technically an indie film, but they had a $6 million dollar budget and spent $18 million on their Oscar campaign. Indie filmmaking at the level of BOUND, which had a decent budget, and below is a totally different story. One big difference is how much money is spent on marketing the film. Unless it is tied to a big distributor before production starts, sneaks into one of the big 5 festivals, or has A-list actors, it means we’re the PR team.

Nobody will invest time or money into a low budget indie, not even most distributors. So it’s about getting creative and finding ways to get reviews, articles, and create engagement of some sort. For me this meant researching and sending out a 100 emails with the hopes of getting 2-3 positive responses. It also means you have to put together a killer marketing package (trailer, key art, website, social media, etc.) and invent some narratives that might create a buzz.

What are the hurdles you have had to overcome in order to recoup the costs of producing the film? (If you feel comfortable discussing exact financials, you are welcome to do so.)

This is tough to answer, because we haven’t released the film yet. But again we are trying to find ways to get the film to people who don’t know us. One of the main goals of our festival run is to play in places we didn’t know anyone so we can build a grass roots fan base. We’ve spent a lot of time and creative energy building a package that includes great marketing materials with the hopes they are shared and word of mouth spreads for our film.

What are the next project or projects you are beginning work on?

I have multiple sized projects at different stages. Here they are.

LAST SHOT – When a minor league ballplayer realizes he’s running out of chances to make it to the big leagues, he’s forced to go against his moral compass and take performance enhancing drugs, an act that ultimately destroys the only other thing as important to him as baseball: his family.
CRAVE – In a desolate world where humans become rabid monsters, a trio of mute survivors searching for a cure stumble upon their first uninfected human in years.
KAMEN NO AKUMA (MASKED DEVILS) – A toxic masculine cop goes undercover as a drag queen to solve a murder case.

If there is one or more things you think would make the film industry better, what would it be?

We all understand filmmaking is a risky business, so I get why studios and financiers choose to make films that are similar to films that were fiscally successful. The problem is, the original film was probably successful because it didn’t copy a film before it. In fact, it probably stood out because of its originality.

I believe less unique and truly impactful films are being made because the money people don’t want to take the chance on them. And the gems that are created get drowned out by the influx of mediocre content.

So how do we get past the “gatekeeper,” I’ll tell you when I’ve figured it out. Until then, I’ll just have to keep “building my own gates to get in.”

Filmmaker Bio:

Isaac Hirotsu Woofter is a NYC based actor and filmmaker. He wrote the screenplay for Steven Seagal’s action movie, THE BUSHIDO BUTCHER, for Shadow Box Pictures and Aldamisa Entertainment. His thriller BOUND received countless nominations, won 11 awards, and will drop on streamers and select theaters in May.

As an actor, Isaac’s played numerous lead and title roles, including the Tony award-winning Broadway show WAR HORSE. In 2008, he was nominated alongside Patrick Stewart, for Best Supporting Actor in a Shakespeare Play.

Isaac received his BA from UCDavis, his MFA from Columbia University, and studies at the Jacob Krueger Studio.