Mary E. Weems - Interview

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Did anyone ever tell you weren't good enough?

I grew up with low self-esteem, being teased about my hair, large feet, being tall, and love of reading, but not when it comes to my writing including my ability to make up a story in the moment. When I was in k-12 ‘all’ of my teachers acknowledged that I was a good writer and while pursuing my B.A., M.A. with an emphasis on Creative Writing and Ph.D. in the Social and Cultural Foundations of Education, this was repeatedly reinforced. Writing is and has been my passion since I was thirteen years-old, always coupled with reading and later teaching and performing. I had occasions during my M.A. journey when professors would tell me a poem or essay I’d written was not-good, but while I always listened to and applied useful feedback, when I knew it wasn’t true, I didn’t believe them.

How can you stay focused on your goal?

Writing is my passion, the majority of my work including Socks is created about social issues (in this case Human Trafficking), and my goal is to educate while entertaining in hope of sharing something about the issue which will prompt people to think more critically and ultimately to act. My desire to positively affect the world helps me stay focused.

Have you ever had a breakdown because of your Job?

Never. And I’ve had a few jobs, including twelve years and eleven months in a car manufacturer’s Zone Sales Office as a secretary then clerk, professor positions in the academy, working for a private Black law practice and the local Air Show—my favorite jobs being the brief years I spent as a Page in my local library from 16 to 18 and my first full time job in another branch as a Desk Clerk. In all cases though I’ve always worked to live, never lived to work. I started my own business “Bringing Words to Life,” right after I earned my Masters’ Degree.

Talent is a blessing or a curse?

Talent is always a blessing. The distinction being whether the person with it recognizes it as talent and decides to do something productive and positive with it. I’ve lived long enough to understand that it takes more than talent to use it—you have to put in the work, be open to help and critique ‘and’ be lucky.

What would you like to improve about yourself as an

actor/director/screenwriter?

While I am a performer and have been for years, I have no interest in earning my acting chops, I dislike directing because I have no patience for all of things that tend to come up during every production, I’ve ever been part of or heard about. I’d like to and plan to learn how to use Final Draft so I can begin writing new work as screenplays rather than adapting plays I’ve created for the stage.

What's the worst critic you have received?

I sent MEAT, the play I was ultimately Awarded a Cleveland Arts Prize for, to the Artistic Director of a major theater in town at the recommendation of the nationally recognized choreographer who choreographed my play Closure at Karamu, the previous year. He called and asked me to meet him on the first floor of the building the theater was located in to tell me it was a piece of crap and to ask me why I “wasted my time, writing it.” I immediately felt as if he was trying to take me down a peg or two, that he was wrong, told him I didn’t agree and left. But, make no mistake--it hurt.

If you weren't an actor/director/screenplayer what would you like to be?

I am blessed to be everything I would like to be. A poet, playwright, artist-scholar, performer, educator, author—lover of people.

If Cinema was a color what would it be?

Red! For Passion, fire, the red of living and what it means to be human.

A day without a movie is...

A day without an addition to my visual creative library.

If someone offered you to play/direct/write in/a movie that you despise

but that for sure will make you rich and famous...would you accept the job?

No. Not for any amount of money. My character and integrity mean a lot to me and it’s not and never has been for sale. I’ve always worked to have enough and sought and cherished spiritual wealth, and I have that.

What's your greatest ambition?

For my creative work to be remembered long after I’m dead and to see former students exceed my degree of success, to see them become even better writers, etc.

What's your biggest fear?

Not seeing and being with my daughter (Michelle E. Weems, 3-4-83 to 1-3-2017) after I die.

Does music helps you to play/direct, write?

Absolutely. Specifically, I’ve written more work listening to Miles Davis’s “My Funny Valentine,” than any other song.

You have the chance to make a Silent movie, what's your message to the

audience?

STOP hurting and hating and killing each other. Like James Brown once sang Please, Please, Please give peace, respect and love a chance and help each other when you can.

Share your speech if you should win an Oscar.....

Would somebody please come up here and wake me up?!

Who's your biggest fan?

I am my own biggest fan. All the time I have this acknowledgement that I am the only one who gets me throughout my entire universe of mind, which is not a fully true statement, of course, because sometimes we simply realize that we don’t understand ourselves as we have thought all the time. It’s a reaction of mine to the outside world’s perception of me and my work. 

I have some weird or uncommon streaks in my creativity, and they are usually going away from the mainstream standards. So, I am more appreciated by fewer audience. It’s much like myself as being a person who’s not appealing to everyone, rather, a group of bosom friends.  



What brings you inspiration the most?

When I close tight my eyes (not in sleep) and place myself in a meditative state (not meditation in the sense of Chan), I incur some best inspirations in my head. This psychodelia not only relaxes my body so that it can float, but also anchors my boat of ideas so that I can settle down where I am supposed to be to exceed cliché or whatever would be anti-creative.

In terms of “the most”, it’s hard for me to provide an immediate answer, but generally speaking, I can get powerful inspirations by a flower by the roadside, a sad or sentimental song, or an underprivileged immigrant facing language barriers. More of matters or persons in that vein. I am inclined to side with the lesser-fortunate whether it be of societal, economic, political, or even artistic status. For example, I have been enjoying YouTubers uploading so many unknown to lesser-known albums by so many unheard of or lesser-known musicians who certainly deserve better status.   



Which actor or director would you like to work with?

First of all, I would like to work with myself as a director for a screenplay I write. Once a big studio in Taiwan offered to buy my screenplay for a director, whom they did not let me know, or perhaps they had not hired anyone yet, nevertheless, it was a good temptation for me as an establishing director, but I ended up not selling my screenplay without me directing it. Not surprisingly, the deal wasn’t made. I think I am the type of writer/director, all the more so now after four decades in the profession. 

Actor-wise, I have been working with many of the top talents who were celebrities in Taiwan or Hong Kong, so I have this background to work with heavy-weights. As for “Signed, Baba”, I plan to use more non-actors or lesser-known ones, not excluding one or two international stars as long as my budget allows. 



Have you ever seen a film that was better than the book?

I can hardly think of any. In fact, in recent decades, I am a strong critic of the “book to film” concept and practice which has lasted as long as people can remember. I think that cinema should no longer rely on literature since it has existed for over one hundred years. Having said that, the real problem lies with the content creators who, for whatever reason, adopt adaptations as a taking-it-for-granted tool. Lots of well-known, successful, and imitable directors take this path repetitively as it seems an obsession, or even worse, they are not as original, creative as they present themselves. I do not need to name them because their names and their list of work can easily tell anyone concerning  that what I say is proved. I don’t mind an emerging director using an adapted screenplay, or even an established one using adaptation once or twice; however, if one established director keeps using the same formula without being able to write their own scripts, or without a mind to write the script which later they will direct, and then having other screenwriters’ work in place as the solution for their creativity, I must deny their glorious titles such as master director, auteur director, or even award-winning director.  I truly doubt that this taken-for-granted practice will continue to benefit cinema art at large to become truly an independent art form.   



What's the movie that taught you the most?

It's a question, and its variations, you get asked a lot being a director. I honestly don’t have a convenient answer to “the most”. I can say that I have learned a lot from a lot of excellent movies, even bad ones, produced by lots of different cultures. I like international, or foreign films, not just Chinese-speaking or English-speaking counterparts. 

Recently, a Facebook friend inquired of my interest in making a film in his country, India. His passion was obvious, and his rationale was that it’s much more affordable to make films there today. He got so far as to telling me to meet and talk with Aamir Khan, one of the biggest movie star in today’s India movie scene, with whom he had a direct connection, about a film project. I almost wanted to give it a try because I thought that would be an opportunity to craft my directorial skills through working with Indian filmmakers in India. By telling this tale, I mean to say that even though there’s no “the most” for me, I can learn and absorb lessons from more than “the most”.  



About your artistic career, have you ever had the desire to quit everything?

A few times. The most significant one was during the period before and after my permanent departure from Taiwan. While I still had some days there, I told my respectful senior director, Hsing Lee, of “Execution in Autumn” fame, that I had to resign from his then several active projects in which I was on the production team for the sake of the soon-to-be-due USA immigration visa. From that point on, I knew I was not going to filmmaking anymore since I had chosen a new direction for my later life. After my settlement in my adopted country thanks to my older sister and her family, I kept reminding myself of no need to rekindle the cinema love because things all had changed around me. So I quit cinema for good, and somehow, I felt content, or even relieved (you know how filmmaking can be a pain), and I started finding a way for my future. Not long after, I started a non-profit organization, Memory Community, (being non-profit was my brother-in-law’s great advice) to film seniors for their memorable life story. 

So you see, I turned around some roundabouts only to return to filmmaking. But this time is different, I do the filmmaking independently. That makes me feel free and gives me joy. 



On set what excites you the most?

It could be anything on set. What would not excite me at all on set is that I lose focus on how to make a scene or a demand work as I originally visualized. That can be triggered also by anything on set, such as an actor is running late, a crew member is not cooperating, or the cameraman assumes the “Camera!” and “Cut!” calls without consulting me. 

Usually you would get excited when the shoot has been complete after a long time of hard work and the fatigue it brings to you. Not really for me, however. I get excited on set the most when all the responsible cast and crew go far and beyond to register anything crucial in my script into the camera, rather than asking me or my assistant director if they can change my plan.   



And what scares you the most ?

So, like I said in the last segment, I do not enjoy it at all when people on set bump their heads to want to change my demands. A little improvisation is what I like, but if it stems from the lack of confidence in executing the original calls from me, it simply will scare me and lose trust in the possibility of making a great work accomplished by all of us on the team.

I have had crew members on set chatting and laughing so loud as I was trying to shoot a shot that we had to raise our voice to tell them to shut up or leave the set right away. That is what I am scared about on set too because it’s a demonstration of unprofessionalism.

I am scared about the most on set when being told that I am behind schedule, which means the producer is losing money every minute I insist on making a shot, a scene to my fullest satisfaction.    



What's your next project?

“Garden Court Guardians”. The concept stems from where I live now in this first incorporated town of Washington State of USA, called Steilacoom, and from my almost thirteen years’ experience with Memory Community and its movie memoir project. The story is an extension of what I have been doing with Memory Community in those years; namely, making movie memoirs for older adults. Today, those who are older, and more frail are still a rarity in fully fledged film narratives, or narrative films, however you want to put it. “Garden Court Guardians” will shed a different light on this unignorable age group. I can’t wait to finish the screenplay.  



You can steal the career of an artist you really admire, who do you choose?

Again, this is an uneasy question. Or it’s not; on the contrary, it is easy to give my answer: probably no one. That means I have my own career as an artist no matter how it goes or what it is like. I might have given out a name or two to this question when I was a young director or a young poet. Now I am older, and I have tasted lots of sweet and sour or bitter fruits that only I can own up, so I won’t be able to choose a certain one or two artists. I see that my long-stretched career in cinema and my other identity in poetry (I write English poems under Zhou Doubt) as a mix bag of this and that, so I have difficulty to single out anyone. 



An actor/director/screenplayer is made of....



They are made of perception, pretension, perseverance, powerfulness, pettiness, playfulness, and perfectionism.

For you Cinema is....

Cinema for me is where I can shine for a long time, even in my own comfortable zone. Cinema for me is a place I can hang out in for a long time, even with myself. Cinema for me is an aroma in sight and sound that can be pungent or subtle, so you can smell it even though you can’t – at least at this stage.   



Do you think Black and white movies have a powerful impact?



It depends. But in general, I think so. “Signed, Baba”, the screenplay, will be made into a B/W film because I want the film to have more impact on the audience and also on the characters in it. 

Have you ever dreamed of winning an Oscar?



Not really. I mean, I haven’t taken the Oscars seriously enough to dream about my work winning one of them. 

Do you think you're going to win it?

If the Oscars favor art films in the highest form, and do that consistently, “Signed, Baba” might have a great chance to be appreciated and stand out.  

Two films that have marked my life, for better or worse?

My father in the Australian films: Mad Max 2, and Gallipoli. (Marked me for the batter!).

What do I think of film making schools?

They serve a great purpose to help focus people in a craft, and give them condensed knowledge in a short space of time. And the prestige of the school's name help pave the way.

Have I ever hated ambition?

No.

Francois Truffaut: "Film lovers are sick people"...

No. his story is one of many in the world, not unlike mine. A troubled family life. Film making/writing/acting allows a person to escape reality. And, to watch reactions from people viewing your work-too be accepted in life.

Close my eyes, and say cinema?

Colour/movement, expression, power.

The writer that taught me the most?

Michael Garret. (He edited Stepehen King's first novel)

Acting?

Richard Sarell. (Australian Director & teacher). And. Myself-on stage.

Film?

Watching MANY filmmakers make films, I have been an extra, character, or lead actor in.

Your Biggest dream?

To make a living as an artist in France.

Your Worst nightmare?

Making mistakes wearing all the hats as an independent filmmaker. Many mistakes are made dealing with so many variables-people, and myself. 

How important is good cinematic culture?

It is what people see-your audience. Images can make you gasp with unexpected surprise, or make you cringe with bad results.

What would I improve as a filmmaker?

My dependence on mundane work to support one's passion-FILM/WRITING> And. To produce exceptional work in the future.

Which remake of a black & white film would I like to be involved as a director/actor?

'The Godson'

Who keeps me motivated?

Me.

Alfred Hitchcock said: "To make a good film you need 3 things: The script, the script and the script".  Do you agree with him?



Hitchcocks answer to good film making is correct. A crap script is useless.

What’s your most ambitious project for the future?

To improve my writing. To make a feature I wrote with an investor/producer.

Do you think that sadness or at least melancholy let be more creative?

Sadness or melancholy can add creativity, but it is also dangerously bad to over do it.

What do you wish to yourself as a Filmmaker\Actor \Writer?

 To be given an investment to make a feature from my writing.

As an actor, to act in Europe.

As a writer, to write for Europe.