Rex Sikes: Interview with the Indie Jack-of-all-Trades Part 1

You may remember us telling you earlier about a current project in the works called Serum. Serum is about a man that undergoes medical experiments and gets terrifying results. The project is currently running an IndieGoGo campaign to raise some of the production funds (You can click here to donate).

I was fortunate enough to catch up with director Rex Sikes and ask him a little bit more about Serum in a two part interview. The first part of that interview is below. Please be sure to check back on Friday (10/5/12) for the second part.

Christopher Coffel: You're currently in the early stages of your directorial debut, SERUM. Can you tell us a little bit about what the film is about?

Rex Sikes:  I have directed before on other projects and theater (sometime uncredited) but this is the first time in quite some time that I have directed a project primarily because I did not, could not find a story I wanted to direct. I looked long and hard.  And because I was busy producing and acting in and on other projects.  Serum is one I am eager and excited to share and am having fun directing. It is totally indie and we face challenges all along the way, but I have a fabulous crew, truly dedicated, absolutely fabulous crew. Because it is indie and because of our shooting schedule our crew size goes up and down depending on who can schedule which days to shoot.  This is not preferable but we are doing great with who and what we have, when we have them. I have an amazing and wonderful cast of actors, again dedicated and eager so this is a great project to be directing. 

The other hats I wear are Executive Producer, Producer, Line Producer and writer with Sam Kozel who is EP, producer and writer. We are also craft service, and whatever is needed. What I mean by that is there are a lot of above the line hats I wear and share but whenever and whatever is needed we all do whatever that is. We don't have a crew who can't for certain reasons or won't, shift and help whenever or wherever or whatever is needed. All pull together and do what is required to get it done.

Serum is a great project to be working on, I am delighted, and it is an immense amount of work. But I would rather be pulling my hair out than twiddling my thumbs. Between Serum and other projects and things on my plate I am very busy - and my cast and crew are very busy people. I would have preferred to have had a set shooting schedule of some many days in one block of time but working in the Midwest as an indie production we have to be sensitive and flexible to and with our cast and crew schedules and commitments. Plus, Serum represents a departure from some of the other types of projects I have directed or directed on. This is the first TV pilot I have directed and it is not shot in TV format with commercial breaks but shot as a feature.


CC: Where did the idea come from? What influenced the story?

RS:  Originally I was asked by Sam to consider producing a Zombie movie, potentially direct, as I recall, however it was not ready and he was going to continue re-writes. Sam is a very talented writer so he offered up some shorts he had written. I really liked one and had hopes to direct it, however, it required putting actors in a river and we were running out of nice weather to do that. At this time I became eager to direct something, find an idea to put into motion. I love that short and still would like to do it.

He offered other short scripts, and while really good material, they were just not feasible on a limited budget. Unless we wanted to spend the bulk of our time raising money, then going into production phases, these other scripts would not happen. I am not a huge fan of shorts. I prefer features. If I am going to spend my time making  something or watching  something I prefer it be a feature but I now really wanted to get something "in the can". 

Serum

Sam and I discussed ideas - he mentioned he had a truth serum idea and I like that. I suggested the opening and closing for it, changing it from the original idea substantially. We tossed it around and came up with a concept we agreed on. Originally,  I wanted to shoot something we could literally "run and gun", one location, five to seven minutes in length, and let's get going on it. Here is my idea, here is Sam's, blend them. Sam took to writing that. He came back with 21 pages of script and I it was good but way too long. In many ways it worked and in some ways it did not fulfill the idea I believed we originally had together. On its own Sam's script would have made a very interesting short but that was not the one I wanted to direct.

So he re-wrote and then re-wrote. Each version was good but some of it was outside the scope of what I had hoped to shoot. Eventually I stated writing - primarily I wrote what I wanted to shoot within the existing script, not really adding to it, but clarifying and I eliminated what I didn't think would work. I started almost by contributing a shot list - what I saw the character doing. So between the two of us we came up with a version that we liked. We then  moved ahead and began prepro and moved into casting. 

We had planned to crowdfund at this time but we kept putting our campaign on hold while we concentrated on pulling the project together. In many ways, crowdfunding is as much work as making a movie and we could not undertake both at the same time. So Sam and I put our own money in. Money we hope we recoup during our current crowdfunding phase plus, and this is very important - we want to get the funds to pay the talent in front and behind camera.

During preproductionI met frequently with the DPs Phil Koch, Mark Maj and Steve Russell to state "this is what i want here", "this is how I want to shoot", "here is where we dolly in this fashion", "this is the overall look, this is what the beginning should look like" "here is where it changes" , etc crafting the look and feel of our project. I had many notes about what I expected from them about how to get this to the screen. It was during this time that I began to think - "we are wasting this on a five minute short... this should be a bigger project, perhaps a web series, a pilot or feature". 

We crewed up and have so many wonderful people too many to mention for certain but I do want to mention Spike - Stephanie Drewa who has helped us in so many ways. From make up to FX make to finding PA's, securing locations she knew about - she has been an outstanding resource and friend. 

Early on we had the help of Chase Wright and his wife Lou Ann in setting up casting appointments and they did a marvelous job. Through out the production we are blessed to have Leslie Maj helping in data management and she secured for us a much needed tow truck and driver we had trouble getting.  She is always positive, always smiling, always helpful. We really have great people working on Serum and I enjoy them so much. 

We started casting and after a couple days of casting I decided I wanted to expand the short and make it bigger, give it more scope so it was not only one location and a little intentionally claustrophobic. We discovered some really great talent that I decided I wanted to include so I wrote an opening to the short. It was a Steadicam shot through a hospital corridor and out into the lobby and enlisted the talent of about 25 actors to make it happen. It was great and I am so glad I included these actors as characters. The first shoot at the hospital lasted a day and we got such excellent footage... I now knew we need to do more. We had done two days previously with our lead actor and other cast that turned out exceptionally well. We were now well underway. Prior to our first day of shooting day I discussed with my 1st Assistant Director, Chris Emmons, that I thought this deserved to be larger and he agreed. I tossed this notion out to others and they all agreed. Okay, so I now knew we were going bigger.

Serum DP Phil Koch

While sitting with my DP, Phil, early on, kept stating that I thought there were script holes in the short and I wanted the audience to empathize with our lead character more. Phil said, "he needs a child, throw a kid in". Yes, I thought this makes total sense. Our main character, Riley,  goes through what he goes through because he has a child, a daughter - perfect!! Our hero is struggling to keep his child. What eventually occurs in the story does so from his struggle and desperation to preserve the relationship with his offspring. I started rewriting the entire concept and it has mushroomed from there. Now it was really becoming a pilot - and we would create backstory, motivation, new locations and other characters - it was becoming very exciting.

I would like to say that Phil Koch is a really creative filmmaker, he has a great photographic eye as demonstrated not only by his fine work on Serum but by his gorgeous photography. His series of photos known as "Horizons" is absolutely stunning and if you haven't seen them check them out on Facebook. Anyway, I am surrounded by truly creative and talented people like Sam, Phil, Mark, Steve, Spike, Jeane our wardrobe mistress, Chris our 1st AD (a wonderful director in his own right) and so many others. Our head gaffer, lighting technician Dave Smulski works like no other I have ever seen, always prompt, quick with a fix, offering helpful suggestions and he has an incredible attitude. 

We are in fact shooting a TV pilot, with lots of great back story and characters and it bears little resemblance to the original work BUT it also contains within it the original idea. Meaning I could cut from this the original scripted short, or I can have it as the pilot we envisioned. So I have Sam's brilliantly written material and my additions to work with and I am quite thrilled. The footage is gorgeous and we have expanded from the original 8 day shoot. Truly, this is a collaborative project and we have incorporated ideas from both cast and crew. I believe it is important to stay open and listen to what others have to say because their idea may be a gem. 

Our story is about a young man, who is struggles to keep his daughter in a custody battle. Money is scarce and he looks for a way to pay the attorneys and meet his obligations. He discovers he can get paid to participate in  taking part in an experimental drug trial and from there it only gets worse... Truly now however, instead of a movie just about a drug trial it is a movie about his important relationships, especially his relationship with his daughter, and about the decisions he makes and how they influence everything. It asks each of us "What lengths would you go to to keep your family intact?" How far are you willing to go?

I have to mention that I am so impressed with our actors, and while I enjoy and respect them all I have got to mention two. Tabb Alan Patz who plays lead Riley and his daughter Emmy played by Estella Garcia. Tabb is delightful, thoughtful, always positive and has a great mind for detail, continuity and his character. I enjoy working with Tabb so much. He has always been right there on top of things for Riley. 

Sikes (right) with Ricardo de Herrera

Not enough can be said about our young lead Estella. This is her first movie and she is such a delight, such a joy to have on the set and around the set. Her parents Sarah and Alex are outstanding making her available whenever and wherever she has been needed. Her first day of shooting she worked long hours for a child but then she wanted to stay on set and watch. She sat right by camera exclaiming "This is fascinating!"  She takes direction very well, she is thoughtful and reflective and wonderful. One of our last shooting days she came up to me, and said, "You know Rex I was thinking, how about I do it this way..." I loved it - she is seven and she is considering how her character would respond in the situation. 

We are having fun on the set, working hard, doing a good job making a movie. I'm surrounded by absolutely fabulously supportive actors like Vickey Ippolito, Kaylyn Statza, Maddie Carlin, Matt Nichols, Zach McClain and our incredible Dr Waldorf played by Ricardo de Herrera - an amazing, dedicated, positive, helpful, wonderful actor. All these named and unnamed people makes me very lucky and lucky to be working with them.

Check back Friday for part two of my interview with Rex Sikes!

Related Posts:
SERUM: Indie Thriller Launches IndieGoGo Campaign
Rex Sikes: Interview with the Indie Jack-of-all-Trades Part 2