Freedom Found
Posted on Tuesday, August 05 by Jill
Tubefilter has a great interview with Illeana Douglas on the making of Easy to Assemble; a must read. The series is sponsored by IKEA and due to debut this fall. Douglas seems to be really jazzed about the experience. Here are a few quotes:
The show kind of renewed everybody’s faith in everything. The whole show is about how art is where you make it. You don’t have be in a movie, and no one can say “no” to you. If you decide you’re going to do it, if you put two sticks together, and somebody enjoys it, you’re creating art.
Oftentimes, when you’re writing for bosses, the biggest note you get is that “people aren’t going to get that.” And it’s frustrating because you’re fighting for the audience. And there are no real bosses in independent films. And I sort of see this as an extension of independent film. The reward is when people do it, they say they have such a great time. That says to me that it’s working on some level. I feel like I’m able to capture a certain intimacy that maybe other people wouldn’t be able to capture.
Not having any bosses gives you the ability to not edit yourself, and to put things out there that you feel really confident about. Because usually, in TV you have a lot of people telling you what to do, and how to cut it. Working in television can be kind of like making a comedy in a prisoner of war camp; you’ve got people telling you what they think is funny, and you’re like, “Really?” What they always say is to work within the system, and find a way still to express your own voice. With the web you have creative freedom, but the flip side of this is of course that nobody’s making any money.
