#ryan curtis

[dreamings-free]

Ryan Curtis, who “engineered, vocal produced and mixed on” Saved By A Stranger, on instagram 1/9/22

[positivexcellence]

@ryan_curtis:  In celebration to the final shooting day of #supernatural I will post the weirdest on-set photo I have. 15 season is an amazing accomplishment. The show has changed many people lives (including my own) and done so much good for the world. Here is @jarpad and Toby the SFXMU wizard

[robertshiau]

[dreamings-free]

comments on songwriter Dave Gibson’s instagram post about the songs on Faith In The Future he wrote on. 31/8/22

- incl. a comment from Louis :)

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Talking with Ryan Curtis

This past week saw the nationwide release of the new independent film Hollywood Grit, opening theatrically at AMC movie theaters all over the U.S. from 360 Distribution. It is truly a throwback to the classic film noirs showing a fallen detective, a Hollywood jazz club and a shady underbelly of Los Angeles. I recently caught up with director / co-writer / Massachusetts native Ryan Curtis via zoom.

Curtis directing Hollywood Grit

Me: I saw in your bio that you attended Fitchburg State. I actually transferred there in 1998, finished in 2001 and walked in 2002. Was that your era?

RC: It was, I was there only one year in 2001. I graduated from Clinton High School and ended up playing basketball at Fitchburg State for only one year. In my first year of college I joined the army, it was right before 9/11 happened and they pulled me out of school. So I only got one year at Fitchburg. I ended up going elsewhere afterwards.

Me: You mentioned you are a veteran and you work closely with the organization Veterans in Media and Entertainment. Tell me about the organization and how they contributed to this film?

RC: The organization was started around 2011 by Kyle Hausemann-Stokes, also a veteran and a director now. He just made a movie called My Dead Friend Zoe, that is just phenomenal and he's one of my best friends. He started this organization as a networking organization and it has morphed into a full networking educational organization that has helped veterans transition from military into entertainment jobs, whether that's film, TV, video games, any sort of arts and media. So because of my involvement in that organization I've made some of my very best friends in that organization and we now use it to help train people who are now fresh out of the military and train them, whether it's on the creative side or the crew side whatever that looks like or might be. We used that organization specifically in this film to staff a bunch of positions. I don't have the exact number, but anywhere from 30-50 in front of and behind the camera. That's something that's very important to me not just for this film but for everything I do whether it's commercials or branded content, I try to hire as many veterans as possible.

I kind of equate it to a battalion when making these movies. So I'd be the battalion commander for these movies in this in that I'm in charge of the vision of the creative direction that the whole battalion goes and underneath me I have company commanders who oversee each department of film whether that's my cinematographer, production designer, producer and they get to oversee their division, but collectively we are all moving forward in the same direction.

movie poster

Me: You directed and co-wrote this. How did it come about?

RC: Yeah, it was actually a wild ride. Initially I was set up to direct a film on the East Coast in Rhode Island actually. We had applied for a tax incentive and we were getting ready to do this other film, it was this lower budget horror. As we were getting ready to get into pre-production with the cast, we had a very specific window in which we needed to shoot that to get the tax incentive and then the strikes happened. So then everything was shut down. I did my best, I literally ran down to the SAG building everyday, begging them to give us a waiver to let us shoot it. For weeks I did that and eventually they were just like 'you need to just stop coming here'. So I went to our lead producers and said 'what if I re-think this and pitch you a new idea that we could film in Los Angeles, not tax incentive dependent and we get to do something that's maybe a little bit more me as a director'. Our producer Scott Adler, he said 'okay, if you can put a good package together and a good story, we'll do it'. So I went to my co-writer Kristina Denton and we started tossing ideas around and we were like 'what do we love? What are the things we wish were on screen right now?' So we talked about the things that really spoke to me in my childhood, first and foremost was those 80s action comedies, like Die Hard and Lethal Weapon. I just love those movies, it such a fun ride - you can just go to the movie, grab a popcorn and a drink and enjoy what's in front of you. As I got older and matured in my taste, so many other things that really called to me were those early noir films of the 40s and 50s, Double Indemnity. I loved Billy Wilder because he could do Double Indemnity on one side and Some Like It Hot on the other. He could do those stylized comedies and film noirs to the T. So I said, what if we take those old 80s action comedies and those old film noirs of the 40s and 50s and try to meld it together and do something current. Take an old familiar nostalgic idea but put a new spin on it. That's kind of how we landed on Hollywood Grit. Because of the strikes and everything going on, I felt very jaded by the business, feeling so helpless to get your movie done. So we played into this world asking the question 'What is the price of fame? What is the price of the goal you want to achieve?'.

Me: Even in an endless budget there's always forces working against you and in that situation with strikes and budgets to make this happen - I commend anyone that can pull it off, which you did. Like you were talking with Billy Wilder, what were some of the touchstones for you in terms of the cinematography and production design?

RC: We talked a lot my cinematographer Jay Visit, who is just one of the most talented guys on the planet, and our production designer Pete Collie - we talked a lot collectively about what can we make this film like on a shoestring budget and still make it feel very noir-like. But what is the modern version of that? The first thing we talked about was instead of black and white, let's completely flip it on its head go very rich color. Play with those shadows and the framing, but pay tribute to those noirs and what they used to do in the 40s. So Jay did such a wonderful job of just upping the game of what that was then and how you can do it now. So we took a lot of time going through those old films and saying, we like this and like that, and take it and modernize it with rich colors and framing. On the production design side, Pete did such a phenomenal job because we didn't have the big studio backing. He was literally going to yard sales and picking up stuff on Facebook Marketplace, and building things for nothing just so that we could make it feel a little more rich. And then it was our locations, we ended up calling in favors and getting these really great locations here in Los Angeles because of the existing relationships we had.

Me: Sometimes limitations can force creativity in a positive way.

RC: I really think that's the case. When you put yourself in a box and these are the parameters, that's where creativity comes from.

Me: It was cool to see some of the actors who were popular in the 80s like Linda Purl of Happy Days and Patrick Duffy of Dallas. What was it like working with them?

RC: First off, Linda and Patrick are just the greatest! I love them so much! They feel like family and are just such genuine humans. I will say this, with Patrick if we were closer in age we would probably be best friends. I just vibed so well with him, he's so unbelievably talented. Linda is too. You really understand why they were at the pinnacles of their careers and able to be so successful, because their talent is just so amazing. You put them on screen and they steal every moment. Especially with Patrick, on the page you had this role that maybe wasn't as interesting and he was able to go 'what if we do these and these and these' and in all those moments he just shines.

Me: This is being released at movie theaters nationwide including AMC Boston Common here in Boston. There's been so much in recent years about "the death of movie theaters" and everything going to streaming. Was it important to you to have this released on the big screen?

RC: It's so important, it's literally the dream of a filmmaker to get to share this on the big screen and get to watch this with an audience. I made this specifically to be watched with an audience. I want someone to show up, grab some popcorn and be along for the ride, laugh, cry and gasp and walk out of there and feel like 'that was such a good experience, I need to tell someone about it'. That's the hope of trying to re-create this nostalgic thing I grew up with of going to the movies and being able to share that with someone. It is a huge swing for us because we're a small indie film, we don't have the big backing of the studio, so I have to give credit to AMC for allowing us to go out theatrically.

Me: Any advice you have for young filmmakers looking to get a movie made and distributed?

RC: It depends on where you're at in your career, but first and foremost to make a film you have to be a director and in order to be a director you have to make a film. Right now with the technology we have at our fingertips, you have phones and all these different things, my biggest advice is - make a movie! Whether that is a zero budget movie or a raise-ten-thousand dollars pay for your own film, do that. Whatever that looks like. Whatever you can do and can afford to do it, do it! You can spend all the time in the world worrying about the perfect opportunity to do all these things that may never come, but the moment you take it and say 'I'm going to do this no matter what the cost, the budget, whatever' you are giving yourself the opportunity to present and showcase your work and get it out there. If I was to give advice to my younger self it'd be 'just go make it! Don't wait for anybody' and eventually someone's going to notice you and when that happens you can really take the next leap and continue your career down the path.

For info on Hollywood Grit

[krlyrics]

Lyric CRAVITY - Mr.

Album: EVERSHINEReleased date: 2024.2.26Lyrics by Exy, Sohlhee, Serim, AllenComposed by Ryan Jhun, Nathan Cunningham, Marc Raymond Ernest Sibley, Ryan Curtis, Justin Douglas StarlingArranged by Ryan Jhun, Space Primates Korean Hangul We on itI tell em like thisWoahOk잘 봐, 위대해 Like Gatsby먼 길을 돌아 arrive제쳐, 지나갔지 nineteenLet’s roll the dice (Right)날카로워진 attitude날 찾았어 Look at the truth달라 보여 Head to…

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[krlyrics]

Lyric CRAVITY - C'est La Vie

Album: EVERSHINEReleased date: 2024.2.26Lyrics by Jo YoonkyungComposed by Ryan Jhun, HUMBLER, Ryan Curtis, Jack Brady, Jordan RomanArranged by Ryan Jhun, HUMBLER, The Wavys Korean Lyric 때론 숨이 탁 막힐 듯 한Gimme all your timeSomewhere somehow너만을 향해 멈춘이 시선 넘친 마음이내 모든 삶인 걸믿게 돼 곧 넌하얗게 지울 상처 네 눈물감미로울 뿐인 taste내 몫인 게 당연해I’m kissing you 감지 마 두 눈거를 타선 없는 절경일 테니Falling down들여다 봐 봐 봐 our Babylon화려한 vibe vibe…

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[cagesidepress]

Bellator, Brave CF Fighter Ryan Curtis Hospitalized with Life-Altering Spinal Injury, McGregor Donates

Read the full story on cagesidepress.com