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MARK ADAMS:

TRULY INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING

             The following are responses people gave to the question; “What is Mark Adams like as a director?”

“You (Mark) play your parts well. You put yourself as the character…You’re just goofy sometimes…you take your films so seriously and you put your whole being into it. And you can really tell, you do things so seriously and put your whole heart into it. You can tell you like to do that type of thing, you enjoy it.” – Jeany Donohue

“You can see, in the short time I had known you at the time, there’s a natural progression in the quality of work. I mean some of that stuff is just – good God! What in the world were we doing? You wonder how many beers it took to put something together like that. But when you get to THE HONEY THIEF and WAR, DEATH AND PIZZA, there’s actually a plot that a non-involved and disassociated person (from the making of the films) can pick up on and follow. With MAZDA FROM HELL, if you weren’t part of that you’re sitting there going, ‘What in the world am I watching?’ And JAKE POWERS is some degree is sort of ‘out there’ as to what exactly is going on. But THE HONEY THIEF has a plot. WAR, DEATH AND PIZZA has a plot. And I think you can see there is a progression of your filmmaking. And then when you went on to SCAD and did some of the things down there; again with the better training you’ve gotten with the better equipment you’ve been able to utilize, you see your filmmaking each time taking a progression to the better. And some of the stuff you put out now isn’t nearly as – some of the stuff is pretty darn good. Some of that stuff early on is like, ‘What in the world were you people doing?’ But I think every filmmaker – I bet even Steven Spielberg probably goes back and looks at the first film he ever made when he was 12 or whenever he did it, and he just says, ‘I cannot believe I ever did something that horrible.’ But at the time it was a great thing, it was a breakthrough thing. It was something new. And to see your work to actually go from a concept to finished product – that’s just as an important piece as when Spielberg went on and did some of his famous movies that everyone has seen the world over. And you’re making that progression too. You can sort of see that in the history of your filmmaking.” – Kevin Walker

“I think it can best be summed up as, ‘trying to do as much as possible with what you had to work with’. Both technically – how much of what we shot was done on a camcorder that was not the most ‘user-friendly’ thing in the world – and the acting group that you had assembled. That’s why God made casting agents – you’re a director but you’re no casting agent because you had us! (Laughs) You always had your vision. You knew what you wanted. All of us, looking back on it now, regret the fact that we didn’t take it a little more seriously at the time. It could have been easier on you. It could have delivered what you had envisioned better. Your greatest assets as a director were your ability to stay focused, and maintain your idea of what the project was going to be regardless of everything that was going on around you. Your ability to have patience – to again, understand what you were dealing with and that given time, what you had envisioned would come out. But it was going to take us a while to get there, just because of who we all were. I think those two words can sum up Mark Adams and his directing ability the best, and that’s simply patience and focus. I think it would be interesting if the people that were involved in your very early works, I think you were doing some when you were in high school, but what we were all involved with in college could be classified as your early part of your filmmaking. I think it would be neat if those of us who did it then could see how you do things now, and see how they differ. Compare not only the technical quality, but what’s changed about how you deliver that focus or that idea. I think that would be neat to be ‘on set’, so to speak, just to see if things have changed or if they’ve changed at all.” – Scott Aldridge

“I think technically (recent Mark Adams films are) very good. Technically they’re as good as any film that someone in your position with you resources can be expected to make…Technically they’re excellent. And the way you’ve used special effects, and the acting is good. Mark, you’re a great actor. I think you should act in more of your movies. You’re usually the best actor of anyone in your own movie, and you’re a good actor.” – Andy Battmer

“I’ve been flattered that you wanted to involve me in the productions, and I just have a great time doing them. It was never, ‘Are we going to shoot this AGAIN, Mark?’ I’ve never had that kind of feeling. It’s always been a blast. Progressively, as I have worked with you, the films have become more and more technical. They’ve become, ‘All right, we’ve got a story to tell here. This is my version of the story. We’re not just going to carry the camera around and say what you want to.’ You are a very tolerant director. You have tolerated without, in a period of going on 20 years, ever chastise me for being late to the set as I have been upon occasion. You give instruction. You give direction. You explain – even with the films you have produced a script for – you still made an effort to get everybody together who are in one scene, and instead of like, ‘All right, everybody, know your lines!’ It was like, ‘This is where we’re going. This is what I’d like to accomplish in this scene. Why don’t we give it a try?’ And my experience with you has been that you have encouraged me to just do my own thing. As long as we’re not way out in left field and completely out of character, do you’re own thing. Make it your character. I think that’s one of your greatest strengths as a director, and I think you’ve made others feel that way too. (Smiles) Sometimes you kind of ran out of patience with us, now that I think about it, I seem to recall that you were in a little bit of a hurry to put the wraps on ROAD TO NOWHERE. But you never dropped the hammer. You were like, ‘Come on, this is take 6,025!’ (Laughs) But I think your flexibility, your willingness to listen – because I recall sometimes on WAR, DEATH AND PIZZA and on ROAD TO NOWHERE, where we would just stop the cameras and have a rap session on, ‘OK, that didn’t work. It didn’t feel good for you guys. What do you think?’ That and you encourage the actors to kind of find the character in their own way and just do it. That’s my experience in working with you as a director. I was never hurt. I was never forced to do anything demeaning! (Laughs)” – Adam Leatherwood

“(Mark is) very accommodating. You always think of directors based on the media’s portrayal of directors, as somebody who’s kind of harsh and cold and, ‘this is how it is.’ And, ‘it’s my way or the highway.’ And gosh, you weren’t any of those things. You were very well – you conveyed, to me anyway, I thought I always had a good grasp of what you wanted. Whether I was able to DELIVER on that was another thing. But I always had a good feeling that, of what you wanted, you were always able to convey to me, ‘OK, this is what I want to see and this is how I want it.’ So you communicated that very well. And if anything you were TOO nice. You probably let people walk all over you, which you can’t let happen as a director. Gosh, to fault you for being too nice! (Laughs) That’s a good problem to have. I expect you’ve probably learned a little bit since then. But I mean, you had these aspirations and you delivered the OLIVER HALL video. You knew what you wanted and you obviously had a vision. And you delivered it on time. Seeing that, and knowing what goes into it now, obviously it makes me think you know how to get stuff done. You’re wonderful from the experiences I’ve had with you.” – Brian Powell

“I’ve been very fortunate for you to have asked me over the last four years to make movies with you, and I’ve enjoyed how you’ve mixed so many things into them - the science fiction and the humor. My son ( Aaron Lake ) when he came to school here, he was in movies with you both years - and then my daughter ( Lindsay Lake ) also. I figured you were just being nice to me by letting me in your movies, which you probably were! (Laughs) And now with both of them gone now (graduated from Barton County Community College ) I look forward to it, I enjoy it very much. I was very impressed with your first (film LINK UP), and you had showed me clips of movies that you’d done before. In fact we watched one night (JUDGMENT DAY), that was on an aircraft carrier. I was kind of impressed with that! I think they’ve been very good, I think you’ve done a heck of a job with them and they’ve been fun to do. You’ve been great to work with. I enjoy working with you very much. I guess I’d have to say one of the things I found out about you is that you are a very patient, tolerant person. (Chuckles) I’m sure that I’m not – well I know I’ve not been the easiest person to work with whether its a schedule or whether it’s stumbling through lines trying to get it done. But I think you’ve been very patient. I see as you go along and I’ve read the script or I’ve studied some area of it and when we get there (to the set) I’ll think to myself, after you’ve done one or two of these you can pretty much consider yourself an expert in this area (laughs). And I would think, “What would it sound like if you said this…?” All of the sudden you start second guessing the guy that’s done 50 of these, you know how that goes! But very seldom do we have a shoot where you don’t make changes in the script or the staging or the setting. And I’ve enjoyed very much working with you.” – David Lake

“(Mark Adams as a director was) Horrible! You know, with Adams it was always about the bottom line. I’m an actor…I have a craft, sure, but I also need room to create and try, and with ‘Mr. DeMille’, he was always, ‘No, T.J. would not be drinking beer in this scene.’ And, ‘No, Aaron, we will not put “dime bags” out with the bagels on the catering table.’ I mean, if he wants to put restrictions on me…you know…I’ll just go work for Disney or something.” (Aaron is such a kidder.) “You know…(acting in the three films LINK UP, TRUE IDENTITY and DEATHGRIP) really wetted my palette. I realize that I need to learn MUCH more about the craft if I plan to make any money doing it, but I really had a great (time) making those films and would love to do it again.” – Aaron Lake

“I like Mark as a director. You can tell that he really likes what he is doing, a lot of times he’s laughing along with you. And sometimes you can’t keep a straight face because you see him laughing behind the camera. I’ve often wondered how you’ve come up the ideas that you do. That takes a lot of work and takes a lot of dedication, but I don’t think you would do it if you didn’t enjoy it. And it really seems to be something that you enjoy and love doing. And I enjoy working with you - that’s the only reason I do them. Otherwise I probably would have said no a long time ago. But I do like him as a director and as a person.” – Rory Perrodin

“I worked with Brian Chestnut and he talked about (acting) in a movie out at the college. So I asked to borrow it (OMEGA RED) and watched it. I enjoyed it and thought it was really good. I saw the previews for some of (Mark Adams) other movies and thought. “This guy really knows how to do this stuff.” (After making PROPHECY, DEATH AND OTHER FUN THINGS with Mark Adams) He knows exactly what he’s doing. You can tell he knows how to do this stuff. He’s always thinking all the time, thinking of new different ways of doing something and is really open to other ideas. And just really enjoyable to work with.” – David Baldwin

“(Mark’s) good. I know we’re going to do another take, even if I hit it the first time. And I know he’s going to have something to say which is like, “Let’s try this…” give me a little bit of feed back. And I never, not even since the very first time, ever felt like I was being judged. And we’ve laughed a lot too so it’s been fun. He’s a fun director.” – Bill Cordes

“I really got a good perspective on how directing is conducted.  Mark is a good ‘hands on’ director and is good at explaining how he wants the scene to unfold and how he wants us to portray our characters.  What’s more, Mark has an unbelievable amount of patience because while I was getting upset at Rory for screwing around too much, Mark didn’t seem to mind at all! Also, we did all our shooting in one afternoon.  But, the scenes were placed in several different places in the movie.  I always figured shooting was done in chronological order as the movie unfolds, but that is not the case.  That goes to show how good of a director Mark is. One thing I didn’t expect was that bloopers were a part of the shooting.  There were several scenes that Rory and I botched but bloopers were never something that had crossed my mind; I was trying to be serious all the time because that’s what I though Mark wanted. I was just glad to be in the film.  The whole experience was great for me. I mentioned ‘hands on’ and patient because that’s the way he was.  He also was very descriptive in his analysis of how he wanted us to act.  I got the sense that he really understood what he was doing and what he wanted done. I really am glad that I got to do something like be in OMEGA RED.  Not many people ever get to do stuff like that, but I did.  Mark and I became good friends because of the movie and I am very happy that he and I have kept in touch even though I no longer live in Great Bend .  I miss a lot of my other friends from the college, but watching OMEGA RED reminds me of the good times and the good friends.  Believe me, I hated living in Great Bend , but my experience there is priceless and being in OMEGA RED just reinforces the fact that I’m glad I moved to Kansas to strike out away from home. 

I have a couple of dreams in my life:

film a tornado,

get married and have a few kids,

be in another ADAMSTAR film.

The third is the most likely of the three!” – Patrick Dempsey

“I noticed in OMEGA RED you have shots that you take that are good shots. If I was making a movie I wouldn’t have them in there because I wouldn’t think to – transition shots (establishing or beauty shots) and I noticed that in OMEGA RED, that you really do have an eye for the shot. You write it but it doesn’t have to be this way. You do a good job of telling us what you want out of us, as far as how you want us to be – the emotions (with our characters). And I noticed with Randy (Allen) and Rory (Perrodin) and me, that you can show us what you mean (by acting it out yourself). So I think you’re a good director.” – Philip Wethington

“He was the coolest director I ever had! (Laughs) No, Mark Adams is a good director. He tells you what he wants and expects you to do it. If you don’t that’s OK, try again. He’s really laid back. He works really well with his ‘actors’ and ‘actresses’. He’s pretty fun. He enjoys himself thoroughly, which is very important. I like the way he gives you the character and gives you an outline, and lets you go from there. He gives you the ability to read into your character more. You know you have the freedom to do it exactly how he told you to do it, or you can put your own little (twist to it). And I like the way that Mr. Adams is comfortable with trying different (approaches); he’s real flexible. I’ve never been in a movie before, and he gave us the script and said, “this is pretty much what I want you to say, take it and have fun! That’s the most important part!” I didn’t know anything about filmmaking before walking into this! I didn’t know there were special lights, and I learned about the lights because I’m a very inquisitive person and I was like, “why does this do this? Why are there shutters (barndoors) on the lights, what do they do? How come you adjusted them?” And he uses four different video cameras at once for different angles, and then there’s a special microphone that’s like six feet long just for filming – I was like wow! I just didn’t know anything about making films and I learned a lot.” – Jennifer Palmberg

“Even though I would like to do Hollywood movies, I think doing these kind of movies tend to be a lot better because the director tends to be more open to ideas. And (he) actually wants the actors to interact and make their character and do what they think they need the character to do. Unlike most Hollywood movies the director’s like, “You’re doing it this way. You better do it right.” They’re not as open when it comes to ideas for the movie. Some are and some aren’t.” – David Baldwin

“Mark Adams, since we’re referring to him in the third person, (laughs) I like his directing style because it lets me run off on all my tangents and do whatever I please. And yet he manages to keep it focused and (makes it) go where it needs to, and if something’s not going to work - it’s not going to work.” – Sam Wright

“Actually I like the way you direct, really I do. I’ve had a lot of directors over the years just from when I was a child all the way up until now and I’ve worked with a lot of different people like adults and students and professors and different people directing. And I’ve always found your direction real easy to take. I think one thing that’s great is that you’re willing to allow us to add things in or delete things or do things that we would be comfortable with or that we think the characters would do. And I think that’s great because I think that just makes the films better.” – Julie Ann Willis

“Mark Adams as a director! He’s pretty crazy! (Laughs) No, yeah, actually he is crazy, (continues to laugh) but he’s a lot of fun, too. He’s really easy to work with, and treats everybody really nice. A good director. (Holds two thumbs up) Two thumbs up!” – Kristy Koelsch

“I would describe Mark Adams as a director as one of the guys. Yancy and I sense of humor is so off the wall, just out of no where, but Mark Adams the director is able to laugh at us and understand and grasp what was going on and laugh too. We would catch him laughing just at the stupid little things we were doing. And being willing to make a blooper reel. And being open to suggestions that the actors have. And as a director knowing when to accept it and be willing to try it. The director was a lot of fun to work with.” – Bobby Sloan

“Mark Adams is a great director because he knows what he wants and he’s going to be calm. He’s never gotten upset, no matter whether I’m playing with the paper clip (dispenser) for some reason, (Chuckles) I don’t know what that was about. He allows us to expand. He allows us to improvise if we want to. Whether he’ll record it or not is another question. He’s really open to suggestions. He tells us what he wants and he trusts in us to do it. And it’s a good time to work with somebody like that, who trusts in us and lets us work with it until he gets what he wants. It’s been a good time working with him and I’m glad I started out with a director like him.” – Yancy Young

“(What I remember the most from our shoot was) that you were such a nice guy. (Smiles) That, really, you are so easy to work with - that you hire an actor and you let him do what he is best at doing. You don’t try to control that performance, you just let it go. And if there’s something you don’t like you say ten good things about me and then you say, ‘but there’s just this one little thing that maybe you can try different’. It’s you that is my most favorite thing about this. Really, you’re quite a marvelous filmmaker. It’s very hard for us to stand outside of ourselves and appreciate our own work. But I hope you do, because you’re very popular and you’re very well respected in this area and in Hollywood . It’s a shame that you’re films aren’t as widely distributed as they should be, but they very well could be in the next couple of years.” – Joe Estevez

“You’re in a frustrating profession (making films with volunteer actors). (Laughs) There’s got to be a lot of frustration because sometimes other people don’t want it as much as you do. It’s like that for anybody – me in vocal jazz. (Kerry directed vocal jazz groups in Lawrence , Kansas as he attended KU) Not everybody really digs vocal jazz, in fact most people don’t really dig vocal jazz, and I do, and so I find the same thing. People show up late for rehearsals, people don’t show up for rehearsals. People don’t work on their music outside like I do. It’s very similar, I think. It’s not that they don’t like doing the movies, they just don’t prioritize it as much as you do. And for anybody it’s got to be frustrating after a while. But you get them done, though! And it’s got to be pleasing to see the results of them put all together. Your most artistic stuff sometimes get overlooked, and then the stuff that’s brute and obtuse; that’s what everybody gets because it doesn’t take a lot of thought. That may be a little frustrating, even in a 39-minute movie like LINK UP you really worked up a pretty intricate set of interweaving little plots and things, and everything comes together. And then to have them say (films like DEATHGRIP and OMEGA RED, with less original plots, were their favorites). And JUDGMENT DAY also was really effective for me, too. I say (your films) always get better and better, but I go back and remember the couple of times when I watched JUDGMENT DAY, when I had it in my house, and I remember really digging JUDGMENT DAY a lot. WAR, DEATH AND PIZZA – I just thought that was hilarious! And PROPHECY, DEATH AND OTHER FUN THINGS; Cody Hunnicutt was just great. He’s a really good actor. He was just perfect for that role. And that whole show was really good, too. I have to go back to LINK UP, JUDGMENT DAY and PROPHECY, DEATH AND OTHER FUN THINGS as some of my personal favorites. (Mark as a director is) easy-going, and driven, and motivated, and dedicated. All based on the fact that you work so many hours on these things and that’s not your gig, that’s not your job! So you decide that this is what you want to do with a lot of your extra time, spend these hours working on some art. This is art! This is an art form! If I don’t respect that, doing what I do (directing volunteer Jazz Vocal groups), obviously I have a lot of respect for somebody that is into pure art because you’re not raking it in yet on these (films). You may. But I will know that if you leave this earth and don’t ever make any money on this stuff, you will still have contributed to society, in my opinion. You have contributed to my life, and to David Lake ’s, and to Aaron’s, and to Becky Pfortmiller’s and all of these people. I mean, there are cornerstones in everybody’s life, and I can’t say I’ve based who I’ve become on my experiences in Adamstar Pictures. But I’ll tell you what, because of you there is a certain folder on my computer that is dedicated to pictures that I have scanned in (from the films). Not a lot of things get folders! You know; family, friends, Adamstar Pictures, high school…so I hope as the director, and writer, and logistics organizer, and key grip and whatever else you are, you should realize that you actually impact a lot of people’s lives. (Not just the people who have seen the films), the one’s that I think are the most important are the one involved in the craft. Because I think it’s about the process – sometimes more than the product. I’m a big ‘process’ guy; we’re all learning and we’re all learning about ourselves. And I’m learning that I’m not going to be an actor for my life! (Laughs) But that’s fine; and I’m looking forward to being comfortable and sitting down and playing music for it - because that’s what I feel I do better. But you make contributions to everybody’s lives, that was my ‘thesis’.” – Kerry Marsh

“You seem to always have more than one role. You’re always directing, acting and shooting with the camera. So when the sequence is going, you’ve obviously had the other work done prior to that of finding the (location), writing the script and getting everything together. But on the spot (shooting a scene), you always are in a three-role operation. But it’s amazing how many people seem to react and do exactly what you tell them when you’re paying them nothing. That just boggles my mind, always. But film is full of that, of volunteer workers. And that’s good. (You are) pretty much, always on top of it. I don’t know how you keep so many balls in the air at the same time; it’s kind of a juggling act always. The only stress I ever notice at all (on the set) is the one you have. I don’t see anybody else in any way in a stressful situation. They’re all basically having fun. And you always got this to happen without any kind of pressure being really put on the people. I think that would be the secret of being a good director; would be to get people to react without having to threaten to cut their pay or (Laughs) threaten to throw them out of the movie. And if it did go that way, I don’t think it would be fun to make the movies. And I get the feeling you’re having fun, too. But you’re also kind of stressed, sometimes, because of the time element and everything else. Special effects have come a long ways. The quality of the cameras has come a long ways. And your ability to use them has certainly come a long ways. I hope you don’t stop doing it, I don’t think you will. It’s an expressive form for you, and I think everybody needs an expressive form of some kind. And that could be in any number of areas, but luckily yours is in a creative area. And it doesn’t require a great deal of, what should I say, abandonment of – well, even filmmaking does that a little bit – of your family and that sort of thing. Almost any job will some how or another cut into your normal home life. I can’t imagine anything that wouldn’t. But filmmaking has that element of creativity attached to it. But just as long as you keep trying to make them better – that’s what the life process to me seems to be all about. And each one is a record of an idea that’s put down, in a sense, on film (or video). So it’s a record and can be viewed over and over again. And like a picture, everybody’s going to get a little different reaction out of it. You never get the same reaction completely from two different people. So it’s a process I hope you never give up. I think they’re getting better, Mark. And you always strive to make them better. That’s encouraging to me. I would just hate to see you ever stop making them. And I doubt that you will, even if it was on a smaller scale you would still be making them.” – Don Adams

“I think you’re good at what you do. I think that you’ve reached a level that to do something and have it turn out the way you have envisioned it – you need a budget. I think we keep sidestepping a budget. And I think that it’s time we get serious about getting a budget. Everybody else has done it. Maybe you need to get a grant, or hit some people up, or I don’t know. (Smiles) I think as a producer and a director, you’ve got it. You know what you’re doing. When it comes to shooting on film, I think you need help. I think you’re on the right track. And I think you can do it. I just think it’s time to go to the next step. You’re still stressed. You’re always calmer with your actors than you are with yourself and your family, sometimes. But it’s what you love to do. It shows.” – Tracy Adams

“I see a definite progression, and I think you’ve shown a significant improvement in your ability to take the shots and really put them together well. The overall quality of the editing, the sound quality has significantly improved. When we were starting in high school we weren’t shooting films; we were shooting little sketches like a SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE sketch, a really bad one. But I don’t think you should expect much more. But everything I’ve learned it’s been from you and I’ve learned quite a bit in terms of what it takes to do it. And I go back to this idea that Mark, so few people do what you do because they just simply don’t have what it takes to follow through. They don’t follow through. And you are a total follow through kind of person and you get the job done, and you really like what you’re doing. You take it step by step and you take the time to work out the storyboards and figure the angles and the characters. You write the whole script, which most people can’t get through - writing the whole script. I think If they could they could probably film the thing but they can’t get that done. But then if they do you have to know how to use the equipment and you’ve really had to become an expert at writing, at using a camera with lighting and sound, at editing the stuff. And putting it all together, so it’s been impressive that you’ve done all that. I think you’ve do a nice job of both directing it, knowing what you want well in advance, because you’ve taken the time to storyboard it and thoroughly think through it. And also being flexible enough to allow people to do some screwing around between takes, and to (allow the actors to) make suggestions about ways they think it might make it better and, again, sometimes you used them when you thought it did make sense. And other times you felt like, “No, let’s stick with this.” You’re really easy to get along with; you’ve never been the type to yell at people, I mean EVER! Ever yell at people or to condemn them. You never make a person feel like they’re screwing up or they’re doing a bad job. Numerous times over the years I felt comfortable asking you, “Wait a minute, I can’t hear the character saying this. What would you do?” and you would go into that character and you would hit the emphasis on the certain point. And I would think, “That’s exactly what I would do!” As a director you were helping with the acting, and I think you’re a good actor and that help make you a good director in fact. I’m quite convinced of that. In fact everything I’ve said before was total bullshit, that one point I’ll make stand! (Laughs) I think it’s tremendous, your body of work is unbelievable - that you’ve made as many films as you’ve made, Mark! It’s unbelievable! I think it’s a real testament to your commitment to the idea of filmmaking.” – Johnny Johntz