Filmmaker Sean Baker on not giving up – The Creative Independent

It was this desire to eventually get recognized. I just equate it to some kind of blind faith where I knew that at some point I would either amass enough of a collection of work where somebody would eventually recognize it, or I would have one that eventually hits.

After making six films, I’ve now learned that I need a break between shooting and editing. After making a film, I need distance. Mark and Jay Duplass gave me that distance—they gave me over seven months before I started editing Tangerine . I waited five months before editing The Florida Project , so this is now something I’m realizing. It’s just pa... See more

Sometimes people think I’m an idiot for doing this, taking all this time, but I think it’s actually part of my work. I’m enjoying it, but it’s work. I’m doing my own PR.

It was like a desperate way to latch onto anything that was still within the industry.

At dinner in Istanbul, Peter Weir said something like, “You know that feeling that you get between films in which you think, ‘Oh, I have no idea if I’m ever gonna be able to make a film again?’” There’s a desperate moment between movies where it’s almost despair. Am I gonna get another movie off the ground? Is this gonna happen? If I can finance it... See more

I spent almost everything I had saved up from Greg the Bunny and just threw it into the distribution of Prince of Broadway . It kinda bombed, but it got my name out there, which—looking back—was extremely valuable.

When I made Four Letter Words , I didn’t deep dive yet beyond the big titles. Of course, I saw maybe three or four of [John Cassavetes]’(https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001023/){:target=”_blank”}, but I hadn’t seen the entire Cassavetes library, I hadn’t seen the entire Ken Loach library, et cetera, et cetera.

Yeah, that was really surreal. And Abel Ferrara as well as Bruno Dumont, whose film P’tit Quinquin had a big impact on The Florida Project . You can see the behavior of the kids and everything, but I used that as a reference.

What I loved about Cassavetes was that from what I could tell, his films were also about discovery and self education, and learning more about the world through the making of films. That’s what I’ve been trying to do, so I feel akin in that way.