The Yin of Gary, the Yang of Matt, Paul and Chris
By John Quinlan, Journal staff writer | Posted: Friday, June 27, 2008
From left, Pocahontas, Iowa natives Matt Clark, Chris Cook and Paul Benedict are, respectively producer, cinematographer and director of the film, "The Yin of Gary Fisher's Life." Shooting will begin July 7 in Cedar Falls. (Submitted photo)
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- "The Yin of Gary Fisher" may not provide the yang for three graduates of Pocahontas (Iowa) High School graduates. But it will do until something else comes along for these fledgling filmmakers.
Matt Clark, Paul Benedict and Chris Cook will begin shooting "The Yin of Gary Fisher" on July 7 in Cedar Falls. They expect to finish it July 20. It is their second film production, if you count the one they did their senior year at Pocahontas High, more than four years ago. Clark and Cook, in phone interviews, aren't really sure about whether their first feature, a post-apocalyptic thriller called "Redshift," even counts.
"Let's chalk it up to a learning experience," Cook said. "It was a fun time. It was a bad time. It was, all in all, just a learning experience."
When asked about what that first film was about, all Clark could do, at first, was laugh. He then started to describe a post-nuclear world in which tribes are looking for misplaced files from the onetime government while dealing with mutant creatures. Pocahontas, with its lack of skyscrapers and big cities, proved a perfect location, Clark said
"Some of it was good. Some of it was OK. But we were in high school," he said.
But those days are gone. Clark recently graduated from Buena Vista University, Cook from the University of Northern Iowa; and Benedict graduated from North Park University in Chicago a year ago. Benedict works fulltime as a freelance video producer. The other two are putting their careers on hold this summer while they team up with Benedict to make a movie. But who knows what will happen should the movie become a success. There is always that hope, though the odds may be against them, Clark said. "I mean, if we find a distributor, we'll take advantage of it," he said.
At this point, though, he said they will just be happy if the feature does well at film festivals.
Clark is producing it. Benedict is the director and Cook the director of photography.
"We've all recently graduated from three different colleges and wish to use the skills we've acquired over the past four years," Cook said. Fortunately, he noted, their skills are complementary.
They had already formed their own production company, Centaurus Media Group, in 2002, and have produced a number of short films as well as online content.
The film, "The Yin of Gary Fisher," follows a group of three friends after a fourth friend has moved across the city. the three friends meet a woman who slowly begins to fill the void of the fourth friend. Gary soon finds himself starting to have feelings for the new member of the group but discovers she is already in a relationship. This leads Gary to an eventual breakdown which results in him seeing a new side of himself -- or the yin of his life.
Auditions, delayed a bit by flooding in Cedar Falls, went well in both Cedar Falls and Des Moines, and the preproduction work is progressing well, Clark said.
Despite the mixed feelings they may have about that high school movie they did, Clark said they all got fired up about filmmaking while at high school because they had a "really good" superintendent and technology coordinator who acquired a couple of cameras and an editing station for the students. "That was the driving force behind us making our first feature film," Clark said.
Three tribes in "Red Shift." Three moviemakers. Three friends of Gary Fisher. A trend?
"I don't know about that. Maybe all three of us are obsessed with threes," said Clark, laughing. "Well, they say the best things come in threes. Comedy's got the rule of threes."
Clark said he had no trouble finding his niche in the triumvirate as the producer. At Buena Vista University, he produced an award-winning late-night TV talk and variety show, "The Phil McLean Show," broadcast on the University Cable Network. McLean, in fact, co-wrote with Cook the "Gary Fisher" script. Clark produced about 27 episodes of that show. He also won some film festival awards for his production work on other projects.
When "Fisher" is done, Benedict will join AmeriCorps. Cook has his freelancing work and he hopes to go to grad school within the next five years. And Clark, he's considering various possibilities.
"If we win a bunch of (film festival) awards, well, we can put it on our resume," he said. "We've talked about becoming a production house with the company and doing whatever we have to -- weddings or videos -- to make money, and then of getting other jobs to still do on the side."
Matt Clark, Paul Benedict and Chris Cook will begin shooting "The Yin of Gary Fisher" on July 7 in Cedar Falls. They expect to finish it July 20. It is their second film production, if you count the one they did their senior year at Pocahontas High, more than four years ago. Clark and Cook, in phone interviews, aren't really sure about whether their first feature, a post-apocalyptic thriller called "Redshift," even counts.
"Let's chalk it up to a learning experience," Cook said. "It was a fun time. It was a bad time. It was, all in all, just a learning experience."
When asked about what that first film was about, all Clark could do, at first, was laugh. He then started to describe a post-nuclear world in which tribes are looking for misplaced files from the onetime government while dealing with mutant creatures. Pocahontas, with its lack of skyscrapers and big cities, proved a perfect location, Clark said
"Some of it was good. Some of it was OK. But we were in high school," he said.
But those days are gone. Clark recently graduated from Buena Vista University, Cook from the University of Northern Iowa; and Benedict graduated from North Park University in Chicago a year ago. Benedict works fulltime as a freelance video producer. The other two are putting their careers on hold this summer while they team up with Benedict to make a movie. But who knows what will happen should the movie become a success. There is always that hope, though the odds may be against them, Clark said. "I mean, if we find a distributor, we'll take advantage of it," he said.
At this point, though, he said they will just be happy if the feature does well at film festivals.
Clark is producing it. Benedict is the director and Cook the director of photography.
"We've all recently graduated from three different colleges and wish to use the skills we've acquired over the past four years," Cook said. Fortunately, he noted, their skills are complementary.
They had already formed their own production company, Centaurus Media Group, in 2002, and have produced a number of short films as well as online content.
The film, "The Yin of Gary Fisher," follows a group of three friends after a fourth friend has moved across the city. the three friends meet a woman who slowly begins to fill the void of the fourth friend. Gary soon finds himself starting to have feelings for the new member of the group but discovers she is already in a relationship. This leads Gary to an eventual breakdown which results in him seeing a new side of himself -- or the yin of his life.
Auditions, delayed a bit by flooding in Cedar Falls, went well in both Cedar Falls and Des Moines, and the preproduction work is progressing well, Clark said.
Despite the mixed feelings they may have about that high school movie they did, Clark said they all got fired up about filmmaking while at high school because they had a "really good" superintendent and technology coordinator who acquired a couple of cameras and an editing station for the students. "That was the driving force behind us making our first feature film," Clark said.
Three tribes in "Red Shift." Three moviemakers. Three friends of Gary Fisher. A trend?
"I don't know about that. Maybe all three of us are obsessed with threes," said Clark, laughing. "Well, they say the best things come in threes. Comedy's got the rule of threes."
Clark said he had no trouble finding his niche in the triumvirate as the producer. At Buena Vista University, he produced an award-winning late-night TV talk and variety show, "The Phil McLean Show," broadcast on the University Cable Network. McLean, in fact, co-wrote with Cook the "Gary Fisher" script. Clark produced about 27 episodes of that show. He also won some film festival awards for his production work on other projects.
When "Fisher" is done, Benedict will join AmeriCorps. Cook has his freelancing work and he hopes to go to grad school within the next five years. And Clark, he's considering various possibilities.
"If we win a bunch of (film festival) awards, well, we can put it on our resume," he said. "We've talked about becoming a production house with the company and doing whatever we have to -- weddings or videos -- to make money, and then of getting other jobs to still do on the side."
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