Louisiana has experienced a massive resurgence in media production of every kind, thanks to tax incentives aiming to keep filmmakers here and the state’s low cost of living. But according to Zack Godshall, the best Louisiana has to offer in film has nothing to do with the tax breaks or the cheap living conditions.
“I’ve lived here since I was two … this place is full of the stuff of stories,” Godshall said. “Characters, drama, it’s all here.”
Godshall, an alumnus who teaches an introductory screenwriting course at the University, has directed two separate films that were selected for the Sundance Film Festival, the first Louisiana filmmaker to accomplish that feat, according to the Department of English’s website.
His directorial debut, “Low and Behold,” which took place in a Hurricane-Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, was an official selection of the festival back in 2007, and his “Lord Byron,” filmed entirely in Lafayette for less than $1,000, was chosen for the 2011 festival.
“It was 100 percent cast and crew from Louisiana, which, as far as I know, is the only Sundance film to do so,” Godshall said.
Though he acknowledged the reason all his productions had low budgets arose out of necessity, Godshall said he was thankful for what the experiences taught him.
“I definitely want to do a larger-budget film one day, but I learned that there was a way to make a low-budget film that doesn’t require a compromise,” he said. “The story is what’s most important with anything.”
Godshall attributes his initial investment in filmmaking to a screenwriting class he took while attending the University.
“I was really interested in high school, and I had always liked writing and storytelling,” he said. “That class was what really helped me turn the corner and gain the confidence I needed to really commit to it.”
Right now, he’s working on what he describes as a low-budget mystery series shooting in Lafayette.
“It’s sort of a spinoff of ‘Lord Byron,’” Godshall said. “We’re going to try to get it online in 2015, and we’ll probably have a Kickstarter campaign in 2015 as well.”
While Louisiana is full of relatively accomplished filmmakers like Godshall, it’s just as full, if not more, of aspiring young talent looking to break into the industry.
Finance sophomore Nicholas Leo, who also minors in film and media arts, is amid his first legitimate attempt at an original media production, a short film tentatively titled “The Story of Lon.”
“This story is my first attempt to actually make a real production that would give me credibility as a writer/director,” Leo said.
“The concept kind of came from an idea that in the art world, things are stretching more and more towards being more exclusive and making harder-to-understand art,” Leo said. “Lon is an artist who does very unorthodox works of art, and he’s heavily invested in them. He’s an eccentric type of guy, so much so that the film is narrated by his one and only fan.”
Leo, who has done short documentary work in the past to become more comfortable with the camera, said filmmaking is something he wants to spend his life is doing, but he has an unconventional take on the film industry as well.
“At the same time, being a finance major, I’ve always wanted to become independently financed,” Leo said. “Right now, there’s web, television and movies, but I feel like there’s more quality content out there waiting to be found. Exploring different ways to market and to showcase film is something I’m very interested in.”