We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chris Alan Evans. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chris Alan below.
Chris Alan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
I’m a cliché. I’m the “it’s never too late to start chasing your dreams” variety. At age 39, I was in a successful broadcasting career, and I was miserable. I saw how corporate culture was changing my chosen industry of radio broadcasting and I could forecast how the next 15-20 years would go and i didn’t like it. Honestly though, I was protected… I was kind of the “golden boy” in my broadcasting group. I feel like I could’ve retired in that field and been financially fine, but I’m certain I wouldn’t have been mentally fine. I just wasn’t fulfilled creatively. I had a “cool job” in most people’s eyes, but in my eyes it was no different than the typical 9 to 5 slog that people all over America lament for themselves. For my whole life I had dreamed of making movies and performing; but here I was, 15 years into a radio career and I had gotten so comfortable that I had forgotten that dream. A rational person would have worked that 9 to 5 and spent his or her nights chasing that dream. Maybe spend the evenings writing or rehearsing in a community theater, preparing for some big move to a new field of work, much like someone who goes to night school in order to level up. But I know myself, I’m not always a “rational” person. I enjoy living life and spending my evenings doing things to that end. So, I decided, at almost 40, to completely leave my radio career and become a filmmaker. I decided to go for broke… and that’s what I did. However, you don’t just roll off the couch and become a filmmaker. So, I had to figure out how I was going to learn the craft. The one thing I had on my side was that I could spend all my time doing it. I spent the first two years of my second career working for free more often than not just so I could be on set and learn from other filmmakers. I lived off savings mostly those first two years. In 2018, I broke even… but I was learning. In 2019, I was gainful… and still learning. Then 2020 hit… and i thought it might all be over. There was no work at all for six months and very little for the first 13 months. Luckily though, I live in an area that has a hidden gem of an independent film community and we all felt the pinch in a way that galvanized us together. A little more than eight years after switching careers into an industry that, at best, offers long-shots towards being an actor and a director… I’ve managed to act in over 50 projects, gain an agent, produce more than a dozen short films, write and direct four award winning short films and write and produce two feature films that are entering the film market. The financial windfall of that risk hasn’t quite arrived yet, but it feels close. The good news is that I’ve never been happier or more fulfilled with what I’m doing creatively… so that risk, has paid off in spades.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m definitely one of those multi-hyphenates. I work as an actor and love it. I don’t like to pigeonhole myself and I work hard to be a well-rounded actor with broad range. Others do pigeonhole me however, and I first became known to other filmmakers as a great comedic actor with particular strengths as an improvisor. Since then, I’ve surprised people with my dramatic turns and really surprised people with my singing and dancing. They just don’t expect it to come from the package I present. But acting wasn’t my first pursuit. I started this career to be a writer and director. Along the way, out of necessity, I was asked to act and help produce on an early project. I discovered that I loved acting and producing. I figured that working as an actor could inform my directing and it has. The producing just comes with the territory when you’re an independent filmmaker. You learn fast, when you have small budgets, how to stretch a dollar and develop ideas that you can actually pull off. Now, I’ve found my tribe of filmmakers and my network keeps growing. I’m currently working on directing my fifth short film, all of which I’ve written or co-written and my goal is to show off a body of work that makes me a viable director-for-hire. My stories are entertaining, often heart-warming, always funny even when confronting serious issues and I feel like I hold a mirror up to society and reflect tales and emotions that resonate with people. The first film I co-wrote and co-directed that got into an Oscar-quailfying festival was a personal story; about trying to watch a porn videotape I had discovered in my dad’s closet and getting caught doing it. It’s called ‘Caught on Tape’ and it’s actually not only family friendly, but also offers an interesting lesson on how parents and kids interact over this issue. My most recent feature film (titled ‘Peeping Todd’) which I co-wrote, produced and perform in is a dark comedy musical murder thriller and it’s all about a female lead, played brilliantly by Mabel Thomas, who finds her inner strength in order to shed two toxic relationships in her life and become the best version of herself. These are the kind of stories, with heart and purpose, that I like to tell.
Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
This may sound weird, but I’m among a small and growing number of people who think that NFTs and blockchain technology are the future of independent film-making. The landscape recently for indie filmmakers has been tragic. So many filmmakers, in the age of streaming, are getting their films platformed but aren’t making any money. There is a system that exists that allows distributors to absolutely fleece filmmakers. A producer may negotiate a great deal like a 70-30% split on profits, but because of the way distributors structure the deal, they’re able to keep all the revenue coming into their pocket by claiming their “marketing costs” need to be reimbursed before the profit is split. And for the filmmakers and producers, there are no checks and balances on this. So the distributor just keeps upping the marketing costs, and therefore keeping the revenue. Blockchain technology offers a solution to this. There is no hiding of costs. Everything is on an open ledger. This is the way for filmmakers to get what they are due.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I’d say 80% of the people I meet in the industry are doing it for some type of glorified adulation. It’s an industry that loves to tell you how great you are, even when you’re not. The adulation of audiences is intoxicating and I understand why people want it. However, I’ve also met the other 20% that are doing it for a greater purpose. They have a “why” or they have a desire to make the world a better place. Films and storytellers are able to help people grow and heal and learn in a way that is special among the humanities. The most rewarding thing I’ve experienced has been to tell a story and then be met by someone who was so touched that they needed to tell me how it changed them, or how it crystalized an emotion they had been having difficulty with. Stories, at their best, are personal and resonate deeply with others in a way that make us feel connected. I didn’t have this mind-set when I decided to get into the industry, but now that I’ve touched people with my films in a way that surprised me… it’s the thing I’m chasing. Tell your story, make it personal, connect with someone, and perhaps even change their life for the better.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @velvetysatin
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stairway2Evans
- Twitter: @christopevans
- Other: [email protected]
Image Credits
Jeremy Hernandez; Alexander Jeffery