We recently connected with Ian McCrudden and have shared our conversation below.

Ian, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

Choosingto not work a job for a living is a life challenge and it is part of the path that will lead you to where you hopefully want to go. I have made over 17 films, and all of them involved raising money from people I’d never met before, but somehow convinced them to give me there money. Now I have my own company, so many of the expense blend with my life of surviving day to day. I’ve never felt completely desperate, money is like water or wine, its there to share and spend on experiences. In a manner I’m a guide for those adventures. Making films in Sweden and Mexico and Maine and Colorado with wonderfully talented casts and crews is the adventure. The job is to get the money and to sell the movie, script that I’m pursuing. Luckily I’ve done that with every film I made from my first called Tralier – the movie, made for 50k and sold for 150k. From that deal I got a re-write gig, that became a movie and I was asked to direct. After a year in LA making a romantic comedy, not my favorite genre, I wanted some grit and I wanted to get back to working closely with Actors, and text, and so I pitched and made a play in NYC ” Mr Smith Gets A Hustler” that too became a very small film, that made its money and NYC got cramped and I’d fallen in love with my now Swedish wife, Annica Bejhed, an actress in her younger days, but now works directly with me. We’ve written an incredible script about the making of the song “The Girl from Ipanema.” Which we intend to make as a international co-production, we have so much motion withthe script, attaching the an amazing brazilian star to play Astrud, that I’m sure it will happen in the next year.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I decided to make Independent Films at a time in the 90’s where that seemed like the place where Freedp, and entrepreneurial spirit came together and there we so many amazing films that came that time: From Wim Wenders, who I met on the set of Million Dollar Hotel, to Spike Lee, The Danes: Lars von Trier, Susanne Beir, Vinterberg of course and what mattered again was the craft of directing and work with text and actors, pursuing truth but not being so gear-headed and overrun with a love for the real innovation of that happened from cinema to digital was exciting, there was an opportunity to make movies, but I must say that that inspiration kept me from becoming totally broke, because I made movies that I didn’t love always love. Never did I make one that I hated or had a star or some talent that was to selfish to work with. But it happens so often, that I know that I’ve been blessed to make movies with my friends in Sweden, and Mexico where we rode the dunes on dirtbikes and dreamed up a really dark tale – Trespassers – that did so well it got the opportunity to make the movie on Anita O’ Day, who was and is a legend, and a genius, and perhaps one of the most unique people I ever met. And I love her music and Jazz to this day – which is why our new project Tall and Tan and Young and Lovely feels like a movie I’ve been building toward my whole career.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After 18 years I directed and acted in the first screenplay I’d ever written: Fallen Angel. That’s grit- belief- and some kind of cosmic acknowledgement from the world that I’m following my dream. But there are still so many more, but knowing that story and how it came together, it’s quite amazing.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Simply put, one that’s affordable. I’ve made 15 movies and still rent because I’ve never been able to part with a down payment as I don’t know when the next check comes.
Advice from me. Keep your monthly costs as low as possible as long as you can.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ianmccrudden.com
• Other: https://www.epiphanypics.com

Image Credits

Daniel P Newman
Bert Stern
Ryo Rex
Dan Coplan
Frank Wilkerson
Melissa Davis