We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nathan Scoggins. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nathan below.

Nathan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Everyone has a different definition of what meaningful projects mean to them. For some a meaningful project is one that conveys a sense of truth or goodness in the world — not necessarily preaching, but saying something that they think the world needs to hear. For others a meaningful project is one that is satisfying financially or critically or professionally. For still others a meaningful project is one that they’ll look back on with fondness — maybe creatively, or maybe it was just a satisfying experience. For me, my most recent feature WHAT REMAINS ticked all those boxes — it was a meaningful project in that I got to explore a story that mattered to me (I was both the writer and director as well as one of the Executive Producers); I made it with some dear friends and collaborators, which made for a joyous creative environment; and it wound up getting released theatrically (itself a miracle) and is now airing on TV and streaming on STARZ. Very rarely do you get that kind of trifecta.

To me, the movie’s meaningfulness comes from its complicated exploration of themes that matter about redemption and the cost of forgiveness (as well as the cost of unforgiveness), it explores the complicated relationship between fathers and sons, and it explores faith through the eyes of a skeptic. That alone made the project a meaningful one for me, but the environment we made the film in was remarkable — thanks to my good friend and collaborator Korey Pollard, we brought the project in on a remarkable schedule (17 days) and budget. We did it without sacrificing quality — he and I both prepped thoroughly, and as a result we had a number of days where we wrapped early, to the deep appreciation of our crew. We observed twelve hour turnarounds for everyone, and got remarkable work from our dedicated group of filmmakers. The process of making the film was as important to me as the product, and I’m proud that we committed to both and sacrificed neither. The fact that we got the chance to premiere at the Austin Film Festival and go on to enjoy a theatrical release was icing on the cake.

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

I’ve been a creative since my early years growing up in Rhode Island, where I was heavily involved in theater. In college I first learned the art of filmmaking, where I got the chance to study great films and filmmakers as well as film history. Wesleyan University has a number of successful alumni/ae working in the film business, which meant that while studying I realized that the film business was indeed possible, and eventually I made my way West to take my shot. I initially thought I would pursue opportunities as a writer, but I quickly learned that everybody in LA has a script (including the guy who was fitting me for a suit once!), so I had to add additional value. Fortunately I had directed plays in high school and college, and enjoy making (and crossing items off of) lists enough to work as a producer as well. The more value you add to a project, the harder it is to hold you back — and as a mentor once told me, if you want to be a director, you have to write something so good they have to let you direct it. As a writer I could generate scripts for myself to direct, and as a producer I could translate that script into shooting schedules and budgets — all skills that have come in handy over my years working as a filmmaker. You’re not always doing the same thing (I have sometimes worked on projects strictly as a producer or a writer or a director), so having multiple skills-sets allows you more opportunities to get stuff made.

The biggest thing I look for with any project (and the one that helps the most when it comes to doing meaningful work) is finding the heart in the piece — the central relationships, the characters and what makes them tick. That’s the center of good dramaturgy, which winds up affecting and influencing framing, staging, camera movement, etc. — how to put the emphasis on the heart of the piece. All the cool shots, angles, etc mean nothing if they’re not in service of the heartbeat of the story. As a writer and storyteller I lead with my heart, and I look for projects that allow me to put my whole heart into the story I’m telling.

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

Resilience is necessary for any creative. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a filmmaker, or anything that involves living in the unknown and taking a risk, you always have to labor long in the service of what you seek. Very rarely does anyone find immediate, overnight success. Ten years ago a friend speaking at a filmmakers conference said, “It takes ten years to be an overnight success, and now it’s more like fifteen.” He’s got a point! Part of the reason success can take so long in Hollywood is because the craft of filmmaking requires not just excellence, but also trust from other colleagues, which means building relationships. You’re not just working to get better at your craft, but also to build relationships with people who will hopefully trust you enough someday to bring you onto their projects. There’s no real shortcut to any of this. So I took the tack early on that I was going to write two hours every day in order to get better at my craft, and also get involved with as many events as I could in order to build relationships. A lot of young filmmakers see networking as one-sided (I met a young actor once who told me he was very interested in anyone who could get into the “him business”). But healthy relationships are about giving and receiving; you have to give in order to receive. You have to learn how to be helpful, to give as well as receive, to try to add value and help others with their projects. All of this requires resilience — because people don’t always welcome you or trust you, and people can sometimes be suspect of agendas. So it all takes time. It’s time well-spent, but you have to endure a lot of rejection, a lot of struggle, a lot of failure, and a steep learning curve.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

All artists are inherently itinerant in some fashion — they move on, whether from project to project or sometimes from place to place. As a result, not everything you build in terms of projects lasts. What I have come to find most rewarding is not necessarily what I make (though I love making anything good), but who I get to make it with. I have become more committed to making my sets harmonious places where people love coming to work as well as what they get to do every day. I want my sets to be fun, joyful, joyous places where we have a good time making whatever it is that we are making — because what we make may not endure or be remembered, but hopefully the experience we shared together will. That may sound somewhat naive, but it’s true — people may not remember what you say, but they will remember how you made them feel. I love looking back on the memories of old projects — the fun we had creating together, the satisfaction of pulling off a complicated shot, the rewarding nature of a hard day’s successful work. The reward, hopefully, is the experience of making it, as well as whatever it is we’re making — the collaboration without with film and TV is impossible.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nathan-scoggins.com
• Instagram: @natescoggins
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/nathanscoggins
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-scoggins-3625565/
• Twitter: @natescoggins

Image Credits

BTS: Andrew Koltuniuk