We recently connected with Robert Cividanes and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Robert , thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
I’d have to say that to date, my most meaningful project is the award winning feature length film I co-wrote, co-produced, co-starred in, and directed called Pancakes and Syrup. I have wanted to make a movie since I was a very young boy. At ten years old I was watching old films starring James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, The Marx Brothers etc. While watching these films I pondered things like whether or not that was a real city neighborhood in Angels With Dirty Faces or was it fake, like something they built (I didn’t yet have a handle on filmmaking distinctions like what a “set’ was). Did they shoot real bullets, which I later saw in a Cagney interview that they did spray a brick wall James Cagney ducked behind with an actual machine gun. How did they film those shots where the camera seems to be floating up into the air and pulling away from the action? These are probably not things many ten year olds think about when watching films.
The idea of making my own film never left me as I got older. Finally in 2011, I made the decision to write a screenplay and star in my own film. When I told my friend Tom Daddario about this he expressed interest in being involved so we ended up cowriting it. This process of writing it took time as it should. We handed an early draft to a writer frind of mine who gave us some very valuable feedback which changed what we had which was a group of funny situations one after the other, into a story with human conflict, funny situations, and characters with some depth to them. Now, writing the several drafts took time but having put the project to the side several times and letting life get in the way, made it so we finally began filmimg in August of 2022.
We did the things you do to get an independant film project off the ground. We used a crowd funding sight to raise capitol, we got help from someone experienced in budgeting films, and in case I was to direct, I spent a couple of years veiwing master class videos of writer/directors I am a fan of, read everything from Aristotle’s Poetics to Robert McKee’s book Story, to Film Directing Shot by Shot by Steven D Katz.
As it turned out we felt we couldn’t find someone we would be okay handing over directing duty to so, it was going to be me. I am proud to say that because I tried my hardest to hire as capable a crew as I could find (I cannot overstate how important this was as, they were each an important reason I was able to bring my “A game”) and because of my commitment to being prepared to direct and both Tom and my experience as actors and comedians, the film turned out really well.
I honestly had that same excitement about making the film that I felt watching movies as a kid. For people who are wired to be creative, the jolt of excitement and feeling of accomplisment for accomplishment’s sake is joyful and fulfilling on many levels.
I was able to interject into the film’s story things that are so very important to me. My charater in the film is struggling with recovery. I am clean and sober 31 years. Family is at the core of who these two guys are. Without my family, I’d have been dead many years ago. I also got to tip my hat to films and TV shows I’ve loved in our film, Magnolia, An American Werewolf In London, and TV’s The Honeymooners among them.
Making this film was so important to me as my 59 year old self got to fulfill my 10 year old self’s dream but there was so much more that I experienced doing it. The kind of teamwork I got to be a part of and the kind of openness as a director and actor that I comitted to gave me an experience that, if it were to never happen in this satifying a way again, I am so happy I was fully present for it this time around.
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.
When I was in sixth grade my teacher Mr. Russo cast me in the class production of Julius Caesar as Marc Antony. The performence we did when the parents came to be in the audience was when something powerful hapened to me while delivering the famous “Friends Romans, Countrymen speech. It was the only time I had an out of body experience, somehow seeing myself performing. I caught a glimpse of my parents in the audience with mouths agape. They later told me they were taken back by how well I was doing up there. So that was when the seed to be in the performing arts was planted. Unfortunately I had several years of self-destructive drinking and substance use to complete before getting back to the stage.
After cleaning up, I studied acting at HB Studio in New York and performed in the many small off off broadway black box theaters, sometimes in some interesting plays and in many well, really bad ones but it was my boot camp and I developed into an actor.
Through the years I worked in community theater, murder mystery dinner theater and regional theater learning, always learning more about myself througth acting. I spent a few years on film sets as an extra and many times as a stand in. Doing stand in work was a great way to observe everything that goes into filming because you rarely leave the set. I absorbed a lot in watching how sound, lighting and camera technicians do what they do. I especially enjoyed watching how different directors interacted with everyone else.
Along the way I pursued stand up comedy and have performed for thousands of people cumilatively and I am pretty good at it.My favorite part of my stand up comedy experience has been getting to go into Substance Abuse Facilities to perform recovery based comedy for the clients. Very fulfilling to say the least. Taking all I’ve experienced in the arts into the venture of creating a full length feature film has been a high point for me personally and as an artist. I was able to draw from all of those different arenas I have experience with to write, produce, act in and direct something I am really very proud of. So, at the age of sixty-one I may still be figuring out what I want to be when I grow up but, I am having the time of my life finding ways to feed my creative jones while still learning, always learning more about myself through the arts.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me, creating something whether it be through writing, music, stand-up comedy, acting or filmmaking, gives me opportunity to say something I want to say. Being able to do that in a creative way, when done well can get people’s attention and maybe have them think about something they may not have pondered otherwise. I find that to be extremely rewarding and it never gets old. I am also a fan of solving situational puzzles so filmmaking is in that way right up my alley. Being a part of many creative projects has helped to give me some solid time management skills and has strengthened my belief in commitment being paramount in life. All good stuff.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
This comes up often in relationships. I was in a relationship more than once where the woman was impressed with the fact that I follow my heart and passion by pursuing creative paths that light me up. Cut to some time later, sometimes weeks, sometimes years and it turned into “You’re going where to do stand-up for how much money? You’re working on a film that pays so little or not at all?” It’s fine with me that some people don’t understand what it means to have to create. Judging, that’s something else. I also feel many don’t understand that working with others on creative projects is being part of a community and when it’s the right community, it can really be like gaining some extended family in life. Working to get better at whatever creative path someone is following provides a wealth of self-awareness, peace and confidence that translates into how we connect with people in all areas of life. I mean, I’m not Pollyannic about it. There are those who start out as being not very nice people and they get into the arts to impress the world, make lots of money and become famous who don’t change and remain not very nice people. It can be like that in any forum though.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pancakesandsyrup.net
- Instagram: @robcividanes
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/robcividanes
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@robcivi1
