We were lucky to catch up with Sean Mannion recently and have shared our conversation below.
Sean, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my feature film, Meme. Meme initially came out of a desire to scale up in my creative work. I’d done shorts. I’d worked on a lot of web videos of various kinds, but I came to New York from Alaska to make films. So, when I hit 30 I resolved that I needed to make a feature film happen somehow. The result of that was approximately five years of my life spent on this project from conception to public release. The project consumed a lot of my time, energy, creativity, and money for that time.
Meme wasn’t a project that came easily. The script evolved a lot over the time I spent writing it and kept evolving throughout production. I made mistakes and had difficulty raising funds for the film. Ultimately, I self-funded it. Production was spread out over 11 months of weekends and whatever other days we could steal. We worked around multiple schedules and my inconsistent cashflow. Post production was another two years of shaping the film. On release it didn’t fit the categories of many film festivals. Too experimental for some. Not experimental enough for others. Distribution was largely offers that seemed to be scams.
Meme is a project that really struck a chord for many people who have seen it. They were able to see themselves in the characters and the plot. They had opinions on the characters. They felt like it reflected part of their lives. It was a long hard road to get it to them, but their response to it made ever moment of that worthwhile.
For me I also came to realize after completing the film that I was exploring some of my own problems in the film in a roundabout way. Some things were intentional. Others just came to the surface without me consciously pursuing it.
Meme is also a film where I developed or built on a lot of my professional and personal relationships. I had no money to make it, but there were a lot of people who were eager to join in on the journey. We’ll always have our sometimes frustrating days making that film together.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I don’t really think of myself as having a hometown exactly. I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. I wasn’t born there. We moved away and back. My family is from all over. I settled into Brooklyn, New York, in 2008 and have been clinging to this place ever since. I came here to make films at a time when the industry was undergoing major shifts. I came to New York specifically because I wanted to be independent. I’m not overly concerned with trying to become a part of Hollywood. I want to make the films I want to make with the people I want to make them with however we can get it done.
Since coming to New York I’ve directed over two dozen projects from web videos to short films to web series episodes to my feature film, Meme.
I came to New York to study screenwriting and make films. Since I’ve dabbled in just about every aspect of film production. I’ve been a Production Assistant, an Assistant Director, a Grip, a Camera Assistant, an Extra, a Lead Actor, a Writer, a Director, a Producer, an Editor, a Set Dresser, a VFX Artist, and more. I’ve dedicated myself to making projects that excite me and doing whatever I can to help others make the projects that matter to them. Especially when they are lacking in resources.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice
I’m old enough to remember Beanie Babies and the Comics Collectors Boom of the 1990s. NFTs broadly strike me as something similar. It’s been a collector fad. I suspect there is some underlying value to the technology or some of the concepts, but the investment in them as a kind of digital collectible seems to be a fad that will fade like others before. Happy for those who can do something with that for themselves, but I’ve never been much for collecting things. Especially not collecting things with the end goal of selling it to make a profit. It’s just not a part of who I am.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Public Access or Community Access facilities are an untapped resource and community for many in the independent film and video production world. I only learned about it almost a decade into my time as an independent filmmaker in New York and I wished I’d known more about it sooner. While we’re very lucky in New York City to have 5 Public Access organizations (one for each borough) and I know from my own experience that the level of facilities and equipment available here is not the same around the country, I still think it’s a wonderful resource and opportunity more people in film and video in the United States should explore.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.4milecircus.com
- Instagram: @unclesean
- Linkedin: in/seanmannion
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwTQCWWqcSbeZ9RYXyk1muw
- Other: Watch my feature film Meme at mememthemovie.com/watch
Image Credits
Photos by Sean Mannion, Nicole Witte Solomon, and Kate Black