“Extraordinary” producer reflects on importance of the film for Cinematic Arts department

 

  • Theatrical premiere of “Extraordinary” allows students to gain real-world experience that could have taken them years to learn in their career.
  • Financing an issue on “Extraordinary,” but Cinematic Arts faculty hopes it will open doors for future funding.

 

The Cinematic Arts department’s latest achievement “Extraordinary” premiered worldwide on Sept. 6. This week, I sat down with Stephan Schultze, producer of the film and executive director of the Cinematic Arts department at Liberty.

 

What inspired “Extraordinary”?

 

My producing partner, Scotty Curlee, knew Dr. David Horton personally. He came to school here in the ’80s and David Horton was one of his instructors.

 

In the movie, there’s a scene where a young man can’t come back to school because he can’t afford it. David Horton writes him a check for $1,000 and says “You’re supposed to stay here. I want you to stay.”

 

Well, that character’s story in the movie was Scotty Curlee’s story. He was going to leave because of finances, and David Horton wrote him a check right on the spot. They formed a bond, and it’s been a story on Scotty’s heart to do since he started filmmaking.

 

What was the ultimate purpose of “Extraordinary”?

 

I think the purpose was two-fold. First, it addressed several themes. The only person who can define what you’re capable of doing is you. You can reach well beyond what your expectations are, or what other people impose on you. In terms of relationships, it’s about prioritizing the relationship and communication between a husband and wife. It’s about that connective tissue of marriage that brings two people together for a lifetime.

 

On the flip side of the film’s purpose, the philosophy of the [Cinematic Arts] department is “learn by doing.” The students here actually work on a production that gives them credit and a skill set to go out into the world and get employment.

 

Now, within the film industry, probably fewer than 1 percent of the movies that are produced every year will get a theatrical release. To get any kind of theatrical release at all gets you in that less than 1 percent range. I know of two other film schools that tried to accomplish this and didn’t end up raising the funds or finishing.

 

Every film here has stepped up in terms of the distribution and the exposure we create through that. Last year, we had a TV release for “God’s Compass.” It went to over 16 million houses in the country. With “Extraordinary,” we have a theatrical release under our belts.

 

What has the department as a whole, from professionals to students, learned from making “Extraordinary”?

 

It’s a general learning process. Financing comes from outside the university, so at the end of the day, it creates relationships and makes it easier to fundraise later. We learned that as you step up productions, you also step up opportunity.

 

There are a lot of faculty and staff here that have opportunities to professionally develop as crew chiefs on the film. There’s development within the department, where people are working into their specialty through production.

 

This production model with students can be very hard to do, because their skill sets are great when they finish the feature, but they’re very green going in. So finding the right department heads to bring in and pay to do mentorship is something that will now be more attractive to individuals coming into a project.

 

What did students do as part of the production team for “Extraordinary”?

They served a lot of different roles. They learned about how to coordinate sets and order things, and make sure sets are running. They helped run cameras and lighting. They learned the post-production process. They worked alongside as an assistant to the editor, and actually got to cut some scenes. They worked transportation, accounting, you name it. Anything it takes to run a normal business is what it takes to run a film.

 

There were 60 students who worked on “Extraordinary.” We had a crew of close to 85 or 90, so there were around 30 working professionals who worked alongside these students. The students worked jobs that would normally take them anywhere from five to eight years to learn to do professionally. They got all that experience from working [nearly a year] on “Extraordinary.”

 

What are some things you’ll do differently going forward with new projects?

 

The big difference is that we need to have larger infusions of finance. Maybe “Extraordinary” will offer that opportunity.

 

It’s very difficult to make a movie for under $1 million. That’s the scale we want to do it at, maybe bigger. I’ll have to look for means of raising anywhere from $3 million to $10 million. I think that will put us at a different scale in terms of talent that we can attract to be in the movie. We had great talent in “Extraordinary,” but distributors look at who’s in the movie.

 

Then the storylines need to expand to accommodate what that financing would require, so we can actually have a return on our investment.

 

It’s not that a movie can’t be done under $1 million. It’s just very difficult. It was a great learning tool for students, but we can engage more students effectively with more funding on a larger-scale movie.

 

So what is next?

 

I’m personally developing a few TV pilots. We’re looking at trying to finance a movie about Doc Richardson, a softball coach here at Liberty. With my producing partner, Scotty Curlee, that’s the next feature on our list to get financed and accomplished. The next one we do will be the next one that gets financing. That’s really the best way I can answer.

 

I think the students that come through our program and do projects like this will have an incredible benefit that many of them will recognize in five to 10 years from now. It will come from the philosophy we have here as filmmakers to say “You really learn filmmaking by doing.” Features like this are a demonstration of the quality of that education they’re getting.

 

 

 

SIDEBAR

 

How can people see “Extraordinary” if they missed the premiere?

Universal Studios will be releasing it on home video, on DVD and Blu-ray. That’s another thing. We’re starting to have studio relationships in terms of the content we’re bringing to them. It’s good quality they’re interested in distributing.

 

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