Take 5 Interview with Kelley Baker!

1. What’s the last movie you loved and what was the last movie you hated?

I loved NorthFork by the Polish Brothers. I watched it back to back I was so wowed by it. I can’t tell you what it’s about exactly, but I loved it. I also loved The Hand That Rocks The Barley.

As far as hating any movies, I can’t stand anything by Lucas, Spielberg, or Michael Bay so I don’t even bother watching their movies anymore. I thought Once was over rated, but I can’t really think of anything I have seen recently that I hated.


2. What’s your guilty pleasure movie or TV show?

This is embarrassing, as it is supposed to be I guess, I am a sucker for Dirty Dancing. It might be because I can’t dance, and I went to school with a girl who looked like Jennifer Grey and I had a wicked crush on her. I have seen it too many times to count. I don’t have a TV so I am not current with any of the TV shows.


3. How’d you get into filmmaking?

I have always loved movies, I watched a lot of them growing up. I never thought a kid from Portland Oregon could make a living making movies but here I am. I went to USC’s Film School and left LA to make Independent Films. 25 years later I am still doing it.



4. What’s your fave piece of gear?
C-47s. I can’t imagine doing any film without lots of C-47s.
I don’t think of filmmaking in terms of gear, it’s all interchangeable to me. A camera is a camera and it doesn’t matter what type, what matters is what you do with the camera. I am like the most un-equipment kind of filmmaker.
After C-47s my favorite piece of gear is probably my lap top, that’s what I use to write my films with.

5. What’s the one thing you’d warn a new filmmaker NOT to do on their first film?

Don’t make something you can’t pull off within your budget. I see too many filmmakers trying to do these huge complex things on their first film. Make your first film as simple as possible, you would be amazed at how complex even making a simple film is. Practice your craft and do something tougher on your second and third films.
Also, don’t go in to debt. I ended up losing my house because of debts incurred in making my first feature. The IRS does not have a sense of humor.




Kelley Bio

Kelley Baker has written and directed 3 full-length films (“The Gas Café”, “Kicking Bird” and “Birddog”) and was the sound designer on six of Gus Van Sant's feature films including, “My Own Private Idaho”, “Good Will Hunting”, and “Finding Forrester”. In addition, Baker designed the sound on Todd Haynes feature film, “Far From Heaven”.

Kelley has written and directed 8 short films which have aired on a variety of channels including PBS, The Learning Channel, and Canadian and Australian television. His films continue to be shown at Film Festivals like London, Sydney, Annecy and Edinburgh, Sundance, Chicago, Mill Valley and Aspen.

Kelley attended the University of Southern California's "Famous Film School”, where he received a BA and an MFA in Film Production. He did post-graduate work at the American Film Institute. This and four bucks gets him coffee at Starbucks.

Kelley is currently promoting and distributing his short and feature films. His book, The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide Making The Extreme Low Budget Film will be out shortly. Kelley has spent the last six years touring the U.S. teaching his subversive brand of filmmaking at workshops during the day and showing his films to audiences at Art House Theaters and colleges in the evenings.