Have you ever seen an unbelievably great movie and wondered who in the world could be the mastermind behind the amazing story that just unfolded before your eyes? Well, one day, that’s going to be Gerard Zarra: a recent graduate of NYU Tisch who is now immersed in the real world doing what he loves. After gallivanting around SoHo, we sat down at Raoul's, a smalI, Parisian-esque bar. I decided to pick his brain about his short-film, "John Dablovski: Reality TV Star," the beach, and life.
So tell me, what inspired you to be a filmmaker?
I guess just the films I've seen. I saw "Rocky" when I was 9 in my basement; I'm pretty sure my mom introduced us to "Rocky" because she had a crush on Stallone in the '80s. I watched it, and was overwhelmed. I think everybody gets two or three big movie-worthy moments in their own life, and when that Bill Conti music crescendos and it freeze frames on Rocky holding Adrian in his arms after giving himself over to something... I look back and think, yup, that was his movie moment.
That’s what I love about film as a medium opposed to more serialized storytelling like TV, or everything happening on the internet. I like that a film is a singular story where just one experience can define an entire person.
How did "John Dablovski: Reality TV Star" portray an experience that define's someone's life?
"Dablovski" is a dark comedy we made about a delusional young man who believes he's the star of his own reality TV show. Our main character goes through a pretty big transition at the end. Everything that he believes in is broken and stripped down completely, and he's working really hard to build it back up. It's tricky to establish a world and let the circumstances of the plot play out naturally, and then have your character go through such a monumental life transition in about 13 minutes.
It's less common in short films; usually they are more slice-of-life. I wanted to make a short film with the same qualities that I like in feature films. Those big, concentrated, life-defining moments; that's what I love in movies, and I think as we transition to more short form, Netflix binge-watchy content nowadays, we see less of that type of storytelling. It's what I love, and I try to inject it into whatever nonsense I do.
What is your biggest takeaway from graduating NYU and starting a career in the entertainment industry in the city?
I think that is to be friends with everybody. When I was at school, our professors kept telling us, "Look to your left and right. Look at all these Tisch students. These are the people who you're gonna be collaborating with for the rest of your life." They're absolutely right.
The one thing they don't tell you is to also be friends with kids who aren't Tisch students. Be friends with the kids in Gallatin because you need to know people that do some weird sh*t so you can write your movies about them. Join clubs and organizations. Be friends with the kids in Stern because they're gonna finance your film [laughs]. That same thing holds true when you graduate. Spend a lot of late nights with weird, interesting people. The city has so many of them. We have such a great film community here, but it's important to break out of that bubble too and realize we're part of a larger New York with a lot of great things going on.
Would you say you gravitate towards one specific genre?
No, I mean, I just like movies of all types. "Dablovski" was kind of a dark psychological comedy. I just wrapped up on a short, silent fairy tale set on a beach—those two couldn't be more opposites.
Tell us about that silent fairy tale short.
It's called "The Tramcar Girl." I co-directed it with some good friends. It is set in Wildwood, NJ, which is a beach town I've been to every summer of my life. It has a giant boardwalk, the widest beach you've ever seen, and this cool doo-wop '50s, '60s vibe. The official plant of the town is the plastic palm tree!
Our film is a short fairy tale about a girl working a summer job driving a tramcar. And anybody who's been to Wildwood knows what the tramcar is. She meets a cute young man and I guess summer love takes off from there. We were talking about setting before and a sense of place. I think that this movie is more about the town of Wildwood than anything else. It’s about America to me in a lot of ways, and the wonderful small towns and traditions we've built in this country. We're in post right now and I'm really excited for people to see it.
What piece of advice could you give current film students who don't know what to do after graduation?
I guess I'd tell them there's nothing wrong with getting a job [laughs]. I hate to sound discouraging, but I feel like I come across a lot of students that think the only way they can earn a meaningful living is by being some sort of auteur. When I was in college, I burdened every little script idea with "Oh, is this gonna be the one that I can make into a feature?” or "How's this gonna help me get an agent?" and all that stuff.
Now I have a little entry level job in TV at a company I really love. And the second I moved towards this more traditional nine to five, that burden has been lifted and I've actually become a lot more creative. I've gone back to what I was doing in high school, and with people that I enjoy spending time with, just making films and showing them to an audience. And I've had much more fun making movies post-graduation than I ever did while I was in college. So, if you have those senior blues, know that there is more than one path you can take.
If you want to keep up with Gerard, check out his website: gerardzarra.com and follow him on Twitter: @GerardZarra11. If you haven't seen his award-winning short film yet, check it out at www.facebook.com/dablovskifilm/.
"The Tramcar Girl" will be released in the coming months, so keep an eye out for this talented Tisch grad.
