Non-studio entities can experiment with storytelling that might be too niche... for a studio.
'The Muthaship' was an experiment. All my friends are working at Endemol, so they just kind of pushed me into it to see if we could shoot a little web series on an iPhone - and that's what we did: we shot it on an iPhone. So it's so experiential and so silly.
I want to do more new-age content, look beyond conventional cinema.
I thought A Prairie Home Companion would be an interesting thing to do for a summer or so. Public radio was just seven years old in 1974. It was a tiny organization in which a lot of things got started simply because there was all this time to fill. If you wanted to do an hour on Lithuanian folk dancing, you probably could have done it.
I wanted to study film at an art school - I loved the idea of being surrounded by designers and artists. We were encouraged to be experimental.
I felt I would have the most creative freedom making experimental films and teaching, as I had many good examples of people around me who did just that.
Anyone that is able to put a high school film and gonzo journalism together, it's like, "Yes, please!"
I never intended to become a commercial filmmaker in the first place. What I do requires time and experimentation. Commercial work is often not the best way to get the most innovative work, because it's about money and marketing. Although advertising is now embracing non-commercial people.
