The Character | http://www.youtube.com/user/YesRoyalty
Meet Michael Bilker. Michael will be premiering his film The Character at the January EFP. Eileen recently sat down with him to discuss the film and the other projects he currently has in the works.
EA: Why did you become a filmmaker?
MB: Because the tiny floating rhinoceroses tell me to. Maybe once I’m famous they’ll finally shut up.
Actually, the real answer is a lot more cliche. I’ve always had a knack for telling stories and a (sometimes misguided) drive to do my own thing; my childhood was composed largely of fantasizing about all the cartoons and TV programs I would make, most of which were blatant knock-offs of stuff I liked.
I’m still pretty misguided, but at least I’m not so obvious about ripping stuff off anymore.
EA: What are we going to see at the EFP? Has it screened elsewhere and what are your plans for it?
MB: The Character is an absurdist piece that ended up being a satirization of filmmaking in general. It was made in Production 1 at the Colorado Film School last Spring and took home the award for Best Production 1 at the Student Show. It hasn’t screened anywhere else to date, but I hope to get it into more short film festivals.
EA: What else are you working on?
A: I’m currently in pre-production on a sci-fi short and will soon be starting audio mastering on ARWorks’ A Parody Rises.
EA: Tell us one weird thing about you and/or your movies?
MB: Oh man. Just one?
I don’t know if it qualifies as weird, exactly, but I always love to know how things work. I gravitate toward science fiction because I can put just as much work into inventing an alien empire’s technology as I put into writing their story.
If that’s not the correct amount of weird, I also have only one sinus cavity.
EA: Where can people go to find out more about you and your work?
MB: Short answer, YouTube. I have a few other short pieces on my channel, YesRoyalty, and you can see my work in front of the camera in Saulsbury St. Studios’ hit series The Great Nerf War!
EA: Is there anything you’d like to say about The Emerging Filmmakers Project?
MB: Only that I’ve had a blast with it so far. Denver is a way more talented town than I think we get credit for, and the EFP has proved to be a great place to see that aptitude in action.
The Character will screen January 16th at The Emerging Filmmakers Project.
