Let me guess. Either you’re transplanted from Los Angeles and successful enough to live anywhere you damn well choose; you’re just too poor to pack it up and head west; you’re mule headed enough to believe you can make a living in your own backyard–and to hell with Hollywood.

We won’t talk about the first, I sympathize with the second and I can certainly relate to the third.

In 1992, I left Los Angeles and William Morris (I think my agent believed me insane) and came east to be near family in Massachusetts and make independent films. At that time, there were only two or three feature directors struggling to make films in the Boston area. Over the past eight years, that number has ballooned... but the tough hurdles we faced in ‘92 haven’t gone away.

My first locally shot picture PATRIOTS filmed in 1994, was done on a budget so tight that my wife still mourns the loss of our gold cards. Back then I was able to put together a top-notch crew of local professionals (their skills honed in commercial work), who were willing to work on a feature production for a hot meal. I tried that route again a few years later–sweetening the hot meal with a stake in gross profits.

If I went to the well a third time, they’d gather in a frothing mob and string me up from the North Church steeple.

Frank Kerr, left, with Shuana Sand (Mrs. Lorenzo Lamas), Lorenzo Lamas and Producer Paul Boghosian during the filming of UNDERCURRENT in Puerto Rico [Photo courtesy of Harborside Films]

Fact of the matter is, experienced crew and production facilities continue to be available in New England that can get dreams made, and made well. Problem is the best folks, crew-wise, aren’t interested in working for expenses anymore. Been there, done that. On a positive note, there are greater numbers of willing crew members, looking for feature experience, than ever before thanks to film departments like those at Boston University and Emerson.

The New England independent film scene is dynamic and fertile ground for film directors looking to get a start in the business. But the vast majority of regional feature film production is still ultra-low budget–financed with a credit card, a third on the mortgage, or mom and dad’s piggy bank. The boom in digital filmmaking is allowing everyone to make movies for even less, and has become a legitimate method of self-expression–but try and sell a digitally shot film to most distributors and watch their collective nose turn up.

For New England to be taken seriously as a viable film production community, and to keep our talent (directors included) from migrating west, local productions are going to have to step up significantly in budget to pay experienced personnel what they’re worth, achieve better production values and attract "name" actors that will help distributors sell to the international marketplace. Only when we can sustain film production on a low-budget (as opposed to shoe-string) level, will the region’s film industry begin to make headway as it’s done in New York.

This means private investors will have to step to the plate, filmmakers will have to educate themselves on film as "business" so as not to squander invested capital (thereby making it harder on the next filmmaker who comes calling) and the state legislature needs to be aggressively lobbied to pitch in with matching dollars to stimulate local production – something they’ve threatened to do for the past six years.

Of course, it’s all easier said than done.

Directing in New England. It’s a difficult path. But if this is your home, and this is where you want to stay, and film is your passion... then, dammit, hang tough my friends and to hell with Hollywood.

Last night, watching UNDERCURRENT again on Cinemax with a few pals, I was reminded once again of Frank Kerr’s dedication and absolute pursuit of doing the job right–regardless of obstacle.

I had sensed that would be the case, after having spent dozens of hours with Frank, prior to selecting him as director of UNDERCURRENT and then many more hours in the course of the rewrites of the script as we adapted the film for production in Puerto Rico. (UNDERCURRENT was originally planned for production in San Antonio, Texas and was entitled Riverwalk). We also spent hours in production planning as a result of the integration of personnel from Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Miami, to complement the eighty or so people that were hired to work on the project in Puerto Rico.

I first met Frank at a meeting in 1995. I have forgotten the subject of the meeting, but I know that of the three dozen representatives of the Greater Boston media community in attendance, Frank asked the most direct and insightful questions of the guest speaker that night. As a professional director who has been on the firing line and knows the quick and decisive judgements that a director must make during a production, he seemed to be head and shoulders above everybody else in the group.

Subsequently, through numerous meetings with Frank, I became convinced that he had the leadership skills, creative vision, and empathy that would motivate the performance of a cross-cultural crew working in the difficult production environment of Puerto Rico. UNDERCURRENT was shot entirely on the island during a pre-production and production period of eleven weeks in 1997.

In low budget filmmaking, given the necessity to continuously juggle–almost on a moment to moment basis–the financial and business judgements with creative and production necessities, I wanted a director who was also a proven writer, and even perhaps more importantly – a proven writer who could write quickly. Someone who could quickly identify the nuances of character, who could write sharp, edgy dialogue and write for a specific production situation right on the spot.

From learning of Frank’s past works, I developed a strong sense of his visual style and the types of characters to whom he was drawn. I was looking for a leader of the production – that is exactly what a director is, particularly when working on location. I needed someone who possessed a personal ethic, great physical energy and who led by his own example.

No one worked harder on the production than Frank Kerr. Day and night, night and day, I could always count on Frank to do what was necessary to meet the rigorous demands of our budget, post-production schedule and marketing priorities.

Perhaps the best tribute that a producer and director can give to one another is that they are willing to work with each other again. Frank and I are now collaborating on a script that he has written, and will also direct, entitled MAINLANDER. Unlike UNDERCURRENT – a psychosexual crime thriller –MAINLANDER is a family-oriented drama focusing on the lives of Maine lobstermen. The film is scheduled for production later this year in Halifax, Nova Scotia. – Paul Boghosian