Preparation, Reflection. Director Brad Anderson is totally in the moment preparing to direct SESSION 9, A USA FILM, produced by David Collins and Scout Productions.
Photo by Claire Folger.

For Brad Anderson, it's been an exciting journey from his days at BFVF gleaning editing or grip jobs for short films from the bulletin board, to shooting his latest: a horror movie at an abandoned lunatic asylum in Danvers.

"It's been a little longer than ten years since I began making films in earnest," he said from the edit suite for his latest project, "but it's definitely flown by." Born in Madison, Connecticut, Brad had a "typical, white suburban youth." In 1987 he graduated from Bowdoin College where he studied anthropology and Russian, eventually discovering ethnographic filmmaking, films that document the unique elements of cultures. After the mandatory stint traveling through Asia, Brad landed at London International Film School "where I learned the basics - like how to operate a camera, definitely something one needs to know."

In 1991, Brad came to Boston. "I dove headfirst into the documentary film community here, expecting to get a job right away at WGBH." Instead, Brad took advantage of every filmmaking opportunity he came across: PA., grip, gaffer - often for no pay. "It's very trite, but the only way to really learn how to make films is to make films. By doing so, I found I loved all aspects of the process: cinematography, writing, directing, especially editing. Editing is the joy, that's where you really tell your story as a film, in the cutting room. It's a very satisfying creative process."

Hunt for director, Brad Anderson, in this picture taken of the crew during a tense moment on the set of SESSION 9. Look in the doorway, hand covering most of his face. Photo by Claire Folger

Brad soon reached a point where he wanted to explore his own vision, so in 1991 he shot his first film called A SHORT FILM ABOUT BOWLING in16mm. It "had nothing to do with bowling. It was a cautionary tale about the excesses of the '80's - let's call it a learning experience. It was 42 minutes - an awkward length, but it was exciting to be actually shooting a film I could call my own." But BOWLING also convinced Brad that he wanted to move away from an experimental style and move toward making a more straightforward feature length narrative.

Thus arose his his self designated "masterpiece" FRANKENSTEIN'S PLANET OF THE MONSTERS! shot in Boston and Revere with his friend Mike Brunelle in '93. "It's a zany Ed Wood-ish monster movie shot in Super 8 - one of my most valuable filmmaking experiences! It's even mentioned in the bible of weird movies - "The Psychotronic Video Guide" by Michael Weldon."

After FRANKENSTEIN Brad decided to "get serious". He reconnected with his longtime filmmaking partner Lyn Vaus who had appeared in BOWLING. Lyn starred in THE DARIEN GAP, a new film Brad wrote and directed with a total budget of $40,000. "It was a quintessential first feature - all the way from maxing out the credit cards and appealing to family and friends, to engaging in guerrilla filmmaking tactics." Those methods included going on any number of locations without permission and not obtaining insurance - both tactics he does not endorse! "It was a real labor of love. We improvised a lot, incorporated my Super 8 home movies, shot hand held. It was DOGMA before DOGMA. We had no wardrobe, no makeup, nothing."

THE DARIEN GAP explored Gen-X and a young man's problems with his relationships with women, a struggle that resonated with his parents' divorce. Unemployed and broke but determined to get the film finished, Brad moved back in with his Dad where he rented a flatbed editor and worked night and day. A press screening at the MFA brought in a total of one person: Paul Sherman of the Boston Phoenix who, luckily, liked the film. Though THE DARIEN GAP was purchased by the IFC just last week, back in September of '95 Brad and Lyn entered it the IFFM and were thrilled to be approached by Sundance. "That was the time - mid '90s - when indies really hit, and even the average person on the street started to know what an indie was. CLERKS, RESERVOIR DOGS, films like those were out. The thrill for us was just to be there, being able to call ourselves filmmakers."

Their success caught the attention of Mitchell Robbins, who provided finishing funds for the project as well as hired Brad and Lyn to write what became NEXT STOP WONDERLAND. "We were actually being paid to write a film. The best thing was not having to do everything - lug equipment, pay for the crew's meals - it felt like a luxury. It was around then I felt just maybe I could make a living doing this." Shot in the fall of '96 with a million dollar budget, NEXT STOP took advantage of numerous locations in Boston including the New England Aquarium, and featured a plethora of local actors and comedians.

Selling the film for six million dollars to Miramax at Sundance in '98 was "gratifying, of course, but mainly it felt good that everyone got their investment back." The deal making process was eye-opening: suddenly it wasn't so much a "labor of love" but a product, one that needed to be tested, with changes implemented that not everyone agreed with. Through Miramax, Brad (as well as Lyn and another writer, Cara Buono) were offered a chance to write an "American" version of the French film WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY. After a year and a half of development and "pleasing everyone yet no one," Brad decided he would do what he does best: make a movie.

Brad Anderson discusses the scene with David Caruso through the car window on location for SESSION 9 in Danvers, MA. Photo by Claire Folger

In the summer of '99, while simultaneously doing re-writes on THE CATS AWAY script, Brad shot HAPPY ACCIDENTS, a time travel romantic comedy starring Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio. Produced by IFC FILMS with a budget of just over a million dollars, HAPPY ACCIDENTS screened at Sundance in 2000 and was sold to Paramount Classics for over two million dollars. Or so Brad thought. Three weeks later, Paramount reneged on the deal. To top this off, a month later he was "taken off" the CATS AWAY project. "That was the winter of my discontent. It was tempting to wallow in disappointment but instead I decided to move immediately into another project."

In the fall of 2000, with his friend Steve Gevedon, Brad took a "badly needed" U-turn from the romantic comedy genre toward horror. "We wanted to make something genuinely scary, a thriller with brains. Most horror films occur at night, but ours was shot during the day. It's scarier when bad things happen and you don't hide them in the shadows..." Inspired by the genuinely creepy gothic corridors of the Danvers State Lunatic Asylum (where several scenes from THE CRUCIBLE were shot,) Brad and Steve wrote the script for SESSION 9. To immerse themselves in the subject, they took a tour led by kids who call themselves "urban spelunkers": they explore abandoned subways, buildings, obsolete edifices that litter the landscape but that most often are ignored.

Session 9 was shot with the new 24 frame High Definition cameras that Lucas is using on the new Star Wars movie and will be the first film of this kind theatrically released. It was produced by locally based Scout Productions. Uta Breisewitz was DP, with Mark Donadio line producing. SESSION 9 was produced and will be distributed by USA Films in September, while HAPPY ACCIDENTS, having found a home with IFC Films, will come out in August.

Brad's philosophy is to "keep looking forward, to keep making films. Discouragement is energy wasted." A number of projects are on Brad's radar these days. An excellent horror script passing his desk would not go unread, but no "teen slasher hipster flicks" please. Sophisticated psychological horror would fit the bill. "I'm aiming to be working with a bigger budget, 5-10 million. It would be great not to feel so rushed on a project."

Beyond reading scripts, Brad is developing a few of his own: one about the rise of the Bossa Nova set in Brazil in the early 60's; another set in the Congo about a Don Quixote-type character's quest for a legendary lost dinosaur. But whatever he settles on next, Brad's pleased with the most recent twists and turns in his career. "Two films in two months...at least I'm keeping them entertained."

Erica Ferencik is a prizewinning screenwriter and novelist presently in the throes of pre-production on the feature comedy MOB DOT COM. She can be reached at ebgf@aol.com