Steve Rousseau – Body Politic

Tweet

By Briege McGarrity

 

New Jersey native Steve Rousseau studied acting and playwriting at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City and went on to write and produce several Off-Off-Broadway plays. After moving to Los Angeles, he co-founded the independent film production company, 917 Films in 2008. His first foray into filmmaking resulted in an  award-winning dramatic short Rubicon, which he wrote, directed and co-produced.  Rousseau then blended his filmmaking ability with an obsession to create a new webisode series, Body Politic, which follows the life of LA Council member Joe Nevin as he teeters on the brink of a scandal.

Since being released online in late 2012, Body Politic has garnered several accolades and official selections, including Best Webisode and Audience Award (Webisode) at the 2013 Independent Film Quarterly (IFQ) Film & Webisode Festival. He is adapting Body Politic as a feature film and writing several screenplays for the Web, film and TV. Steve is a partner and producer with Work in Progress Media.

IFQ enjoyed catching up with Steve to find out more about his project Body Politic, his interlinked cast and how it all became a reality in spite of a small budget and no real filmmaking experience.

IFQ: Congrats on your awards – how did you first get the idea to devise a webisode and what experience did you draw from?

Steve Rousseau (SR): The truth is, I was sort of dragged into the web game kicking and screaming. I’m sure you’re aware, there can be a bit of a stigma when it comes to web series. But, as soon as it was made clear to me what an untapped and wide-open medium it is, it was something I got really excited about. It’s like, “Oh! If we do something on the Internet we can literally do whatever we want? OK. You twisted my arm.” The approach ended up being no different to the way I tackle anything as a filmmaker – tell the story, cast well and get the hell out of the way. I want the lens to be like a fly on the wall, giving us a glimpse of things we otherwise wouldn’t and maybe shouldn’t get to see.

IFQ: A politically-themed webisode is an ambitious undertaking – tell me more about the catalyst.

SR: Full disclosure: I’m a politics junkie. I can’t get enough. I used to work in political talk radio here in L.A. and always have the news on. I love it all – from the dorky civics stuff like “How a bill becomes a law,” right down to silly polling questions like “Who would you rather have a beer with?” As far as entertainment goes, I think our political system in America, particularly as seen through the lens of our media, is the best reality TV. Politics is such fertile ground to explore so many universal themes (honesty, fidelity, jealousy, power, ambition, lust, legacy, etc.) But, that world also affords storytellers the opportunity to capture and reflect our current infotainment age context without being too cheeky about it. I mean, you don’t need to! If you pay attention to the news at all and see things like the John Edwards story, or Anthony Weiner in New York, or even our outgoing Mayor Villaraigosa in L.A. – the work of inventing high drama is done for you on a daily basis. What is it? Art imitates life, right?

IFQ: Your characters are definitely talented and interesting – How did you find cast members Dan Kampman, Holly McHale, Anjelica Nevin and Councilman Nevin?

SR: Mike Romo, who plays Dan, is a really terrific actor whom I met when my wife and I attended a “Viking”-themed party (for real, but I didn’t dress like a Viking much to the chagrin of the other attendees) a few years back. We hung out only a few times and I saw him in a few TV commercials. As soon as I started writing Dan, I thought of him for some reason. It was just instantly clear that this part was for him. So, I emailed him the script and luckily he liked it and was willing to work for deferred pay.

Jen Drohan, the actor who plays Holly is actually one of my closest friends. We went to the same college in New York City, but didn’t know each other really until years later when we became LA roommates. Long story, but I remember, the first time I saw her act was in a tiny play in a tiny theater in New York and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. The play was like, 5 minutes long and I couldn’t get her performance out of my head. She has that X factor thing going on. I kept it in my head that I just had to work with her when the opportunity presented itself. Again, luckily, I wrote the part of Holly with no one else in mind and she liked it and wanted to do it. Granted, she knew we probably wouldn’t be friends anymore if she turned it down but still…she’s really a star, in every sense of the word. I am so fortunate to have her on my team now, before the big money guys steal her away.

Marina Valle, our Anjelica Nevin is so fierce and is a real fighter. I met her through one of the producers and she helped out with a few table reads of other scripts. Again, when Body Politic came up she was my first choice for the role. But, she found out she had cancer right around the time we approached her with the material. In what was like a strange karmic twist, the character was sick, too, and in a total surprise she basically read the script and said, “Look. If I can stand after my chemo I’m doing this!” She really brings so much more to the role than anyone else ever could, given the combination of her talent and life experience.

And finally, Scott Laska, the actor who plays our protagonist Councilman Nevin, and I have been working together since college. If he’s available, he’s always been my leading man. He picks up my pages and instantly knows what to do. He’s so quick and so sharp and so prepared. We’ve developed a short hand over the years and it’s now to a scary point where I open my mouth to give him a note and he already knows what it is! It’s such a luxury to have when you can only afford to do two or three takes of everything. He was also the Best Man at my wedding.

This whole project is really all about the acting and the characters and everyone really gives layered, nuanced, fully realized performances. They’re all such pros. They make me look good.

IFQ: Wow, you’re lucky to have such a dedicated cast. I read you are part of the LA web series and the Hollyweb festival? How has the festival circuit been in terms of reaching audiences and developing fans?

SR: Overall, the responses have been great, especially, among fellow creators. To me the most gratifying part of the process is when you work hard on something and your peers – those who know what goes into it – have positive things to say. And yes, it’s much easier to find audiences on the circuit. They’re kind of captive and I don’t need to pay Google so we come up in a search for people to find us. 

IFQ: What kind of followers do you have? 

SR: All kinds really. It’s pretty amazing to see who follows us. It’s not just your basic political enthusiast like me. It’s younger people, older people, businessmen, housewives, people in the arts community, people of all races and backgrounds – a really diverse group, and mostly women we’re finding. That was one of the biggest questions we had going into this. We knew we liked it, but would anyone else? So far so good, but I still think my Mom is our number one fan.

IFQ: What is your dream outcome for Body Politic?

SR: The future of BoPo is wide open. It can easily be turned into a one-hour cable drama, which, I know is the pinnacle now and extremely competitive, but that would be a dream outcome. I could also see this thing work as a trilogy of feature films. I want to continue following our Councilman all the way up to being Governor of California and running for President. Part One is already written and with something like this there’s an endless reservoir of real world material to draw from.

IFQ: Is it a totally different filmmaking experience than say short films?

SR: The only difference is that it’s long form. And with a bigger story comes a bigger list of budgetary concerns. But, I approach it the same way I do a film, just trying not to get in the way of the narrative.

IFQ: What kind of challenges do you and the crew at 917 films face with this project and specifically what kind of budget is needed?

SR: What we’ve done so far we accomplished with a little more than $10,000 of crowd funding. When it comes to financing the rest of Body Politic and going to the people you go to for that, political scares a lot of them off. We could tell all of the first part of the story for $50,000, but $250,000 would be better. $2 million would be better still and $10 million would be what they’d give us at a major studio’s independent wing. You see, you can always do more with more. Who can’t? But the trick is to make it look like you did have more. If you prove you can do more with less the better chance you have of someone cutting you a check I think. But, honestly, when you catch fire and start to do something political, you’re doing it because you love it, not because you’re planning on making yourself and everybody else rich. If that ends up happening that’s great! It’s all gravy. But, in the end, if all I have is the work I’ll take it.