Check Out Lucas McGowen’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucas McGowen.

Hi Lucas, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up without a television or VCR. Around five years old I managed to get my hands on the VHS tapes of ‘Star Wars A New Hope’ and ‘The Mask.’ I would bring these VHS tapes to friends’ houses and watch these films over and over again, and this is where my fascination with cinema began. But despite my love of movies, the idea of being a film director didn’t cross my mind until I was 20 years old and studying art at Eugene Lang College, a division of the New School in the West Village of NYC. I had been making music videos for a few friends and one day, I had an idea for a short film about three brothers who had been kicked out of their home. Six months later, the 20-minute film ‘Three Brothers’ was excepted into the Brooklyn film festival. While watching it on the big screen at a cinema in Williamsburg, listening to the audience’s laughter, I knew I had found my life’s calling. I quit my restaurant job and moved into a tent on my friend’s rooftop on Avenue D and 9th St. and told myself I would live there until I was making a living as a professional filmmaker. It took six months and I was off and running.

I spent the next decade living in NYC, making a living as a cinematographer and writing and directing my short films on the side. I moved to LA to pursue my dreams of directing bigger movies right before the pandemic hit. Needless to say, it’s been quite a journey rebuilding my career on the west coast in the wake of this world-changing event.

I currently live in an airstream in Topanga, I’m working on my first feature and feeling very grateful to be alive.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Over the course of the 11 years I lived in NYC, I built a beautiful life. I had my career on track and a circle of great friends and collaborators. But days before I moved to LA, one of my main employers filed for bankruptcy (due to some unscrupulous investing) and defaulted on months of outstanding paychecks. As a result, I ended up driving across the country to start a new chapter of my life with less than $2,000 to my name.

Around this time, a friend gave me a copy of Sterling Haden’s autobiography ‘Wanderer.’ It was in that book I came across these words:

“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea… “cruising” it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.”

Those words helped me find the courage I needed to stick to my landing. I had one friend in LA, and I gratefully landed on his couch in Venice. After a few weeks of cold phone calls and emails, I managed to get some work as a camera operator. Being in a new city, knowing no one, and struggling to get enough below-the-line work to keep the lights on, was the probably the most stressful time in my life.

Slowly, things started to come together. I was beginning to forge the connections I needed to pitch my creative ideas and finally work as a director, and it all was gaining some traction. But then, within just a few months, the pandemic hit and everything ground to a screeching halt. It was devastating.

I ran out of money and drove back across the country to my friend John’s land in Woodstock, NY, where he lives in a cabin he built by hand, totally off the grid. He gave me a chainsaw and some mushrooms and I got to work building my campsite. I lived in the woods under a large tarp for eight months total, without running water or electricity. Shortly after my arrival, my partner at the time, Olivia, left LA and joined John and I in our humble homesteading. By August of 2020, inspired by the strange and magical bubble of months spent living isolated and off-grid outside, Olivia and I began to joke about turning it all into a film of some kind. And that’s how my short, Artist In A Field, was born. We collaborated on the script for several weeks before ultimately deciding to pull the trigger on such an outlandish undertaking. I brought my inimitable NYC team, headed by DoP Matthew Schroeder, up to the land, along with some incredible actor friends; Olivia Thirlby, Sam Falconi and Carmen Borla.

Everyone camped on the land, went above and beyond with us for eight days of principal photography, offering so much of themselves to make our little idea a reality. Making movies without a budget is hard enough, add to that no running water, no electricity, no cell phone service, and a global pandemic, and it becomes downright heroic. Despite the difficulty, it was one of the most powerful and beautiful collaborations I’ve ever had the honor of being a part of, and I am extremely proud of the film we made. Sterling Hayden’s words echoed in my head throughout.

As fall arrived and the nights became too cold to sleep outside, I bade farewell to John and the land and made my way back to Los Angeles. With even less money and far more credit card debt than I had had the first time round, I was ready to try again.

The last few years have been absolutely wild, destabilizing, downright scary at times, but never boring. I finally got my own place in October of 2021, and Los Angeles is beginning to feel like home.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I never set out to do comedy explicitly, but it seems the moment I begin writing something, it slowly morphs into comedy regardless of what the starting point was. At this point, I’ve just surrendered to it. People have called my films dark comedies, serious comedies, surreal, bizarre, etc. All of those words and phrases point to the way I experience life itself-as galling as it glorious. I’m proud of every film that I have finished. In fact, I’m proud of anyone who has ever finished a film, period. The process of carrying a movie from an idea onto the screen is no small feat and often takes four of five times longer than you anticipate. When I look back at all of the films I’ve made, they each reflect a chapter of my life, full of struggles and triumphs, rapture and heartbreak.

In terms of what sets me apart from others, I’m an autodidact by nature. My approach to filmmaking is akin to being the first man to pick up a camera. Instead of becoming learned in cinema’s vast history, instead of having an awareness of standing on the shoulders of all the great filmmakers that came before me, I stumbled into it blindly, ignorant and full of passion. I don’t think I started seriously watching movies until I had already been making them for several years– and when I watch my early films, it shows. Being ignorant is a double-edged sword; blissfully unaware of how challenging your undertaking is and also of just how high the bar has been set.

What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I don’t think you can compare LA to any other city in the country. It’s vast and sprawling, full of mystery, decadence and decay. A place where dreams come to flourish and to die. My love letter to Los Angeles could be a long one. The land this city was built upon is nothing less than magical. The cinema history rich. The concentration of talent unmatched. That being said, I live in the Santa Monica mountains and the city is a place I visit. LA has so much to offer; I’ve only tasted a fraction of it. I look forward in the coming years to exploring it more. I appreciate the food, culture and art that thrives there. When I’m in the city, I feel like a tourist and I love the contrast that comes with living in the woods and visiting the city. I love the fact that nearly every time I go into the city, I find myself somewhere I’ve never been before.

As far as dislikes, the traffic can be harrowing. But as the late Woody Allen pointed out, at least you can make a right on red.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.lucasmcgowen.com/
• Instagram: @lucasmcgowen

Image Credits
All Photos by Shawn Hanna.