Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Macken.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Christopher. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Growing up in the suburbs of Western Massachusetts, pursuing a career in anything creative was never really seen as an option. I was always that weird kid with a camera growing up, inviting people to watch my YouTube videos or come over and watch my latest Kevin Smith or Wes Anderson DVD.
I discovered solace and a place to create through my high school’s make-shift TV club held in a janitor’s closet and hustled my way through college directing music videos for rappers off craigslist, cultivating creative relationships with fellow artists in a place with limited resources and support. I was forced to find unique and experimental ways to make my video work stand out and learn how to build and lead a team on a vision, with no money or high-end equipment, backed by only my passion and excitement.
After graduating from Emerson College with a degree in Film Production, I was very hesitant about taking the immediate plunge to move to Los Angeles. Through a series of odd jobs (from PAing German Lifetime Movies to being the personal driver to a Casino CEO), I eventually found myself driving to Atlanta to work as a local assisting Charlie Day on his feature film Fist Fight. During this four-month stay in ATL, besides learning how a real film set was run and building relationships with the cast & crew, I continued to DM rappers on Instagram offering to shoot. I spent my nights and weekends off shooting and cutting music videos for southern rap legends and showing Charlie my new creations on the Monday morning drives to set. Before I knew it, I was being approached by the producers and director on Fist Fight telling me they enjoyed my music videos. After the movie wrapped, these relationships and the experience were my official invite to Los Angeles.
Spending months couch surfing around Hollywood, I landed a job waiting tables at the famous Roscoes Chicken & Waffles in an attempt to meet rappers. I continued my music video hustle, started putting pen to paper and writing script after script, and kept assisting Charlie on projects such as Pacific Rim: Uprising and Fox’s The Cool Kids, until eventually working my way up to landing a role Co-Producing his feature film El Tonto. Today, I’ve since been able to quit slinging chicken & waffles to drunk people at 4 am and am currently writing, directing, and pitching TV.
Has it been a smooth road?
It doesn’t matter how exhausted, homesick, or broke I was or how uncomfortable my living situation was… I always knew that chasing this dream was the only thing capable of making me happy. Sleeping on couches, hustling odd jobs, and living in a state of uncertainty is all part of the process and I’m grateful I always knew that would be the case. Taking that leap with this mindset has made a bumpy road a very enjoyable experience because I knew what I was in for.
With all that said, I’d say my biggest struggle on a daily basis is knowing when to pause and take a break. Working freelance as an artist, there is always this constant pressure not to stop grinding until you’ve made that breakout film, shot that viral video, or written that next great screenplay. Everyday has been a learning process on the importance of giving yourself breaks and taking the time to socialize, make relationships, take trips, and experience life… because if you didn’t, what would you even write about?
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a director and writer. I’ve found myself recently working primarily in comedy. As I mentioned before, I come from a very DIY background, so I love putting together skeleton crews and running with an idea with a group of actors & comedians.
What sets me apart are definitely my styles in directing and writing. I’d consider myself laid back and very much an actors’ director. I love leaving space for improv and discovering new organic material within a scene. People who have worked with me know I really love making every project as much of open collaboration as I can- to have every voice heard and build everyone’s passion on the team.
In terms of writing, I feel my relationship with anxiety and depression has given me the ability to take uncomfortable life dynamics and heighten them and turn it into relatable comedy. The discovery of my voice gave me my value and worth, not only as an artist but as a person. I’m able to show up in the world as someone who listens and asks questions to get to the root of why we operate the way we do. Some may call it overthinking, I call it comedy.
Over the past two years, my writing partner, John McCabe, and I busted our asses creating a half hour comedy pilot called Labeled. We had the script, but nobody would read it. We knew we had to take matters into our own hands and just shoot the damn thing. So, whenever John and I had a few hundred bucks to spare, we would bring together a crew of talented friends and shoot a scene from the script over the weekend. From here, we would then take that scene and use it to pitch to actors and eventually cast bigger names to act in our pilot and repeat this cycle until we had something of value with credibility that people wanted to watch. The journey was long, but the final product is something I’m so incredibly proud of.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love that this city has the people in it and the resources available to take a person’s visions, dreams, and messages and turn them into public displays of art that can reach audiences on a global scale and have an impact. What I like least about our city is the ego and entitlement that this same power and opportunity can bring upon a person.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.directorchrismacken.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/chrismacken
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/directorchrismacken
Image Credit:
Hercules Damien Johnson, Keisha Cee, Jasin Boland, and Tiffanie Byron
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