Today we’d like to introduce you to Kyle Rankin.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I owe my entire film career to fantastic friends. In high school, my buddy Todd Holway owned the first video camera I’d ever seen… and we spent countless after-school hours shooting derivative comedy skits and fake commercials. In college, I was lucky enough to connect with John Dillenbeck, a fellow student with an innate knowledge of why movies worked or didn’t. John and I began the UMaine Video Club and our first collaboration was a comedy sketch show which aired on the criminally underused campus-wide cable. Money for the production was raised by another great friend, Brett Wolfgram, and several of those skits caught the eye of Efram Potelle, a super-talented guy who lived nearby and wanted to get involved. Together, the four of us started shooting a Twin Peaks inspired murder-on-campus show called DORM… which was later edited into a 90-minute feature and sold to statewide video stores.
Post college, John returned to his more established life (he was a bit older), Brett stayed to finish his degree (he was a bit younger)… and Efram and I moved to Portland, Maine with the goal of making the first independent narrative feature film in the state. Our idea didn’t move forward until I ran camera on a local commercial directed by a very cool dude named Shayne Worcester. I told Shayne what Efram and I were planning and he was immediately interested. Despite this being the pre-Kickstarter 90s, Shayne had the idea to ‘crowd-fund’ our movie’s budget. We asked friends and family to ‘adopt’ new rolls of 16mm Kodak film, then we tracked their reels through production. The idea was, at the premiere, we’d give each backer the script pages their film contribution had been used to photograph. We raised $7,500 this way and shot REINDEER GAMES in three feverish weeks… with LOTS of help from friends and local businesses.
We leveraged everything to make that movie and when it failed to do ANY business it was quite soul-crushing. We didn’t get into Sundance, Cannes, SXSW or any of the other film festivals we could afford to enter. The death knell was a ruthless review in a small LOCAL paper. I have cherished memories of the premiere, surrounded by friends and family… but the film’s public reception broke our hearts.
Shayne moved on to raise money for his own feature (about waiting tables) while Efram and I concentrated on short films. We felt our meager resources would go a bit further if condensed to a smaller palette. We made several shorts that won national awards — enough to let us know we had some talent. The thing we weren’t bringing in, however, was money, so I continued waiting tables throughout this time. While serving, I’d often get recognized as an actor… and it was fun to be a bit ‘local-famous,’ but I was also aware that my 30th birthday was fast approaching and I was in danger of never giving Hollywood a real shot (Maine can be very comfortable).
You know those romantic relationships that are destined to implode, yet some good still comes from them? I was in one around this time… and the woman I was with wanted a change, too. Together, we sold nearly everything, packed what was left into a Honda Civic, and drove from Maine to Los Angeles. Once here, I felt I’d made a terrible mistake… I had dreams of being a professional filmmaker, but all I had to show was a failed feature and some shorts. Months later, my savings dwindling and the ‘business’ collectively not giving a crap that I was in town… Efram (who had just relocated to LA, too) told me his mom had suggested we enter our movies into the Project Greenlight competition. Amazingly, my mom had just suggested the SAME thing so: we obliged, expecting nothing and five months later, we were given the opportunity to direct a studio film. That movie, and the accompanying thirteen episode HBO behind-the-scenes series, instantly got us representatives (agents, managers, lawyers)… but more importantly, it got us PAID. It was also a tide that lifted some forgotten boats, as we were approached by a small company who were eager to give Reindeer Games a worldwide DVD release (under the title The Girl in the Basement). It felt VERY good to see that dog have its day.
I wish I had some fantastic story as to how my personal filmmaking shingle, Cocksure Entertainment, came to be… but incorporating simply made my taxes easier. In the mid-2000s, I struck out on my own, writing and directing a movie for Icon (Mel Gibson’s company) called INFESTATION, then another original feature for Michael Eisner’s company (entitled NUCLEAR FAMILY), followed by an action screenplay gig for Jeremy Renner (based on a viral YouTube short I’d created called Exhibit B-5).
Round about then, more friends became crucial: my very funny buddy Andy Selsor wrote a script called NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEB and my tech/creative genius friend Tony Copolillo helped me make a Kickstarter fundraising video for it. This time a “crowd” really DID help us collect the budget and we shot the movie back in Maine in June of 2014. Another ultra low budget feature followed in 2016: THE WITCH FILES, also shot in Maine and co-written with the super talented Larry Blamire.
So, all of that brings me to now… and the ultimate friend, my wife Emily, who helped me craft a new spec script that just got me repped at UTA and will be produced this year (2018) in the 3 to 5 million range. I’ve been very blessed to be surrounded by such fabulous and talented people.
Has it been a smooth road?
It’s been a bumpy ride at times. I’m not sure if anyone’s road is truly smooth, but that’s okay… what stories would we have tell if a smooth life were the norm? The biggest tragedy for me was the loss of Shayne Worcester in 1999. He was murdered while vacationing in San Francisco — the victim of a gang initiation killing that deprived the world of a true artistic voice. There are those people who are no longer with us… yet you need only to sit and think of them and you’ll STILL learn something. That’s Shayne for me.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My business is the writing and directing of feature films. Within that I probably SHOULD specialize — form a ‘brand’ as they say — but my tastes are eclectic because a good story can come from anywhere. I gravitate toward comedy and horror or any mixture thereof. I love sci-fi, thrillers and action comedies. My process is simple: I capture an idea, craft it into a readable script, give it to my team (manager and agent) and hope it sells and/or gets “set up,” meaning: some entity wants to fund and make it with me. What sets me apart? I don’t know, other than the fact that, only I am capable of writing and directing a Kyle Rankin movie. For better or worse. Meaning: my style has developed over 25 mistake-ridden years — a perspective honed by my singular experience (just like anyone’s life) and all those supportive friends I mentioned earlier. PLUS: I have zero marketable skills. If I’m not making movies, I’m a terrible employee.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
All through in 20’s, I fought the idea of moving out here. In tiny, wonderful Portland, Maine. I’d get recognized a lot (usually while waiting tables) and the next question was always: ‘so when you moving to Hollywood?’ I’d bristle — not sure if I were being condescended to… but also feeling the red hot need to defend Maine residency. I don’t regret moving out when I did — at the age of 29 — but after fighting it for so long I hate to say that, for me, those people were right. If you want to make movies professionally, LA is the ONLY place to live. At least until you’re very well established. Why? More than once I’ve gotten a call asking if I could meet a producer later that same day or the next and more than once those last minute meetings have led to paid projects. Filmmaking is LA’s #1 industry… and it’s fun to be in the center of it.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: krankinfilm
- Twitter: @kbrankin
Image Credit:
Cocksure Entertainment, Holly K. Clark
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