Film Producer Marcel Gamble
Marcel Gamble is a native of Grand Rapids who has taken his love for film production and has produced his own films. A former staff writer for The Grand Rapids Times, he learned how to transition newspaper articles in screen writing. In this interview with the GR Times, he discusses filmmakers who sparked his interest in film production, how he learned to screen write for films and more.
GRT: When did you become interested in film production?
Gamble: My interest in film began with me between the ages of twelve and fourteen when I began writing. I had some emotions to get out and writing was definitely a way for me to get all of those emotions out in a healthy way. I had some things built up that I didn't talk about on the regular and it became therapy for me. What sparked my interest in making films was following film makers like John Singleton and Spike Lee just to name a couple. I was really interested in how they created the characters and how did it translate into a film.
GRT: How did your writing evolve into screen writing?
Gamble: It is all kind of intertwined. I use to write skits at the church I attended, New Hope Baptist Church and then I tried my hand at short films, features and little film skits. The reason why I leaned more towards that direction is because I could create the characters and the world that they came from and the emotions that they had.
GRT: Screen writing is different from writing a short story or a skit, how did you learn about screen writing?
Gamble: In college I learned the technical side of film making, like how to operate cameras, set up lighting, sound design and little bit of screen writing but I didn't really dive into it until a little bit after college. I attended Calvin College and I majored in film production.
GRT: What were your goals in film production after you graduated and received your degree?
Gamble: My goal was to work on production after production that landed in Michigan and just work my way up. I actually ended up working on a couple of films as a production assistant but the film incentive ended in Michigan and when that happened, a lot of film companies who were here from California, New York and other places packed everything up and went back to where ever they were from because they were not getting those incentives anymore. When that happened I kind of spiraled down and got away from film and went to hands on jobs, hard labor work, and construction work to name a few jobs that I have had.
GRT: What films have you produced so far?
Gamble: My first feature film that I produced was entitled Case 137. It was on a number of platforms such as Amazon Prime, Tubi Television and Pluto TV.
GRT: How did it feel to have a movie finished and ready to be viewed by an audience?
Gamble: It is a crazy feeling and an even crazier feeling when we have premieres for the film at theatres. Just looking around in the audience at everyone's faces and watching their reaction to the different scenes in the film is really crazy.
GRT: What have you produced since Case 137?
Gamble: I am currently producing a film called Leo, which stars Omar Gooding and Marjon Jeffrries. I flew them into Grand Rapids and we knocked out it out. I was able to get in contact with Omar through net working. I reached out to Omar's dad who is his manager a few years ago for an animation movie that I was producing. His dad said that he was interested in hearing about the project and long story short, I paid Omar became one of the main characters in the animated film. He recorded voice over's in New York and sent them to me to put in the animation film and that just sparked this cool relationship that we have today. I actually called him back for the filming of Leo and got his scenes worked out and now we are talking about working together again in the future.
GRT: Tell me a little more about your animation project?
Gamble: I actually finished that script in 2018 and then went into production on the film in 2019 but the animator that I hired for the film was paid some of his pay. He started working on it and then decided that it was too hard of a project for him and so he just walked away. So when that happened, I had to put the film on the shelf because I couldn't keep wasting thousands of dollars on trying to find a new animator. Animation is very expensive and some animators charge as much as ten thousand dollars per minute to create films. I have recently picked the animation project back up because I found a new animator and we are in talks right now to get the project going again.
GRT: How do you get funding to shoot your film projects?
Gamble: There are a number of different ways to get funding. For Leo, there is a group of friends of mine who I know are in love with film production and I emailed the script to these friends and let them know that I was moving forward with the production of the film by myself if I have to but I invited them to join the party and be apart of making the film. So everyone that I emailed the script said that they wanted to be apart of the production and everybody put in a sum of money in order to build a budget for the film. For Case 137, it was a very difficult time for me because I was pretty much by myself. I started raising funds through a Go Fund Me account. I raised about two thousand dollars that way and then I just decided to raise the funds myself. I am a normal guy who still has a nine to five so that required me to save some money on the side to finish that project, which took me a year and a half to complete. The film Leo took us about six months.
GRT: Do you have any advice for future filmmakers?
Gamble: I would tell future filmmakers to expect a lot of no's. They are going to hear no all the time, especially when they approach potential investors and production companies. They may also hear no from people who might not like their work but they are going to have to remember that film is like art and that not everyone is going to like your work. As long as they believe in their work then they should stand behind it and feel confident enough to create and put your work out there for the world to see.
Tagged in: