Q & A With Filmmaker W. Scott Peake

1. How and why did you decide to make this film?

I had always been a huge fan of Geoff Nicholson. I read one of his books years ago while I was in film school and fell in love with his twisted sense of humor. I searched out all of his books to read. I found his book ìWhat We Did On Our Holidaysî and read it in two nights. I couldnít put it down. As I was reading it the whole thing played out in my mind just like a movie. As the story went on it just kept getting crazier and crazier. As soon as I finished it I knew that I wanted to make this book into a movie.

2. What made this project come together and be a success?

My love for the source material and my unwillingness to give up on the project is what held the project together over the several years of development. I had several producersí come and go. Many of them telling me I should move on to another project. I knew that this was a funny movie and that people would really enjoy it. Everyone that worked on the film, from the actors to the crew to all of the postproduction people, truly made this film a success! They fell in love with the script and all did, what I feel, was some of their best work. It wasnít about money or anything else, it was about all of us banding together under adversity, limited financial resources and a very short shooting schedule to make the best film we possibly could. There isnít anyone who worked on this film that isnít proud of the work they did and even prouder to have their name attached.

3. Please explain your history in filmmaking. How did you become a filmmaker?

When I was a little kid in the 70ís I used to love theî Carol Burnett Showî. When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I always said that I was going to go to UCLA like Carol Burnett and be an actor. When I got my chance to act in a school play I froze and realized that acting was not for me. Again, in the 70ís when I lived outside Detroit, I would rush home from school everyday for the 4 oíclock movie on channel 50. They would show Elvis movies, monster movies and my personal favorite Abbot and Costello movies. I couldnít get enough. When I graduated from high school I applied to the U.S. Navel academy, thankfully I did not get in. After a futile attempt at an engineering degree I quit school for a while and work some menial jobs including sell used carpet. My mother finally sat me down asked what I was going to do with my life. Thinking back to my child passions and dreams I told her I wanted to make movies. So I went to film school and received my MFA from Florida State University. Since graduating from FSU I started producing commercials at W.B. Doner advertising in Detroit. While I was there I would direct any low budget pro bono spots that I could to build my reel. After several years and a couple of agencies (BBDO and Ogilvy & Mather) I moved to Los Angeles to pursue my dream to be a director. I signed with a couple of small commercial production companies, Elsewhere and Mindfield, which are no defunct. I directed several commercials and music videos over the years. In 2001 Gina and I optioned ìWhat We Did On Our Holidaysî and spent the next several years developing it until its completion this year.

4. What is your relationship to the cast in this film?

I have an incredible relationship with my cast. I talk to most of them on a regular basis. It was an amazing experience to work with these actors. Frank Harper was wonderful. Frank was in every scene of the film so there was little rest for him. Everyday he showed up and gave everything he had. It really comes through on screen. He did a Fantastic job. The most amazing thing for me was the incredible amount of trust these seasoned actors put into my direction and me. It is one of the best feelings to have a great working relationship like that.

5. What do you want the audience to take away from the film?

I want the audience to be entertained first and foremost. There is so much heavy stuff going on in the world today. I just want people to sit down for 90 minutes and just be entertained. I also left the ending of the film a little ambiguous so that people will think about it, talk about it and come to their own conclusion. I love movies that leave you thinking about them. They make you more involved in the film and I feel that is what I have done with my movie.

6. When did you meet your collaborators? How did those partnerships come about?

My writing partner is my wife so that relationship was there long before we wrote this screenplay together. My producer Diane has been a long time friend of mine who I met while she was running a record label for dance music and I was a DJ. I met my cinematographer, George Reasner, in film school at Florida State University. Not only is he my best friend but we also DJ together and direct commercials together under the name, Eskimo Brothers. There is no way I could have made the film that I made under the constraints placed on me without George. My editor, Ethan Wolvek, used to be my commercial producer elsewhere. The people I collaborated with are people that I knew and trusted and that believed in not only me but the project as well.

7. Did you research for the film? Where was it shot and why did you come to that decision?

Since the film is based on a British novel and was set in England most of the research I did was into the logistics of filming in England. The film community in England is quite small and there is not a lot of money to be found especially for an American coming over there to make a film. However, my biggest worry was the weather. If I had even one or two rain days I would have been screwed. Also travel for myself, producers and my department heads for pre-production and production made it cost prohibitive.

One day I was with my DP George Reasner and we were brainstorming about how we can make the film. I said “too bad we couldn’t go back to Tallahassee and utilize the resources at our old film school”. We decided to call the dean of the film school and run the proposal by him. We would come and shoot in the Tallahassee area and hire students that just graduated to crew the film. In exchange we would use their camera packages and grip equipment at a very significant savings. They agreed and I rewrote the script to have the British family come to vacation in Florida. I really loved the” fish out of water” scenario that this set up. Also, the film commissioner of Pensacola, Tom Rousch, is another friend from film school and he was instrumental in helping with locations and all the other things we needed locally.

8. How do you think PERMANENT VACATION fits into your personal growth as a director? How will it affect your future projects?

I have been doing commercials, music videos and shorts for so long that PERMANENT VACATION has allowed me to mature into a long format storyteller. It was very refreshing to work on something that I could allow to slowly develop instead of the 30 seconds to a couple of minutes that I had before. It also allowed me to see that my instincts as a director were true. It is these instincts that I will continue to hone over the course of my career and help with my future projects. 9. What was your favorite part of making this film? The relationships I have made with the actors and the crew. It truly was a family affair in making this film. We all had a stake in its outcome, creatively, financially, or pride. I know that there isn’t anyone that isn’t proud to have his or her name on this film, which as a filmmaker is a great feeling.

10. What was your most memorable experience about shooting the film?

Perhaps a story or anecdote from the set? When we arrived in Milton, Florida to start our pre-production, we headed out to the camp ground where we would be filming and living for the next 6 weeks. Upon arrival we soon realized that we were in the middle of nowhere. No cell phone reception, no internet connection, it was very rustic! We ended up setting up our temporary production office at the What-A-Burger fast food restaurant because they had free Wi-Fi and our cell phones worked. About a week and a half before shooting I started watching a tropical storm building off the coast of Florida. I watched it turn into a Hurricane as it hit the Miami area. It turned out to be Hurricane Katrina. I got a call from Tom Rousch, the Pensacola film commissioner, asking if I knew about the storm. I told him I did, but I wasn’t worried that it would hit us. Then it made that turn and headed our way. When it finally hit, we were very lucky and only suffered the far edge of the storm. We were able to start shooting on schedule. For the next three weeks we had no rain allowing us to stay on schedule. The last two days it started to rain but by then we were doing all interiors. By the time I left the campground, it had rained so much that the river that runs through the campground had risen so high that the whole back half of the campground was under several feet of water. You could only access that area by canoe. As I was heading out of Milton for the last time I kept thinking of what Frank Harper said to me on several occasions. In reference to the slogan on Alabama license plates “The Stars Fall on Alabama,” Frank would say the stars “Scott, the stars don’t fall on Alabama, they fall on you.”

11. Please address the music in the film. Where did you find your inspiration and how did you choice on those particular pieces?

Music has always been an important aspect of my life. I listen to it all the time. I used to be a club DJ. When I was first working on the script I heard a song called “Battleflag” by Pigeonhed remixed by Lo-Fidelity All-Stars and knew immediately that it would go perfect over the killing sequence. In fact that is the only song that I listed in the script. Several years ago I went to see a friend’s brother’s band, Skeeter Truck, play. They were amazing! They call their style of music “Hollywood Hillbilly”. When we were shooting Gina Bellman asked me what kind of music I was thinking about for the movie. I took one look around, remembered Skeeter Truck and said “Hollywood Hillbilly.” I approached Mark Miller, the lead singer and slide guitar player for the band, and asked if they would be interested in contributing a couple of songs to the movie. They loved the idea. When I was discussing different types of music for the score with my composer, Scott Salinas, I played him some of Skeeter Truck’s songs. He flipped over it. Instead of using the traditional orchestral style of music for the score, Scott brought in the guys instead of an orchestra. So they are all over the movie. In fact I am thinking of writing Skeeter Truck into the western I’m writing, as the saloon band.