Alex Kustanovich (4)
ACT IV -->
HORTON: So you went into the UCLA M.F.A. screenwriting program . . .
KUSTANOVICH: Right.
H: And that was in 1989.
K: Correct.
H: Do you remember how many students were in your class . . . in the screenwriting-program class?
K: Twenty-two.
H: Did you do any production work at UCLA?
K: No. I didn't. Although I was invited . . . and I'm sure everyone was invited to participate in the sitcom that they were doing there.
[But] I never participated in the sitcom. I never did any production work . . .
Oh, no. I'm sorry. I take it back. I did take a class called Ethnographic Film.
H: Was the screenwriting program very competitive at UCLA?
K: Competitive . . . as far as students competing with one another?
H: Yeah.
K: Or competitive as far as . . .
H: As far as the intensity of the . . .
K: Yes, I think it was.
H: Was that a good thing, do you think? Or did it go too far?
K: No, I don't think they went too far. I think competition is -- not only part of life -- but certainly part of this business. They were trying to prepare us all for the reality and brutality of this business.
So I don't think it was overly competitive. But it was competitive. And it was pretty intense, I thought. And -- my only regret was that I didn't take more liberal arts courses . . . separate from film.
I should've taken more courses . . . just to extend the horizons of my education. I mean . . . I'm mostly a film guy, y'know? And now I just have to catch up with everything.
H: Well, the irony for me is . . . I wish I'd taken more actual film-editing courses and more craft . . . than just doing so many screenwriting courses.
K: I agree with you. I agree with you with that, too. I should have. Because right now . . . everybody's editing on the Avid, and we've got to take it in a course. And maybe now it would be easier for me to find a job with it on the Avid, y'know? Because more people are required to . . .
H: Yeah, but now . . . everything that we would've learned . . . would've been dated . . . 'cause everything is bumped up -- in computer . . . to such a higher, different level anyway . . . so . . . we'd have to keep track of it.
K: Yeah, who knows.
But . . . I should've taken more English courses because . . . I [could've] gotten a job teaching ESL to adults in a night school in Burbank. [But] I didn't have enough English credits. I mean, they don't consider 'visual writing' and 'dramatic writing' as an English credit.
So, like, I only have nine units of English.
H: [laughs] And you have an M.F.A. degree, too.
K: Exactly. And I can not teach . . .
H: But you can teach screenwriting . . . but you can't teach English as a second language.
K: I can teach screenwriting, right. I can get a gig doing that, but that's a whole other ball of wax.
H: Okay, how did the UCLA program -- I know it's different . . . between a master's degree and a B.F.A. -- [but] how did the UCLA program compare to the NYU program . . . [in] film . . . as far as . . .
K: I enjoyed it more. I think it was more intense. Although -- it was more difficult to be at NYU because NYU had production aspects . . . and I had to raise the money and do a lot of filming at NYU. I didn't have to do that [at UCLA] . . . [so] it was easier in a way for me to be at UCLA because I was older, more mature . . . I already knew . . . the drill . . . and could manipulate my time and my knowledge, y'know, to adapt to certain classes.
H: And also -- because you had done the undergraduate work, you were able to get around the requirements of some of the production courses . . . [so] you didn't have to eat up all your time.
K: That's correct.
H: Because you had already done it, and you could . . . petition out of those courses. You had already gotten the requirements, the basic requirements for production.
K: Yeah, yeah. That's right. That's right. I didn't have to deal with the filmmaking courses and the other stuff. Most of my courses were screenwriting courses.
H: Alex, you have a unique perspective . . . because you have gone to NYU (one of the top four schools) -- UCLA (one of the top four schools) -- and AFI (in the top ten, I'm sure . . . or very high up there) . . . so you have a unique perspective -- 'cause, a lot of people have not been to so many different places [in film] . . .
K: Right.
H: . . . and can look at it [the way you can].
K: And I'll be the first one to say that I do not regret my education because I think, one of the benefits of being in film school or going to one . . . is that you meet a lot of interesting people . . . who will later run this industry. And who will later get jobs . . . before you or after you -- whatever. And those people are your contacts in the industry.
So, basically, you're building a network for yourself by being at a film school.
H: That's very good advice for people who don't know how the system works . . .
K: Right.
H: . . . it's really getting to know people and . . .
K: Right. Nobody can really teach you how to write.
H: Right.
K: People can encourage you. People can counsel you. So that if you wanna learn how to write, you do it on your own . . . or be in a class . . . where people just encourage you to do it.
It just helps me all the time. I love being in a screenwriting class.
But being in a school is to be around those people . . . make contacts with the people . . . most of whom will be the movers and shakers of the industry in the years to come.
H: Yeah, that's a very good point. And I certainly agree.
(To read ACT V --> click on "Alex Kustanovich (5)" below.)
< (c) 1999 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HORTON: So you went into the UCLA M.F.A. screenwriting program . . .
KUSTANOVICH: Right.
H: And that was in 1989.
K: Correct.
H: Do you remember how many students were in your class . . . in the screenwriting-program class?
K: Twenty-two.
H: Did you do any production work at UCLA?
K: No. I didn't. Although I was invited . . . and I'm sure everyone was invited to participate in the sitcom that they were doing there.
[But] I never participated in the sitcom. I never did any production work . . .
Oh, no. I'm sorry. I take it back. I did take a class called Ethnographic Film.
H: Was the screenwriting program very competitive at UCLA?
K: Competitive . . . as far as students competing with one another?
H: Yeah.
K: Or competitive as far as . . .
H: As far as the intensity of the . . .
K: Yes, I think it was.
H: Was that a good thing, do you think? Or did it go too far?
K: No, I don't think they went too far. I think competition is -- not only part of life -- but certainly part of this business. They were trying to prepare us all for the reality and brutality of this business.
So I don't think it was overly competitive. But it was competitive. And it was pretty intense, I thought. And -- my only regret was that I didn't take more liberal arts courses . . . separate from film.
I should've taken more courses . . . just to extend the horizons of my education. I mean . . . I'm mostly a film guy, y'know? And now I just have to catch up with everything.
H: Well, the irony for me is . . . I wish I'd taken more actual film-editing courses and more craft . . . than just doing so many screenwriting courses.
K: I agree with you. I agree with you with that, too. I should have. Because right now . . . everybody's editing on the Avid, and we've got to take it in a course. And maybe now it would be easier for me to find a job with it on the Avid, y'know? Because more people are required to . . .
H: Yeah, but now . . . everything that we would've learned . . . would've been dated . . . 'cause everything is bumped up -- in computer . . . to such a higher, different level anyway . . . so . . . we'd have to keep track of it.
K: Yeah, who knows.
But . . . I should've taken more English courses because . . . I [could've] gotten a job teaching ESL to adults in a night school in Burbank. [But] I didn't have enough English credits. I mean, they don't consider 'visual writing' and 'dramatic writing' as an English credit.
So, like, I only have nine units of English.
H: [laughs] And you have an M.F.A. degree, too.
K: Exactly. And I can not teach . . .
H: But you can teach screenwriting . . . but you can't teach English as a second language.
K: I can teach screenwriting, right. I can get a gig doing that, but that's a whole other ball of wax.
H: Okay, how did the UCLA program -- I know it's different . . . between a master's degree and a B.F.A. -- [but] how did the UCLA program compare to the NYU program . . . [in] film . . . as far as . . .
K: I enjoyed it more. I think it was more intense. Although -- it was more difficult to be at NYU because NYU had production aspects . . . and I had to raise the money and do a lot of filming at NYU. I didn't have to do that [at UCLA] . . . [so] it was easier in a way for me to be at UCLA because I was older, more mature . . . I already knew . . . the drill . . . and could manipulate my time and my knowledge, y'know, to adapt to certain classes.
H: And also -- because you had done the undergraduate work, you were able to get around the requirements of some of the production courses . . . [so] you didn't have to eat up all your time.
K: That's correct.
H: Because you had already done it, and you could . . . petition out of those courses. You had already gotten the requirements, the basic requirements for production.
K: Yeah, yeah. That's right. That's right. I didn't have to deal with the filmmaking courses and the other stuff. Most of my courses were screenwriting courses.
H: Alex, you have a unique perspective . . . because you have gone to NYU (one of the top four schools) -- UCLA (one of the top four schools) -- and AFI (in the top ten, I'm sure . . . or very high up there) . . . so you have a unique perspective -- 'cause, a lot of people have not been to so many different places [in film] . . .
K: Right.
H: . . . and can look at it [the way you can].
K: And I'll be the first one to say that I do not regret my education because I think, one of the benefits of being in film school or going to one . . . is that you meet a lot of interesting people . . . who will later run this industry. And who will later get jobs . . . before you or after you -- whatever. And those people are your contacts in the industry.
So, basically, you're building a network for yourself by being at a film school.
H: That's very good advice for people who don't know how the system works . . .
K: Right.
H: . . . it's really getting to know people and . . .
K: Right. Nobody can really teach you how to write.
H: Right.
K: People can encourage you. People can counsel you. So that if you wanna learn how to write, you do it on your own . . . or be in a class . . . where people just encourage you to do it.
It just helps me all the time. I love being in a screenwriting class.
But being in a school is to be around those people . . . make contacts with the people . . . most of whom will be the movers and shakers of the industry in the years to come.
H: Yeah, that's a very good point. And I certainly agree.
(To read ACT V --> click on "Alex Kustanovich (5)" below.)
< (c) 1999 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
