IN FOCUS
INDIANA BEHIND THE FILM Local filmmaker shares his process FIFTEEN MINUTES DOESN’T SEEM like a particularly long time. Most of us can have our coffee, eat our breakfast, brush our teeth and be out the door to work in about that time. For local filmmaker Kit Wilson, 15 minutes is the culmination of years of being inspired, a willingness to follow a childhood dream and a symbol of countless hours spent by many people to accomplish their goal; a short film. Wilson’s first film, “Trick Shop,” is just 15 minutes in length, but the journey took much longer than that. Growing up in Coronado, California, the bright lights of Hollywood were never far from Wilson’s backyard. The family would drive into L.A. to see the sights, and sometimes Hollywood would end up coming to them. “I remember seeing big stars, Marilyn Monroe and others, shooting movies in my neighborhood and watching them perform in person,” recalled Wilson. At age 12 he began writing TV scripts, never submitting them to networks,
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but the exercise set him on his journey to eventually becoming a filmmaker. After years of living in Los Angeles and writing TV commercials and other marketing projects, Wilson was looking for a change. His children had recently moved to the Northwest, and he decided to follow them, landing in Gig Harbor five years ago. Wilson found the Northwest a much more relaxed place full of creative artists, and thoughts of writing screenplays began to fill his mind. “I realized very quickly this was the perfect environment to let my mind run wild, and the atmosphere is so conducive to creativity here,” he said. “In L.A., it’s all business, and here I get to really enjoy the creativity and am surrounded by creative artists, and I find it immensely rewarding.” Once settled into Gig Harbor, Wilson began looking for like-minded people to help him get his dreams going. Having never gone to film school, he was in need of honest feedback and guidance on creating a screenplay. He joined just about every film group in the Seattle/Tacoma area that he could find and started networking. While some members were just in it for the hobby, Wilson also met local professional actors and actresses, directors and photographers. The first thing Wilson learned from those in the business is that writing a screenplay is a much different process than writing a TV
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