Having gone to a small high school, I knew just about everyone's name along with some little fun fact about them. One of the people that I had a chance to get to know was Mark Swartz, a York County filmmaker with a passion for all things cinema. With Mark, I saw a dedicated actor onstage during musical seasons. He's incredibly passionate about characters whether they're of his own creation or roles that he's earned. He reached out to me about writing an article on an upcoming film that he is creating before moving to Los Angeles to further pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker. However, I asked him if I could interview him first, just as a way for you all to get to know him personally.
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Me: When did you become interested in directing/screenwriting?
Mark: "Well, I don't consider myself just a director or just a screenwriter. I consider myself a filmmaker. I enjoy all of it. I enjoy the screenwriting; I love acting, directing and producing. If I had to rank them it would be: 1. Acting, 2. Writing, 3. Directing, 4. Producing (that's a lot a work and to me is one of the most stressful parts).
Ultimately I write about characters that I would love to act in a story that I would love to tell. Though acting is my favorite, it didn't hit me until later on that it's something I want to do. As a kid I would always reenact scenes and dialogue from tv shows and movies in my bedroom."
Me: How have you grown as a person since becoming a filmmaker?
Mark: "Growing as a filmmaker... Well, I originally made my films based on ideas I thought were cool; Now, I write stories that are personal and that have a meaning. They tend to focus mainly on a story. I started out with making a short in just one or two days, and now we're in a stage of making a short film or two each year, taking time on them, and having larger scaled projects. I'm now trying to move onto making full-length, feature films."
Me: What roles have you portrayed in your career and which have been your favorites?
Mark: "I played the role of twins w/ completely different personalities in my film Bonfire. In A Toxic Kind, I played a bookworm who was pressured to do drugs and illicit activities by a toxic friend. In Perfect Pick, I played a kleptomaniac who just lived day to day stealing things and breaking into homes, leading him into a gang mess. Lastly, I've played a writer who struggled to find a balance between his love of writing and of his girlfriend. That was in To Be Alone. Honestly, I love any character that isn't like myself. I think the moment you judge a character is also the moment that you confirm to yourself that you don't understand a character. My philosophy is this: you can't play a character if you can't understand them."
Me: How do you recruit/choose people to act in your films?
Mark: "I recruit people by specifically writing parts for them and telling them, "hey, I wrote this part and had you in mind to play it. Would you be interested?" Typically, it's something they've never really done before so they're like, "Yeah, I wanna try it!"."
Me: So do you ever base a character off of someone you've met?
Mark: "Yeah! In fact, most of my characters happen to be based on people with slight creative changes to their actual selves. All of my writing is (in a way) auto-biographic with obviously blended fiction. I think that's how most fiction writing is: something from real life mixed with the creative, fictional choices that the writer ends up making."
Me: That's pretty cool! What can the readers look forward to from you in the future?
Mark: "What readers can look forward to... Well, hopefully, my next film being a feature film that will premiere in front of an audience. As far as the distant future, I hope that one day they're rushing and excited to see the next Mark Swartz movie and rushing to see what story he will tell next!"
Me: I definitely will be. Last question: What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers?
Mark: "Sometimes when I give advice I feel out of place, mainly because I still feel like I'm still learning the craft. I think that's my advice: always be willing to learn, because no matter how far you are in a filmmaking career, there is still always a lot to learn about the craft. Being a filmmaker, I have been teased and highly criticized by people for wanting to be a filmmaker and having the dream of making some of the biggest movies. To that, I say ignore them and do just do you. There's always going to be critics, and honestly, those critics never really say anything worse than what I tell myself... I'm my biggest critic, so pretty much everything they tell me I've already told myself ten times. But it's what keeps me going and I don't think I can stop. I can't see myself doing anything else in life. I've tried sports, along with other things, and only became disinterested. But filmmaking? I've never become tired of filmmaking."
Mark is currently in the process of producing his first feature length film and preparing to move out to Los Angeles to continue his filmmaking career. His projects, along with sketches and teasers, are available on his YouTube channel and Clear View's. Stay tuned for more from Mark in the future!
