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As a film lover I am always looking for the next big thing in Hollywood. I was at a cocktail party at the famous Tribeca Grand in New York City during the Tribeca Film Festival. While I was at the bar I overheard two men sitting next to me talking about the film festival. This group turned out to be some of New York's heavyweight producers. Since they would have the inside scoop on Hollywood I decided to ask blatantly, 'who is going to be next Wes Anderson?'
Cam Scarborough star of Cameron Fay’s “Fishing for Trauster” One of his classmates gave me his email address, and I let Cameron know I was going to be visiting Los Angeles in the next month and that I would love to do a story on him. He replied saying that he would love the chance to do an interview with me, and we set up a time and place. He sent me a screener copy of the recently completed 'Fishing for Trauster', and I immediately fell in love with the film. The characters, the actors, the script, and most of the all the direction of the film was outstanding. I never expected to see such a powerful and intriguing short film. Between pitch meetings at a studio and dinner with a Hollywood 'name' that was interested in being attached to his next project, Cameron Fay squeezed in an hour out of his busy schedule to meet with over a mid-afternoon lunch in Santa Monica. I had an opportunity to find out more about his background and find out if the 'buzz' I heard was true. Taylor Brooke: Did you have a dream your entire life to be a filmmaker? Cameron Fay: I actually started out as an actor when I was a little kid. I then switched to wanting to be an electrical engineer. It wasn’t until my freshman year of high school when I dropped an engineering class for a film study class that I seriously thought about becoming a filmmaker. I remember my teacher’s name was Mr. Byrd and he’d show all these great movies like, “Cool Hand Luke” and “The Graduate.” We’d watch the ‘behind the scenes’ of the movies and I thought it looked so amazing. Being on a movie set and making a film is a collective creative experience. By the end of taking that class, I knew I wanted to be a part of that experience. TB: How did you get the idea for the film? CF: Trauster came to me in a dream. No, I’m kidding. The first link in the series of ideas that formed “Fishing for Trauster” was the Grandpa character. He actually changed a lot, but originally I thought of putting a family around a cursing, spitting old war veteran, that was now against war. I also knew I wanted to make a story about family and conformity in America. I think in 2002 when I was writing it, patriotism and conformity were big issues in the news. I wanted to show how much pressure there was on people to go with the grain. You were either with us or against us, and that’s the kind of environment that Margaret creates for Monty. It’s either UVA, or no where. TB: How long did it take for you to make? CF: Well I started writing the first character bios and scenes while I was taking a writing class in Florence, Italy in the summer of 2002. I finished the first draft by the end of the summer and decided to take it to the Advanced Production class at NYU, taught by Lamar Sanders. The next couple of months I did re-writes and tried to persuade my fellow classmates and Lamar that it was a worthy film to make. You see, because they only pick ten kids to actually make a film in that class. So, luckily mine was picked. I spent the better part of the winter trying to cut it down and make it perfect for shooting. Neither of which I was fully able to do. Then in March of 2003 I went into pre-production with my two co-producers, Alex Berger and Jessica Beiler and my cinematographer, Rob Hauer. We shot the film over two weeks in my hometown in Fairfax, Virginia. Those were the best two weeks of my life. Watching those behind the scenes documentaries eight years prior lead up to that point. The cast and crew got along great. We’d shoot until about eight at night, pop open some beers, sit around and tell stories. Every person on that set was a storyteller in one way or another, and I think that’s what made the experience so great. It was that ultimate collective creative experience that I had been looking for since deciding to become a filmmaker. TB: How did you get the actors for the film? CF: Alex Berger and I sent out breakdowns to Backstage, Breakdown Services, and the Tisch Talent Guild. We received about 1000 headshots for all seven main roles. We auditioned about 400 of those people and from there had a couple of call backs. I was amazingly lucky to have found such an amazing and willing cast. The majority of the actors really loved the script, so they were excited to do it. All the actors were New York City based, although Cam Scarborough and Kandis Erickson, who played Monty and Sam are now out in L.A. making a name for themselves. Once we got the cast in place, we had time to rehearse. Sometimes I don’t like rehearsing, but I think knowing your actors is key. Almost all of the actors we stage trained. Knowing that, I knew that they’d be able to rehearse for weeks and still be able to get it right once the cameras were rolling. TB: The Grandpa is a major part of the film, how were you so fortunate to find such a great actor? Did you base his character off of your grandpa or someone’s you know? CF: First of all, George Straley is a true gem. I think anyone casting an old man character should see him. He’s a pro. I know for a fact that I will use him in my upcoming feature project. He auditioned just like everyone else. But one thing I remember is Alex and I couldn’t stop laughing during his audition. He was hilarious and exactly how I pictured Grandpa Trauster. Not necessarily by the way he looked, but the way he spoke. It just goes to show that even though the writer/director will usually have a certain look for each character, if you act the part well enough, you can still get it. Like Dustin Hoffman in “The Graduate.” The book calls for a six foot two inch tall, blonde track star. That’s really funny. Yeah, George was great though. I didn’t base his character on anyone at all. My grandpa was in World War II, but he wasn’t crazy or anything. He was a pretty mild mannered, down to Earth kind of guy. This character was really just a Grandpa I’d like to see in a movie, or in real life. There was just so much to him. He was stern, but sweet. Logical, but crazy. A total paradox. Really if his character was based on anything, it’d be just on a bunch of 80’s movie characters. I love 80’s movies. I grew up in the 80’s. A lot of those characters were crazy and off the wall, but if you thought about what they said, they made a lot of sense. TB: Have you always been a fan of Fresca? CF: I can’t tell you enough how much I love that stuff. For whatever reason, it’s harder for me to find now that I’m living in L.A., but in New York, yeah man, I used to drink like 4 cans a day. Not because of the 0 calories or anything, but just because it tastes so good. They got Squirt out here. I’m not a fan. Fresca is where it’s at. I would be writing Trauster at my desk in New York and look around my room and see Fresca cans everywhere. The Fresco theme in the movie was a lot bigger in the script and we shot a lot of close ups of the can. In fact, there was this whole subplot that got cut with J. Michael Blumington, Sr. having an affair with Margaret, Monty’s mom. J. Michael Blumington Sr. was the inventor of Fresco, which is pretty much the same as Fresca. I didn’t want to create a world where Fresca didn’t exist, because that would make it look like I just couldn’t get the rights to use it. I wanted it to serve as a devise to show how unoriginal the Blumingtons are. They just took away the “a” and added an “o.” TB: Do you want to make Fishing for Trauster into a feature film? CF: Sure, I’ve thought about it. I have a lot of really cool Trasuter feature ideas. Grandpa Trauster sneaking into the Fresco plant and causing a ruckus. A lot of people have told me they’d like to see it as a feature. Some people have showed interest in financing it with the right package and actors attached. I really want to take the short around the festival circuit and see what happens from that. We’re going to be sending it to Sundance soon. That’d be a big one that could open a lot of doors, and the possibility of a feature. It all depends, but yeah, I’d be psyched to work on a feature version of Trauster. TB: What other projects do you have coming up? CF: Right now I’ve got a couple of things going. I’ve got a feature script called “The Amateurs” which I co-wrote with my friend Greg Rock, that’s set up with Producers Brad Luff and Rebecca Dessertine who are on the Sony lot. Greg and I have also been working on a romantic comedy treatment for Working Title Films. They made Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, About a boy. Basically anything with Hugh Grant in it. And I’m currently working on a comedy with Rebecca that I’d be attached to direct. She loved Trauster, partially because she was a legacy at UVA, but mainly because it was her type of quirky comedy. We’re trying to recreate that same type of tone, but on a much larger scale. I’ve also got an idea for a satirical political comedy in the likes of “Wag the Dog” or “Primary Colors” that I’ve been bouncing round my head. That’d be something I’d have to pitch soon, because our political landscape could be changing, or hopefully will be changing, with the election coming up. Cameron is one of the hardest working and honest people I have ever had the chance to meet or interview. He is motivated and very humble about all of his accomplishments so far. Over the next year I know I will be able to see “Fishing for Trauster” on the silver screen at the world’s most important film festivals and let Hollywood have the opportunity to go Fishing for Cameron Fay. Taylor Brooke Recent Articles Pocito Bandito is Dead Film Composer Elmer Bernstein A True Innovator Michael Moore To Release Two Books Before Fall Elections Springsteen's Wife Launches Solo Tour Howard Stern Becomes A Cartoon |
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