The Indiewire Springboard: How Emerging Filmmaker Steve Caple is Growing His Talents by Working With HBO and With Urban Youth
Every Friday, Indiewire’s new Springboard column will profile an up-and-comer in the indie world who made a mark that deserves your attention. Select profiles will include photography by Daniel Bergeron, exclusive to Indiewire. Today we talk to writer-director Steven Caple.
Fresh out of film school at USC, Steve Caple is setting out to tell honest, everyman stories, focusing on universality over what others might consider more cinematic. His student short “A Different Tree,” about a young girl yearning to meet her biological father, has made a triumphant festival circuit since premiering at American Black Film Festival, and is slated to appear on HBO. Caple is already in pre-production for his next project, a drama about inner-city kids who take to drug dealing to finance their skateboarding passion. Very personal in every way, Caple’s work has drawn comparisons to award winning filmmakers, including his classmate Ryan Coogler, but what is most important to his is being able to create his own voice while telling universal stories. Indiewire spoke to Caple about his opportunities with HBO, the state of diversity in independent film, and what his plans are for the future.
READ MORE: The Indiewire Springboard Talked to ‘American Viral’ Co-Creators Jennifer Suhr and AnnaRose King
I experienced a lot growing up. I’m from Cleveland, Ohio, single-parent home. I just dealt with a lot. I always had a clear perspective as a kid. So what I try
to do is I mentor a lot of students, I’m always connected with
the youth. And I still feel young, myself, I can’t
even talk as if I’m really old. Just interacting with these kids is something
that I’ve always had just there, and there’s always stories there. I can tell
adult stories with adult things, but through the eyes and perspective of young
kids.
Ryan Coogler is a friend of mine. We both attended USC, so he was very helpful in
showing me around the ropes and stuff like that. As far as his visual
style in the way he writes and directs, I could say I’ve been influenced by
Ryan. I’ve seen everything from his shorts from school to his feature film
debut “Fruitvale Station,” which was amazing. But he definitely is someone who
I admire. There’s really
a few independent filmmakers who really capture a voice and you can really
understand their intentions behind their filmmaking that really inspired me to
make film.
The writer [of “A Different Tree”]
was Victoria Rose. We did the film as one of the
course requirements at SC. It was her true story, almost verbatim; like
everything that happened to her was in the script except for two minor
changes. But she trusted me, she handed me over the film and was like “as long
as you can make people feel for it you can do whatever you want.” Her female voice, mixed with my ability to tell a story in general really
worked out I think.
HBO, and a few other stations and
networks as well, have really collaborated with film festivals to help emerging
artists. With HBO, they were part of a film festival called the American
Black Film Festival. I’d been trying to get into American Black Film
Festival for a very long time now with different shorts that I’ve directed in
the past. “A Different Tree” was always a goal. It has to be a premiere at
the festival. It was a nice way to expose your work because I knew the
possibilities if you win, you can have your piece on HBO. It kind of switched up the approach to getting the film out there a little bit.
I actually just finished a one-act
stage play workshop in New York. [HBO] flew me out to New York, I had to write
a 15-page script for a stage play, which I’ve never done before. It kind of
challenged me. I won’t say it was a test, it was they were like “Hey why don’t you come out and come to try
something different,” so that definitely kept me in the loop. They’re very nurturing to
independent filmmakers, they’re
constantly out there seeking for talent, and trying to develop it within their
system. They’re really good and known for that. So I definitely plan on working with
them in the future.
I think the most
important thing when trying to break through is developing your talent.
That’s one of the reasons why I’ve directed so many shorts and went to USC and
study different films. Because, first I want to develop my talent, develop my
craft, start to create my voice and my style. Can black
filmmakers tell stories outside of the black world or the black realm? Or what they perceive as the black world? I definitely think there’s
that ability to do so, even with women. I know women who can write films about
men just as strong as they can write films about women. It’s just a matter of
getting that shot, and people believing in them.
What’s next is to take the test
footage of “Land of Misfits” and get the first feature off the ground, and then
the second and then the third. Then start collaborating with a lot of people
and start getting ready for my career. I’m really looking into television and and creating TV shows. As of right now I’m trying to push to have a lot of my films
made in Cleveland, Ohio. Which is where I grew up at. Not just because they
have great tax incentives, but because I actually want to go back and make
movies about Cleveland.
