By Katheryn Bulpit
For over 30 years, Jay Silverman has excelled as a leading Director, Producer, and Photographer specializing in award-winning films, television, digital, and print campaigns, having worked with renowned celebrities such as Denzel Washington, Beyonce, Quentin Tarantino, Jamie Foxx, and Ray Charles. His advertising clients include IBM, Coors, Panasonic, Disney, Budweiser, CBS, ABC, Pepsi & Apple.
Jay's narrative films have been awarded numerous Best Feature and Audience Awards at festivals across the country, along with being honored with Belding, Telly, Promax, and Lucy Awards for his commercial work. In addition, he has also been recognized for his achievements in creating and producing many national PSA campaigns for the American Cancer Society, the Foundation for the Junior Blind, the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness, and the Sierra Club. View Jay's full bio and photography portfolio here.
1. What inspired you to enter filmmaking?
I simply couldn't imagine not taking my still photography to another level in storytelling. There's nothing like seeing your stills come to life.
2. What do you enjoy most about your work?
I know this sounds like a cliché, but I haven't worked a day in my life, I love the entire process of creating from start to finish. There are very few professions where an individual can make a living and sometimes have a profound effect on the viewer.
3. What are the most challenging aspects of making a film from a Producer and Director's perspective?
As an independent filmmaker, it's always the development of a project to both suit the story and find inventive ways to get it made on the budget. That would include screenplay adaptations, casting, production design, and most importantly, having a strong creative team that has the exact same goals.
4. Did you make any mistakes when you first started? If so, what did it teach you?
When I was in my late teens, I worked as a photography intern for a very famous LIFE Magazine photographer named Sid Avery. Within minutes of hiring me, he grabbed a huge bag of unprocessed 35mm black and white film and showed me to his darkroom. I told him that I'd never processed 50 rolls at one time, but he encouraged me, so I forged ahead. After loading each roll into separate canisters and then dropping it into the stainless-steel developer soup, I stepped back, and all of a sudden, the lights went on. Regrettably, I was never informed that the huge enlarger above the loading table had a floor footswitch that I had accidentally stepped on. The life lesson here is that despite this horrible error, Mr Avery patiently encouraged me through the door to continue processing the film and reminded me that everything would be ok. And he was correct, had I not immediately thrown my body over the film canister developer, it might have been a total loss, but we only damaged around 10% of the film. That's when he told me that he had just returned from a six-week exhausting shoot filming all senior executives for Bank of America throughout the 50 states, and all this film encompassed that total shoot.
5. Could you share with us some of your fondest memories on set?
Being the first time working with Ray Charles, I decided to share with him my visual goals before walking onto the stage. Ray said in his 60 years as an artist, no director or photographer ever took the time to describe the visual surroundings on the set. He said typically, his butler would escort him to a stage mark on the floor and sit him down at a piano, never ever taking the time to explain the world around him. The gratification of hearing this began our friendship that lasted up until the day he passed.
6. What type of film would you like to be involved in that you haven't yet experienced?
I'm currently working on my next film about a young boy who is consumed by a passion to use a camera to communicate due to his challenges of being deaf. It's an all-consuming coming of age story that includes being bullied and having the special gift to make images that spotlight what most of us don't see and bring optimism to his community.
7. What was the most enjoyable production you worked on, and why?
Making a film called "Girl on the Edge," this film was based on my daughter's challenges in overcoming PTSD utilizing in part equine therapy to both raise self-esteem but also share something I'd never known existed.
8. What actors do you think have an amazing on-screen presence?
Peter Coyote, Al Pacino, Martin Sheen, Helen Mirren, Gary Oldman.
9. Can you name three of your favourite films?
Godfather, Bicycle Thief, Lawrence of Arabia.
10. What are some of your proudest achievements?
Receiving multiple awards for directing and best picture and screenplay for "Girl on the Edge."
11. What words of inspiration would you give someone trying to break into the business?
Never give up and try to enjoy the process, no matter how mundane. I've invested many true-life experiences in sharing with interns and the underprivileged students and realized that most suffer from unrealistic expectations. Learning to be patient and embrace each experience as stepping stones to your goal. NEVER GIVE UP!
12. How do you think the industry is changing?
Hugely as an independent Director/Producer, I've witnessed challenges in making films today that never existed before. There's got to be a way that these huge streaming companies can find a way to acquire indie content and support the film community. Today, it's become nearly impossible to make micro or low budget films without union crews and other steep mandates without totally modifying what you envisioned on the screen.
13. What do you look for in a screenplay?
Story, passion and truth.
14. What projects are you working on now and have in the pipeline?
A new movie called "CAMERA" which I hope to get into production sometime this year. It's about a young child who is attached to a camera as a given tool to tell his stories.
15. From a cinematography perspective, what's your favourite show/film?
I love the Apple show "Slow Horses" and Succession.
16. What photos do you enjoy taking the most, and what would you say is your speciality in this area?
I love taking photos of decisive moments of the human condition, moments that share with the viewer something they might have never noticed. I love using my iPhone in the last few years, capturing life spontaneously. A wonderful example is a shot I just took driving by a coffee house in Beverly Hills, it says it all!
