3 Things I Learned About Filmmaking from… A Chorus Line

… and I mean the Broadway musical, not only the movie.

1. You “Need” To Work in the Arts
In the song “What I Did For Love” they sing about “we did what we had to do”. For some careers one is called to take them on. For the arts, however, I believe you have to “need” to do it. Working in the arts is very demanding on so many levels, and rewarding in unique and incredible ways. It’s not for the feint of heart… somewhere inside you, you “have to do it” to survive and blossom in it.

2. Exceptional Talent is in Any Department
The musical is about the performers auditioning to be in a chorus line, not to be in starring roles. The chorus line performers are the stars. Each one of them has exceptional talent to be where they are – whether they get the job or not. So too with a film crew – exceptional talent lies in any department and at any level… and it’s a thrill to discover and honour to work alongside such folk.

3. The Story Can Be Experienced in Different Forms
We’ve all seen books filmed that don’t match the book experience and wondered why the movie couldn’t get the story closer to the story in the book. I’ve seen “A Chorus Line” on Broadway, and then later adapted in a dinner theatre, and again later adapted into in the movie. The dinner theatre didn’t have enough space on the stage for the entire chorus line, so they cut a couple of parts and re-assigned certain songs and parts of songs to other chorus line members. Indeed the intimacy of the dinner theatre could not duplicate the grandness of Broadway… so the story was adapted to its environment… and oddly enough it was hard to see where the changes were made (they did it so well). To successfully adapt a story from one medium to another, you have to really understand the two mediums and find how the story will best be experienced.

Cheers & a good shoot to you,
Deb