Before any blockbuster can grace the silver screen, it first has to make it on the laptop screen.
Screenwriters are the unsung heroes of most any big-screen success story. But for “The Place Beyond the Pines,” whose 2011 filming thrust Schenectady momentarily into the Hollywood limelight, there wouldn’t have been much local fuss about the production had it not been for co-writer Ben Coccio.
The Niskayuna native was instrumental in bringing the production to the Electric City, and the Niskayuna native recently returned to his alma matter to offer budding filmmakers an insider’s view on the business of the silver screen. Coccio also shared how his interest in filmmaking grew from his experiences at Niskayuna High School. Long before online video sharing services exploded, he was capturing his imagination from behind the lens.
The early days
The technology around video production has changed a lot from when Coccio was in high school. The member of the Class of ’93 said the art department was really well developed at Niskayuna, which is how he got into film.
“We had VHS cameras … and that is all we had,” he said. “To make our movies we had to take two VCRs and we would play one and record on the other. That is how we would edit our movies together.”
Since there weren’t any popular online hubs yet, he would share the video made with friends on public access, which was SACC-TV locally before Proctors took over operation a few years ago. Instead of posting comments online, people called to complain.
After graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1997, Coccio knew he wanted to continue making movies. He set off with a friend and made the movie “5:45 A.M.” using 35mm film.
Now, films can be shot on a moderate budget, he said, but in the late ‘90s making a professional quality movie was expensive. He was able to purchase a camera for $50 and purchased a bunch of “short ends,” the leftover 35mm film larger productions would toss out.
The movie, released in 2000, ended up being purchased by the Independent Film Channel. Smaller theaters played the movie and it ran through prominent film festivals before IFC bought it.
“Nowadays they do not buy short films, no one does, because there is no need,” he said. “You can go see them online, for free basically, from whoever made them.”
Building up a rep
From the simple beginnings of “5:45 A.M.” Coccio went on to make a name for himself by tackling a dodgy subject on a tight budget.
“(Columbine) made a big impression on me and I started thinking about how I’d like to make a movie about that,” he said.
His initial vision for the movie was for a big-budget epic, a dream that had to be sidelined as he waited for connections to grow. But after a car accident that nearly took Coccio’s life, he changed his mind about the grand scope.
“It kind of occurred to me that if I was going to do something I should do it now and try to figure out some way to do it,” he said.
He started researching Columbine and realized the shooters would “psych themselves” by making video dairies. He thought a simple “Blair Witch” style approach, might tell a powerful story. Connecticut high school students who resembled the killers were cast as the two main characters and students filled other roles. The majority of the film is shown through video dairies of the main characters. The result was “Zero Day,” which captured considerable attention.
“It wasn’t a big production, it was me, two kids and a video camera for most of it,” he said.
The movie, released in September 2003, garnered mostly positive reviews, but some audience members were troubled by the subject matter.
The “John Walsh Show” invited him to attend, and Coccio defended his movie as a Columbine survivor grilled him about it. He knew he would be portrayed as the “bad guy,” but he wanted to defend his movie.
“If I couldn’t defend what I had done the actually they would be right and I would be doing it for the wrong reasons,” he said.
Being on the show shook him, but he said it was a good learning experience for him. Ultimately, he said he made the movie for people who were not involved in Columbine, so people could make sense of what happened.
Getting started
Coccio said there are many different ways students can go about getting into the film industry, whether it is through college or working at a film company. Some of the “lowest level” production jobs aren’t difficult to secure and can help build connections.
“I think there is a lot of different ways to get where you want to go,” Coccio said.
Resolving creative differences is important, too, especially if someone has hired you to write a script for them, such as with “The Place Beyond the Pines.”
“You have to open to the idea that you might not have the best ideas,” he said. “Even when you make a movie totally independently … it is still an intensively collaborative media and that is the thing that makes it strong.”
He credited his experiences at Niskayuna High School for helping lay the groundwork for his career.
“Going to your high school is quite intimidating,” he added.
Peter Warren, a social studies teacher at the high school, knew Coccio and his brother when they were both students. Warren said he thought Coccio would be successful in whatever he pursued, because he was a hardworking, intelligent student.
“I thought that both of them would make an impact,” he said.
Seeing Coccio come back and talk to students was a great experience for Warren.
“I am so proud of him and I was thrilled to hear about the bi- time movie,” Warren said.
Hearing that Coccio fought to film “Pines” in Schenectady impressed Warren, too.
“I’m sure that was a struggle,” Warren said. “The fact that he really plugged for that meant so much to the local economy and I am sure it is going to be interesting … to see Schenectady in film as a setting.”