Film writer talks about road to fame

Angelo Pizzo always loved films.\nMost notable for being the producer and writer of “Hoosiers” and “Rudy” ,” Pizzo, a 1971 IU graduate, gathered with students Wednesday evening for a fireside chat about his career and the industry today.\nHosted by the Board of Educational Programming at the Collins Living-Learning Center, aspiring filmmakers and fans of his movies had a unique opportunity to gain insight into Pizzo’s life, acquiring valuable advice as they strive toward a career in filmmaking.\nBut he almost never got the chance to do what he loved. The United States was drafting for the Vietnam War, and Pizzo said he was sure he was going to be drafted. However, the government cut it off three numbers before Pizzo’s was due to come up. \nThough he knew he wanted to go into filmmaking, Pizzo was apprehensive about getting into the business because of the competitive nature of the industry – that is, until he received some fatherly advice.\n“I talked to my dad and my dad’s a doctor, and he said he fell in love (with medicine) when he was 12,” Pizzo said. “He said the greatest joy in life is to be able to work at doing something you love. He asked me what I loved, and I said ‘movies are the only thing I’ve ever loved.’ I was passionate about film from the time I can remember.” \nHis father suggested he take some film courses. The rest is history. \n“It was amazing,” said Ellen Dwyer, director of the Collins Living-Learning Center and adviser for the Board of Educational Programming. “It was a great opportunity for (students). It was kind of him to spend part of his evening with a group of students.”\nStudents asked Pizzo what advice he would give to up-and-coming filmmakers. It was simple: Go to Los Angeles.\n“Do everything you can to get on a set,” Pizzo said. “That is where the vast majority of mainstream media is. Absorb as much as you can.”\nHe said that it is possible to get into filmmaking in Indiana, but the limits that a smaller market poses make it much tougher than a big city like Los Angeles. Pizzo is proof that a filmmaker can survive in the business while living in Indiana, which is a confidence booster for junior Adrienne Thiery, an aspiring film writer herself.\n“It’s nice that he was from Bloomington,” Thiery said. “It gives me some hope. It’s cool that his movies are inspired from living here.”\nWith many people trying to make it and so many movies being produced, it is tough as a filmmaker or writer to produce something that has never seen before. Movies such as the “Batman” sequels were given as examples to show that even the distinguished Hollywood producers are struggling to come up with something new. However, Pizzo said that is what makes the writer stand out.\n“It has to be original,” he said. “You can’t figure out what the marketplace is. If you write authentically, from the inside out, what you care about and are passionate about, then I think you can stand out.”\nFor Thiery, that kind of advice was just what she needed to hear to squelch fears about her ability as a film writer.\n“I took the fact that the thing that will make you stick out is originality, right from the heart,” Theiry said. “That set worries aside because I love writing. It told me just write from the heart.”\nPizzo is working on a couple of projects. One is a movie about the Indianapolis 500, appropriately titled “Indy.” He said he and his colleagues are having cast issues with the film at the moment but hope to nail down an actress with the “magnitude of Reese Witherspoon or Rachel McAdams.”\nAnother project Pizzo has his eye on is a family television drama. The premise of the series is about a family who moves to a “generic college town” in the Midwest where the father takes over as the athletic director. The series will include inside jokes to people who know Indiana and a foul-mouthed basketball coach whom the athletic director must deal with. Sound familiar?\nAs the discussion ended, Pizzo stood up to leave and grabbed a snack on his way out, only to be stopped by a line of students who simply didn’t get enough during the hour-long session. \n“I thought he was brilliant,” said junior Kris Stephens. “I came in with negative connotations and was very speculative. But the more he spoke, the more I listened. He knows what he’s talking about.”