Film students looking for inspiration from the heyday of independent film are likely to fixate on Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Spike Lee, and Michael Moore, but the shining light they should not overlook or ever forget is the little train that could -- and did -- Gary Winick.
His later, most well-known films were not particularly groundbreaking -- "Charlotte’s Web" was a live-action remake, "13 Going On 30" was an update of "Freaky Friday," and "Tadpole" was something of a mash-up of "Rushmore" and "The Graduate" -- but as far as indie street cred and “keeping it real” in the independent film world was concerned, Winick was both an innovator and a giant.
He was groundbreaking in codifying the long-promised but rarely realized business model of offering gross participation to production crew members and he taught at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts for seven years, to enlighten and inspire a generation of independent filmmakers.
However, what Winick should be most honored and remembered for -- perhaps with a scholarship or filmmaking award at NYU or his alma mater the University of Texas -- is his perseverance and determination to finally make it.
Quentin Tarantino didn’t have to somehow scrape up the financing and then direct five feature films before finally being accepted to Sundance with his sixth feature as Winick did.
"Tadpole" was also pioneering because it was a narrative feature with name stars shot in MiniDV, and because it was the toast of the 2002 festival with one of the biggest sales that year of $5 million.
Maintaining the force of will to believe in himself for 15 years of privation between 1988 and 2002, and emotional strength to stay relevant and succeed in New York’s indie film scene, and finally become a luminary of that milieu, was indeed an heroic achievement.
This is not to say that Winick never thought about giving up his dreams and finding another profession.
But doing so would have meant missing out on someday being the King of Park City and a go-to director for romantic comedies, later in his career. As he recalled in one of many candid interviews in my book, “The Reel Truth: Everything You Didn’t Know You Need to Know About Making an Independent Film.”
“Right after 'The Tic Code' I wanted to give up,” Winick said. “It was actually at the Hamptons Film Festival in 1998 and ('Bridges of Madison County' screenwriter) Richard LaGravenese was there when I said, ‘I’m done. . . I’m giving up.’ I wasn’t proud of 'The Tic Code,' it wasn’t coming out, I wasn’t able to get any more work, I was raising money by myself for all my other films, and I was just thinking, ‘You know, my life isn’t going so well.’ I didn’t have a girlfriend at the time—all the personal stuff wasn’t there -- and I just thought: There’s got to be a simpler way or something else that I’d be happier doing.
