On the day after the year’s first appreciable snowfall, down the street from the prominent decorative flame outside of Potawatomi Bingo and Casino, a different flame smoldered in the Harley-Davidson Museum’s spacious “Rumble” room.
As I walked in for the 11th Firestarter Films Event, I caught the tail end of video footage of unexploded ordnance being detonated in Afghanistan, set to Florence and the Machine’s jaunty pop song “Dog Days Are Over.” As footage unrolled of plastic explosives being used to detonate a roadside land mine, the song faded out, the lights rose, and the evening’s ringmaster, Firestarter founder Shawn Monaghan, encouraged the crowd to take a break before the next round of screenings began.
Drinks were served while a DJ Sean Ryan, named one of Milwaukee Magazine’s “Top 36 Milwaukeeans” in 2009, turned out hip-hop grooves on a pair of turntables. The crowd dispersed and immediately began to chatter, discussing the short films they had just seen and, in many cases, what they themselves were working on. Business cards and script pages could be seen changing hands on a regular basis. This was one of several breaks designed not just for trips to the bathroom, but for filmmakers in attendance to meet similarly minded people and hopefully find contacts to help to get their own movies made.
“People can pick and choose who they want to talk to,” says Monaghan. “We never run out of films and filmmakers. I’m constantly networking.”
It’s easy to see his point. Personable and laid back, Monaghan initiated the first Firestarter Films Event in November, 2008, almost through sheer force of will and perseverance.
“I would see other events around the city where films were shown,” he says, “but those weren’t a good representation of what’s out there, and they weren’t networking events.”
To that end, he approached local businesses looking for a venue to showcase both his short films and those of his rapidly growing circle of filmmaking friends. If an attendee to a Firestarter screening doesn’t have a connection to Monaghan, they usually do by the end of the night. Bay View’s Alchemist Theatre eventually bit at his proposal.
“Whoever showed up, we threw whatever they had on the screen,” says Monaghan.
The goal was simple: “Bring it to Firestarter, get exposure, get feedback.” Attendees could view the movies presented and leave comment cards for the filmmakers, all while still having access to the creators themselves. The initial event was successful, and Monaghan was asked to come back. In subsequent iterations of the roughly bi-monthly event, the Firestarter screenings quickly outgrew the venue, necessitating rotating the audience in and out of the screening room in shifts. Two venue changes later, the Harley-Davidson Museum became the screening’s current home, providing a space for both a large audience and the networking potential that Monaghan sees as crucial.
“If you’re proactive,” he says, “you’re going to meet somebody.”
As founder and de facto mastermind of these screenings, “proactive” describes Monaghan. The “Firestarter” name dates back to the student newspaper he founded while attending UW-Washington County, where he eventually earned his Political Science degree before a long stint in the military. (When I asked him about who shot the footage of destroying enemy explosives in Afghanistan, he smirked and said, “I did.”) After trying to get his work out there, including writing and self-publishing a novel, Monaghan became more serious about filmmaking, an avid interest since he bought his first Mini-VHS camera with Milwaukee Journal paperboy money at age 12.
“I had a group of filmmaker friends and thought, ‘We did the Firestarter newspaper, why not do Firestarter Films?’”
While slightly more curatorial than in the early days – there is now a submission process – the 11th version of Firestarter’s screening event featured a typically diverse roster of movies. Films screened ranged from music videos to horror spoofs to the demonstration reel of Russ Scott – who jokingly claimed to be “one of the only two professional stuntmen in the city of Milwaukee.” Monaghan proudly told me about the wide range of submitted material, from flash-based animation and YouTube videos to special effects demo reels.
This night’s offerings were no different. Kyle Richards screened the opening sequence of his gleefully named Amateur Monster Movie. Monaghan himself screened both his Afghanistan footage and the political satire, Final Census. Zack Both’s horror movie, One by One, had a cast and crew composed entirely of high school students. Patrick Beck enlisted both his own son and some neighborhood kids in making the explosion-happy short, I-Mod-ination, as an excuse to show off some new CG-effects equipment. UWM film student Nick Eason screened his final project, the black-and-white short Voice Notes, to an appreciative audience.
“This is the first audience outside of class I’ve shown it to,” said Eason. He cited the appeal of something like Firestarter to an aspiring filmmaker. “It’s free, and it’s guaranteed to get an audience. A lot of good people, a lot of good connections. I’m interested to see what people outside of film class think.”
Nick Michalak was a veteran of previous Firestarter Events, having screened his film Dead of Night in January. He was in attendance tonight to screen the trailer for his in-progress film P.I. Dangerous and his collaboration with local heavy metal act HEMI. The Michalak-shot music video for their song “Fire in the Sky” served as a plug for their work scoring Michalak’s The Fixer, which has been years in the making (independent filmmaking works on its own timetable).
“We had been trying to get the film screened in regular film festivals,” says Michalak, “and we realized that right here we’d be in front of an audience that would appreciate it.” The Michalak-HEMI hook-up is precisely the sort of thing Monaghan had hoped Firestarter could facilitate.
“At the time we did it, it was such a different area to venture into,” says HEMI’s Trent Zuberi. “It’s such a great opportunity to get into this whole new area of entertainment, expand our base of reach through film.”
“It’s starting to be hardcore,” Clive Promhows says of Milwaukee’s burgeoning film community. “We’re ready to blow this place apart.”
Promhows’s own Live Artists Studio hosted several Firestarter Events before they expanded to the Harley-Davdison Museum. “We have faith in the community. We want to take it to the next level,” adds audio engineer David Conner.
That’s not just talk: Conner and Promhows plan to soon open Loft 117, a state-of-the-art recording studio that emphasizes emerging new media and HD technologies. “It’s primal,” says Promhows. “It just takes talent.”
The screening culminated with their usual 2-Minute Film Competition, (very) short films based on a broad theme. This time it was “Lake Michigan,” with top prize going to Jacob Nelson’s Gotta Save the Princess, which culminates in Nelson taking a dive into Lake Michigan (“Now you know that jumping into [the lake] pays off,” quips Monaghan).
The evening was over. The movies presented varied wildly in both quality and presentation, but the city’s creative community had one more night where its output could be viewed with few filters and barriers. Monaghan sees the Firestarter Events not just as an outlet for his own ambitions and those of his friends, but a genuine stepping stone for filmmakers. He cites Quinn Hester’s festival favorite Framework and Milwaukee Film Festival Jury Award-winner Mary’s Friend by John Roberts as Firestarter-connected success stories.
“If they’re taking this seriously, Firestarter is a good opportunity for getting in front of a large audience, says Monaghan. “They can come back, hone their craft, and gain a fanbase.”
With that, the flame was extinguished, and out into the cold Sunday evening went the move watchers and the movie makers, ready to plot their next move.
