Today we’d like to introduce you to Meryem Ersoz.
Hi Meryem, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I started out in film in an unconventional way. I pivoted from teaching film history, film theory, and literature at the University of Colorado-Denver into production when my daughter was born in 2000. I quickly realized that raising a baby wasn’t the most creatively stimulating activity, so I picked up a video camera. I needed a creative outlet, something I could pick up and put down with relative ease. So I walked around the Boulder open space with my camera and my baby in a front pack, shooting whatever wildlife revealed itself to me – snakes, hummingbirds, deer, of course.
I shot a bad documentary that will never see the light of day, but I learned a lot by finishing it. I was hooked and started working in commercial production soon afterwards. I started a small company with a business partner, making web videos. This was back in the day when video-to-web was just getting started, and it had a lot of technical quirks and issues to solve. We enjoyed that challenge. But within one year, we landed our first television broadcast. Taking our own television sports show from inception to broadcast was a game-changer for us, and it took our business to another level. There are always a few projects which grab you by the throat and force you to level up your skill set.
What started me in film was my interest in cinematography and playing with cameras and new gear, but I was always good at anticipating the needs of our company’s productions, so producing was also a natural fit. For many years, I did both these things. I’m still a tech junkie, and I think one of my strengths as a producer is my willingness to geek out over technology with my technical teams – camera, grip, lighting, audio. I can understand very intimately where they are coming from and what gear they need and why.
The second project that launched me in another new direction was a feature film, DEAR ELEANOR, which featured Luke Wilson, Jessica Alba, and two teenage stars, Lianna Liberato and Isabelle Fuhrman. It was the first film to engage our brand-new (at the time) 20% tax rebate program.
I was a production coordinator, and my company provided all of the Colorado production services. Although I had produced some of the larger feature films in Colorado, this production was next-level for our state, at the time. I had not worked at this scale or juggled this many personalities.
The line producer was a former Sony executive who hazed me,,,, errr, I mean… taught me everything he knew, all of the producer tricks. It wasn’t always pretty, seeing how the sausage was made, but I learned a ton. I’ve been producing feature films ever since, and it’s become the thing that I’m best known for, even though I still think I’m pretty good with a camera.
My most recent pivot, in 2016, was the purchase of a pursuit vehicle – a boom and camera gimbal mounted to a Porsche Cayenne Turbo or to our Polaris RAZR Turbo XP. We’ve used the Blackwing arm cars to shoot reality car shows, TV, docs, a ton of car and motorcycle commercials, of course. The oddest thing we ever shot with it was an Australian comedy duo biking on a tandem bicycle to the top of Mt. Evans (now Mt. Bluesky), a 14,000 ft. peak. The coolest thing that we ever shot was a Discovery Channel reality car show, where a team rebuilt the actual 1968 Ford Mustang GT from the movie BULLITT. The team re-created the iconic chase scene from the film, and we were the pursuit vehicle following the action and shooting it.
Filmmaking has brought me a ton of diverse experiences and some pretty unforgettable adventures.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Filmmaking is rarely a smooth road. A film shoot can appear to be run smoothly and successfully, but there’s always a lot going on behind the scenes to make it so, and crews don’t always see or appreciate how much work has had to take place before they’re signed to the project.
But these challenges are a big part of why it is fun. It’s not for the faint-of-heart, though, honestly. It is long hours. A feature film can take years to get off the ground. And years of chasing them through post-production and distribution, once they are finished.
I always joke about my minimum wage job. Even though I’m ultimately one of the higher-paid people on a set, for the number of unpaid hours and days and months and even years that I might put into a project, it’s a challenge to find the right balance of work/reward.
Some days, it is just nice to show up with our arm car, shoot the beauty shots, hand off the footage, and go home. Of course, it’s an arm car, so it takes a tremendous amount of maintenance, upkeep, testing, and preparation to keep the gear optimized and ready for the shoots.
I seem to thrive on taking on many of the hardest things you can do, as a filmmaker. It has evolved me in many unexpected directions, and I appreciate the opportunities for growth.. But easy? Smooth? Haha. Nah.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I think the thing that I have been most known for is producing feature films. It wasn’t something that I necessarily aspired to do, but I happened to discover, more by accident than by design, that I was good at it.
I like trying to visualize how the days would go, who would join my team, where we would shoot. I like the complex machinery required to make a film, and I like winding the team up and watching it go.
When I embark on a film, I’m often the prime mover or one of a small team of prime movers, so I’m the most relevant person to the project.
But what I most enjoy about making movies is the hand-off. There’s a moment in time where I move from being the most relevant person on the set to the LEAST relevant person on the set.
I get to sit back and watch this team, this village of all different kinds of creatives – the technicians, camera & audio team, make-up artists, wardrobe, art, PAs, transpo, all of it. This big, sprawling, diverse THING that I put in motion gains its own momentum and moves ahead on its own power. It is wonderful to sit back and behold all of the creative energy working together, towards a common goal —
That’s my jam.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I don’t really have any particular study guides that I use anymore for making movies. Every movie is itself a teacher, bringing together new techniques, new gear, new visual ideas, new stories, new teams of people. It’s impossible to exhaust the lessons that can be gleaned from making films.
Really, the best way to learn about filmmaking is to hang out with other filmmakers and talk shop. Also, study other arts. I was a musician before I was a filmmaker and that taught me a lot about pacing, caesura, tension and release. Every craft feeds into the art of filmmaking in some way, whether it’s music, art, design, fabrication, lighting, writing. You name it…it will show up in film in some form.
Filmmaking is a vast, expanding universe at all times. That’s the appeal.
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meryemersoz/
- Other: https://vimeo.com/blackwingasl
Image Credits
Christopher Roe Devon Wycoff
