We were lucky to catch up with Andrew van Baal recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Andrew with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
It 100% comes from authentic engagement with whatever it is I’m working on. I realized this was the essential ingredient quite young, when I got my first job at sixteen. I had no interest in what the job entailed or its end goals and consequently I had no work ethic for it. When I was there the minutes would tick by so slowly and all I wanted was to not be there. But when I’m in the opposite situation – when I care about what I’m doing – I can work tirelessly and endlessly. This is something I’ve struggled, and continue to struggle with, a lot in my life, because having grown up in the Midwest, and America in general I suppose, there’s this idea that work – any kind of work – is inherently virtuous and if you don’t like it or find it fulfilling you should just suck it up because you have to be constantly making money. I’ve had a lot of jobs like that over the years – jobs I had no interest in and did purely for the paycheck – and I’ve never been able to develop this universal work ethic that capitalism wants us to have. Having said that, I do think a work ethic is very important in life, but it’s essential to me that it be in service to things I’m authentically engaged with. That doesn’t mean every job I do has to have some deep spiritual purpose, it just means that the work has to be interesting to me on some level.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I’m a filmmaker and when I tell people that they always ask “what kind of films do you make?” I never have a good concise answer for that question because I’ve made narrative and documentary features and shorts, music videos, concert films, and occasional stray experimental things, and I’m not really sure what, if anything, they have in common. A certain way of perceiving and reflecting the world, maybe? I hope they have that because that’s usually what motivates me to make them.
A lot of them are collaborations with, or are about, musicians or other types of artists. I’m a musician myself – I play piano – and I think music is pretty much the greatest thing humans do, so it’s natural that I’m drawn to that and vice-versa in my film work.
That’s how my first feature “Largo,” from 2008, came about: I went to the titular club in Los Angeles (one of the greatest music and comedy venues anywhere in the world in my humble, totally non-biased opinion) as a fan of its roster of regular performers, eventually met the owner Mark Flanagan AKA Flanny, and we made the film together as a labor of love to capture the uniquely intimate performances that happened there by people like Fiona Apple, Zach Galifianakis, Jon Brion, and Flight of the Conchords (among many others).
My second feature “Feliz Año Tijuana” (“Happy New Year Tijuana”) also came about in an unexpected, although more intentional, way: as a response to not being able to raise enough money to make more conventional narrative films from the scripts I’ve written. Frustrated with that, I started thinking about other, cheaper ways to do it, and landed on improvisation and cinema verité techniques, which ended up really enriching the storytelling, giving it levels of depth and authenticity I never could’ve come up with on my own.
So I’m very open to exploring unexpected opportunities that open up, and at this point in my life and career I feel that’s how the best stuff happens: when you follow wherever your interests lead you, even when there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut path there. ESPECIALLY when there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut path.
I’m doubling down on that belief currently as I develop my next project, a Weird Western (this is an actual genre, look it up) with my long-time friend and collaborator Jacob Joseph Young AKA Ronnie Spice (his musical alterego). It’s a ghost story set in the lingering remnants of the Old West – old mining towns in Nevada and Arizona. I’ve been drawn to these kinds of places for a long time, so much so that I moved to one earlier this year to really immerse myself in the milieu.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I’m somewhat anti-advice in general because I think everyone’s interests, values, goals, strengths, weaknesses, etc. are different, and consequently what has worked for one person may not work for another. We all have to find our own paths and decide for ourselves where and how we thrive and vice-versa.
If I had to pick three qualities that have helped me the most though I’d go with perseverance, adaptation, and curiosity. Those are the things that have allowed me to move through life as an artist. Growing up I had no precedent for how to have an art-centered life; no one in my family or that I knew had one, so I’ve had to just figure it out on my own. And I’m still trying to figure it out; it’s a constant work in progress that involves a lot of trial and error, dashed expectations, and sacrifice. But if you can look at those things as being not necessarily negative, as just part of the ride, that helps.
Another thing that’s helped me is recognizing and accepting that my fundamental nature is that of an artist and I can’t be a different kind of person with a different nature. My primary drive will always be to explore and express my thoughts, ideas, and interests, whether it be through film, music, writing, or just having a conversation. So because of that I’m always going to be choosing certain types of experiences and courses of action over others (at least when I have any say in the matter), and though that can seem restrictive at times, it’s actually liberating because it gives the journey a sense of inevitability, of destiny in a way.
So I guess if I have any advice for someone who’s early in their journey, it would be to try to recognize what your fundamental nature is – who you are and what you’re about – and do the best you can to move your life towards people, places, and things that support that. It’s not always easy because there are a lot of forces in the world that are at best indifferent and at worst actively opposed to whatever it is you want to do, but in the words of Cormac McCarthy, “If you are really dedicated, you can probably do it.”
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
I’m glad you asked this question because I feel like in motivational interviews like this there’s often too much emphasis placed on self-determination. Of course that’s important but you’re not gonna accomplish anything in this world if you don’t have help (unless what you’re trying to accomplish is becoming a hermit).
For me first and foremost my biggest helpers have been my parents. I mentioned earlier that growing up I had no role models for living life as an artist. That’s true and consequently I never really felt understood in terms of the kind of life I wanted to have, but I’ve absolutely felt supported by them and I think that’s more important. Besides helping me with practical things, they’ve always encouraged following my dreams and have never tried to persuade me to do anything else, even in times when I know they’ve been very worried about my choices. I feel incredibly lucky that I was born to and raised by them and I know I wouldn’t have the fortitude to have followed the often chaotic and unstable path I’ve gone down without their support.
On a more professional level, Flanny has had a major impact on the trajectory of my film work. I was new to LA and only a couple years out of film school when he asked me to make the Largo movie with him. The club was very popular at that time, as it still is today, and people were constantly wanting to film there, which he always said no to; they had a strict no filming no photos policy. I don’t really know why he made an exception for me, but it was a gift that has kept on giving: since then he’s recommended me for so many projects with so many great artists, I can’t even imagine what my body of work would look like without him. I probably wouldn’t even be in LA still. So I feel very lucky to have had him in my life as well, and I know I’m far from the only person who would say that; he’s connected many like-minded artists in LA over the years and many of them have gone on to great success.
If you’re fortunate enough to have an advocate like Flanny it can make a massive difference in the opportunities you get. And to bring it back to what I mentioned earlier about the best things happening when you just follow your interests, that happened because I just went to Largo as a fan. I had no intention of it leading to anything other than getting to see some great shows. And it felt like home in a way; I felt comfortable there, among kindred spirits. I think when you have that kind of feeling you’re where you should be and good things will always spring from it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://andrewvanbaal.onfabrik.com/
- Instagram: avbclub
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrew.vanbaal.1/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@avbclub
- Other: https://vimeo.com/andrewvanbaal
