Meet Kris Zane

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kris Zane. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kris, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

A person tends to plan their life out: go to college; get a good job; get married; have a family. And somewhere along the way, by all of the threads of one’s life weaving together, you find your purpose in life: the thing that makes you happy; the thing that makes others happy; the thing that benefits society. Not so with my life: First there was the messy divorce. Then the bright idea of moving to Mexico to open up an English school and meet a new wife. That resulted in not opening a school and not finding a wife; but in wasting a bunch of money and coming back to the states with my tail between my legs, more broken then before. Then a dead end job for many years. But here’s where the “purpose” kicks in: The owner of the company that I was working for dropped dead from a heart attack; and owner’s son decided to close the business, but not before giving everyone a sizable amount in severance pay. I decided that I’d use the money to go to film school — becoming a filmmaker being something that I had always wanted. The only problem: film school costs $50,000 — minimum. More than I had. The next best thing: maybe I can be an actor, and parlay my acting into filmmaking. I took an acting class, the first acting class I’d ever taken in my life. Strange to say, I had a knack for it. Then I took a screenwriting class, and found I had a knack for that to. So now I’ve been taking acting and screenwriting classes for about a year now, with a major part in a play, with several screenplays under my belt, and several short films I’m trying to develop. Was all of this random or planned by some universal intelligence? Who knows? But I’m having fun in the journey!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

The latest installment of the Joker franchise — Joker: Folie à Deux — lost millions at the box office: a $200 million white whale harpooned by the public. Critics of the studio system have been ringing the death knell of the studios for years, and I think that death has finally come, leading the way for a new breed of filmmakers.: Independent filmmakers with one hundred percent creative control. Terrifier 3, a slasher film with a $2 million budget that came out the same weekend as Joker, buried the competition. That’s where I want to be. That’s where I want to come in. To not make movies for the Harvey Weinsteins of the world, with their hands up. someone’s skirt; but to make great films, with great scripts, with great acting. I want to “have it all.” I’ve been attending acting classes, screenwriting classes, and making my own films with either my phone or an inexpensive camera. I’ve written several feature-length movie scripts and several short film scripts, all in which I can act in, edit on my computer, and compose the music for it myself. Gone are the days in which a hundred people work on a film. Now it’s a handful of people, giving a power to the people to change hearts, change minds, entertain, make people laugh, and a thousand other things. It’s going to be a fun ride!

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?

Many years ago I got a degree in English. This came about because I loved English literature; I loved the beauty of the English language. I loved pouring over everything from Jane Austin to J.D. Salinger. In the end, this degree did me little good. I found it wasn’t a ticket to writing a novel, teaching, or breaking into the movie business or theater. From an early age I was also a cinefile — loving, studying, and talking about movies ad nauseam. I came to know as much about movies as I did with English. This, again, did me little good. After many years, and as life had crushed me again and again, I decided I would learn as much about acting as possible. Learn at the feet of the greats: Konstantin Stanislavski, Lee Strasberg, and Stella Adler — or at least those teaching their theories. I studied the great actors: Marlon Brando, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, etc. And now all these three things: the love of the English language, the love of movies, and the love of acting, has put me into a position where I can write, direct, and act in my own movies! It will be a slow process. Now I have a part in a play. Now I have a bunch of screenplays in my portfolio. Now I am meeting with people to develop my own films. It’s going to be a fun ride!

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

I was on my way to becoming a college professor, about to earn a Master’s degree and on the path to my Phd. If you think Washington, D.C. is the place where dirty politics is king, you are wrong. It is in academia. Piss off the wrong person, and you’re out. And I pissed off the wrong person: the head of the English department. Down on the ground, kicked in the stomach. But I got up. There there was my marriage: my wife decided she loved someone else: Down on the ground, kicked in the stomach. But I got up. Then there was the bright idea to open up an English school in Mexico and find a new wife. Six months and $10,000 later, I had neither. Down on the ground, kicked in the stomach. But I got up. And now I’m in Los Angles, acting, writing scripts, trying to develop movies. But I’m frustrated. Things aren’t moving fast enough. I’m having little in the way of success. My obstacle is myself. I’m on the ground, feeling like I’ve been kicked in the stomach. But I haven’t been kicked in the stomach. I’m just WAITING to be kicked in the stomach, after failing so many times. So that I don’t even want to try anymore. How to overcome myself getting in my own way? Kick back! Never let them knock me down! No one wants to hire me as an actor, to buy my scripts, to cast me in a movie? I’ll develop my own damn movies; shoot it myself. Distribute it on social media. Hey, Life: You ain’t gonna kick me again!

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