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TORRANCE, CA: Local Author Turns Own Novels into Films Interview with Lia Scott Price Conducted by Mike Rivera (Bell, CA Freelance Journalist), 2005. Copyright Lia Scott Price Productions Inc. Q. So why Guardian Angels? A. Why not? Q. Serial Killer and Vampire Guardian Angels? That's f'd up. A. Yep. Very. Q. HHhhhhmmm....slicing and dicing....tasty. A. The prop blood sure is. Q. What's it made of? A. Karo syrup and red food coloring. Q. Sounds yummy A. You'd be surprised. Q. Annnyyywayyy...so what made you decide to produce your own films yourself as opposed to finding a production company to do it for you? A. Sometimes the only way one's book can become a film is to self-produce it. Q. And that's exactly what you've done. A. I've always had a do-it-yourself mentality. I wanted to become an author, so rather than wait for a big publishing company to do it for me, I've self-published my own horror/sci-fi novels. Instead of waiting for a production company to turn the novels into films, why not form my own production company and do it myself? I'd prefer not to wait for people to do it for me. And there are so many resources out there to produce and distribute your own DVDs. I can either hire professionals or learn to do the work myself, such as editing. I find professionals who can do the things I can’t do yet, like sound mixing or full scoring. Q. What is your goal? A. To bring my novels and characters "to life". Film is the perfect way to do it. Q. What do your fans think of your characters? A. I've had one fan comment that "The idea of Guardian Angels that have gone bad is awesome!" and that they are "tired of the same stagnant vampire theme." Q. How do you come up with your ideas? A. I believe that nothing is normal. Everything has a parallel universe or a f’d up side to it. I just let my imagination run and question everything. Turn the normal into the abnormal. People have darker sides to them that we don’t know about. Explore the darker psychological side of humanity, which I do with my serial killer characters, and explore the supernatural. I use my experiences and emotions and things I have gone through that were so f’d up I had to write about them, or somehow fictionalize them. It’s a great way to vent. Writing about f’d up stuff is my therapy. Oh, and also, the truth is I was dropped one too many times on my head as a child, and I buried my dolls under the house….that should have given an early hint of thing to come. Q. Buried what where? A. SShhhhhh. Don’t tell anyone. Q. OK…moving on, how did you come up with your the concept for your characters? A. I was listening to a priest in church talk about how Guardian Angels are good and how they helped people and the first thing I thought was "Oh really?". The hairs on the back of my neck began standing up. Q. You have a lot of pent-up issues, don't you? A. I'm a recovering Catholic. Two words: Guilt and Pain. Q. OOOkkkkaayyyyy. A. I like to f--k up the ordinary things in life. Q. Why did you choose Torrance as a location? A. Why not? I use every resource around me and I write my films around the setting I'm in. I take a look at what I have available first and build the script around it. Q. Did you go to film school? A. No. My film experience has been hands-on. I got my screenwriting experience from writing scenes and dialogue for an acting class. I once wrote 3-5 minute scripts for 16 actors a week. That actually helped me build dialogue for my novels. I started giving the actors scenes from my novels to act out as well. Then I started turning the scenes into 5-minute film shorts and airing them on Cable TV. So from there, I decided to move into feature films. I also learned how to operate camera and other equipment and edit films from a local Cable TV station. Q. So has there been any local press on you? A. I was featured in Torrance CitiCable's Channel 3 Spotlight news. The Easy Reader once did a feature on one of my novels I wrote with a co-author. For more press, you can see my press page on my web site liascottprice.com. Q. Do you act in your films? A. Yes. I star in "The Guardian". Q. An author acting in her own films based on her own novel. Interesting. A. What the heck. Why not? The acting bug bit me. Oh, and I also put my own music into my films. Check out my music on Cdbaby.com. Q. So do you do your own marketing and PR? A. Yep. Q. So you're self-published, self-produced, self-funded and self-publicized? A. Bingo. Q. Damn. A. Yeah. Damn. Don't forget self-medicated. Oh, and sometimes I like to hold production meetings in a playground. The swings are fun. Q. Uh-huh. OK. Moving on.......What drives you? A. I am completely driven by my passion for filmmaking and writing, and creating something I can be proud of Q. What is your filmmaking philosophy? A. You got to do what you love, and make things happen for yourself. You have to have a passion for something. When you want something done, sometimes you just have to do it yourself, find the right people to help you, and make sure it gets done. But you have to make it happen. Q. What's the hardest part of filmmaking? A. Perseverance, and finding the right people to hire or the services to work with. You have to have a positive attitude and if something doesn't seem to be working, find another way to accomplish your goal. I'm very exacting when it comes to my goals and what I want to accomplish. I only work closely with goal-oriented, positive people, mentors, and professionals who actually get things done, who don’t whine, complain gossip or badmouth, who know how to meet deadlines, don’t procrastinate, who act in a professional manner, and who have a follow-through capability because everything I do has a purpose. Either you can work with me, or you can't. Don't work with me if you can't follow through. I avoid slackers, naysayers, cynics, and negative people like the plague. Surround yourself with positive energy and motivation. Q. That’s great advice. A. Professionalism and respect---that is what I value in any relationship I have, whether it’s personal or professional or with people I meet, work, and interact with. I keep a very close and private inner circle. Q. Anything else you want to say? A. It's up to you to make things happen for yourself. Don’t just sit there and wish you could have done something with your life. Be somebody, but be professional about it. Start taking steps to working towards your goals, even if it’s just a few minutes a day. Find a way to do something. Run yourself like a business. If you say you are a producer, start producing. If you’re a writer, start writing. If you can’t get an acting gig, create your own movie and star in it. Take control of your own image and destiny. Be creative, but also learn the business end of how to get your product out there, and how to self-promote. It’s not shameless self-promotion—that’s what the cynics would say. It’s sharing with the world what you just accomplished.  4733 Torrance Blvd. #866, Torrance, CA 90503 310-940-1282 |