Photo Courtesy of Filmmaker Study Hall
Filmmaker Study Hall meetup at Falcon Bowl
Filmmaker Study Hall meetup at Falcon Bowl
Local Milwaukee filmmakers are building community and collaborating with one another through Filmmaker Study Hall. The space, both in-person and online, is where film folks of all ages and any level of expertise may connect, share skills and work on projects together without focusing on commercial pressures. Filmmaker Study Hall hosts weekly meetups, usually on Sundays and Wednesdays, utilizing a community group chat for communication.
Friends and filmmakers Nat Repinski, Andy Roo, Sasha Byrne, Jennavieve Growel, Samantha VDH and George Sande created Filmmaker Study Hall. Many of them met through film school at UW-Milwaukee, or through previous involvement in creative collective and concert series Midcoast MKE.
“I wanted to get more into the film scene, and I just didn’t know how as a non-student,” Growel recalls. “Community has always been a big thing for me, because it combines my two favorite things: people and filmmaking.”
Keep Filmmaking Alive
She emphasizes that having community is essential to keeping the art of filmmaking alive. “Unless you’re a super-talented person who can be the camera person, director, actor, editor…it’s hard to fill all those titles and make something cohesive and good.”
Growel envisioned having a group chat with like-minded filmmakers where one could easily find a crew or do a casting call for a project. She and several friends coalesced and began meeting weekly at Rochambo on Milwaukee’s East Side.
“Several people would have scripts they were working on and we’d read through and give feedback,” Roo remembers. “We’d also discuss how we give direction or how we do lighting or editing.”
“It was part social event and networking as well, because we were all sitting and getting to know one another,” Repinski adds. “There’s been people who have joined our group where you see them on social media and really want to get to know them but you’re too afraid to reach out, but this is a chance to get to know them in-person.”
Photo by Jennavieve Growel
Filmmaker Study Hall poster
Valuable Skills
VDN notes, “As someone who joined the group rather than helped create it, it introduced me to what is now without a doubt my best friend group. Like Vieve was talking about, as someone who did do it all for all my stuff, it kind of almost killed me (laughs). Yes, film school teaches you a lot of valuable skills, but half of what you’re paying for is the community of people.”
In fact, members of the collective worked together on Carter Breeden-Villacorta’s upcoming film, Axe Gorilla Massacre.
After many months of having weekly meetups, Filmmaker Study Hall had their first large in-person meetup last August at Falcon Bowl, and it drew quite a turnout. “That went amazing,” Roo reflects. “We met a lot of people who had never actually done any film work yet on a collaboration level.”
“I finished the shot list for our film there,” Repinski notes. “It was laid-back, and a lot of people were meeting each other for the first time.”
In the community group chat, filmmakers may not only find collaborators but also pass on opportunities such as upcoming film festivals to others. Once an interested individual joins the community group chat, they are added to the chat roster, which lists each filmmaker’s skill sets and interests, which can include acting, directing, animation, cinematography, gaffing, editing, voiceover work and more. The roster currently has nearly 50 folks.
Repinski concludes, “This space is a great way to keep up with your practice and with what other people in the city are doing as well.”
Their next meetup is this Saturday, Feb. 8 at Zao MKE Church from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Follow Filmmaker Study Hall on Instagram @mkefilmstudyhall for updates.
