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 Keeping the goal in 'Sight'
Local filmmakers take step toward Civil War feature
By JULIE YORK COPPENS
Tribune Staff Writer
The filmmakers might have saved themselves some trouble on the set by casting, say, Shannen
Doherty or Robert Downey Jr. -- but they needed a horse.
"He was a problem," screenwriter Mike Kouroubetes said of Teddy, an equine actor from
Mishawaka who makes an appearance (more brief than originally planned) in the short film
"Second Sight."
"He broke the reins, he urinated, he defecated," recalled director Tim Richardson, who wrote and
produced the piece with Kouroubetes. "The second he saw he was even going to be tied to a
tree, he was not happy." Richardson added,
smiling, "That's where you find out the importance of having a contract so everyone knows what's
expected of them."
Hard lessons like this one are precisely why Richardson and Kouroubetes -- young, South
Bend-based filmmakers whose previous projects include the thriller "A:\Kill" and the Internet sitcom
"Nobody's Listening" -- decided to make "Second Sight" before attempting a feature-length film
dealing with the same subject. As Richardson explained, "We wanted to figure out the bugs
ahead of time." When they are ready to start shooting the Civil War drama "Kill the
Messenger," whose story picks up with several of the "Second Sight" characters later in the war,
they'll know at least one thing: Hire a horse wrangler.
In some other ways, though, creating "Second Sight" suggested to Richardson and Kouroubetes
that the more ambitious "Kill the Messenger" might not be the impossible dream it initially seemed.
Yes, they've concocted a sweeping story for the feature project, rife with action, treachery and
suspense; they've envisioned scenes of battle and pursuit involving enough horses to make their day
with Teddy seem like a ride on the mechanical pony at Meijer. They've chosen a historic setting
and dedicated themselves to portraying the events, language and look of the period as
accurately as possible. But now that they've got the short in the can -- it screens this weekend
at Indiana University South Bend, where Richardson works in the media services office -- he
and Kouroubetes believe "Kill the Messenger" is well within reach.
For one thing, they've got armies (literally) of volunteer extras.
"We had to do something that would be very low-budget," said Kouroubetes, who was
enrolled in a screen-writing class with Richardson when a random Bible passage put him in
mind of the Civil War. "I knew some Civil War re-enactors, and I knew they were the most
enthusiastic people you could find who would work for free."
Richardson participated in a re-enactment himself in preparation for the shoot, and both he and his
partner -- not big Civil War buffs themselves at first -- gradually found themselves immersed in the
history and mythology of the subject.
"One thing I found fascinating, as I learned more about it, was the synchronicity of the war,"
Kouroubetes said. "It's a war of coincidences and ironies."
The first battle, for example, at Bull Run -- the backdrop for "Second Sight," with our own
Indiana countryside standing in for Virginia circa 1861 -- began as a kind of spectator event before
becoming a blood bath. "Senators and society
matrons came out for a picnic, to watch the battle," Kouroubetes said. "So you've got a feast
for folks, and it turns out being a feast for crows."
In "Second Sight" (spoiler alert), the wife of a battlefield photographer is trampled by the crowd
of picnickers as they escape the suddenly horrific scene. Two other simultaneous plots unfold in the
course of the 30-minute film: A pair of brothers from Missouri, each with his own passionate
opinion on the conflict, slowly approach the front lines; and a disgruntled Union sergeant, played by
IUSB theater professor Randy Colborn, carries out a secret, deadly mutiny.
"I think it's cool, what they're doing," said Colborn, who's worked with Richardson and
Kouroubetes before. "They've made a lot of progress, even down to the writing. They're a lot
more organized. ... Their understanding of equipment and techniques has greatly improved,
and I think their vision has gotten much stronger."
Like the filmmakers, Colborn is optimistic that the feature-length "Kill the Messenger" -- a
project whose cost Richardson estimates at $30,000 -- can become a reality. But if it's going
to be an artistic success, the professor added, Richardson will have to get over the hurdle that
faces any low-budget filmmaker in a community with a limited talent pool. Acting in a film
requires expertise, energy and, above all, time, Colborn explained; finding skilled performers
willing to give whatever it takes to make a project work, for little or no pay, remains a
challenge for the Richardson Productions team.
"They do need to have a stable of people who are like-minded; that's the corner for them to
turn now," said Colborn, who's not sure the filmmakers, working under tight time pressure,
always make the most of the talent they are able to recruit. (Teddy, whose camera shyness
necessitated a last-minute script rewrite, would be an extreme example.)
Still, the professor gives Richardson and Kouroubetes credit for even contemplating the kind
of film that would cost a Hollywood studio untold millions to make: "They're thinking big, and
there's something to be said for that."
Yet unlike a lot of independent filmmakers, Richardson isn't dreaming of being discovered by
a Hollywood studio, making the next Brad Pitt blockbuster and buying a mansion down the
street from Jennifer Aniston. His only agenda with "Kill the Messenger," the director insisted,
is to get it made and to have people see and enjoy it, whether at film festivals, on the Internet
or at area screenings.
"I like to work on good projects, wherever they are," Richardson explained. "If I'm a P.A.
(production assistant) in Hollywood, I'm not creating. ... Here, I get to do what I want to do.
I'm not interested in being famous."
Soon, though, he'll have to find some horses who are.
Staff writer Julie York Coppens:
jyork@sbtinfo.com
219) 235-6281
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