IndieWire’s Messy Middle Panel at Sundance Was All About Embracing the Chaos of Filmmaking — Watch

Discussion of the filmmaking process often revolves around two stages: the very beginnings of a project, and the finished product that you see on the big screen. But that ignores the middle stages, where the majority of the chaos and excitement happens.

IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking set out to rectify at Sundance that with our panel on The Messy Middle, presented by Dropbox. The conversation, moderated by IndieWire Editor-in-Chief Dana Harris-Bridson. featured the directors of four of the festival’s most talked-about movies: Louis Paxton (“The Incomer”), Noah Segan (“The Only Living Pickpocket in New York”), David Alvarado (“American Pachuco: The Story of Luis Valdez”), and Stephanie Ahn (“Bedford Park”).

“If there’s a filmmaker that doesn’t have a messy middle, I don’t believe them,” Harris-Bridson said. “When you begin making a film there’s so much planning that goes into it, so much writing, and so much forethought. And obviously you do all that thinking with the end in mind. And then there’s everything else! There are so many versions of a film that exist before you get to the end, and it may or may not resemble what you started with. But you get there, and God willing, you’re happy with what you found.”

All four filmmakers spoke about how the middle stages of a film are where plans go to die. But they stressed that if you embrace the chaos, there are creative opportunities to be found.

“In production, surround yourself with really good people. It’s all about prep, because things will inevitably go wrong or change,” Paxton said when asked about his advice for filmmakers navigating the Messy Middle. “And some of that is wonderful, because you can capture some of these incredible moments where the weather does something you didn’t expect. If you do your prep, and even if you don’t end up shooting exactly what you thought you were gonna shoot, if you’ve made your decisions based on your script and the approach you have, you can throw it all out the window and apply it to whatever situation arises.”

Ahn, who began her career as an editor before making her debut as a writer/director on “Bedford Park,” explained that it’s not just individual movies that have Messy Middles — film careers do, too.

“I always intended to be a writer/director, I went to film school to pursue that. But there’s no income as you’re trying to be a writer/director, as we all know! So I was waiting tables, and then I fell into editing, which was a godsend because I love editing and I love working on other people’s projects.”

But she soon reached an impasse where she had to choose whether to enjoy a comfortable career as an editor or take the risk of starting over to make her own films.

“I got to a point where my editing career where I saw that it could really take off,” Ahn continued. “And if that happened, my writing and directing aspirations would probably be gone and that would be my life. And I just had to make that decision, whether I was gonna pursue that, or take a big chance and let that go and pursue writing and directing again. Which is when I started writing ‘Bedford Park.’”

Segan, who began his career as an actor before making his directorial debut on “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” explained that he embraced the messiness, as it meant that he was now in position to be making creative changes instead of just performing.

“I like the messiness. The idea of having prep, the idea of being able to go into a place with my partners and my colleagues every day and just talk about what we’re gonna do, it felt like a gift.”

Alvarado echoed that sentiment, saying that the chaos is a necessary part of making great art. Particularly in documentaries, when you often have no idea what movie you’re trying to make until you start making it.

“I love the chaos. As a documentary filmmaker, I’m there to have things thrown at me and try to adjust. The writing process is that you have to work with reality as it’s changing on the set and just enjoy it,” he said before laughing. “Maybe I’m just sick.”