Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Alonzo.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Nick. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am a self-taught independent filmmaker born and raised in Chicago. I always wanted to make films when I was younger but didn’t get serious about until high school. I started out making short LEGO stop-motion animation films and also loved creative writing, but I didn’t truly see myself as an actual filmmaker until I watched Sam Raimi’s THE EVIL DEAD when I was in my sophomore year of high school. Not only was I amazed of how effective the film was, but I was really inspired by the fact that the film was made on such a small scale but became this huge cult classic. I immediately told myself that I wanted to make my very own film but I wasn’t sure how I exactly I was going to pull it off due to my lack of experience and resources. I then decided to start renting movies from the library and conducting my own research on filmmaking and watching interviews from filmmakers that I admired.
In 2013, during my senior year of high school, I went out and made a low budget short film called CUT which was a silent black and white horror comedy about an office employee who gets a papercut and bleeds to death. I made the film on $30 and shot the film in a small office space at my mom’s job with only myself and the main actor of the film. The short film then screened at the 2013 CineYouth Film Festival at Columbia College which allowed myself to network many different filmmakers, students, and programmers.
In 2014, after I graduated high school, I wasn’t completely sure if I wanted to attend a film school, I was going through a lot of personal life obstacles and thought it would just stress me out some more if I went to an expensive college and not be able to keep up with tuition. I then chose to attend community college in order to get my general classes out of the way and possibly transfer to another school and study film history or editing. Even though school at the time was the main priority, I had this sudden urge to go out and make a feature film, despite the fact that I didn’t think I could pull it off due to what was going on with my personal life, my financial status, and my lack of experience of making films. However, I didn’t let these things get in my way and I ended up making SHITCAGO, a black and white dark comedy that follows a day in the life of a Chicagoan and the random characters they run into throughout their day. The film was released in late 2015 and despite the film being made on about less than $500 and the final cut having minor technical goofs, I was really proud and amazed with how far I was able to get the film out there. I screened the film at many art spaces in the city such as Comfort Film, Pilsen Outpost, and Transistor Chicago, and the film also got a lot of great press including an article from Time Out Chicago.
In 2016, after being stressed out with doing all the work for Shitcago including post-production, marketing, and promoting, I decided the best thing to do was to make a second feature film using the money I got back as a Pell grant from the college I was attending. This film ended up being THE ART OF SITTING QUIETLY AND DOING NOTHING, a dramedy about a young man who goes on a psychedelic adventure in the woods after being dumped by his long-time girlfriend. At first, I thought making another film with some experience would be a lot easier, but I was completely wrong. The film went through many production issues including having to reshoot the entire film almost a year later after starting production. Though it was becoming one of the most stressful projects I’ve ever worked on, I became less stressed out about the film after being contacted by filmmaker Jack C. Newell and Rebecca Fons about a film event they were curating titled DESTROY YOUR ART. The idea of the event was for filmmakers to make a short film and then destroying it after it screens in front of a live audience once. I was honored that I was invited to partake in the event and it really helped me stay focus and inspired to finish THE ART OF SITTING QUIETLY AND DOING NOTHING. In the end, the cast, crew, and myself managed to finish the film early 2018 and premiered it at The Nightingale. The film received a great response and press including a lengthy but amazing review from Cine-File Chicago.
Today, I’m still not thinking clearly but I started production on two more feature films that I hope to release back to back in 2019. The first project being DECAF DON, a satire about an unemployed teacher who reconnects with a former student of his the night before a big job interview. Finally, the second project is a “stoner noir” film titled THE BIG ZIP. Which tells the story of an aspiring rap artist and drug dealer named Oz whose life becomes more complicated after a drug deal goes wrong.
The overall plan I have right now is to continue to make microbudget films and finish school, but I hope to make films on a bigger scale in the near future and I do plan to make them locally and represent Chicago the way that I feel that it needs to be.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely been hard over the last few years. One of the biggest struggles with my filmmaking is being able to balance it with my personal life. I work and have worked many jobs in the past which took a lot of time from filmmaking and school is another factor, because I have dropped classes or failed a class or two in order to work on a film. I also have a four-year-old son so being able to balance all of this with filmmaking is honestly surprising to me. I will say that even though that there has been obstacles in the way, I always try to cope with them and see them as a way to push myself mentally and creatively. One of the reasons why I pushed to make SHITCAGO was because when my son was born, I felt that it was a sign to actually go out and make a film and not make excuses even if you’re life drastically changes.
Flicks by Nick – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I mainly focus on directing, writing, and editing. At first, I was doing everything but as time went by, I was able to build new relationships with people who wanted to work with me because they were fans of my work. I realized that as I continue to make films, I meet more and more artists, musicians, and actors who I enjoy sharing ideas with and end up working with them. It’s a great feeling too because a lot of the people who I meet are starving artists like me and super talented and inspiring.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
One of my proudest moments in my career was being able to participate in the DESTROY YOUR ART event. Being able to be a part of an event that also feature many other talented and successful filmmakers was something really amazing because I was being recognized as an actual filmmaker and for the longest I felt that I was different because I was making stuff with little money and didn’t think I would even get far with my work.
Contact Info:
- Website: flicksbynick.com
- Email: nickalonzo@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/nickalonzo.png
- Twitter: twitter.com/gummoalonzo
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