Tom Norton

tom@wktv.org

Kyle Misak is exhausted. It’s close to 5am, and he is at the end of an 18-hour day.

Yes, that’s 18 hours. Most people probably have been there at least once in their lives, but for the 23-year-old Michigan filmmaker, days like this are routine when he’s directing a movie.

Misak may have the stamina to endure such a grueling time commitment, but there’s one underlying force that pushes him to lengths like this; he has a vision to tell a story. Being a filmmaker means handling actors, crew, equipment, schedules, the rain and cold, the occasional equipment failure, missed flights, broken down cars, lunch, and whatever else that could possibly happen. If you are ever lucky enough to work on a film for any length of time, you come away convinced that Murphy is the god of filmmakers.

But Misak is having none of it. He and his crew, with persistence and dogged determination, are more than likely to beat Murphy at his own game.

And shortly after I wrote the above, I took a text message from one of Misak’s crew members saying the footage they shot on one of the days may have been damaged — digitally lost in the never-never land of ones and zeros; requiring that a full day’s work be redone.

But we digress. Misak pushes through everything like a Sherman tank with one eye on the goal that makes it all worthwhile and the other on avoiding the next difficulty. The goal is to bring to life the story bouncing around inside his head. Just get the story told in a convincing manner and along the way entertain the audience. It’s all a filmmaker wants to achieve.

Misak has always been tinkering with storytelling and filmmaking, but his ability to get the stories in his head to the screen took a big leap when he discovered a community media center in Wyoming, Michigan. WKTV (that stands for Wyoming-Kentwood Television) launched a digital cinema program in 2012, providing film production gear and facilities at no cost to filmmakers whose only objective is to tell a story.

“We were amazed that all of this stuff existed for us to use,” Misak said. “So often, you have to raise thousands of dollars to afford rentals, which many of us obviously can’t do, so many films probably don’t even get started. WKTV changed all that. I know it changed everything for me.”

But there has to be a catch, right?

There should be, but WKTV as a community media center exists to provide media creation equipment to users at no charge. If, as the saying goes, the best things in life are free, then maybe the tools that inspire a young filmmaker to push himself to his creative limits and along the way develop his storytelling skills falls into the category of “best things”. After talking with Misak, you learn that discovering places like WKTV is, for filmmakers, like discovering gold in the ground. It’s there and it’s yours, if you can go through the work of learning the equipment and crafting a story.

But as is often the case with stories like this, the danger is that it sounds easier than it really is. William Goldman, a veteran Hollywood writer from the sixties and seventies put it this way: “Filmmaking is work. Not like working in an office is work, but filmmaking is work like salt mining is work.”

There’s a good chance filmmakers like Misak, or any filmmaker for that matter, would agree.

If every diehard filmmaker has horror stories about equipment failures, permits denied at the last minute, or star actors who missed their flights, just as many are reminded what makes it all worth it.

“There’s a special feeling, a truly special feeling,” said Kevin Davis, a 31-year filmmaker in Wyoming who has been using WKTV’s cinema equipment for two years. “It comes over you in the editing room when you realize that it’s working; the scene is working.

“There’s the first pass, and it doesn’t work and you get that sick feeling. Then the real magic of editing gets to work and slowly the scene is cut, trimmed, shots moved around, and eventually, (but not always) out comes the scene that originally played in your mind. It’s a great feeling. It makes the bags under your eyes worth it,” he said with a wink.

Whether it’s Davis or Misak, filmmakers from all backgrounds are coming to WKTV and tapping a resource that’s never been available in West Michigan before: equipment. Nate Diedrich, one of the production coordinators for the cinema program at WKTV, was more direct: “Before we were here, it was only the rental houses. Some were here, others in Detroit and you had to have money, and unless it’s a corporate production, without money, the film didn’t get made.”

It’s possible that given WKTV’s 44-plus years in media creation, it is the perfect place for this next definition of community media.

But there’s a side benefit as well. Just as WKTV has focused these 44 years on making people more media-savvy, the digital cinema program has the distinct possibility of making filmmakers more story-savvy.

“Storytelling is a talent,” Davis said, “and like all talent, it’s a Carnegie Hall thing. How do you get there? Practice, and the talent will come through.”

Diedrich couldn’t agree more. “We’ve seen filmmakers graduate from the most basic ability to really being able to choreograph actors and camera and editing into poignant moments and crafting a story. We really believe that media can build community and storytelling is a powerful means to do that.”

WKTV believes that keeping the cost low encourages filmmakers to get started. However, while the fees may be low, WKTV insists that any storyteller seeking film production gear become “certified” on using that gear. Certification usually lasts no more than three hours depending on the type of equipment.

Now in its fifth year, WKTV’s Digital Cinema program can be reached by visiting the website at wktv.org or calling 616-261-5700.