When Todd Sklar came to MU as a freshman in 2002, he thought he wanted to be an actor. By the time he graduated in winter 2006 (BA, Theatre), his goals had changed. One of Sklar’s first classes was an English class taught by Ramsay Wise, graduate instructor of English and film studies. He enjoyed Wise as a teacher so much that he wanted to take every class Wise offered. That next class was a film class.
“The way Ramsay connected the human condition with film and visual storytelling was incredible,” says Sklar. “I had never looked at it that way before.”
Sklar admits he had always been a movie person but never recognized that entertainment is universal for American culture. “That is how we connect with things,” he says. It was during Wise’s class that Sklar recognized film as an art form, and he realized that story telling is an effective way to communicate ideas, thoughts, feelings, and to connect with communities. It was during this time that Sklar began to study theater and all of its elements instead of focusing solely on acting.
Sklar began collecting scenes he had written in notebooks that he called idea books. After two years, he had 20 idea books. When he was stuck in Columbia during winter break because of a snowstorm, he buckled down and began writing a screenplay.
“I took the college experience, fictionalized it, and dressed it up to make a movie,” says Sklar. “My influences were coming-of-age stories, and I was close enough to college life that I could pull it off.”
Sklar knew the actors he wanted in the movie — he worked with most of them in MU’s Comedy Wars — and he knew he wanted to film the movie at MU because it is a photogenic campus.
When he recently spoke to MU graduate instructor Kevin McFillen’s aspiring screenwriter’s class, he admitted that his script was long and detailed, but that was intentional. “I wanted to give the actors and crew a specific idea of the kind of movie I wanted to make. The script was my essay — this is what I want — but I told them ‘We are a team, and we will work together to figure it out.’ ”
He told the class that because he did know exactly what he wanted, it was easier to shoot the film. That way, if someone came to him with a suggestion, he could either say, “Absolutely no way will that work,” or “Yeah, that is a good idea.”
His film, titled Box Elder, is named for the codependent, loud, harmless bug that doesn’t do anything. Sklar compares the box elder bug to college students. The movie, he explains, is about “dudes being dudes.”
“Box Elder takes it cues from previous greats to become its own idea of comedy,” says Andrew James, a reviewer for Row Three.
When the movie was completed, Sklar took a unique approach by self-distributing it. Through his distribution company, Range Life Entertainment, Sklar and his team set out on a 34-city tour where they would screen the film in theaters while supplementing the screenings with grass-roots marketing. They also relied on social-networking sites to create excitement prior to their arrival. The tour was a success; they are currently on tour again, promoting other independent films in 40 cities.
Improvisation is a large part of Box Elder, and Sklar says that being in Comedy Wars at MU really helped him because he was influenced by many talented comedians.
“There are a lot of rules for improv,” says Sklar, “But, the first one is that the rules are debatable.” Sklar says if you have a good outline and you trust your actors, you just have to let the situation progress and that is what he did with Box Elder. He learned to never say ‘no’ in improv since that will end the scene, and the scene should always be progressing forward.
“That rule is the backbone for everything for me — in film and in life,” says Sklar. “It is easier to make a wrong decision and move forward to get closer to the right decision than it is to stand still and debate it or step back from it or to be afraid of the decision. This is the biggest lesson in my career so far. You always have to be moving forward.”
Sklar’s future is definitely progressing. He has several upcoming projects that will tap into his producer, writer, and director experience.
“My main focus right now is building up the distribution company so that it is a sustainable aide and service for filmmakers and an outlet for films and their audiences. “
by Laura Lindsey
College of Arts and Science
Posted September 2009
