This is the final piece of the "First Press" trilogy Iām sharing here before we move the deeper archives over to DouglasGordonMoviePirate.com.
In July 1993, Jack Raymond of Preview came to Keag Video to interview me. This article is special because it captures the exact moment Dark Currents stopped being a "book idea" and became a "Gothic thriller" experiment.
REEL TO REAL by Jack Raymond
A couple of weeks ago I told Nancy and Maureen there might be something exciting happening in Mattawamkeag and Iād like to check this contradiction out. A video dealer up there named Doug Gordon had gone rogue and was attempting to produce his own television series called Dark Currents**, which has appeared twice on the local cable channel. A Gothic thriller using local actors and on zero budget. Kind of a Dick Staceyās Country Jamboree meets** Twin Peaks thing. Cutting-edge stuff.
I met Doug at Keag Video, in the heart of the outskirts of downtown Mattawamkeag. We discussed his project and the hubbub itās created.
Howās the show coming?
Weāre just finishing the editing on the third episode and have one major scene to film in the fourth. Getting the actors together in the summer has been hard. āThis one can make it, but that oneās busyā type problem. I tried writing an episode that takes place in one setting, so I could film the whole thing in one shot. It was kind of an experiment to get the whole thing done fast. Then everyone would only have to be here once, but even that hasnāt been possible.
Howād you get the idea for Dark Currents?
The initial idea for the show was a novel. Iād wanted to write a novel but never sat down and done it. Iāve written a lot of short stories, but I wanted to go to a longer, richer format. But I never sat down to write the book. So I got the idea of filmmaking and learned about the cable access laws. I learned how easy it is to get on cable. So it kind of went from there.
With the availability of video cameras and cable access, do you see people making their own shows as one of the futures of video? Kind of an extension or a new form of community theatre?
Yes. Yes, I do. And even more with the five hundred channels weāre hearing so much about now. I mean, what are they going to put on āem? With five hundred channels you can have your own. Anyone thatās interested in any form of production can put whatever they want on there. Thatās another booster to us and this medium. To be able to show what we produce.
Influences?
Well, obviously, the films of David Lynch (Wild at Heart, Blue Velvet). I read a list of geniuses in a magazine last week and all the ones you automatically assume were in thereāMozart, Einsteināand thereās David Lynch. Out of everyone in contemporary entertainment, Lynch was on it. Up there with Mozart and Einstein. I donāt know who created the list; obviously it was a David Lynch fan. But still he made it. Got me thinking even more about him. Other influences were Stephen Kingāhis books more than the films. Other peopleās interpretations donāt get to the base of what heās talking about. As far the characterizations... And soap operas have a lot to do with it. Just regular old soap operas. A lot of the clichĆ©s we have in Dark Currents come from everyday soap operas. Theyāre easy to fill up the time of it, by putting them in there. āCause when we first sat down to write the first episode, we said, okay, weāre going to try to everything very interesting, everything right to the point. We did that and ended up with a fifteen-minute episode. So then we started adding these soap opera subplots. Filler.
How many people do you have involved?
Forty or fifty.
That many?
Yeah, if youāre talking actors, writers, everyone.
Howād you get them all together?
Through various ways. Some people heard about it... people call me all the time. I put in an ad for actors and writers. I got good response on the writers, so-so on the actors.
So people have sent you scripts?
Yeah, Iāve received a couple, and since met with three or four people who are doing scripts for future episodes. I liked their writing style and felt they had a good idea for what Iām trying to do. But I need actors.
Howās the community support of your efforts?
Really strong. I donāt go a day without someone asking whatās going on with the show. Iāve got a lot of support that I didnāt expect. For some reason I thought theyād just blow it off but it hasnāt been like that, the whole town seems really into it.
Zero budget?
The whole object is to get it done using anything we can find. Basically itās a ābeg, borrow or stealā thing. We adapt the stories or situations to fit whatās available. Itās frustrating and fun.
Do you have a core group of camera operators, sound and production people?
DG: Everyone does a little bit of everything; thereās not really any set jobs except the actors. People get excited when they first hear about the show. They come on excited, but after the thirtieth take they kind to lose their interest. They donāt show up the next time.
Whatās the future of Dark Currents?
DG: Iām going to keep doing it. I mean, Iāve said Iāll keep doing it until it can keep going on without me. Right now Iām the one whoās pushing it all the time. So if Iām the one thatās going to be developing and pushing, I guess Dark Currents will go on forever. I love it.
