Frank Monteleone
Frank Monteleone is an actor and producer.
His 2020 film American Reject won multiple awards on the festival circuit, and his two latest movies are currently in post production.
To watch the interview with Frank Monteleone, click the play button below (or click here to open the video player in a new tab/window).
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Frank Monteleone is a supporter of The COOL Cooperative.
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Mike Reflects
This was my last interview of 2023 & I think it was a pretty good note to end the year on.
I’ve talked before about how I like getting to explore different positions in the industry, especially those that don't really make the rounds on morning radio or late night talkshows.
The film industry has always fascinated me. When I was a kid, I wanted to be the next Steven Spielberg. To be honest, I'm not even entirely sure that I knew what Steven Spielberg did. But I somehow knew I wanted to do it.
Even after I moved away from looking at it as a career option, I still had that love of movies, as well as that passion, and curiosity, for the work that takes place behind the scenes.
When I started looking at colleges, and hadn't quite shaken the thought of going into the film industry, I went to a prospective student event to check out Columbia College in Chicago. One of the speakers was a faculty member in the directing program, and, even though it's been well over 10 years now, something he said really stuck with me.
He was talking about how, when he directed his first movie, he invited his relatives to the premiere. After the movie, they walked over to the cinematographer and said they loved the camera work. They walked up to the lighting designer and said they loved the lighting. And so on, until they got to him. They didn't offer him the same praise they offered everyone else. Instead, they merely said they had no clue what he actually did.
Exasperated, his reply was "All of it! I guided the entire production! I had a hand in every single thing you just said you liked!"
Like I said, I'm not sure I really knew what Steven Spielberg did. Even today, I'm not sure that I grasp the full scope of the responsibilities of a film director.
As that presenter at Columbia College went on to say, it's really easy to know where camera work starts and ends, or lighting, or sound, but it's not as obvious where the director fits into the puzzle.
"Producer" to me has always felt like that to the nth degree.
So, I always enjoy, and jump at the chance to have, conversations like this, where I can, as Frank put it at the end of the interview, really look at why people like him do what they do, as well as how they do it.