Interview: Zane Borg of ‘The Library Boys’ on his first Feature Film

Zane Borg is a young Writer, Director and Producer based in Melbourne, Australia. He is the founder of Pancake Originals, a production company with the mission of creating and sharing personal stories. His debut feature film, The Library Boys, is slated for release in 2021.

indieactivity : Give a background of your personal experience with the story, writing, production and marketing?
Zane Borg : The Library Boys is a personal retelling of my own experiences in high school that I wrote when I was 19 and missing some of my old friends. At 21 years old, it became my debut feature film as a writer and director and the biggest challenge I’d yet to take on in my life. We’re now in post-production and in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for completion of the film.

indieactivity : Did you start writing with a cast (You or any) in mind?
Zane Borg : In writing the script, I would always envision myself and the actual people I was writing about in the scenes. That’s why the lead character names are the same as the actual people they’re based on. I never bothered coming up with new names initially. The intention was always to change them one day, but that just never happened.

Related Story : Coming of Age Feature Film “The Library Boys” launches Kickstarter campaign

indieactivity : How long did you take to complete the script? (Do you have a writing process?)
Zane Borg : The script took about two years from start to end but that’s mostly because there was never any actual writing process in place. It was always my secondary project. I’d have some serious short film idea I’d work on from 9 to 5 all day, then this was the one I pulled out at 2am when I just wanted to write something that made me laugh. Over time I had enough scenes that I realised I could piece them together into a feature. Only then did it become my main priority, and it took about a month of refining and gluing the scenes together to find the first draft.

indieactivity : When did you form your production company – and what was the original motivation for its formation?
Zane Borg : I started Pancake Originals just before production began on this film. The name came from an inside joke between me and my friends the movie is based on, where we had to say “Pancake” if we wanted the other person to know we were telling the truth. Clearly we had some trust issues. But I think any good movie comes from a place of honesty, so it seemed like a good fit to me.

indieactivity : What was the first project out of the gate?
Zane Borg : The Library Boys is the first project for Pancake Originals. It sets our tone early as a company interested in telling personal stories. I hope to use the success of this film to give opportunities to less privileged voices to tell their stories. I’m very fortunate that I can spend my life savings on a movie and still have a place to sleep and food to eat. A lot of people aren’t in that position and I hope to nurture their creativity in the future.

indieactivity : During production, what scene (that made the cut) was the hardest to shoot?
Zane Borg : There’s a long party sequence in the film that we shot over two nights, and the second day still gives me nightmares. To set the scene, it’s the middle of winter and freezing, I had about 4 hours sleep the night before, out of 15 scheduled extras only 2 showed up, which means I have a whole scene that needs to be rewritten because it doesn’t work with so few extras, everyone is late because of a traffic jam, and the neighbours next door decide that night was the right time to test out their new semi-truck (particularly in reverse).

But with 5 scenes to shoot there was little time to worry. We got creative, our massive house party became a chilled get together, I took my lunch in a private room so I could rewrite the new scene (and sneak in some deep breaths) and at 4 AM we finally wrapped and the footage was in the can. I slept like a baby that night.

indieactivity : What works better in this latest production that mightn’t have worked so well in the last one you did?
Zane Borg : Before this film, I was only making shorts which is a completely different ball game. But back then I was always a control freak and tried to wear too many hats. I thought I could write, direct, light, camera op, edit, and compose, everything. That’s not an option on a feature, there’s just too much to be done, so I learned how to rely on others and trust them to do their job. You’re only as good as the people around you, and thankfully the people around me were great.

indieactivity : You produced and directed the film, what measure of input did it take to don these hats?
Zane Borg : Ideally, you don’t want to be a producer once you get on set. That means having everything planned to a tee before day one of production. I spent six months breaking down the whole production, scheduling the days, prepping the call sheets, confirming with locations, securing permits and release forms, just so I wouldn’t have to think about it during the shoot.

I also did a lot of my directing beforehand in our extensive rehearsals, finding the performance with the actors before stepping foot on set. That meant I could trust that they knew what to do if I had to put my producing hat back on sometimes. It becomes a real balancing act but for a control freak like me I couldn’t imagine making movies any other way.

indieactivity : Is there anything about the independent filmmaking business you still struggle with?
Zane Borg : When you’re making low budget films like this, you feel as if you’re constantly waving your hands in the air and begging for attention. Whether it’s during casting and hiring crew, or pitching to audiences or financiers. It gets really exhausting over time. There’s so much content out there now and we’re all fighting for people’s time. Some days, I just want to make my film and not worry about all that.

indieactivity : Where do you think your strengths line as a filmmaker?
Zane Borg : I think I’m a better writer than I am a director, and I couldn’t imagine tackling someone else’s script. It’s only because I know the words so well that I can translate them to the screen. I’ve found I’m good with reading people and that feeds in to how I work with actors, finding the methods that work best for them so they can deliver a better performance. I also know when to keep things simple. Some filmmakers get so caught up in flashy moves and angles, when some of the greatest moments in cinema come from just sitting still and letting the actors do the work.

indieactivity : Let’s talk finance, How did you finance the film?
Zane Borg : This film made it through production with my entire life savings and some money I had put aside for film school. My logic was that making an actual feature film would be the best film school money can buy. I also had to work in retail part-time to keep money flowing into the production. It was a challenge, and I discovered I can actually live off $20 a week if I really need to (though I’d rather not). We now have a Kickstarter campaign running to raise money for the post-production of the film.

indieactivity : How much did you go over budget? How did you manage it?
Zane Borg : I’d never made a feature before so I had no idea how much it would all cost. Our estimated budget seemed to continually rise over pre-production, and after production was completed we were over by about 20%. With such a low budget film, going over budget isn’t the worst thing in the world. No one’s mortgaging their house, and usually it coincides with a new idea that raises the quality of your film substantially. It’s just about putting every dollar you have onto the screen, and knowing when it is and isn’t worth sparing the expense.

indieactivity : How important is marketing? Do you think a project can make any dent without it these days?
Zane Borg : Marketing is essential. I wish it wasn’t, but it is. In a perfect world, we’d all drop a film like Beyonce and the world would rejoice. But if you want anyone outside your immediate family to see your work, you have to grind for the attention!

indieactivity : What do you hope audiences get from your film?
Zane Borg : I hope audiences get what I do from the film: A chance to reminisce on their high school days, the good and bad parts, and remember that everyone has their own struggles and reasoning. Empathy makes the world go round.

indieactivity : What else have you got in the works?
Zane Borg : I’m juggling some different scripts at the moment and just trying to find which one sticks. I want to do something about love, I’m a sucker for a good romance. I gained a whole bunch of new skills and experience making The Library Boys, and I’m not planning on wasting any time before jumping in to the next one and putting them to work!

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