Young filmmaker sets sights on Spielberg show
West Linn’s Zach King is serious about films
/ West Linn Tidings
Zach King, right, directs a scene with some family assistance. Holding the script is his mother Marissa King, while Uncle Jody Rivas operates the sound boom.
When Zach King was getting ready to turn 16, his grandfather was ready to come through big time on his birthday.
Grandpa planned to give his grandson $10,000 in order to buy a car, which he assumed every boy wanted when he became old enough to drive.
He assumed wrong.
“I asked grandpa if I could trade it in for film equipment (a Canon XL2 camera, boom microphones and computer editing system) instead,” King said.
Gramps was amenable, Zach’s dad, Mitch, pitched in some cash, too, and now the 17-year-old junior from West Linn is ready to get an early jump on filmmaking immortality.
King is getting his five-minute feature The Geek and I, a high concept comedy featuring laughs and deep thought, ready to compete for a spot on Steven Spielberg’s new television reality show for aspiring filmmakers, On The Lot.
“There’s going to be 16 filmmakers who make a movie each week,” King said. “It’s going to be voted on just like American Idol.”
Precocious as he is, King is far from breezily confident about making the 16-movie cut for the program that is slated to start this spring.
“There are people who are in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s,” King said. “They’ve had a lot more time to develop their skills.”
But the teen King just might have had enough time. The Geek and I is about a popular and egotistical kid who magically switches roles with the school’s geek.
“He thinks he has things figured out,” King said. “Then one day he realizes life is not about those things.”
The cost of this production was $150, most of which went toward food for the 15-member cast and crew, including his key collaborators, Brandon Gendivilas and Andrew Gerlicher.
At least the plot sounds better than most Disney movies, and King hopes “Geek” will push him onto the movie map.
“That will give me a bigger head start,” King said, “because I can say I was in On The Lot.”
King was just 7 years old when he first picked up a home video recorder and realized it was something he really liked. He recruited his sisters, Megan and Annie, for his first venture, which he called “our own little Disney Channel series” A Treasured Hunt.
In this 13-minute epic, Megan and Annie played two girls on vacation with their grandparents at their cabin in Canada, where they faced life without the use of electronics for the first time. It is a comedy that turns serious at the end, because “their treasure hunt is not what they expected.”
“For a first try it was good,” King said. “But knowing what I know now, it was at the beginner level. I know a lot more about story technique and the technical aspect.”
His film-loving friends from Wilsonville and West Linn began showing up to practice and collaborate on films.
“They give me a lot of music ideas and help on the shooting and story,” King said. “They all critique me. They give me honest feedback.”
The follow-up was a horror movie called It, and then Spielberg offered his chance to make the national movie scene.
King says he likes anything that is creative such as drawing, art and music. He splits his scholastic hours between high school and being home schooled, which gives him lots of time for his other great love, playing the piano. King gets paid for playing at dance recitals and uses the money to pay off film equipment. He and his sisters often play recitals at nursing homes, and he will perform Tuesday night in the West Linn concert titled “30 Hands on Five Grands.”
Still, movie making is No. 1 on King’s list. He finds plenty of inspiration.
“I look up to Spielberg,” King said. “His ideas are so original. Alfred Hitchcock’s angles are so intense and so well thought out. I like comedies and thrillers, and I like drama, too.”
As for particular movies, “The Prestige,” I loved it. I like the original Disney movies. I love Pixar because it’s so creative and the Indiana Jones series.”
After King graduates from high school, he plans to attend Biola University in Los Angeles. The reasons why are obvious.
“They have a great film program,” he said. “They can get you internships in Los Angeles. I definitely want to be a
movie director or a producer.”
So, Zach King may not have a car, but he has all he needs to compete in On The Lot, even though all of his competition is older and more experienced.
What are King’s chances of earning a spot or even taking the top prize? Well, Spielberg himself started his filmmaking career as just a kid with a camera in mountainous Papago Park near Phoenix, Ariz.
“Making films is my passion,” King said. “It’s really what I want to do with my life.”