Bayou Bennet & Daniel Lir

Providing great, real-world education, opportunities, and support is something we take very seriously at RRFC. In order to ensure we continually set our students and mentors up for success, we recently started having bi-monthly meetings in which RRFC mentors come into our “headquarters” in Los Angeles for a roundtable conversation with our Admissions and Academic Facilitators team members. Here are a few informative excerpts from our conversation with the super-dedicated, power-duo Film Connection mentors, Daniel Lir and Bayou Bennett of Dream Team Directors (Coldplay, P. Diddy, Mark Ruffalo, Bella Hadid, Adidas, Atlantic Records, Chrome Hearts).
Wanna learn something? Read on!

RRFC Team: How far and how soon do you delve into the business-side of the film business with the students you mentor?

Daniel: “I went to a school that was one of the top film schools but they were not completely open about what it takes to succeed in this industry. The business side is about 80% of it, to be honest. You can’t make a film if you can’t convince an investor to give you money. You can’t go to a distributor with a film and when they say, ‘Great, do you have this, this, and this on the list?’ If you don’t have that, then you don’t get your film distributed. So I tell them right up front, the way that we’re different from most programs is the one-on-one and the staff. You guys really care about them and are there for them. Another thing is that we teach you the skills you really need to actually make money in this industry. Not just to get a degree, but to actually be working in it. So I tell them upfront, ‘This is what it’s going to involve. You’re going to learn about this, this, and this. You’re going to learn about marketing, how to build your brand as a filmmaker, all these things. Basically I tell them that it’s an awesome program, but the more they put into it, the more they’re going to get out of it.”

Bayou: “To answer more of your question, for example, we had a student, Katz [Carter]. He wanted to direct his own film. So I showed him all of the things that we had done before, like all of our business plans. [As a result], he got his film funded and did a one-take feature film… It’s amazing because he literally took our materials and just duplicated them. Then, he went out and got the funding. Now he’s talking to the camera department about helping promote it even more. Right now, I’m showing him the next level, which is film festivals (learn more). So it kind of depends on the student and where we are and what we’re doing. Sometimes we’ll be like, ‘Are you interested in learning how to do a contract? Come on in the office. We’re doing one right now for a commercial.’”

RRFC Team: Your recently graduated extern, Isabella “Bella” Jones, got hired by you, is that correct?

Daniel: We’re working with her almost on a daily basis. We’ve hired her and she’s getting paid

work.

Bayou: We just did a commercial with her. (More on Isabella’s amazing, career-building experience.)

RRFC Team: What are you looking for in the students you accept as externs?

Daniel: “[We’re] looking for really good communication skills, a willingness to learn. [We ask them] what they want to get out of the program, like what would make it a homerun for them, and whether they have previous experience. This is just my personal viewpoint. I might be completely wrong, but I feel like it can be a very strong shift in reality when you have this one idea of what it is to be a filmmaker or making films, it could be very romantic, looking at movies and watching movies and watching the credits and hearing directors talk. Then, when you actually go to work on a set, when you actually go on a production, it can be a shock like it was for me when I first did it in 1998. It’s tough… It’s a journey and that you have to be willing to go on the journey and you have to be willing to find what your voice is and what you really want to do in this industry. And it might not come right away, and so we just prepare them [for that].”

Bayou: “So Daniel does that side and then I do the other side, like we tag team. I [remind] them that it’s the most exhilarating thing to see your film on a screen, and people are actually laughing when you want them to laugh or crying when you want them to cry. So, then I give them that side, too. All that hard work, like I got chills talking about it, it’s the best paid job in the world.”

Daniel Lir and Bayou Bennett have been Film Connection mentors for 10 years! They have worked with an unrivaled client list, including; Michelle Pfeiffer, Mark Ruffalo, and Juliette Lewis, as well as, brands and celebrities such as Bella Hadid, Chrome Hearts, Smashbox Cosmetics, Paris Hilton, Coldplay, Lindsey Stirling, and Norman Reedus– winning 75 film festival awards along the way. I sat down with this dream team to discuss their career, the program, their secret sauce, and the upcoming premiere of their latest film, Connection.

How did each of you originally get interested in film?

Daniel: I was looking for a way of expressing myself as an artist and wasn’t sure what that would be. I took a film class at Art Center College of Design after taking many different types of classes. It just really really felt like the right thing for me and my life. It was an incredible experience.

Bayou: I got my Masters of Fine Arts in college. During that time, I experimented with filmmaking. I realized, after pursuing painting and performance art, that my passion was in filmmaking. This medium has the potential to reach millions and make a real difference on our planet.

Your collaborative relationship is so unique! How did it begin and progress?

Daniel: We met at a vegetarian cafe in the Lower East Side of New York. Bayou was coming out of her yoga class and I was sitting there eating my veggie dog and there was only one seat available, which was next to me.

Bayou: When we first met I was doing a feature documentary and I needed an editor. So I saved his number as ‘Editor.’ I went off to Jordan Aman to teach a class on filmmaking–

Daniel: Wait, I think I saved you as, ‘Girlfriend.’ I guess we had a different point of view… 

Bayou: I didn’t think too much about it except that I had met this talented editor. We stayed in touch and ended up working together on a film that got into the Hot Springs Film Festival. After about six months I realized we were more than just coworkers.

Is it ever difficult to work with your spouse?

Bayou: Not at all! We’ve figured it out. It has not. We wear different hats at different times. We keep them separate; coworkers, parents, husband and wife.

You guys should write a book! I’m sure a lot of collaborative partnerships could benefit from learning your relationship tips n’ tricks.

Bayou: Yes! Maybe we should! We get asked this question so much.

You have a premiere coming up! Can you tell us about it?

Bayou: Our film is called Connection and will premiere at the Blue Water Film festival. We are going to be going to beautiful La Jolla, California, this weekend. We will speak on a panel and then present our film on the ‘Blue Carpet.’ We are excited!

Amazing! Can you tell us more about the film itself?

Bayou: It’s about how we are all connected on this planet. About how what we do here in America affects people in different countries. We were lucky to be able to film it in four different countries. We filmed in India, Pakestan, Africa, and Los Angeles. It was a huge pleasure.

Is it in the mode of… you know the film, Samsara?

Bayou: Exactly! You are very perceptive! Every time we do a film, we always figure out the gold standard reference point, and for this film it was Samsara. We had to reshoot Africa, actually, because it didn’t meet the Samsara standard.

You mentioned that what draws you to film is its ability to make a difference. How does this project touch on a larger social issue?

Bayou: Connection is about environmentalism, but it’s made in a hip way that can reach a younger audience. The protagonist is an influencer. In the beginning she has no attention for anything besides herself. As the film goes on, she becomes more aware of her use of fast fashion and plastics and how it affects animals and other cultures and how other cultures affect our culture. The character progresses to be more aware of others and the environment.

Were you in Africa focusing on textile waste?

Bayou: Again, very perceptive. There is a lot of textile waste discussion, but that was focused on in India. We got into a sweat shop and shot–  

Daniel: It was not easy to pull off!

Bayou: It was not! We had to fly our crew in from a big city to a small city. That’s where we make the comment on fast fashion. What’s behind the fast fashion rack? In Africa we were more focused on plastic pollution.

It sounds like you were doing a lot of this guerrilla-style! What were the hardest parts of the filming process?

Daniel: A lot of negotiation.

Bayou: Also figuring out what the current truth of each situation is. For example, when we started location scouting in Africa we couldn’t find as much plastic pollution as we feared. A lot of places have been cleaned up. There is hope.

Daniel: In India, we were thinking about spending some time on child labor and harmful chemical dyes, but when we got on the ground, both had been recently outlawed. There’s definitely hope for our planet.

Bayou: It was somewhat guerrilla-style, but it was very planned.

How did you two originally discover Film Connection?

Bayou: We’ve been in the program for almost 10 years. We are probably some of the longest-running mentors!

Daniel: We walked into the school when it was in Downtown LA. I don’t know how I found my way there. I think we had originally reached out wanting to host a contest for young filmmakers.

We’ve been in the program for almost 10 years. We are probably some of the longest-running mentors!

How many students have you had so far?

Bayou: We do 10 every 6 months. So around 200. Maybe a little over. Before that I was a professor of film at Parsons New School where I was the first woman to teach in the media department. Before that I taught at the New York Institute of Technology. I also wrote classes for the San Francisco Academy of Art.  

Daniel:  I had no teaching experience before Bayou, I learned it all from her. She gave me an opportunity to speak to her class at the Institute of Technology and I loved it. She said I did good–

Bayou: He didn’t do ‘good,’ he did excellent. He has a crazy natural ability.

What do you both think are the main benefits of the program?

Daniel: I think that without this program, a new filmmaker has a very difficult journey ahead of them. There is a massive cannon between school and the working world. We are trying to bridge that gap. I went to NYU and it was literally an ivory tower; an imaginary world that has nothing to do with the real world. Some of my professors had never done filmmaking, they just talked about it– which is really weird.  We try to instill in students imagination and a love for film, but also the tools to turn this into a career. Learning by doing, learning from someone actually in the industry, is extremely valuable.

Bayou: In traditional film school you learn about filmmaking but you don’t learn how to get a job or promote yourself or be on set. The program allows students to learn, not just from a book, but from actual experience. 

What do you think is your greatest asset as mentors?

Bayou: We’ve been in over 100 film festivals, we’ve won over 75 film festivals. We can show a student how to navigate that world. We know what we’re talking about!

Finally, do you have any advice for a student entering the program?

Bayou: Take advantage of everything the mentor is offering. We, as mentors, go above and beyond. We give our students events to attend, if they are in LA. They get to meet producers and directors. Get your feet wet. Watch your mentor. Keep your eyes open. Every second you’re with your mentor is an opportunity to learn. On the set and in the office.

Get your feet wet. Watch your mentor. Keep your eyes open. Every second you’re with your mentor is an opportunity to learn.

Daniel: Your success depends on you, as a self-motivated individual. Being a filmmaker is like being an entrepreneur. You have to wake up every day and put in the work. We have worked with so many big names and done so many successful projects, but none of that has an effect if we don’t wake up everyday and build our career. Set goals and go after them.