Final Project on Mr. G Wayne Miller

Mr. G. Wayne Miller is a writer and producer, working for the local Providence Journal for more than 27 years. Born in 1954, Miller is a graduate of Harvard College, class of 1976, and has won many awards in journalism with the reputation as a “writer’s paper.” Along with winning several Pulitzer Prizes, Miller was also a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage on The Station nightclub fire in February 2003. That fire was one of the most traumatic experiences Rhode Islanders have faced, and Mr. Miller’s coverage of the event won acclaimed status. Miller is also the author of a novel and six narrative non-fiction pieces, including Toy Wars, Men and Speed, King of Hearts, Coming of Age, The Work of Human Hands, and The Xeno Chronicles. His passion for Stephen King inspired him to get into the field of fiction writing and he sold his first book, Thunder Rise, in 1988 to William Morrow. With his slicked-back graying hair and calm demeanor, Mr. Miller presents himself as a down-to-earth, relaxed spirit with a certain poise and confidence.
The first thing you notice about Mr. Miller is his do-it-yourself attitude. He seems to want to accomplish so many things, and all those things he wants to do himself. He seems very driven, wanting to go beyond his acclaimed journalist position. Collaborating with David Bettencourt, Mr. Miller has now delved into the world of Documentary film, creating On the Lake: Life and Love in a Distant Place and the upcoming Behind the Hedgerow, “a new film about old money Newport, those who live in great wealth.” (Mr. Miller) Miller met Bettencourt while writing Coming of Age, who was creating You Must be This Tall: The Story of Rocky Point Park. Miller was intrigued by David and his passion for filmmaking, and the two began to work together and founded Eagle Peak Media, a movie, internet, and book company. Overall, Miller has wither written, produced or screen wrote 10 films, with two more due out soon. His resume is quite extensive, with much success in almost every field of journalism, fiction writing, and screenplays.
Mr. Miller always seems to be up for a laugh. Even in a formal setting, he continues to make small comments that make the crowd smile. He also can laugh at himself, showing he enjoys life and takes each day as it comes. He also points out that “you do it (documentary film making) for love, not money. As you get better you have the hope and expectation to get more money.” In terms of funding for films, we can learn a lot about the business from talking with Mr. Miller. He says that “you pay for the movies out of pocket for the most part unless brands will contribute something.” It is incredible how expensive it must be to pay for a film out of pocket, and how much dedication and faith you must have in yourself to take on such an endeavor. He also points out that without a “track record and reputable past,” it is hard to get money to fund a film. You have to rely a lot on volunteers and interns that you don’t have to pay because when you start out in filmmaking, “you start with your credit cards.” (Mr. Miller) When discussing the budget for Behind the Hedgerow, we find out that grant money is available for new films, but Miller is hesitant to apply for them for this film because they are very “time consuming and dubious.” Instead, Miller and Bettencourt are trying to go to individuals and some private institutions to get some funding for the film.
When comparing the two documentaries he has worked on with Bettencourt, Mr. Miller said the two differed in that in On the Lake, you “stumble on things.” He and Mr. Bettencourt had an idea of the story to work on the film, but they didn’t know where it would take them. They posted websites and asked people to bring them their stories, and from that the film unfolded. In Behind the Hedgerow, on the other hand, they already had the stories through all the diaries of this woman on Bellevue Ave. They just have to sift through all the interviews and diaries to tell the story, but they basically already have the film.
In terms of interviewing for the different films, in order to get the interviewee to tell the story you must do a pre-interview through the phone or email to make them comfortable. Mr. Miller also suggests that “you ask them if they have any questions of you and make sure you seem credible. The key is to make the people feel comfortable and make sure your not assholes, employing humor also helps.” He also compares the interviewing process in films to that of print. After 30 years of print interview practice, Miller shows that print interviews are very different from when someone is put in front of a camera. He points out that on film interviews “you can prompt people to say what you want them too.” At another point in the interview, Mr. Miller says that “Some people are very good (on camera), such as Barbara in On the Lake. In writing, you can have lots of ‘uh’ and ‘um’ that you can take out to make it legible but you can’t do that in film so lots of good interviews and stories have to be put on the cutting room floor.” The shooting time for interviews varies, but the longest interview for On the Lake was around one hour but “it’s a process, its fluid” because lots of times you need to go back and flesh aspects of an interview out that you didn’t catch during the initial interview. However, the challenge in Behind the Hedgerow is the fact that their main interviewee is dead so they cannot go back.
Lastly, marketing of the documentaries was discussed. Miller believes that “you can’t operate without the presence of the web to get revenue.” In fact, Miller and Bettencourt have created blogs, opened a twitter account, and have a Litserv to promote their films. “Were very open about filmmaking,” Mr. Miller said. “We post everything we do on our blogs etc. to allow people to see out whole filmmaking process.” They also put up some ads for the premiere of their films but do most of their marketing through the internet. For On the Lake they had a strong “niche mark, the public health field” because the film deals with leukemia patients. Therefore, they showed the DVD to places such as UMass, University of New Hampshire, New York Medical Hospital and Harvard for free in “a sound theory that the medical officials will see this, and see how powerful it is and will buy it from there for educational purposes.” They also price the DVD differently for those that will use the movie for educational purposes and those that will have it for individual use.
Overall, Mr. Miller is well versed in almost every aspect of the journalism world. His immense experience has provided him with many opportunities in his life that have pressed his career even further. However, this success has not gone to his head as he is a very down-to-earth and easy to get along with. His hometown, friendly personality makes him feel more like a friend or neighbor rather than an acclaimed writer, journalist, and filmmaker.