We had the good fortune of connecting with Chris Dowling and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Chris, how do you think about risk?
I am an independent filmmaker with a wife, family and all that jazz. Every year has been a risk where there are long droughts of no work and then you take advantage of the peaks when you can get there. The truth is most of my life is lived in between — the rise. Working towards that next peak, but knowing 7 times out of 10, that film is going to fall apart before it ever makes it to the big screen. So, I have lived my life open-handed and living by the immortal words of Steve Windwood. “when you see a chance, take it.” It can all be summed up in the idea that I could have walked into a much more stable career where I would have far much more money, bigger house, blah, blah, blah, but (and it’s a big one), would I love my job as much as I do now? Nope. And the risk/reward is bigger and the flexibility with my family makes it all make sense. Most importantly, I’m grateful that I get to get to do what I love for a living…
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think I’m in a pretty interesting place art-wise in the industry. As a creative, the industry loves to box you in. Not only do they love to label you — you are a “feature” writer. Then it goes further, you are a “drama feature” writer or a “horror” director. It’s really hard to break out of the labels and I have one that can definitely be seen as a stigma — “Inspirational feature writer/director”. Not a lot of us, get to branch out once we are ingrained in the faith or inspirational space. Fortunately, I’ve been able to maneuver in-between. Not only have I won awards from places like Dove, Movieguide, K-Love, Heartland Film Fest, etc… I’ve also had the joy to produce two docs — one on Netflix and one on HBO. I’ve got a film that I wrote that is about to premiere at Tribeca Film Fest. I’ve had projects at SXSW. I’ve got numerous projects in development or pre-production right now that branch me out from the label I’ve had for so long in the industry. I’m even currently on the writing staff for a TV series which is tough to break into coming from the feature side. When I think about ‘brand” or “Story”, I think the biggest thing for me is that I don’t want to be defined by a label, but by my talent.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m pretty new to DFW. And I’m lame. So, I would go eat at Hutchins, bring them to Downtown McKinney (where I live) and then make them watch my daughters’ soccer, volleyball and softball games…
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I make films for a living so there are too many people to shout out to — every project has a million things can go wrong and I’m extremely grateful that team after team does their jobs and, in turn, it makes me look good. Each skilled position is far smarter and better than me at their job, so they always get a huge thanks from me. My DPs have been crucial and I’m so grateful that they have become some of my best friends Alex Lehmann and Kris Kimlin. Every producer that has believed in me to put some money behind our movies deserves a huge high five. Most importantly, my wife Danique gets the most credit because she has always believed in me and let me pursue this crazy dream and career even when times got super lean at The Dowling household. And I would be silly to not say a thank you to God (cliched as it may sound) because even though times got lean (very lean living in LA at times), He never let me down.
Instagram: chris_dowling_director
Image Credits
Tom LeGoff