Dan Sadgrove
"My parents were very unrestrictive growing up. I think like all parents they were making it up as they went. They were pretty strict with my brother and sister but with me, being the youngest, I almost had free reign, I got away with a lot. They’ve encouraged me to do what I want in life so I have taken advantage of that, for better or worse!"
"I went to University of Auckland in New Zealand and studied Anthropology and Film with a minor in Ethnomusicology. I have always maintained a strong interest in music and cultures and really enjoyed my studies in that field. I had a year studying Economics in Dunedin as well, which was great - socially - but I was never interested in finance."
"I’d like to visit the Pacific Islands one day and film, or photograph, something. There’s a lot of history there that was wiped away with the missionaries and the introduction of christian religion. It’d be interesting to see if any of that culture has still survived and in what capacity."
"When I was studying at University I volunteered at a music television station, after graduating I ended up getting a part time job there which moved to full time soon after that. It was a really amateur station but the few full timers there really cut our teeth on projects, we also had to learn how to work with zero budgets. When I say “Zero” budgets I mean we had absolutely no money and would often start in the negative. Once we had to organise filming an all day festival which included a satellite link up to live stream to our station. The satellite link-up cost $5,000 just to get started and had $0! So we had to call in a lot of favors / bribes. I’m still not sure how we even made that work to be honest. Three live cameras, an Outside Broadcast van, studio techs and a whole lot of University volunteers. Though the pay was terrible and the hours long, I was super excited."
"I grew up watching a similar music television station called Max TV and always wanted to be a part of one, so when the opportunity arose I couldn’t believe I got in. We had a lot of fun and drama there and it was a trial by fire, where the fire was dog shit on your front door step! We weren’t making anything decent at all, but it was a solid learning experience. The station is now gone however I still keep in touch with a few of the full timers there and they are really excelling now which I’m very happy about."
"I guess I started really focusing on getting into the film industry when I was still studying full-time and trying to hold down 4 jobs. I was volunteering as a studio director at a music television station twice a week, filming amateur rugby games in the weekend for a tv show, writing down each golf shot at tournaments from midnight to 4am, 4 nights a week for another highlight show and working behind a bar 20 hours a week. It was pretty intense getting through it all - I was a walking zombie most of the time. But it served me well because as soon as I graduated the music television station offered me a paid part-time job which quickly turned into full time."
"I made a documentary about an old raver, like 85 years old raver in white suits and pink gators, who ran for mayor. It went on national television and was received well I guess, for our audience at least - which was pretty small. But I got offered free Lionel Ritchie tickets out of it, so there’s that! The documentary was really bad though. The subject was fascinating - I’d love another crack at it. I hear he’s run for mayor a couple of times now!"
"I can’t say I’m directly influenced by anyone in particular. I’m a researcher so I see a lot of movies and photographers work, so some of that is going to rub off on me for sure. I can tell you what has been inspiring me in some projects. The film I’m working on currently was directly inspired from an excellent and amusing book about football hooligans in the late 80s and early 90s called ‘Among the Thugs’ by Bill Buford. When you see the film you won’t really make the connection, for a start it is nothing to do with football, but the film is directly inspired from reading that book, specifically one paragraph. I just adapted it to my view of big cities and nature."
"As for the future, what’s influenced my next project that I’ve just started developing is a book I can’t recommend enough: ‘Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed, Conversations with Paul Cronin’. I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from that and currently trying to develop something out of a paragraph he said about the downfall of modern society. I love Herzog - I saw a talk he did a few years back in London. He’s just really refreshing."
"I’m currently working in post-production in London for a very short film I directed down in Wanaka, New Zealand. I’m really looking forward to finishing it and getting it out there, I’m really proud of what we’ve done so far, but it’s a slow process when you are on your own so it’s a patient game. I’ve managed to get some interesting people involved in it so these things take time to get everyone together."
"I’ve been on the road for almost 2 years now travelling. I’ve spent a lot of time in nature, in the wild. I’m a bit over the big cities I want to get back to my old camper van in the US and keep visiting their National Parks systems. I’m big into 35mm film photography so I’ll go somewhere I can focus on a project to do with nature. I’d love to get on one of those Antarctic research boats and do a photography or film project. I heard you can get there by visiting this Irish pub down the very bottom of Argentina. If you hang out there long enough and buy enough captains beers they’ll let you on board the ship as a hand when they next go to the South Pole."