American Golden Picture
International Film Festival
AN INTERVIEW WITH Mark F. Roling DIRECTOR
As a filmmaker, please introduce yourself.
I am a WRITER/PRODUCER/DIRECTOR/FILM STUDIO EXECUTIVE
A Delavan Lake native, graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Science degree in
Criminal Justice in 1982. While employed as a police officer for the City of Lake Geneva,
I was also writing a screenplay for a police drama I created entitled, Internal Affairs, which caught the enthusiastic attention of several literary talent agents in Los Angeles.
After picking one specific agent to sign with who best understood the screenplay in Hollywood in 1985,
I moved to Hollywood, where I would remain for the next 37 years. In 2022, I returned to the Midwest and currently resides in Elgin, Illinois (a northern suburb of Chicago), where I am currently developing feature films and TV series for underutilized cities and towns, including my hometown of Delavan WI,
but also all area locations of Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.
Over my lengthy tenure in Hollywood, I had a distinguished career with various film studios
that started with Universal Studios and ended with A 22-year run in production at Warner Bros. Studios.
I am a seasoned studio executive, award-winning screenwriter, and producer of features
and television series, as well as large-scale live event productions such as the MTV Movie Awards,
the MTV Fleetwood Mac Reunion, and The Eagles Live: When Hell Freezes Over, also for MTV.
While spending majority of my studio production years at Warner Bros. Studios Entertainment Group
as VP of Film Studio Operations (WBTV, WB Features, Morgan Creek, Village Roadshow,
Warner Independent Pictures), I managed various multimillion-dollar features and TV shows.
I have worked alongside many of the most prominent producers, directors, and talent in the industry,
including such personalities as Clint Eastwood, George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Robert DeNiro, Sylvester Stallone, Jim Carrey, Ivan Reitman, Kurt Russell, Tommy Lee Jones, Joel Schumacher,
The Zucker Brothers, Spike Lee, Paris Barclay, Aaron Sorkin, Joel Silver, and photographer, Annie Liebowitz.
I continued relationships in the industry have secured UPRISING FILMS, a company
I joined in 2023 as Vice President of Production, development relationships with WBTV, WB Features, NBC/Peacock, Paramount +, MTV, CBS/Viacom, FX, and 20th Century Fox.
I also created and co-wrote the dark episodic action thriller, APOSTLE 21, the border crime series OKLAHOMEN, and the slow-burn comedy series, SINCLAIR CITY. I am currently Lead Producer
on the feature film, THE GENESEE, with Director, William Fichtner,
which begins shooting in July of 2024 in Buffalo, NY.
Moving back to the Midwest in 2022, in 2024 I have created and am a co-founder
and President of CREATIVE WISCONSIN FILMMAKERS ORGANIZATION, a non-profit educated
to bringing more filmmakers to the Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin areas,
as well as educating newcomers, high school students and college interns to real filmmaking
behind and in front of the camera.
Why you became a filmmaker as director and producer?
When I wrote my first screenplay, I had no idea of what I was doing in script formatting.
All I had was a story in my head I wrote down and tape-recorded every time I had a chance
(yes, in the cassette tape days). As a police officer at the time, every time I had a moment to spare, I would write notes on any paper near me, then type them out when I got home and on my days off.
I worked the graveyard shift, so it wasn’t easy. At that time in the early 80’s, video stores still ruled the planet,
and a friend of mine who managed a video store ran into a Producer from Los Angeles who was in town
(Lake Geneva) staying at a hotel while location hunting for a film in the area. That kind producer sent me a copy of a script to follow for formatting examples, and I was off to the races. However, through the many years,
while working at two of the major studios (Universal, Warner. Bros.
Paramount, etc.), I never really had control of what ended up on the screen, and many times
it clashed with me being in the studio executive team as well as a VP.
When I semi-retired (semi meaning, in the film industry, you never really retire, you move on to consult on
many projects with your expansive knowledge), that’s when I decided to move back to Illinois and create
CREATIVE WISCONSIN FILMMAKERS (CWF), a non-profit organization in my hometown of Delavan,
WI. to nurture up and coming talent who would never have the chance to work behind
an experienced producer or director before due to their small-town locations.
Along with my other three founders, we decided to come up with our first short film as a “proof of concept”
to show it can be done in a small-town by educating local crew and talent in how it is really done in Hollywood.
So, the big push for me to produce and direct myself, came from the calling to educate, while at the same time,
creating something that that was family-friendly, but also told a story of redemption.
I have been a part of numerous studio and independent projects since 1990 to 2024,
but something important as this, that could create filmmaking opportunities for young up and comers,
I took on the directing myself, along with my partner Erik G. Voss, to make sure we maintained
control as the writers, producers and directors, with our other partner, Andy Drefs, leading the camera
crew on behalf of the CWF organization. I had made plenty of projects happen as a group effort,
but as I felt I was solely responsible for the finished project coming from my Hollywood background,
this one required my upmost guidance and attention.
Give some more information about yourself and the films you have made so far,
about your experience?
I had been writer in many project, television and features. Some made it, some got close, and others failed due
to no control of mine in its fate. At my age, I had to come to the realization that I am done giving control over
all the work I have put in for months, sometimes years, to end up on the shelf. Now it’s about controlling the
destiny of projects firsthand, and this is the start of that phase with our short film, VISIONS OF HER. While at
Warner Bros. Studios, I worked on everything at the facility from the original BATMAN and on, and with
television series like ER, FRIENDS, TWO & A HALF MEN, and many others.
What are the films or people that had impacts on you and deeply inspired you to become a filmmaker?
Meeting Clint Eastwood a handful of times and watching him work on set was an education on
how to produce and direct. He and others I got to witness and work with like George Clooney
treat the cast and crew like a team of professional and cordial collaborators, as it should be,
not as a demanding ruler. You never get your best performances out of your cast and crew by being a tyrant,
sooner or later, that reputation in the Hollywood system has a way of correcting your behaviors
by phasing you out of major projects. That’s a fact! Others like Tom Hanks, Robert DeNiro and Kevin Costner,
to name a few, were a pleasure to see in action and observe their creative production process.
I’m not a huge superhero fan, I like staying in the lane of more meaningful message films.
Unforgiven was a favorite, a feature built around redemption, but then on the flip side, “Liar Liar” with Jim Carrey
was so wild and funny, yet it did have a message of a father’s broken promises and second chances.
You have made your film "Visions of Her" which got official selection in the
"American Golden Picture International Film Festival".
As a filmmaker, why you decided to make it?
As one of the founders of our organization of CWF, the decision was easy, we needed to kickstart the
filmmaking education process in this small town to prove it could be made. By writing the script,
producing and directing, my team and I obtained eager high school and college students who wanted
to work on the first historical film project ever produced in my hometown of Delavan, WI.
The whole fervor behind this project was to show it can be done, and to give all these students and newcomers
from all walks of life a real “all- hands-on-deck” experience into how it gets made, as opposed to what they know
from Entertainment Tonight or social media platforms. It’s extremely hard work with very long hours,
and now they see that firsthand. Some will use their gained knowledge and get the filmmaker bug
and want to fully engage in filmmaking, while others may decide it's not for them because of the amount of time
and work that goes into even a short film. Hey, that’s not a bad thing, the film industry is not for everyone,
but at least we gave them the shot at seeing what it’s really like and what is entailed, as opposed to what
they thought it would be like. :o) One of my biggest points to interested filmmakers is,
what you see on interview shows and social media about the glitz and glamour of filmmaking is not all true,
it is extremely hard work, but if you love the creative process and don’t mind long hours of dedicating your
lives to the cause, this could be for you. There is nothing that matches seeing what you wrote on the page
come to life on the screen – natural adrenaline high you will never match anywhere!
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What were some of the challenges you faced in making this specific film?
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Inexperienced cast, crew, locations and logistics people, just about everything, but we knew that going in, - that’s
what this project was all about, giving those people real experience on a real Hollywood type filmmaking
process. My biggest challenge was Directing, while I was the only one who knew how to do daily script
changes, shot-list changes for the next day, budgeting, arrange meetings and catering, and even an after-
completion marketing plan. Hopefully in the future I will have more assistance from this educational experience
we gave interns and students.
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Let us know more about your experience in this film? -
It was challenging at times but rewarding.
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I wore many hats as anyone does on an Indie short, but as we got past
the first day, the crew came together and we really made something special. The small town opened their doors
to all their locations, public and private, and the police and public works departments were incredible. The fun thing
was, we even put the mayor in a very brief role, but he loved it! That’s a key element in a small town…
sell the mayor, and many times, people will follow the leader.
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The Crew member of your film supports the story in a very effective way.
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What was it like to work with
them?
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It turned out great. They were all willing to learn and put in the long hours on sometimes very hot days. It wasnice to see the crew come together as a cohesive unit as time wore on. It was interesting to hear the college
interns chat about their ideas for the scenes, but when it came down to it, another thing they needed to learn was
that in most cases, unless you have ever witnessed a film being made with Robin Willams (RIP) like I did,
where many times suggestions are welcomed (sometimes more in a professional arena) and even may work at
times, but most of the time, you need to stay pretty close to script, there is a reason the producers and director
okayed the final draft.
9- For you what was the biggest lesson you had to learn after making this film?
Make sure that the DP/Editor has every bit of footage saved and in the digital memory banks before sending the
lead actor(s) back from out-of-town locations. I flew in my Male Lead from Texas, and it was well worth it as
we had always had a great relationship from a film we made in 2013. We thought we had everything, so I
released the actor to fly back to Texas. Two days later after the DP/Editor realized we didn’t have two
important linking scenes, I had to fly the actor back out for a day to get them, which was a very costly error that
was frustrating because I had the shots on the daily pages, and it got missed somehow. This was one of the
problems being the director and wearing too many hats, a few times I would leave to check the next location
and leave the camera team to do so, and I am mad at myself for not making sure everything was all sewn up.
Lesson learned for next time! You bet! I assumed it was all getting done, but that is the one major snafu that
happened.
What keeps you inspired to continue filmmaking?
Where people can become stagnant and entitled in Hollywood, it is so energizing and just plain cool to see how
excited the people are back here in the Midwest. In Hollywood you see camera crews everywhere and it gets
old, even annoying, back here, it is appreciated, and people are more than willing to open their locations and
hearts to you. Refreshing indeed, enough to make you come out of… well… semi-retirement, HA!
The most important part is distributing the film.
What did you do for distributing your film "Visions of Her"?
We already have interest, but we have to put our distribution plans for now until the film premieres in a special
red-carpet Hollywood-style premiere celebration with our investors in this small town, as it should be. But with
that said, we can’t wait for that next phase!
What are your filmmaking goals?
After everyone sees the finished product for Visions of Her, thanks to great festivals like yours (we love our
new friends at AGPIFF!), that we get more interest in our organization that comes with support and investirs to
meet our organizational goals for CWF, as well as on the next time around, be able to afford to pay
EVERYONE for their hard work and efforts!
What is your next project?
We will be going into a full feature hopefully, or a series we created that will keep our small town very busy.
We love making films in small towns like ours who think they don’t have a chance to ever get seen in a film,
and the experience was so overwhelmingly rewarding. Finding new talent in a small town who think they will
never have a prayer of their creative voice ever being heard, and to see their faces as they see it all come
together for the first time in their lives, from first script to final edit… that is the hugest award of all!
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GOOD LUCK Mark,​
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