Hillman Curtis 1961-2012

Yesterday, my cinema hero and mentor, Hillman Curtis, died after a long battle with colon cancer.  

Back in the summer of 2008, my friend Matt showed me Hillman’s short film Roof while we were working at the NYU Production Center.  It’s a beautiful and chilling film and it instantly had me hooked.  The cinematography, the dialogue, the acting were so visceral and so emotional.  I soon devoured all of the films on his website.  Here was a film director who shot directly for the web. Films that were designed to be viewed online for the world to see for free. I saw it as revolutionary.   

Eventually, after a few e-mail correspondances where I constantly hassled him to let me be an intern for his company, I finally got to meet him at his office on Jay Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn where I would interview to be an intern. Going in, I assumed that like any crazy-talented superstar person, he would be a dictatorial, self-aggrandizing jerk and I would have to do that awkward thing where you pretend not to notice a person’s horrible obnoxiousness.  Instead, meeting him, I was so taken aback. He was so relaxed and so warm and soft-spoken.  And so playful…Hillman had this great silly sense of humor.  It was so disarming.  He was so happy to answer all of my questions about his films and his techniques.  We talked for a good half-hour, I think.  It wasn’t really so much a job interview as it was me blathering on to him about how much I loved his films.  The level of my fanboyishness was basically on par of a Trekkie meeting Leonard Nemoy, William Shatner, and Patrick Stewart all at the same time.  Needless to say, I was stunned after meeting him. “What a cool dude.”

Ironically enough, I ended up not getting the internship as his producer at the time decided to hire a friend of mine instead.  I was devastated.  My dream internship, shot down.  To me, interning for Hillman Curtis would be akin to working for Marty Scorcese or Christopher Nolan or Terrence Malick. I mean, what other production company in New York City makes films as good as hillmancurtis, Inc.?*

Nothing could have surprised me more, when out of the blue, a couple months after that interview, I received an e-mail from him:

Hi Gabe

We’re shooting a new short second week of September. A bit longer than usual and quite a bit more complicated. It’s a musical shot at Powerhouse books in Dumbo. I may need a producer for it…you game/available?
H

WHAT.

Amaaaazing!  I could not believe it.  After getting turned down from an internship, he invites me to be the producer of one of his short films!  Incredible. Unbelievable.  Wait..what??

Hillman, on the set of Powerhouse in September 2010.

We shot Powerhouse for three nights in powerHouse bookstore in Dumbo, Brooklyn.  It was a pretty fantastic experience.  I got to meet and work with all these people who had worked on Hillman’s previous films who’s work I so revered- the incredible cinematographer Ben Wolf and the fantastic actors Michael Godere and Allison Paige.

Hillman directs Michael Godere like a boss.

And I think that was of one of Hillman’s greatest talents.  He had this incredible ability to draw the very best creative people to him.  I think it’s because his humanity and his passion for creating things shined so brightly.  Hillman was only interested in things that were brilliant or excellent.  He never dealt with anything mediocre or ordinary.  I mean just look at his twitter.

Hillman directs actress Allison Paige.  DP Ben Wolf is on bottom left.

Below is the finished film, Powerhouse.  You can watch it in its entirety. For free. In High Definition.  With no annoying ads.  Because that’s what Hillman believed in.  God is in the details as he would say.

I later got the chance to work with Hillman again for many months on our yet-to-be-completed Pearson Books project.  This time I would be editing 12 films from raw footage and audio and turning in a completed cut to Hillman, who then add his own style to the cut.  One of the last films we did was of Hillman himself.  We got to shoot it in his studio/apartment in Brooklyn.  I had so much fun asking him about his long and varied career.  I condensed our hour long conversation into the 4 minutes you hear here.  We played around with different portraits shots, but I had an idea to do a dolly shot in while panning the camera up.  It came out so beautifully at the end of the film.  

I remember the last time I saw Hillman.  It was this past February.  Not even two months ago.  I dropped by his apartment to show him my cut of the Pearson profile on him.  I was nervous of what he would think of it.  When I entered the apartment, he was hanging out with his family and his sister.  And he was so happy.  There was so much love in that apartment that day.  When I showed Hillman my cut of the film, I think it had an impact. He was definitely stunned by how great the moving portrait at the end came out.  I was so proud of my shot. I left that day thinking that I would see him again soon after I returned from a trip to Florida.  I wish I could have told him how thankful I was that I got to work with him and learn from him.

When I think of Hillman, I think of hard work.  Of looking out to the world around you for inspiration.  Of finding the story in your design.  Of paying attention to the details.  Of taking risks and not being afraid of screwing up.  Of working with passion in your mind.  Of loving your family with all of your heart.  These are lessons that I will never forget.  Thank you, boss.

*The answer is nobody.