Catching Up With… Paul Stone on The Prince of Elizabeth Street and The Boombox Project
Paul Stone is having a moment. His most recent endeavor, The Boombox Project, premiered last month at the Grammy Museum during Grammy week inside the tape deck of a huge boombox. Possibly his most provocative film, The Prince of Elizabeth Street, is finally available online. And his new creative social networking site www.dropculture.com just launched this week. Paste caught up with the filmmaker and entrepreneur for a conversation about all three projects.
Paste: How did you get your start in the industry?
Stone: I was a total film and music junkie from the age of five. I got into the business right around high school and kind of grew up in the business; taught myself how to shoot and edit, which eventually led to me becoming a director. But it was a process over a decade or so of learning everything I possibly could. I formed my company in 1998, and there was an ad in the back of a trade magazine looking to rent out space for an editorial company, and I have a hybrid company, Firebrand Films, which is kind of a production company/editorial/ad agency. So I responded to the ad and showed up to the building, and it just happened to be Ridley Scott’s New York office. And I said “Give me the lease and I’ll sign right now.” I stayed there for about eight years, and worked with his sons, worked with Michael Moore on a Rage Against the Machine video, basically grew up there learning from all those people. I used to call myself the red-headed stepchild, The Scott That Nobody Knew. But they really supported me and helped me in a lot of different ways. I mean, think about all the producers and directors and actors coming in and out of that place. So not only did I learn, I built a great Rolodex. But the beginning part of my career was shooting and editing commercials; my first client was Donald Trump.
Paste: It’s interesting how many really good directors got their start in commercials. It really strips things down to their essence, and you have to learn to tell a story really damn quickly and really well.
Stone: It’s a great industry if you can survive in it, but you really have to have that survival instinct. It’s such a competitive industry because there’s so much money involved and so many people that want to do it. If you’re a Scott you’re most likely going to get a foot in the door, and you probably have the talent to make the most of the opportunity, but if you’re not it can be really tough. But growing up in it, yes, you do hone your craft, because every shot is a money shot in a commercial. There’s a lot of pressure involved in getting everything to look great and getting it done quickly. A feature is more of a marathon. It’s a different type of discipline. But from the visual and directorial standpoint, it really hones your skills so that with the feature, you’re actually ready to run that marathon.
Paste: How did you meet the Prince?
Stone: Well, I’ve lived in Little Italy for a really long time, for about twenty years. And I’ve seen it changing, from Little Italy to Nolita to SoHo. Brian moved here in 2004, and he was like a 21-year old kid at this building at Prince and Elizabeth Street that had been abandoned for about thirty years. It was boarded up, but it was a pretty big building. And Brian would set up his canvases and paint there every day. Someone had thrown out an old couch, and he dragged it over and had an ashtray, and he’d just sit there and paint all day. I’d seen him for years. And one day I walked by and he was painting something that was similar to a project I was working on, and I said “One day we should do a film.” And he said “Fine.” And in 2010, we finally made it.