It is slightly more than 1,000 miles from Montana State University to Hollywood and the center of the movie industry. But getting there involves a lot more than 16 hours of hard driving through mountain and desert.
Just ask Chris Mangano, 25, a 2005 graduate and one of hundreds of Montana State University graduates who have packed their student films, awards and a dream or two, and journeyed from the scholarly university community of Bozeman to L.A., that most infamous of American company towns.
Once they get there, they may not find the movie business waiting for them with open arms. But Mangano and the countless other Montanans who have ventured on the Bozeman-Hollywood highway say they do find their MSU roots are one of their most important assets.
"For the MSU kids, it's not about Hollywood. It's about us," says Mangano. He works as a personal assistant for veteran Hollywood producer David Permut.
"People from Montana know that a lot of people from Montana don't have it made and so they are willing to help others. It sort of sets us apart."
Indeed, in that city where story is essential, work is everything and who you know is a primary way toward that end, MSU graduates stick together, according to Paul Monaco, longtime MSU film professor.
There is no easy way from the earth to the stars. -- Seneca
Monaco estimates that about 25 students in each MSU film class (about 45 students each year) find their way to L.A. within two years to work in some aspect of the film industry. Monaco has been watching MSU graduates venture to Southern California for decades and he's observed that there are basically three generations of MSU film graduates that have made the migration. The first is the generation of legendary director John Dahl, who graduated from MSU in the 1970s and is known for such films as Rounders and Red Rock West. Dahl is considered one of MSU's most successful film graduates. The second generation is the vintage of Brian Van't Hul, a 1987 graduate, who was part of a team that won an Oscar in 2006 for visual effects in King Kong. And now there is an energetic crop of recent graduates.
"I think one of the unusual strengths of this department is the way in which students bond," Monaco said. "And it's always been like that. It's sort of a neat twist in the story."
"We're all in the trenches"
It is just after 9 a.m., the coastal fog has yet to burn off and most of L.A.'s movers and shakers are still at the gym or maybe at Peet's picking up an Americano. Mangano has already spent a couple of hours in a Century City high rise where Permut Presentations is housed in a small office suite as gray as the weather outside.
Century City is a world away from Bozeman and its laid-back fleece and jeans skier vibe. In the two years since Mangano arrived, he has made the transition easily. His hair is styled, his appearance sharp and his performance flawless as he gracefully fields a steady stream of calls and mans the small reception area.
Permut has recently released the film Charlie Bartlett and is in the thick of producing Youth in Revolt, a coming-of-age comedy based on the novel by C. D. Payne. The film will star Michael Cera, who is hot off Superbad and Juno. So, Mangano, a film buff originally from North Bend, Wash., has a ringside seat on how big films get made in Hollywood.
When Mangano first came to L.A. he worked on The Hills Have Eyes II, then as a production assistant working with Wes Craven. Patrick Markey, the sometime Bozeman/Livingston resident who produced Horse Whisperer and A River Runs Through It, met Mangano in Montana while both were working to get tax incentives for film productions passed in the state legislature. Markey, who was working with Permut on Youth in Revolt, told Mangano about the opening in Permut's organization.
Mangano, who would like to direct one day, says he is learning a lot on the job with Permut, who has a long career producing hits that began with Richard Pryor Live in Concert and Face Off, among others.
"I don't know anyone from MSU who isn't a hard worker, who has had anything handed to them," said Mangano, currently a member of MTA's Alumni Advisory Council. "We are all in the trenches. The thing is, we will fight until one of us makes it and we'll help each other out."
"What are you doing next week?"
Mangano and recent MSU students meet at least once a month at wine parties organized by Aria Stewart, a 2006 graduate, and her boyfriend, Ryan Stumpe, who graduated in 2003, at their small house in the Silver Lake area.
Both Stewart and Stumpe have worked at a series of short-term movie industry jobs since arriving in L.A.. This is not the kind of work one does if interested in regular schedules and a health and pension plan. But each job seems to lead to the next and the pair remain optimistic not only about the industry, but the importance of their Montana network.
"The people I call friends are Montana people," says Stewart, a Bozeman native who works in editing and post-production. "So many of the jobs I have gotten are because of Montana people.
"It seems like every day someone calls and asks 'What are you doing next week?'"
Stewart came down to L.A. first in 2006 with three friends and no job. She worked at an unpaid internship, supporting herself by waitressing nights in a swanky L.A. club.
"It was good money, but the reason you come to L.A. isn't to work at a restaurant," she said. She went with an MSU friend to a wrap party, traditionally held for cast and crew to celebrate wrapping a production, and heard about a trailer editor who was leaving Universal to open his own post-production house. That led to her first of many jobs in the business.
She recently worked with Scott Chestnut, who graduated in 1978 and is an established film editor, on Boy of Pigs, which Chestnut edited. Stewart served as post-production coordinator.
"I wanted to work for a Montana person because they are different than L.A. people," said Stewart, who recently finished editing the feature comedy Pants on Fire. "They will be straight with you, which is important to me."
Stewart talked Stumpe into moving to California about a year ago. He had been busy in Bozeman with his own production company, AVERingenuity, which he co-operates with partner Josh Bradner, also an MSU graduate. The company specializes in shooting commercials for non-profits, among other things. He had made a couple of comic music videos for the Bozeman-based Broad Comedy and had produced The Pizza Show, a sketch-comedy show shown on local stations and YouTube. While he thought it might be time for the opportunity to work on a larger scale than he was able to in Montana, he first paid the rent by working as a grip on a series of low-budget horror movies that shot from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
"Work is work and you learn something from each project," Stumpe said, explaining that the films frequently go to the Sci-Fi Channel. "Everyone needs content."
From his L.A. base, Stumpe has been able to work on a variety of his own AVERingenuity projects, including Raising the Ghost, a documentary that follows fly fishing anglers in search of the elusive steelhead trout.
Stumpe and Stewart say that they notice that the number of MSU graduates seems to increase, or at least attendance at their monthly wine parties continues to grow.
"They offer MSU alums a chance to catch up," Stumpe said of the gatherings. "(They) allow me to keep my crew full of Montanans who, I find, are the hardest working and best people for the job."
"We know kids that went to USC or other schools, but they are all trained in theory," Stewart said. "They had no hands-on experience so (their film school) was not that helpful. The people I've worked for have told me that they like to hire me because I know what I am doing. The fact that MSU has hands-on education was so helpful to me here."
Stumpe said among his aspirations are working with the MSU graduates that came before him -- Chestnut, Scott Seifert, Dahl and Mark Vargo, among others.
"They still give a shit about MSU, what's going on with the program and the kids that come out of the program," Stumpe said. "There's something about the education at MSU that is not in the textbooks. For one thing, it teaches you how to be a lifelong learner."
Chestnut brushes off any suggestion that he is doing anything unusual by giving work to those MSU graduates that came after him.
"If I am in a position to help them I will try because they will try to help me one day," said Chestnut, who grew up in Billings and Great Falls.
After graduating from MSU in 1978, Chestnut was accepted to the prestigious American Film Institute and later returned to Billings to shoot commercials. He followed his future wife back to Hollywood, sleeping on the floor of an apartment rented by his old MSU friends Dahl and David Warfield, Dahl's old writing partner. They also interacted with fellow classmate Jon Johnson, who later would win an Oscar for sound editing on U-571.
Chestnut began in the business editing music videos. His first was for Dahl, which led to editing feature films. Thirty years after graduating, Chestnut is still editing Dahl's projects, including You Kill Me, released last summer.
"The movie business is built on networking," says Chestnut, who now lives in Bozeman and commutes to L.A. after living in California for 14 years. "People want to help in the film business. They have been there. They want to build bridges."
After decades in the business, Chestnut concurs that there is something different about the MSU graduates in Hollywood, no matter what their vintage.
"(At MSU) the feeling is that there's enough work to go around so let's help each other out," Chestnut says. "Maybe part of it is the school has instilled in us a kind of serious, no-nonsense approach to making film. Maybe it's the fact that MSU is based in Bozeman. And Bozeman is such a special place. All of us have that special place in common."