Meet Ian Mark: Author, actor, & filmmaker.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ian Mark and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ian, what is the most important factor behind your success?
I have an internal locus of validation. Many people struggle to judge their own work, their own worth, and look to others asking “is this good?” As long as I can remember, I’ve had strong opinions about what makes a good book or a good film or a good improv set, and I hold myself to those high standards. When I wrote Love from Amanda to Zoey, I wrote it for no one but myself– I wanted to see if I had it in me to create an entire novel out of scratch. As I’ve grown, the goals I’ve set for myself have grown as well. Yet still, the work I do is above all else for my own satisfaction. If I’m not happy with the end product, no one else will be. That internal locus gives me the strength and the confidence to fight for what I believe on any project, with whoever I may be in the room with. I don’t like to think of myself as having a brand– each project is different, each creative task requires it’s own sacrifices and priorities. If my aesthetic and input could be boiled down to a slogan, it wouldn’t be much of an aesthetic would it? 

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve always frowned at awards ceremonies that call something the “best” film or the “greatest” novel– these are subjective arts that don’t lend themselves to rankings like sports teams do. What is best or greatest to me may be decent to you. so I don’t strive to make the best art. I strive to make art that only I, at the unique intersection of time and space that I occupy, with my unique inputs of reading, watching, and observing over these last almost three decades, am capable of creating. I can confidently say you won’t read another novel like Love from Amanda to Zoey (or my second currently unpublished novel Just a Dream). It’s one of the reasons I had a hard time finding a publisher, they all want to know what other projects mine can be compared to, and I wrote it to be different from every book I’ve ever read. We called it a romance novel, but a cynic can read the book and correctly point out all the reasons it’s not. A lover can read it and feel their faith in romance has been restored. My art is intentionally open to interpretation, my first novel a mirror the reader can look into and see what they want. In A More Perfect Union, Blaize and I decided early on not to write the easy, paint-by-numbers middle America pandemic film that we’ll see a thousand versions of over the next few years. So we wrote a script that challenges our assumptions about this country, that tackles mass surveillance and the immorality of the NSA, the horrors of our healthcare system, that grapples with all the things that made America a bad place for a lot of people before we’d even heard the words Covid-19. And we made our main couple polyamorous because we are polyamorous, because representation matters, and because without the awareness that there are other options out there, how can you ever know if you chose monogamy out of preference or out of fear? We’ve had people read our script and say there’s too much going on, these characters have too much in their lives, and I ask you, what people don’t in 2020? Our script is political only so much in that the characters are politically informed, and in this year everyone’s lives are political. What sets our film apart is that it can entertain while it informs, it has a viewpoint but doesn’t preach it, it presents two people’s lives over a short period of time and allows its audience to draw from it what they will. I want the world to know that the way things are aren’t the way they have to be.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well this is an interesting one during a pandemic. For now, stay home and wear a mask! Once this hellish pandemic is over, I’d highly recommend a trip to the Hollywood Bowl, a drive out to one of Malibu’s beautiful beaches, and perhaps a peaceful sojourn through the zen garden in Sherman Oaks.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would not be where I am today without my partner Blaize Hall. When the lockdown started, everyone had to look in the mirror and really assess who they absolutely needed in their lives– I am endlessly grateful to have her in my circle. I know I would have found a project to occupy my time no matter who was in my life, but without her it never would have been as ambitious as A More Perfect Union. The only reason I thought making a low-budget feature in lockdown was possible was because together we had two phenomenal actors who could also produce, write, and direct. I have immense confidence in myself, and even greater confidence in Blaize– she will be a film and television star. Her magnetism and talent are undeniable to anyone who’s had the chance to work with her, and I hope we’ll be working together for years to come. You can see what we’re working on at amoreperfectunion.ptnt.com and I’d also like to mention the fine folks at Media Alliance, who have extended nonprofit fiscal sponsorship to us, meaning all contributions to A More Perfect Union are tax deductible! They watchdog the press and seek to democratize the public voice, and they’re a fine group of journalists who’ve been doing great work for longer than Blaize and I have been alive! I’d also like to thank our corporate partners Blackmagic Design, DZO Films, and Letterblue Productions who’ve lent the equipment to us necessary to make a feature film in lockdown. It’s been a hell of a ride and we wouldn’t be on it without their generous support.

Website: amoreperfectunion.ptnt.com
Instagram: instagram.com/amoreperfectunionfilm
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-mark-910108177/
Twitter: twitter.com/therealianmark
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therealIanMark
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1iyRMgs-tQgIHwlc23DePw