Back door stagewriter opens film school in Taos (505) 821-4101
By Leta Rector
TAOS PUEBLO, NM - When James Lujan moved to Hollywood, he discovered what so many who had gone before him also discovered: acting roles for Indian people in Hollywood are mighty slim pickings. “Initially I started out as an actor and there are very few roles for Indian people,” said Lujan.
The scripts which might cast someone such as himself just weren’t there. So, like many non-Indians and Indians before him, he himself turned to writing.
It turned out to be a good path for Lujan and things are going great guns right now. All his study and hard work is beginning to pay off. In October, the Native Voices program in Pasadena, California held a staged reading of his stageplay “Kino and Teresa.” And for the icing on the cake, this month he will be making a journey he has never made before. He’ll be taking his screenplay “Fast Elk” to the world-famous Sundance Film Festival, the mecca of independent filmmaking. Oddly enough, this venture came after the script was rejected for the Sundance Writer’s Workshop.
“They liked the script enough they want to help me develop it,” he said. “I can get some professional feedback on the film and see a lot of movies.”
The concept of “Fast Elk” was one that caught the eyes of the Sundance workshop. “A Native American man who is down and out struggling, on the reservation who dreams of being a superhero,” Lujan said. Then the script begins to meld imagination with the real world. “It jumps back and forth between reality and fantasy until you’re not sure which is which,” Lujan explained.
Like most other Indians who knew about it, he did catch Hallmark’s miniseries “Dreamkeeper” recently on ABC-TV. “It’s nice,” he said. “It’s a good professional, well-done piece of work but it really doesn’t do much in terms of enlightening people about the Native American condition,” he surmised.
“It perpetuates the stereotype,” Lujan said.
Lujan has different ideas for the stories he aims to tell through his writing. “I want to go in and stretch things,” he said, “and make an Indian a superhero or go in on Wall Street where his Native roots don’t call attention to itself. Eventually to get to the point where Native characters are in everyday sorts of situations, romantic comedies. I just want to have the opportunity to put Indians outside the context of being warriors on horseback.”
Another element he wants to add to Native stories is, ahh, how to say this delicately? The Indian libido. “That’s sort of the stereotyping of Native people, no sense of dangerous sensuality about him,” said Lujan. “You don’t have to be explicit, there’s nothing wrong with being sexy.”
Lujan grew up part of his life in Taos Pueblo. He first attended Stanford University, then went to USC from 1989 to 1991. “That’s when I flirted with the idea of majoring in acting,” he revealed.
When he discovered the realities of being an aspiring Indian actor in L.A., that was when he took a turn. “I began writing screenplays, going into journalism, developing the craft. I concentrated mostly on film work for the first part of my training and my career.”
Even when he achieved accolades and a pretty hefty award validating his writing skills, it didn’t seem to make much difference to Hollywood. “I wrote a screenplay in 1992 called ‘Nation’ about three generations of an Indian family which won the Disney writers’ workshop minorities screenwriters award,” Lujan said. “The funny thing about that was one of the benefits of winning, they send your script to agents and production companies. I got back a lot of really nice rejection letters that said we really love your script but there’s no way to cast it because it’s all about Indians.”
He decided it was time to throw in the towel momentarily on Hollywood. “What they were telling me if there’s not a role for Kevin Costner or Mel Gibson, there’s no point in producing it,” he said. “That’s one reason I left L.A.”
He continued to write after moving home to New Mexico. In 1995 his play ‘Casi Hermanos’ was produced. Afterwards, he wrote a play that was an Indian twist on an old love story. “What helped get me the grant to write this was they liked the whole spin of the pueblo revolt thing set to Romeo & Juliet.” He sent it to Native Voices in 1999 and didn’t hear back until 2002.
“Another play I didn’t get a chance to act in,” he laughed.
“I saw a nice range of Native talent,” he said and Native Voices hopes to mount the full production.
At the same time his first produced play ‘Casi Hermanos’ was being mounted, he was starting his own production company.
He had learned to make movies professionally after his training at USC film school. His first documentary was called “High Strange to New Mexico”.
“It was basically a documentary, which, incidentally, is available through Amazon.com, about the UFO subculture,” Lujan said. “The film actually did pretty well and. I’ve done five since.”
Who needs Hollywood? Lujan is making his own version of Hollywood in the Land of Enchantment. “I decided to start up my own moviemaking world. I found that was possible it was during that time during the mid 90’s that video quality was really starting to become better than what it had been. It was becoming a good time for independent filmmakers to make their films affordably.”
“I started my company Taos Productions and I’m also in the process of building a studio there, a facility to make films. So, yeah, I was really serious about building my own world outside of Los Angeles.”
So there, L.A.!
Additionally, he is spreading the knowledge he learned. “About four years ago, I started a non-profit organization Taos Filmmaker's Initiative at www.geocities.com/taosfilmmaker which contains photos and a bit of bio information. This organization teaches filmmaking to people who wouldn’t have the opportunity. I’ve had students of all ages from high school to adults in the past four years, they’ve produced about 12 short films. It’s funded through grants, donations. In the meantime, I have all that sort of business going on.”
Needless to say, with all that business, Lujan has his hands full. “Just by necessity I’ve had to become jack of all trades, writer, director, producer, editor, just to satisfy my acting bug. I’m working on several other scripts as well. Right now I’m really focused on screenwriting. I basically cut my teeth learning the filmmaking process in documentaries and I’m starting to segue into dramatic films.”
“It hasn’t been an easy or direct path but I’ve learned a lot along the way,” Lujan said.
So Lujan looks forward to Robert Redford’s little celebration in the mountains. “I’ve never been to Sundance film festival before,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity.”
Who knows? He might even get cast in his own movie.