The Base of the PROJECT

Jon Andrews lives down a long driveway* in a one room cottage overlooking Lake Champlain.  He drives a mile up the road before encountering another human dwelling.  The view from his bay windows in the kitchen/dining room/living room awaits him when he wakes up every morning and the beauty of the Green Mountains always wish him a good evening along the rambling drive home. 

This native Vermonter speaks like a Vermonter in a slow drawl that underemphasizes consanants, lives like a Vermonter in a humble home surrounded by beauty and isolation, and looks like a Vermonter in jeans and plaid, but Jon Andrews does not feel like a Vermonter.  Jon, an independent filmmaker, left New York City a year ago for Middlebury to get married to his high school acquaintance, Lisa Raider.  These two artists remained near their roots for their first year of marriage only to realize that they "feel less and less of a connection here."**

Jon spent the first eighteen years of his life growing up in Middlebury, VT.  Studying as an undergrad in New Haven, CT, Jon graduated from Yale University with a degree in Film Studies with a focus in Production.  During those four years, he spent a semester abroad in Prague, and he returned there after his graduation to teach for a short time.  He then moved to New York City for five years until he returned to Middlebury last spring.  During this past winter, Jon directed and produced his film, Pursuing Happiness, which he is currently editing with the intention of submitting it to international film festivals.

New York City "citified" Jon.  But New York paid a disservice to this man: it left him in a limbo between a rural country setting and an urban backdrop.  Jon seems stuck between the "super-artsy" society of New York City and the "super-earthy" culture of Vermont.  What happens when a country bumpkin is no longer satisfied with the mountains and will never be satisfied with traffic and smog? 

Middlebury's location undeniably provided the right location for his latest project, Pursuing Happiness. 

The intense weather from the prior winter inspired him to write his newest screenplay about the Vermont area during this season.  Drawing upon all of his experiences as a child while living here as an adult, Jon wrote this screenplay in his remote cottage.  When the nation endured great suffering on September 11 and throughout the ensuing months, Jon worked through his own pain by writing this script.  He removed himself to the cottage, which proved to be both a bain and a benefit for him.

There were no distractions, there was no noise, there were no people.  This escape sustained an intense working atmosphere, but provided no escape from itself.  After living in New York City for five years, John had come to thrive on the distractions and noise and people to enable his work and creativity.  As Jon mentions, the context for his work had drastically altered.  As a result, while his style of writing and directing remained intact, the content of his work shifted along with the shift in his environments.

As the son of Middlebury's Congegationalist Church's pastor, doors swung wide open for Jon when he asked for help from the surrounding community.  He could "play the card of being a local." The town council was much more cooperative and supportive of his project, local bakeries and restaurants donated food to the crew and cast, community members availed their homes as locations for sets, and the local newspaper picked the story up quite quickly. 

However, Middlebury will not provide the right location for Jon's future projects.   While Jon reaped the benefits of Middlebury's community atmosphere for the year he spent here, there are too many disadvantages for each advantage that both Jon and Lisa experienced.  After living in New York City, the differences between the city and country protruded distinctly in the subtle background of the mountains.

Jon and Lisa feel that the art generated in the area lacks innovative creativity.  While the landscapes are technically and esthetically pleasing, there is nothing beneath the layer of paint that makes a statement or uses that layer of paint in a new way.  As a result, Lisa's work, different from the standard landscape exploited in Vermont, is not appreciated or encouraged.  The overall film industry in Vermont spans the whole state, but there is not a united union of filmmakers with which Jon can collaborate.  Obviously, Vermont is not a Hollywood or New York City for the filmmaking industry, and therefore lacks the tools and financing that filmmakers depend upon. While his wife feels stifled in the consevative art scene, Jon can not rely upon the disorderly film community in Vermont.

Moreover, working in the vicinity of his father truly halted his role as a filmmaker while living in his hometown.  A person plays a role in each place he or she travels to, and in this case, Jon still had to play the role of his father's son while needing to be the filmmaker. 

Furthermore, Jon and Lisa do not feel at ease in their hometown.  The two traveled in different circles during high school.  Now, their old classmates will not release the old stereotypes associated with Jon and Lisa. 

Apparently, stereotypes of the "nerds" and the "cool crowd" from high school still apply in Middlebury even after high school graduation, a degree from Yale, and a Student Academy Award. As ridiculous as it sounds, the social boxes teenagers force each other into still remain in the Middlebury community, and this community still confines Jon and Lisa to their old boxes.  As they encounter old classmates while walking down the street, the couple will endure their old acquaintance's confusion, awkward jokes, and strange looks. 

Returning home for anybody requires returning to people anticipating the old persona of one's overall evolving character.  Meanwhile, changing locations demands changes in personality that are irreversible.  The people that stay in the same place, such as Jon and Lisa's old classmates, remain static and expect others that leave to do so as well.

The prevalent earthy culture of Vermont does not really accept new ideas from the city, and therefore fashion statements.  Jon claims he can feel "the heat of people's judgement" when he walks into a store wearing clothes that do not fit the Vermont dress code of sneakers, jeans, and plaid.  "It's hard to be an artist when you are supposed to constantly be pushing the boundaries," and this is even harder in an environment where artists are expected to conform to the status quo.

As a result, both Jon and Lisa avoid investing themselves into this town.  Middlebury, a classic small town, does not foster young, freethinking individals. Jon and Lisa know they will not remain here for much longer, and instead will search for a location that satisfies both of their needs.

Jon's departure from New York City was primarily due to the lack of a cohesive film community.  "Most filmmakers in New York are afraid that they are not the best, and when you put that much of yourself into a project, you have to believe you are the best."   While he concedes that his passive personality may have prevented him from "networking," Jon felt that when he would attend events, his colleagues were only interested in sizing each other up instead of discussing their work in an open forum.  Jon spent five years making little headway in NYC.  Feeling like he "was getting nowhere fast," his boredom with the film scene resulted in a move to Middlebury.

Jon believes that "feeling rooted is important." This value originates in his the strong religious community of his childhood.  He just has not identified with a location yet where he wants to settle and sink into as part of the community.

Living in four separate locations within eight years, Jon is like a weary traveler in the middle of the desert looking for water.  Every mirage he arrives at eventually leads to the next destination because it does not have what he wants or needs.  In this case, the water, a requirement for human life, equates with an artistic community, a requirement for human creativity.  He is the classic artist in search of something he cannot find, and in this case it is a supportive artistic community.

Jon's short time in Prague revealed a location with which he feels a deep connection.  His time in this city during and after college allowed him to experiment with his craft while also finding himself.  Removing himself to this foreign country with a foreign history and foreign culture forced him to break down the shell surrounding him and find the true person within him.

He will now take this core personality to go in search of a new place.  While Jon claims that he has passed the age where he needs to keep moving around to rediscover himself, he is still in search of his "water."  Jon and Lisa are looking into Providence, RI and Chicago, which are not as overwhelming as New York or underwhelming as Middlebury, VT.  They have "used up" these other locations, and simply need to move on to the next phases, or places, of their life.

Each of these locations have affected Jon in various ways.  Overall, his writing and directing style have remained the same, but the content of his writing will adjust to each new setting.  He views his environment primarily on the basis of the surrounding artist community, something he values quite deeply.  Until he finds a place that he feels he can "root" himself in, he will continue to move and adjust, imposing exile upon himself just as so many other artists do to themselves.  It is vital to his artwork that he identifies with his community.

Jon Andrews claims, "Community can not be stressed enough... an artist can't work alone."  However, Jon has already proven himself wrong with his current project, Pursuing Happiness, but it just ain't easy.

*All video clips are taken from Andrews, Recorded Interview.

**All quotations in The Base of the PROJECT are taken from Andrews, Personal Interview.