Interview with Third Society director J.A. Steel

What was the first sign when you knew you had to become a movie maker? And when that happened?

I never really set out to “make movies”, I just was determined to become a screenwriter. At the very center of my being, I am a writer. I started off writing short stories when I was 8. I had written my first novel at 12. Around 13, I was a HUGE fan of “Buck Rogers: In the 25th Century”. It was around the same time as “Battlestar Galactica” and the “Star Wars” era. I was very upset when “Buck Rogers” was cancelled, so I decided to write a screenplay to “get Buck home”. Eventually, I wrote producer Don Bellisario who at the time was producing “Airwolf”, “Tales of the Gold Monkey”, and “Magnum PI”. His assistant, Carol Gillson, wrote back on Don’s behalf and told me I needed to get an agent, go to Film School, and just write and keep writing.

I was 14 when I wrote my first original screenplay, “Revenge of the Warrior.” At the point where I wrote “The End” on “Revenge of the Warrior”, I knew I was a screenwriter.

“The first sign when I knew I had become a movie maker?” I’m still waiting for the “sign”. Yes, I’ve made a movie. It’s an okay movie. It’s a feature, shot in 35mm, I cut the negative and does everything that one does when manipulating the film medium – but, I still don’t feel like a moviemaker. I will actually feel like a moviemaker when I can take the words I’ve written in my screenplays and the images in my mind and put them on the screen.

I’ll let you know when I actually feel like a moviemaker, until then, I’m just a screenwriter trying to get the images on the screen.

You have worked with Sho Kosugi, tell something about that era and the man himself.

Sho was awesome. Everyone always asked me if he was THAT GOOD of a martial artist. He was – and his moves in real life were even faster and better than they were on the screen. I worked for him just as the era of the “B-Movie” was coming to an end. The studios were heading toward bigger budget films with more stars and more effects. Sho had just finished up “Journey of Honor” when I started working for him. I got to get my feet wet in post-production and actual delivery to the foreign buyers. I also did some script re-writes for him, but the scripts never got made. The money was nice. But to me, the greatest tragedy is to write a script and have it set on a shelf. There are some scripts that I’ve shelved intentionally – because it would be more of a tragedy to try to get them made.

The late 80’s came out with some really great low-budget movies and made Jean-Claude Van Damme a star. I’m really sad that the era is gone. I wish Hollywood could give up it’s big budget effects and go back to the way movies used to be made. When, in action films and martial arts films – one actually had to be into the martial arts and not just an actor who studied for 6 months to look good on film.

How did you come up with the idea for Third Society?

I had a dream where I was in a movie theatre in Asia watching a movie. Very strangely, I was up on the screen – in the movie. Well, I was on a motorcycle and had long blonde hair, which is even more strange because I’m a graying brunette. When the title credits came up – they were in Chinese.

When I woke up from my dream, I wrote the characters down. My roommate from college, Edith, is Chinese and originally from Asia, so I showed her the characters. She asked me where I had seen the characters and I said in a dream I had about a movie I made. Well, it turned out that I had actually written down the symbols for a heroin trafficking Triad in Asia. Very odd – because the symbols are never shown in print together anywhere.

I had a dream I made a movie – so I made it. I wish I could’ve had the budget to make the movie in the dream though – it was much better than the real THIRD SOCIETY.

What exactly does "third society" mean - in this case?

Third Society is basically Triad Society. We couldn’t call it Triad Society because how it would have been translated into Chinese. It was considered very bad luck with the original title – Black Society Club, so I changed it to THIRD SOCIETY. Most Asians understand the meaning, a lot of Europeans don’t. I like the question – because it makes people think “what does this title mean”? I like different layers in a film – subtle, so if you miss them – no big deal, but if you manage to understand the little things, it makes you appreciate the story that much more.

How much time did it take to make Third Society? I recall you had the original screenplay written already many years ago.

The script was written in 1996. It took 9 days to shoot. I spent about 3 years in post production. We started pre-production in 1999 and finally had the DVD’S done in October of 2003. So, it took a very long time. 4 years to make. 3 years to get it onto the screen. 7 years total.

It was hard with no studio backing and no one else to assist in the financing except my buddy Fred, his friend Rod, and my Dad, Jack. Then of course, I worked a bunch of overtime to pay for what I could.

And the question that's on everybody's lips when talking about low budget films... how much did it cost?

Actual hard cost was about $250,000.00 US. I received a lot of sponsorships and endorsements for product, so that helped. EVERYTHING included, press & publicity, delivery elements, etc. we came in under $500,000.00. Not extreme low budget – but still cheaper than “Blair Witch” after they finished with the post-production.

Did you notice some similarities with Tarantino's Kill Bill and with Third Society ? I did, maybe not in the plot but in style.

I haven’t seen the film. I actually don’t have time to see many films. It wasn’t on my list of “Must See” films. My only “Must See” was RETURN OF THE KING. I’ll probably see it when it comes out on DVD. I usually have to wait until something comes out on DVD. If I have a free two hours in the middle of the afternoon – I’d rather go scuba diving with my friends or catch up on some sleep.

Tell us about Warrior Entertainment - I guess you are in music business as well as in movie business.

I started Warrior Entertainment in 1989, it was first a music management company. I worked with the hard-rock heavy metal band “St. Elmo’s Fire”. They were pretty big in Europe. In 1993, that’s when it became a company that did both music and movies. I was trying to produce a script I had written called “Lytari”, it was a post-apocalyptic action script kinda like a “Mad Max.” Well, the project fell apart, so I went back to music. I managed an artist by the name of Sasha Alexeev. He was signed to Taiwanese label Rock Records for awhile. It was fun.

Recently, I started 4:10 Records so that I could have my own label and distribution for my own film soundtracks and any artists I feel would have potential for commercial success.

We also branched out into music videos with the THIRD SOCIETY Soundtrack with the songs from Emily O’Neary – “Doesn’t Matter Anyway” and “It’s a Beautiful Day.”

You have a martial arts background - do you compete still or do you fulfill your time with Warrior Entertainment and movie making?

My last fight was a year ago in May. I jumped in the ring after only being back in serious training for 3 weeks. A girl got sick and they would’ve had to cancel the fight, but I agreed to substitute at the last minute. I got my butt-kicked. The girl was 23. I’m 34. I’ve had too many motorcycle accidents – and my body isn’t healing as fast anymore. I’ve given up the fighting. I still like training Muay Thai when I have the chance. I like sparring. My doctor doesn’t like me sparring either though. I had a bad motorcycle accident in 2000. I separated three ribs from my sternum and one from my spine. My left arm is still a lot weaker than my right. I thought I was going to lose the use of it – but I recovered. It was recommended I take up a new hobby – I chose scuba diving.

I’ve been a certified diver since 2001. I just recently became a PADI Divemaster and was in Mexico last week where I got my NSS-CDS Intro to Cave Certification.

I devote at the minimum, an hour a day doing administrative work with Warrior. There are always e-mails to answer, a website to maintain, and of course, new projects in the works.

What is your next project, considering movies and/or something else..

We’re considering doing a low-budget horror film at the moment. I’d also like to branch into documentary film making. I was overtaken by the beauty of Mexico’s Cenotes (large underground freshwater caves). My instructors, Patrick Wiget and Scott Carnahan of Protec Diving in Mexico have actually been all over the world diving. Listening to their stories made me want to go to the places they had been and film the experience.

Your biggest influences, in movie making (acting and directing, since you do both) and in whole life.

Hmmm…this is always a hard question for me...Acting – it would have to be Linda Hamilton in her TERMINATOR character. Then, of course, Sigourney Weaver. I love watching Sigourney Weaver act – she is so versatile. I’d aspire to be versatile – but action is too much fun. I’ve watched films just because they’ve had Sigourney Weaver in them. I can’t say that about any other actress.

Directing, Hmmmm, another tough one. I’m more a fan of producers. It doesn’t really make sense at first, but I’m a fan of producers – they enable the director to do his/her job. I love Joel Silver and Jerry Bruckheimer. Bruckheimer usually works with Michael Bay – so I like Michael Bay by default. Joel Silver, well, he has an extreme talent for picking directors that are great for a certain project. They’re action guys. Then of course, there is Robert Zemeckis. I was his projectionist for a class in USC film school that he was the guest professor. I learned a lot from him. He doesn’t really do action, but as far as teaching me my craft, I learned a lot just being around him.

My whole life? Hmmmm…People I meet everyday. People I interact with on a daily basis influence me in profound ways. Things I do have a huge influence on my life. I was in Salt Lake City recently. I was reading a newspaper and they actually had an “Ethics” section. In Los Angeles the newspaper contains mostly stories about murder, rape, and sections trying to sell you something…In Salt Lake, which is predominately Mormon, they have “Church” sections and stuff in the newspaper. It was extremely fascinating. I’ve traveled all over the world and always have been extremely fascinated by all of the different religions. So, if I had to pick the biggest influence in my life – it would have to be God. Afterall, he was the “Executive in Charge of Production For Warrior Entertainment” named in the end of THE THIRD SOCIETY credits.

I’ve had my coolest interactions with people of different religions and ethnic backgrounds. Culture fascinates me. I had three years at USC film School and one in the Anthropology department. I graduated with a degree in Social Science and Communication.

Parts of the interview previously released in Finnish at Elitisti.com