Meet Mark Cabaroy | Filmmaker

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

Hi Mark, what’s the end goal, career-wise?
My “end goal” is constantly changing when I first started it was just to be acknowledged as being a proficient filmmaker. Then later in life it was to make money at it doing the Hollywood thing. Looking back now I realize how naive that was because so few people are able to obtain and sustain that level of accomplishment. Particularly people of color and especially for someone like me back in the 70’s or 80’s when I was coming of age. Now I just hope I’ve created enough films to leave some type of legacy behind, even if it’s just a historical footnote. The internet has given people the opportunity to be exposed to art, literature and music that wouldn’t have been impossible 30 or 40 years ago. So it would be nice to be acknowledged for creating something or being apart or creating something that people enjoyed and remember.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I like to make character driven films with unique stories. I’m particular drawn to the “What if?” type of story. I’m very conscious of time, so I like to make films that move as fast as possible in terms of plot and action. I’m not big into long lazy shots to set up a scene. I think people can get easily restless so I try and keep them on their toes and love to surprise them with something that after they see it makes total sense but they just didn’t see it coming.

I started out writing because making films back in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s was expensive and hard and writing was cheap and easy. I developed the ability to write fast thinking on my feet and found many people couldn’t do that so I was able to network a bit because I had those usable skills.

It wasn’t easy when I first started because I didn’t know how to type, back then there were no computers and my family only had an old manual typewriter so my Mother typed a script that I would dictate. After that started typing them myself. Like most things if you do it long enough you become faster and get better at it and luckily for me I had a pretty active imagination so it eventually lead me to some professional work.

I’ve learned that not always getting what you want can be a good thing. That often we don’t really know what’s best for us in the present moment. I try and separate my needs from my wants and listen to people, taking the advice that makes sense to me. The last lesson I’ve learned a few years back is to not hold a grudge or resent people who don’t follow through letting you down because that’s just a part of life.

Lastly you may not like the films I make but you’ll definitely remember them.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would take them to Times Square, 34th Street Herald Square and Central Park because they’re all such an iconic New York sites and being there for most people is like going to DisneyWorld. Next we’d visit Greenwich Village and I’d show them Washington Square Park. There are a lot of cool places to eat and drink downtown in that area and you can wander around there for hours. I’d probably take them to the Botanical Gardens, Yankee Stadium and the Bronx Zoo.

Then the Museum of Natural History, Museum of Modern Art, and the Museum of Moving Images, check out some of the tallest buildings like One World Trade Center, the 911 memorial, the Vanderbilt Tower and the main branch of the New York Public Library.

Let them stroll down fifth avenue with it’s expensive stores and up Sixth Avenue to Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Plaza and Grand Central Terminal. Maybe hop on one of those city bus tours that zip you around town one morning.

Then uptown to Harlem for some jazz, soul food and Grant’s Tomb and if there was time take them on the tram to Roosevelt Island and then Staten Island ferry.

If there was any time left try and squeeze in a visit to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
When I was 14 years old I had started going to a film group held in the basement of the public library. I had taken a film appreciation English class in junior high and had seen a few classics like Citizen Kane, and the silent movies of Chaplin, Buster Keaton, etc.

But that library group exposed me to more experimental films, shorts made not by Hollywood but by Independent filmmakers working off grants or their own money. I had just started making films myself so it really opened up my world to the possibilities of what could be done outside of mainstream cinema.

Most of the people in that group were in college and I don’t think any of them were planning a career in filmmaking but they were incredibly knowledgeable and insightful in their observations and critiques.

Later as I started showing them what I had made they were very supportive and we started to do little films together so it was my first time collaborating with others. I made a few life long friendship with some of the people in that group and every once in a while wonder what happened to some of them.

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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWzmGtKseu0