When Seth Landau attended ASU in the mid '90s, he liked movies, but he never thought he'd make them.
But 10 years after graduating with a broadcast journalism degree, this actor, writer and director has already created two feature-length films.
The ASU Center for Film, Media and Popular Culture presented the unofficial world premier of Landau's second full-length feature, "Bryan Loves You," last Wednesday at the Valley Art theatre on Mill Avenue.
"Seth said we're not going to call it the world premier," said Peter Lehman, director of the Center for Film, before the movie's debut. "He's had major success so far with this, so in case of national distribution, we want to save that exciting term."
The movie was filmed a-la "Blair Witch," and follows one brave soul who seeks to discover the truth about a cult in a small, Arizona town.
But the horror flick wasn't just a figment of Landau's imagination. The native East Coaster built a lot of the film from his own experiences of moving to Gilbert when the town was still tiny and when he was one of the only Jewish boys in a small high school.
He likens Jonathon, the main character in "Bryan," to a combination between his former self and Alice from "Alice in Wonderland" - an innocent girl who everyone else is out to get.
"I looked and sounded different," Landau said.
After high school, Landau went to ASU where he majored in broadcast journalism, though he "always acted, watched movies and lived vicariously through them.
"The broadcast school was kind of like my film school," he said. "My projects were never serious. My reward was when everyone in class would laugh."
Landau partially attributes his background in journalism - he worked for The State Press and the New Times in Houston - for his success in film.
"There's a connection between media and movies: you're taking an idea and transcribing it," he said. "But in movies, you're creating the ideas yourself."
After graduating from ASU, Landau spent a few months in the journalism field before he had a "career epiphany."
"I realized I shouldn't be doing this," he said of journalism. "My natural instinct isn't to be a reporter."
So Landau packed up his stuff and moved to Los Angeles, where he tried his shot at acting and serving as a production assistant on several films.
After asking someone else to direct his first short film, Landau had his second career epiphany.
"I'm never going to not direct something I write," he said. "I'm a control freak and a leader."
And so Landau turned out "APU: Art, Pot and Underwear," and then, "Bryan Loves You," which was bought by Shoreline Entertainment, who will now try to sell the film to distributors.
Though Landau said he would have gone to film school if he could have, he said the best thing for aspiring directors is just to get out into the field.
"I found my own way," Landau said. "You do way more than any syllabus. There's no way a degree can do all that."
Reach the reporter at: tara.brite@asu.edu.
