Glenbard North grad wanted 'big risk,' so he made a movie

Michael MacRae used to tell friends at Glenbard North High School, "I'm going to L.A. one day and I'm going to make it in the movies!"

Their reactions:

Sure, Mike.

We'll all come with you!

Keep dreaming, buddy.

So, at 18, MacRae left for Hollywood with $500 in his pocket. He worked at bars, in health care facilities and restaurants. He drove for Uber. He did what he needed to do to make his showbiz dream happen.

On Wednesday, MacRae's first movie, "Fishbowl California," will premiere at the Independent Theater in Los Angeles. A cast-and-crew screening will be held on Thursday, Sept. 7, at the Picture Show Theater in Bloomingdale.

MacRae's comedy revolves around a troubled, twenty-something man whose salvation comes in the form of a tough, older woman who becomes his unlikely mother figure. Steve Olson, Quinton Aaron, Jenna Willis, Kate Flannery and Katrina Bowden star.

MacRae, now 25, co-wrote the screenplay, directed the movie and financed it.

"I can now say that I'm a filmmaker!" MacRae said, barely suppressing jubilation. "I'm not aspiring any more. I've actually done it!"

MacRae was born in Elk Grove Village and grew up in Glendale Heights. After graduating Glenbard North, he spent a brief time as a radio student at the Illinois Center For Broadcasting (now the Illinois Media School).

"I didn't want to be normal," he confessed. "I wanted to do something exciting, something fun I could talk about. I wanted to do something very driven, something big-risk."

Movies can be a very big risk. MacRae knows that now. But, he didn't at 18, and he said that made all the difference.

"If I had left for L.A. older than 18, it would have been a lot harder," he said. "Having been so young at the time helped get me where I am today, because you have more time to make mistakes and learn from them."

Once MacRae got a green light to put "Fishbowl California" into production, he read three books on directing.

Before that, he hadn't prepared much for a movie career. He didn't even participate in high school theater.

"I think it (the drive to make movies) came from me being different from people around me," MacRae said. "A lot of them wanted to settle for a 9-to-5 job. I wanted something else."

In 2016, MacRae met writer Wyatt Aledort and they hit it off so well while writing skits together for YouTube, MacRae suggested they try writing a movie. By the end of 2016, they had a working script.

All they needed to do was attach stars so they could get funding.

But they needed funding so they could attach stars.

"It was a classic Catch-22," MacRae noted.

He figured out a way to fund the production himself and brought on a third writer, Jordon Hodges, to anchor the comedy with dramatic moments.

They finished the final draft just before shooting started in March. They wrapped in April.

"Directing is more than calling 'action' and 'cut.' So much more," he said. "The prep involved! The scouting! The shot lists! Rehearsals! Communication with the actors is a language all its own. You can't talk to actors the way you can crew members.

"There's more to being a director than sitting in a chair, shouting through a bullhorn. It's like being in the trenches in the middle of nowhere with a team and trying to make art."

So why go through the pressures of directing a movie?

"I like to make people laugh," he replied. "I was the kid with the sarcastic comebacks in school. My mouth would get me in trouble. Now, I can turn my smart-aleck mouth into jokes and make people laugh."

- Dann Gire

<i>Jamie Sotonoff and Dann Gire are looking for showbiz suburbanites with good stories. Know one? Contact them at jsotonoff@dailyherald.com and dgire@dailyherald.com.</i>

No place like suburban home for Glenbard North graduate

Filmmaker Michael MacRae isn't married and has no children. But he has a cocker spaniel mix dog named Sherman.

“I rescued Sherman three years ago and he's like a kid to me,” the Glenbard North High School grad said. “I feel like I'm a parent sometimes, even though I'm sure it's not the same as having a child.”

MacRae said part of his five-year plan is to support himself as a filmmaker without a day job.

“I'd like to buy a house and settle down,” he said. “I'd like to move back to the suburbs, then only go into L.A. when I needed to. I'd much rather live in Illinois.”