Art and spirituality go hand in hand. Both ethereal. Both eternally debatable. There’s no question that throughout the course of history it is impossible to unlink the two. Unfortunately, like anything experienced on a mass scale, those involved in the “business” of spirituality — or, more rightly, religion  — are quick to take the complexity of art and try to reduce it to easily-comprehensible works that, at times, end up doing more harm than good. Fortunately there are some that choose to embrace both the practices of their religion and the mystery of art.

In 2010, singer/songwriter Derek Webb released an album called “Feedback.” Dubbed a “musical interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer,” it was just begging to be presented visually. So, without hesitation, Houston-based filmmaker Scott Brignac decided to take on the task:

Before we get to how you ended up working with Derek, where are you from?

I’m originally from a fairly small town in South Louisiana called Houma — way down south, below New Orleans. I literally grew up right next to a bayou. My neighborhood was called Bayou Blue, in fact. Alligators and the like.

How do you think your environment growing up helped foster your creativity? If at all?

My dad was an aviation mechanic (now retired). So I’ve had a treasure trove of things to stoke my imagination since I can remember. He had a modified hanger in our backyard — basically a barn that he built himself. At any given time he could have a plane, an RV, a motorcycle, or some other mechanical thing he was tinkering on. We also had a few VWs behind the barn. We actually had a VW van at one point that everyone thought was junk sitting back there, and I would play in it. I wish I could go back and ask him to keep it and I would restore it now. Anyway, there was quite a bit of “junk” in the barn that I would go and look through and would just let my imagination go. It really was the coolest place for a kid.

I was also always fascinated with his actual hanger at the airport. All the transient people coming through just to talk to my dad (they were all drawn to him; he’s a good man), and the pilots and their fascinating way of life. Lots of characters. And I mean, come on, South Louisiana? Now that is a place where you can experience life and culture in such a unique way. Close to New Orleans, but also close to the people who live right on the marsh. Lots of characters.

From what I can tell, you have an incredible eye for the technical side of film, but you also seem to understand how to communicate a story as well. What got you into film as a storytelling art form?

I actually studied an experimental type of performance art at Louisiana State University. During my senior year I helped produce/write/direct a stage adaptation of the Song of Songs from the Bible — and if you are familiar with that book, you know that’s a weird thing to adapt to the stage (it was fun). Anyway, I produced a little short film that played right in the middle of the performance. After that, I knew what I wanted to do. I then dove headlong into the technical. Now I’m just trying to figure out the best way to tell stories using that technical knowledge, which by the way, will always need to be deepened.

["Self Sabotage" trailer.]

How did you end up working on Self Sabotage with Derek Webb? Was it your idea? His? Both of yours?

Derek and I met through Cliff Young (both in Caedmon’s Call — great band, check them out if you haven’t yet). I actually saw Derek tweet about his album Feedback, and that Scott Erickson (painter) and Jeremy Cowart (photographer) were both producing artwork to go along with the album. I remember reading that tweet and thinking, hey wait, why is there not a film element to go with this? What about that art form? I knew the answer — because I knew Derek would totally be interested in a film element — but, as most people know, it’s expensive and time consuming, and we were coming in at the release of the project.

I thought to myself , would I be willing to throw myself into a project like this with no funding, and not knowing what the film’s end use would be? The answer was a resounding, “Let’s see what Derek thinks.” So, on a whim, I sent him an email and pitched an idea for a derivative of the album on film. I wanted the film to be a narrative — one with no dialogue, and structured heavily around metaphor … or metonym. He dug the (very) loose concept, and was excited to see what could come of it.

Did you guys collaborate on the film, itself?

No, not really. We just set up some guidelines to go by, and we tried to stick to them as much as possible. I was very conscious of what I thought Derek would want, but he really emphasized that it was our art and he didn’t want to hinder that. That really set us free to do our thing, and made the process exciting and fun. He was supportive the whole time, but wanted us to have complete ownership. That made all the difference and I was humbled that he would trust us to make something to compliment his art.

To make the film, I collaborated with Cody Bess, and Ryan Booth. Both are amazing artists, and it was just right timing that we were able to put our heads together and try to make something interesting. They both added so much to the film all the way from concept through editorial. I could not have done this film without them. Cody is an extremely talented photographer, and Ryan is one of the smartest people I know.

We started the project in NYC, and hadn’t even heard the music yet. We were all there for other reasons, and decided if there was any place to start filming, it was NYC. I contacted a producer friend of mine, Ben Fuqua, and he helped me find two stellar actors to help us — Daniel Fox and Carolyn Gilroy. Both did an amazing job for not really knowing what the project was going to be. I remember having to convince Daniel that we weren’t hacks and that we were serious about our craft. He’s extremely serious about acting, which I found to be so engaging. We were all collaborators on this film.

This might be an extremely obvious-sounding question, but I promise it’s genuine: What’s the premise behind your vision for Self Sabatoge? Is there a definite statement to be made?

This project was kind of like a puzzle. A big puzzle. Like those 10,000 piece puzzles that people spend a year finishing in their spare time (that’s almost how long it took us). All we knew is that we had all the corner pieces in place — which is what Derek’s album was — a musical interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer. No lyrics. So that being our corner piece, we set the four sides of the puzzle based on my conversations with Derek, and then we were free to complete the puzzle. We had no idea what the final image would be. In fact, it was at our final editing session that it all came together and we finally saw the entire picture for what it was. That is probably the most rewarding thing — to work on something that takes on a life of it’s own.

Anyway, I think the title really lays the “statement” of the film out in a not so subtle way. The Lord’s Prayer is a model of prayer  — prayer that is not selfish and there are parallels throughout scripture that reference the battle between our humanity and our spirit — the tension in this film. And, well, who was a better example of ultimate self-sabotage than Christ? The film builds on that premise, and explores with emotion and metaphor each line of the prayer.

When can we expect to see it?

We are currently screening the film in select cities, and then we’ll release online. I will mention that we actually did a Kickstarter campaign halfway through because we reached the end of our personal resources to finish it. We were fortunate to have great support, and were able to fund it. We will give the film the to supporters at our first screening in Houston.

For more of Scott’s work, visit Brignac.tv. For more info about Self Sabotage, visit FeedbackFilm.com.

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