Sarju Patel pursues his film passion by producing his feature film “Life Tracker”
By Jenna Belhumeur
Feb. 7, 2012 11:39 p.m.
The question of what lies in the future is one with which many college students grapple. In Sarju Patel’s upcoming feature film “Life Tracker,” a group of documentary filmmakers comes face to face with this question as they follow a company that has discovered a way to predict one’s future based on DNA sampling.
A former UCLA undergraduate student, Patel’s own life story is characterized by a time where his own future was quite unclear. While Patel was originally studying business economics, his interest in film was sparked by simply sitting in on a friend’s class.
“When I got to UCLA, a friend of mine was taking a beginning film class ““ I believe it was history of American cinema. I sat in on a class and the first day they showed “˜Singin’ in the Rain.’ Ever since watching that beautiful 35 mm print from the UCLA Archive, I was hooked,” Patel said.
Following his newfound passion, Patel transferred to New York University during his junior year to pursue majors in philosophy and film. After graduating in 2002, Patel’s path became once again uncertain as he attempted to navigate his next move in the entertainment world.
“It was a strange transition for me,” Patel said. “When you do something like this, it’s hard to prepare for. I knew getting out of school I wasn’t going to be handed a directing job, so I started doing technical jobs … that got me exposure on the professional level. … I slowly progressed from there and decided that I wanted to learn how to put everything together in a logistical way.”
Patel and friend Joe McClean moved back to Los Angeles in 2005 and started their own company called Red and Tan Productions to pursue their own projects instead of working on the ventures of others. In Los Angeles, Patel and McClean finally had the opportunity to manage all the aspects that come with producing a feature film. As his colleague, McClean grew increasingly familiar with Patel’s creative style.
“Plain and simple, (Patel) makes the movies,” said McClean. “While the director is really only worried about storytelling, the producer is the one that’s doing all the work, finding the insurances, dealing with payroll companies, getting locations, negotiating contracts. … The physical act of making the movie is all up to the producer.”
Patel said that he was drawn to the idea for “Life Tracker” because of its philosophical ability to address how technology can affect people’s lives.
Matt Dallas, one of the actors in “Life Tracker,” said that Patel is one of the happiest producers he’s worked with and said he agrees with McClean’s assessment of the importance of attitude when faced with the immense task of creating a feature film.
“I think one of the most important things in making a film is that you set a great environment, so that everybody feels like they’re working on something that they’re passionate about,” Dallas said. “That’s something that (Patel) contributes to so much.”
From being a UCLA business economics student to the owner of his own production company, Patel’s life story fits the agenda of a film about the uncertainty of the future. According to Patel, his philosophy to successfully relate his story to the UCLA community remains simple: Just get out there and do it.
“I hope my story excites someone else out there to do it themselves. If there’s another student out there that wants to make a movie, well, I did it.” Patel said. “And if they want to do it, they can too.”
