Tom Musca’s Hollywood career took off when he co-wrote and produced the Oscar-nominated 1988 film “Stand and Deliver,” now preserved in the Library of Congress. Four decades later, Musca is still making films, but in South Florida, where he is the head of the MFA screenwriting track at University of Miami’s School of Communication. Here he embraces the reality of making low-budget, topical films on a tight time frame, licensing three films to HBO in the past five years. In March he premiered his latest, “Dying to Direct” at the 40th annual Miami Film Festival.
By the time he was in third grade Musca knew he wanted to make movies. “As a filmmaker, it begins with your ability to see things through a unique prism — to put together elements previously not thought to belong together, to tell a story only you can tell, your true allegiance only to an accurate depiction of the human spirit,” he says.
He grew up in New Jersey and New York and got his MFA at UCLA, where he made lasting relationships and connections that have informed his career ever since. His life has been split between both coasts.
Musca is the definition of the Hollywood hyphenate — screenwriter by choice, producer by necessity and director by self-defense. In LA he made studio films and independent features with budgets in the millions; in Miami, he “makes films for the price of a couple of shiny German cars.”
“I collaborate with students I’ve mentored, on stories I’ve either written or nurtured, with Miami’s spectacular visuals and stranger-than-fiction reality driving the narrative. Cramming a feature film into your summer vacation is certifiably insane. I’ve done it three times and sworn I’d never do it again. Well, we’re onto number four this July — a story about immigration, hardship and the redemptive power of love. Wish me luck.”
At 71, Musca shows no sign of slowing down, continuing to do the things he loves most — creating and encouraging talent. He has three sons; all making a living in the arts, which provides for some stimulating dinner conversation. And, although he says he looks forward to a time when they will be “the locomotive,” it’s hard to imagine him ever bringing up the rear.