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Why
are you
doing this? That simple
question that I felt I had to answer time and time again after
committing
all my resources, time, energy and money to a project I didn't feel was
'commercial', and had absolutely no name talent attached was one that
kept
popping up repeatedly. The answer was very simple; I had to do
it.
I had a great script, great actors, I happened to have maybe enough
money
and I thought maybe, if I'm lucky, this has the potential to be a great
film. The idea that it would make money never affected my decision to
proceed
with the film, and once committed finishing was not a question of "if",
just "when". I thought it would be a great film. That question still
looms
in front of every one of my projects; 'Why am I doing this?', and, more
frequently
these days, 'If this was my money that I'm spending, would I still do
this
film?' If the answer is no, the answer is no.
If you
are considering taking your first plunge into no-budget,
self-financed filmmaking and believe you have a great script that you have
to shoot, do yourself an enormous favor and honestly answer that
question
before you start. If you are sick of waiting for someone else's money
to
arrive on your doorstep before you shoot your first film and are
financing
it from whatever means available to you, it's a question that could
mean
everything to the bankruptcy judge at your hearing. Filmmaking this way
can literally ruin your life if you walk into it believing that you're
a
great filmmaker and you can make all your money back on 'the other end.'
DILETTANTE'S
On
the other hand, there are dilettante's bumping into each other all over
LA bitching and moaning about a measly "million for my first feature"
that will never make a film, and are motivated by money no matter how
well they play the
part of the auteur. They should be doing music video's, or move back
home,
or become bitter studio executives that churn out the kind of stuff
that,
well, studio executives churn out. What should concern you is
the
amount of filmmakers walking around town with sixty seven 5 year old
cans
of film in their closet for the film they can't complete because
"insert
reason/excuse here".
If you believe your script is commercial, has the potential to be a big
commercial hit, do not spend your own money to do it unless
you can afford to lose it. You might be right about it being a hit, but
the
odds are against you. I suggest asking yourself the same question
and
if the answer is money, your motivation is a common one, and best of
luck.
I suggest an action film, or porn, or violence. That 'product' always
sells. (see article
on the 1998 AFM ) For
the
rest of us working in
film, your medium of choice is a very expensive one, and I
believe
one of the most powerful mediums available to artist's. But you know
that.
Or at least you should know that.
If you've never made a film before, never been on a set before,
never worked with actors or a crew before, never run an inch of film
through
a film camera before and have never thought of the visual elements of
each
one of your shots before, or ever made a schedule, budget or broken
down
a script before, or even if you have, Guerrilla Filmmaking 101 should
be
able to help you get started in a direction that will allow you to
complete
your film.
Ok,
now,
you've made the decision, your answer satisfies you that if no one ever
sees
the film you still know it will be a great film, and you believe your
script
is ready to shoot, you're probably wrong.
FEEDBACK
If
you are the only person that believes your script is great, you've got
a problem. Your next step is to get somebody else on your side,
preferably someone
that can help you with production, but getting actors involved is a
very
good thing. Pass your script out to a few people you trust that will
give
you honest feedback. Not what you want to hear, but
a biased/unbiased opinion. That's usually honest feedback. If you're
not
making a narrative film, write down your idea for the film in a way
that
someone else can understand, and get a feel for what you intend the
film
to be. Listen to what people say, and that's a very hard thing to do.
If
they don't 'get it,' that's your problem, not theirs. Communication for
the
filmmaker is everything. Whether it's to the crew, actors or your uncle
with
the money, a director without communication skills is in a lot of
trouble.
And at the script level, the start of your film, it's the key to your
film
being what you want. Have a read-through of your script, get the key
characters
in whatever scenes you think you would like to hear or you think might
have
a problem, find some actors or friends or relatives that are
interested,
get them together in one room and have them read the scenes for you out
loud.
It's always better to find willing participants that can invest your
characters
with whatever direction you can give them.
The
easy
stuff.
Does
the
scene work? Do any of the lines you've written sound plausible coming
out
of the mouth's of real people? Are the parts so
idiosyncratic/difficult/impossible that you need Brando/Branagh/Olivier
for the part? Those are the easy questions, the one's a first time
writer needs to know about what he's done from the perspective of
voices outside his own subconscious. The hard questions still come back
to haunt you, and still ring back to the first question. What
do these characters mean to you? Is there any truth in what they say or
do? How do you know? What is this film about and do I have anything to
contribute to the lexicon? Why am I doing this?
What
Is This Film About?
Possibly
the most important question for a filmmaker is the one that sounds the
most
mundane: What is this film about? I have a friend that will probably
get
the money for his first film and when I asked him what the film was
about,
he started telling me the story. That's not what your film is about,
that's
the story. What is it you have to say? What is the film about from the
filmmakers
perspective, not the writers? The story may be about a used car
salesman
who murders some customers, but the film is about father figures, last
chances,
extended families and redemption. This is not a slight distinction, if
you're
just filming the action of the script, then you really have nothing to
contribute
and should question your reason for doing it. Tough love bubba, the
audience
for impotent filmmakers doing what hollywood does every day is
thankfully
growing smaller very quickly.
Okay. That's lesson one. Cheap, difficult, but absolutely necessary.
Finish the script, answer the question, get feedback from people you
trust, then do a read-through. If you're satisfied with your responses,
the next step should be easy.
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