What advice do you have for this filmmaker?
Everyday I get emails like this:
You warm my heart out of its ordinarily iceberg state.
But just as often, I get tough questions that can’t be answered in a single sentence.
So this week I’m polling you…
How would you respond to the below?
Besides telling him “You need to have more talent,” what practical advice would you give him? Comment and let me know.
I’m going to share everyone’s responses next week.
* * *
By the way, I’m making a video on How To Get Your Film Sponsored and as research I decided to try some of our own techniques.
The results?
We got sponsored by RØDE mics, and I wanted to thank them. Here’s their short film competition where you can win over $1M in prizes. Yes, you read that right.
I’ll tell you all about how I was able to get sponsored by RØDE on our email list.
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Curt… What makes this guy think he’s talented? Because people told him?
I would question the premise and I would also question the finger pointing blame, and instead realize that no one owes you anything.
If you want something, you MAKE it.
“It’s never a lack of resources, it’s a lack of resourcefulness” as you always say Curt.
It’s not easy to judge things we don’t see or read. But honestly if you write good and you try harder to be on the next level, sometimes you don’t have to be broken or being down for unexpected response. You need to try again and often till someone deserve to be apart of your story. That what I do most of time as my karma and its works.
art its feeling but not willing of other. let keep feeling that
My response would be to ask him if he continues to look for more collaborators after 1-2 parties start to show interest in his projects.
In my experience, if you “take your foot off the gas” when a few people start to show interest, that usually ups the odds that those parties might flake. If you move like a shark and continuously put more irons in the fire, then it won’t matter to you who flakes, which usually means you end up with a lot going on. That’s the problem we all want to have.
I just noticed that’s WAY too many metaphors, but oh well. Hope this helps.
Here is how I would reply to that writer. In Texas they have the saying, ‘more hat than cattle.’ That saying applies to 99.7% of the people you will ever meet in the film business. People who say they will help you and then don’t, didn’t have the ability to help you in the first place. Not everyone who succeeds is super talented, but they are all super persistent, without being obnoxious. It takes a good plan of action, a great network of people, and a little bit of luck.
David
Hi Curt,
Despite your help at ideas and strategies for fund raising it’s the hardest part of the business, so for your marvellous writer a few words of advice:
1. What makes you think you are marvellous? Every writer I have ever met thinks they are great but 9/10 times when I read their scripts they suck. And there are as many writers out of work as actors and composers.
2. So prove you are great, win a few script competitions. Or raise the finance and then go to a Director and say I have researched this script and raised myself on crowdfund or another method and now have $2,000. Its a 2 person story with 1 location. Can you help me cast this and make it? You be the producer and do all that work. Why should anyone go to all the trouble of raising money for YOUR story. It has to be you who does that to start with.
3. Then put that short to festivals and win awards. Then you can try for an agent, try to get optioned seriously by Producers for your next project.
4. You are at the bottom of the pile in all things to do with film making, therefore you also attract others who are at the bottom and tell you a shit load of lies, because it makes them feel good or they are placating you. Of course they go AWOL they are probably like you starting out and they haven’t the money or the time to do your script. After all everyone thinks they can write and so they think I’ll write a script of my own save myself time and money.
The fact is there are a lot of consistently talented people (and not so talented). But whether or not they get work isn’t about their talent, there are thousands of scripts in circulation at any one time. so it’s not about knowing how to write, its about knowing how to sell, and knowing how to keep the people you sell to. It’s something I’ve yet to learn myself, but i intend on learning it. It’s naïve to think that talent alone would warrant you success (look at the music industry, it’s not the best singers that get picked up, it the most marketable ones). Because the fact is you aren’t the only one that’s talented.
That’s an interesting question. Although I don’t have experience as a professional writer, the constant rejection is something I have experienced in a short career directing branded content and short films. While I’m still just breaking in, I’ve had the fortune of getting some professional experiences behind the camera and hopefully can offer a little insight from what I’ve observed. The truth is, it takes a long time to get noticed, even if you’re really good. Even after you’re noticed, it takes an even longer time to work at a professional capacity. When you’re starting out, there are countless things working against you. For starters, I see that Grace is in Vancouver. Being Canadian in a market saturated with American content is perhaps one of the biggest obstacles, especially in Vancouver where the market is dominated almost exclusively it seems by low budget TV movies where the network’s head office is in L.A. or New York. As a result, there just aren’t many opportunities available. That being the case, any opportunities usually go first to people who have been working in it for a long time. The other thing too is that networks like to play it safe and for this I can’t really fault them. When a company gets big enough it stops taking risks and preserves the status quo in order to survive. That’s just the way it is. If you’re young and coming in with new ideas most networks, studios or production houses are going to pass it over because they’re looking for something that fits their pre-established model. The only real practical advice I can give is just to keep on going. Rejection is just a part of the game, and I wish someone had told me this sooner. Even if you have great ideas you are going to face rejection. If you love what you do, you’ll do it anyway, whether you make money at it or not. While I know it would be great to get paid doing what you love, it doesn’t happen for everyone. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find the time to do it, and you likely will if it’s what you’re really passionate about.
Hopefully that was helpful.
If you’re missing the follow through on projects it probably means there’s something working well and something that’s not.The only practical advice I can think to give is to step WAY back and try to access where things keep going wrong for you and find ways to change that.
What makes him think he is talented? He probably is. I know my limitations I don’t think Im a great scriptwriter but I have great ideas. Maybe he just needs to get together with an ideas person or a producer which is hard but not as hard as actually selling your stuff. But if he has lots of actual scripts written then he can continually put them into contests and join other places that apparently say all the right things about how to sell your scripts if one hasnn’t yet. Places like script pipeline and Stage 32.
I feel for this guy because it is hard and his frustration is real. So going back to the all the places I use to find talent, he needs to be in those spaces. Producers and writers like him need to always be putting themselves out there on social, connecting with people who are making decisions or in positions to elevate his profile to others, keep those people and platforms updated and engaged (yes, this all takes a lot of work and energy), learn how others who are successful have done it – so a lot of reading blogs, books, watching YouTube videos of interviews and tips, and when you find a company or person that you feel there’s a fit, no matter how big or small, take the initiative to make the connection and introduce yourself and your work. So yes, a lot of networking. And yes, people will flake when it comes time to actually do the work, so be selective about how you onboard people and what their work will be. It’s totally a ‘you pay for what you get’ situation. As for all the talent this man has, it’s all a ‘show’ don’t ‘tell’. Your ideas should speak for themselves. And be ready to be flexible with your ideas – I read treatments, scripts and ideas often where I say, ‘I like this, but that over there won’t work with our budget.’ And when creators, producers, directors do great work, be generous by just telling them. A note on someone’s Insta or YouTube page just saying that from one creative to another, you liked their work and why will get you an opening where they may look at your profile or YouTube page. Things like that help lay the ground work for future relationships.
I would say it takes time to get ahead in the film industry. I know a guy who worked for nothing for almost 20 years and lived down town Toronto. Now he’s a producer pulling in over a quarter mil a year. If your’re as talented as you say you are then you will make it one day, but you have to preserver. It might take 10 to 20 years and only the brave/willing will make it.
Great insight. The question then becomes, when to work for free, and when not to. Which is another topic entirely