CHAPTER 1 – DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DO THIS?
Well you got this far. If my preface didn’t discourage you then you are on the right track. So lets start with the basics. Being a filmmaker, sounds better then actually being a filmmaker. Whenever someone asks me what I do for a living (Living? Hah!) I tell them I am a filmmaker. Now, by answering that question you are implying two half truths to the person who has asked it. Firstly that you are “making a living” doing it and secondly that you are a maker of films. Lets take the first part of the question, as it’s the more black and white of the two.
“Making a living” implies that on Friday, you take your weekly paycheck to the bank and cash it or deposit it or do something with it. Wrong answer. There won’t be a weekly paycheck to deposit, cash or do anything else with for a very long time.
Being a filmmaker is a very ambiguous term. Yes, I have a made a number of films. Yes I hope to make more films in the future. Right now however I am not being a filmmaker. I am more of a film “hoper”. A potential maker of films. My point is, that while being a filmmaker is a nice idea, the reality is that it is not for the weak of spirit, spine or liver. It’s not a part time job and it’s not a hobby.
Sure, anyone can pick up a halfway decent video camera these days and shoot something. In fact it is happening all around us. This, however does not a filmmaker make (so to speak). If you want to be successful in your pursuit of the “American Filmmaker Dream” it will take one hundred percent commitment. By the way, we are talking about the “American Filmmaker Dream”, not the “Canadian Filmmaker Dream” or the “Swedish Filmmaker Dream” or even the “English Filmmaker Dream”. Those folks all have governmental funding to help young filmmakers make their first films. Yep, imagine that, the government gives them two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, Kronas or pounds to create their first film. Not here. So don’t even think about it. So getting back to commitment. If you don’t have it, you’ll never make it (unless you, or members of your family that you are on very good terms with are extremely wealthy, then none of this means anything). Let me try to explain what I mean.
It’s easy to say, “I want to be a filmmaker”. I know many folks who have said it and who say it on a regular basis. But saying it doesn’t make it so. You need to be able to spend all of your time working to advance your career, because no one is going to do it for you and there is no employment agency that is going to get you your first directing job. So what that means is that you have to have a strategy to get to your ultimate goal, your first film. This needs to be your only goal. Not your second film, not the condo in La Jolla or Hollywood. Getting your first film made at all costs is job one. It isn’t going to happen over night. It is going to take time. This shouldn’t be discouraging because you have a lot to learn between now and then, and most of it isn’t going to be from this book. Lets start at the very beginning.
Why do you want to make a film?
WAIT!
STOP!
HOLD ON!
I think we have to redefine a term. For many, many years, what we call the film industry has centered on the making of “movies”, Movies that were made on film. As film stock was the primary media that a movie was shot on, the term “filmmaker” came to mean someone who made films. Well, as most of you know (and if you are reading the book you should definitely know) that the new low budget media is digital video. Whether that is mini-DV, 24p or HD , none of it is “film”. Some folks treat it as the second coming and others call it the death of the film industry. It is an industry argument that I am not going discuss in this chapter, or this book for that matter. However for the sake of clarity, when we use the term “filmmaker” we are referring to someone who makes movies either on film or video. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.
Why do you want to make a film/movie? That is the first question you must answer for yourself. What is the motivation for stepping into this world of hardships, deceptions, disappointments, and endless compromises? We have already established that it can’t be for the glory and the women. We have also pretty much have quashed the “get rich” motivation. So what is it? Let me tell you what my motivation is and maybe that will help to clarify your own thoughts. For me, I can’t see myself doing anything else. I need to tell the stories. But more than that I need to see the stories told. I need that feeling of taking something that only existed in my head and seeing it come alive; sometimes beyond my wildest expectations and sometimes severely short of my expectations. It is never about the fringe benefits because at this level there aren’t any. The benefits come from doing the work, from being able to work with your friends (more about this later), great actors (if you can get them) and being your own boss. Also at this level you aren’t going to have too many people questioning your artistic choices (enjoy it now because later on, that disappears). The work is amazingly hard, but when you love what you do (and I do love it, and you better had or don’t even think about doing it) it is a joy.
It is also a collaborative process and when you have great people to collaborate with, you get to watch your vision augmented by the vision of others. This is how your seed of an idea becomes a well-rounded movie. You need to enjoy the process. Of course there are some aspects of the process that I like more than others and we’ll get to that later.
Whatever your reasons for wanting to be a filmmaker, they need to be realistic and true. Doing it because it sounds cool won’t cut it and you will find that out pretty quickly.
Can you do this and work a regular forty - hour a week job. In my opinion, NO, you can’t. This is a business that does business during the day as well as at night. You can’t deal with rental houses, actors, agents, crew and the five thousand other things you need to chase during the day while working behind a desk somewhere. Not to mention that you aren’t going to make any industry connections working in an office or on a loading dock. I know, I have done both (neither for a very long time, but I digress,). Your best bet if you need to work while pursuing your dream is to work freelance on commercials as a PA or possibly in a film production company or lastly and least appealing would be a rental house. All of these will put you in daily contact with folks in the industry who somewhere down the road may be in a position to do you a favor. This is an industry built on favors and if you aren’t in it you aren’t going to get them. The other positive thing about working freelance in the industry is that you will meet other people working on your own level who are also trying to get a leg up. These are folks who may eventually be your DP, 1st AD or editor. (See the Industry translation of terms). While being a PA is not a glamorous job, it will give you the opportunity to see up close and first hand how a movie set works. This knowledge is invaluable and cannot be bought in a book or learned in film school.
Film School. In my opinion, the biggest racket going. You pay someone who hasn’t worked in the business (generally) to teach you about a business he/she hasn’t worked in. In turn, you go into debt for a degree that won’t help you one bit when you get out of school and you have now wasted four years. Four years you could have been working in the business and learning it from the ground up. I truly believe your money would be better spent by getting a job as a PA on as many films as you can in order to learn the reality of film making, not the Film School fantasy.
You would be surprised at how many no budget productions are out there just dying for new blood to come and work on their films. Not only that but lack of experience is very often a boon on these gigs. Most of these jobs are so low budget that there is no pay, so it is very difficult to get people with tons of experience. This means that if they are serious about getting their project done, and know what they are doing, they will hire willing and eager interns and PA’s with little or no experience and train them on the spot. I’ve done it. I did it on my second feature film and the end result is that three more people who had never stepped onto a film set before now have practical experience doing a number of jobs on a film set, which could actually get them paid on their next job. Two of them worked on my third feature film in paid positions. Try getting that in Film School. That’s the way it works. The other plus is that very often your next job comes from someone who is working with you on the current job. It happened two times on my last shoot for two of my interns. You work your way up and make connections and you learn. And guess what. They pay you. How about that?
The other key is to watch as many movies as you can (this is what you pay to do in film school). Watch them. Study them. Figure out what you like about particular movies and directors and what you don’t. Get yourself a decent DV camera (they are pretty cheap these days) and start making short films on the cheap. Almost every computer comes with a basic editing program. Get a feel for composition and action. Successful filmmakers are self-starters. To Quote Chevy Chase in Caddyshack “Make your future”.
So, to sum up, figure out why you want to do this, figure out the best way to support yourself while trying to do this and make the best of production opportunities that come your way in the process. So now what?
