Preface

So, you want to be a filmmaker. You want to follow in the footsteps of Coppola, Spielberg, Scorsese. Alternatively, maybe you want to be the next Kevin Smith, Ed Burns or Spike Jonez. You want the fame, the money, the power and being a director is the quickest way to get you there.

WRONG!

You have a better shot of winning the lottery than becoming a household name as a director, filmmaker, dare I say auteur? Film schools are vomiting out would be Tarrantinos by the thousands every year. How many of those fortunate folks are going to be getting coffee in some production house next year. Fortunate? Yes. I will explain that later. The unfortunate ones will be putting their hard earned film school degrees to work in a shoe store somewhere, or perhaps in the food service – hotel cleaning industries.

So, why do it? You do it because you have to do it. Because not doing it is not an option, Because the thought of doing anything else is a death sentence.

This may seem a little over dramatic. However, unless you eat, breathe, sleep, talk, drink, piss and crap film, your chances of success in this business are slim to none.

Everyone has heard the expression, “This business will chew you up and spit you out”. Well the film industry doesn’t bother spitting you out. They just swallow you whole, until there is nothing left but the empty shell of what used to be a person. Let me quote Woody Allen from that masterpiece “Crimes and Misdemeanors” - “You’ve heard the old saying, it’s a dog eat dog world? Well in this business it’s dog doesn’t return other dog’s phone calls”.

The financial rewards are slim and the accolades are few and far between. It’s the resolve that you bring with you, that helps to get you through the many trials, tribulations, disappointments and successes (yes there can be successes).

There have been many books written on this subject. They cover every aspect of filmmaking from the technical aspects to raising money. Some of them tell you how to direct (I like those best, they are very amusing) and some give you insight into the work of other directors. Some of these books have merit; a lot of them do not. I have read most of them. I believe that most of what you need to know about making movies, is best learned by doing it. I am constantly asked by people who are contemplating going to film school if it is worth the investment. Time and again I have to tell them no. I just don’t see the sense in spending seventy thousand dollars to get a degree in a field that has virtually no chance of paying you back enough money to repay your loans. I also believe that there is nothing they can teach you in film school that you can’t learn on your own if you really want to.

The point of this book is not to teach you how to make it as filmmaker. There are no secret paths to get you there. The only thing I can attempt to do is go through the process step by step, relating my experiences in the New York film industry and what to look out for and how to reach your goal. If your goal is to become a famous director then I can’t help you and don’t buy this book. But if your goal is to get your first movie made and seen at a film festival and possibly distributed, I may be able to point you in the right direction.

It can be done. It has been done. You just have to want it.