Is the film business fair? Why or why not? How do you make the
apparatus work for you?
I’m going to pass on this question,
as I think it is a personal question – not an industry question. It’s fair if
you work hard and produce good material. I have scripts I think are amazing
that haven’t broken through – do I blame the system? No, it just hasn’t hit the right eyes yet. It
has nothing to do with race, color, religion, sex, etc…
Is it the filmmaker’s responsibility to find and develop your
audience? Why do you feel that way? How will you collaborate with your audience,
and how won’t you?
Yes, it is. Even if your film lands at a studio with an
eight figure marketing budget – why would you abandon it when it needs you
most? You can be out there on social media talking about it, engaging your
audience, giving interviews, soliciting press, doing whatever you can to get
eyeballs on your product. You can’t rely on anyone to do your job for you.
Don’t regret anything.
I will make myself as available as I
can to my audience. I am a pretty private person (this blog is fairly open, but
if you know me – you know I’m very quiet, go about my business, etc…), but if
you are a creator of any kind – you have to deal with the fact that you are now
in the public eye and people may want to know about you, your life, etc… The
best part about going to conventions and stuff isn’t talking about my book per
se, it is just talking to like minded people and making connections. That’s
really hard for me because I am not super out-going, but I’m open and excited
about people. I’m not the type of person that looks down at the audience, I am
my audience to a certain degree. I’m a
fan and I know what I want/expect as a fan – and hope to provide the same in
return.
What do audiences want? And is it the filmmaker’s role to
worry about that?
I can only answer this as an
audience member myself. I usually want
one of two things – to escape life for an hour or two or to experience a new
culture/society/part of the world. Yes, I think it is our responsibility to
worry about that, only because if you don’t deliver on one of those two then
why exactly are you telling your story?
Is it possible to sell out? What would that mean to you and
would you like it to happen or not? What do you do to encourage the
professional approach you want?
Yes, taking on any project for
money.
Sometimes it is necessary to
actually live and pay the bills. As long
as you are aware of this, and don’t ever forget it – you could be okay. John
Sayles has made a career out of getting big bucks for studio writing work and
then using that money to make his own movies. I’ve been broke for so long I
don’t know what it is like to have money, so recently I put a movie into
production as a cash grab. It had also
been 3 years since I have produced a film, so the clock was ticking. It was a
necessity. I still want that film to be the best it can be and have made it my
top priority. If I’m going to do something, I try to at least give it my all. I
am pretty confident I won’t get sucked into being a sell out though.
If I was asked what was the most important advice I could
give a filmmaker starting out, it would be “Try to manage your life so that you
will feel as good about the film industry in fifteen years as you do now.” In
your experience, is that true, and what can filmmakers do to achieve that
challenge?
I don’t think I’m experienced enough
to answer this question. I guess I can say that if I ever do this to make
money, rather than because I love film – then yes, I would agree.
What role have film festivals played in your life so far? Why
are they necessary? How do you get the most out of them?
My early film life was more immersed
in the festival world. I watched a lot of shorts and indies at festivals from
college through grad school and my early film career, working at Snoot and
looking for projects/directors. I found the short The Freak – by the director
of the short Terra, which later became my first feature film as a producer,
Battle for Terra, at a film festival.
I don’t spend much time at them now,
but they are necessary curators of projects, especially now that everyone has
access to a camera and editing equipment. Some
(eventual) mainstream movies start at small festivals and grow from
there. Where would those films wind up
without that exposure or launching pad?
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