Don’t Screw The Pooch!

It’s Rantin’ Time!

On a good day, I can see the writing on the wall… and it says “The digital revolution” is going to transform the film industry; it’s going to open the doors to thousands of new and talented film makers; it’s going to open up niche markets, so people can make films that are daring, fresh and experimental.”

Then there are days like today, when I look at the same wall, and all I see are thousands of wannabes with camcordes making bad films, being given dubious advice on screenwriting by dolts and idiots.

So, today, I’m going to do the whole “how not to waste three years of your life in a bad project” thing in simple terms… and I’m going to do it in the style of a rant. What I lay out here, is what I believe to be true, based on my experiences so far… and I don’t apologise for any of it.

PRE-WRITING

Here are the rules:

*DON’T MAKE FILMS YOU CAN’T SELL

Sounds obvious doesn’t it… but every single day film makers all over the world pour money, time and resources into films that they will NEVER be able to sell.

There is no way in the world that even the best of us can guarantee sales… but here are basic steps you take to ensure that you have at least a fighting chance. Basically, you need to be able to answer the following questions:

1) Can the film I’m going make be sold to an audience with a poster?

To find out, you design the poster and then show it to at least forty people who you think represent your target market… you then ask two questions: what’s the film about?… and, would you rent this movie at Blockbuster?

In real terms the first question is more important than the second, because people are incredibly bad at predicting their own purchasing patterns. If you’ve ever organised a live event and set your “through the door target” based on the number of people who assured you they were definitely coming, you’ll know what I mean by this. The first question tells you whether your film’s concept is simple enough for people to get it from minimal information. For any film maker this is important, but for a micro-budget film maker it’s vital. Word of mouth is your primary advertising tool… and therefore people have to get what the film’s about, get excited about it… and then be able to pass on this excitement to others. They can’t do that and they won’t watch your film, unless your core concept is simple and appeals to them.

2) Who is my film’s distributor going to be?

It doesn’t take that much effort to find out who has distributed a film similar to the kind of film you’re going to make. If film makers spent two hours on a laptop, googling basic searches like “horror distributor” “best low budget horror of 2007″ then they’d know what other films in their genre have just hit the market, who is making them and more importantly who is distributing them. I strongly believe that a film maker ought to have marked out their top ten distributors, and watched all of their recent releases, before they even start on the script.

The next level up from basic research is going to professional festivals, that is any festival that has a sales market, and go hunt these distributors out and talk to them… find out how they select product, find out if they have any prejudices about either budget or format. Find out what they need from a film for it to be a hot property for them… then, when you’re sure your film fit’s their profile, get a business card… give a business card, and at the same time give them a postcard sized version of your film poster… with the logline on the back and also the projected production schedule… or in basic terms, when the film is expected to complete.

Do, ALL OF THIS, before you go into production… and not only that, alter your production based on what you find out.

OK… so you’ve got your concept and your market established… they know the film is coming, and that it fits their profile.

Now get the script perfected.

WRITING

Here are rules for getting your script perfected:

1) Write it in rough… then get some file cards and break it down into sequences… stack the sequences into four piles to represent the four acts… or three piles if you’re more comfortable with three act structure. If you don’t know how to break your film into acts… go buy some books on screenplay structure, or google “three act structure” “four act structure”… and keep on reading until you can see how to make those piles of cards.

Now, go to the first pile of cards… look at the first sequence… answer this question: is this the most fascinating, compelling opening to a film I’ve ever read? If you’re not sure, hand the card to a mate… and if they don’t say “wow, what happens next?” then you’ve not nailed your opening. Work on that first sequence until you’ve nailed it… then move onto the next sequence.

When you get to the end of the first pile, pick a friend with a miniscule attention span and hand him the cards… don’t ask any questions, just watch how far he gets before his eyes glaze over… again if he doesn’t get to the end of your small stack of cards and say “wow, what happens next” then you still haven’t nailed your first act… keep going until you either you have… or you run out of friends.

Do the same thing for the second, third and forth act… your goal is to get a mate with A.D.D. to get through the whole stack and at the end say “My God, that’s incredible… when are you going to make it.”

At this point, sit down, type FADE IN… pick up the first card in the pile and write the action… and rough out the dialogue. This first pass you’re aiming to get the action in the film down on paper.

When that’s done, take another pass and work on the dialogue. If you’re finding this part of the process hard… it’s because you don’t really know your characters… so, go back write some back stories for them… get to know them, turn them into interesting people… and then let them speak through you.

When you’ve got to the end of this draft, get a room full of acting students from the local college and get them to do a read through… tape it.

Your job in the read through is to spot where they are having problems delivering the lines… don’t assume they are bad actors, even if they are… go back and fix the lines that don’t flow, that don’t sparkle, that don’t hold your attention. Nine times out of ten, you make dialogue sparkle by cutting back what you’ve got, to its essence. If you can turn thirty words of dialogue into ten, or even six, chances are it’s going to work better.

When the script is in as good shape as you can get it… send it to a professional you trust. Don’t just pick some random script consultant from online, get a referral or use someone you know, whose opinion you place value in. Your regional film board is a good place to start.

When you get the notes back… well, first stomp about a bit and call him/her an idiot… then, when you’ve got that out of your system, use this approach “All the notes I’ve received are only places in the script where what was in my head never made it onto the page.” Go back and check if that’s true. If it is rewrite… however, if you believe the script editor just didn’t get it and you’re right about the scene, sequence, act… etc… then trust your own instinct and make your film, your way. Notes are guidelines and one person’s opinion, that’s all… have some humility, but don’t take notes from anyone blindly.

With your script in good shape, get ready for production:

PRODUCTION
Here are the rules:

*ALWAYS WORK WITH PEOPLE WHO KNOW MORE THAN YOU

*KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS

OK. I know how to use a camcorder… I can get shots and have made money doing that. I can also edit video pretty well… I also know how to direct actors. But, the truth is there are people out there who can do that better than I can… know what your strengths are and find people who know more than you do to fill all the other roles. If your script is amazing this won’t be a complicated task.

* DON’T MAKE A MOVIE USING AN UNTESTED WORKFLOW
The temptation is always to bring in the newest and latest camera, which you’ve always wanted to play with… don’t. It’s better to do a great job with kit you know really well, than to attempt to make a feature film and learn how to use the camera at the same time…. and NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go into a shoot until you’ve had footage from the camera you are going to use, go through a test run of your entire workflow.

If you do shoot yourself in the foot, by getting stuck in post production… go to Creative Cow, the best forum on the planet for technical fixes.

Now make your film.

Dealing with actors… two rules:

*IF THE PERFORMANCE FEELS FALSE, FIX IT
Basically, if an actor is struggling with a scene 99% of the time it’s because they don’t understand why their character is doing what they’re doing… or why the character is saying what they are saying. Don’t let these moments slide, take the actor to one side and talk it through with them… if needs be, change the dialogue or the blocking… NEVER GIVE ACTORS NOTES IN FRONT OF THEIR PEERS…. your job is to make the actor feel comfortable, if you give notes in front of the other actors, you’re saying in public they are getting it wrong. Nobody likes that, especially when they already know they are screwing the pooch!

START YOUR PR, WHEN YOU ARE IN PRODUCTION
Make sure everyone you know and your potential distributors and anyone in the trade press you can interest in your project, knows about it whilst it’s still in production (and read this article on Movieset.com) Get yourself and your film onto Facebook and pimp the living daylights out of it.

POST PRODUCTION
If you know how to edit, rough cut it yourself… if you don’t, sit in on the cut. If you can’t cut, keep your mouth shut until the scene is assembled, then give notes… the best notes are delivered in question form… so, “do you think we could find a way to increase the pace?” is better than “It’s too slow.” Let the editor work from the script… you go back to your original cards and try to capture the essence of your film in the cut. Be prepared to sacrifice both the scripts and performance elements you like, to stay true to the core of each scene, that you noted down on your file cards, right back at the start.

MUSIC
Good music will add $40,000 in production values to your movie… (I’m going to write an extensive post about how to get this for free, soon, so I won’t go over that here)

SELLING
Get the trailer of the film out to everyone you know… build a buzz, build a website… take your movie to your key distributors and sell it. If you’ve followed the plan, they’ve been expecting it and can’t wait to see how it came out. Remember these guys are in business to make money, show them a film that will do that and they’ll be all over you.

Make sure that you package the film well… your revised poster should kick ass, your movie’s trailer should make both audience members and distributor salivate at the thought of seeing your film

FINALLY
Light up a big fat cigar and buy everyone a drink… hold a premiere for your cast and crew… treat them like kings.

Now, the truth is, there isn’t sentence in this rant, that doesn’t warrant a full article… and trust me, in time we’ll get to it… but if you’re making a movie and you’re missing out any of these steps, you are decreasing your chances of making a sale… in my opinion, which at the end of the day is all any of this is.

Good hunting
Clive

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