The trouble with self discipline

It’s very easy to get distracted.  Procrastination is also something I’m fond of.  So I like making lists to keep me on track.  I am a huge list maker.  Mostly because I have a horrible memory and nothing would get done if I didn’t write it down, but also because I like accomplishing things.  I like doing things.  I’m a doer.  If I’m not constantly doing something I’m pretty much guaranteed to be contemplating what the point of is all is.  So I like to keep moving.  Black dogs and all that.  Anyway, I like lists.

The problem with a list though is that all things on it are not equal.  So if I’m looking at a list that says… 

Wash dishes

Finish script draft

Mail screeners

Take car in to dealership

Read new script

Request so & so’s reel

Grocery shop

…It would be very easy to pick the four easiest, check them off and then relish in the sense of accomplishment that my day was not wasted.  Hm.  A few too many days of accomplishments like that may get me a job as a house cleaner or personal assistant, but I suspect they will not get me any closer to directing.

Ah well, looks like the house stays messy and the car headlight goes unfixed again this week.  Back to work for me!

Recognition, Money & Shorts International

Short film distribution is an ever-changing world because of the internet, cell phones, entertainment brain chips, whatever.  What was true just a couple years ago is completely dead today. I had some great news today that my short is one of 15 films that USC is doing a deal with Shorts International to distribute worldwide.  (Shorts International is a huge short film distribution company, one of the few with shorts on iTunes.)  The thing that occurred to me is that this deal with Shorts is possible more because of what I didn’t do than because of anything I did do. 

Since there are so many possible ways to distribute a short film, I’m just going to focus on what I did with Confessions of a Late Bloomer.  It’s certainly not the only way, but I think I’ve done pretty well with it.  My definition of well, in this case, is how much recognition and money I got for it.  And yes I know that sounds cold, but we’re talking film distribution right now, not film creation.

Knowing your film objectively is the most difficult and the most useful ability you can have when it comes to distribution.  The next most useful bit of information is knowing the market and available outlets.  For example, if you know that your film is a great viral zombie experience that will blow up online because it’s so outrageous but it won’t do well in festivals and that there’s a hot new all-things-zombie website out there you have to square that info up with the goals you have in mind for your film.

Some questions to ask yourself… First, and most importantly, is your film good?  Seriously.  And fooling yourself here is only going to cost you time and money.  Is this a film other people will want to see or was it a very valuable exercise for you as a filmmaker that might be best kept in your garage?  If you don’t know, do some small screenings.  And don’t listen to what people say – they will always be positive unless they are your brilliant film school friends or your partner who all know better than to give you false hopes – listen to what they do.  Do they laugh?  Cry?  Sit in absolute silence?  Lean in towards the screen?  Or are they constantly shifting in their seats, snacking, texting (though if this is an agent their behavior should be interpreted slightly differently anyway), laughing at parts that aren’t meant to be funny, etc.

OK.  So you’ve determined it’s good.  Phyew.  That’s a relief.  But what kind of good?  Funny good, Oscar good, creepy good, so sexy no one will look you in the eye when they leave good, warm & fuzzy good?  What is your film?  Is it a genre film?  What is it?  This will help you determine where best to focus your time and energies in getting it programmed, streamed and seen.

Confessions of a Late Bloomer is a feel-good, sweet, slightly sad, funny, big audience film.  (I say big audience because it always plays better the more people in the room - laughs are contagious, travel and recycle.  You’ll get a couple people laughing at the anticipation of a joke, people laughing at the joke, people laughing who get the joke late, and then the first group laughing at the people who laughed late.  By then you’re on to the next funny moment and viola! you have an audience laughing the whole way through!)  But also, huge amounts of people identify personally with the film – I can’t tell you how many people watch the film and then insist that the film was based on their high school years.

On the downside, it does not play well when it’s not set up properly.  I’ve seen programming at festivals that has completely destroyed it before a frame even played.  If the audience doesn’t know what to expect they tend to be late in figuring out the tone and don’t get the first few funny moments – which kills the pacing.  It also doesn’t do as well in small audiences.  I haven’t yet figured this one out but I suspect people are less likely to relax and enjoy a comedy if they don’t feel comforted by either a large group or by being by themselves.  Too much space between people does not encourage laughter that’s for sure.  Or heat.  Make sure the theater’s cool.  Anyway, who knows.  It is what it is.

Alright, so what I have on my hands is clearly a festival film.  Good for me because it will help with my recognition goal (we went to over 50 fests, won awards and had great quoteable reviews and press).  Now what about the money end?  This is the tricky bit.

If I had gone with only recognition I would have put the film online and plastered it everywhere.  But it’s not a viral film so I don’t know that that would have been successful anyway.  (Oh, and for the record, “viral” does not just mean “gets streamed online” it means “upon upload it explodes with viewers unknown to the creator because it gets passed so quickly from one viewer to another, like a virus.”   Normally, this means short, shocking and funny.  This is one of my new pet peeves.  I love how every company under the sun thinks they’re making something “viral” just because it’s going online.  Sorry, insert-lamo-company-trying-to-sell-their-shit-product-here, it has to actually be good too.)  Whatever.

Instead I did the reverse.  Whenever I saw it online I contacted the site and insisted they take it down.  And since no one likes the idea of USC lawyers knocking at their door, it was affective.   (Technically, USC owns the right to my thesis film.  In this case it was actually beneficial.)

While risky at the time, this has turned out to have been the right way to go.  What I was doing was protecting pretty much the only value a short film has – it’s newness.  Although I made the film, well let’s just say a bit ago, it is still new to audiences that have never seen or heard of it before.  By taking the film off the internet I did not allow the value of my film to decrease as quickly over time.  So there is still a market for the film.  One that Shorts International is picking up on.

Since the film was finished I’ve pursued many distributors and had distributors pursue my film but I’ve only done deals with two – the two that paid me money.  In the end it looks like my plan paid off – recognition and money.  Well, as much as you can get for a short.

Every film will have its own journey.  The sooner you can figure out exactly what your film is, what market is appropriate for your film, and what your goals are the better equipped you’ll be to make it all happen.

Turn Around

After a pretty bleak last week things are swinging back my way a bit.  A couple opportunities have come up but more importantly I took my bad attitude and gave myself a little tune up.

It may have been the stars, pollution, hormones, traffic, who knows, but for whatever reason last week I was fairly incapable of finding the silver lining.  Any silver lining.

But it turned out that slump was the silver lining.  It forced me to stop and have a look around for a moment.  That question, “What the hell am I doing right now?” is not always a bad one.

This was a week of reflection.  A sort of Spring cleaning in July.  And it timed out well too.  This week I learned that I’m being considered for a grant that I would be thrilled to receive.  While of course money would be wonderful, a much-needed boost, preparing for the interview process actually gave me a little gift already.  In thinking about what I would say to the board about why I’m a good candidate I realized I’m not doing such a bad job.  My projects are moving forward.  Slowly, but forward nonetheless.

I made a list of what I’ve been doing, what I’d like to be doing and how a grant could help me better achieve my goals.  I thought about the first thing I would do, and the second and the third.  And there’s the great silver lining in this.  Looking at my list I realized it’s all possible.  It’s going to take time but if I focus on one bit at a time it’s all going to come together eventually. 

And that I can connect to.  It’s just like making a film – deconstructing and constructing.  Focus on the big picture, sink in to the details.

It’s very easy to stress about the speed at which your career is advancing, sometimes focusing too intensely on the moment is overwhelming, but as long as the overall movement is forward, it’s all good.  There are always going to be peaks and valleys but if you can take a moment to pull back, the Earth sure does look beautiful from here.