Limiting the downside

Richard Branson always talks about limiting the downside with new business ventures. How can indie film apply that better?

My last post about validating ideas beforehand is one technique. Testing the market, crowdfunding to gauge interest, short films to experiment with themes and characters.

Those ideas are about limiting the downside for my personal investment of time and money in projects. A way to get quick feedback, which is immensely important for a new artist of any stripe - filmmaker, comedian, musician, DJ, painter.

Spending a year writing a script and then only getting feedback from industry "professionals" isn't the right way to do it.  You need feedback from the audience. Because industry professionals, have a track record of missing out on so many wonderful artists.

Just google "famous rejection letters"
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&es_th=1&ie=UTF-8#q=famous%20rejection%20letters&es_th=1

You don't want your only feedback coming from gatekeepers. Audience feedback. Preferably paying audience member behavior (not opinion).

Validating the idea

In the startup world, validating a new business idea before investing significant capital or time in a new product is hugely important. Either validating by performing the actions an app would perform manually, without hiring engineers to build a working prototype. Or by testing the marketplace with Facebook ads.

I don't see why this isn't more prevalent in film. In film, many times you invest a huge amount of capital and time in a film, all based on a hunch that you think it's a good idea. It's inefficient with huge potential downside.

Comedians frequently talk about not knowing whether or not a joke is going to be funny until they tell it on stage, in front of an audience. And they can spend years honing the joke, all based on a combination of feedback from the audience and their artistry.

I know musicians have been caught off guard, thinking a song wasn't that great, but it ended up being the most popular song on the album.

But when you talk about filmmakers adjusting their film based on feedback from the audience, people get squirrely. It's as if people expect a 2 hour story to come straight out of the filmmakers mind, fully and perfectly formed. It's unrealistic.

Comedians = jokes, worked out on stage
Musicians = songs, worked out on stage
Filmmakers = shorts, worked out online 

The only problem with this formula, is with comedians and musicians you've got a paying audience. And the behavior of a paying customer is much different than the opinion of someone getting something for free. They go over this in Eric Ries's, The Lean Startup. Paying customers for a new product are early adopters. And watching the behavior of early adopters, who are interested enough in your idea to spend their hard earned money is much different than getting the opinion of someone who has enough time on their hands to be part of a focus group. It's an entirely different set of people, in addition to watching behavior versus getting someone's opinion.

Maybe I should charge for the shorts, as a way to gauge interest and make sure I only get paying, early adopter behavior.

But I'm hesitant to charge for shorts. I'll probably end up testing both ways.

Sense of direction

As a first time artist, it can be tough finding a sense of direction. Having faith in goals you set for yourself, that they're the right goals. That you're moving in the right direction.

Most people I know make movies without finding out beforehand whether or not an audience will be interested in the movie. It's a guess at best. I'd like to change that. To avoid wasting money and time.

Neil Gaiman quote

“The moment that you feel, just possibly, you are walking down the street naked, exposing too much of your heart and your mind, and what exists on the inside, showing too much of yourself...That is the moment, you might be starting to get it right.”

Good quote to keep in mind today, as I start writing the opening scene.

Seth Godin

Quote from the Linchpin:

...people are waiting to be told what to do. Sure, many of us pretend that we’d love to have control and authority and to bring our humanity to work. But given half a chance, we give it up, in a heartbeat. 

It's a tough road going it alone, being self-employed, and trying to do authentic art while being vulnerable.

But it's better than the alternative, working an unsatisfying job 8 hours a day. Part of the difficulty is working as hard for yourself as you do for a company telling you what to do. It should be the reverse.

Real people on screen

That's something I admire about Linklater. When you see people on screen in his movies, they feel real. Honest, true, real, alive. I'm thinking mostly of Before Sunrise, because that's my favorite of his movies. But it encompasses all of them.

As I write my own movies, that's the direction I'm heading into. Although with the subject matter of an action/war movie.

That's an interesting mixture.

Creating something good

It's possible that focusing on creating something good is judgmental, and hinders the creative process.

Instead, focus on creating something authentic, something that connects to the core of your being.

Good will follow.

Trust in yourself

At some point you need to trust that you've learned enough, internalized enough, and that creativity will come if you sit down and do the work.

Trust that you won't make something crappy, or something that goes against the grain of your creative impulses. And you have to be ok with being vulnerable and letting the world see your art.

Trust that you'll know where to mold it to keep it fresh and exciting, and true to your heart.

Not taking a day off

One of my favorite books lately has been Seth Godin's Linchpin.

Consumers are not loyal to cheap commodities. They crave the unique, the remarkable, and the human.

This quote is a constant source of inspiration for my screenwriting. That's exactly what we crave in films. Tarantino, Wes Anderson, Scorsese, PTA. Is there any doubt when you're watching one of their movies that it's authored by them?

Linchpin: click here