Perfection is the enemy of greatness

Perfection is the enemy of greatness.

Perfection is the enemy of good. 

Perfection is the enemy of progress. 

I've heard all of these. It's time to get started. 

I would say to anybody who's dreaming of being a filmmaker. I want to discourage you from that dream right now. Stop dreaming it and start doing it.  

Bryan Singer, when he finished USC Film School, he took all of his credit cards, maxed them out, leveraged himself $20,000 into debt, made a short film with Ethan Hawke, a friend from high school, he borrowed $10,000 to rent out the Directors Guild and invited people to come see his short film. That got him his first feature film. Now... for $150 you can rent all of the equipment he used to make that short film.  

You can write it, shoot it, edit it, and put it online on Monday. Just do that. And do that every week. If you did that every week, a 3 minute film! At the end of a year, you'd know everything you need to know about editing, about writing, about story and structure. And somebody will notice you, somebody will come to you.  

It's not the film business, it's a film business. And that film business is starving for talent, but does not know how to find it until it sees it. And I don't mean read it. Shoot a movie, find people who are like you who want to make movies, even people you don't get along with. It's better to be with people you're fighting creatively with that be out there on your own.  

And make your own luck, and I promise things will come for you. I just never stopped writing.

 - Advice from Christopher McQuarrie, courtesy of The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith.

@chrismcquarrie
The Q&A

Uber for movies

This is an idea I’ve been chewing on. What would the phrase, “Uber for movies” imply? Is is possible to do for movies what Uber did for taxi cabs?

The impetus for Uber was money left on the table each night, with tons of people not being picked up by cabs. Plus a horrendous customer service experience. The same is not true for movies, the customer service experience is not horrible (although most multiplexes feel outdated). But is there money left on the table?

I’ve always been frustrated by paywalls for movies, for example not being able to download a movie on my device the day it’s released in theaters. So that’s an option… Movies anywhere, anytime, immediately. Make the whole process easier. Most film studios would say that would cannibalize theater revenues, but that’s an assumption. Has it been tested?

Uber for movies could mean entirely free movies, running on a donation model. A small ad before the movie with instructions on how to donate.

Or a studio could make free shorts, running on donations. And only make features from the shorts that generated interest/revenue. Which fits in with a Lean Filmmaking idea I’ve been working on. The shorts being a minimum viable product. Free shorts and charge for the feature.

Obviously with these ideas I’m talking about smaller films, trying to find a marketplace for films other than tentpoles.

Cassavetes

Lovely quote I saw on Go Into The Story today.

“People who are making films today are too concerned with mechanics—technical things instead of feeling. Execution is about eight percent to me. The technical quality of a film doesn’t have much to do with whether it’s a good film. I feel like vomiting when some director says to me, “I got the most gorgeous shot today.” That is not what’s important. We have to move beyond the current obsession with technique or angles. It’s a waste of time. A movie is a lot more than a series of shots. You’re doing a bad job if all you’re paying attention to is camera angles: “All right, how can we photograph it? We’ll get the lab to do some special effects there. Say, let’s use a hand-held camera for this shot.” You end up making a film that is all tricks, with no people in it, no knowledge of life. There is nothing left for the actor to bring to it since there is no sense, meaning, or understanding of people… Art films aren’t necessarily photography. It’s feeling. If we can capture a feeling of a people, of a way of life, then we made a good picture.”

— John Cassavetes

Via A Bittersweet Life

Seth Godin: Mass Production and Mass Media

I read Seth's blog daily. Today's post hit the bullseye with what I'd like to do in filmmaking.

Product for a micro market.

Market to a micro market.

When you don't have to water down a film for the lowest common denominator general public, and don't have to spend $30 million mass marketing a film, I would imagine you get interesting films for a niche audience which can still make a profit.

Reference:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/02/mass-production-and-mass-media.html

Thoughts on Shane Smith

In today's article, Shane Smith echo's thoughts I've had about the insane costs associated with film/TV production and the high percentage of bad movies and cancelled TV shows created by the current process.

That's exactly why I'm looking at Lean Startup techniques, trying to get the batting average up. I truly believe there has to be a way to scientifically test ideas in the marketplace early in development and fine-tune from there.

Ref: http://variety.com/2015/biz/news/shane-smith-tv-and-film-production-costs-dont-make-sense-in-the-digital-era-1201416728/

Upvoting loglines

What about a website where you upvote loglines? Actually, now that I think about it, I've seen that before. Could be useful in a general way to gauge interest but I think there's inherent problems:

1. They're not paying customers. 
2. There's no reason for them to be on the site. What do they "get" for upvoting a logline? It's a game. No risk, no reward. 

You'd need large numbers of people on the site. Voting on loglines isn't as fun as an "am I hot or not" voting site. 

And without risk (pay) you're not truly tracking behavior, you're tracking perceived behavior. What people think they would pay money to see. 

Crowdfunding with Peter Diamandis

Listened to the Tim Ferriss / Peter Diamandis podcast today and it got me interested in crowdfunding as a possible resource for testing new material, prior to production.

Previously I had been opposed to crowdfunding, because I don't like the idea of people paying for a product, which they have to buy again later. 

But... it could be an excellent way to market test film ideas at the script stage, or earlier. I imagine posting a trailer with the highlights, a short breakdown of the story, and then offer to buy the film for $5. 

If enough people buy it, then it gets made. If not, the money gets refunded.

Quote from the interview, regarding crowdfunding:

You get to find out not only does the world want it, but in-fact, what color, what size, what shape. And it's the most honest vote you can. Who cares what a monkey survey says, it's when people put their credit card down and vote with their wallet. That's what really matters. 

It's zero dilution, you test your marketplace, you get out in front, and more importantly you build a community.  

Doesn't that sound like something that could (and should) be applied towards independent filmmaking?

Source: Tim Ferriss Podcast