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 

THR Directors Roundtable

Quote from Richard Linklater:

This is a storytelling medium. I really see that now. I used to feel called to make films, it was all about about cinema. It's really just storytelling. 

Angelina Jolie favorite director: Sydney Lumet, in particular The Hill (1965) and his directing book. The Hill is also a great favorite of Nolan and his follow-up recommendation is The Offence (1972)

Christopher Nolan favorite directors: George Lucas, Ridley Scott

Mike Leigh recommendation. The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) - Ermanno Olmi. Shot, directed, edited himself, without stars.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xkh982zFm8

Ryan Holiday on Twitter

I loved some of what Ryan Holiday tweeted today. My thoughts exactly, and I see direct analogies to independent film production and self-distribution.

@RyanHoliday 

And bookstores and publishers are notorious for missing huge potential audiences. Write it yourself and make all the $$

The Great Gatsby got rejected THREE times...and that was by white male editors. It takes force of will & now self-pub.

The industry bias is an opportunity for authors--to make good work and OWN it

Who buys the first 1,000 copies? Answer that question and you can publish anything--permission not required

The main bias is not cultural or race. It's inability to see new trends at all

actually have a potential advantage in terms of first 1k copies. Writing for "everyone" is a mistake most authors make

When the book is good, it spreads. When people buy, publishers/authors follow. 50 Shades of Grey was self-pub

Authors ALWAYS have to force their books down people's throats to start--especially when they are doing something new

Authors think they compete with each other. Really they compete for attention period. Really you need outlets to promote

Books sell on self-interest (word of mouth) not because publishers. The answer is there

But my point is like EVERY good book ever had that said about it

The people who tell you that are just guessing. The sales will come from your effort alone

One of my clients (a white guy) who sold 4M books was rejected by 25 publishers. Nobody knows. So push ahead

The other problem is people forget foreign markets. You don't have to write for America. China is pretty big

Publishers publish what they think will sell. Problem is they're wrong a lot. It's on authors to fix bad assumptions

Wrong a lot AND hard headed. But that's good: look at Tyler Perry, he owns his own studio because no one got it

There's good money in foreign editions too.