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Dear God, What am I getting myself into? |
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| "I'm a filmmaker"... words that have been ritually used as pick up lines, on the cute blonde chick that is half conscious gripping a bottle of jack. Not by myself or Shin (I am pretty sure, you never know Shin) but hundreds and thousands of independent filmmakers from around the globe. The type that say they're filmmakers but actually don't have motivation to do something about it. Some filmmakers succeed, so I am not pointing at you. Some fail, I am not pointing at you either. I am targeting my comment, directly at those select few, that wish that they could do it somewhat... But, there is no drive, no force that comes from the heart to put exactly what you wanted to on the silver screen. Yeah they've seen a couple of the greats. But, will they ever want to step up and say... here's my car keys Mr. loan shark, I hope that cash, can get me enough 16mm, that I can finish off this stupid movie. Stupid movie... I had to really stop and think about that. What have I done? Weeks of preproduction and hours of groggy actors and actresses that aren't seeing a dime. The crew members that you hustled together just 'cause they owe you a favor or they find themselves understanding your pity and can actually foresee something terrible happening and if that one sheer moment that they don't help you might...... just might.... well you know... I am trying to stand tall for all of the filmmakers that want to do something. We've all heard the stories of fame... fortune... lot's of fish... I.e. Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez... (please don't roast me cause I have just said the two most cliché independent filmmakers) And we think to ourselves... (here comes another cliché line) "If they can do it, Why can't I?" Let me tell you why... it's expensive and it's hard to piece together the ensemble. One moment you are in dreamy la la land and think you can do it. But when we come down to it. We slowly back off, like sheep at the sound of coyotes. I just want to say... fuck that. What? Really? There are people that have the same drive as you. The same dreams, the same hopes and quite possibly the same story. What can we do? Support each other. Actually I think we can do it. There are enough guys to hit on that cute blonde chick that night anyways. And you don't want to walk away with a rash or 3 little letters that begin with S and end with T or D. So why don't we stick together and try to pull something off. Then one day the cute blonde chick might actually come over and talk to you while you are laying contorted face down in a pool of Smirnoff that has just visited your esophagus... twice. What can you do? You ask? Nothing is one answer. But when that happens you end up like that guy that has played one too many hours of Dungeon and Dragons. Yeah he wrote a script. I forgot what it was called, About some guy... meets a girl... falls in love... and they play magic the card game... and we end with a big happily ever after... What happened after that? Well he got together a couple of friends borrowed the parents vhs-c camcorder and his filmmaking career began... and ended on the same day. But to him, that was one of the best days of his life. From then on he wanted to be a filmmaker. But never pursued it... Was it a good film? Well I guess if he could actually finish shooting the scene he was working on, then maybe yeah. But what you really can do is try to pull together some cash from friends, family, that one guy with the overgrown lawn down the street. You can ask a rich guy or even the cute blonde chick. And if worse comes to worse you can get a job, but if you have one, you might actually start saving for once. I know I personally have a hard time doing the last one. Jump on and find a 16mm bolex for fairly cheep. Maybe somebody is selling some left over stock. 16mm a little ahead for you? Begin with 8mm 3 minutes of film is about 25 bucks with processing. look at that save a hundred bucks and you could possibly fake a short film. Now you are a film maker. Start small, work with others in your field. I know I'm not anybody to talk, but I have a dream. And I know somebody else does too! If you think you are a filmmaker don't just say you are. Do something about it. I know this is beginning to sound like a cheezy motivational speech. If you only live once then the rest of the time you are dead. I don't want to end this on a down note, but I just want to say somebody else is holding the same dream as you. If we come together with dollar billz in hand. We might pull something off. by dan. |
