What would I have done way back then, if it was like THIS back then?
Recommended tactics for starting out in the FKATheFilmBiz is morphing by the month, day and hour. So whatcha gonna do 'bout it?
I’ve got
15+ Additional Tactics For The Producers of Tomorrow
Might as well get started with them today, yeah?
Allow me to start with a confession: I’ve always subscribed to the idea of “let anger be a power”…
But I am not the same person I was then. But what if I was? Or what if I was the person I am now, back when I was first trying to give this crazy biz an initial whirl?
I have considered this thought exercise before, if you recall:
I definitely find these posts still #MustReads — particularly for those in the first decade of a future producing career. But in those two years since I shared those, things kept on keeping on. They changed. And we need to change with them.
And yeah, all of those 30 Tactics I listed still apply, but there’s some I would emphasize even more today than I did back then. But what else is needed? What’s different today even from two years ago?
I think the core evolution, is more and more of us are recognizing that we — along with a few friends — have all we need to be our own studios. We can source the projects, build the talent, make it, market it, distribute it, and use it to build a flywheel effect where our audience grows with each release. And the key phrase there being “our audience”. We can own our audience. And the deeper hidden truth is we probably will learn how to do it better by doing it on our own instead of within a large corporate enterprise, be it an agency, studio, or something deeply embedded with both.
This is not a value judgement. We certainly need studio films, and even far more than are currently supplied, and ideally of a far wider range of genre, budget, audience, and style. We quite likely need streaming films too, even if I am not likely to be the audience for them — and by streaming films I mean the variety that is supposed to fade into the background, the kind you don’t so much as watch but put on to keep you company. I certainly couldn’t have imagined audiences would want that, but they do, so more power to them. Just don’t let them crowd out my preference please. T
he reason I want to encourage the next gen to either go NonDē or Creator or something else we have yet to imagine — including the mash up of all of that — is I think it is a faster path to becoming a “better” filmmaker, not to mention as well as having a satisfying life. Wouldn’t that be nice? And yes, this too, buttercup, can be yours.
As I said back in those original two posts, I’d pick a lane creatively to specialize in, at least to begin with. A genre. An attitude. A form. With some mastery achieved, we can start to deviate and expand from there.
This time though, I’d pick a lane also as a service provider. I’d want people to need me, so that they come to me and get to know me, and then we can find additional things to do together. Yeah, I said provide a service before, but now I would even be more focused on finding ways I could help others in the full holistic practice. I’d want people to say something like “And when you get ready to start thinking about event planning, go to Ted”. Maybe distribution strategy? Building lookbooks. Or is the college tour? Or maybe getting your documentary up on PBS. Something like that or the other. It would be fun (I like doing all those things!); kind of a shame I have grown old and a bit cranky... But you get the picture?
And speaking of focus, I’d absolutely pick a lane with an audience I could held build and turn into a community. Or even better, multiple communities! I think targeted audience lists are one of the necessities to have for all media makers in the future (although I’d argue they already are desperately needed). It might be around a specific demographic, gender, age, or sexual orientation. Maybe you like cars? Or horses? Or maybe it is targeted lists of NonDē Crime Thriller lovers you are building. Start small. Stay specific, Build it out from there. And then collaborate with others. Please. Don’t delay any further.
If I was still in my first starting out decade, I’d want to identify all the service providers. And not just for development or production either; I used to keep lists of crew people, writers, and directors. Eventually I built out distributor lists and financier lists. Publicists! But there are many more lists than just those needed now. We don’t need the full service providers anymore really — those that still call themselves “distributors”. We now need the specialists more. The bookers. The festival programmers. The digital ad sales folks. The newsletter editors and managers. How can we build out an end-to-end supply chain for the owner/operator artist & creator step? Step by step. Wash and repeat. Welcome to the Era of Distintermediated Distribution. DaaS!
I’d find ways to truly help others. Create things that people need and will use and will share. Not just Resource Lists like above, but those things that help with the planning and subsequent evaluation. Back when Good Machine was starting out, I was tremendously helped by doing this, but I think the need is even greater now. Back then it was things like The Good Machine No Budget Commandments. I also wrote up a list of what all the crew responsibilities were because all the Production Assistants on Indie films had no clue when they were starting out. My Craft Service list and philosophy all got photocopied and shared a lot too. I wish I could find those now (if you have a copy please let me know!). Unfortunately the next 35 years was not filled with such lists. I would have thought that the film support organizations would have made it their mission to truly demystify everything, but we really haven’t made much progress, have we? The truth is you don’t need to be an expert to write up and share such resources. I shared my Distribution Template. I assume some one out there has already written up the ideal way to use IG from a NonDē approach; heck, they probably are on their fourth revision. I need that one too by the way… At the very least, I’d make it a point from the start to build a distribution case study when I released my first film, or my one hundred and thirty-seventh.
Yes, I’d study the whole of the system. And I’d come up with new ideas on how to improve it, be it large ideas, mid-size or small. Right or wrong, this is the time of both thinking and building and public. We will find our allies and our collaborators by doing so, right? We will build it better TOGETHER. We already are.
I’d speak up about what I admire — even more than I voice what is wrong with the status quo. When I found a film I dug, I’d share that I dug it. I would try to amplify the voices of those I admire. But not just parrot. I’d try to add context and perspective. Deep appreciation, friends.
But damn right I’d speak up loud about what was not right. I’d show my love for cinema by resisting the corrupt corporate slide into total flatness.
I sort of built my first company — Good Machine — by having a plan laying around — one that I never finished. I had a list of potential collaborators both on the producing and writer/director side. I wanted to build a director-driven, producer-led company. I saw that space as not yet filled but definitely needed. I never finished the business plan but I started pitching it to potential collaborators and it stuck.
I believe far more in starting the plan, than finishing the plan. When the San Francisco Film Society called me and asked what the new non-profit film model should be, I could pitch them instantaneously because I had an unfinished plan laying around for just that model. I didn’t know they were looking to hire someone, but it got me the job. I had thought long and hard about what a studio in the oncoming era of streaming would be, when Amazon called me to discuss just that model… and know what? I had a plan for it laying around. I continue to build many plans that I never finished. I’d encourage making that a habit for you too, whether or not you are just getting started. Finishing some things are overrated.
You know how they like to say chaos breeds opportunity? Know what also does? And is not just a good saying to dull the pain of the present like CBO is? Experimentation. Try things on. See something and try to use it. Maybe even master it. Do what you haven’t done before. I am kind of surprised that I did not have this in my earlier editions. I am a big believer in experimentation, even if it is to just find out what you don’t want to do.
