Let It Go and Take Control
Once upon a time, there was a little girl who thought if you believed hard enough all your dreams would come true. So, she spent her days dreaming and believing and then one she turned eighty-years old and realized that she had been so busy wishing for something, that she didn’t do anything. The end.
I see this all the time with filmmakers and actors. They wait. They wait for that audition. They wait for that pitch meeting. They wait for that callback. They wait for that angel investor. They pay to meet casting directors and agents. They pay to attend seminars with important industry people. They wait to be discovered.
They wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and pay and pay and pay and then wait and wait and wait and wait and then pay and pay and pay and pay…
STOP. What if no one did this? No one paid people to give them for the glory of being in the same room with them? What if no one waited for someone to approve and deem them worthy? What if artists just said F**K IT and took control of EVERYTHING? What if they held an audition and no one showed up because they were too busy making their own work? What if they held a pitch seminar and no one signed up because they were too busy shooting the project?
Personally, I think the world would be a better place. No more running around trying to shine for people who will forget most of the people they meet once the event is over. It’s not personal and these are not bad people. They just run a factory; it’s impossible to remember every piece of inventory.
I used to think that if you worked hard and were talented that the money fairy would drop funding upon you. HA HA HA. I laugh at my former self. In 2012, I put money into a feature that I saved over years (and paid off over years) and four-walled it and I got great reviews from industry papers and big newspapers. You know what happened? I was discovered and my films funded for the rest of my life. HA HA HA HA HA. NOT! What happened was, I made the movie I wanted to make and it was well received. Success!
People who have money have money because they do not give it away. I have seen directors chase down wealthy people hoping something might fall out of their pockets. I have seen actors chase down agents thinking if they paid them enough for generic advice, they would get signed.
The way to get an agent is to already be successful. Literally, an actor told me he had an interview with a person from a big talent agency and was told, you are really talented so once you get cast in a Broadway show, let me know, I can definitely send you out then.
The way to get funding is to have millions of followers that you have built up over the years to prove you have an audience and people interested in your work.
It’s a catch 22. (Great film by the way, Catch 22, directed by Mike Nichols, 1970.)
You are seemingly stuck between a rock and a hard place if you rely on others to control whether or not you do your art.
So, go out there and make stuff. Go out there and do what you can to do with your art within your full control. I have made four feature films and I plan to start my fifth later this year. Are they big budget, Hollywood, 7 or 8 digit budgets? Absolutely…NOT! But I’m doing what I do best and I’m not wondering when I’m finally going to get to make a film.
I’m not a name. I’m not a star. I’m not “known person.” I’m a filmmaker. I make films. Period.
Years ago, I convinced an actor friend of mine who was very frustrated because he is a really great stage actor and just couldn’t get into bigger theater companies and get to play the roles he wanted to play. And I said, “Why don’t you produce a play yourself? Either get together with a few other actors to help fund it or save up money so you can afford to rent a space. Do it at a showcase level.” He did. He said that it felt so great after years of waiting to take control to just do it. And just to be clear, this is not a wealthy person. He’s an actor. A true actor.
So if you are sitting around believing in your dreams and waiting for them to come true, stop. Go out there and make them come true. Take control. You don’t want to wake up at eighty and think, any day now the phone is going to ring. By then, we probably won’t even have phones anymore…