Part of producing is engineering serendipity. At least part of good producing is. How do we elevate work to the higher levels? How can we bring the mediocre into magnificence? Good producing comes from both the practical side and what many seem to think is the magical side. You have to know how to make basic shit happen on a consistent basis and then you have to learn how to make the rare occur as much as it ever could. It is not magic, but it goes far beyond being practical.
To make the positive aspects of the rare occur more frequently, I have spent a long time trying to define the qualities that make for better film for myself. It is a process I think everyone should go through if they are or want to be in the film business — or really any creative practice. With aesthetics and processes defined, we have a back stop for when things don’t go as well as we hoped– we know what we are aiming for before we see it. With check lists we can think through in a mannered fashion what is we knew better when the shit was not hitting the fan. Call it the practical approach to delivering what others might call magic.
But making magic does not end with making lists of what you love. You need to put more into your bag of tricks if you want good fortune to stick.
Magicians are only as good as their accomplices. Magic tricks work on account of distraction, and it is the assistant that always earns the necessary glance. In short, there is no question we can’t do it alone. Whether it is the ambition to make better films or build a better film infrastructure, it will take an army of villages to get even a little bit further down the path. We need to fortify ourselves to protect and advance what it is we hold dear. Our world resists change even more than it is defined by it. To take something further, you must hurl yourself into the vortex time and time and time again. One day, after many crash landings, we find the wings really work. You need back up and comrades because none of us have the stamina fully required.
The reasons we need each other are too numerous for me to even try to list. Today, though, my head is lodged in the wall of how do we make it better. I have found it helpful when we can’t find the proper path, to go to the desired result and work the way back. You’ve cheated on those mazes before, haven’t you? If so, you know what I am talking about. And that leads me to reverse engineering serendipity, that’s the practical approach to magic. How do we lift this world or that one higher? Examine where you want to end, see what it takes to get there, and then start again, carrying that path with you with each new step.
The answer to so many questions is find the right collaborator. If that is the goal, what actions can we take to increase our odds? We are in a world that is noisy and overrun, full of distractions and bad advice. How can we make our way through this maze to find our goal?
Let’s look at the problem of today from another way… The only logical response to this world of grand abundance of quality films is for today’s artists to be ubiquitous and prolific. The only way to manage this is to become radically collaborative. You need a team. You need to part of a community.
You need to find new allies faster. You need to encourage them to come to you. And you need to be able to recognize them when they arrive. You need to open yourself to finding your own Nirvan.
And the thing is you don’t have time to waste. You need to get started on the next before you even know what it is. You need to learn to conspire with those you have not met. You need to begin to do this so the magic can start forming ahead of you joining in. It is a world of wonderful things and all of it needs your help. You have not been cloned but you are not alone. Maybe you already started doing all this without yet realizing it. The team of collaborators and co-conspirators has already gathered, but they know you have the necessary information to get this good thing started. Find them faster. Get it started. Time is wasting.
