As the manager of a group of 10,000 producers, directors and associated industry professionals, one can’t help but notice certain fallacies coming up on a recurring basis. So I’d like to briefly consider the question, what are some of the principal reasons fledgling independent filmmakers fail?
1. BUILDING IT ISN’T ENOUGH While a struggling artist can get by with little more than a canvas or guitar, film requires an enormous investment of time, money and many. “Build it and they will come” just isn’t enough; it’s perhaps the easy part.
Making films is akin to launching a new product. Statistics show that most fail. “All we need is money” isn’t the answer. It requires a marketing plan. To obtain the financing for your product idea (a compelling script), you’ll need to know who is your target audience, your positioning, competition, opportunities, threats, means of distribution, budgeting and so on. Plan it, build it, market it, distribute it and promote it and they might just come. Marketing plans can sometimes be even more creative than the film itself, as the one for “The Blair Witch Project” demonstrated.
2. FAILURE TO COLLABORATE Some respond to the challenge of filmmaking by thinking that they’ll just be a one-man band. But how many of those films have you or anyone else seen? One has neither the time nor talent to be accomplished at everything that is required in bringing a film from inception to completion. The inability to think beyond themselves holds back many indie filmmakers. Change that “me” to “we” and the chances for success improve.
3. OBSESSION WITH GEAR While the right gear is essential, to some it becomes the Holy Grail. Gear is just a tool. When Einstein’s wife was visiting some observatory, she was told that some elaborate piece of equipment was used to measure the size and shape of the universe. She replied, “Oh. My husband uses the back of an old envelope to work that out.” Ideas count more than gear.
4. BLAMING HOLLYWOOD Some bash Hollywood as the source of their difficulties. Criticize their film choices, but understand their business as well as they do. The studios are committed to cost efficient line extensions. They are still standing a hundred years later. In any business, that’s success. And focus on their overall track record (the big picture), not on their individual failures. The casinos lose money too occasionally, but that doesn’t change the adage, in the long term “the house always wins”.
5. FAILURE TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS A filmmaker I worked with had an interesting film idea. Convinced that with 6,000 email contacts and 1,000 followers on Facebook he’d succeed, he turned to Kickstarter. A good marketing plan followed by terrible teamwork in execution led to only a handful of backers and less than 1/5 of his funding goal. But his reaction to that failure suggests that he’s likely to fail again; he refused to do any soul-searching and did not seem to learn anything from it.
Any marketer will tell you not to get enamored by “numbers” but by the relationships you create. Not just with your backers, but with your cast and crew as well. When Lawrence Kasdan left all the scenes of a budding actor in “The Big Chill” on the cutting room floor (he was to play a corpse), Kasdan called to explain, expecting an argument. Instead, the actor showed such graciousness and understanding for why this was necessary that Kasdan vowed to use him again. The actor was rewarded with a principal role in “Silverado” and Kevin Costner’s career took off.
Don’t assume those Facebook “friends” are friends. They are potential friends, but all friendships need to be nurtured.
6. LACK OF PERSPECTIVE Everyone has a “great” script. I’m just struck by how truly great novelists, artists or filmmakers are rarely satisfied with their work. Some refuse to look at their novels, artwork or films after release because all they see are its defects. Many filmmakers would benefit from that sense of humility and self-reflection. It will improve the work.
When some filmmaker feels divinely inspired, I’m reminded of a Peter Sellers anecdote. Working on the Pink Panther series, he woke up Blake Edwards, its director, one night and said that he had spoken with God and figured out how to play a difficult scene. The next day, unimpressed with the results, Edwards told him, “Peter, next time you talk to God, tell Him to stay out of show business.”
David K. GREENWALD is a marketing and production consultant on independent features. He’s guided strategic planning for many blue chip brands, served as a television commentator on media and technology and worked on the launches of two media revolutions, home video and the Internet. Author of a manual on internet marketing, he’s the Manager of the LinkedIn group, Independent Film Producers, and a graduate of the Wesleyan University film program.
