Slugfest Of Storytelling

Making movies has been such a grind. I’m really glad they recognized George Miller this year for his work on “Mad Max: Fury Road.” At over 70, the guy still has energy (or stupidity) to still get into the trenches. According to reports, that production wasn’t exactly a cake walk.

Being on set for me is love-hate. I always get a sinking feeling the minute I step onto set. Because it is a slug fest. From sun up to sun down. If you previsualize what you want to do, inevitably weather, time, and people will make your mind go into other things. To which I refer to as “troubleshooting.” Most often, the last thing you think about is the actual acting part of your movie. That is, if you burden yourself with EVERYTHING. My boss told me last week, that a filmmaker’s job is only to make films. He believes all the stuff I do detracts from telling a story. I don’t doubt him. When you’re exhausted, you go into a different mode. The focus isn’t performance or story, it’s how many hours you have left. It’s different when you have that on your brain than to argue with an assistant director OR producer. When you battle with the people who do worry about the nuts and bolts, AT LEAST you are working with actors, or blocking or…y’know…the shit that gets to the screen. Other than that, you’re freaking about the dumbest details.

Which is why I’m so impressed with anyone who can do this over the age of 30. It’s miraculous the guys who do it till they die. Someone like Clint Eastwood must be taking something. The physical and mental hours alone could drive someone nuts. Except, for someone like him, I guess there isn’t much to prove. And he has a pretty good pool of resources.

As I get older, it does get harder. When I was in my 20’s it seemed odd that anyone else would want to help me make my movies. I guess I had more guile then. These days, I do most of production stuff so I wouldn’t bother people. But I have to change that mentality. People who offer to help, aren’t just whistling Dixie. I should believe some of them. It’s just that…we’re desperate to get our vision across, it’s crushing when people leave you hanging.

Also, the more I read about the industry from a producer’s standpoint, the less I’ve enjoyed the actual business side. Yeah, NO ONE enjoys the business side. We got into movies to tell stories and effect people. We all have stories of movies that moved us deeply. I can’t imagine anyone getting into this business and not feel a twinge of emotion for stories. I guess, because we are all storytellers in some sense, it seems we all genetically have it in us. The trick is to organize to a coherent timeline for maximum effect. But, yeah…the business side is economics. And it’s funny money. MGM back in the early 70’s had a massive string of hits. And when the insiders left, there was no legacy to take over. They went to form Orion over at Warner Bros. Get this…Orion had three big Oscar winners and STILL went bust. What faith would we have in the “business” side of it. No one with an economics background would believe this is even a possibility. And that ANY studio still exist. But here we are, still telling stories. Which leads me to believe, that America’s (only, at this point) commodity is entertainment. Movies…yes…lies on film, are the best bet, in terms of generating overseas dough. Cars are too expensive and jeans are better made elsewhere (yeah…the place that originated denim can’t even keep that). We’re left with movies. It’s not wonder every year we see more and more crap. But, even Hollywood isn’t immune to global market drops. We don’t even make the most movies in the world. And they’re getting better. Use to be, American movies were the gold standard. Not no more. We’ve outsourced so much, we’ve trained other countries to do what we do, cheaper. And they’ve taken that knowledge and made their own product…better. We’re stuck with money going out and a tiny return on our good will.

Yeah, this depresses the shit out of me. Because the revenue you need to sustain your career in making movies have exponentially grown into…God knows what. You’re fighting streaming entertainment, studios, independents, YouTube, Vimeo and so forth. And they’re all better than you. More and more people will have to filter you out to get an opportunity. Is coming to Los Angeles your best bet to crack the code? Possibly. I use to discourage it, simply because having more people here is annoying. But, if you have any hope in transitioning to studio made movies (if that is what you want) you have to meet people. Talent is…starting to get muddled. The only thing you can hope for, is if your talent meets people with money. Begging people to watch your YouTube channel doesn’t work, unless you can promote it to a wider audience. Probably helps if you’re blonde with big tits.