Hollywood Dreams Made Real

 There's a kid I tutor in filmmaking. I say "kid"because the other day as I chatting to him about his career path, I get this:

"I really want someone to see one of my projects and just say here's some money, make your next project"

A few things...this is the quickest way for someone to take advantage of you. Regardless of how smart you think you are, schemers spend their entire lives knowing how to scheme. And they are smarter than you.

This kid completely ignored me when it came to my very first lesson in Hollywood. NEVER EVER EVER wait for others to give you permission to do something if you are already doing it.

This is something I will never understand. When people have their eyes on wanting to come to Los Angeles, I constantly am baffled to see they've made excellent projects where they are. They seem to believe the next mountain to conquer is L.A. Which is something of a goal, but the sacrifice and time it takes to find out the dummies out here are the dummies like you is NOT worth it. I really wanted to slap this kid, because he couldn't get out his mind that NO ONE in Hollywood is going to invest in him. EVER. Sorry kid. Friends and family will invest in you, studios will not. Middle studios won't. You will have to get to near the bottom of the food chain to get anyone to listen. And these are not the people you want.

Despite my warnings, he also applied for grants and film festivals.

Film festivals aren't as scheme-y as grants. HOWEVER, it's a different kind of scheme. The less famous festivals are probably your best bet. But typically it's the people who organize it that put in their friends for a showcase. The rest of the slots are thrown out to whomever else. The grants are bad for a lot of reasons. 1) you should never pay to get grants. I mean, if you are trying to get money, you aren't suppose to be giving someone money. Duh. 2) you are beholden to people for content. In other words, they are your producers and if you applied to make a movie about slaves in Jakarta, you better not deliver your hilarious Tarantino inspired trailer for an action movie that will never be made. 3) It's not enough money to justify your project. Grants are not fully funded things. They are a thousand here and there. A true grant means you are an artist in resident. In which case, they REALLY breathe down your throat. Government grant for the arts use to be a thing. But the Republicans took most of that away.

Anyway, so the kid is waiting for someone to throw money at him to make a movie. He is going to grow old before that happens. And frankly, if he believes that, I've failed as a teacher.

But more of a failure is that he is still waiting regardless of what I tell him. The greatest disservice media has ever done for dreamers is to show them success stories and have our like blow inspirational words to each other. I do it. Not ashamed. Because I don't know where you are in life. If you want the reality, it's this: most of you won't make it here in Hollywood. I mean almost certain here. The odds are beyond anything you can comprehend. You aren't special. BUT, you can do special things whenever you want. By earning it without having to be in the system. You do not NEED THEM. I repeat for you thick headed dense nuts, you do not NEED them. For a lot you're probably asking "then how the fuck do I get money, asshole?"

Good question, I don't mean to be vague here but: GET A FUCKING JOB.

Yep. Get something that you will not like but that is enough to keep you paying for something you want to do....eventually. If YOU believe in what you do so much, you will eat a lot of shit to get it up on the screen. Most say they are willing but fizzle out. Because an 8 hour drudge job drains the life out of you, and then to come home to write is soul crushing (Ron Bass who wrote "Rain Main" did, except his lawyer shift was 12 hours and he'd write in the morning before work. Try it).

These are the sacrifice and WORK it takes to make it. Will it be worth it to you? Are your dreams worth that?

Was for me.