[2006 July Update: Okay, some spam bot, or someone with a spam bot, is OBSESSED with comment-spamming this entry. None of the comments have gotten through my spam filter, so spammers comments aren’t getting anywhere. And they won’t get anywhere, so I suggest spammers drop it here. In fact, I’m forcing them to - comments closed.

Also, where have I gotten since learning the stuff in this entry? Not so far. TIME TO START MOVING. Writing. I’m writing something other than what is mentioned here.]

I asked the producer of a prominent, successful film some questions about producing, film making, and acting. It only occured to me afterwards that I really want to put this in my blog, so I’m leaving the person anonymous. Really, I might have anticipated I wouldn’t quite gather everything without taping it and going back to it (is this my first “duh” lesson of any kind of journalism?), because there was a lot said and in the below I only paraphrase from notes and memory.

Me: What elements need to be in place for someone to put forward money to make a film?
Producer: It can be any of a number of elements. Money is rarely a motive [ed. - I wonder if that applies only to independent film, not big studios], though they always want to take a look at the bottom line. It could be for fun, it could play off something they are particularly interested in, it could be a chance at making a lot of advertising dollars, it could be for a sense that your project is a party and they want to be a part of it, it could be anything. For me it’s happened for a whole lot of different things, and you have to be persistent and handle a lot of NOs. It could be that they like your previous work. Sometimes it’s for idealistic reasons, but that’s rare. You have to know what makes people tick, what they want, what motivates them, what appeals to them. In my view, that’s a gift and you either have it or you dont. A lot of directors are creative people, they hate the producing, they can’t have any part of it. You have to understand people and show how what you are doing could be part of what they want. Get them thinking what if this or what if that?

Me: Is it ever from an interest in a script that suddenly gets it’s own buzz around it and people scrambling for it?
Producer: That happens, but rarely. It’s good to have a great script, and what you do with that is you go out and pound the pavement. You’ll get a thousand rejections, and it can be months or years, but it can pay off. I was just moving a desk that has a pile of scripts in it I’ve never read, because there’s nothing there that interests me, they aren’t my thing.

Me: How do investors look at a film degree vs. experience, and how do they weigh these?
Producer: Having a film degree is (not so much? I don’t remember the answer) ________________. If you have a film they love, that will interest them.

Me - now, in writing: This is the catch-22 where you have to be established admirably before the establishment will admire you. What this means is that you must make something adorable by pulling yourself up by the bootstraps - give everything you have to make something, anything great - a short film, a feature film, whatever. Either the book Film School Confidential or What They Don’t Teach You at Film School (I forget which) said to be sure that what you get out of film school, if you go, is at least one great student film that you made. And that some film schools are actually structured to have some students make films and others not, so that some students come out without the most critical item - a good student film of their own making.

Me: I’m pursuing acting.
Producer: Oh, there are so many actors! We always wonder how in the world we are going to pick one! [Similar comments as per marketing a script, only I think emphasising determination more]. You have to mesh with the director. You have to have something specific that they are looking for.

Me: I’ve been thinking it’s who you know and who you’re helping.
Producer: It’s not just that - there are plenty of people helping - there are scores of PAs and people helping. Every film has a hundred little mini-crises. There are a hundred moments where they don’t know how they are going to get or do something. You have to step up and say “If I can get you this in 48 hours, will you give me this part?” And when you get it, you have to be very nice, they have to like you on set, or you’re not coming back. You can also create something for yourself to get into acting.

Me - now - you have to help them with something very specific in a clincher - they need to know you are devoted through the thickest of trials, and you have to barter on that to get what you want.

Me: [Ask about Producer’s own ongoings and learn what they are doing]

Me: I have a fantasy story in my head that I want to make into a book and film.
Producer: See - that’s great - if you believe in that and you really pursue it, it can happen. [ed. - Producer describes the toll it can take - it can be a severe emotional, time, and money toll, and it can later payoff]. If you get a script ready, go out and sell it, it could be the next Lord of the Rings, nobody knows.

Me - now: I think I might not be able to possibly bear pitching it as the next Lord of the Rings, because I couldn’t stand comparing anything I write to that. I’ll compare other people’s work to it - C.S. Lewis perhaps but still in his own different brilliant way. The two were friends and in the same writing circle they dubbed The Inklings, you see.

I’m writing a story and script. I know how ambitious that is. They are different writing crafts. Orson Scott Card wrote his own first draft for the Ender’s Game screenplay. Let’s see how it fares when it’s done! Brilliant, I don’t doubt, but the story is already established gold. Is mine? We’ll see. It could be a catastrophic failure that I learn a whole lot from, for a next project.