Filmmaking with "J. R. Legend"

Filmmaking: "No" To Short Films

noreply@blogger.com (J. R. Legend) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:23:00 +0000

I received a great question on my "J. R. Legend Q&A" section on the Filmmaking.net Forum.

The question was a response to my comment that making "short films is worthless." This filmmaker argued his/her point that they gained a lot of experience making short films which enabled him/her to move on to doing features.

My response was as follows:
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Great!

I knew that would stir the pot.

Now, my perspective is purely a business perspective. So let me ask you two questions.

1. How much did you spend on your short films?

2. How much did you make from them?

If you spent your own money, and you and your friends, some interns maybe, got together to do these films with no intent of it being seen by an acquisition exec who leaps from his chair saying, "Gentlemen, we have a hit on our hands," then I hope you see it as a great investment in your education. Because that's exactly what it was, and a better education than most get from 4 yrs. at UCLA at that. (No offense if you attended UCLA.)

I will go into greater detail into this on my blog, but the bottom line is - "Shorts don't make money." At least now they don't. True, you hear "Cinderella" stories like how Napoleon Dynamite started out as a short and MTV floated them a few hundred thou to make a feature. But as filmmakers, or in any industry really, we can't live by the dream of becoming the next Napoleon Dynamite.

In today's era of technology, a filmmaker can produce a feature length film, digital or tape, for well under $5K. (You can also produce a 35mm film, for about 5K using tried and true Hitchcock tricks and techniques).

If you want great hands on experience with coordinating actor's, crew, budgets, scripts, everything...do a feature. Not only can you raise more money to produce a feature, but you can give yourself a paycheck while you're learning.

Features have a better chance of getting better actors (Unless you are close to a college with a strong theater/film program)

Features have a better chance of making it into a major film festival.

Features have a better chance of getting picked up by a distributor.

Features have a better chance of making money online as you charge visitors to watch it in a streaming video format.

And on and on...

Honestly, it all boils down to script.

If you have a great script that can handle low budget, i.e. dressed up stage play (90 min., one set, one location or even two or three within a few blocks of each other - "Reservoir Dogs," "Dan in Real Life," "Rear Window," "Meet the Parents," "Panic Room," "Friday the 13th" and every other slasher film, courtroom drama and family reunion movie out there. See, even Hollywood knows how to make a cheap movie), then odds are you will not only gain a great education and solid experience but you have a better chance of making a profit to put into another film or to show potential investors, "Hey, we know how to make a profitable film."

A lot of filmmakers get offended when I tell them they're wasting their money on a short because many of them have put so much money into producing them. "That's what you're supposed to do, right?" "That's what everyone else does, right?"

If you're making shorts to learn without putting too much at risk, or you've got the money and you want to have a little fun, great.

But when it comes down to it, the risk takers are the success makers. In any business.

Shorts don't sell, and if you want to get noticed, get any financing and make any money in this business, you have to show that you know how to pick a marketable script, shoot on time and on budget, take the risk and make a feature.

My philosophy is if you're going to do it, do it. If you want to make movies, get your education (the information) and put it to work making real movies.

Don't play with shorts, play with features. Know how to hire competent professionals that will give investors more confidence.

Obviously, I can go on and on...and I will, but not here.

If you feel the investment you, or others, made in your short films was totally worth it. I can't argue with you. You did what was right by you. And for you it was the right thing.

But, and forgive me but I can only assume at this point because I don't know the specifics, if you spent the same amount of money and effort that you spent on all of your shorts combined on a feature, I can almost guarantee that you'd be much further along in your education, experience and success.

Thank you for starting out with a great question. I'm thrilled that you have moved on to features now! I wish you all the success in the world.
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Listen, if you have the right information, anyone, regardless of experience, if they have the talent and the work ethic, can make a feature length film.

So here's the plug, not a shameless one, but it is a plug -- That's why it is so important to go to FilmSchoolSavings.com and enroll in our pre-launch promotion.

This is the only course I have found that truly puts the puzzle together from the novice to the experienced. Even if you're somewhat experienced, the course we are offering from the Hollywood Film Institute can fill in the blanks that are keeping you from success.

As always, your friend in filmmaking,

J. R. Legend

Who is "J. R. Legend?"

noreply@blogger.com (J. R. Legend) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:08:00 +0000

My name is "J.R. Legend."

Of course that isn't my real name, although I wish it was.

It's a pretty cool name.

I'm blunt, a little abrasive perhaps, at times, but as is human nature, we always seem to come down a little harder on those we consider our friends.

If you have a passion for filmmaking, making movies, acting, producing, directing, composing, entertaining...you are my friend.

But being in the business for 22 years as an actor/director/producer/composer/instructor, I've had lot of experience and education both formal and the kind that only comes from experience.

With my heart in filmmaking since I was a boy, I struggled, as do many, to learn the secret to movie making success.

I met and talked to a lot of local filmmakers and writers who were producing no budget short films and putting them into local film festivals. They were very proud of their efforts and their work, but it just didn't seem right to me.

They came off too cocky for the work they actually produced. I saw local and regional activist groups and associations, even members of our state's Film Commissioner's Office pat these so-called filmmakers on the back for basically vomiting on celluloid and calling it a movie.

"Encouraging them to produce more crap? How does this help anyone?"

I've personally known 4 year film school graduates, even grads with Masters Degrees in film production, struggle to get movies made and end up consigning themselves to a different career path.

What a waste! The time, the debt...all for what?

Why would I want to take that chance?

If you can't learn how to make a movie after graduating from 4 - 6 years of film school, then there is seriously something wrong the film school format.

I began looking into 1 - 2 year film schools, but even those cost anywhere from $20K to $60K and didn't boast any big name graduates. I eventually settled on NYFA and with the blessing of my wife and two young kids I was about to ask my grandfather for a sizeable loan.

But then I found a film school program that changed my life!

One that boasted a huge success rate. One that dropped big names who were no names when they attended but transformed the film industry once they graduated. I couldn't believe it. One I could pay for myself and that wouldn't take me away from my family. It put all the pieces of everything I'd ever learned and instinctively known over the past years together.

I was taught "street reality" not film school theory.

Now I have a production company. Three projects in development. Not short films, feature films. If I would have gone to film school...I'd be about to graduate instead of doing what I love to do.

My brothers and sisters in filmmaking, you who are now where I was. I know your plight. (Yes, that sound a bit dramatic, but it's true.) I created FilmSchoolSavings.com, this blog and my exclusive Newsletter, "The Industry," for filmmakers hungry to create the vision locked inside their own heads, but don't know how to do it. Who need someone to spell it all out for them, in black and white, no fluff, no theory - just reality. Real numbers, real statistics, real patterns and formulas.

Filmmaking is a BUSINESS. Once the artist and filmmaker gets that through their skull, if they have talent and drive, the sky's the limit!

For reasons dear to my heart, our FilmSchoolSavings.com pre-launch promotion involves the largest tuition discount on the very film school program that changed my life. I want it to change yours, too. Because there's no better feeling than living your dream!

Once the site officially launches, you'll be provided with discounted educational seminars, training and events as well as recommended books, software and other production materials either discounted or with rebates attached. We will then begin to add discounts on equipment and other filmmaking tools and even part time business ideas to bring you even more money for future projects or your just your savings account...whatever it takes to get you on your feet.

We discount everything because I'm not trying to rake in big bucks off a demographic who's pockets aren't that deep to begin with, I want to give you the hand that I wish had been offered to me years ago.

Subscribe to "The Industry" Filmmaking Newsletter and get all of my articles before they go public at JRLegend.com and on my podcast (coming soon - stay tuned). The newsletter will also contain anything I think would be important for you in any aspect of your filmmaking career and personal life along with articles by industry professionals who will be writing exclusively for "The Industry" Filmmaking Newsletter.

Upcoming articles and podcasts are:

The 4 Classes of Filmmakers. Where Do You Fall?

Why the Academy Awards (And every other award show we don't care about)?

2 and 3 Day Film Schools. Are These Legit?

How I Finance My Films

Formula to Box Office Millions

How Many Takes to Really Shoot a Scene

Why Movie Tickets Are so High

Theatrical Releases of Artsy Films and Chick Flicks (Why Bother?)

To Write or Not to Write

Guerrilla Filmmaking. Sexy or Stupid?

Why Won't People Give Me Money??

How and Where to Premier

Do You Hear What I Hear (The Elements of Good Sound)

And more...

Get your subscription by submitting to us via the Filmmaking Newsletter submission form at the top of the page or at FilmSchoolSavings.com and tell us your biggest challenge as a filmmaker, and we will produce more articles based on your input.

Your inbox will not be bombarded with emails from me. I'm sure you get enough crap already. I don't have that kind of time anyway. You should receive something from me, at the most, once a week and I don't share your info with anyone!

Do the Independent Film Industry a favor and email this blog to everyone you know in the business. Talk about the articles in your own blogs and forums because they will be controversial. Link to this blog in your online signatures and encourage others to at least get the free newsletter.

Because you never know that somewhere, in the vast sea of Indie film wannabes, there's another Tarantino, Spike Lee, Robert Rodriguez or Chris Nolan.

Who knows, it just might be you.

Your friend in filmmaking,

J.R. Legend

4 Types of Filmmakers

noreply@blogger.com (J. R. Legend) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:22:00 +0000

Filmmaking. Filmmakers.

I've been in the business 22 years.

I've seen filmmakers come and go, and they always seem to fit into four categories.

#1. I've seen talented filmmakers succeed with their first or second films and not know why. So they get arrogant. They get stupid. They're the one hit wonders.

#2. Then there are filmmakers who have the talent to create the art and the maturity to understand that making movies is a business. They stay on top. They learn. They change. They improve. They succeed. They are the filmmaking legends and giants.

#3. Next are the filmmakers who have 50% - 100% talent but zero work ethic. They are the lazy. They expect opportunity to fall in their lap if they keep hanging with the same group of loser filmmakers, making worthless short films to be discovered on YouTube or at stuffy worthless local or regional film festivals that no one's ever heard of and no distributor's acquisition exec will ever attend.

They reject any form of criticism, they huddle together in online forums where they can pat each other on the back - blind leading the blind - and piss on any producer who has the nerve to ask them create a movie that must work within specific parameters. They want education for nothing and at seminars, they're the ones who fold their arms and look down their greasy little noses at professionals who try and teach them how to succeed. But they won't succeed.

Why?

Because these filmmaking wannabes espouse the attitude of,

"They don't understand my art."

"My films mean something."

"They're cutting edge."

"Relevant."

"I can't compromise the artistic integrity of my creation."

"Now why won't anyone give me money to make my movies?"

They reject professional criticism and instruction because then they would have to admit they have invested time and money in their own failure, admit they were wrong, and to proceed from that point would require change, and change would require...you got it...work.

It's laziness disguised as arrogance, or confidence without a cause. Converting raw filmmaking talent to pure filmmaking talent requires honing, focus, discipline and education from both books and experience.

These filmmaking wannabes who assumed from the womb that it would be easy because the director's commentary on the DVD made it seem so, these filmmaking losers then return unmoved to their local circle of losers, trying to be the big fish in a tiny pond, hoping to become Independent Filmmaking's next "Cinderella" story, all the while living their own "Emperor's New Clothes."

#4. Finally, you have the filmmaking wannabes who want no part of the typical loser's circle. They may have attended a 2 or 4 year film school hoping to gain the upper-hand, but graduate with a head full of theory and a pocket full of debt.

They hear the success stories of other filmmakers and become frustrated as they still wander in the darkness of ignorance. "What do they know that I don't?" "Was it just luck? It has to be."

They spend their days working for peanuts on film crews, waiting for a break. Or they start different careers altogether, keeping the dream flickering in the back of their mind, all the while saving money and searching for books, videos, something, someone, anything that will put the puzzle together so it all makes sense and they can begin living their dream.

It is this filmmaker, this dreamer for whom I created this blog, my Newsletter and FilmSchoolSavings.com.

You arrogant twits who love the smell of your own farts, this is not for you.

Are you a Filmmaker class 1, 2, 3, or 4? If you're a 2, then you're probably not reading this. Good for you!

If you're a 1 or a 3, I pray you graduate to a 4.

IMPORTANT: If you're a #4, please study, work hard and take advantage of legitimate online and offline resources. The Internet is flooded with #1's and #3's so be careful when searching filmmaking forums for answers. 1's and 3's question any information outside their own experience and are unwilling to try anything unless someone else they know does it first.

They are ripe with skepticism, bitterness and write and speak with whining overtones. They blame circumstances and other people for their inability to "break into the business" and fail to admit it's their own negative mindset that keeps them from breaking out of their box.

And they're the very filmmakers that will be infuriated with this article. (That's right. I called you out. Let hate mail roll...)

Once you identify these people, disregard their comments and try not to engage them.

Being positive and humble is harder than being negative and cocky. Stay strong my dear #4's. There are inexpensive educational opportunities out there that can launch your filmmaking career.

For all you other filmmakers out there, attitude is everything. Keep yourself in check and self-evaluate often. A willingness to learn from other's filmmaking successes and mistakes will put you on the right path to success.

As always, your friend in filmmaking,

J.R. Legend

Top 4 Reasons We Still Have the Academy Awards (and every other stuffy, self-promoting, does-anyone-care-anymore award shows)

noreply@blogger.com (J. R. Legend) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:49:00 +0000

This is one of my most recent articles for "The Industry" Newsletter. What does this have to do with filmmaking? You'll see...

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Are you one of the millions who, every time a television ad pops on the screen for another "Awards" show, ask themselves, "Does anyone even watch these things anymore??"

Admittedly, even those of us in the Entertainment world can't keep up with the plethora of self-aggrandizing ceremonies that dribble out of L.A. and New York.

Let's see, you've got the Academy Awards, a.k.a. the Oscars, Tony awards, SAG awards, Golden Globe awards, Emmy awards (Daytime and Primetime), Grammies, Country Music awards, Independent Spirit awards, the Image Awards, MTV movie awards, People's Choice awards, Teen Choice Awards, Kids Choice Awards, BAFTA Awards, European Film Awards, Internet Movie awards, Genie Awards, American Music Awards, Billboard Music awards, the Razzies (my favorite) and well over 3 times as many that aren't even televised. I found a pretty comprehensive list here -

HollywoodReporter.com reported that the Academy Awards of 2008 "hit an all-time ratings low" and the Emmy's had its lowest viewer ship in 18 years. Most in the Entertainment Award circles blamed the writer's strike. Sorry, the public isn’t buying it. The public only cared about the fact that the final season of Scrubs was tragically cut short.

Many people stopped watching Award shows when obvious losers won over obvious winners, or a winner was chosen more out of political correctness than outstanding performance, or perhaps some of us were just tired of being preached to from the Hollywood pulpit by the usual cast of characters holding onto their golden "calves". (Ooooo, that stings. Oh, well.)

So if the ratings are plummeting, and the general public doesn't care anymore...

...then why the H. E. double hockey sticks do we still have award shows??

Why do the major and minor studios spend boo-coo bucks on promoting certain films to the various Academies just to win a nomination the public, in general, doesn’t care about?

Don't get me wrong, I may come off a little harsh, but growing up in the business my dream was to win an Oscar, a Tony and a Grammy all in the same year! It wasn't until I grew up and became more involved in the reality and business of Hollywood and filmmaking that my feelings changed. Winning one of these awards is important to me, but for a completely different reason. And this reason, in my opinion, is the purpose for which award shows were created in the first place.

Some will say the reasons we still air these award shows are:

# 4. Tradition. Sorry, this reason just doesn't hold up, for me. For a reason to continue to do something that appears to be failing, "tradition" is weak.

When traditions begin to fade out because of cultural shifts, corruption of its intended purpose or the mere fact the public becomes more educated and realizes "Hey, this is stupid" or "Hey, this is dangerous," the tradition becomes more of a nuisance or just flat out illegal.

(Human sacrifice was a tradition among ancient Americans. We see how well that worked out.)

# 3. Satisfying the Ego. This one, I happen to agree with, but not as the primary reason.

Look, if you're not an artist, you may not understand this one. Artists, especially entertainers, more especially actors, are the most neurotic group of people you will ever meet. We need constant reassurance that we're doing a great job and that we're important or we become nervous, slightly unstable and unsure of ourselves.

The only way we know we're doing a good job, is if we're told we're doing a good job and if no one tells us we're doing a good job then we begin to wonder if we're doing a good job and spiral into an abyss of self-doubt.

I know, it’s a mental disease. Why do you think it requires so many takes to shoot one scene? Technical issues aside, it's not because Ben Stiller is making everyone laugh, it's because both the director and actors (generally speaking of course) don't trust their artistic instincts and keep trying to get the "perfect shot."

All the while it's the producer banging his/her head against the wall watching money going down the drain with each take.

(More on this in a future post.)

# 2. Recognizing accomplishments in one's craft. Okay, that's fair, but how many ceremonies do you need for that? You don't see a slew of big guys in tuxes showing up on a red carpet for the Steel Workers Union awards, do you?

Recognizing achievement is good for any Industry, but it doesn't answer the question as to why the Entertainment Industry seems to go overboard.

So… the #1 reason why we have grandiose award ceremonies, regardless whether or not anyone cares, is...

**MARKETING**

Think about it, doesn't it add reassurance to your decision to see a movie if you hear the deep voiced announcer say, "Starring Academy Award Winner So-and-so, Academy Award winner such-and-such, by Oscar winning director What's-his-butt, with music by Grammy award winning composer What's-her-face." Don't you feel more confident that it will be a better movie? Even if the plot seems a little silly, you'll still think, "Hmmmm, I bet that'll be pretty good."

Even if the movie employs Nominated performers, you'll see it plastered all over the advertising in Gold letters!

Why?

Because it makes you feel "safe" about seeing that movie. It's film industry’s version of a product guarantee.

If you were presented with two dramas you have never heard of before, A and B, each with the same budget, same script, same title, Movie A features Award winning and nominated actors, directors and composers and Movie B is cast with a fair mix of B-listers and nobody's, which do you open your wallet or purse for? Hmmmm?

Marketing!

Studios and retailers want your money and they know that when it comes to spending money on a movie, you, the customer, are going to put your green down on “Award winning” artists to deliver a better film almost every time, even though logically you understand that Movie B could be just as good, or maybe better.

Even the pre-ceremony circus we know as the "Red Carpet" is marketing because from the studios to the producers to even the actors (the smart ones) understand that to stay relevant, you have to keep your face in front of the public as much as possible, even if it means putting on a ridiculous evening gown while Ryan Seacrest tells you you look stunning.

Still don't get it? Let me put it this way:

Why does McDonald's, the #1 fast food chain in the world, still spend millions on TV commercials and billboards?

Because they get it! They understand that to stay on top, they have to stay in front of the public's mind, and to do that, they have keep sending out the message "We are here! We are here! We are heeeere!" That is the role award ceremonies play for the Entertainment Industry.

Just like a movie’s theatrical release is just an advertisement for the DVD. (Topic for a future post.)

In conclusion, although I'd never turn down a nomination or an award from anyone, it's no longer my primary focus as a producer/actor/director/composer. It's no longer "What can I do to give an Oscar-winning performance," it's now "What can I do to make the kind of movies I want to go see?"

(That’s actually the PIXAR philosophy and I’d say it’s worked out fairly well for them.)

It's called Show-"Business." The Award shows serve many purposes to many people, but the bottom line is business...and it's all about -

MARKETING!

As always, your friend in filmmaking,

J.R. Legend

Become a smarter filmmakers, go to FilmSchoolSavings.com to get your FREE Filmmaking Newsletter, "The Industry."