The War of Attrition: Part 2

Be sure to start with Part 1.

Is There Life After Film by Julie MacLusky, Peter Dowling continues:

“I think as a writer you just have to keep on writing, stretching your self and trying to grow. You often hear people say, ‘You have to write the most un-commercial thing you can to prove to people that you’re a good writer,’ but I just write what I like and would want to see myself.

There are clearly a lot of talented people out there who haven’t yet made it—but it’s a war of attrition. Maybe they weren’t ready when their opportunity came along. An opportunity will probably come along again, and they must just keep writing. Good material—you often hear it, but it’s true—will find its way. This business is built on looking for good material. They’re not out there to keep you away. If you’ve got a good script, somebody will get hold of it, read it, like it, but it—it’s just the nature of the business.

I really think it’s just staying power. People who get disillusioned give up, and then I have to question how much they really wanted it in the first place? I’ve known now for over twenty years what I wanted to do. I remember at eighteen meeting people who were at university in England and they said, ‘What do you want to do?’ and I could tell them. But if I asked them, ‘Well, what do you want to do?’ and they were doing some kind of business degree, they didn’t know, but they had an income figure in mind. I always knew I wanted to make movies and it’s not about the money. I say if you do what you love and you’re successful at it, the money will come.”

I can certainly relate to Peter. Filmmaking is something I’ve longed to do since I was 13. My advice to myself and other filmmakers: Write something.

Begin to write stories. Take short one act plays and turn them into ready-to-shoot screenplays (while making all the changes you want). Take moments from you life and turn them into screenplays. Write the ordinary. Write the fantastic. Write the dream you dreamt as a child.

Regardless of whether you want to write: write something!

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The War of Attrition

In the final paragraph of her introduction to her book Is There Life After Film School: In Depth Advice from Industry Insiders, Julie MacLusky writes:

“When I set out to conduct these interviews, I wondered if those who succeed have any personal qualities in common, or particular routes to success. I found that they did share a realistic idea of the business they were getting into, which was married to a fierce determination. They were also prepared to do their time in lower paid jobs and earn their experience the hard way. And finally they were prepared to keep going when others might have chosen to give up. Screenwriter Peter Dowling told me he believes success is down to a war of attrition. Thus, if you graduate from a class of thirty-two screenwriters, and five years later only two of you are still writing, your odds will be greatly improved by the reduction in competition.”

One dictionary defines “attrition” as a reduction in numbers usually as a result of resignation, retirement, or death. Another word that comes to my mind is cutthroat.

Peter A. Dowling shares writing credits with Billy Ray on Flightplan (2005), a Hitchcockian thriller starring Jodie Foster. Is There Life After Film School? was published in 2003 by Continuum.

Julie MacLusky is Assistant Professor of Screenwriting at Chapman University. Several of her short stories have been published in anthologies, and she has also written and produced documentaries for BBC Radio.

Contiune to part 2.

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Service with a Smile

Everyone knows that it takes money to make a movie and money to pay the bills. If the bills aren't paid, it becomes even more difficult to get a movie completed. With that in mind, I find myself at my day job. I work in the IT department of a small, private college in the Twin Cities area. I answer the phone, I field questions and requests, and sometimes when I'm sitting in front of a phone that isn't ringing. . . I find time to read a book. The book that was available to me today was Delivering Knock Your Socks of Service [Revised Edition, 1998 and now in it's 4th Edition].

"It's a must-have tool for everyone in customer service!"

--SUCCESS Magazine

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "I'm working behind the camera so I don't have to deal with people" or "I could NEVER work in customer relations". Those statements may very well be true, but I'd like to encourage you to take on the attitude that is "knock your socks off service."

Hollywood is known for its cold, albeit sexy, shoulder. Regardless of whether your dream is working in Hollywood or making a poignant social commentary (I'm sure you know what Mike I'm talking about), the glue that will make your ideas stick is positive relations with people you cross paths with.

The image of the rude, total diva director (in my mind) has to be a myth. Of course I know of film students who function in this way. My hypothesis is that those are the next great waiters and waitresses of our generation.

Tom Peters, Management guru, says:

"Customers perceive service in their own unique, idiosyncratic, emotional, irrational, end-of-the-day, and totally human terms. Perception is all there is!"

This statement rings true in my mind.

When a crew assembles, try to imagine in your mind how your co-crewmembers might perceive you. They will probably perceive you as a human being and judge you based on how much experience they perceive you have. This does not mean that you should blow your own horn and pad your verbal resume (e.g. "This is a much smaller production than I'm used to working on" or "this director has no direction, unlike all of the other directors I've worked with over the years…"). Honesty gains trust.

"Researchers consistently find that it costs five times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep one you already have."

When assembling a crew, sometimes there are only one or two people to choose from. This can be frustrating on small, independent productions, but it is important to keep the crew together.

Imagine this horror: the Director of Photography is fed up in dealing with a storm of egos and walks off the set. It will take five times more (energy, money, love, emotion, waffles, donuts, coffee, bananas, etc) to attract a new D.P.

When the shoot is finally done and another "baby" comes out of (p)reproduction, do you really want to assemble an entirely new crew?

Can't we all just get along?

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Looking For Film Books

As a student filmmaker, don’t spend money on books until you’ve read them first. If you like what you read, then ask someone to give it to you as a gift. Check them out your school library, public library, or through interlibrary loan systems.

There is a lot of great stuff online, but there is still something about sitting back and reading words printed on paper that you can run your finger along.

Listening to podcasts and reading websites (including this one) should be supplemental to your film education. Watching award-winning films should compliment your reading.

Books should be your primary source for information. Why? The writers had to go through a long process to get their book published. It’s been edited and often times include really useful illustrations.

Blogs like mine are just resources. Sometimes filmmaking blogs include anecdotes. Stories of shoots gone wrong can be great to learn from, but experiencing it firsthand is so different from reading about it. If you are serious about filmmaking, you’re going to need to hit the books.

Be intentional about your film learning.

Apply what you've learned by making a short film.

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zoom z00m ZOOM

Jeremy Vineyard, in his book Setting Up Your Shots: Great Camera Moves Every Filmmaker Should Know, says:

"The focal length of a camera lens determines the distance that that camera can 'see.' Zoom lenses allow the focal length to be gradually changed. With a zoom, the frame may transition from a wide shot to a close-up without ever moving the camera.

The zoom is considered an unnatural technique because our eyes aren't able to incrementally change our focal length. Because of this, zooms are often used for effect.

A very slow zoom can be a subtle alternative to a dolly movement in locations where there is no room to rig a dolly and track. A very fast zoom--a whip zoom--can be used to draw attention to an object in a scene. (Page 7)"

There is an editing effect that puts the zoom to good use.

When you want the viewer to pay attention to a certain object, building, or person, a filmmaker might consider using a cut zoom in.

"Cut zoom in is a technique that adds emphasis to an otherwise static shot. This technique usually has three stages: a very wide shot, a wide shot, and a medium shot. The distances for each shot can vary, but the basic idea is that, for each cut, the camera suddenly 'jumps' forward towards the subject being viewed.

To soften the effect, the camera can slowly zoom forward during the sequence."

A cut zoom in sequence of shots can consist of a non-moving camera and cut to increasing larger shot sizes. Another way to incorporate a cut zoom in is to film a slow zoom and cut out enough frames so that when played back, the camera appears to make "jump cuts". You can also do the opposite of this which would result in a cut zoom out.

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