[NEohioPAL]All Hail Film Czar and Film Prophet

[Christopher]

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I see an attempt at buying some goodwill with the acting and crew
community here, but if we shift ALL the blame on the filmmakers, then we
will be ignoring the suffering of those majority of actors and crew who
ARE professional enough to show up and try to finish scenes and projects
in spite of the few who disappear and stop returning calls until they've
settled into their Venice Beach apartments or found religion, or
whatever excuse they give until one posts another audition notice.
Then, they resurface and send their headshots and resumes as if you
won't remember them from the last burn, and to add insult to injury,
some of them even put the picture they bailed on or got fired from ON
THEIR RESUME!

Maybe if we all resigned ourselves to making short films that only have
one or two locations, then the impact of this kind of behavior could be
minimized.  But for those of us who dare to make feature films with
multiple locations and scenes with significant cast interplay, then this
work ethic, left unaddressed, will STAY the norm for a minority, but
significant percentage of actors and crew in this area, thereby throwing
a wrench not only into a director's work, but the work of the other
actors and crew as well.  It only takes one actor doing this to shut
down a film.  Ask around.  I have first hand experience with the
phenomenon, and when filmmakers start to get a little ambitious around
here, so will they.

And while I haven't been to an Indieclub meeting in a long time, I
thought I was giving it the benefit of the doubt in my initial posting.
But if they're not networking their resources or helping each other
improve their work, then what the hell are those guys doing there?  I
hope it's not all about listening to someone who memorized an article
out of videomaker magazine or congratulating each other for sticking it
out in Cleveland for as long as they have.  Don't get me wrong!  This
isn't a commentary on Indieclub!  I imagine that someone conversant with
Indieclub's mission can articulate its significance with great ease.
The last meeting I attended (almost two years ago) was very helpful.
But if it's true that they no longer provide a resource pool and a
constructively critical forum, then that which I hope it isn't, must be
exactly what it is.  I'll attend one as soon as possible, with the hopes
that we're both wrong.  But, all that aside, sway with city leaders is a
necessary next step for Indieclub, or any organization that takes
Cleveland's position in the greater media arts community to heart.  I
mean, what's a film community if the COMMUNITY isn't involved?  Perhaps
this is already underway, again, I haven't been attending.  But an US
and THEM attitude won't help anybody, because THEY have the power to
make US unwelcome... even more so than we already are from a
socio-cultural standpoint.

One other issue I need to take on is the idea that Cleveland's indie
scene is mostly made up of writers, producers and directors.  While it's
true that most directors are also writers and producers, and all the
other combinations therein, it's more than safe to say that the vast
majority of those who consider themselves in the indie scene have little
to no interest in writing and/or producing and/or directing a picture of
their own.  Ask yourself, what's the largest number of actors you've had
answer a casting call of yours?  My largest number is about 130, I
imagine yours are similar, if not higher since you often cast on the
coattails of success from a previous project.  This kind of turn out is
not uncommon.

Now how many area filmmakers have you ever seen in one place locally, at
one time?  Actual filmmakers with one or more credits in the above
mentioned categories?  Even add those who aspire to have a credit and
the number's still pretty small.  The reason I bring up this otherwise
picayune issue is because it's symptomatic of a trend this community
has, and I've been guilty of too:  leaving out actors and crew in the
dialogue over the needs of this film community.  Because when you
include those people in the mix, then we see that in fact, a vast
majority of this community DOES WANT to work on someone else's film.
They're just waiting for something they can believe in.

Some find it, many don't, and some are just easy to please.

You know us creative types are an unorganized lot with major attention
deficit, so one more time.  What was the point?

Christopher K. Young
www.shallowfocus.com

P.S.: Amen to your last two paragraphs



Bill wrote:

> All Hail Film Czar and Film Prophet You know, most of the time I sit
> with calm amusement as I read the various ramblings as to why
> Cleveland isn't 'on the map' when it comes to motion picture film and
> TV production. However, these latest posts are just too funny to
> ignore... A self proclaimed Film Czar? What the hell is that? Alex, I
> thought you were joking! And Christopher, you seem to have so much
> intelligence and yet you completely miss the point. Ya wanna know the
> reason why we can't all just get along and make movies together? Well
> here it is. There's too much crap!!! And widely varying degrees of
> crap. One of the only reasons our monthly Indieclub meetings are
> successful is because we're not trying to create a consortium; we're
> not trying to unite our resources, we're not even trying to improve
> eachother's work. We're j ust watching videos. And guess what? We see
> a lot of crap. We see some good stuff too, but mostly we see Learners,
> Yearners and Burners. Now, Learners are novice filmmakers who make
> crap because it's their first film and rather than learn the trade
> first, they go ahead and make a movie as practice and hopefully
> they'll improve. We sit politely and smile, wishing they had thought
> about lighting, sound, acting, dialogue, and camera work before making
> us sit through their experiments. Yearners are filmmakers who really
> want to make good films, so they use everything at their disposal to
> make the best possible film they can. However, they're still somewhat
> plagued by compromise and the results are never what they hoped for,
> nor what a real distributor will buy. Much easier to sit through
> though. Burners are the worst. These are filmmakers (u sually
> prolific) who make crap every time out of the gate. Their camera work
> is mostly hand-hell shaky cam. Their lighting is barely more than
> ambient and they often use the on-camera mic to capture dialogue. The
> acting is wooden and undirected; the stories are either so deep you
> need waders, or so shallow you can't find a point; and to top it off,
> they're fully convinced they are great filmmakers. But why do I call
> them Burners you ask? Well, because they burn the bridges that sincere
> Yearners might someday want to use. They burn bridges with actors who
> get soured against indie filmmakers because they have nothing decent
> to show for all their hard work (not even copy). They burn bridges
> with locations because they are so unorganized that they overstay
> their welcomes, mess up property and never send copies of the video,
> like they promise to do. They burn bridges with investors because the
> investor never sees a dime of their money back. They burn bridges with
> the legitimate film commission, because, as I said before they make
> crap and what film commission is going to support and encourage more
> crap??? Yet that's not the reason why we don't need a film czar or
> film prophet or any other coordinating force. The real reason is no
> one wants to work on someone else's film. You see, most of the people
> that comprise the indie scene here in Cleveland are
> writer/producer/directors and we're all working on our own projects.
> And guess what. I'm not all that interested in spending my valuable
> time working on someone's project which I consider to be crappier than
> my own. I can just as easily be spending my time and resources
> creating my own crap. Sure everyone would like to think there's a
> benevolent brotherhood of filmmakers; a selfless society where
> everyone submits ideas and work samples and then the members vote on
> what script to do and who to direct it. The commu nity is presented
> with the proposal and since it bears the backing of so many
> filmmakers, the businesses get involved and support the project with
> services and finances. The best actors come from all around to have a
> part in the project and a glorious motion picture is produced that
> wins the Oscar for Impossible Dream... That would be a good plot for a
> fantasy picture, but in the real world, writers will lose interest if
> their script isn't picked. Directors will bail if they can't direct
> and actors will walk away if they can't be the lead. And you guessed
> it the end product would probably be... well, I don't need to say it
> again. (though I really want to) Bill Johnscrappy writer/producer/and
> directorwww.cinevidproductions.com P.S - I guess I'm in a sour mood
> because just yesterday I lost a serious investor (producer of two
> features in LA) because she said the acting in one of the scenes I
> sent her wasn't very good. I knew it when I shot it that I was
> compromising, and even though we're reshooting that scene, it's too
> late to regain that contact... ah CRAP!
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Yahoo! Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.

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I see an attempt at buying some goodwill with the acting and crew community
here, but if we shift ALL the blame on the filmmakers, then we will be
ignoring the suffering of those majority of actors and crew who ARE professional
enough to show up and try to finish scenes and projects in spite of the
few who disappear and stop returning calls until they've settled into their
Venice Beach apartments or found religion, or whatever excuse they give
until one posts another audition notice.  Then, they resurface and
send their headshots and resumes as if you won't remember them from the
last burn, and to add insult to injury, some of them even put the picture
they bailed on or got fired from ON THEIR RESUME!
<p>Maybe if we all resigned ourselves to making short films that only have
one or two locations, then the impact of this kind of behavior could be
minimized.  But for those of us who dare to make feature films with
multiple locations and scenes with significant cast interplay, then this
work ethic, left unaddressed, will STAY the norm for a minority, but significant
percentage of actors and crew in this area, thereby throwing a wrench not
only into a director's work, but the work of the other actors and crew
as well.  It only takes one actor doing this to shut down a film. 
Ask around.  I have first hand experience with the phenomenon, and
when filmmakers start to get a little ambitious around here, so will they.
<p>And while I haven't been to an Indieclub meeting in a long time, I thought
I was giving it the benefit of the doubt in my initial posting.  But
if they're not networking their resources or helping each other improve
their work, then what the hell are those guys doing there?  I hope
it's not all about listening to someone who memorized an article out of
videomaker magazine or congratulating each other for sticking it out in
Cleveland for as long as they have.  Don't get me wrong!  This
isn't a commentary on Indieclub!  I imagine that someone conversant
with Indieclub's mission can articulate its significance with great ease. 
The last meeting I attended (almost two years ago) was very helpful. 
But if it's true that they no longer provide a resource pool and a constructively
critical forum, then that which I hope it isn't, must be exactly what it
is.  I'll attend one as soon as possible, with the hopes that we're
both wrong.  But, all that aside, sway with city leaders is a necessary
next step for Indieclub, or any organization that takes Cleveland's position
in the greater media arts community to heart.  I mean, what's a film
community if the COMMUNITY isn't involved?  Perhaps this is already
underway, again, I haven't been attending.  But an US and THEM attitude
won't help anybody, because THEY have the power to make US unwelcome...
even more so than we already are from a socio-cultural standpoint.
<p>One other issue I need to take on is the idea that Cleveland's indie
scene is mostly made up of writers, producers and directors.  While
it's true that most directors are also writers and producers, and all the
other combinations therein, it's more than safe to say that the vast majority
of those who consider themselves in the indie scene have little to no interest
in writing and/or producing and/or directing a picture of their own. 
Ask yourself, what's the largest number of actors you've had answer a casting
call of yours?  My largest number is about 130, I imagine yours are
similar, if not higher since you often cast on the coattails of success
from a previous project.  This kind of turn out is not uncommon.
<p>Now how many area filmmakers have you ever seen in one place locally,
at one time?  Actual filmmakers with one or more credits in the above
mentioned categories?  Even add those who aspire to have a credit
and the number's still pretty small.  The reason I bring up this otherwise
picayune issue is because it's symptomatic of a trend this community has,
and I've been guilty of too:  leaving out actors and crew in the dialogue
over the needs of this film community.  Because when you include those
people in the mix, then we see that in fact, a vast majority of this community
DOES WANT to work on someone else's film.  They're just waiting for
something they can believe in.
<p>Some find it, many don't, and some are just easy to please.
<p>You know us creative types are an unorganized lot with major attention
deficit, so one more time.  What was the point?
<p>Christopher K. Young
<br>www.shallowfocus.com
<p>P.S.: Amen to your last two paragraphs
<br> 
<br> 
<p>Bill wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE><b><i><font face="comic sans ms"><font color="#FF0000"><font size=+2>All
Hail Film Czar and Film Prophet</font></font></font></i></b> You know,
most of the time I sit with calm amusement as I read the various ramblings
as to why Cleveland isn't 'on the map' when it comes to motion picture
film and TV production. However, these latest posts are just too funny
to ignore... A self proclaimed Film Czar? What the hell is that? Alex,
I thought you were joking! And Christopher, you seem to have so much intelligence
and yet you completely miss the point. Ya wanna know the reason why
we can't all just get along and make movies together? Well here it is.
There's too much crap!!! And widely varying degrees of crap. One of the
only reasons our monthly Indieclub meetings are successful is because we're
not trying to create a consortium; we're not trying to unite our resources,
we're not even trying to improve eachother's work. We're j ust watching
videos. And guess what? We see a lot of crap. We see some good stuff too,
but mostly we see Learners, Yearners and Burners. Now, <b>Learners</b>
are novice filmmakers who make crap because it's their first film and rather
than learn the trade first, they go ahead and make a movie as practice
and hopefully they'll improve. We sit politely and smile, wishing they
had thought about lighting, sound, acting, dialogue, and camera work before
making us sit through their experiments. <b>Yearners</b> are filmmakers
who really want to make good films, so they use everything at their disposal
to make the best possible film they can. However, they're still somewhat
plagued by compromise and the results are never what they hoped for, nor
what a real distributor will buy. Much easier to sit through though. <b>Burners</b>
are the worst. These are filmmakers (u sually prolific) who make crap every
time out of the gate. Their camera work is mostly hand-hell shaky cam.
Their lighting is barely more than ambient and they often use the on-camera
mic to capture dialogue. The acting is wooden and undirected; the stories
are either so deep you need waders, or so shallow you can't find a point;
and to top it off, they're fully convinced they are great filmmakers. But
why do I call them Burners you ask? Well, because they burn the bridges
that sincere Yearners might someday want to use. They burn bridges with
actors who get soured against indie filmmakers because they have nothing
decent to show for all their hard work (not even copy). They burn bridges
with locations because they are so unorganized that they overstay their
welcomes, mess up property and never send copies of the video, like they
promise to do. They burn bridges with investors because the investor never
sees a dime of their money back. They burn bridges with the legitimate
film commission, because, as I said before they make crap and what film
commission is going to support and encourage more crap??? Yet that's
not the reason why we don't need a film czar or film prophet or any other
coordinating force. The real reason is no one wants to work on someone
else's film. You see, most of the people that comprise the indie scene
here in Cleveland are writer/producer/directors and we're all working on
our own projects. And guess what. I'm not all that interested in spending
my valuable time working on someone's project which I consider to be crappier
than my own. I can just as easily be spending my time and resources creating
my own crap. Sure everyone would like to think there's a benevolent
brotherhood of filmmakers; a selfless society where everyone submits ideas
and work samples and then the members vote on what script to do and who
to direct it. The commu nity is presented with the proposal and since it
bears the backing of so many filmmakers, the businesses get involved and
support the project with services and finances. The best actors come from
all around to have a part in the project and a glorious motion picture
is produced that wins the Oscar for Impossible Dream... That would
be a good plot for a fantasy picture, but in the real world, writers will
lose interest if their script isn't picked. Directors will bail if they
can't direct and actors will walk away if they can't be the lead. And you
guessed it the end product would probably be... well, I don't need to say
it again. (though I really want to) <font face="comic sans ms"><font size=+1>Bill
Johns</font></font><font face="comic sans ms"><font size=+1>crappy writer/producer/and
director</font></font><font face="comic sans ms"><font size=+1><a href="http://www.cinevidproductions.com">www.cinevidproductions.com</a></font></font> P.S
- I guess I'm in a sour mood because just yesterday I lost a serious investor
(producer of two features in LA) because she said the acting in one of
the scenes I sent her wasn't very good. I knew it when I shot it that I
was compromising, and even though we're reshooting that scene, it's too
late to regain that contact... ah CRAP!
<hr size=1><a href="http://pa.yahoo.com/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=36035/*http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/">Yahoo!
Music Unlimited - Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.</a></blockquote>
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