The
Biz 11/05/2002
is
stronger than ever. Everything from sequels of movies to two day
makeover of rooms and backyards are taking place as product for
entertainment. The field is wide open and getting wider and for
an independent producer the creative mind never stops. There are
subjects and ideas for projects all around. You just need to wake
up in the morning and look around you.
I
am always amazed that film students are always stuck for ideas or
change their ideas for projects mid stream. They need to look at
life, at people, at the human condition and relationships to find
the stories they want to tell. But the problem is that most film
students never look at themselves to find their stories. When I
was in high school and writing compositions for English class my
high school English teacher, Mr. Farkas would say, "write about
you and what you know!" At the time I thought that I needed
to write about what I thought people thought I knew.
It didnt hit me until college that what he meant was write
about the things in life that you know about and are passionate
about. If it means something close to you, then write about it.
Well in the biz we tell stories the same way and we should be making
the projects about something we are passionate about or that we
know about. That doesnt change.
Coppola knew about the people that populated THE GODFATHER, Oliver
Stone made PLATOON from his memories. Everyone has a story or two.
We can see that even in the reality shows like Big Brother, or Fear
Factor. Thats why we are glued to the sets watching these
voyeuristic shows. We watch them and see past the moment to the
story and makeup of each of the characters. So producers should
look to themselves for the projects not looking for projects that
are "like" another project. And believe in them. Even
though distributors (who lack imagination by the way) are always
looking for that copycat movie, if you continue forward with passion
and drive and believe in the project, it will get made.
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