Film Distribution - Great interview

You are welcome. I try to post worthwhile information...and this seemed like a worthwhile use of everyone's time.
 
I just wished at least once i saw a person showing how complex the self distribution is but with actually a GOOD FILM behind them. Every time i see an interview on filmspecific it's with someone who made a terrible unsellable movie and now they are trying to find ways how to get even a fraction of their investment back.

A beautiful metaphor that defines many many filmmakers out there: there is a vast difference between stories that we want to tell and stories that we want to hear. That discrepancy comes from our dishonesty. If we were more honest then clunkers like this lady's film would never be made because the filmmakers know that even though they might like this genre they have no skills/budget to pull it off. In turn they would ask themselves what do we do well (and can afford) that we would like to watch... But no, this perverse lie gets born: i hope noone will notice the shortcomings. How can you NOT notice???
 
Patryk_Rebisz said:
I just wished at least once i saw a person showing how complex the self distribution is but with actually a GOOD FILM behind them. Every time i see an interview on filmspecific it's with someone who made a terrible unsellable movie and now they are trying to find ways how to get even a fraction of their investment back.
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Err, actually that is addressed in that interview. The "GOOD FILM" isn't being self-distributed, because it doesn't need to, so there is nothing to talk about. As she says herself in the interview: if you get picked up at Sundance or some major festival, you will be offered distribution, and you don't need any aggregators or small-timers or to bother with various platforms and self-distribution.

Patryk_Rebisz said:
A beautiful metaphor that defines many many filmmakers out there: there is a vast difference between stories that we want to tell and stories that we want to hear. That discrepancy comes from our dishonesty. If we were more honest then clunkers like this lady's film would never be made because the filmmakers know that even though they might like this genre they have no skills/budget to pull it off. In turn they would ask themselves what do we do well (and can afford) that we would like to watch... But no, this perverse lie gets born: i hope noone will notice the shortcomings. How can you NOT notice???
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Well, no, that's actually rare that there's dishonesty. What there is a lot more is bad taste / no taste and the other big problem: inability to judge your own product/activity objectively. Many people have just bad taste and can't pick a good idea from a bad idea; making a movie or any piece of art, music etc., involves thousands upon thousands of judgment calls all the time that demand artistic judgment, and people are terrible at it... which is why great artists are rare. Most executives are poor at picking what to greenlight. And so on down the chain. And when you have some indie guy somewhere making his little movie, 99.99999% of the time s/he's making terrible choices and judgments... not because they want to, or are evil or stupid or dishonest, but because they don't have the ability, talent, instinct or experience. And then there is the self-objectivity. Even if you have good taste in general, you may not be able to be objective about your own stuff... which is why it is so important to have someone you trust who can be honest with you (and who has good taste and judgment!) and run your project by them. You may have good taste, and yet you may not be capable of objective judgment about your own stuff... try it Patryk! Let us assume you have good taste - statistic odds are still 10 to 1 that you can't be objective about your own work.

Nobody plans to make a bad movie. And most filmmakers are blind about the merits of their own film ("that guy's film is sh|t, but MY FILM is great!"). That's how we end up with an ocean of bad work out there, and only a relative handful of successful X (directors, actors, painters, musicians etc.) - most of those people are not dishonest or evil, they are just victims of their own psychological limitations.
 
That's the dishonesty factor.
Not that people are trying to be negative and dishonest but rather despite their better knowledge they can't force themselves to be truly honest. It has nothing to do with deceit, but rather with the Ego covering up for the Id.

Also it seems you come from perspective that some people simply will never get there because of their "bad taste" - me, even though i too acknowledge majority of people's bad taste i believe that EVERYONE has ability to overcome that by simply being more honest. Honesty brings out self reflection and self reflection breads better taste.
 
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Most people cannot be objective about their films, their lives, their relationships, their flaws, etc. Shrek actually thinks he could get a date with CIndy Crawford...that is what makes for a great character...they can't see their flaws. That is also what makes for a bad career. That is human nature. I'm sure you thought your post was the truth. We all think our posts on here are the truth and that someone will actually read it and benefit from it. How crazy is that? Then someone comes along and tells you your post is crap. I'm sure you think you are a great director Patryk, but I'll bet someone thinks you are just the opposite. Having said all of this, you and I know that no one knows what will work at the box office. Not one single person on this planet knows 100%. No one knows who to cast to guarantee success. That is what makes this business so tough, but yet so fun and challenging. Who writes a film knowing the subject is crap? No one. Name one top 100 director or producer that hasn't made a bad picture? So what my post was about was education. Education about what it might take to get your film out there. That extra glimmer of hope to keep us writing and directing and producing our little films with the chance that it might actually work...and it might. So keep up the work and keep positive in the sea of negativity!
 
Kess said:
Most people cannot be objective about their films, their lives, their relationships, their flaws, etc. Shrek actually thinks he could get a date with CIndy Crawford...that is what makes for a great character...they can't see their flaws. That is also what makes for a bad career. That is human nature. I'm sure you thought your post was the truth. We all think our posts on here are the truth and that someone will actually read it and benefit from it. How crazy is that? Then someone comes along and tells you your post is crap. I'm sure you think you are a great director Patryk, but I'll bet someone thinks you are just the opposite. Having said all of this, you and I know that no one knows what will work at the box office. Not one single person on this planet knows 100%. No one knows who to cast to guarantee success. That is what makes this business so tough, but yet so fun and challenging. Who writes a film knowing the subject is crap? No one. Name one top 100 director or producer that hasn't made a bad picture? So what my post was about was education. Education about what it might take to get your film out there. That extra glimmer of hope to keep us writing and directing and producing our little films with the chance that it might actually work...and it might. So keep up the work and keep positive in the sea of negativity!
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With this kind of approach you presume that there simply is no way to know if one is coming from perspective of self delusion or not. While there actually is quite easy way. You want to know if your posts are great? Decide for yourself what makes great posts by reading other posts and then run YOUR check list against YOUR post. Bam! You have at least a glimmer of hope that your post might fall into the good category.

The same works for films. Yes, noone know what will work for box office but there are some basic criteria. You want to make an action film, well, action films follow certain pattern: they are bombastic, they are filled with camera moves and fast cuts, they are expensive... That doesn't mean that ALL movies need bombastic camera moves, explosions and over all expensive production - if you are making a film about poetry all you need is a camera, tripod and some great ideas. If all you got indeed is camera and tripod (as it seems with the film by this lady) then don't attempt something that you simply have no way of reaching. Admit the "flaws" and work with those to make a film you will love. The problem starts if the only films you love are action films - then with your limited resources and your "camera on the sticks" you are screwed. That's the honesty part.

Interviews like this are more of a downer then keeping positive because they never attempt to talk about the quality of your product in the first place. Now you can assume that people don't come from perspective: let me make a bad film. Fair enough, but that also means that they have a long way to go to educate themselves about topics as basic as what is vital in the genre they are emulating, and this is filmmaking 101. As the editor on one of my failed music videos said: at some point you have to admit that you are polishing a turd and no matter how hard you try, the best you can hope for is to end up with a shiny shi*.
 
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You never know 100%. Never. Of course you have to find elements of the craft and use them as your guide to success, and that is why we put interviews and other pieces of information up on here...to help people. The interview is only a downer if your mindset sees it that way. Did you learn anything from interview? Then take it as a positive. You received some free education. If you didn't learn anything from the interview then that is too bad for you.
 
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