Delusions Of Success In The Film Industry
The following is a guest article from Theo Lee.
Are you a student trying to get into the film industry? Or perhaps you’ve decided to skip the formal route and are trying to make it big with an impressive debut short or feature. My question is this: Are you delusional in your expectations of success?
The film and entertainment industry is about connections. If you try, you can scour the endless supply of student films, Sundance or other contest entries, hobby films, geared-for-YouTube videos, and small major productions and you will be able to find a movie about any theme you can imagine. If you think that you will be the next breakout director because you are more profound than your peers and more profound than big budget Hollywood flicks, then you are delusional. In that endless pile of amateur films and scripts floating on the web (just search “free scripts” in your favorite search engine), there are many that are equally or more profound, deep, moving, and real than your movie. However, through your eyes it may seem that those subtle tricks you put into your creative product somehow make your script all the more majestic.
A film industry aspirer should never forget that film is a business. A machine. With the cogs and all. Imagine you are a producer. You have the money and you have the choice to choose film A: a beautiful documentary about failed American dreams, or B: a sci-fi drama that explores the moral themes that come with our advent into technologically elongated lives. Is there really a choice that can be deduced to be “better”? It may seem that the choice would come down to some sort of arbitrary reasoning (perhaps marketability). It seems so, because it is so.
If you are happy making a film that is wonderful in your eyes and in the eyes of your friends whom will pat you on the back and say good job, then THAT is the reason to make your film. Don’t make the mistake of being unable to discern your fantasies from reality.
With the advent of cheaper and higher quality digital camera equipment and technologies such as YouTube and other online streaming video sites/services, the competition to succeed has become that much more difficult. Of course, this is said about any industry. I’d just like to take the time to say it especially directed at entertainment industry apirerers, because we often tend be slightly more egocentric and for some reason believe, many times unrealistically, that fame is just another scene away.
The process of making a movie is fun. While making a film you are writing down your ideas in story form. Communicating the thematic questions that have been on your mind. Trying to rise up to the challenge of creating something that is pleasing to the eye and enjoyable. The technical challenges? Trying to make everything (all the extras, equipment, locations) work together in a fit of panic/frustration? Exhilarating. That road trip to nowhere with your friends that you planned? Try making a short movie in that time instead. It is just as, if not more, fun. Or just bring a camera with you on that road trip and try to plan something that will turn out coherent in post. It is for these reasons that we amateur filmmakers should make movies.
For some people, it turns out, that they love it so much that they want to make it a career. That’s going to be an exciting and interesting career, for sure. Just hopefully, you are not delusional in your chances for success, and are being realistic. Ambition is great. It’s just that a realistic mindset will help you more to reach that ambition, by allowing one to make judicious decisions.
Theo Lee is a film and wannabe physics major at UC Irvine. He likes to write film scripts and is constantly trying to find an excuse to take on a new film project. He’s made a number of small films already, most of which, he admits, have drowned in the pool that is YouTube.”
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