Why I Quit My Film Program

Hey everyone,


I've decided to take advantage of the fact that I already have everything I need to graduate with my B.F.A. in creative writing with film as a minor.

The thesis film I set out to make involved a criminal who's disenfranchised with his own lifestyle and tracking a love interest gone missing into the world of a Lovecraftian-styled cult in the NYC hipster underground (some allusions to Orpheus there).  Production is being fit within a $10k budget which is more or less typical for BC.

The issue regarding me pulling it away from the production program is that
a) I've run out of student loans and I need to work.  The alternative is running a campaign which would include crowd-funding but I have a personal standard I need to hit before asking for funds or more favors and I don't want to break that standard due to academic necessity.  Who knows how many more times I get people to donate on faith?  I believe I need to put more skin in the game and I have to trust that good things take time.
b) I have a transmedia angle on this I want to pursue and if I rush it and expend my resources before the additional designs are in place, any expression of this content will end up premature.
c) I did film two shorts offering distanced insight into the universe this new hero is a part of but the vision I came away with from both filming experiences put me back at the drawing board in terms of style and the higher story arc.  Their post processes have been delayed going on a year now while I figure out if/how I still want to commit them to the bigger design.  The backstory literature is evolving to include a particularly stellar mythos that I hope to convey for people who want to experience something dark, dire and inspiring.

Essentially, I've experienced enough on my 30-some odd thesis crew jobs and producing attempts to know that it's not worth the effort for me personally if I'm not developing something I'm really going to commit to audiences.  The degree has become secondary to the professional and personal purpose and the only way I'm going to prove the merit of this action is to move forward and stop treating my limited finances like they were meant to be tossed away on an assumption of the value of an education that unfortunately exists in a bubble for people at a certain class level.

Practically I'm in the poverty line and risking a lot mostly because I feel like there isn't a whole lot to lose if the price of sustainability outside the career is living forever in depression over what could've been.  Storytelling remains for me a journey of metaphysical implications - deeply personal and self-defining.  If I lose in the struggle it should be to something I care about.  If I find success, it should be on a path to which the resulting responsibilities of success matter to me.  I've always felt this way and this has always felt right to me.

That said, my appreciation of the experiences I've had so far is of the highest value.  It's all about the people.  I've made a ton of awesome acquaintances and a few very solid relationships that I'll never regret.  The student community at BC as, by its own steadfastness, brought me through a lot and given me great conviction for what is possible.  I've also learned a lot about what my strengths and weaknesses are and more importantly how to forgive myself so I have the capacity to move forward, even if slowly.  Everyone can change in small but important ways. Opening up and keeping the ego flexible is essential.  To the same degree you have to be able to like who you are as you are or you're whole process is about self-denial and that's a bitter way to live.  Life is absurd and humanity is absurd and that odd match between our personal and shared absurdity is why anything comes about at all.  It's all irrationality negating itself into rationality and that's why anything is possible and why I pay so little attention when people try to suggest that certain types of progress or change are impossible even while accepting that change isn't always the goal.  Confused?  I'm right there with ya!  It's an adventure.

It's enough to say that passing on the thesis film was a difficult decision.  I'm going on 32 and nervous about so many things.  Even now I question my leap and wonder if I shouldn't have just kept my head down and my analysis contained to the film in question rather than it's potential.  This lifestyle is constantly reintroducing risk and on so many levels.  I have the impression that what makes a player in this industry is somehow embracing and distancing oneself from this truth at the same time.  I sort of have to succeed in the alternative I've made for myself to prove its going to be OK and that means I kind of have to just give myself the benefit of the doubt.  That alone in a world full of ways things can go wrong in spite of an individual's attempts is enough to make me tremble. But it's all OK. It's gotta be.

In the future some folks may wonder why I continue to write on film when my background will officially declare that I'm no longer on the academic film track.  Others will read this and boil it down to being a coward on the precipice.  Time will tell but I had my part to say.  From now until forever I'm no longer a B.C. film student, but rather a film student.

May the film gods bless,
Carlos Sanchez

Connecting the Dots Between Low-Budget Horror and Low-Budget Anything

'Sup Rockstars,

Read: How to Make a Found-Footage Horror Film That's Actually Scary

Read: How to Make a Low-Budget Horror Film (from 'Insidious,' 'Paranormal Activity' Producer)

Takeaways,

Image Credit: E-how on Low-budget Horror

a) Find various ways to communicate with your audience.  You might need a previous Sundance presence to get a press release on IndieWire but it doesn't hurt to have one prepared and sent out if your Kickstarter pans out anyway.  If you spin it to be more educational than promotion, you're offering new value.

b) They repeatedly go back to the point that embracing one's constraints is what can often make a film worthy.  Horror has a lot to do with the imagined threat.  Real places will contain a greater degree of authentic material than a low-budget production can pull off through design.  And yet a design aesthetic is absolutely necessary to underscore horrific themes.  The theme and the tone are, after all, the selling point more than talent option here.  Unfamiliar characters are more relatable.  That means you have more control through your script and can match your script to your scale.  This can be liberating in that it narrows your options and focuses your goals to crafting a story that is both within reach and absolutely worth telling.  You won't be relying on fluff resources and it will make you stronger.

c) I think the existential concerns we encounter in horror can be appreciated in drama and romance and even comedy - all genres the more typical of low-budget means because you can shoot these stories where available and strip away all the crazy expenses if you work at it.  What we deal with as human beings crosses all these boundaries and will remain interesting as long as you can honor your own assortment of human experiences.  I have to believe that while low-budget horror remains the top of the go-to genres to begin with because fear remains incredibly visceral, love and humor and change can be just as powerful - budget constraints a given.  We don't see it as often being a roller-coaster generation with somewhat lower attention spans, but what I'm saying is don't be tempted into horror just because.  Rather use their insights on efficiency and tension to craft other genres and see where you land.

d) Know your genre.  Know what's expected and respect that anticipation.  Successfully pulling off what's been proven is the first challenging step to owning the license needed to innovate.  Where your originality comes in is with a personal concept or view - not something externally stimulated but an awareness or insight born from within about an experience that you keep returning to in one way or another.  These elements of your persona are capable of proving your premise and giving that spin that helps set your product apart.  Really what I'm saying is that you have to balance your self-awareness against that of the masses.  They want your contribution but probably not your overhaul.

May the film gods bless,

Carlos Sanchez

OKAY 2015 Here we go!

Prior to introducing the article and topic I just want to glaze over the fact that the last four months have been spent in near isolation figuring shit out.  I've come away with a metaphysical zilch after having combed through Camut's "Myths of Sisyphus" and Campbell's "Hero with a Thousand Faces." I'm not certain if I'm supposed to have resolve now but I look back and realize I haven't read or written a whole lot of the very subject matter that got me on this track.  Even watching movies has dimmed in its entertainment level because now more than ever the medium represents a far off world, dangerous yet beckoning.

Nevertheless, when looking elsewhere I find the same old elsewhere crap I'd rather not be attached to.  Adapting to the maze of a life determined to the whole bootstrap business, do or die, seems my lot (to the chagrin of partner and family).  If blogging is the least I can do that can be considered both an investment in trade research and public communication then let us embrace the absurdity of dreams and do it properly.

Thus, the Oscars.

For more information, please read How Much Does a Hollywood Oscar Campaign Cost?

There's not much to be said except lo and behold - the stink.

It's not that movies aren't a wonderful and rich medium full of inspiration and art and sentiment and with all the powers to bring the world together and remove the dividing lines, etc, etc.  It's that the pursuit of money and the idolatry of glamor has promoted such excesses of spending for a handful of people to manipulate the public.  The public tastes, being fabricated like votes being bought, do not exist. 

There are ways, as shown in the article, of boiling down even splits in preference to singular choices because there must be a winner after all.  And lets not forget the prevailing majority of white male seniors doing all the voting because diversity certainly isn't necessary when deciding the representative film of all films in a given year that underscores the state of public consciousness.

This is one wide circle jerk.  And the lesson to absorb here, which is pretty amazing, is that circle-jerking is actually quite effective in achieving the classical intent.  Fake it till you make it becomes circle-jerk till you're convinced its an orgy and so hot.

You see, Hollywood can't exist without fans and supporters.  It's make-believe after all.  Fans and supporters don't rally unless there's an obvious cause to rally for.  The symptom of "obvious" is created when we appreciate the big to-dos of the manicured elite from afar.  The illusions of elitism is perpetrated by the purchase of industries of projection - the publicists, the groomers, and so forth.  Either way, it's the magic (see: the bullshit) of movie makers doing their thing. 

We eat this up because we, the public, are in desperate need of an escape from the imprisonment of our own poverty.  It's always been this way and poverty isn't strictly financial.  The hardworking slave away for home and family, many having given up passions before they even discovered them.  And although film-making is damned-hard work, the crew certainly doesn't end up in the Oscars.

If you look at shows like Madmen or House of Cards, you'll begin to appreciate a concept we all generally accept but likewise would rather avert our gaze from: the flow of power and influence is decided by the people who create the context.  Publications, PR Firms, Event Coordinators, Photographers, spin-doctors all with a mass audience capable of doing no more than dancing to the tune because while the ideas of the public vary greatly, they carry no organization that can fully denounce the printed word - not when they have bills to pay and realities to escape from.  The Oscars are not chosen by popular appeal, though the films themselves are often beautiful.  The Oscars are the result of political war.  The benefit of the whole damned circus is to give off the impression that Hollywood is an institution and we're all benefiting.  But behind that parade of smiles is a bean counter and greed. 

Takeaway:  Try it out.
My fellow filmmakers, especially those like myself without two cents to rub together, seduced by the prospect and bewildered by the cold, bring your people together and make your own Oscars in your very solitary tier.  Fill it with boos and sympathizers, some live music if you can procure the talented desperate of that persuasion and put out a press release to the local wordsmiths and your nearby college or town press.  Make funny awards and provide sincere praise and if you make a recurring culture of it and honor your following then too might you one day find the power to manipulate culture to the tune of millions.  It is the dream and consequence of our success.  And it is not beyond the least of us.

Don't be a martyr. Learn to sell and buy yourself a sandwich. [3 Must-read articles on DIY marketing]

Read

• Attention, Filmmakers: Here's How to Design a Web Site for Your Film
• Marketing Your Indie Film: A Few Key Tips to Wrap Your Brain Around
• Everything You Wanted to Know About Digital Deliverables (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Takeaways:

1. The standard for crowd-funding has raised.
2. You have to plan for pre and post production with the same level of focus as production.
3. Observing VHX landing pages can give you insight on design and functionality.
4. Think of your movie in in terms of videos, and pictures. Use everything (and create more).
5. The deliverables coincide with everything you get on a standard blu-ray.  Think ahead.
6. Professional set photography is key.
7. Most importantly, you need a long term holistic approach to storytelling to maximize your chances of success.  There are no shortcuts but if you hit most of these points with due diligence you'll be head and shoulders above the rest. You gotta be obsessive to tame DIY.

The inherent struggle of success in film

Read. Read. Read.

• What's the Foundation of Filmmaking? Here's Director Werner Herzog's Answer
• Review: 'My Life Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn' Reveals the Sad Story Behind 'Only God Forgives'

Takeaway:

1. Herzog's accent makes him way more artistically credible.
2. Get $10k and make a film.  Don't wait.
3. Would Refn have benefited from the reminder that storytelling should be its own reward?
4. If the ends are all about reputation, you'll end up reputed to be an asshole.

The Independent Film Week = headslap

For more information, visit IndieWire for all their reports on what I've been rattling the cages on for a year.

I'm sore.  I'll admit it.  I didn't have the right amount of drive and wasn't born in the right town and don't have legacy film blood in me to start me off with a fighting chance.

But damn it!  The self-distribution game is wide open and hot and any chance to make a killing is getting swamped by all the press and institutional support of what the folks at Killer Films and Seed & Spark and many other companies and individuals are putting together to change the face of the industry.

It's very much the rallying us creators need.  But I feel like once more the strongest resources are going in the safest directions.  All this accessibility should have been a boon to level the playing field but there's a whole new tier of competition rising into the fray: technologists.

People who got into graphic design or web design or programming have a path into storytelling much like indie game programmers.  The harder learning curve is in the tech and while there are a lot of resources online to get things moving (primarily Youtube and Google), there is now a gatekeeper that hadn't been there before and that's singular capacity.  Every group endeavor is going to be affected by its weakest link and only the most committed and capable individuals will rise into the light.  Just because you understand the mythic structure doesn't mean you'll be able to breakdown wordpress or basic accounting, SEO or distribution deals and you need it all.

That may mean those eligible are people who don't have to worry about survival or are in fact crazies.  But those in between - the moderates and mild-mannered, the average joe storyteller looking for enough stability to pursue his dream - still doesn't have a shot.  You've got to flex money or you've gotta go crazy.  There's no other way to handle a campaign and that scares me.  The real commitment of competing filmmakers is involves a do-or-die approach that requires a complete personal sacrifice.

I'm jabbering and you get the picture.  The tips I pulled from a stream of articles were to

1. not forget about grants and fiscal sponsorship when moving from short to feature
2. build your audience on the way to your kickstarter, not after
3. appreciate that story and character are still the highest priority above post production and gadgetry.
4. know that at a certain point your content might be ripe for branding, be open to the opportunity and sit down with advertisers before you make a decision
5. learn how to study your competition
6. study the competition (it may be other production companies or just similar productions)
7. accept that content begets everything and the more visual the better.  Create things for people to look at and then post it everywhere your audience might find it.

There really is too much more and you're just going to have to do some digging.  But I've experienced the self-repeating message and know that at some point you've got to take off the learning hat and put on the doing hat and it's going to take a certain amount of hours to build your story for the fans to take on.  I'm both thrilled and terrified to be moved into pursuing a transmedia project.  But quite honestly I really just want to play Destiny on an XBOX ONE.

For me, between the live subscription, game, console and a new TV, it's like a $1500 investment and I'm a destitute wannabe creator.  Well...for all of you out there that share my inertia, carpe diem bitches.  It's never too late.  For the sake of the glorious fantasy realms we may not have access to or the time for, we might as well be building our own for others to come and play.


wow... Inner child freaking.  Why's life gotta bust balls for?

No I didn't sneeze. It's YEKRA!

Read
Distribution & Curation's Love Child: Yekra Becomes the First 'DIY Digital Movie Theater'

We should all be feeling this arrival.  For the horde of middle-class artists (not just filmmakers, but musicians, painters, writers, anyone with a story to tell), there is a widening avenue to breed thought and passion co-mingled with new technology and people with a mind for the expansion of expression.

There are a lot of questions to be answered regarding the money flow and certainly the discussion is underway.  Will the available funds trickle into too many separate pockets?  The better question for us is "will artists seeking sustainability be able to afford their rent bridging their inspirations in this new era of direct distribution?"

We're not worried about the giants unable to fill their mouths.  We're talking about an aggressive middle-economy where the fundamentals will really matter.  Insofar as the gatekeepers are forced to reposition themselves into aiding the most ambitious of this wave, rather than keeping the swelling mob out, we have incredible potential now freely accessible at an increasing rate.

Before it implodes, lets go back to why we got started:

Monsters, Heroes, Aliens, Detectives, Love, Lust, Despair, Hope.  I feel like Silicon Valley is really burning the midnight oil here but what happens if the people their technology supports became so distracted by figuring out a new model for themselves that they forgot to stay on their artistic grind?  What a gamble the last 20 years have been.  I'm so confused!

But now that's changing and what started with youtube and crowd-sourcing is now rapidly morphing into a whole new economy.  Thank you Micah Van Hove at NoFilmSchool for your diligence in putting together a solid picture for those of us still in film school getting only a quarter of the education needed to be competitive.

-C