Gaining Traction - 'Find A Way... That's What Winners Do!'

Whilst 2012 had me convinced that I'd finally achieved stability in my life and finally find a foothold, I knew I had to take advantage of the time I had found. It passes quicker than people think.

I remember being told by Jonny Persey (director of Metfilm School) that I was still young and all the time in the world, I was barely 22 at the time an it felt only like a couple of weeks ago.

The film and television industry requires much more than just filling in an application, like you'd expect on the typical job market and because I don't have relatives in there or some rich benefactor spoon feeding me a career, I'd like to think... Believe... that a hard working ethic still works in order to reward you with the attention you need to succeed... I force myself to believe that every day and unlike A LOT of people its not just words with me... It's lights, camera, action... Not forgetting the writing of course.

My Screening Listing

I decided to branch out and start putting my work online, primarily a writer but ask anyone, they'll always watch more than they read and I wanted to "show" people what I could do.

This was a smart move... Although, most of the work was always for free, it kept on coming, making myself known not just as writer but a director, editor, cinematographer really started turning heads. People "really" do think making films is easy until they realise they've actually got no clue, whether that be; writing up a story, securing and negotiating locations and actors, scheduling and planning shots, procuring music, editing, grading... I tell you the biggest sentence that annoys me; "Dan, can I be in one of your films, I can act!"
Usually this is bullshit, they don't know the jargon, understand how to take direction, what a call sheet is but most of all expect to be paid whilst they fail to convince me that they'd turn up on time and be committed to a project rather than just a bit of fun.

Cascade Pictures

Anyway, enough rant, over the past year alone, I have shot two films, two promotional campaigns, had two of my films screened a festival for the 1st time, hired to shoot a film festival, taken a co-writer credit for a independent production company, begun filming a web series, considered for a set designer internship for another production company in the U.S and to round it off, my first pitch for a feature script I wrote earlier this year with 'Cascade Pictures' in Central London through the BBC.


It felt phenomenal and scary at the same time (same as I usually feel when I'm filming) but knowing that this could be... "It!" was a new sensation altogether, my family and friends who think I'm nuts for going into this game for as long as I have started to bite their tongues and wished me the best.
Soon enough I was sat in a room behind two people I recognised from their company website, these were key people with experience in distributing some big projects, like 'What Women Want', 'Apocalypto', 'G.I Jane', 'Woman In Black etc. Then another three people appeared, shaking hands then walked me into a board room and gave me ten minutes to give them the ride of their lives with my idea, knowing that they've already read the first ten pages.

Unfortunately, I didn't succeed in the pitch as I left several holes in it as I went... That's the unforgiving thing, really. They were nice enough people but I think they expected me to be an expert pitcher - I wasn't and found a way of addressing that in my own way but... The feedback was they weren't captivated enough... Incorrect, they were, they read other projects and picked mine and I "know" that stories F*****G good but if ONLY I had the power of Bill Murray from that film 'Groundhog Day' to go back again & again until I perfected it.

However, I'm the only person with as much passion for this beastly writing game I know and now the only one who's come remotely close to succeeding... I'm getting there... I can finally feel it now after all these years of anguish... The light at the end of the tunnel is visible and it feels incredible.

I've thrown myself in as writer for two more films already being shot in the next couple of months, emboldened my showreel and now know where to start in pitching my TV series idea thanks to a Q & A session with Nick Fletcher. Christ knows why more people don't get involved at those things but fine by me, more attention and less competition - to hell with 'em.

Furthermore, I have my ticket for the London Screenwriters Festival this year, you know you're serious when you spend almost 300 hundred quid on something and with more things to show a producer etc than your average writer in terms of what I've done, who knows I may even walk out with an agent.
Can't wait to see what happens next year - Bring it on!

University: A Paradise For The Ambitious Or Merely A Lazy Cowards Haven? - 'Your Dreams Are All That Count, Everything Else Is Just An Excuse'

Higher education has gone to hell. Approaching thirty years of age I can understand the conventional age margin of 18 – 22 year olds needing to start being able to work on their own volition and that theory is BANG ON!

-         Does it work? Psssh, barely!

I was never an academic and after spending enough time on the taxpayers circuit, realising it was going nowhere, I decided to give education another shot to see if it opend up anymore doors.

At the time (unsure if its still the same case) I wasn’t allowed to enter higher education as I’d been out of the system for six or more years, therefore had to complete an ‘Access To Arts & Humanities’ course which Student Finance refused to fund and three Job Centres I went to plus a borough county official’s advice was: 
“You'll Just Have To Save up!”

This would of course include nine months worth of rent, bills, transport, food etc whilst I battled through the course but I had to be unemployed in order to get the course for free… 

Naturally, I had one thought; What the fuck had I been paying taxes for all those years, when we're refused to reap the benefits?

To hell with playing the righteous citizen, I was put on the planet to live a life, not crave one so I told a few white lies, and managed to sneak onto the course, where I learned History, Media, Politics, Art, all categories of English, Philosophy (which, I recommend by the way, its very insightful). I learned how to write several essays (sometimes four at once), all about Harvard referencing and bust my ass, forcing myself to “become” an academic whether I liked it or not, every week.

Now – life as an undergraduate… Forget what it taught me, I know enough about he real world at my age, especially given my upbringing but this is what it teaches the aforementioned age group – the country’s undergraduates, its future:

UNI:                                                      

Full-Time: 12 – 16 hours a week scheduled classes                

Start / Finish: 10:00 / 11:00 / 12:00 / 13:00 for maybe one to three hour sessions a time.

Punctuality: Not important, come late or not at all and the lecturer lets you get away with it every time without a care in the world.

Team Work: Your degree hangs in the balance of “Everyone” pulling their weight so when you’re stuck with a couple of bone-idle dead weights, it comes to a simple choice “Are you going to put up with it, or are you going to do something about it?”

(more to follow on that one – stay tuned)

Fear of failing: Can always go back to live with their parent(s) – no sweat

REAL WORLD:

Full-Time: 37+ hours a week

Start / Finish: 8:00 / 9:00 or night shifts usually 7.5 hour shifts 5 days a week

Punctuality: Very simple, turn up or its disciplinary action, later leading to getting fired – the way it should be.

Team Work: Working in teams towards targets, best person for the best job, led by a ‘proper’ leader with a plan, report dead weights and they’re put under review and actually dealt with.

Fear of failing: Losing your place of residence, your rent, signing on at the dreadful Job Centre, lots of desperate job hunting etc.

Solution:

After kids get their results to gain entry into their chosen university ‘Make them work full-time for a year or two’

They learn to be self-sufficient, self-sustain, ditch their lazy inhibitions and forced to take proper responsibilities but most of all – they understand the importance of “Having to succeed!”

We got it right as youngsters when we were in school – THAT’S full-time so why does it get taken away and coerce students into a diminished comfort pillow sense of reality? Almost EVERY postgraduate I know always says they wished they’d used their time at university more proactively.

It’s down to my attitude and time developing my passion I could exploit my universities resources 

- NOT my grades. 

The universities macs, scriptwriting and film equipment, contacts and guest lecturers, extra seminars. MOST OF ALL – the time I have been given on this joke of a so-called ‘Full-Time’ course that I developed my website, started tracking down extra film jobs (not the shitty meaningless sales stuff anymore), script reporting for early writers and once in a while, getting to collaborate with people who ARE switched on and want to achieve great things but more importantly, prepared to put the work in on their own time, rather than merely doing what their course has dictated to them then leaving it until last minute before handing in the work.

The deadlines, especially in my course, were a joke – there were NO excuses, just knowing who was lazy and who wanted to make something happen!

I mentioned earlier about teamwork, you “prayed” (that’s right, even as an atheist) for determined people and when you got stuck with people who just wanted all the work done for them, it quickly falls to the few people with an actual pair to stand up and take action (because the lecturers will NOT give a shit, they’re still paid the same and its not their degree in jeopardy, is it now?) 

BEWARE though, people will tend to think you’re “unfair”, “a bully” etc. (I got my nickname “Mr. Angry” quite easily as I found myself in this position more than once I can tell you.)

It’s amazing watching people staying silent and avoiding conflict like total wimps rather than speaking up. Ironically, I may have been Mr. Angry in their eyes but at the end of every project, I always got good leadership comments and the odd drink and night out with the better people of the group / class.

All along, all I’d tried to let them know was: “Lets make a good go of this but please note I will not tolerate bullshit and / or laziness (that includes me... But it needn’t).”

All in all: do you need to be clever to get into university anymore? Not so long as you’re paying the joke of £8 - £9k a year, they don’t care, they just want the money. Are you going to have to work hard in university? Hell, no but if you really give a shit for your passion then you’d better because I guarantee you, whether these undergraduates pass with a 3^rd or a 1^st – in the end, without the spine of a good work ethic, some practical experiences, they’ve got no idea what’s about to hit them.

Whether you're a taxpayer or a student you're never safe from exploitation; 'Never Fully Trust Anyone- Smart People Know Why'

Roll up, roll up - free enterprise for multi-million dollar conglomerates to capitalise on another chance to screw students for free, cash in now.

When I returned to education in 2012 to a course called 'Scriptwriting for film & television' so not only could I develop my passion, I could have more time in my day to work on what was really important to me, little did I know that I would end up spending the best part of the last three months designing an entirely new face for a company for free, especially given that I am one of the first people to be paying the new £8,000 - £9,000 per year tuition fees.

The idea is "said" to bring digital media design, radio, television production and scriptwriters together and to work up a viral campaign that extends itself over a variety of cross media platforms under the professionalism of a non-fictional client.

Personally, my designated company was a charity so at least it was noble but what about clients such as 'John West' & 'L'Oreal Paris' who have a reputation that extends years back who are capitalising on this opportunity to make students do all the work for them and not pay them a thing?

Is no-one concerned about how far this could go and how long until other companies start doing the same?

Just to clarify, we're not just talking about asking members of the public some market research questions. No, we're talking fully responsive and comprehensive websites, as professional as you could expect on your typical google searches.

As project manager on my group, not only did I have a job writing up a radio and television advert script to promote a client but designated the responsibilities of my group members and the look of the project overall. Undoubtedly, these built skills which I appreciated and personally I did not suffer as much as most of my friends had done because I was permitted to retain my hard work for all the time, energy and even more money it cost me.

As far as 'John West' & 'L'oreal Paris' were concerned they didn't let their groups keep their work, under threat of damaging their corporate responsibilities, which is totally understood but asking for all this and then students having nothing to show for it when it comes to building their showreels to make them more employable in their careers, which they've paid to do you've got to ask;

a) Was that totally a waste of their time?
b) Why couldn't it have been a fictional company?
c) Who's to say that they've just paid for a clients new marketing campaign out of their own pocket, if they 'do' choose it? (I've got proof that this has already happened)
d) What's to stop this from happening again?


I attempted to speak up on this with my unit lecturer, who for this project picks up the role of 'Programme Leader' yet most groups including my own found her completely redundant, yet her salary is being paid by students to actually take an interest in their futures - go figure!
Trying to address my concerns, even as delicately as I tried, did me no justice and in fact got interrupted very rudely by "NO, are you LISTENING...? Are you LISTENING to me?" as if she was telling off a child, whilst she blindly wondered into telling me that whatever any first year student produced at this point probably wouldn't be good enough to be used on our showreels anyway... TOTAL crapp of course, most groups turned in A-rate stuff, even I was surprised how amazing we did & by the looks and feedback of these clients, to hell with showreels, they wanted that work straightaway.

Admittedly, a couple of students may get swept up by these people but so what, that's a couple and its their choice and what about working with more related clients such as BBC, C4, Sky or ITV? Another thing to mention, where on Earth were the PR & Marketing students during this entire process? After producing this work, we were then expected to tell them how they were to use it. NOBODY in that room was pursuing this field, apart from a close friend of the uni who was eager to take the credit and then said "I'd like to thank the programme managers & clients on your (the students') behalf."
- despite the voice we'd provided for all these clients, he obviously thought we were incapable of speech. Clearly, another individual who had been spending most of his life talking instead of listening if you ask me.

Everything you have just read you're forced to absorb and move on or you don't complete your degree, c'mon - open your eyes. Another reason why the raising of the tuition fees makes no sense towards creatives.

This world will always need people like us, so how about a bit of respect, we've bloody earned it & proved it from this example alone.

Media New Wave - 'You're Not Ready For Ambition Unless You're Prepared To Sacrifice Everything To Get It!'

Charles Darwin once said, "It is not the strongest of a species that survives, nor the most intelligent - it is the one most adaptable to change, that survives" yet during every writer, producer, agent, journalist, acquisitions spokesperson blah, blah, blah I have spoken to (and believe me there have been dozens) I've found 'most but not all' to be quite the contradiction.

A panel was assembled at 'Bournemouth University' recently from the Royal Television Society called 'Meet The Professionals' whereby a theatre of people from digital media design, through television production and various other groups to of course, scriptwriting practitioners, got to hear the views of high-end people involved in the industry. I could mention names but it'd take forever.

As one of my mentors told my from my time at Ealing Studios, why do we follow this film-making compulsion? "Because, there's something about the world we each want to change."

- I know... short but sweet, right?

The room was packed full of students who were told it is the best time to get into the media, especially with the convergence of transmedia storytelling, by which I mean, whether this be in television, video games, animation, film etc as well as its conceptualization through continuously evolving media devices from our phones to our TV sets.

All very well and good but it took forever to hit the nail on the head of "yes but what do we want to watch on them?" This only became more frustrating when they got to mentioning "if we don't start embracing the way in which media is changing, very simply we won't survive" - which is when we started to pounce.

Admittedly, the debate spoke up for what is being lost financially due to piracy and the evolving number of free website vendors, being problematic and the main reason for the mass number of redundancies in the industry currently.

However, whilst the representative for BBC admitted he was from an old system that needed to embrace the new media wave, he seemed helplessly dependent on sticking to shows which drew in what he claimed to be the target market of BBC viewers as being 40 - 60 year old's, during the day as younger people obviously have better things to do with their lives. With regards to everything we thought was wrong with this sentence (don't know about you but when was it you had the last person in this age group was actually satisfied with daytime programming, anyway?) questions began with asking how on Earth can we be expected to come in with new ideas from a younger generation, hoping to secure a career in television for example if all we get is a refurbished 'Doctor Who', 'Sherlock Holmes' and more period dramas?


After hearing "the BBC don't go after 'niche' audiences", I pointed towards shows like 'Breaking Bad' (long live Bryan Cranston!) and hypothetically, if they'd really turn down the opportunity to commission their next series?
This BBC spokesperson, an executive producer referred back to this question with a 'no' as he says its not what their audience wants and he didn't like it, a fair point but if media is changing and proving to be making money as a result the question is, "why are you not taking more risks?"

His answer was, "well, we recently commissioned 'The Village', which was fairly risky for us."

- Come on, I mean John Simms wasn't even realised until after he'd done 'Human Traffic,' which was of course a brilliant, exciting piece.

Maybe we need to start thinking about going to the U.S, guys?

Talk about banging your head against a brick wall with this kind of crowd. The talk had a ray of sunshine with someone from 'Shine International' (pardon the pun) and I think half of us were wondering what people who'd helped bring us great TV shows such as 'Misfits', 'Primeval' & 'Mad Dogs' was doing, sat with this dying breed?

I queued for over an hour twice to talk to two panelists about a new idea I'd written up (you can blame it on my pitching skills if you like) with a cast in mind, first draft, locations ready to go but neither was any help.

Even applying as a script analyst for British soap dramas seem impossible to get on an entry level, despite as writers, we usually dislike these things, we still try and manage the best story we can drill out of it, even if it means we are instructed to write in "another" pregnancy, affair or fight in a pub.

So... Are they 'really' ready to embrace a new media wave of scriptwriters, television production and such and so forth? - Not as long as these guys are still calling the shots but I urge them to consider the idea that we, the era of eagle-eyed focused, persistent bunch we are; are a spring, the more you to turn us away, the harder we coil and when we get released from this failing traditionalist system by people who 'are' prepared to give us our time to shine, you'll only be more sorry to be hit with it when you had the chance yourselves... Watch out!

'Only Those Who Are Prepared To Fall Greatly Can Ever Succeed Greatly' - Hollywood VS Art House

Do you remember a time when you watched something at the cinema that wasn't an adaptation, remake, prequel or sequel? Failing that just have a quick look at your DVD shelf. You do, you say? Made you think though didn't it?
I was staggered to be told during a screenwriting seminar that 'adaptation' in its entirety makes up for around 84% for contemporary cinema. I remember a dissertation I wrote some time ago regarding the emerging roles of women since the 1930's, I called it, 'From Scream Queen To Action Hero.' It started from 'King Kong' in 1933 to other examples such as 'Tomb Raider' to 2001 and beyond.
I don't care too much for academic writing as I do for the practical screenwriting & directing side but this was interesting. Reviewing Hollywood's money making strategy, there's no doubt it works, especially when it comes down to choice of directors & actors / actresses but seriously... it's 2013 now and we're getting 'Die Hard 5', 'Fast & Furious 6', 'Scary Movie 5' another X-Men number not forgetting those that have sneaked in under 3D's outfit like 'Final Destination 6 (3D)', 'Saw 7 (3D)' then of course we all know about the relentless 'Paranormal (shoot yourself in steady cam night vision and pull pieces of string to make things move) Activity', moving to 'Harry Potter one-hundred', 'Twilight one-thousand' & don't even get me started on television... Have I bored you yet?    - Good!

Few channels seem bothered giving us something fresh anymore. On the other hand, there are screenwriters like myself busting their chops to produce, effective "story" - a broad concept which you can measure in many ways. Lecturers, seminars, authors (Robert McKee, Linda Seger, Christopher Vogler etc) teach screenwriters teach us about the importance of rewrites and the creative processes of idea development so that by the end we can satisfy our audiences by delivering an effective understanding of narrative as best we can.

As for ourselves, we are usually intending our scripts for a festival we can submit to so that we can achieve some recognition, wealth or both to further our career and yet one look at most previous winners is what I refer to as 'The Art House Middle Finger.' For example, I watched festival winning horror film this year which had a young girl, with blood on her face, locked or unlocked in a wooden shack in the woods, the walls covered in visceral paint markings, a television glowing with no reception, forcing a door closed whilst a childlike girl creepy voice kept asking random questions whilst a steady-cam POV shot kept rushing towards the shack from outside that was never revealed then ended with a close up of the girl looking scared... This apparently cost £50,000 to make!? Why - is the question to so many things here.


I can barely remember one winner of a film festival 'Cannes', 'Rain/Sundance' etc as well as foreign language winning films, particularly across Russia, Spain, India, Italy etc... Is it just me or is it now mandatory or fashionable to have the most ambiguous story with no resolution or catharsis to have a chance to win? Each and every one of my stories I've ever wrote and / or filmed as well as stories I've worked I've cared about and are judged, assessed, understood by what is commonly known as 'Classical Narrative.'

You can use flashbacks or jump around the story timeline if you like, I won't bother going through examples, I'm confident they're screaming through your head already but classical narrative is a comprehensive story, told in clear visual and / or audio form.

There are a few words a screenwriting teacher of mine said to me I've never forgotten: "We're all here because there's something about the world we'd like to change." So 'Hollywood' you should be confident in yourselves enough by now to know that no competitor comes close to you by miles, when James Cameron first came up with 'Terminator' he pretty much got told, to go and get stuffed by every production company as with Dan O Bannon's script for 'Alien' but bet you wouldn't turn down the opportunity to make a sequel.
These films are only fantastic until their legend is completely torn apart by new directors, directors of photography, actors even we as writers of different generations. Sequels can be great but once they get tarnished by different teams, the fans wish they could pay in tuts and frowns. You wouldn't expect to replace an artefact in the museum would you?
At least art house attempts something new but if we're going to take a utilitarian vote here, I'm sure audiences would increase for seeing more stories being told via classical narrative, clearly due to the above... Now think of how many films that you guys saw at the cinema or DVD's you have on your shelves that were feature length art house films... Thought so.

I'm not a Marxist but a read through of Janet Wasko ideas would be a more academic source to check out on this troubling future for our film world. If we cannot take risks to make new original stories and ideas come to life and define ourselves in the twenty-first century then what's the point? As for now raising creative industry tuition fees, cancel them if we're no longer needed but don't tell me we didn't warn you.