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.