Myth #9: “My film is so autobiographical, that I must play the lead while directing.”
The writer/director that casts himself as the lead actor has a fool for a star. I know, because this was another area that I fell for in my first film. The truth was that I simply could not devote the time necessary to acting AND directing. Because I tried to, both my directing and my acting suffered. Since I’ve run this magazine, I’ve never seen a single micro-budget filmmaker direct AND star in his film without the film having serious problems. Think it through and you’ll realize you can’t think of any director who’s ever done it successfully. John Favreau wanted to direct Swingers, but Doug Liman convinced him just to act his lead role and not try to do both. Kevin Smith decided at the last minute not to star in Clerks, choosing to take the minor role of the nearly-mute “Silent Bob”, which is why Kevin Smith has a career today. The only people who have directed AND starred in their own films successfully are people who have a serious track record in Hollywood and have built a well-paid crew that trusts their vision to back them up. This is how movies like Garden State, Braveheart, and Unforgiven became classics.
Myth #10: “If I’m passionate about this film, it must be great.”
While passion is necessary for making a great film, it is NO guarantee that your film will be great. (Being able to breathe is necessary to survive in space, but having a canister of compressed oxygen does not make you an astronaut!) Some of the most problematic, unwatchable films I’ve ever seen have been made by very passionate people.
Myth #11: “Because my film is artistic and brooding, it’s guaranteed to get into Sundance or other well-known festivals.”
The days of artistic, angst-ridden fare getting accepted at Sundance or other big festivals is long over. At least, it’s long over for low-budget filmmakers. Because there is no price limit, most Sundance films are lower-budget Hollywood films that are made by big studios’ boutique sub-studios. As such, if there’s going to be a moody and artistic film accepted to Sundance, it’s going to be a studio-funded film, because, let’s face it, if you’re going to watch a moody, angst-ridden film, you want to watch one that’s got more money for high quality visuals and well-recorded audio. Now, this doesn’t mean that a low-budget film can’t get into Sundance or another festival. They most certainly can, but they can’t rely on angst or being artsy. They’ve got to be clever, well-orchestrated, and technically proficient. If you can make sure that your film has all three of those things, then you’ve got a shot.
Myth #12: “I make a lot of films, therefore I must be a talented filmmaker.”
Ummmm… Not necessarily. The number of films you’ve made says virtually nothing about how talented a filmmaker you are. In fact, most filmmakers that are concentrating on cranking out as many films as they can are usually sloppy and not learning from each film. Sometimes these are people that just love filmmaking, who think if they make as many films in as short a time as possible, then that is a good thing. In truth, it’s far better to make one film a year or one film every couple of years that is well-planned and learn from your mistakes, than it is to make three or four films a year, doing things haphazardly and without proper planning. Taking the time to plan and set up your film correctly will help ensure that it makes sense and that it is the best possible film you can make.
Myth #13: “I’m an Indie filmmaker so my film must have nudity in it.”
The truth is that non-Hollywood nudity is often the kiss of death for low-budget films. Why do I differentiate? Well, famed director John Badham states that shooting Hollywood nudity is hellish, because invariably the actors or actresses are self-conscious about their bodies. (As he comments, “Even a porn star becomes as conservative as a nun when nudity is involved on a Hollywood set.”) With that said, Hollywood actors and actresses at least know how to carry on a nude love scene and make it look professional. When non-trained actors take this on, it often looks like a home-made porno.
Further, once most men see female nudity in an Indie film, they expect more nudity. (The fact that there’s no official rating system for Indie films means that they could be G rated or NC-17, with no way for the viewer to know ahead of time.) Once that expectation is there, they are not watching your film for its storyline anymore; they are instead simply waiting for someone else to get naked. And, of course, if you show them male nudity after showing female nudity, they become irritated because you are “wasting” nudity on other men, rather than women.
Most women, on the other hand, don’t have a strong interest in seeing women naked, and, with male nudity, they are much less turned on visually than men are. As such, adding nudity to your film essentially alienates both genders from your plot. The women feel disconnected, while the men are watching your film to see someone else naked.
Myth #14: “The harder it is to understand my movie, the more brilliant it is.”
No, the harder to understand your film is, the more unmarketable it is and the less likely you will ever be able to get it distributed. While there are some films that are hard to understand and are classics (like David Lynch’s Eraserhead), these are few and far between.
Myth #15: “If I’ve got a good idea for a short film, it would be even better as a feature.”
With the exception of Pelucah/Napoleon Dynamite, this is certainly not always the case. In fact, I’ve seen an amazing number of features that should have been decreased to short films! Recently I watched Kenneth Brannagh’s Sleuth, which had a pretty clever premise for a short film in the first 28 minutes and, if they had wrapped it up then, it would have been great. However, they stretched it into 90 minutes and it was awful.
Being able to realize if your idea is good as a short or a feature is one of the necessary skills to filmmaking. Some of the most amazing films we’ve reviewed here, like Jared & Justin Varava’s “Shadow Effect” or Steve Piper’s “How to Disappear Completely” could never work as features, but they’re brilliant little gems of filmmaking, as they are.
