Which movie shall one make first?

I

iellioz632

A new independent filmmaker has written about 8 feature film scripts. As is the case most of the time, one out of the eight screenplays is the strongest or best script - maybe the 'Godfather' of the 8 scripts. The remaining seven scripts are regular films, but not as great or strong as the single one script.

Now for the independent filmmaker who wants to make his/her first movie, which would you think would be the best advice or best choice - - make the strongest movie or choose one from the remaining seven regular scripts and make that one?

There is a bit of a dilemma or confusion here because on one side of the fence, the mind is saying break into the film world with a great movie, and on the other side of the fence the mind is saying, use a normal film as your first film so you can learn the techniques and learn from mistakes etc. The part of the mind that is saying to make the strongest film first is kind of winning the race and really wants this but there seems to be a fear that this first film can be a failure or not so well received due to production technique etc. and that a regular normal first film should have been used instead.

Are there any resources or articles that you can point me to which surrounds this same topic? I am sure this question may have been asked before but google etc. did not help me to find any.

Your thoughts?
 
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PrevisLab said:
If you are self financing your film story is king. Having said that just because you wrote titanic doesn't mean you can afford to make it.

If your not financing your movie then it's not up to you. Its more of who is willing to give you the funds contract to produce your movie, in this case it's not about what script it's more about what they want and know what market they have to make money. If that is a reg script then you prove yourself with that one and make sure it makes money, down the line because of your reputation and talent they will offer you the big amount to produce your big script.
Sometimes you have the right stuff as a sales person to sale other script in return to making the one you want etc.

If you have the option you can always produce pitchvis in order for others to visualize your vision and get the feel of the film. This in fact is more successful and raises more money on a per project basis than just a reg pitch.
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Thank you for your reply. Self financing here. Low budget mainly.
 
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I would say pick.
1. That is most marketable
2. That you will get distrubtion deal
3. That is within your budget
4. That is within your budget getting the highest possible of everything.
5. That you can separate yourself from the millions.
 
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iellioz632 said:
There is a bit of a dilemma or confusion here because on one side of the fence, the mind is saying break into the film world with a great movie, and on the other side of the fence the mind is saying, use a normal film as your first film so you can learn the techniques and learn from mistakes etc.
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The mind can play tricks like that! To a large extent what you have written here is a contradiction. Making a feature is not easy, making a good feature is very difficult and making a "great movie" is extraordinarily difficult. At the same time, you say you are a new filmmaker, that you need to learn the techniques and learn from mistakes. Obviously, you cannot do both at the same time, a great movie is, by definition, NOT full of mistakes! The only way of avoiding making a movie which is full of mistakes is: Experience, knowledge and skill. You won't have at least one of those as a new filmmaker and to some degree you won't have any of them. Your only two practical options are therefore to study and practise to develop them or to surround yourself with cast/crew who have already developed them. The second of these two options requires a considerable budget and the first requires considerable time (and dedication and talent). This is why many/most new filmmakers make shorts before attempting a feature. It provides the opportunity of learning many of the skills of making a feature but in a shorter period of time and at a lower cost.

There is no one correct answer to your question, it depends on how much budget you can raise, how experienced and skilled a cast and crew you can attract, how much raw talent you have and how quickly you can turn that raw talent into skill. As a general rule, no one has enough raw talent and can learn quickly enough for their first feature to be great, even just half-decent is rare.

G
 
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A great script can allow for some extra elements to be a little sloppy. A little! Many great script have been killed by general poor production value, poor direction, bad decisions etc. etc.

A shitty script cannot be saved by perfect execution.

The real mind fuck would be: How do you know your best script is really the best script without the experience you need to make a great movie?

I'm of the opinion, learn from your mistakes by making shorts. Make as many as you need to get you to the point where you feel you can work out the answer to your question on your own. When you make short films, you shorten the learning curve. Flip side: Shorts cannot really be sold. Features, if they're half decent can.
 
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iellioz632 said:
Now for the independent filmmaker who wants to make his/her first movie, which would you think would be the best advice or best choice - - make the strongest movie or choose one from the remaining seven regular scripts and make that one?
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I don't understand the dilemma. Always make the strongest movie.
NEVER make a "normal" movie.
 
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Interesting views all.

directorik, I understand that the drive is to make a great movie each time. But we also know that not every script will be a Titanic script. Some may be less powerful. So that is why I used the word "regular" to denote a non-Titanic script.

AudioPostExpert, good perspective input. Have you ever made a feature film? I would appreciate your view on the following.

"Making a feature is not easy, making a good feature is very difficult and making a "great movie" is extraordinarily difficult."

When you have a moment to spare, can you elaborate on your above comment? I would appreciate your input if you can fill in the numbers with the faults you have seen filmmakers make when making a feature, a good feature and a "great movie". Thanks!


(a) Faults: Making a feature

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

(b) Faults: Making a good feature

All of (a) above AND

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

(c) Making a "great movie"

All of (b) above AND

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
 
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Hahaha, experience in filmmaking is not gained by letting others fill in questionaires.
Although questionaires or any advice can make you aware of a possible pitfall: knowing it is there lurking in the shadows waiting for you to fall into it, might not be enough to prevent you from falling into it. And while you are anxiously avoiding the listed mistakes there are many other you can make.

What is your experience with filmmaking?
Made short films before?
Musicvideos?
Cat videos?
Homevideos of birthday parties?
 
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WalterB, point noted sir, but it was not meant to come across as a joke, nor was it meant to gain experience in filmmaking. I merely wanted to get some points of the three classes of films' faults as to why the commenter made this comment.

"Making a feature is not easy, making a good feature is very difficult and making a "great movie" is extraordinarily difficult."

Nevertheless, the commenter that made the above comment does not need to fill in the questionnaire if the commenter does not wish to do so.

Per my experience, see the below:

Made short films before? - no
Musicvideos? - no
Cat videos? - no
Homevideos of birthday parties? - no

I thought I would do some theory training and take the long hard road to trying to apply the theory to a film project. It will be a trial and failure sort of approach, hence why I thought it be best to use a regular script and save the best script after experience is gained.
 
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PrevisLab said:
In today's world you don't need any experience to make a movie that is marketable, saleable, distributed and generate revenue. All you need to have is Good communication and or create previs \ Techvis for your project and if you can the entire project. Hire key people that know what they are doing and hire a cast that does their homework. Many movies are made this way especially for first time directors. Their have been many who have never made a movie and yet their first film came out to be one of the greatest of all time and Oscars winning or nominated.
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To some carpenters everything is a nail ;)

The OT stated he is self financing, so I doubt he can hire you to previsiolize and then hire an Oscar-worthy cast and crew. So in his situation he will need some experience, otherwise the odds are good for the ones betting that he will lose money on the project.

I'm interested in the list of directors (we are talking about directing, not financing) you can produce that had Oscar nominated debut features while they never even made a catvideo before or were not in any other way active in the filmmaking business.
(Up till now, every list of directors with award winning debuts, consisted of direcors who made shorts/commercials/musicvideos before that. :P )
I'm not saying it is impossible, btw.
 
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iellioz632 said:
WalterB, point noted sir, but it was not meant to come across as a joke, nor was it meant to gain experience in filmmaking. I merely wanted to get some points of the three classes of films' faults as to why the commenter made this comment.

"Making a feature is not easy, making a good feature is very difficult and making a "great movie" is extraordinarily difficult."

Nevertheless, the commenter that made the above comment does not need to fill in the questionnaire if the commenter does not wish to do so.

Per my experience, see the below:

Made short films before? - no
Musicvideos? - no
Cat videos? - no
Homevideos of birthday parties? - no

I thought I would do some theory training and take the long hard road to trying to apply the theory to a film project. It will be a trial and failure sort of approach, hence why I thought it be best to use a regular script and save the best script after experience is gained.
Click to expand...

My advice is to start smaller.
A feature is a long term commitment. If you never even made a 2 minute short, you don't even know you actually like to do this.
It is far more efficient to make lots of mistakes in short projects: fail fast, learn faster.
It has a few advantages:
- you get to try different styles and approaches, you might even find 'your style'
- you build a portfolio, which will make it easier to convince people to join your projects
- you'll have experience, which make shooting easier and more efficient
- with experience comes convidence
- you have a clue about how what you shoot translates to your edit

It is perfectly fine to learn theory about filmmaking.
Apply it to short projects you can shoot in 1 or 2 days (that is pretty easy to schedule), edit and learn what you could have done better.

Now you might wonder: what should I make then?
Total freedom can be paralyzing...
You can choose 1 cool/funny scene from any of your scripts.
You can just make a little story or spoof a commercial.
If you want to try all kind of shots you can do a musicvideo.
Don't overcomplicate your first effort: just have fun doing it :)
 
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Come on, don't be angry now.
You seem to know something I don't and I'm genuinly curious.
I figure it is easier for you to post 1 name, than it is for me to research every nominee.
 
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iellioz632 said:
WalterB, point noted sir, but it was not meant to come across as a joke, nor was it meant to gain experience in filmmaking. I merely wanted to get some points of the three classes of films' faults as to why the commenter made this comment.

"Making a feature is not easy, making a good feature is very difficult and making a "great movie" is extraordinarily difficult."

Nevertheless, the commenter that made the above comment does not need to fill in the questionnaire if the commenter does not wish to do so.

Per my experience, see the below:

Made short films before? - no
Musicvideos? - no
Cat videos? - no
Homevideos of birthday parties? - no

I thought I would do some theory training and take the long hard road to trying to apply the theory to a film project. It will be a trial and failure sort of approach, hence why I thought it be best to use a regular script and save the best script after experience is gained.
Click to expand...

I strongly suggest you make a 1-2 page short film before attempting a feature.
In one weekend you'll change from someone with no experience into someone with experience.
 
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I decided to do some homework and found a list of 21 per the below link. Now for the purpose of this discussion, I don't care what they did before, such as videos of their cat dancing the macarena. Whatever they did before is not the focus. What is the essence of this point to drive through is their 1st offering to directing a feature as a first time director. So the list of 21 holds.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/54575/21-first-time-directors-nominated-academy-award
 
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iellioz632 said:
I decided to do some homework and found a list of 21 per the below link. Now for the purpose of this discussion, I don't care what they did before, such as videos of their cat dancing the macarena. Whatever they did before is not the focus. What is the essence of this point to drive through is their 1st offering to directing a feature as a first time director. So the list of 21 holds.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/54575/21-first-time-directors-nominated-academy-award
Click to expand...

We are here to help the members all other stuff is just talk. Let's get back on track of the original post.
 
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