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From novelist to screenwriter: Take 4

Making a movie is easy. You just get a bunch of actors, point the camera, and it’s done.

Actually, there’s a bit more to it than that. You may also need the following:

  • Script
  • Location
  • Director
  • Editor
  • Bags of cash

With these things in place there’s a chance you’ll make good progress. But when the shoot is finished, how do you get your product to market and ensure enough people get to see it?

One word that’s often missing in the planning stages is

Distribution 

Yes, you can make a movie on a limited budget these days, with a small crew and plenty of enthusiasm, but without the necessary exposure you could end up showing it in a backroom with a few pals and a bucket of popcorn.

Distributors don’t have a particularly good reputation among filmmakers, and probably with good reason. But take heart. With a little research and a measure of ingenuity, you may be able to work something out that doesn’t eat up the majority of your budget.

The film industry is notoriously fickle. Great scripts are rejected every day for a variety of reasons. On the other hand, absurd amounts of cash are thrown at movies that die at the Box office and fade quickly into obscurity.

But there is a positive way of looking at it. After all, given the logistical problems, it’s a miracle films get made at all. Novels are the work of one individual chained to a keypad while the mice gnaw ceaselessly at discarded print cartridges. Films are a glorious collective, a celebration of man’s ability to overcome impossible odds and make something memorable. To be even a small part of this is worth all the uncertainty.

So when the way ahead appears too hard, and you’ve come to the end of your natural resources, consider these things for your filmmakers backpack:

  • Tenacity
  • Resilience
  • Courage
  • Persistence

The world needs creatives. Why can’t you be one of them?

 

Image courtesy of Thanamat at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

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