Today on twitter I got handed my ass, by a heckler... I lost my temper and for about ten minutes I typed my rage out, where it was met with a lot of affection and amusement by my rather marvelous online chums. The jist of the attack was that I spend too much time on twitter and therefore not don't spend enough time working... and, if I spent less time on twitter I'd be more successful and less of a grouch.
This got me thinking. In particular, it got me thinking about what I use twitter for and how it links into my aspirations as a writer and a movie producer.What is true is that in the past year I have spent a lot of time on twitter. I've also written and developed a movie script to the point it's attached talent and written the first six chapters of a novel... I've also written one blog post a week, put two days a week into producing a movie (which because of its lack of financial backing, has meant doing twelve people's jobs) kept a diary, played with the cat, spend a lot of quality time with my marvelous girlfriend, buried my best friend, flown back to be at my Father's side when he had a heart attack and in my spare time, I've travelled around Europe for a couple of major film festivals. I've also given online interviews, written papers on independent movie distribution, helped a guy rethink his TV programme pitch, given notes on a friend's sitcom, spoken at length to agents and producers in Los Angeles and London, designed post production workflows for the RED and dealt with an amazingly tedious UK funding quango... all of this, whilst trying to learn to speak Italian and deal with the day to day hassles of living in a country where the you don't speak the language. But, imagine how much I could have achieved if I hadn't spent so much time on twitter.Well, actually, much, much less... is the real answer. If I hadn't been on twitter I wouldn't have achieved half of that. For a writer twitter can be a time suck... a means of procrastination. I've definitely used twitter that way this year. However, my take has always been that procrastination is part of my writing process. Talk to anyone who actually knows me and they'll tell you, that even if the internet didn't exist, I'd still prat about for half the day and then, a switch flips and then I'm typing like a demon and God help anyone who interrupts me. That is how I write. I noodle about doing completely unrelated pap... and then the words go down in a murderous, staccato, frenzy of typing. I type really fast. When I worked in advertising, I noticed this was true of most of the writers I worked with... lots of twatting about, lots of making "best of" lists, lots of making jokes... and then, a flurry of last minute activity. Twitter this year, has been my procrastination tool of choice... and yet, despite the amount of tweeting I've done. A lot. I've still knocked out 2000 words a day, six days a week.I also use twitter in another way. I live in a country, where I can not speak the language and all commincation is a pain in the ass. Even buying a tube ticket is a hassle. Despite my best efforts, my Italian makes scant progress and it's going to be years before I can have an effortless conversation. I also work at home, just me and the cat all day in the apartment, whilst the marvelous girlfriend is out at work. Twitter is my water cooler, where I chat with collegues and my friends, it is my one place of effortless social interaction. It is the place where communication is easy, because it's in English. It has kept me sane for the best part of this year. Not only that, it's better and more time effcient than real collegues, because I only have to chat with whom I want to... and I can step away from the conversation anytime I want, without causing offence. I've made some good and real friends on twitter, people I'd be happy to have in my home... well, perhaps after meeting them first in a neutral cafe, in disguise. You know what I mean. Even if all twitter gave me was that, I'd be happy... but actually it's the very least it's given me.Twitter is a phenomenal professional networking tool. This year twitter has given me an introduction to two top London agents (one of whom hated me, one of whom I'm talking to in the New Year); it's put my work in front of a couple major US production companies; it's enabled me to put my script directly into the hands of a top LA director, who wants to direct Smoke; it's given me the opportunity to talk with some of my writing heros, in a way that I couldn't in real life; it's allowed me to share my writing with thousands of readers and get feedback from them; it's allowed me to make real friendships with media professionals who share my views on the changing face of the movie industry; and, most important of all, it's allowed me to build a very interesting community of movie-makers, writers and media folk... all of whom have contributed in countless ways, to the development of my thinking and who have encouraged me to carry on with this process. All of it priceless and all of it far from being a waste of time. Twitter is quite incredible, really. One of the most powerful tools I've ever encountered for breaking down the traditional barriers between the unknown and the well established. On top of this, twitter and pretty much twitter alone, brings in between 500-1000 readers a week to my Sunday morning movie blog. Not only does it drive people to read, it also allows me to chat with the people who have read, it lets me listen to their feedback and at least two of the articles I've written this year have been as a result of requests from readers... the people who read the blog are quite incredible. Honestly, they regualrly blow me away with their kindness and insights. I've been blogging for about ten years now... and I'm telling you, I would have killed for this level of interaction between blog and readers, on any of my previous blogging projects. It is frankly staggering the way that twitter changes the experience of blogging. Again, every second devoted to that, is well invested. Twitter has also kept me up to date with developments in the industry, kept me ahead of the news curve, given me access to new thinking and technical developments... and done all of that in context where I can discuss these developments with other professionals. And it's made me laugh...And it's made me angry...And it's been a playground from my dark sense of humour...And it's made me think...Fucking twitter... what a waste of time, eh!Posted via email from Filmutopia's Sunday Morning Movie Blog
