I had a long conversation with one of my new colleagues this week. We were discussing casting for the new TV series. In the course of that conversation a name was mentioned, a quite famous name... and I immediately said "Nope, I won't have him on set, he's an arsehole." Earlier in the week, I'd been on the phone to Los Angeles, talking to the director for the pilot episode. We were also discussing casting. I mentioned that we we're going to talk to a particular actor about a role and the director said "I wouldn't, if I was you, he's hard work and he's got a shitty attitude these days."
In both cases, the director and I were excluding people from possible work, on the basis of our personal experiences of them being unpleasant to work with. However, what's interesting, is how far and quickly that kind of information spreads around the industry. Being an arsehole pretty much always costs people work, no matter how far down or high up the food chain you are. What most unknown screenwriters and indie-filmmakers don't seem to get, is that even at that beginner levels, it is possible to mess up your career simply by acting like a dolt. All it takes is one ego fuelled outburst, one hissy fit, one tantrum, one lack of good grace and one day it will come back to haunt you. The frightening thing is, it is almost guaranteed that you'll never know when or how that outburst costs you. I can think of countless examples of producers who have phoned me up, to ask if I know anything about a particular writer, director or actor and I have had to say "I wouldn't if I was you, because when he was working on X, he behaved like a complete cock." Of course, the flip side of that is that good reputations also travel. Again, in the conversation with the director, after we'd excluded one actor, another one was suggested. An actor I never would have thought of for that role, but who both the director and I like, as an actor and as a human being. We emailed him about the role yesterday. I'd be delighted to have him on the project. The industry is one of the few places where the principle of karma is absolutely true: do good things and good things will happen; do bad things and bad things etc etc.People in this industry constantly ask themselves the same question when dealing with people: is this someone I can rely on to get the job done? Will I be able to work with this person? Does this person have the right stuff? Can I trust this person to not fuck this up for me? Judgements get made and more importantly judgements are shared and discussed. Shit doesn't just happen... shit travels. These days, with instant global communication, shit travels quickly. Of course, in the title I mentioned two mistakes and being an areshole is only one. The other one is being boring.This ought to be an easy one of avoid, but it honestly isn't. The reason that most indie films fail and the reason most unknown screenwriters' scripts don't sell, is because they are boring. This doesn't get said often enough, in my opinion. Everyone is looking for complex answers to the question, why isn't the indie film scene making more impact? When the answer is very simply, too many tediously boring movies are being made. I can't remember the last time I was sent the trailer for an indie film I really, genuinely wanted to watch. I wish that wasn't true. It is, though. It really shouldn't be possible to write a script that isn't a page turner. Surely that is the very least as writers that we should be aiming for. Instead of worrying about distribution, marketing, social networking or the latest cameras, writers and film makers should have the words "don't be boring" felt tipped on the back of their right hands, so they can be seen whenever you sit at the laptop. I have a theory. No surprises there. My theory is that screenwriters who are only interested in screenwriting will write boring screenplays, film-makers who are only interested in film will make boring films. I believe it has got something to do with not having anything to say. Perhaps when someone says "I want to be a screenwriter" the question "Why, what is it you want to say?" should be a mandatory question. My belief that many film-makers are one dimensional seems to be born out in my experiences of twitter this week, when many of the film-makers who I follow seemed to obsess about films, their careers and film-making, even when Japan is being flattened by the worst earthquake in that country's history. There is something slightly disturbing about watching the news and at the same time reading a tweet by some film-maker pimping either their new film or their kickstarter campaign. I think that is the point at which being self-obsessed or boring crosses the line into being an arsehole. Of course, at various points in my career I have acted like an arsehole... I have also had times when I was self-obsessed and therefore boring. I have had times when I have been a both boring and an arsehole (I can multi-task)... and I am sure that there have been many occasions when I have paid the price for that, particularly with region film funding organisations. What I am sure of, is that in order to write interesting scripts you have to have something interesting to say about something other than how to write scripts. It is called content production for a reason... the reason being, that it is all about the content. If I were to get any new tattoos, I would have "don't be boring" tattooed on the back of one hand... and "don't be an arsehole" tattooed on the back of the other. I think they would be handy reminders of the two mistakes I see being made over and over and over again. The truth of the matter is you have to work hard to surround yourself with good people in this industry... because by and large, most of the time, you'll be surrounded by the clamouring of boring arseholes. (Did I mention that I'm mentally preparing for this years Cannes? Which may be why this topic is top of my mind, at the moment). keep writing and viva la revolutionPosted via email from Filmutopia's Sunday Morning Movie Blog
