Experts’ Advice for Aspiring Filmmakers

DANNY BOYLE
Director, “Slumdog Millionaire”
“After we made '28 Days Later,' people would come up and ask, ‘How do you scare people in a movie? Give me three ways.’ And I would say ‘Sound, sound, and sound.’ Sound is the thing that really ‘sells the blow’ every time. Sometimes in the edit or in a screening you raise the sound up a bit in the mix and certain scenes are unwatchable. People will turn away because the sound amplifies the reality of the image. But if you watch it with the sound off, it’s no problem and they’re not fazed by whatever you show them.

“So the two bits of advice I give all aspiring filmmakers are to make sure you work in a team and to save more money than you think you need for sound. The temptation -- especially if you’re working with limited budgets like our early films -- is to spend your money up front while you’re shooting and solve things later. But the aural, audio impact of our films is on the same level as the visual impact.”

NEIL LA BUTE
Director, “In the Company of Men,” Lakeview Terrace”
“Marketing is the place where one has to be tenacious. You do have a voice, and you have to keep that voice active by letting [marketing executives] know that you’re either happy or displeased. Although you may not be able to make the final decision, ultimately, you can be involved in shaping it. … Some filmmakers say, “Hey, man, it’s not about the box office. I’ve even said that, too. But the truth is you’re not making films so you can show them in your basement to a few friends. You’re putting your film out there as popular entertainment and hoping there’s going to be a great audience for them.”

ALEXANDER PAYNE
Director, “Sideways,” “About Schmidt,” HBO’s “Hung”
“It’s very important for young filmmakers -- actually for filmmakers of any age -- to know when to capitalize on those small windows of notoriety, on those windows of success, in order to facilitate getting their first project or their next project made. You get out in the filmmaking world and you see what offers are coming in, you see what material is striking you, what themes, what movies you already like that you want to emulate. All these things come into play, and you just feel it out because you don’t always know how you’re going to get there.

“Am I going to need independent sources of financing or am I going to need foreign financing that I put together and later find a U.S. distributor. Am I going to shoot it off credit cards like Robert Townsend or Kevin Smith for $50,000? Am I going to get a studio assignment, and if it is a studio thing, what are the prices there? How much control will I lose? Who am I getting involved with? Today young filmmakers come up to me and say, ‘You know, I’ve been trying to get my film made for eight months … or 16 months … can you help me out?’ And I tell them I understand their frustration and I know that agony, but I can’t give them pity. That’s simply the process. As Hyman Roth says in ‘The Godfather: Part II,' ‘This is the business we’ve chosen.’”

LAWRENCE BENDER
Producer, “Inglourious Basterds,” Pulp Fiction”
“If I were making a small movie I would not use ‘Pulp Fiction’ as a business model or ever pitch people the ‘Pulp Fiction’ model. ‘Pulp Fiction’ honestly, was one of those movies that was good and bad for independent cinema. It was great because it was a big success and that encouraged a lot of people in the business and made them realize you could make money with independent movies. All the studios began creating their own independent or specialized divisions.

“But on the other hand, everybody also began looking for their own grand slam on an independent movie and looking for huge upside from small films. It used to be that if you made an independent movie and it grossed more than 10 million bucks, you were in amazing shape. But today, people are looking for much more than that. Even though I happen to have made that one-in-a-million film, that doesn’t mean it happens very often -- or even a second time.”

DOUG LIMAN
Director, “Swingers,” “The Bourne Identity”
“The reality is that ‘Swingers’ was a much better movie because we weren’t able to raise the $1.5 million we were originally shooting for. I’m a big believer that for most filmmakers, including myself, you need some limitations in order to force your creativity. That’s why I advise people to just go for it with what they’ve got. With ‘Swingers’, all we were able to raise was $200,000. Most sane people would be emboldened by the fact that they were able to raise the first $200,000 and so they keep going with the fundraising to try to get more money. If I had waited to get the rest I’d probably still be waiting, trying to raise the other $1.3 million.”

LEE DANIELS
Director, “Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire”
“My advice is filmmakers who are trying to make really challenging flims is to embrace the struggle required to make them. All great films come from struggle.

 

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