Sometimes filmmakers and actors make the silliest mistakes - No 1.

A great many actors and budding filmmakers I have met over the many years work so hard in training and then getting a foot on the ladder but then an opportunity comes their way and they just blow it or in many cases ignore them. I have employed thousands of people over almost 40 years, directly or indirectly and I do notice some stupid mistakes that could be so easily avoided.

So many times I am asked talks and on panels for advice on how to get on in the entertainment industry. I am not sure I can say, for I do not know, if I did I suppose I would be rich and famous or something. These are some random thoughts about what not to do which I write as I am bored with a cold over this Yuletide break. 

Maybe they are useful. Maybe they are not.

Every year I get hundreds of emails from actors or filmmakers. The former want work with me, the latter want me to consider taking on their films. Nothing wrong in that. I like it when people take that inchoative. If YOU don't help yourself no one else will. 

Whilst the majority of these are well written and courteous some take no care or attention in the composition. I have them addressed to -

Dear Guerilla Films

To whom it may concern.

Dear Sir or Madam.

In one case Dear Mr Guerilla.

For fucks sake!!

With any form of communications, it reveals a little about you.

What these tell me is that the writer is either an idiot, lazy, not aware of how to behave or worse, all three. Either way they are certainly not someone I would want to employ or work with so I bin them. Most everyone I know in the same position as me gets similar emails and does the same. 

In my day you had to go to the reference library to find out information. Now it’s just a click away.

IMDB should be the first port of call to find out who anyone is. IMDBPro if you have the money as it gives contact details. 

You look me up or my company and there is as much information as you need to work with someone. 

The alert readers of this blog will have already been to that film database to check if I am worth taking note of, or else I am just some fool spouting off, thinking he knows it all when it fact he knows sweet FA. Maybe some of you know who I am now, because this blog is after all a form of networking. 

This seeking of background information seems obvious but over the last four decades I am amazed at how a sizeable number do not check and double check.

So many times in Cannes or the London Screenings or the Galway Film Fleadh filmmakers have come to me and said "We love Guerilla Films and what you do/ how you market film and what have chosen/ etc. that we really want you to distribute our film".

To which I always reply "which of the films that we have released did you particularly like"?  I would say about half of these people I have caught out as they can't name one.

I know they are just keen for anyone to show an interest and are scatter gunning everyone, so if you don't know what that person has done, and you really can't find out before a meeting, just don't say anything. 

However, if we have a meeting scheduled you really should do your homework.

Everyone will treat you better if you know who they are. Flattery gets you everywhere. It’s what they teach you are English public schools (that's fee paying if you are in the USA).

Remember though not shoehorn this new found information into your meeting. No one likes a brown noser or kiss arse/ ass, (depending where you are from).

When I was an actor I went for an interview with an up and coming director called Mike Newell for the juv lead in script by an up and coming writer Ian McEwan. How many of you are already looking them up? More importantly how many already know their names. If you are British, you really should know them.

Mike had seen me in something and asked to have a meeting with me. However, he was seeing a great many other young men over a one-week period. In the course of the conversation he said he was looking for XXX ( I can't now remember exactly what). I said like you did in READY WHEN YOU ARE, MR MCGILL (something he had directed). He was so impressed that I knew this TV film and mentioned it a few times in that interview.

I got the job.

I will never know if my knowing his former work, and as well as I did, was a factor in him selecting me from a great many others for such an important role. What I do know is that it certainly did me no harm.

I never expect people to know the films I have produced or distribute as they are nearly all niche and have never broken out. However not having taken the trouble to find out my name for an email does make me cross and in a prearranged meeting not to know anything about my company is rude and also foolish because I am not going to take that meeting seriously.  I suspect there are so many other distributors, sales agents, producers, directors who think just like me.

I was working with a young filmmaker once. Now my modus operandi with distribution side was that I specialised in only British & Irish films for eighteen years, and the difficult films that other distributors had turned down. I would say this to anyone who asked. In the course of a meeting with that young filmmaker I suggested that I offer some of my DVD's as a prize for something we were working on.

He just blurted out "David why would anyone want any of your crappy films". He was not making any kind of a joke. He was serious. Everyone there was shocked. He had totally misinterpreted the companies MO. Even if he thought we distributed crappy films that he should not have said it, especially as he had not even made one feature film. He had not seen any of the over 100 films I had distributed nor had he done his research even though he said he was a hard and diligent worker keen to get on in the film industry. I have distributed films written by Oscar winners, directed by Oscar winners starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Alan Bates, Sir Ian Holm, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Sir Lenny Henry, Sir Derek Jacobi plus numerous famous serfs and other assorted peasants (don't you just love the English class system). I have distributed a great many excellent award winning films as well as some that maybe some would not think are as good as they should be.

As I was employing him, giving him a chance that no one else in the film industry had, you would think he would have spent an hour on IMDB clicking on the films we distribute to get an overview. 

Lazy or daft ?

Talking about making enemies. 

You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

The smoothest and most charming person I have ever encountered, who was not known when I met them, and even though she was just 17 when we met, I knew from that first encounter she would get on, was Elizabeth Hurley. And she has. She is very wealthy and famous despite being an especially limited actress. But does she care? She will never be a Maxine Peake because she will never give her all, her acting lacks fearlessness, you can see it in her eyes when she performs. However, I would warrant that the only reason she is a star is solely down to Elizabeth Hurley. She I bet never put a foot wrong. She was, and I bet still is, a master networker. 

One of the best actors ever to come of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in the 1950's was James Booth. Handsome as well as a seriously talented actor he was in great demand in the early 60's, he even turned down the lead in the film ALFIE.

He became a theatre star and everyone thought he would move effortlessly into film. He made a few. After his initial youthful new kid in town impact wore off his career just drifted. I was told by those who knew him that he refused to play the game and would not network. He did the work ( film/ TV/ theatre) and went home but never socialised with anyone in the industry and never did anything at all to help himself. He relied solely on his agent. Agents do of course have many clients, and many that are very similar to each other. He had what it took to be a big film star. Maybe he just did not want it. 

I have a friend who I think is an excellent writer. Really good. He has written a few scripts for me and earned over £60,000 from Guerilla Films in the process but they were never made, so very few that are developed actually do end up produced. In Cannes one year I introduced him to one of London's top literary agents. This agent took an interest and invited him to a party to talk more later that day as he was rushing to a screening.

My friend never went because he said he did not like parties. I told him that's what he had to do - Socialise and it might actually lead to the agent reading one of your scripts and taking you on. My friend said he refused to do that when he was an actor and was not going to do it as a writer.

Fifteen years on my friend is neither a writer nor an actor and now does something totally different.  Would he have succeeded if he had networked? I don't know. But what harm would it have done.

The Americans are really good at understanding the importance of networking. They are better at it than anyone in Europe. 

There are two networking events coming up in London in early 2017. I have invited a number of your actors/ filmmakers I know as I thought it would help them as they do not know that many people. Many can’t come. Some are working but some have said to me that they cannot see the point.

I said to them as they are doing nothing what have they got to lose.

I dragged a young actor who I have employed and think could be a big star  to one such event before Christmas and there he met a director at the gathering, someone else I had also invited. The actor is now workshopping for a lead role in a rather exciting film by a director who had wanted to meet more actors as he does not know that many. Nine actors I invited that night did not turn up. 

It might not lead to anything but then again…….

That's how the film industry works. Always has. And always will. 

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.”
                                                                                                            Carrie Fisher.

Random thoughts and suggestions to take into 2017 with you.

© David Nicholas Wilkinson. 2016. All Rights Reserved.

2016: THE YEAR OF IRISH FILM

 In so many ways 2016 was an awful year. Rotten in fact in many areas. 

But not for the Republic of Ireland, well in the world of films at least. (Austerity/ housing/ homelessness/ banking aside- that's another blog by someone Irish). 

2016 was the most fantastic year for Irish film. The best in its history I would say. 

I am aware that as a foreigner I could well be accused of meddling in the affairs of a country that is none of my business and of which I know very little. The first part is certainly true but of the second I do know, a little. For eighteen years I only distributed British & Irish films in British and Irish cinemas, DVD stores and sometimes to broadcasters in both countries. In the 128 years since Louis Le Prince shot the worlds very first film no other distributor has made such a strong commitment to British and maybe also Irish films (given that 100% of my output was a film from one or other, and sometimes both, countries).

From where I sit across the sea in London, I think that 2016 should be The Year of Irish Film. 

I see no other country in the running to claim this title.

These are my reasons -

It is relatively easy for a film to be nominated in the awards ceremonies held within that country but to be nominated in the USA 2016 Golden Globes and Oscar’s and the UK BAFTA’s it is hard. The competition from other English language countries is fierce. America, Canada, the UK, Australia and I would suspect even New Zealand all have an annual film investment budget far greater than Ireland has, but Ireland did so wonderfully well with nominations across all three awards events in 2016. A reason to celebrate. I was half expecting someone to at one of these ceremonies to paraphrase Colin’s Welland’s famous Oscar declaration  “the Irish are coming”.

I was therefore surprised to read on social media and in the Irish press  earlier this year much criticism of the Irish Film Board and Irish films in general. There have been a similar debates in my own country from time to time but not at time when the country has done well. 

I have to admit that over the last eighteen years I have seen a lot of Irish films that are, how can I put this diplomatically,  not as good as they could be, and, alright if I am honest, one or two have been downright awful, but that is the case with films I have seen from the UK, America, France etc. So is the percentage of Irish films that don’t work any greater than those from the USA or UK or anywhere else that matter? I doubt it very much.

No one sets out to finance or produce a bad film, it just happens. Filmmaking is not an IKEA flat-pack process and sometimes, some of the parts just don’t fit together as everyone intended. Something just occurs and a good script, a script that a great many people have committed to, including producer, director, actors etc as well as finance, should transform into a good film, but despite the belief, commitment and hard work, it occasionally does not.

Of course it’s very subjective as what one person thinks is a good film another does not. I have distributed over 100 films and I have never released a film that has had universal good or bad reviews. There have been many where the majority of reviews have been in one camp or the other but there are always reviews that have a different point of view.

In my own opinion the best film I distribute just happens to be Irish, Lenny Abrahamson’s ADAM & PAUL. I will go as far to as say it is a work of genius. Seven other UK distributors turned this down before it came to me because they did not like it or thought it a hard sell. In order to cash flow the release I approached UK broadcasters to buy it. Both the BBC and Channel 4 passed because they though it a poor film. Fox FX did license it.  I showed it to every single UK exhibition chain. One of the UK’s leading arthouse cinemas said it was awful and that it was charitable of me to release it as it would be the directors only film. (I wonder what they thought of Lenny’s Oscar nod this year). Only the commercial exhibitor Cineworld would play it. Whilst there were a few bad reviews the majority were outstanding. That year it was one of around 700 films released in the British cinema and as such was eligible for the Evening Standard Best Screenplay Award. Despite it being the no hope outsider Mark O’ Halloran won for his script. Both the BBC and Channel Four have since changed their mind and licensed it. Had this film not had state support it would not have been made. Yes it was the hard sell many of my rivals thought it to be. Had it not been for the UK critics getting behind the film it would have definitely failed in the UK. 

I doubt that the Irish Film Board recouped its investment in full in the film and, thinking about it I bet most of that investment was lost, but it was a film that had to be made. Apart from anything else if there is a film yet produced that better shows the dangers of drug taking then I have yet to see it. Every teenager in the world should be made to watch the film.

My company has earned around £30,000 from the film which is not profit, that is income so it’s not much return for 11 year’s work but we thought it was worth it on so many levels. 

Everyone not connected to the film industry thinks we all earn a fortune. I am sure those working on Hollywood blockbusters do, but in the Indy film world in every country, even America, it is hard for most of us to make a living in films. When someone like the Irish Film Board or the British Film Institute co-finances a film no one on that film is overpaid. It might seem like a lot for the few weeks it is being filmed but most producers, directors and writers will have spent years developing that film during which time they all have overheads and have to eat.

The USA and India the only countries in the world that produce films that are on the whole, financially viable within their own borders, though they also make lots of films that don’t work and lose money. The main reason for the Americans success is that the Hollywood studios, who make many of these movies, control all the routes to market in almost every country in the world. They have built these up over one hundred years.

Each and every country needs to decide whether or not they want to celebrate their own country and its culture by nurturing a film industry. If that country does, then it can’t be done half-heartedly. The reason is one of simple economics; the majority of films do not recoup all their production costs. Some may only recoup 25% from world sales others 75% and a few will return 100% and then make a profit. In order to be assured of some success you need to make a number of films in the hope that one breaks out.

Therefore countries such as mine have decided that we do want to nurture a British film industry telling British stories reflecting British life. The French, Germans, Belgians, Australians, Scandinavian, New Zealander’s and many other countries including Ireland have decided to do the same. This year many of those other countries must be wishing they could have had the success Ireland has had at this year’s award season.

It is a very well deserved boost for all Irish writers, actors, producers, directors, crafts people and technicians, whether they were involved with these films or not, for they have shown that they are all first class artistes on a par with counterparts in Hollywood, the UK and anywhere else. 

James Hickey and his team at the Irish Film Board work very hard to try and ensure that each production they invest in has the right ingredients for success. The IFB is never going to have a profitable year. It’s impossible. If that was the case they would be forced to go the ultra-commercial route where every film was a kind of Four Weddings and a Wake, padderwackery nonsense that we make over here from time to time because it sells. The film ANGELA’S ASHES wholly financed in Hollywood I understand, did well at the box office and with ancillary sales but much of its portrayal of Ireland was untrue sensualism made to shock and sell.

Ireland is a small country but it’s influence on the world stage is far greater than its size. Yes it is in part because the diaspora has ventured forth to many countries but the world knows of Eire mainly from it’s culture – literature, music and films. The moving image shows a culture and country far better than any other medium. For every Irish film seen abroad there will be a residual benefit. Whether that is a visit to the country or the purchase of a jumper from Donegal or organic yoghurt from Cork who knows and it won’t come from everyone but many people will be influenced knowingly or subconsciously. 

 In the sixty four years since it was made how many hundreds of thousands of people have visited the West of Ireland for no other reason that they fell in love with it from watching THE QUIET MAN even if it is clichéd and syrupy sentimental in parts. It's John Ford's love story to the land's of his fathers. 

When Edwina Forkin told me that her closing night film production this year at the Galway Film Fleadh (one of the world's best and most enjoyable film festivals), SANCTUARY was made up of a cast of intellectually disabled people, mainly with Down Syndrome I thought, ah!

I geared myself up for a very worthy but dull film. What I found was an hilarious laugh-out loud crowd pleaser with a tight script that moved from hilarity to tear inducing distressingly dark pain and back again so effortlessly, deftly directed, marvellously edited, with an excellent score and brilliantly acted by a group of actors who would never ever be given that chance by any Hollywood or for that matter British company. It is the first time in my life that I have ever been in a film screening where all present gave the film two standing ovations. Every single member of that audience rose to their feet with genuine joy in their hearts and praise for the actors five of whom have Downs, three are autistic and one has such severe epilepsy that it has affected her learning. ( I am now possibly returning to distribution, something I have given up unless its my own film, to release this remarkable film). 

Also released in 2016 was MY NAME IN EMILY directed by Simon Fitzmaurice a man with motor neurone disease. I think both films are a world first in giving a chance to filmmakers/ actors that no one else would.

I also give a nod to Terry McMahon PATRICK’S DAY released in 2014, who although not employing actors with mental health issues, did highlight a difficult subject that could affect us all.

Never has the Irish Film Board spent its money so wisely. 

These films, coupled with last year’s vote to allow same sex marriages proves that the Republic of Ireland is No1 in the world at understanding, respecting, celebrating and helping diversity. Ireland has moved the human race one run up the ladder. The rest of us will have to try to emulate its achievements but I worry we may not have the will and foresight that they have in Ireland. 

Yes the Irish are definitely coming !

Therefore I think that the year soon passing should unquestionably be known as 2016 Year of Irish Film.......not a bad achievement I am thinking in Ireland's centenary year.  

Do you agree, or do you agree ?!



© David Nicholas Wilkinson. 2016. All Rights Reserved.