There is more to getting on in the film business than just talent

For a very short while in the 1980’s, the National Film School used to invite me to all the screenings of films by their graduates. I must have seen 50 or so before I was crossed off their list.

Given that over half the films I have distribute have been made by first time UK & Irish filmmakers I was always baffled by this. That said the London Film School have never invited me to anything. 

Of those NFTS films I saw were two that really stood out, not just with me but to many.

One  THE TOM MACHINE  was a clever sci-fi short made by Paul Bamborough. It was widely regarded that this man would became the next Ridley Scott by those that saw it. However he did not. He became co-inventor of an editing system called Lightworks, which editors that I worked with such as David Lewis, have said was at one time better than Avid. Bamborough sold this I am told for a lot of money and then seems to disappeared. It is a mystery to me why a man with such great promise as a filmmaker should not have continued, even in his spare time.

The other filmmaker I will not name for reasons that will become apparent.

His film was actually a very long trailer for an exploitation feature film and I recall it was laugh out loud funny. It was so good that it secured him development funds from Hollywood majors and well known producers.

Time passed and he brought me a script via a mutual friend that was an extremely funny, affectionate and brilliantly written pastiche horror film. By this time I have produced three films, albeit TV ones, but they were financed as feature films, and in two cases made on the same contracts as feature films.

We packaged it with Lee Van Cleef who I got to speak with on the phone, which was a treat. A gentleman.

Because the screenplay was so very good, and this man was an outstanding writer, and the script is everything, I found it easy to secure interest. In a short time Channel 4 talked about putting in 25-30% of the budget for UK TV rights and Vestron Video wanted the world video only, for 50%. That left world cinema and world TV, less UK, for the remaining 20-25%. Several sales agents said that given the small budget, and its sales potential, they might come in for the rest. In all my years producing it was the fastest financing package I have ever put together. I think it was all within 2-3 months. 

I reported back to the writer/ director expecting him to be delighted.

He was furious, and when I say furious he was a cross between the mad starring eyes intensity of Anthony Hopkins in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and the shouting madness of Jack Nicholson in THE SHINING. He really frightened me such was viciousness of his attack.

This was all because Vestron Video were involved.

He said that had told me many times it was a film for the cinema as he was a great cinema director and it was NOT a video film. I told him I knew this and it was only a name. Vestron were backing it as a cinema film. 

In those days video drove the business. So many films only became profitable because of video. Vestron Video were a major funder in so many British films of the time. They were also pioneers of the Special Interest video with a division run by Michael Wiese.

The director/ writer just went on and on  about what an idiot I was and should go back to acting as I would never understand the film industry.

Needless to say I walked away…..or did he sacked me. I am not sure which. However I could not work with someone who, not understanding how the film business actually worked went mad over the word video in the company name.

It was his film not mine. I had not paid an option or advance so had no claim over this and it was his right to this. But was he right ?

The film was never made.

I later discovered the writer/ director did actually go mad and was institutionalised for a long time. He has since tried to pick up his career but sadly nothing much has happened. This is a pity as I am sure he is still coming up with wonderful ideas and stories. However as he must be pushing 70 now, I am not sure anyone will take him on, especially given his past behaviour. 

I do feel sorry for him, as he was without a doubt one of the most talented people I have worked with, but even from the get-go he had the wrong attitude. From our very first meeting I noticed the huge ego coupled with an extraordinary sense of entitlement. He thought he was a genius, and although he could well have become one because he was hugely talented, he believed his own publicity, as the saying goes. 

I have often wondered if that this attitude was a result of his mental health problems that were with him prior to getting involved with the film industry or if it was the film industry that helped trigger his problems. 

The sad thing is, I did admire and like him a lot. 

However, although this is an extreme case there is a real danger of people thinking they are god's gift. 

In my 46 years in the industry, those who all the one element I have found that has destroyed more careers than anything else. People who really do think they have all the answers and can do no wrong. No one is right about everything. 

My wife has been nominated for seven BAFTA’s winning four of them, as well as other awards and nominations. However on each new job she always has doubts as to whether or not she can do it.

People who continually question what they do, will give of their very best. I have found that people who think they know it all can be lazy, often never listen to advice from others on their team, no matter how good it is, and do make so many mistakes which they never acknowledge or rectify. 

I am told that even Stanley Kubrick had self-doubt before all his films.

I really wished we had made the Lee Van Cleef film as I am sure it would have become a minor classic. 

PS. One filmmaker from that NFTS period is one of TV’s best and most prolific directors. I was less enthusiastic about his short film. He now has a least two houses, one I am told is worth £3 million but he has never made a cinema film (plenty for TV). I am told he bitterly regrets this. I have worked with around seventy directors on the films that I have distributed, almost all for the cinema and only six of them live in an expensive house. Many of the rest still rent, as its all they can afford - because they don't make that much money because they make films. 

Had more of those cinema directors I worked with, worked more in TV they would be far better off financially. 

Funny old world.