Please don't be conned like I was, and waste your money.

Older does not really mean wiser, it just means you have made more mistakes and therefore have learnt, at least, what not to do. Therefore, all I can ever offer any of you reading my blog are examples in the hope that you will not make the same mistakes.

When I made the move from a relatively successful acting career in 1979 to trying to become a film producer there were no established educational courses, at all, on how to become a film or TV producer. What we had back then were panels and talks and the odd book from the USA, which was not really of any help as it was aimed purely at the US market, which was then different from how it worked in Europe.

I used to go to so many talks/ panels thirsty for information, all of which cost money to attend. There was a one day course held at BAFTA but given by some fly by night operation that reported that they would educate those attending in how to make that first film happen. It cost £250, that's £870 in today’s money and I learnt nothing at all I did not already know. Not one thing. Up until then I had gone to around 20 such talks and always took the view that if I learnt just one nugget of knowledge I did not know, then it was worth the money. This was the straw that broke the camels back.... but even then, I would still very occasionally pay to listen to so called experts. I was told many things which were not correct and sent me down cut-de-sacs. Almost all of these people were failed filmmakers. Some had never even made a film and were opportunists sensing a quick buck. 

Why did I attend them you may ask. 

I went to one at Lee Studios over a weekend in 1987 which I cost £450 and organised by industry professionals, which was by and large very useful to most in the attending, but not really to me. By then I had made three TV films with the BBC having become, by accident rather than design, the first true independent producer to work with the Corporation. Mark Shivas a rather brilliant producer, who chaired the course kept asking me, a member of the audience, how it worked for Indy producers working with the BBC. I had paid to teach other attendees what I knew. That was the very last time I ever forked out money to attend any course or talk.

The the question that everyone thinking of paying to attend such a course should be asking, but often do not - what kind of knowledge are those experts imparting, and have they actually made successful films either in sales or reviews ?

If someone has made 2-3 films and those films have done badly then in the case of a writer I would suggest staying away, but if it a panel from a producer then you can learn much, possibly not what to do. 

Learning from failure can in some instances be more useful than you might think. A producer who has been through the mill on a few films which have flopped will have a great insight to the real world of filmmaking, rather than the perceived world. 

A  good friend of mine who wants to be a film producer paid £400 to attend a film making course by someone I kind of knew in passing. I was baffled by this as the person in question had only made a few short films, which not only had they not been picked up by any distributor, sales agent or even broadcaster, they had not even been accepted by any film festival anywhere. That fact alone should be a warning sign. What he had made, were in reality, home movies.  Anyone could do this. Yet this person was selling himself as someone who knew all about films and production.

When asked I asked my friend if the three-day event was of any use, he replied that it was alright, and he did learn some things but he was pretty certain that all that he had been taught had been taken directly from Chris Jones and Elliot Grove's books. Books that would have cost £40 not £400. 

If only the above books had been around when I started I reckon I would have saved at least a year of wasted time and around £10-12, 000 at todays money. ( The first useful America book I read was Michael Wiese's which I wrote about recently and that was many years after I started). 

It does anger me so much that some of the "those who can't, teach" brigade do fleece those who are hungry to learn more.

I published and co-wrote a book with the Oscar winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood about adaptations. From the start, we said there was no formula to success.

Sadly, everyone thinks there is. Some secret nugget that will catapult the person who has been given that secret formula, ahead of everyone else, to the top (as long as no one else who went on that same course and also learnt "the secret").

There is no formula. Avoid anyone who tells you otherwise. There are things you can do to avoid failure but that is very different from a blueprint for success.  A blueprint for doing the work can be found in many books but none have a secret for success. NOT ONE !

Think about it. If there was such a formula, then every single film ever made would be a success.

I know of screenwriters who have only had one film made who then teach screenwriting for the rest of their lives. Nothing wrong with that IF that one film had a great screenplay. However, if it was produced but then did not get a proper cinema release, or sold all over the world or shown on TV, then you need to ask why not. Almost certainly it’s because the script was bad. Maybe in was just bad luck. You really need differentiate because not only are you wasting your money, they could be giving you poor advice which will hinder rather than help.  

A good tell-tale sign with the one hit wonder, or more than likely is one miss, is, have you heard of that film?

If not that should tell you something.

The 13TH WARRIOR lost, after all worldwide sales, over $150 million dollars. Would you pay for a film course from someone who only had that film as their sole credit ? The producer yes, but no one else. 

In other words, would you hire driving lessons from someone who had crashed their car on the same day as they passed their driving test?

Always, always check out the person who is selling themselves as a guru. Try and watch their film(s).

I was shooting once and a crew member set quoted someone I had never heard of. Others on the crew had heard of him, just not me. My employee said that this man was a " great xxx, the best in the business" and was surprised I did not know him given I know so many people. I looked this man up online. He worked in one of the behind the scenes film crafts and had a huge social media following and many thousands think him is a god in his field.

His IMDB credits however show that most of his work is on shorts that have gone nowhere and a few feature credits on minor films, most of us will have never seen, but they are mostly for assisting roles. He has no actual credit on a known feature film in the craft he blogs and writes about so expertly. Why do people listen to him I wonder ?!

As it happened I found myself at a Christmas party made up of these crafts people later that year. I spoke about him to a few of them, all Oscar/ BAFTA winners/ nominees. They knew of him him but said the reason they thought he gets no real feature films is simply because he is not very good.   

Yet dozens of new hopefuls for some reason think this mans knows everything in his field. HE DOES NOT- NO ONE DOES. If he really was this man who was at the top of his craft he would be working on big budget Studio pictures and be nominated for Oscars and BAFTA's. 

I have been in the industry, as a professional for 47 years as an actor, producer, screenwriter, director and a distributor but I really do have so much more to learn - in every area including those I am sometime regarded by others as an expert. You can never learn enough. 

Sadly, those entering in the business want so much to learn the skills and knowledge to ensure that they can sustain a long-term career in the film and television industry, but that eagerness does make them slightly gullible to those that will exploit them with a five magic beans tale, telling them what they want to hear rather than the truth. 

The truth being, does that person doing the teaching actually work most of the time, year after year on proper feature and TV productions (anyone can make a short). If they can only earn a living talking about it, rather than actually doing it, you have to ask why ?

Some of these people, but not many in my long experience, can be excellent teachers and poor filmmakers. Robert McKee is a lousy screenwriter as evidenced by the fact he has not really had a good feature film produced from one of his scripts, but he is a brilliant lecturer. However he is endorsed by many leading lights in the film industry. 

Does the person who you are thinking of paying to hear and learn from have the same endorsements ?

I am a great believer in being taught by those who have spent years working in the industry for they have seen and done it all. More of our film schools and university media courses need to engage with more industry professionals. (You would be amazed at how many do not). 

Don't you agree ?

The rule I would suggest to any of you wanting to know more is if you want to learn - learn from the best.