Seriously... Being A Good Person Will Help You Make Better Movies, Pt 1 of 2
But you really have to make the effort!
"The music biz is a cruel & shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves & pimps run free, & good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." --- Hunter S.Thompson
It is often said that the one good thing you can say about the film biz is that it isn’t the music biz. The film biz isn’t government or academia either, so there’s that. We do get stuff done over here. It could be worse (which is btw perhaps the #1 cosmic joke of all time — no matter how shitty things get….)
And it may be true that liars, cheats, misanthropes, and malcontents make up many of those that reside in our film industry clothes, but like most things around here, I think it is the result of the left over mess that should have been swept out in the morning. There’s a new day coming. It’s the dawning of a new era. Something is happening here, so wipe that dust from your eyes, and stand for something. Stop tolerating the pricks, and stop being one.
This time the good ones will win and it will be all of us.
If you want to make better films, if you want to improve our industry, our community, and our culture… hell, if you want to have a better life, just stop being such an arrogant, selfish, ignorant asshole. And yes, that goes for myself too --- I am not just singling YOU out. But seriously. Stop even the minor slights, oversights, and ridiculous and needless fights. Be kind. Be generous. Be compassionate. Be a better person and everything gets better with it. Science has proven this! And don’t go thinking that I have gone soft, lost my former-NYC edge and I am spoon-feeding you the Cali Cool-Aid now. This post is about making better movies. This post is about how you can elevate your game, you selfish muddafracking jerk. Geesh.
We get it. Your job is hard. It is really, really, f’n hard! And making good art, 10x as so. And you don’t get the respect and love you deserve either. We hear you on that too. We’ll do better, you’ll see -- but we also need you to do better please too.
The remarkable thing though is if you think back to the basics of life that you learned way back when, if you embrace them now, they are going to make you feel better. They are going to make us all feel better. They are going to improve your relationships. They are going to help you spot the right material faster. They are going to help you develop that material better and to a higher level. They are going to work as a magnet to bring you more of what you want. It’s a virtuous cycle.
Your good ways will be a beacon that helps all of us know where to deliver the type of material you want and how you want it. They are going to help you enjoy what you do. You will be a model for others. Your collaborators and cohort will all be reaching higher, and they will have better moods too. You might want to start to even hang out with them; you know…socially. Or you will soon because once you become a better person you will also want to get a life. The one where you are finally willing to prioritize your joy and satisfaction. And that’s good for you and good for them and good for us.
Four simple tasks: relate, love, participate, and dream. Gold star if you also take the fifth: be yourself. I have worked with a lot automatons in my day -- semi-robots hellbent on getting what everyone else wanted. That’s the old way, and I can’t believe it ever had its day. Well, I guess every dog… These four or five things make movies -- and how they are made -- better. They make our environment and industry better. They should be embraced and not shunned. Everyone needs to climb down from that high horse and walk on common ground. Since we are all in this together, it’s time to carry your brothers and sisters and those anywhere in between or well beyond. You know you too are going to need a lift someday, so…
This is not a business about transactions and deals. Okay, if you read the industry trades that is what you think it is; well, that, and a business about promoting everything and then some. But that’s not the truth. It isn’t even real. They are often talking about stuff you will never get to experience… because the other THEY won’t ever make it! Sigh… So stop worrying about what others have and you don’t. Your friends and family – us who are working along side you – are going to do better to make sure you get yours. Because the truth is: we are all in this together. And it is time we use THAT as our organizing principle, the thing we build the rest of it around.
This is a business of collaborating with really talented people to elevate good ideas into something even better in a way that deeply connects on many levels with many people of many different experiences. It is transformative. On a huge scale. It is not escapist. At its best it is transcendent. We are so lucky to be part of it. And you need to show all the rest of us how much you feel and believe that.
So that’s the broad strokes. Tune in tomorrow for the specifics on how you can make better films and get better films made if you’d just commit to being a good person.
PS. If you didn’t yet realize, I’ve been sharing a wide series of links & pondering ONLINE ONLY on Tuesdays. If you want to check out yesterday’s, just click on this.
Ted - please keep going. And, this needs to be a podcast. I can say this out loud ... I have worked at places where I sincerely talk about the team and bringing the best out in each other. As someone who was a first time grip, parking PA, runner, office PA, assistant to multiple different kinds of people. I keep saying - maybe I’m naive and my quixotic self - there is “the business” and there is “making movies.” To me, they should be looked at separately. I have shouted down by directors producers actors reps - because I called them out for their blatant mistreatment, abusive, entitled venting on someone who just wants to see a camera roll. One day, as we all do, assistants of all kinds make mistakes. On an unmentioned movie, I PA - driver was picking up a very cantankerous actor. The driver was terribly nervous, made a wrong turn, and the last 20 mins of the drive was the actor screaming calling this young man an “incompetent asshole who better never speak to him again.” This guy - tall, strong - came to me in tears and handed me the badge that gave him access to the set. He said “I don’t deserve to work on this film. I made an actor very angry. It is inexcusable and I expect to be fired.” I handed him back his badge and said “Unless you’re quitting, take a deep breath, and let’s get back to making a movie.” He was shocked . I’m not fired? I hugged him and said - you made a mistake. You didn’t oversleep. You weren’t careless. And, this entitled jerk feels he’s “someone” because hes a known actor. Bullshit. I told the guy, I would be very upset if he let our whole crew down by leaving us. It was then time to check in on the actor - who decided to dress me down and tell me to learn how to hire competent people. Part of his rant, I could not understand because he was screaming and spitting with rage. The 2nd AD was standing with me. I said calmly to the actor “like you, I’ve worked my ass off to be able produce movies like this. I will politely say to you, do not speak to me like that ever again. More importantly, are that far gone - have you bought your own press ? That you have to reduce a low paid dreamer to tears because he made a mistake. I said, we are making something great here. However, it’s my job to tell you, you can not speak to any member of the cast or crew in that manner again. Period. He called his agent - 9 hours time difference away - who began to tear into to me. I said “if you are calling to say anything other than I’m sorry, i have a movie to produce. Do you really feel entitled to be a miserable prick to someone who has only treated you with professionalism and civility.” I hung up. Does representing an angry actor in turn allow you TOO to be abusive. It does not. (I later got a rather large gift and letter from said agent). For too long our business has emboldened horrific behavior under two auspices: on the business side - you have the power and the money and we should all bow in your presence. On the filmmaking side - far too many actors, directors believe they are well within their rights to demean and demoralize under the guise of being ‘an artist.’ Yeah, that doesn’t fly with me. Outside of basic decency, i have worked with too many brilliant stars, executives, you name it - who DONT make every day worse than the next. It starts with not tolerating it. It starts with standing up for those who are green and have no protection agains the sheer ugliness. And, when you treat the people around you with decency, generosity, compassion - and you people who love coming to work.. for me, it shows up on the screen
Husker Du - “New Day Rising” SST Records, an Independent release, 1985
https://youtu.be/-hRCwByLb-E