I don’t mean the weblog - I mean the entire project. Yesterday I got raked over the coals by a well-known producer who’s first reaction to the trailer I showed him was “absolutely not compelling.” That was after my stammering attempt to describe the project prompted him to say “I don’t know what your movie is about.” Ouch.
I probably could have done a better job in Spanish. Even quecha.
I ended up turning off the phones and crawling into the covers at 9 pm Saturday night. My head hurt.
This morning I reviewed his comments - hand scribbled in my favorite Moleskine notebook which if I were to lose I’d crawl back into bed even earlier, like during daylight hours. And yes, I’ve got to deal with them. Like:
- Who’s going to buy it?
- What’s your logline?
- Your job as a director is to give me a compelling reason to watch
- why is their story compelling? What motivates them? Why is it important?
- I’ve never seen pictures about immigrants returning to their culture
- I want you take me on a journey
- How can you make this more emotionally compelling?
- I need to feel connected...find emotional scenes
- You have to think out of the box. Maybe make two 20-minute videos, one of each story (Cynthia and Nelida), with extra footage of dances and commentary, and sell them as a dvd (he didn’t see the connection between the stories).
Other thing is, he hammered home point that it’s possible to get money - real money - upfront from TV, without a minute of video shot or script. It’s about a compelling idea, clearly stated. Like in one sentence.
Good feedback now that I get to read it - even if it was tough to hear at the time.
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