How Do I Get My Film Made?

When you tell people that you are in the industry sooner or later, someone is going to say this to you. “I have a great idea. How do I get it made?” What I tell people is both encouraging and discouraging and that is “Anybody can do it.” Furthermore, you don’t need to convince hundreds of people of the greatness of your idea. Nor do you need to go to film school or have any special education. You only need to convince an audience of one that your idea is terrific.

But that’s when it gets tricky – that one person has to be able to write a cheque and sometimes it takes years, if ever to find him/her. But if you do and you can get that first person to sign on, it becomes easier.

I’ll use myself as a case history. I was a fulltime composer in film and television in the mid-1990’s when I started thinking about making being involved in the entire filmmaking process. I had never taken a filmmaking course, never written any screenplays or proposals – actually I had hardly any writing experience at all because my Master’s thesis in Music was an original piece of music. But what I did have was this very strong feeling then as now that stories and characters involving the Chinese cultural diversity needed to be increased in North America because of well… The Changing Face.

So I started writing words, dramatic scripts and documentary ideas. (I still do that today.) It was rather painful but eventually I would up with a six part documentary series proposal idea on a history of the Chinese in Canada. I talked to all kinds of people about the idea and got lots of good feedback and kind support.
Armed with this knowledge that "the people" wanted this series made, I went to the NFB and CBC and Knowledge Network about this and had a meeting at then head of the BC Region for the CBC, John Kennedy. He liked me and what I was proposing and then said, “I’ll work with you on a one hour program, not a six part series.” More than that, he wrote a cheque and more than that, he offered his guidance for over a year on various drafts of the documentary proposal, “Beyond Golden Mountain.” He didn’t like what he was seeing but had the patience to work with me until I got something that he could support for production. Beyond Golden Mountain won or was nominated for several industry awards. It remains relevant today and CBC recently re-acquired the rights to broadcast it again.

Thank you John for being that “audience of one.” It took me hundreds of meetings, phone calls, presentations to all kinds of people but eventually I found that right “audience of one.” Interestingly, when I went in with my letters of support etc., he never wanted to see them. His attitude seemed to be, "I'm paid to make decisions and I will make decisions on how I best see fit."

The takeaway that I want everyone to have is that ideas, not education or background, is the lifeblood of the industry. The industry is more fragmented now and money is ever more competitive to get but if you can, find that “audience of one” who can help you achieve your idea. My late father was quite a successful life insurance salesman and his philosophy was, “If one person closes the door on you, knock on the next door. The law of averages dictates that sooner or later, someone will let you in.” At the same time, be flexible in modifying your dreams. Whoever writes that cheque is going to want to have input too.

Next week, Cam Hui comes back with another insightfully entertaining look at business and the arts.

Multiculturalism & Money

Is all this writing in this blog “ethnic navel-gazing” or is there another purpose other than allowing me (and select friends) to blow off steam about how unfair the “system” is?

Not.

I do what I do because of I feel that having visible minority representation in every part of society and media is vitally important, if we are to have a truly multicultural society. Now we can debate about the merits or demerits of multiculturalism but as it is still an official part of the Canadian identity, let’s make it real, I mean really real.

In order to do so, you have to go past the trappings of multiculturalism as pagodas and lions dances at Chinese New Year. In Asia, these are considered historical relics and even anachronisms, not at all reflective of life today. These are important and I have and continue to participate in these events but in North America, we are wrong in celebrating these as essential parts of being Asian contemporary culture.

Real multiculturalism is when the cultural identity is integrated into everyday life – we are not exotic people on display.

Why is this so important? It’s because multiculturalism is more than a way of creating jobs for a phalanx of bureaucrats as its critics often say. At its essence, multiculturalism is a redefinition of what we know contemporary society to be. And you can’t pin it down because culture is living, breathing and always changing.

Many dread the word “multiculturalism” the same way we dread a flu shot because we’re given the same reason for either’s existence - “ you may not like it but it’s good for us.” It may be but the real reason we need to take cultural diversity seriously is money. Done with the proper approach and understanding, there is a huge amount of gold to be mined from understanding how different cultures can work together. Where it counts is the “real world,” where money is earned the hard way – getting customers through the door.

How do I know this to be true? As a filmmaker, I’ve made several trips to Hong Kong and China in the last few years and one thing I continually hear from Chinese producers is, “How can we internationalize our product?” From North Americans, the question is, “How can I crack the Asian market?”

These simple questions are actually quite profound and remind me of Rudyard Kipling’s poem where he writes, “East is East and West is West but never the twain shall meet.” Please forgive me for contradicting the 1907 Nobel Laureate in Literature but the “twain are meeting” and the issue is not “if” but “how?”

This is a question that I’ve been exploring with a few colleagues who have had experiences in making films in Asia and in North America with Asian themes. We are convinced that a new paradigm of filmmaking is emerging and in short order, we’ll be outlining how this is not just cultural mishmash but a solid and most necessary business opportunity.

Multiculturalism is more than dinner, dance and drama. If we can get past the notion that multiculturalism is some government-inflicted concept that has been inflicted upon the populace, we will understand what it truly is.

Multiculturalism is the future of the world or to be crass and commercial, it is about money.

I don't want to live forever

Another guest post from Cam Hui:


I see that they’ve released a re-make of Fame, the musical from 1980 that follows the lives of a group of students at the New York Academy of Performing Arts. The lyrics of that title song of the film were “I'm gonna live forever/I'm gonna learn how to fly…”





Just as medical schools don’t teach doctors how to run a medical practice, film schools don’t teach filmmakers how to run a film business. Like many artists before them, they fall into the trap of wanting to live forever – and they fail in the business.

If I were in the business, I wouldn’t want to live forever. I would want to practice my art and at the same time make a business of it.


Creativity + Robust business model = Success
Filmmaking is a creative business, but it's still a business. You need the combination of vision, creativity, a competitive advantage and the right business model to be successful. The success of the Star Wars franchise was a combination of good storytelling and the taking advantage of computer animation techniques which were coming in use at the time. By contrast, the film Tron, which was made in the same era, failed because it was all special effects and no story.

On the other hand, the lack of a robust business model has also made many film ventures disappear, never to be heard from again. Disney or MGM can make flops, but proper risk controls are in place so that any single flop doesn't render the studio insolvent.

I have found that finding the right framework for analysis makes a problem simple. Otherwise, excuses of “nobody knows anything” become a crutch for failure, a cop-out.


Be formulaic in business, but not creatively
While the expression of “nobody knows anything” is applicable to the creative process, it is not applicable to the creation and implementation of a business model. This is not a prescription to be formulaic in your creative endeavours, but to be formulaic in your business ones.

The trick is, of course, is to find the right framework for a business model. Here is one that I would suggest that I believe could be adapted to the filmmaking world. In my previous life as a fund manager, pension fund sponsors evaluated investment managers based on the 5Ps:

Philosophy: Where do you believe the opportunity lies?
Process: How are you going to capitalize on that opportunity?
People: What skills in your organization do you need to implement the Process?
Portfolio: Does your portfolio reflect what you say about your Philosophy and Process?
Performance: What is your track record?

In practice the last two Ps can be ignored. Many filmmakers have little or no track record, but that doesn’t have to be an impediment. Moreover, past performance is not reflective of future returns.

It is therefore important to focus on the first three Ps. In a future post, I will consider the case study of a well-respected independent production company was grounded in the 3Ps that was able to achieve some modicum of financial success. In process, they were able to “live forever.”

History made Alive

Thanks to Cam Hui who gave a financial potential overview of what Asian in North America means. I’ve had people ask for more and Cam will be back next week with another great insight.

Today, I’m going to personalize the history of one of Chinese Canadiana’s darkest eras.

Live History
I was in Toronto last week where I was chairing the meetings for the Chinese Canadian Advisory Committee to the Community Historical Recognition Program, which looks at proposals relating to the preservation of knowledge relating to Chinese Immigration Restrictions, more commonly known as the Head Tax. As I did so, I couldn’t help but think of my maternal great grandfather and paternal grandfather, both who paid the Head Tax so I, and all Canadians with a Chinese heritage, can be doing what we do today. This is part of my family story.

When my great-grandfather on my mom’s side came to Canada, he was a dirt poor peasant in rural China and North America was considered the “Golden Mountain” where everyone had a chance to “make it big.” Lots of his fellow peasants felt that way and they came to America with dreams in their hearts. Life was pretty damn tough here but despite incredible racism, this generation survived. They survived persecution, they survived lower wages but one thing they almost didn’t survive was the implementation of the “Head Tax” and subsequent “Chinese Immigration Act.”

Why did Canada put this in?

After the railway was built in the 1880’s, Chinese kept coming even though they weren’t needed so much so Canada instituted a “Head Tax” to all new Chinese immigrants, hoping to discourage them from coming. It started as $50, but the Chinese kept coming so they raised it to $100. Chinese still kept coming so they raised it to $500 but Chinese still kept coming. Only with the passing of the “Chinese Immigration Act” in 1923 (more commonly known as “The Exclusion Act) which forbade the immigration of any Chinese, including immediate family members, was immigration to Canada finally stopped. The Chinese are the only group that Canada inflicted this upon.

My great-grandfather managed to do quite well in Victoria, had land and children born here. However, the Exclusion Act caused problems for his kids. My grandfather was born in Canada but because there were so few women around, he had to go to China to get married. Because of the Exclusion Act, he couldn’t bring any of his family to Canada. He returned to Canada to work, returning to China every couple of years, long enough to sire another child. What this meant, is that my mother, who was the child of a man born in Canada, was not allowed to join her father until she was nineteen, after the Chinese Immigration Act was repealed in 1947. Had it not been for some 800 Chinese young men and women in WWII, who participated in Canada’s WWII efforts without rights of citizenship or franchise, she might never have been able to come.

Fast forward almost a hundred years. Well, the dirt poor peasants aren’t around any more and by and large, never achieved too much… but their children and their children’s children have. In fact, not only are we not worried about getting our daily bread, we are providing the jam and butter that that make a country important, worthwhile… we have gone past worrying about making a living. We have gone Beyond Golden Mountain.

In this new century, there has been a paradigm shift in how Chinese are viewed, not only by Canada, but the world. No longer will you find a sign on a restaurant door in Shanghai saying “No dogs or Chinese allowed,” but the doors to the world are open to all of us who are descendants of the Han.

It's still not an advantage to be Asian but "we've come a long way baby."