How did THAT get made?

As a filmmaker, I often get asked, “How did that horrible film get made?” The acting sucked, the story was no good, the music was too loud…” any number of things.

The easy answer is that someone convinced someone else to give him/her the money. And that is certainly true. But a question arises, “Why did someone give someone else the money?” Let’s look at some of the reasons.

1. FAMOUS ACTOR and REALLY FAMOUS ACTOR want to do the project. Now cast is absolutely critical in making a film work and more importantly to the investor – make people want to go to a movie – but this has always got to be remembered. Actors are human too. They can love script but that doesn’t mean everybody will.

2. PERSONAL CONNECTION. This can be anything – the director is someone I respect and want to work with. The film has a lot of values/minorities/beliefs that I identify with and want to promote. I’m in love with the star. This has nothing really to do with the film or story but more on personal feelings.

3. GUILT. Guilt? How does guilt play in one deciding to make a movie? This is related to “Personal Connection” above. Someone may feel guilty that they haven’t been treating some minority or another as well as they should have and they should “do something about it.” This is tokenism at its worst but it happens.

4. I LOVE THE STORY. One must always remember, “one person’s passion is another person’s poison.” In other words, someone else thinks the script sucks. However, I think as a general, you can say that a good story is the beginning of a good film. (As a side note to this, good storytelling is not the exclusive domain of the professional. Talk to anybody you know and chances are they will have some great ideas for story. The trick is to transform those great thoughts into a cohesive story or screenplay.)

Lastly though, a film is collaborative effort of often hundreds, maybe thousands of people and elements. Any one of them has the potential to mess up a great story.
The truth is that there is no formula for making a film that people will like. Everyone has different tastes.

That's why, when a lot of producers have the time and don't think they'll get sued, they will listen to a story idea, at least for a couple of minutes. You never know where the next Avatar will come from.