Updated: Apr 10, 2021
In this series, we consider how the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey relates to indie filmmakers. In this post, we discuss the "Seek First to Understand then to be Understood" habit.
If there was a set of filmmaking commandments, we are certain that one of them would be "Know thy audience." Now, this isn't about demographics alone. Knowing your audience is about knowing what makes them tick. It' about knowing their values, principles, likes, and dislikes. It's about knowing when, how, and where to reach them. Knowing your audience is what provides you the intelligence needed to identify who they are and what they are all about.
Now, once you've identified them, the next step toward reaching them is to identify with them. This is where you extend your knowledge into understanding and where logos (logic and reason) meets pathos (emotions and values). Understanding why they have a certain set of core beliefs will put their life experiences into context. Understanding the culture of their geographic location will help you accurately represent the backdrop to their stories. Understanding the socio-economic underpinnings of the choices they make for themselves and their families will allow you to see their character in a different life.
In psychology texts, ethos, pathos, and logos are depicted in a triangle. In the context of understanding and connecting with an audience, logos and pathos are the keys to holy grail of ethos.
It is only when an audience believes that you know who they are (logos) and what they're made of (pathos) that you have the credibility needed to gain their trust (ethos).
Seeking to be understood as a filmmaker is always in the context of what is acceptable to your audience. Understanding your audience enables you to know when and how to leverage your own unique artistic expression to meet their needs and expectations.
This foundation of pathos and logos doesn't come easily. "Seek to understand" means that you must put in the work and that the work may never truly end. The journey of understanding takes continual research and immersion into the culture of the audience you speak for. To do this successfully, you'll need to leverage all of the resources at your disposal including social media, news feeds, magazines, music, art, literature, film, podcasts, community events, interpersonal interactions, and more. It is through this immersion that you will learn to speak a language that they can understand and to create art with which they can identify.
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”
―Albert Einstein
As always,
Be Better. Be Creative. Be Engaged.
If you're looking for someone to help you on your creative journey, feel free to reach out to us. We'd love to work with you!
Updated: Apr 10, 2021
In this series, we consider how the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey relates to indie filmmakers. In this post, we discuss the "Think Win-Win" habit.
Every aspect of filmmaking hinges upon the "win-win" because the art and the business of filmmaking isn't just about you. Someone else has to feel like they have an opportunity to win if they are going to sign on for any part of your project. It's just the way the ego works. Even someone who donates their time, energy, or resources to be a part of your project is getting something out of it. If you understand this, you'll realize that your success is highly-dependent on the perceived benefit to others and you'll do everything in your power to find the "win-win" in everything that you do.
Let's break this concept down by taking a look at three of the major phases of a film project:
Financing
Production
Distribution
Financing
When seeking financing for your film, a successful pitch answers one simple question for potential financiers (no matter the size of the investment): What's in it for me? The answer to this question usually falls within the top three levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:
Self-actualization - Your film allows your investor to showcase or exercise their values and principles
Esteem - Your film allows your investor to be a part of an elite group or at least provides the perception of inclusion
Love/Belonging - Your film allows your investor to demonstrate a connection to a community whose story they wish to tell
By demonstrating how your project fits one or more of these needs, you are demonstrating a win-win scenario: Financing for you, fulfillment for them.
Production
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs applies to casting for a project as well. In this case, it starts from close to the bottom:
Safety/Security - Actors in the indie film world often need each paycheck to keep them afloat. Every payday counts.
Love/Belonging - Actors will often do their best to support their friends in film and would even work for free so long as the effort doesn't preclude them from putting food on the table.
Esteem - The opportunity to be a part of a project destined for an awards ceremony is attractive to any actor. This is because they can share in the prestige and use it to market themselves.
Self-actualization - This need is demonstrated by an actor's desire to push the limits of their acting prowess through an immersion into the character for which they are cast.
If you cast your film with these needs in mind, understanding where each cast member can be fulfilled, you can create an environment built on mutual success. With that said, we advise never to cast based on a need for a paycheck alone. This goes against our first principle of "No mercenaries". It's ok to be in it for the money, but you have to bring something else to the table as well.
Distribution
Distributors are looking for a number of things in projects they are considering for their slate. It may come as a shock to you that you and your passion for your film are not on the list but it's the bitter truth in the business of film. When it comes to wooing a distributor, you once again have to think win-win. You have to ask yourself: What's in it for them? Well, here is what distributors are looking for:
Intellectual Property (IP) - IP acquired at little cost allows a distributor to increase their long-term earning potential while increasing the possibility of hitting a home-run with a single success.
Niche Content - Content targeted to specific audiences that a distributor currently specializes in (or seeks to attract) helps to further promote or expand the distributor's brand.
Branded Content - Content that has a clearly-recognizable and exploitable brand provides a higher probability of market penetration and targeted sources of potential revenue.
Distribution is the business end of filmmaking. Distributors need to clearly see how your film can affect their bottom line.
As you can see, the "win-win" principle is clear and ever-present in the life of a filmmaker. It's one to always keep in the forefront of your mind as it will help your forge mutual paths to success with your financiers, collaborators, and distributors.
As always,
Be Better. Be Creative. Be Engaged.
If you're looking for someone to help you on your creative journey, feel free to reach out to us. We'd love to work with you!
It means that you're a shapeshifter. Well, not exactly, but almost.
In an episode of the MAKE IT podcast featuring our good friend Sara Antonio, Sara mentioned to us that, in casting, she's seen as being ethnically ambiguous:
"It really is great for commercial work...it's the look that's really popular right now."
She credits her father who is from Jamaica and of Lebanese descent with the ethnic ambiguity that gives her a year-round tan and has opened new opportunities for her in film.
"A lot of people think I'm half Asian. A lot of people think I'm part Latina and maybe a little Native American."
"This is a huge asset for me, being sort of not definable. Let people project whatever they want on me. I don't care at this point. I'm here to do the work and if my look is interesting for you and it works for your project, then wonderful!"
This ambiguity provides actors with the privilege of diluting prejudice in mixed race relationships on screen and gives them the flexibility to play a variety of ethnic roles. It is indeed an asset when seeking commercial work at a time when cultural diversity is being promoted as a core aspect of so many brands.
But being ethnically ambiguous can also work in the opposite direction. This lack of clarity can also preclude an actor from getting a part designed to showcase specific ethnic traits. Being "stuck in the middle" can prove to be both blessing and curse depending on the role being cast. Though extremely beneficial for commercial work, this ambiguity may not favor the specificity in casting for a feature film or episodic series. In these cases, the physical characteristics and backstory of the characters may be more deeply-rooted in a specific ethnic background.
We're happy to report that Sara's ethnic ambiguity has been quite the blessing over the years and that her skills as an actor, combined with her unmistakable look, have landed her plenty of commercial work as well as casting in a number of feature films. She continues to grace the screen and our lives with her presence and we invite you to hear more from her on this episode of the MAKE IT podcast.
As always,
Be Better. Be Creative. Be Engaged.