Thursday, January 24, 2008

From the Mouth of Ali G: Respeck

I was dashing off a quick email to an actor this morning about getting together next Wednesday for some woodshedding. I gave him some news about a short that we worked on last year. I saw a cut of it the other day with the guy that's cutting it. I wrote some smart-assed thing about its completion date coinciding with the year anniversary of shooting it. Then I hit delete. I thought, why shit on it? Respect the process. It's not an easy thing to make films. It's obvious that the entirety of the process has been something I'm coming to terms with. Making excuses, acting flippantly apologetic or being ashamed isn't going to change anything. It takes a long time to learn how to make a film. I've often been quick to gently remind others how relatively short a time they've been acting or making films. Where's my compassion for moi?
There's certainly more money to be made in writing books on making films than there is making films. Maybe I've found a topic that hasn't been covered: Kill The Poseur Within - How to stop acting like a filmmaker and start doing the work to become a filmmaker. A whole line of self-help books for the wannabe artist that can't let go of his ego. The beginner series could be sold with book jackets with fake titles like, Aesthetic Semiosis in Post-Caeusescu Romanian Cinema. Or it could just be a podcast.

Rispettoso,
Signore Direttore

No comments: