Lesson 2: Nobody Is Going to Care About Your Movie as Much as You Do
The Filmmaker’s Playbook
Lesson 2: Nobody Is Going to Care About Your Movie as Much as You Do
This may be the single most important lesson I can give any filmmaker, and it’s one that took me years to fully understand.
Nobody is going to care about your movie as much as you do.
That statement isn’t meant to discourage you. In fact, I find it incredibly motivating because once you accept it, you stop waiting for someone else to move your career forward and start taking responsibility for it yourself.
One of the biggest misconceptions I see from aspiring filmmakers is the belief that once they’ve finished a screenplay, their job is essentially over. They think, “Now I just need to find a producer, an investor, an agent, or a director, hand them my script, and they’ll take it from here.” Think about what you’re really asking.
You’re asking someone you’ve probably never met to spend months, and often years, helping make your dream a reality. You’re asking them to raise financing, attach cast, hire crew, negotiate contracts, solve production problems, market the project, pursue distribution, and put their own reputation on the line. That’s an enormous amount of work.
Now ask yourself an honest question. Why should someone you’ve never met care more about your movie than you do? The answer is simple. They shouldn’t.
One of the reasons independent films struggle to get made isn’t because there aren’t enough good screenplays. There are thousands of excellent screenplays sitting on hard drives around the world. The challenge is finding filmmakers who are willing to do everything it takes to move those scripts toward production.
That’s why I encourage filmmakers to stop thinking of themselves as “just” writers or “just” directors. In today’s industry, you have to understand producing, financing, budgeting, scheduling, marketing, distribution, and audience building. You don’t have to become the world’s greatest expert in every discipline, but you do have to understand how all of those pieces fit together.
Every time you solve one of those problems yourself, you make your project more attractive to everyone else. Instead of waiting for someone to create a pitch deck, create one yourself. Instead of hoping someone else visualizes your story, build concept art, storyboards, or a proof of concept.
Instead of waiting for an audience, start building one through social media, newsletters, or community outreach before the film is even made. Every one of those actions moves your project forward. Waiting doesn’t.
When I made Key of Bones: Curse of the Ghost Pirate, people often asked how we went from screenplay to a screening at the Marché du Film in Cannes in just seven months. There wasn’t a secret shortcut. We simply refused to stop moving.
While financing was being finalized, we were already preparing for production. During production, we were planning post-production. While editing, we were coordinating visual effects, music, sound design, sales strategy, festival deadlines, and deliverables. Every stage overlapped because there was always another milestone ahead.
Momentum became part of the production process.
The same principle applies no matter what size film you’re making. Whether your budget is $10,000 or $10 million, every day you should be asking yourself one question: “What’s the next thing I can do to move this project forward?”
Sometimes that’s writing another scene. Sometimes it’s scouting locations. Sometimes it’s making phone calls, updating your pitch deck, researching investors, or volunteering at a film festival where you’ll meet future collaborators.
The point is to keep moving.
I also think filmmakers spend far too much time asking, “Who can help me?” Instead, ask, “How can I help someone else?” Some of the best relationships I’ve built over the past 25 years started because I volunteered on someone else’s project, introduced two people who needed to know each other, or simply showed up and worked hard without expecting anything in return.
People remember that.
When your opportunity comes, those same people are much more likely to answer your phone call because you’ve already demonstrated that you’re someone worth working with.
At the end of the day, filmmaking is a team sport, but every team still needs a leader. If you’re the creator of the project, that’s your role. Your job isn’t to convince someone else to carry your movie across the finish line. Your job is to carry it as far as you possibly can so that when other people join the journey, they’re excited to help you finish what you’ve already worked so hard to begin.
Nobody is going to care about your movie as much as you do.
The moment you stop seeing that as a disadvantage and start seeing it as your greatest strength is the moment your career begins to change.