Getting There...

Hello, No MFA'ers!

The title 'Getting There,' in this case, refers to how I'm slowly moving along now that I'm currently eight and a half months pregnant.

I've been trying to make progress despite how lethargic and oftentimes sick I feel, and think that this is relevant not just to any No MFA'ers who might become pregnant in the future, but also any who suffer any kind of physical or emotional set back that slows them down in their careers.

One of my biggest challenges has been that, since I've had nausea sickness the whole nine months (I'm one of the lucky few women that got to have it the entire time I was pregnant) I wasn't able to do any of the filming I'd hoped to do in the Spring. The super-physical nature of an indie film shoot - especially when you're the one organizing it - ruled out the particular projects I'd had in mind, which would have involved a lot of travel, lugging heavy equipment, etc...

Of course, as I write this, I'm asking myself why I didn't just shoot more stationary, doc-style interviews during this time and realizing that would have been a great idea. So, my advice for any filmmakers who might be in my situation or any situation which keeps them somewhat incapacitated in the future is to do just that - find a way to simplify filming and shoot whatever they can given what they can do! If that means staying in one room, finding a friend to set up a camera, and just straight up interviewing folks, then do that.

Another challenge has been the overall exhaustion that I didn't expect from the pregnancy. I guess I've always been a fairly fit person with lots of energy, and the sheer difficulty of just moving myself around as I've gotten further along took me by surprise. Feeling sore is the norm and I'm usually longing for bed by about 7:30 each night, and having to force myself to crawl out of it in the morning.

Anyway, all this aside, I've been plugging away and 'Getting There' as best I can. I've tried to use this time to focus more on my writing than on filming, since sitting in a chair has become my best friend. I wrote a web series for a client and also got to take part in the filming by doing voiceovers (a first for me, and something that didn't require physical strain.) I connected more with a female producer (also a mother) and, in addition to trying to plan future shoots that will allow us to be closer to home with small children, I've gotten a nice new job writing outlines for her (which will hopefully lead to a feature collaboration.) I've worked on my own writing and also put together a master database of industry contacts, using the fact that I feel lazy and chair-bound to push me to do lots of online research. Luckily I had filmed a short in October, right before getting pregnant, so I was able to get the editing finished and submit it to some festivals. (Still waiting to hear back.) Also, I made two new connections and together, the three of us are making plans to organize a film festival next year. More on that to come!

Finally, of course, I'm still writing for the DFA film school blog. :) Here's a few of my recent posts that I think might be of particular interest to you all:

2014 Emmy Nominations (including a poll to vote for who you think will win!)

Actor Advice, Part 1 and Part 2

4 Things Screenwriters Should Know About Selling Their Screenplays

3 Ways for Indie Filmmakers to Learn from the Numbers at Sundance

(Enjoy those!)

All of the above might sound like a lot, but really, each one was tackled pretty slowly, over the course of many months and with a lot of generous 'rest' time. Hopefully it's inspiring to see what can get done even with just a little energy - whether you have just a little energy or are working on a creative career outside of a regular 9 to 5 that eats up most of your time and focus.

So I guess the message of this post is to try to figure out what you can accomplish in the face of certain obstacles. It might mean throwing some of your previous plans and timeline out the window, but you can still be making progress even when some bigger goals have been temporarily put on hold.

I'd love to hear about any challenges you all have faced and how you worked around them. In the meantime, happy writing/filmmaking/living!

Theater-Going

This blog mostly focuses on screenwriting and filmmaking, but I also love theater.

This past weekend, I got to catch two shows in NYC and was reminded how fantastic it is to get to watch a live performance – and how much richer the experience can feel than watching my TV screen.

Every once in a while, if you can spare the cash, I highly recommend catching a play. The musicals are the real bank-breakers, but the small dramas can be pretty affordable, often around $40 – and pack a punch.

What struck me the most about watching the plays was how my focus was heightened sitting in a live theater. We can get numb to our TVs/computer screens/etc. Not only does the live environment immerse us that much more in the story – but the story itself is much more focused. Movies nowadays are all about quick pacing: short scenes, constant developments, etc., etc. It keeps us interested but can also feel confusing. A staged drama is typically in one setting, about one long conversation, which contains one strong idea to be explored.

Here’s my two cents on the shows I saw:

Mothers & Sons – This falls into the drama category. Tyne Daly, nominated for a Tony for this one, dominated the stage as Katharine Gerard, the mother of a deceased gay son who visits her son’s former lover for the first time in more than a decade. The lover now has a husband and a son of his own. Daly’s performance is phenomenal, the play offers a lot of food for thought, and the way in which the conversation develops – only subtly dropping hints as to who they are and why she’s there until we get to the meat of the story – was interesting and kept me searching for clues.

It had its flaws… there were a few lines that my sister and I agreed should have been cut, since they just seemed a bit unrealistic and pulled us out of the moment. The ending was also a little unsatisfying, despite the fact it had me crying. Overall, we felt like it had maybe needed one more rewrite to really be perfect – but that didn’t change the fact we had an emotional response and were thrilled that we went.

Cabaret – INCREDIBLE. (And obviously, falls under the more pricey musical category, although you can occasionally find good deals.) This show, about people whose lives are entwined via a shady nightclub and a boarding house as the Nazis rise to power, seemed flawless to me. If not the best musical I ever saw, then the best performances I ever saw, bar none – Alan Cumming as the Emcee and Michelle Williams as Sally Bowles (the latter of which I think is also up for a Tony. He already won for the same role years ago).

Williams and Cumming doing their thing.

I had seen this performed once before. Granted, that was a college production – but it didn’t even come close to the depth of this one, performed at Studio 54 via the Roundabout Theater Company. A new dimension was added when it seemed that Sally Bowles suffered a complete psychological break – something I hadn’t felt in the other production or even seeing the movie long ago.

An added bonus - you can stay for a Q&A with some of the performers after the show. Worth every penny. Go.

Main things I picked up, applicable to all entertainment: don’t underestimate a steady build; subtle hints and clues, moreso than outright telling, play really well and make an experience more emotional; subtleties of a performance can add a lot to a story that may or may not otherwise show up; and finally, keep characters consistent and never forget the power of a larger-than-life personality.

I Sold a Feature Screenplay!

Ugh – I can’t believe it’s been so long since my last post. Hopefully, that stands as a testament to how busy I’ve been. (I feel like I’ve said that before.) I have a few big pieces of news to share, the biggest of which you can already tell from the title.

For starters, I’m pregnant. HUGE deal in the life of me, and a big reason why I haven’t blogged much. I seem to be in the small percentage of women who wind up being sick throughout the entire course of their pregnancy (5 months now and the nausea’s still going strong!) so I’m learning a whole new level of working around being tired and sick. (Next new level will come when our bundle of joy arrives in August 2014!)

Also, I’m now the blog manager for the Digital Film Academy (dfablog.com), which is a part-time job I absolutely LOVE. So, admittedly, I’ve been cheating on this blog by doing at least one post for them per week. Here are a few in particular I think you might be interested in (but of course, check out the whole blog when you get a chance!):

5 Rules of Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns

4 Rules for Writing Your Screenplay

5 Rules for Doing a Web Series

But onto the news that’s probably most interesting to YOU, which is, yes – I’ve sold a feature screenplay! This was news I actually had back in November, but I wanted everything to be official and signed before I started spreading it around. (Although I hinted at it quite a bit in my last post.) This is the first feature-length script I've sold.

It’s a screenplay I wrote about 8 years ago back in grad school… it underwent a massive revision in Columbia’s Screenplay Revision course last year (a pricey course, but definitely wound up being worth it) and began to get shopped around last fall. I had listed the logline on the International Screenwriters’ Association website, where an indie producer found it, asked to read it - and the rest is history.

So the most direct piece of advice I can give you out of this? Have a presence on networkisa.org, and list your ready-to-sell screenplays there.

Another, less direct but no less important piece of advice? Make sure your screenplays are in as good a shape as possible before you send them around. I had this screenplay sitting, occasionally rejected, for 7 years before biting the bullet and revising. I rolled up my sleeves, did the hard work of getting critiqued, making changes – and only a month after putting it out there again, it found a home. (And I made some decent money and got an IMDB credit.)

Let this be proof, No MFA-ers: you can do it, too! The script is going into production this month - I can't wait to send you updates of how things progress.

Owning It (Or, Coming Out of the Career Closet)

Two years and three weeks ago, I quit my stable, average job. I quit to pursue writing and film-making, two things I cared about. I quit after forcing myself to stay longer than I wanted to, because telling people you’re a “writer/filmmaker” before you’ve made the kind of films they’ll see at a multiplex can feel a little, well... embarrassing.

But I did finally quit and have been, over the past two years, gradually becoming the writer/filmmaker I set out to be. So why was it that up until recently, my Facebook and LinkedIn pages didn’t say anything about it? At least, not in my ‘employment’ info section. (Under hobbies and projects, fine.)

Well, it goes back to that embarrassment mentioned above - and owning one’s choices. 

It’s not hard to get the sense that when people ask you what you do and you answer “writer/filmmaker,” they’re secretly thinking you’re an unemployed flake. Of course, that might just be insecurity talking, but a lot of people, when I’m at that point in a conversation, will start to say things like “Do you have a day job?”, “Yeah, but what do you do for money?”, or “Oh, I wish I made more time for writing, but it’s hard with my job.”

For the record, I have a part-time job, a small business, and several standing freelance gigs with weekly deadlines - which can all feel like having more than one full time job, especially when balanced with my number one priority: my writing/filmmaking career.

Having numerous smaller jobs in place to help support a creative career offers an easy out when someone asks the “what do you do?” question and I don’t want to get into what sometimes feels like an apology/explanation for my choice not to have a standard 9 to 5... instead, I can say “I work at a publishing company,” or “I own a small business,” because these things are also true, and generally better accepted. But, saying them really doesn’t tell people who I am - because I’m a writer/filmmaker, and, at any time of day, writing and filmmaking are on my mind.

So a few months ago I looked at my LinkedIn page... because employment ONLY listed my small business and said nothing about writing/filmmaking, which felt very out-of-whack.

I realized I needed to put it out there, to everyone, without feeling shy about it. I imagined former employers and “frenemies” reading my page and being snide about it - but then I thought, “Hey - I can’t own their career choices, but I can own mine - and I’m happy about the choices I’ve made.” There’s no reason to feel shy about what I’m doing in my life. I’m doing it because it gives me a feeling of pride and accomplishment.

And so, I changed my career info.

And I was rewarded. I was flooded with invitations from other writers and filmmakers looking to connect. What’s more, people looking to hire a writer took notice and I was contacted for new job opportunities.

About two weeks ago, I went ahead and added it to my Facebook info, as well. 

It’s like coming out of the career closet. My friends and fellow writers/filmmakers knew, but most other people didn’t. I wonder how many people, when they answer that “What do you do?” question with “respectable” answers, wish they could say they do something else? It’s easy to get stuck with labels from a job that might not fit who we are - yet it becomes how others see us.

Own who you are and what you want to do. Own it 100% and go for it with all that you can. Great things will come of it.

If you don’t believe me, just wait until my next post... I have a great update in progress.

I'm Sara McDermott Jain, and I'm a writer and a filmmaker… and in 3 years of having this blog, that's the first time I've ever posted my full name. 

Blogs, Blogs, Blogs

Last weekend, not quite recovered from filming, another intense but super-rewarding task came my way: attend the AES Convention and writing three posts for Avid Blogs.

AES, for anyone who doesn't know, is the Audio Engineers Society, and I definitely had my plate full since audio is NOT my area of expertise…

I got the job through the DFA (who recommended me thanks to my No MFA blog). Determined to help me succeed, Guy Mor, a Master Pro Tools instructor at the DFA, brought me in for an audio crash course, then let me sit it on one of his advanced Pro Tools classes. The result was that in about two days time, I learned more about the world of audio than I had learned in the previous two years.

This is not unlike what I feel film people go through on most any project. True, they don't always have to become proficient in an unknown field in two days, but they do typically have to immerse themselves in their current project, whatever it may be. The result in both cases is a feeling like your head might explode from so much over-thinking.

At any rate, I'm so grateful that this opportunity came my way. I now have a way better understanding of audio, and I firmly believe that the more a filmmaker knows about all different aspects of film, the better - never mind whether or not they'll be the ones handling that particular area.

I've come across would-be directors in film classes who have (literally) rolled their eyes and whined about how they "don't need to know any of this" - they're only interested in directing. That makes my skin crawl, not only because they'll likely, on their way up the ladder toward directing their first feature, need to take on other jobs in the film industry where they're not, you know, THE BOSS, but also because when they do finally become "the boss," they might quickly discover that the difference between being good or bad at managing all those other people is actually knowing how they do what they do.

I think, to be a good director, you need at least a rudimentary understanding of everything going into your production… but I digress!

You can check out my posts on Avid blogs at http://www.avidblogs.com/author/smcdermottjain/ (and give me a few likes while you're there!)

In other blog news, I've now been hired to create and manage the DFA's up and coming blog, a job I'm super excited about. I've written my first post following a screening of students' new work last Wednesday, and am eager to get the blog up and running. More on that to come!

The Crazy Hard

Last Sunday night, I wrapped on my most recent short film.

If my last blog post didn’t already clue you in, this was the most complicated project (of my own) I’ve ever worked on. It involved a lot of characters, a small crew, and a whole bunch of locations.

But. It. Got. Done.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I once heard someone say that “The only people who fail in this industry are the ones who give up.” I’ve come to learn that’s completely true. It’s not that people can’t make movies. Anybody can. But they don’t because it’s too crazy hard.

If you’re directing/producing your own indie (which you will if it’s your first foray into this world) you’re managing everybody and everything that has anything to do with what, in the end, might just be a few minutes of film. And those who’ve worked on films know that hundreds of hours could easily go into creating just a few minutes.

Once you get past dwelling on the crazy hard, though, you get down to just doing... and the magic of starting to do something is that, once you’re in it, it doesn’t seem so hard. Not that you’re not exhausted, but once it’s happening, it takes on its own momentum. Before you know it, you’ve wrapped.

If you’re interested in film (and if you read this blog, you must be) all I can say is: no matter what the frustrations, stick with projects and see them through.

Start with simple ones. Maybe two or three friends to help as a crew, just a few characters, and hopefully just one location.

Then start to make it a little more complex, one project at a time (starting with the crew that will help make the end product look more professional). You’ll learn how to juggle more things than you thought possible, but most importantly, you’ll learn that making a film, beyond the crazy hard, is completely doable. Just one step at a time and a willingness to be exhausted for a while.

My last short was a big challenge. I didn’t only learn about locations, which I wrote about last time, but I learned about organizing necessary transportation and food for big groups (your responsibility, especially if they’re working for free), picked up some lighting tricks, and got hands-on experience working with different members of the crew. I learned about working with a director of photography and scheduling my shot lists according to daylight. I learned that, when short on time, there are certain shots I could cut to save time (and, by extension, certain details that didn’t need to be in the script, which will better inform my writing). I also learned about pinpointing the shots that were absolutely necessary.

But, long story short, these are all things I learned by actually making the film. In a nutshell, the most important thing I learned is that, despite the challenges of bigger, more complicated, and more polished productions, I need to just keep on diving into them and getting more and more done. As a result, what I do will become more and more professional.

I now have hours of video and audio footage to sift through, to begin the editing process. That means there are a few months to go before this project is totally done. But when I wrapped last Sunday, I felt proud knowing that I’d pulled off filming my most ambitious and challenging project to date. I grew as filmmaker because of it. What’s more, I’m now more ready to take on the crazy hard.

Location, Location, Location...

It’s been a long time since I tackled a narrative short film of my own... not since my first short, Chance. Otherworldly Encounters was a documentary, where I just needed to aim a camera at an interviewee and ask questions... Other shorts of mine involved voice overs and pictures instead of live action. And sure, I’ve helped friends on their shoots, but I kept putting off and putting off (against my own logic) doing my next dramatic short.

Why?

Because it’s really, really hard.

Well... ok, that’s only half-true. The thing about filming a dramatized story is that it just SEEMS completely overwhelming, which is why it’s easy to, well, never do it. Once you get into it, though, you go one step at a time and it's not so bad... despite the fact that there is a lot to figure out and organize. (Which is why you better be passionate about the project.)

A dramatic piece involves a LOT of planning, story-boarding, and... location-scouting.

Location scouting is something I never gave a moment’s thought and which has proved, on this project, anyway, to be the bane of my existence.

With Chance, I had two characters in one location - Grand Central. That in and of itself was hard, because GC is packed with lots of tourists who want to wave in the background and snap flash photos of your film-in-progress. It’s also a location where time was limited. But at least it was one location, two characters. Not too many schedules to coordinate.

But for this new short I outdid myself. Six characters, six locations where practically every character has to appear, a big crew... and basically, a big, big struggle.

As I write this, I believe the schedule has finally been nailed down... But getting to this point felt like nothing short of a Herculean task. As a result, on this second dramatic production there are several important new things I’ve learned about locations that I want to pass along.

1. If you don’t have the right locations, postpone your shoot. It can be painful, but it’s better to take more time and get things right.
2. Have your locations confirmed BEFORE you do auditions. That way, everyone auditioning commits to the same days, days when you have your locations. (Don’t do what I did - set your days, audition and choose your cast, THEN get your locations. This ensures that you’ll have to change your original days as you struggle to find times that work for your whole mob of cast, crew, and people generous enough to let you film in their homes.
3. If you can’t pay them, throw the homeowners whose homes you use as locations all the perks you can think of.
4. Remember logistics. If a location is far away, you’re not only responsible for getting everyone there - you also need to make sure it’s possible to get all you want at that location in one day’s time (or you’ll be schlepping everyone out there again the next time they can all make it - which might be next year.)
5. Combine locations whenever possible. Also, if you have an actor coming from a long way off, try to keep your locations close enough so that he’s not on the road all day.

That’s it for now, but I’m sure I’ll think of more. Granted, these lessons apply to the low-budget filmmaker who’s pretty much coordinating these things alone and without a budget. In which case, I saved the best piece of advice for last:

Set your story in one location - preferably your own home!