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My POV
Brian A. Wilson
American Film Market
Hope.
That's the biggest, loudest, most important message I can bring you from this year's American Film Market, held in Santa Monica.
Whatever it is you're working on, there's hope that it will find a buyer, find a market and reach an audience.
Every movie at AFM had one thing (and perhaps only one thing!) in common: somebody wrote the script that started it all.
Somebody like you. A lot of somebodies, like you and me.
And what an astonishing variety of scripts they created.
AFM featured every theme and subject, every tone and premise you can imagine. Kung fu action in high school movies. Devil movies. Women in prison movies. Animated movies. Action movies. Love stories. A romantic comedy about a plumber who wants to direct. A Bigfoot seeking revenge movie. A coming-of-age story about a 28-year-old ventriloquist.
Every imaginable kind of film has been made and is getting made. And they're finding buyers: By the time the beachside sand settles, AFM staffers estimate nearly half a billion dollars in deals will have been struck at the event.
The stories of how the movie made it to the market are as varied as the films themselves. Some come from contests, others from recommendations. Friends tell friends. A good review somewhere. The filmmakers make a blind submission.
Much like a script finding a producer, films seemed to get made and get in the old fashioned way: Any way they can.
Here's more good news. It seems like more and more distributors are getting into the production end. I talked to several folks who said they now had budgets to develop ideas that were thought up in-house. They then hire writers to write the script. Probably below guild minimums, but hey, it beats pouring concrete, right?
The AFM reaffirms an old chestnut of screenwriting advice: Write what you know/love/are passionate about. I'd simplify that to say, "Write whatever the hell interests you." Do it well, and you WILL find a market for your work.
Who knows? Maybe I'll see you and your film at next year's AFM.
Keep writing.
BW
LA
bigtex@loop.com
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