Lesson #10. Don’t be afraid to talk to people

I don’t what it is, but there’s something about being out in public with a movie camera that makes everybody what to talk to you. When I was in Detroit filming my Book-Cadillac documentary, one person after another came up and started talking to me. Some simply wanted to know what we doing or when the film would be in theaters. Others wanted to give their opinion – be it an opinion on historic restoration or whatever else they felt like talking about.

When I started filming, I had a specific list of people that I wanted to interview and thought of all these people as just pleasant diversions from the task at hand. However, it wasn’t long before some of them said some really great things and ended up cursing myself for not having the camera on at the time. (The things you curse yourself for not thinking of until after they walked away).

Eventually, I got wise. Still I can’t think that film would’ve been that much better if I’d just filmed every single person who was willing to talk to me.

Lesson #11. Do the Google Test

Do you already have an actor or actress that you’re thinking of putting into your film? Before casting anyone for a part where he or she will receive a mention in your credits, subject them to the Google Test. Simply type his or her name into Google or any other search engine that you prefer. See what pops up.

This is useful for two reasons. It heads off trouble at the pass and allows you to leverage whatever publicity value your actor may already have.

I typed the name of a certain actress into Google before offering her a slot on one of my projects, only to discover that there was a transvestite stripper in London with the same name and a significant on-line presence. By adding her middle name into her credits, I was able to breathe a little easier knowing that no one would confuse my project with transvestite strippers. Trouble was headed off at the pass.

On a more positive note, for a different project, I discovered that a woman I was thinking about casting as my narrator had a tremendous on-line presence. Her web site and on-line fan club gave me a certain amount of publicity value to leverage for my project.

Lesson #12. Check out other movies

While you’re on-line, it’s also a good idea to find other films that were at least somewhat similar to yours. See how others have handled your subject matter. Ask yourself some questions. What did you like about the way other filmmakers have done their job? Why do you think he or she did that? What would you do different?

I think it’s a good idea to keep a journal of all the movies that you see, especially the ones that are at least somewhat similar to yours. This not only gives you some inspiration for your film, it also helps you to avoid the inevitable pitfalls that come with structuring a story or filming a movie.

On to the next Lesson Learned