Why Does a Young Filmmaker Flops? Isn’t it a “Floppy Game”, “Filmmaking”. Despite all the ado!
Filmmaking is a business which has an impact on all the risks whether it’s legal, economic, political or market risk. Callow filmmakers start their journey by picking up the best camera and coming out of the best Film School but the story is a dead end with that start. It’s not about the best equipment or training but to cater an audience which has a liking for your content. Films don’t flop because they have something lacking but they are not targeting the right customers or their audience is too niche to lift its operating costs. Eye for catering for the audience is a very difficult thing to understand being a filmmaker or for a “Film School” to make you grasp. The Film Industry is just like a rat race, if the hot topic is War, you will see War crime films. Smart filmmakers don’t join these races but they keep their audience engaged in order to be in the market. Keep their audience engaged in their ideas, stories, media coverages, and social media so that they have a cognitive remembrance. Industry floats on a very violent ship which is balanced by regular cognitive remembrance of the audience.
Aki Kaurismaki is known for his nostalgic films, day to day life problems, capitalist ideas, entrepreneurship failures, family turmoils etc. He knows what he is making and he knows how to engage the audience regularly so that audiences never forget Aki Kaurismaki. But there are many newbies who are following Aki Kaurismaki but we don’t know them, as they are lost in becoming someone else. It’s not about becoming someone else but to build an audience of yours. Remember “Cognitive Remembrance”. Cognitive remembrance at an advanced stage builds your “Unique Selling Point”, which at a later stage converts into a “Brand”. Young filmmakers start following these big names to create their own niches. References work but they don’t succeed. It’s an industry where every second counts for the audience and they don’t want to see another Aki Kaurismaki, Robert Siodmak, Robert Hamer and the list goes on.
Another dissonance in the minds of filmmakers is that as a young filmmaker, We don’t have the investor or a platform who would support us. The point goes back to our previous discussion, “You don’t have an audience”, Why will they invest in you? Why will a superstar pay heed to your direction or production? Why will they invest time in your hard work which doesn’t have any payback for them in
the future? These are very big questions which beginner filmmakers should understand. Don’t start making content, but start building an audience, engaging an audience through different formats or platforms. Start building your pipeline. If you have a pool of your own audience, who are your loyal viewers, Boss? You have won the game. For example as a young filmmaker after working for around five years in the industry if only a Hundred people know about your content, you should leave the industry because either you will be searching for an audience or a superstar who would prick a hole in your budgets, or you might be assisting a director who knows less than you.
It’s all on you folks, hope the next one is a “HIT”.