The Real Power of Favors
The film world is a bizarrely close-knit group. It’s an industry where everyone knows each other and where everyone has an opinion about each other. Making movies is so hard, that it’s always a priority to have the best and brightest people behind you at all times. You always want someone who’s willing to go the extra mile for your project. In the film world, especially the indie film world, most productions are run off of favors. Everyone calls in favors and everyone does favors. It’s just what happens when you’re trying to make something for nothing.
That’s something you need to be keenly aware of when you’re first starting out. When you have the opportunity to do someone a favor, take it. When you’re going on a coffee run, get coffee for everyone, even just basic brew. When those same movie friends need help moving, be there. Those are the favors that add up. When you need a DP, an AC, or someone to help you find a sound guy, those are the people you call. You always want to be the nicest and most professional person on set because you’ll eventually work with these people or their friends again and on much bigger, and big-paying productions. It’s simply a numbers game. Get on enough sets and soon you’ll see lots of familiar faces. If someone isn’t treating you very well, don’t make a big thing out of it. Let it roll off your back and move on. You’ll probably work with them again. Next time, they’ll probably love you too. That’s just the way it goes.
When you’re first starting out, you want to be the go-to person. You want to be the first name on everyone’s tongue, the first call made, the first one on set. You can ensure this by being nice, polite, and working harder than anyone else. And if you don’t know something, ask the appropriate person and just listen and learn. Sure, they might kid with you for not knowing what an apple box is but that’s just part of the hazing they do and everyone’s been through it. Stay the course, work hard, put the ego on a break and do those favors. It’s the smartest thing you can do for your career. You never know who’s going to be working where and for whom next year or the year after that. And you never know how they’re going feel about you. So the best way to prepare for that is to just be nice and go above and beyond.
Film is maybe the hardest medium to conquer simply because it has so many moving pieces. It requires so many people and so much orchestration. The medium is a wonder to behold when it works well, but when it doesn’t, boy oh boy, is it painful. The fact that you can’t simply just make a film by yourself proves how complex the medium is. Music, art, dance, and every other artistic medium there’s some version of it where you can, in fact, do it by yourself. In film, you need camera people, assistant directors, line-producers, actors, and writers; you need a mini army.
And they need YOU. If you do your job well, work hard, have humility and patience, they’re going to call you. Therefore, treat the film people you work with like you already owe them, like you’re trying to work off a debt, so that when it comes time to call in a favor, it’s very apparent that they owe you.
Learn more at www.filmconnection.com.