Hi Film Folk!

So it’s the last day of 2013 and, once again, we look back and forward, we reflect and face facts…perhaps try to escape them! Either way, the year is through and the Film Doctor team would like to walk you through some helpful thoughts for the 12 months ahead.

Now, we want to keep this short and sweet. We want to pack as much positivity into this post as possible. But we also don’t want to get tarred too thickly with the ‘airy fairy, new age’ brush, so here’s a dish of brutal honesty served with some ‘good vibes’ for 2014.

To ‘You’

As with every post, we write to the universal you, void of specificity and customisation. We know there are many of you but we don’t know (unless we have worked with you) who you, reading this, are. We don’t know how far you have come, we don’t know your specific aims, we don’t know your background, your living arrangements, your favourite filmmakers and TV shows. We don’t know whether you spend 18 hour days slaving away on your projects or just a steady couple, each morning. We don’t know if you’re single with kids or a student. We don’t know if you’ve had unrelated careers before this or have been doing this since the moment you came out of the womb. We don’t need to know.

As with all writing, the words are merely our offering. Once they are in your hands/mind, how they are received is down to you. It is down to you, the reader, to find, with your own knowledge (or lack of it), with your own experience (or lack of it), meaning. Whether that meaning causes you to move forward, move back or stay put, once again, is down to you.

Oh yes, we’re going to be staying on you for a while!

2014 – The Year of Work!

This brings us to 2014. So frequently do we wish each other ‘please have a good year’ and ‘hope that INSERT YEAR treats you well’ or ‘I pray INSERT YEAR brings you everything you wish for’ as if aforementioned year is entirely responsible for everything that enters one’s existence.

Well the Film Doctor team firmly condemns this attitude!! Of course, we wholly accept that the world and people and life offer up strange and exciting things. Depending on your lifestyle, it can be every few months or daily. But the Lion’s share of what comes your way, comes from you. It comes from you ‘putting yourself out there’ or ‘picking up the phone’. It comes from attending events and ‘testing the waters’.

It all comes down to that classic saying (often attributed to Sam Goldwyn) ‘the harder I work, the luckier I get’.

It’s not ‘the industry’ that needs to change (sure, it’s not perfect, but think of how unreasonable it is for you to want star actors, executives and billions of audience members to shift to what YOU want!!). It’s you! Nobody is conspiring to stop you from succeeding (they want you to be the next big thing!) It’s just you. It’s you that has to change, has to improve or has to just simply keep going at it. You, you, you, YOU!

So, don’t sit there ‘waiting to see what 2014 will bring’. It doesn’t owe you anything! Bring something to it. Bring something to yourself. Live with the attitude ‘everything is in my hands’. Of course, your breaking point may arise through chance but the ball will only roll, and roll fast, because you pushed it!

Don’t fall in love with ‘being creative’. If you want this to be a job (or to get higher paid jobs), then treat it like one.

What should I work on?

Scripts. Films. Technology. Meeting people. Dealmaking. Pitching. Knowing the market.

Those are all part of the film business and it is YOUR business to get good at, and keep up to date with, them.

Hop to it!

Be Cool. Stay Real

One more thing. Don’t swing too far the other way, either. Don’t become George Bailey (It’s a Wonderful Life) or Charles Foster Kane (Citizen Kane) and let your drive and determination destroy all the people and things you love. Always reserve a piece of you (preferably a large one) that can enjoy life independently from your film/writing successes, whether it’s snuggling up with a loved one, working in a team or long walks. Keep yourself human. You ARE a human. Not a film factory!

So, go ahead. Go forward. Work. Work at working. Work at not working, from time to time. And know that, whatever you do or can do, it’s up to you. Take that responsibility and enjoy it!

Have a great 2014, whoever you are. Make it a great one. It can be, can’t you just feel it?

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Any questions/thoughts/experiences of your own??? Leave a comment below!

Have a great week!

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