Living in Los Angeles, I have met countless would-be filmmakers who move here with great film career expectations, only to be chewed up and spit out. The reason most Hollywood hopefuls fail is because they don't have a long term, solid plan for movie industry success.
5 Movie Industry Success Tips
To help you avoid common pitfalls, I put together 5 tips for movie industry success.
1. Read Everything: Read every business book you can, especially the ones not related to the movie industry. Why? If you ever decide to raise money, most of your prospective investors will come from other industries. You will want to frame your movie project so it sounds like sound business!
2. Get a Sales Job: If you have to take a job to survive, you may as well learn how to sell. I say this because no matter what you do, your success will depend on your ability to sell yourself and your projects. Plus, as an added bonus, professional sales people sometimes make more than doctors.
3. Set Clear Goals: Have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish in your movie career. So many people are clueless. They go around and around, always saying things like: “This is going to be the year I really get focused.” Twenty years later, they are saying the same stuff. If you haven't written down your filmmaking goals, you run the risk of becoming one of those people. Don't do that.
4. Greenlight Yourself: In the event you are between industry jobs, create your own project. These days, making short movies and uploading to YouTube is uber inexpensive. There is no excuse not to make shorts and try to gauge audience reaction. No responses? Then make another! Learn how to make things happen on the small screen, and the big screen will follow.
5. Become a Marketing Machine: In ways akin to learning how to sell, you must also learn a thing or two about internet marketing. Film distribution is evolving. The filmmakers who make it, know how to directly engage their audiences. (You still need to do good work!)
Hope this helps. And if you'd like additional movie industry success tips, download my filmmaker checklist. What are you waiting for?
