I was asked to talk at the London Screenwriters festival. It was such a fun event and I felt a very warm welcome from all those that attended. The energy and excitement from the festival is contagious. I had the pleasure of being on stage with the Oscar winning filmmakers Mat Kirby and James Lucas and the session was moderated by the lovely Gale Hackston. You can watch the full talk here:
Here are a few of my favourite take aways from the talk:
Tenacity
"Let yourself have those pitfuls and failures and keep going and keep going! There isn't a film school for doing a succesful short film. It's basically tenacity!" - Mat Kirby
"If you want it badly enough be prepared to do it no matter what! Even if it's just you acting it out in front of a camera... it's got to be that level of dedication. When you have that level of dedication people will see it and you will attract others and it will happen! You just have to have that level of comitment!" - Sebastian Solberg
Collaboration
"You've got to have passion for your project and if you've got passion for it that's going to be contagious and people are going to want to work with you and help bring your project to life. It doesn't matter who it is... with my early films I would literary get my friends or the people down the road to act in it or help out, I would show them how to hold a boom and those sorts of things. You've just got to be really creative and find ways to make it work. If you want it badly enough and you're passionate about it you can make it happen!" - Sebastian Solberg
"It's a matter of getting out there and going to these festivals and meeting like minded people!" - James Lucas
Cut Your Cloth Accordingly
"You've got your own opportunities and contacts. You know we did ours in a room on purpose because I knew I couldn't afford locations. I wanted it to be about the words on a page. It's more like a screenwriters calling card isn't it and I'm just from an older genereation. I'm twenty years older than Sebastian, I would always tell everyone, don't put a wooly mamoth in the begining. Don't start off in 20 000 BC in the snow.... He did start like that and he f****** nailed it and it's brilliant! Obviously I don't have contacts in CGI.... You cut your cloth accordingly. If you know someone who works at frame store or someone that can knock you up a wooly mamoth or a spaceship or whatever then go for that.... You cut your clothe accordingly." - Mat Kirby
