Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The World Of WD--Cheap, Fast, And Good

Thank you for the warm welcome! Glad to see so many people see eye to eye about Jessica Alba. Never actually met her but I will say her brother is a doll.

To answer your questions Pariss I'm a little bit all three. I am definitely more Doer than Dreamer and I hope a lot more Dreamer than Entitled. But I think we all have a little of all 3 in us.

Miss X is right. This can apply to all lives, all careers, all dreams. You need to be a little entitled to have the courage to go after what you want, especially if it's different than what's expected of you. You have to have a bit of Dreamer, and talent, to back your actions. Most importantly you need to be a Doer or someone else will live your dream-life, and, not as well you could have.

As for my Lost connection, there isn't one...yet. J.J. Abrams is brilliant. I had an audition for a great role on Lost about ten days ago. An acting and action role. I was so excited. A week in Hawaii. A great show. Lots of frolicking on the beach and good looking men. Two hours before the audition, my agent called and told me it had been canceled. That's it. Just canceled. I found out later that week that the audition had been canceled because Zoë Bell had accepted the part. So if I'm going to loose out on a role, at least it's to Zoë Bell!

So this week I was working on my friend's feature film. A film I wasn't going to be working on because the budget was shockingly low (and I've worked on some low budget films), but they were good friends of mine and I didn't want to let them down. The interesting thing I have come to see, is there is an interesting trade off between budget and idealism on set. There is an interesting saying which I think applies to everything but works wonderfully for this industry.

You have three ways of getting something done. CHEAP. FAST. GOOD. But you can only have 2 at a time. If you want it Cheap and Fast it's not gonna be Good. If you want it Cheap and Good it's not gonna be Fast. If you want something Fast and Good it's not gonna be Cheap.

The low budget indie - You might not ever see this movie, you might not ever hear about this movie. And there are only two ways of making these, CHEAP and GOOD (very slowly on weekends between begging, borrowing and day jobs) or CHEAP and FAST (It's done. It's crap but it's done).

Studio Pictures- You actually might not see a lot of these. Even with all the clout and power. You'd be surprised how few of these actually make it to the theatres. This is especially true now because the studios make more money sending it straight to DVD.

Sadly, a lot of these movies don't fit into any of the categories. They are EXPENSIVE-SLOW-BAD. Have you seen Spiderman 3?

My point is that I had a blast working on my friend’s film. It didn’t matter that we didn’t have our own trailers and limos. We had all banded together to create something because this what we are here for. People in the indie world are still doing it for love and art. I’m not saying that high paying professionals don’t, but there is a spark missing. When your love becomes your job, when your release is your paycheck, when your hobby is your “9 to 5”, a little bit of the artist in you fades. You are no longer struggling to express yourself. So this little cast of working actors and crew who are normally highly paid professionals came together to fight the man, to make a movie, against all odds. Maybe you will end up seeing it, and maybe you won't. Either way, it’ll be better than Spiderman 3.

16 comments:

kellygirl said...

more clues about the movie.
come on! you don't understand what suckers we are for the lead-on!!!

parisss said...

Thank you for your answer!

I was really hoping for a Lost connection!

mooshki said...

You have really good insight into the biz. I'm glad Ent recruited you.

Since you brought up J.J. Abrams,is there any chance "Cloverfield" is going to manage to hit the trifecta? We know it was done fast and (relatively) cheap, and from the new trailer I suspect it may be good.

Tracee said...

I know it's hard to "label" some indie movies, but the one youre working on is it a drama, comedy, action, romance or a little a bit of everything?

And do you have starring role or just a supporting one?

Unknown said...

I'll take Cheap-Slow-Good over expensive-fast-bad any day of the week. And not just in movies. It's pretty much how I live life. Well, maybe not so much 'cheap' cheap... But definitely slow and good... ;p

Anonymous said...

Poop, Zoe Bell was my #1 guess. At least I was on the right track.

I appreciate your well thought-out writings, WD. It's great to get the insider's perspective.

Justa JobSeeker said...

Hiya WD!

Thanks for coming along to chat with us! I have a question, or rather an observation about my own film viewing tendencies, that I wonder if the more exposed celebrities think about.

I find that when I go to see a movie that has a highly celebrated actor (personality?) in it that I am often very disappointed because I can't seem to forget the personality and see through them to their the character. It ruins the movie for me.

Is it media overexposure or are they just bad actors?

Lately, the only movies that I have seen that I consider to be really good are those with less well-known actors, and strikingly, they end up being predominantly indies.

I have started to respond with my movie going money and never visit the first run showings of movies with the likes of Pitt, Clooney, Jolie, et al, and wait for the DVD release to rent. On the other hand, I gleefully shell out my hard earned scrabble for films like Juno.

Is anyone else like this ar am I expecting too much?

Unknown said...

Welcome WD! We're really looking forward to your insights and inside observations. And please, snark is always welcome :-)

Oh, and everybody else, I think the big clue noted by EL was that WD said Joshua Alba is a doll... together with her having said she's worked on low-budget pictures, it sure seems like she's worked with him, and he doesn't have that many movies to go through...

Miss X said...

Am I the only person here who saw Spiderman 3 and kind of liked it?

WD, thanks for another good post.

It seems to me that indie films are better than the Big Budget Studio films. Studio films seem to lack orginality. How many more tv shows can they turn into movies? Do they not have any original ideas left?

Unknown said...

Could this be Chauntal Lewis? Who did The Commune, a indie? However, this one's in the can, so your current work cannot be that one...

Anyway, welcome! We appreciate the "insider's look" into the industry!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
redgurl72 said...

Hi WD. Love your comments.

I see Joshua Alba was in Alpha Dogs. I'm thinking you might be a friend of one of Ent's other spys...
Do you think Joshua knows his sister has a horrible rep? I find Alba confusing.

Nosey Parker said...

Did Jessica Alba try to restart an old romance with 50 Cent? Did she go back to Cash because it didn't work out with 50?

merrick said...

wd, thanks for being so honest about the industry that, I at least, am a million miles away from .. I love indie films, and to me, it is one of my secret pleasures ..I do not go in for big budget ..give me a good story .. an actor or actress who takes the role and makes it their own .. edgy, gritty ..more real, than leo standing on the edge of ship pretending to fly .. what crap .. my favorite line while watching these types of films is .. yeah, like that really happens ... i know people love fantasy, I prefer reality ..

merrick said...

just a quickie question .. were you in alpha dog?

YahMoBThere said...

This person writes REALLY well. I can't wait to read more entries.

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