Passion for the business

I have concluded all but one interview and continue to try to tame this beast, now due in a mere two days. It's far from beaten and I have to now fight through "the wall" that any marathon runner can describe; no time for relaxing or "calling it a day." It doesn't matter what the gentle breeze pushing the front window curtains or the deepening shade of sky are telling me. The cat is fed and contentedly splayed out on one of the dining room chairs, while the sounds of the neighbors happily playing dominos and chatting in Spanish wafts in from a side window. For me though, the work must continue. This is but a small break.

In interviewing all the wonderful (with the exception of one) people for this article, it's been refreshing and dare I say, renewing, to keep happening upon one similarity. Passion. Tremendous passion for what they do.

Therein is the secret of this business. Though some are paid very well, these writers and directors aren't doing it for the money. They're doing it for the love, the passion.

While each person has spoken of the difficulties of surviving in the entertainment business (some having the benefit of speaking with hindsight), they all talked foremost about the love and passion they have for what they do.

Without fail, they would make movies, no matter what. Every one of the success stories I heard was prefaced by years of sleeping on floors and doing whatever it took to survive—while writing, writing, writing. The "breakout", the successful moment, invariably was due to making their own fortune; to writing or taking a job when there seemed to be no reason to, or scant reason at best. As was well said by one person, every opportunity is a good opportunity.

This (and some talent and some luck) is what has differentiated these people from the countless numbers strewn on the road to "success". They did it for the love, not the money. They did it because they HAD to. It's a good reminder for people starting out. Do it because you're absolutely passionate about it. If you're not passionate, if you're skeptical in any way, don't try to do it professionally. Make it a hobby. And in this day and age of digital filmmaking, that's entirely possible.

The happiest times I've had as a "filmmaker" were when I was thirteen years old, running around my backyard with my brother and friends, making movies on a bulky camcorder and portable VCR. Though I drove my brother and my friends crazy, the excitement of doing it was like nothing I'd ever experienced. Over the years, it has sometimes been easy to forget the purity of that thrill. Money, organization, cynicism; the "business" of show, can do that. There are people in this business that, like vampires sucking the blood from the throats of babies, will take your passion if you're not blindly driven.

In talking to the writers and directors of the past couple weeks, I've been reminded again of that child's passion. Not that I ever lost it, but being surrounded by like-driven people was a good recharge; a good reminder that the glass is half full. Hell—there's a glass of water actually there and I get to hold it!

Every time I tap the "FADE IN:" shortcut keys when I begin a new screenplay, I get a thrill. I visualize that fade in on a big screen in a dark theater. I imagine settling into the seat, the smell of buttered popcorn in the air.
I remember the first time I was able to 'fade up" in a movie I made back in those childhood days. It was an establishing shot of an airplane that had crash landed on a desert island. In reality it was a small plastic model in the dirt and a passing ant gave away any semblance of realism. Still, it was the fade up—the ability to use that cinematic language—that made me tremble with delight; a delight that I've never lost but in these past weeks was reminded of once again.