Sunday 18 February 2007 - Short Filmmaking Is How You Break In
Okay everybody, now that we've gotten my emotional "invocation to the muse" out of the way, I can properly introduce myself and start talking to you about short filmmaking, beginning with why it's a "must do" if you're trying to break into film:
Every aspiring Hollywood type must make a short film, and have a feature script at the ready.
MUST.
Because that's how you break in.
But let's back up to who I am and how I might know that.
My name is Aslum Khan. Let me give you my whole life in entertainment (bear with me, even though I'm thirty, it's needlessly long). When I was in Second Grade, I was the lead in a play. Was one of the leads again in Fourth Grade, then the lead again in Fifth Grade. However, in High School Drama and Acting Classes, I realized I didn't want to be an actor.
Lucky for me, my uncle is Aziz Quaisi (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1532756/), so I come from a family of writers. So naturally in 1994, the year I graduated High School, I won like a bunch of writing awards, including a trip to Washington DC for this one: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/becites/cfb/95039994.html, and a play-writing contest for an autobiographical play called "When Dad Remarried." I've always been passionate about film, and at that point in my life, I started taking it seriously, so I attempted to turn that play into a short. The problem is, it dealt with my father abusing my mother (who died of breast cancer when I was 13), and I didn't tell him I was going to make it. He shut it down right in the middle of production, we fought, but that turned out to be a blessing, because even then and there, I realized that I didn't want to direct, either.
So in 1999 or so, I wrote this http://www.mycomicpile.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2571&sid=a3e7363de633f9d9439b07313c919997 (I'll scan the cover and post a jpeg if anybody is interested - just hit me up), and tried to parlay it into a comic book writing career (I used to be /obsessed/ with comics, and I know a /lot/ about them). That didn't work either. Then in about 1992, _Hustler's Busty Beauties_ hired me to write a couple of dirty stories for them (they pay really well, and I'm a big old perv), which got me to writing for the magazine today. I'm finishing up an article for them now. And in between all of that, I got my Bachelor's Degree in English from the University of Illinois, and most importantly, my MS in Media Management from Syracuse University's famous SI Newhouse School of Public Communications. And it was the best thing I could have done, because I finally found my calling: producing. I then networked my way onto the show "Dark Angel" in 2001, (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1149434/), got blacklisted from that ('nother long story), went through a 'bout with illness (I've had a very serious strain of Lupus since 1989; am currently on dialysis), unemployment and a bad relationship that turned out good (but ended), and now I'm on dialysis, but back in the hunt. And the mission for this year is to make two short films.
Here's why: If you make a short film, you can honestly say you know how to make a film, and somebody can hire you to do so if they like your work. Period. If Hollywood was like the rest of the world, and people put ads in the paper looking for, say, "qualified directors," s/he who has made a short film can answer the ad, show the film, and get hired based on that. In real life, what actually happens is one of two things: you make the short, it does well in a festival or something, and people offer you deals to direct features. That's best case scenario. Worst case scenario, you have your script for your feature ready, as well as your short, and you start soliciting people for money. Your example of what you can do is your film, so it helps to argue your case. Argue it effectively and somebody writes you a cheque, you make your feature, and you're rich and famous.
So again, every aspiring creator needs to have made a short film, and be attached to a quality feature script if they want to break in.
So how do you do that? Next time around, I'll tell you my step one.
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