The film industry, business, and creative world is very complicated and multi-layered in its planning, implementation, and exploitation. I have certainly seen it from many different angles in my long media life. From the very first time I took a film class, had my first job on a project, wrote my first screenplay, worked for my first film company, and finally up to directing my first film, it has been an eye-opening, head-popping education. Sometimes there are things that go on that are very difficult to fathom and completely comprehend. And because of all this, it can be unpredictable, unforgiving, and relentless. But you keep moving on and you keep working it.
When I first left Texas in the late ‘80’s I got a job at one of the major studios fairly early on. Even though I was trying to make it as a screenwriter, I worked in a financial division for several years. I figured being attached to a big studio in any way would help me make contacts and see how this business worked. That was true to a degree, but I got a much rougher education than I had ever intended. I came to Hollywood with stars in my eyes, and over the years felt like I picked up more black holes than anything resembling the shine of stars. At first, that was disheartening, but then I realized I was a bit too naïve to begin with, and realized I had better get with the program if I was to ‘work it.’
First of all, the film business is exactly that, a business. Right-brained creatives have their place, but they don’t run things. It is a left-brained world, where the executives, the lawyers, the financiers, the agents, the distributors, in some clunky way all work to call the shots. Commerce vs. art, where art will almost always lose out. And maybe even more so now than ever before.
Second of all, I am by nature more right-brained than left. However, that doesn’t mean I have not learned how to balance the two out. I think to truly survive in the midst of this environment, it is quite necessary. The result of that was why and how I created my own film company.
And finally, yes I could probably write a book about all this, but now I must fast forward to where we at Way To Go Media now find ourselves, in a true business reality. For one of the realities I learned long ago while in the studio world, is that many more film projects go into development than ever go into production. In fact, I believe that only about 8-12% that go into development ever go into production. And that is the percentage for the big guys. So, us poor indies might even have it tougher, right? Well, maybe …
That brings us right where I really need to be, right now. I am here to make an announcement on the progress of our current film project, ONE HAND CLAPPING, which we had slated to go into production this spring in Austin, Texas. That project has been temporarily shelved and put on hiatus, and will not go into production as we had originally planned. That does not mean it will never be produced. It only means it will not be made when we thought it would be, and that our slate of projects has also been adjusted.
You might initially ask, what happened? Well, my answer is not near as simple as the question. In fact, it was not just one thing. Putting together a film project is an involved and complex undertaking, with lots of moving parts that must come together in an intense, compressed period of time. However, this announcement comes with its own silver linings.
In the process of rethinking what we at Way To Go Media are trying to accomplish, we have retooled our project slate in a way we now feel will work better for the long term future of our company. What does that mean? Check out the Projects Page and the Mission Statement on our company website to get more of a flavor of where we are headed. I see some exciting possibilities on a brighter horizon we are creating. Our future is wide open, and we hope you are with us. It should be quite exciting!
Jerry Alden Deal www.waytogomedia.com