Ten quick thoughts on Filmmaking

On finding an audience, shooting on your phone, and realising you are not Tarantino.

1. The important part of the word is not 'film', it's 'making'. You have to make stuff. There are people who call themselves filmmakers, who haven't made anything in seven years because nobody has given them the budget to do so. These people are not filmmakers.

If someone bleeds film, they'll find a way to make stuff.

Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash

2. I have been doing this a lot of years, and I have many skills, but I am blown away daily by YouTubers and Tiktokkers -- many who've only been shooting for a few months -- who do crazy innovative things with cameras and in their edits. This ingenuity is what makes a filmmaker a filmmaker.

Sure, we can judge the fact that they're putting work on socials rather than into some film festival in France, but the important thing is that they're making stuff. And they're being original.

3. Although I recently wrote a post that was quite anti-social media, the truth is that Instagram and TikTok are incredible places to find an audience.

A big realisation for me happened when I was slogging away making short films for festivals, and NOBODY was watching them.

When it occured to me that the culture was fully focused and engaged in online content — I switched to making fun comedy for TikTok & Instagram. I soon found my audience - with over 200 million views in just over a year, and 200,000 followers overall.

The audience is there, and they're ready for whatever it is you're making.

Don't be a snob when it comes to finding an audience!