Trust

When you work in any industry, trust is important, but I find it especially important when dealing with a film/tv/web series, etc.  Why?  Because you're judged not by what you've done, as much as what you've completed.  Starting 50 movies is great, but if you've never completed one, what good are you?  The answer, not very.  Let me tell you a few stories about projects I've worked on.  The names have been changed to protect the innocent. 

My first film, ATTACHMENTS, was finished shooting in July 2007.  It's still in post-production.  It'll hopefully come out this year... but who knows. 

TRIBE CALLED ?LOVE, my first TV show, was completed for a grand total of...not enough money.  Let's just say I was hoofin' it all over the nation's capital.  I WAS one of the innovators who used Google Maps to make my project work... mostly because there wasn't a budget for anything else. 

TULIPS AND DAGGERS, another TV show, didn't have enough gear to get through a proper production.  We didn't even have night camera to catch the contestants while the cameras weren't on.  Also, no confessional.  Then, when we got into post-production, I was awarded a grand total of one 2 hour editing session during the assembly cut.  It still isn't finished, save for a trailer. 

So, as you can see from this smattering of productions, I've done some small stuff, but it doesn't matter because either a) it's not good enough to show or b) it's not done so nobody knows it exists.  There are tons more stories that I have about falling in with an untrustworthy cat, but I won't bore you with them. 

What does this all mean?  Well, don't sign a contract with someone just because they wave it in front of you...or offer you a chunk of money.  See, once you sign, they sort of own you.  You'll be called in to do rewrites, or sit in on casting, or any number of things which eat away at your time.  Then, they'll get through the process and take a big fat dump on everything you've worked on.

My advice:  Look carefully at a producer, make sure they've done something, anything, that they've followed through to the end.  You don't have to produce AVATAR to earn my respect, but you do need to show that you've got your head on straight and that you'll see my project through to the BITTER END, before I agree to work with you.  That, or write me a big, hairy, ungodly check and then I'll shut my mouth because, well, I'm a whore.