In my last post, I talked extensively about the difference between an indie film and a studio film, and why I chose to go indie. I said that the reason I went indie was because I wanted full creative control and I kept talking about "my vision" and "my art" and I meant those terms. Of course this raises a big question:
"If you want to control the artistic vision, then why do you have other producers and a director? Why not do it all yourself?"
This is the first thing I had to learn about the movie making process: It is a collaborative art. The days of a movie being the exclusively singular vision of one person are, with a few rare exceptions, gone. Even small indie films can have over a dozen creatives working on them and putting their stamp on them. At some level, you have to give up some control to get the movie done right.
This was hard for me to swallow at first. I am so used to doing everything myself, to exercising complete and exclusive control over all aspects of my art that initially, I didn't want to collaborate. I actually looked into the feasibility of doing it myself; writing, directing, producing, acting--everything. I thought that by doing that, I could be sure that the creative vision would remain pure and it would be mine.
I gave up that idea really fucking fast, right after I started writing the script in 2005. I will write many other posts specifically dedicated to the script itself, but in short, I fucking failed. My first few efforts at a script were complete dogshit. Laughably bad. The characters were the same as my stories, the jokes were the same, but...it just wasn't right. It sucked as a movie.
I went to TheProducer and asked for help. She walked me through some changes and whatnot, but I still could not get past the seminal issue: Screenwriting has its own logic and its own form, and you have to abide by it. It's nothing like writing a short story, and I could not get the form down on my own.
That was when I went to Nils Parker. I told him that I was having problems fitting my stories into screenplay format, and since he is the best writer I knew, I asked him for help. He agreed, and we became collaborators. It took us several years to learn how to write a screenplay, and it took us time to learn how to work together, but we did both and it has turned out to be a great experience--Nils was not only able to fill the gaps in my abilities, he brought a ton of creative talent to the table, and combined, we created something greater than the sum of our parts. It's a cool synergy. Now, I wouldn't dream of doing a script without him heavily involved.
That lesson--that collaboration can not only be done well, but can create something amazing as a result--was what ultimately dispelled me of the notion that I was going to be some Alfred Hitchcock-type auteur and do everything myself. Not only did I probably not have the ability to do that, but I was leaving so much on the table. The fact is, I am not the only one with good ideas. I am not the only talented one. I am not the only one who can create something based around the "Tucker Max" universe. Just because I am the one who created the vision, does not mean that others can't add value to it.
This led to the second thing I had to learn: If I am going to collaborate, how do I do it while still maintaining the vision I laid out? We all know the maxim about too many cooks in the kitchen; how do I avoid that? Here are the things I've learned so far in attaching people to a project:
1. Let them know exactly what the vision is, and make sure they share it: There is nothing worse than bringing someone on for a job that doesn't share your vision for the project. For instance, how awful would it be if the director saw Tucker as a woman-hating misogynist, instead of as a lovable narcissist? That would be antithetical to how the movie should be done. When we were interviewing directors, we always asked them to outline why they liked the script, what they thought of the characters, and how they saw certain things. I wanted to make sure their vision of this project lined up with mine, especially on the key issues. You don't want robots, or people who parrot back what you want to hear, but you do want them to agree with you on the major issues.
2. Let them know exactly what value they need to add to that vision: For example, when picking the director, we were very clear about his role--it was to take our ideas and our script and translate it into a movie. I didn't want his interpretation of my world, I wanted him to make my interpretation into a movie. From the start, be very clear about what role you want the person to fill and what their job is, and if you already found someone who shares our vision, you'll be fine.
3. Get out of the way and let them do their job: Once you find someone who shares your vision and tell them what you want them to do, get the fuck out of their way. Either you do the job or you hire someone to do it, and if you hire someone, let them earn their money. Micromanaging is for the insecure.
4. When you disagree--and you will disagree--the issue must be resolved on the merits: There is no question that I run this movie. But when we are discussing creative issues, things like changing a line of dialogue or picking an actor to play a role or anything like that, the discussion is always about the issues, and never about who is in charge. I can't tell you how many arguments Nils and I have had over the last two years about this movie and the script. Three hundred at least. But every time, the argument is always confined to the issue at hand, and it's always resolved on the merits of the issue, never by authority. Never once have I said, "We are doing it my way because I said so." If I can't win the argument on merit alone, then I am wrong and I have to concede the point, regardless of the fact that I am "in charge." A decision doesn't become right because the person in charge made it, and there is no quicker way to destroy morale and ruin the movie than to pull rank on creative decisions.
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