What Makes a Filmmaker Great: Awards vs. Talent

With the 86^th Annual Academy Awards ceremony occurring last Sunday, March 2, Hollywood has been buzzing about those who won, the outstanding talent that was on display, and the exciting things that these filmmakers will go on to do. That said, as in all facets of the entertainment industry, awards shows like these truly are a politics game. I recently stumbled upon a post on one of my favorite sources for news in the film world (IndieWire) entitled “20 Celebrated Filmmakers Who Never Won A BestDirecting Oscar.” Being one with a great love of both film and the Oscars, this caught my attention.

Negotiation & Deal-Making: Interview with Nick Sambrato

Harvey Robbins once said, that when it comes to the art of negotiation, one must “Place a higher priority on discovering what a win looks like for the other person.” This is a lesson that all would be wise to learn. Too often people commonly see a negotiation as a bit of a forced compromise. However, in reality, this could not be further from the truth. As I have learned in my current Negotiation and Deal Making course at Full Sail, “negotiation is a problem solving opportunity,” which more often than not means learning to see a situation from another’s perspective.

This month, we were given the assignment to interview an individual from the entertainment industry who is adept in negotiating and deal making within their field. My first thoughts were: “Oh boy, who in the world am I going to interview?” Part of the beauty of living in Orlando is that this area is full of all facets of the entertainment industry. Right in the heart of Winter Park is a creative studio whose impressive portfolio of work caught my eye. What is this studio, you ask? Fiction.

In the Ring: Hollywood Mega Budget Films vs. Independent Mid Budget Films

"That's the big danger, and there's eventually going to be an implosion — or a big meltdown. There's going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen mega budget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that's going to change the paradigm."

Steven Spielberg

It is no secret that the film industry has undergone drastic changes and advances in the last 20 years. Today, with all of the incredible technology we have available at our fingertips filmmaking is the most accessible it has ever been, yet we face two major threats: implosion, as Spielberg and Lucas predict and the death of studio produced mid-budget films. With these threats looming, there has been a particular dark horse running in the races for years with the major studios making desperate strides to be a top contender for the attention of the world’s audiences. Who is this dark horse? They are many, varied and brimming with original ideas: they are independent filmmakers.

Treasure Hunt: Following the Clues to a Great Story

I have magically found my way back to one of my favorite things to study: storytelling. I know this seems like an unusual topic to study, after all, as humans, storytelling is practically a part of our DNA, right? Certainly! However, crafting a truly exquisite story requires some effort. Writer and director Andrew Stanton made some excellent points that all aspiring writers should take the time to listen to in a TED talk entitled “The Clues to A Great Story.”

Whether we want to admit it or not, we love stories that make us care – and stories that make us “work for our meal,” as Stanton puts it. What does this mean? We want to be caught up in a story, caught up in a movie. I don’t know about you, but part of the movie experience for me is playing detective: What is going to happen next? Who is the true villain here? Is he going to live?

In the Network: Connecting With the Industry

 I am sure that you have heard the saying, “It’s all about who you know,” and if you are anything like me, you retaliate with “Yea, yea, I know, but where do I meet these people I need to know?” Good news! I have finally figured out the elusive secret to this question: industry events! As a filmmaker, currently living in Orlando, FL, it seems that I am a bit disconnected from the film industry in my day-to-day life.

The Art of Story

It is likely that we have all been to a movie in the past month or two – right? But how many movies have left you feeling as if the last two and a half hours of your life (and $20 of your hard earned cash) has just flushed down the toilet?  Why is this? Bad stories. Without question, the most important part of any great movie is a captivating story, a compelling script. However, we seem to be at a point in the history of cinema where anyone can call himself or herself a writer, and they indeed can write, but they are not producing great stories by any stretch of the imagination.

I personally have fought this battle many times: the battle of developing a story that is enthralling. It is no easy task by any means, and I will forever be in the process of perfecting my craft as a storyteller. There is a fundamental force of screenwriting that many young screenwriters are often forgetting. Every story must contain a beginning, middle and an end. If you were to ask any learned screenwriter what the most critical element of writing a good movie was, they would answer you according to the Robert McKee creed: Three-Act Structure. I am not the first to notice the increasing number of movies that are lacking in story structure these days, Spielberg has said, “People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.” I do not know about you, but a never-ending beginning is not something that I enjoy, I want to see stories go places! And so does Robert McKee (portrayed by Brian Cox) in "Adaptation."

The Faces of Leadership

We seem to live in a day and age where everything appears to have many different faces, and leadership is no different. Look at some of the individuals at the forefront of their fields and rarely will you see two who are just alike. As one whose career is centered in the world of entertainment, I tend to gravitate toward leaders within the arts. However, take a look at Jay Z, Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett and you will see several very different leadership styles.

Despite the differences in many individual approaches to leadership, there are two different paths that almost every great leader can be tied back to in one-way or another: servant leadership or power-centric leadership. In reading both John C. Maxwell’s Developing the Leader Within You, focusing on servant leadership and influence, and Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power, focusing on how to gain power in a more self-centered approach, it has become abundantly clear to me that while learning how to utilize both types of leadership it crucial to being an effective leader, we each tend to connect more with one view than the other.