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Group ideas sessions

countevil

countevil

Last night I attended the first meeting of a filmmaking group. It's set up to make movies and learn the skills required. We're planning to make a film possibly of feature length.

To come up with an idea we just sat there and threw out ideas into the group. The group is pretty large, around 20 people. I found quite soon that I didn't get on with the process at all. I am not the most dominating of people, so I didn't get very much input at all dispite having good ideas. It seemed that a few people took over and it became their idea. My ideas were pushed tone side and eventually forgotten.

Seeing as I intend to pursue a career writing screeplays and creating my ideas, it kind of seemed like a massive loss on my part to have had such little input. This was the part I was most passionate about.
I found it very unfullfilling. Will I still have fun making the film even though it's in no aspect my idea?


I wondered if anyone else has had similar experiences, found large numbers of people a hinderance to creating ideas.
 
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I don't suffer the large writer's room very well at all...I can't work like that. I have very distinct ideas and prefer to write them alone, then work with a single script editor to reach a finished product. I've tried the big room process before and I don't seem to ever agree with where they lead, so I clam up and don't offer anything of substance. Not to say that great scripts have never come from the big room approach...I've directed them before. It can work. Just not with me.

You'll still have fun making the movie...why do it if it's not fun?
 
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Are you sure it's not a "film group" that is essentially a couple of people looking to make their own project, with a bunch of volunteers who think they'll be included in the creative process somehow?

If you're mainly interested in the writing aspect of filmmaking, it doesn't sound like you're going to be getting anything out of this. It's already as good as done.

Maybe you'll meet a few contacts, but I wouldn't be surprised if you end up as a PA "learning the process" by making someone elses' baby entirely. A feature-length one, too.

That's just the cynic in me speaking. :cool:
 
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The few times I have worked with a group to come up with ideas and
a story and a script has been exactly the same as yours.
Unfulfilling. Writing is not a group process. Two is fine, three
is difficult and anything more than that and it’s just a mess.

In my opinion filmmaking isn’t a group process. It’s a
collaborative process. And there is a difference. Each actor
brings a unique point of view to the character and story, but a
director who allows each actor to do what ever they want ends up
with a mess. Five actors with no director aren’t as focused as
five actors with a director.

The same goes for the other creative people on set - the DP the
sound recordist, the costumer, the makeup artist, the gaffer, the
camera operator. All of these people working as an equal group,
sharing their ideas, hoping to have their input dominate is just
a mess.

I can imagine your disappointment. You’re a writer and 19 other
people all with story ideas an input must have been confusing. No
way could I write that way.

I lean towards ZenSteve’s suspicion. I suspect the people who
started this group are the ones with the ideas and they are going
to stick to their ideas. They are hoping others will love what
they want to do and volunteer to work on their movie.

Anyway, that has been my experience with filmmaking groups.
 
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Yeah there was a bit of a hiarchy. Two people run the group and then there were about 4 who had been member before. They tended to get the final say. The idea that came up wasn't bad (about people selling their soul to the devil), I just felt a bit disconnected from it.

The people in charge said they try to make things work out so everyone gets involved. They don't write scripted lines, apparently it's all improv. It'll be interesting to see how that works. Maybe that'll mean I can get some of my thought across.

At any rate they have good equipment. 5 cameras, a dolly, a crane, lighting and sound. Plus the use of a theatre.
 
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You're better off making indietalk.com your group and learning from these fine folks. Then when you need some crew members, use your other group. :)
 
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Stardust Walking said:
A feature length project with no script....:lol:
I love a good train wreck. Grab another camera and film the carnage!

What could be more fun.

Terry
Click to expand...

Exactly what I was thinking.

You don't throw carpenters, plumbers, electricians, etc., onto a construction site and tell them to start building a house without having a blueprint.
 
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Well they've made one film without a solid script and it seemed to work from what I've seen. But yeah I'm quite dubious myself. There's going to be behind the scenes stuff filmed in paralell so if it does go completely wrong I'll try to upload a copy to show you.
 
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It's all about choosing your own attitude. When you walk into a room about to have a group decision your attitude must be to enjoy what comes out from them "screaming" most in the room. With this attitude comes for you to cherish what they come up with and see the whole process a bit more as a social game. If you have a better idea, you'll develop it alone, have full control and when you're ready you present it for a group.
 
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My favorite screenwriters have consistently portrayed the larger writer's room to me as the place to go for shallow plots and Michael-Bay-explosions type films. To get a screenplay with more substance, pair up with one or two writers who mesh well with your genre and your methodology. Or fly solo (more credit)!
 
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