I talk about this on rare occasions, but this seems like a good time. There is an entire industry built on taking advantage of would be artists. Festivals, agents, promoters, etc, who KNOW that they will not be able to help you, but will effortlessly lie to your face and can make a comfortable living doing so. With just a bit of logic you can see right past all of it. If someone can make money from your work, and believes that you can make it, THEY give YOU money. Investing in a creator is like any other investment. So when people tell you that you should pay them money, such as a screening fee, attendance fee, promotion fee, that is not a person that feels you are investment worthy. That is a person that sees your limited financing, which they already know isn't enough, and wants to take it for themselves. I would say that people selling fake dreams to aspiring filmmakers accounts for about 85% of the money changing hands in the indie film industry.
Think of those giant lines of people outside the American Idol auditions. Outside of the Midwest, there are all these people with a functional 5th grade knowledge of mathematics. They see a line of 5k people standing in the sun for 8 hours to get a 1% shot at a 12k dollar contract, and they do the obvious thing. Instead of joining the line, they set up a drink stand, they sell certificates of singing, they hawk 20 dollar "I practiced all year for American Idol" t shirts, telling people that the judges will care. At the end of each day, that guy scalping bottled water to the people in the line has made as much or more money than the person who actually won the singing contest. It's reliable income, and unlike filmmaking opportunities, the supply of new fish is endless. Selling false hope is mathematically a far superior enterprise.
If someone thinks you are a winner, they invest in you. As far as the idea of talent scouts, think about how people are. A few years ago the president was tasked with appointing someone to manage the world bank. At his disposal were the resources to interview every professor of economics in America. Across the land there were hundreds of thousands of people with decades of experience in banking, money markets, etc. He looked across the room from where he was sitting, and nominated his daughter with no experience, knowledge, or credentials to lead one of the globes most significant financial institutions. I think that's somewhat typical of wealthy people.
Look at Tenet. One of the biggest movies of the year, with hundreds of millions of dollars in the balance. Did they scout for the best actor for the role? Even with a half billion dollars at stake, did they bother to scout acting workshops, find out who was making waves at second city? No. They hired the son of one of the richest actors in Hollywood. Not saying he was bad, I actually like that guy. I'm just saying that these people would rather take a chance on loosing 300 million dollars than walk across the street to audition one of us for a role. Maybe there was someone far better for that role, we'll never know. What I do know is that my work ethic on a 10k dollar project is stronger than theirs is on a 300 million dollar project. I would have scouted for that perfect actor if I knew the GNP of Paraguay was on the line.
