The Long Road Ahead
I didn’t feel that this article fit into the Waiting to Sell Out vane.
I recently attended the Reelworld Film Festival here in Toronto. The festival was started two years ago by Tonya Lee Williams of, “The Young and the Restless,” fame. The festival focuses on diversity of ethnic representation in film. I’ll make a couple of comments on that in a moment but first I’d like to say that I hope this festival grows to the level of Vancouver’s Festival in showcasing international films. It’s very easy to overlook the great films coming out of Asia, and India as well as Africa and the Caribbean. Up unti this weekend I had no idea there was a Black film festial in Acapulco (how smart is that!) And as far as getting black film makers into the Hollywood area, there should be a big hats off to Spike Lee for interning and giving emerging black directors a place to learn and grow before tackling their own careers. Mr. Lee has long been a film maker who makes what he wants how he wants it and then ramming it down the machine’s throat, good (Four Little Girls, Jungle Fever, Summer of Sam, Kings of Comedy) or bad (Shool Daze, Bamboozeled).Now I’m not knocking either funding group. The NFB kicked in fifteen hundred dollars for finishing funds on the last project I worked on but when it takes three years for Bruce Sweeney (Last Wedding) to shoot his film because he has to continually go back to the govt. to get more funding for his film, there is a real problem with our system.
Where does that leave us the writers? For the most part it leaves you working for nothing in obscurity on projects that more than likely will never see the light of day because you’ve got to eat and working for free does not help you in that regard. Or and it’s more like an if, you go for less money and submit to the smaller production companies that are still building a track record and who aren’t dependent on government funding. Most of these companies are dealing with American funders and are on the fast track to production of your particular project. Is the road still long? Absolutely but you’re getting a project made and that’s money in the bank down the road. The downside? Well they’re going to expect you to deliver what they want and they’re going to want it fast. Guess what, that’s the real world. Canadian production can take a decade to get your project to the screen. That can happen in the US too but for different reasons. Bottom line… you can’t wait that long. I guess what i’m trying to say is that you can wait for the Govt. machine to launch your career but you’ll be waiting for a very long time. We live in a capitalist society and that means we’re market driven. The market decides, not the govt. Men with Brooms just became the top grossing Canadain film beating out, The Red Violin. The Red Violin beat out Porky’s and Porky’s beat out Meatballs. Men with Brooms tried a new tactics to put bums in seats it’s called advertising. This is a process where you tell people what you have to offer by means of print, radio, and TV ads. Amazingly enough this worked! Perhaps this test of a realativly new process will catch on. There’s a follow up process being done with Red Green’s Duct Tape Forever. If the control experiment proves a success, it could herald a whole new world for Canadian film, where we actually tell people aboutthe stuff being made in our country. I hope it catches on. I think that Red Green accepting the oscar for best foriegn film is not far off.
I’m Steve Abbott and I wish you all well.