8 lessons I learnt from the Cannes film festival about being a successful creative
I have just returned from 10 days at the Cannes Film Festival and this podcast and blog applies to all creatives as it very much covers some of the ‘rules’ of being a successful creative, whether you are an actress, filmmaker, musician or indeed photographer. (Yes that is me singing in French on the podcast) The lessons: It’s a business – the fashion, the mystique, distributor, sales agent to the short filmmaker Surrounding yourself with people who dream & take big action makes you dream bigger No room for perfectionism – be like Picasso You have to do the work or someone else will grab the opportunity / from script to pre sales to press Some live to party, others live to dream. some go to work. Blagging can be an artform but it’s your choice on how you want to use your energy Would you rather be at the Vanity Fair party as a success or as a ligger? Someone out there will love your work Get your elevator pitch updated It’s reconnection, not desperately shoving business cards in peoples faces. Here are some of the highlights of the podcast (this is not a full transcript) Lesson 1 It’s a business, it is the business of making movies from producers, sales agents, distributor, the circus of the red carpet, the mystique of the business, the press, to how the public perceive This creative thing we do I have to understand myself as a cog in the wheel, as a brand. We have a responsibility to understand the workings of the business, the main players and how we can circumvent the gatekeepers if necessary by making our own work and where we can display it for maximum effect. You need to know the rules to break them Question for you: What area of your business do you need to know more about. Licensing? Press? The Legalities of contracts. On the red carpet Cannes 2014 Marysia Trembecka Lesson 2 Surrounding yourself with people who dream & take big action makes you dream bigger when you are with people who don’t just talk about their dreams but they make them and then they go out to the marketplace and sell their art. Plus while they are in the marketplace selling their current film or art they are already talking about collaborating for the next work. I went to Cannes as an actress but I left with knowing I will start producing films of projects. I am already working on my next solo theatre show but I now looking at making it as a short film at least. Deepak Verma, from Pukkanasha Films said to me, ‘You should be a producer’ and I went from initial horror to a short film and now I am thinking feature length! Question for you:-Who inspires you to re-size yourself, to see yourself as bigger. at the Ken Loach premiere of Jimmy’s Hall Lesson 3 No room for perfectionism – Picasso I had a short but valuable conversation about production with director/writer/producer James Hacking The Website. When he first started he made 4 or 5 shorts and then finally made his first feature and has moved forward since. He said he now knows he should have been making a short film every week and that all that fiddling round with the editing, the extra 100 hours to make 0.00001% difference is a waste of time and energy. He said that ‘Picasso had the right idea, he made 35,000 works of art in his life’ We all are prone to hanging on to the perfectionism of our art. (Added Note James Hacking actually got back to me after I wrote this post and said As a matter of interest looked up his number of artworks ( I have a habit of talking out of you know where…) His output estimated at… 13,500 paintings 100,000 graphic prints or engravings 34,000 book illustrations 300 sculptures and ceramics But doubt even that is accurate, point is, be free to make mistakes…. His film Love’s Kitchen has a serious cast in it, I have just discovered: Dougray Scott, Claire Forlani, Simon Callow to name a few ‘Art is never finished, only abandoned’ Blog post Lesson 4 You have to do [...]
