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10/12/05

INDEPENDENTS AND WANNABES

by Jacob Sanders

For the most part, the film industry is looked at by being ran by fatcat executives. Up there in their high rise corner offices. With their big-breasted secretaries popping their gum, filing their nails and calling “Next!”, to a single-filed pack of hopefuls waiting outside the door to opportunity. They pray for one chance to shop their projects and ideas to some complete stranger. A sleek dressed, cigar smoking dictator sitting comfortably behind a ridiculously expensive desk, while the rest stand graciously in line awaiting possible career execution.

Like POWs, they stay silent and nervous as if expecting some harsh interrogation or sentencing. Will they be set free? Told that they're good, but not what they're looking for at the moment.” Will they be given a firing squad aimed at self-confidence? Hearing a burning, “Sorry, but you have no business here. We can't use you.” Or, will they be accepted? It's all like a game of Russian Roulette, but with three bullets in the revolver.

Unfortunately, this is the horrible truth about this vast, competitive market. Especially if you dare to venture westward into that terribly tainted town know as- Hollywood . It is too often that an up-and-coming director, producer, actor, or writer falls into this belief that a place depicted as Hollywood is their only chance to take their minds and put their creativity into motion. This is false! I , myself almost fell into that bear trap. Thankfully, I didn't.

Many terms are used to single out specific classes of people in this industry. You have the stars. They are the ones who “wow” us. There are the has-beens and the wash-ups. They remind us of a different era and show us how easily a career can change or quickly plummet. Next comes the wannabes. Wannabes... It almost sounds like a derogatory slur. As if they were some new strand of disease or rabid insect of some sort. However, they are the future of this industry. They are the filmmakers and actors of tomorrow. Some may make it, others won't. Never the less, they are still labeled, in what seems to me, a horrible way.

Here is when the term Independent arises. At one point or another, every single hopeful soul who has stepped foot into the door of the motion picture business was a wannabe, an unknown, or an independent filmmaker. Gnaw on that fact for a while! And, although Hollywood has been able to entertain the world since the 1920s, a great number of films that you have enjoyed throughout the years never set sight on Hollywood , initially.

For example films like El Mariachi, Saw, The Blair Witch Project and even The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, just to name a few, did just that. They were either made independently with unknown actors, low to no budget and/or with no initial backing from any major film studios. Actors such as Dustin Hoffman and Mel Gibson started out doing cheap car commercials and small “B” films. Well, look at their legacy now! This proves that as long as you keep an open and creative mind, with the right determination and ambition, any vision can be transferred from thought to screen.

Don't take the foreign films for granted. A lot of great films are found in all parts of Europe and Asia . Some of the best drama flicks I have witnessed came from England , and the most diabolical horror/thrillers from Japan . And they are nowhere near the “promise land”.

It is sad to say, but one day there will be no more Steven Spielberg. At any given time, Quentin Tarantino may fall victim to his own insanity. Brad Pitt probably will not be a heart-throb when he is in his fifties. And perhaps M. Night Shyamalan will run out of ideas to shock and disturb us with. If and when this happens, someone must be there to take their place... Thank God for Independents and Wannabes... Because of them, our race will continue. Film will be!

Any questions or comments, feel free to email Jacob
jacob@imageiconent.com

Jacob Thomas Sanders
Indianapolis , IN
Screenwriter/Journalist

Born and raised in Indianapolis, IN, Jacob started writing short stories, screenplays and small advertisements while in high school. He then took up music along the way and made himself an established keyboardist in the local area. After a 7 year battle in the music world, he decided to pursue what he knew what he was put here to do. And it worked. Currently, he has two short films in production. A New Dawn, (religious/supernatural) that runs approx. 28 mins. Which is being filmed in a small town outside of London. The other, Nobody Should Die Alone: Reflections of Memories Past, (drama/suspense) is being shot in his hometown. It will rum approx. 30 mins. For now, Jacob ventures toward the battleground of journalism.