I run into people all the time that love to spout the phrase, “I wrote a screenplay.” I follow up the conversation with, “That’s cool, what’s it about?” Suddenly, the boldness goes away. The person who, moments earlier, was excited for their literary accomplishment is now cold, silent, and defensive. I rarely get anything, but a monosyllabic phrase explaining a vague idea. I treat filmmakers, screenwriters, and producers as business people and I am here to tell you that your business model is a piece of shit!

If you are creating entertainment, you need to start acting like a business. Treat your Youtube or portfolio content as products rather than samples of your work. Engage with your audience by pitching ideas to gauge how they react. Before dedicating your life to writing a 120 page screenplay, you should shoot a short story of the idea and see if people want more. Crowd funding is a great way to test your products. Most importantly, speak passionately about your ideas. Your goal is to entertain. Why the hell would I watch your content if you can’t entertain me with a simple story when I say “what’s it about?”

There are some things that filmmakers need to understand that have been very apparent to people in the tech community for some time now. First off, your brilliant ideas are useless! To the person afraid to tell me there cool sci-fi epoch, congrats! You just lost an opportunity to pitch your idea. Every person you engage with is a great way to test your product, solicit a reaction to an idea, and inspire people to help you in your endeavor.

There is a lack of transparency in the entertainment industry and that is a problem. If you want your business to succeed, you need to develop an open source model for your content. Are you filming and awesome action sequence? How did you do it? Share every detail on how you produced this content for others to follow in your footsteps. The best way to get people to pay attention to what you are doing is to teach! Share your content and, more importantly, share other people’s content. Don’t ignore your fellow filmmakers. Praise them. Encourage them. Do everything in your power to help them succeed. Competition works best when you create positive energy around people also sharing a similar passion.

Much of what I am talking about could be seen as dogma to some Silicone Valley folks, but you would be amazed of the lack of ideas being shared in Los Angeles. It is a shame that the entertainment industry is still peddling an archaic business model that chooses not to evolve in an age where I can access amazing content by reaching into my pocket.

But you can change that. You have the ability to shape the way your audience consumes content in new and exciting ways. But before anyone can treat your content seriously, you have to start treating yourself like a business. And rather than telling me you wrote a screenplay, maybe start by telling me a story and begin shaping a narrative around your business.