You’re Already a Somebody
Written by Ben Mattingly
There’s a saying in Hollywood that you can’t get your own mother to read your script. This is actually true. My mother got 15 pages into a recent final draft of mine and admitted she got busy and put it down. And she’s very supportive! Now imagine a producer who works 16 hours a day and barely has time to eat lunch and see her own children. Do you think she is going to take time to read your script, take a call with you, or do anything for you without a high probability of a return? No. The reality is that even when you do have a hot property, producers still won’t read your script. They’ll just know it’s hot and want to work with you (see how Affleck and Damon tested whether producers actually read Goodwill Hunting when shopping it around town). No one reads in Hollywood.
I’ve been in this business in one form or another since I was 17 years old and I quickly learned that “you’re a nobody until you’re a somebody.” To illustrate this, take the following example: I’ve had a simple coffee meeting with a producer rescheduled six times in the past two months. And this producer is a friend who believes in me. When this happens, the first feeling is of rejection, followed by self-loathing. It’s never nice to feel unimportant. And it’s okay to feel rejected. Let it flow through you — rejection and failure fuel filmmakers and are absolutely necessary to your growth as an artist. Self-loathing, on the other hand, is not going to help anything. You will have enough obstacles and kicks from the world outside — this means you need to be especially kind to yourself. So where does that leave you? Well, maybe it’s time to take your own meeting.
No, don’t go to Coffee Bean and talk to yourself. This will result in follow up meetings with the wrong people, usually wearing white coats and carrying clipboards. The point is, if you don’t believe in yourself no one will, because if you don’t believe in yourself you won’t put yourself out there — you won’t make calls that will probably get hung up on, and you won’t knock on doors that probably won’t open. And if you don’t put yourself out there, you’ll remain inside, alone with your script, chatting with your French Bulldog about possible plot twists and leading lady choices. What did Michael Scott, I mean, Wayne Gretzky say about the number of shots you make if you don’t take any?
Always remember that everyone is a failure before they are a success. Everyone is a nobody at some point. After all, big shots are just little shots that kept shooting. Therefore, being a nobody is necessary to becoming a somebody. So if you feel like a nobody, guess what? You’re doing something right! And here’s the big reveal: you decide when you’re ready to be a somebody. What? “Can I promote myself?” you may ask. “Doesn’t validation come from the outside? I don’t even have 1k followers on Instagram, and I’ve been rejected from every film festival I’ve submitted to.” If you believe the world will validate you first, much less Hollywood, you may want to reconsider law school because you are never going to make a film.
Why is the self-promotion from a nobody to a somebody so important? Filmmaking is a high stakes game, and you can’t bluff your way through it. If success is when preparation meets opportunity, then you better already be in “somebody” mode when that phone call comes. Because when your moment comes, when that life-changing event happens, it’ll come as a surprise, it’ll come quickly, and your chance to extend the moment into a career will be fleeting. If you don’t think you have what it takes, you won’t. Creatives aren’t math people, but even we can complete that equation. If the call comes today to direct Tom Hanks, can you walk onto set tomorrow and knock it out of the park? If you think you’re a nobody, the answer is an emphatic no. Then what good was that phone call? You just blew your shot and likely won’t get another like it as long as you live.
So don’t wait for greatness to come to you. Don’t just say “OK” to every meeting reschedule. Thank them for their time and let them know you’ll reach out when you have time to meet again. Because you have value, even if your project doesn’t. Be kind to yourselves, fellow filmmakers, because even if you never do get to make a film, you will still have a positive experience pursuing this crazy dream of ours. And nothing is more real than that.
About the Author
Benjamin Mattingly is a Film Director and Creative Producer at Box.comwhere he leads creative for the Customer Success department. His film credits include Dumping Ground, Short on Time, and Electric Heart. His next feature, A Gray Matter, explores the pressure students in Silicon Valley are put under to succeed at all costs. The project is currently in development.
Learn more about Ben at: creativehominid.com| IMDB
