Last month I replied to an advert looking for people to write articles about filmmaking for Talent Circle. Talent Circle, if you don’t know, is one of the websites I goto look for work. YOu can can post jobs on there, buy and sell equipment. I also use it to find out about the latest film festivals looking for submissions. They have been revamping the site lately and they want to promote films and filmmakers. They are doing a website link exchange, where if you put a link to their site on your site, they will do the same for you. (I have done it for my other website, Independent Runnings) They want to hear from features who don’t have distribution, and they want articles written by filmmakers. They want stories about filmmakers and the films they have made. Anecdotes and inspirational stories. Tips for other people. You know the type of thing. How I made a film for 50p and sold it to Miramax. The normal thing you read in film magazines all the time.

So I sat down to write my own article, thinking it would be a great way to introduce this site - to write about the things that made me want to make my own feature film, instead of making it for someone else. I took three examples (trust me there are more) I wrote them down quickly, double checked it for errors and emailed it to them - all in the very same day.

Then I heard nothing. A month went by and I thought that was that and got on with making the film. Then a month later I got an email from Talent Circle. This is what it says:

Thanks you for your submission.

I think the information you wrote has given me a good introduction into what

happened once you finally got your project off the ground. We would like to

reshape your article to focus on a particular aspect of your career or the

project rather than the three specific meetings you had with people trying

to make their project happen. Hear are some ideas for what to write if you

wish to develop what you have written:

- Anecdotes and inspirational stories

- If writing mainly about a project, what was its history, background, how

did it all come together?

- How you overcame hurdles against all odds

- Why certain decisions were made

- Tips for people working in your field

Problem! I haven’t finished my project. As you know reader I currently making it. I should point that fact out to them again.  I did state to them that the project that’s actually happening now. But I don’t think it matters. From the reply I got that they are not interested in the article I wrote. The article was to point out what filmmaking is about most of the time. Meeting people. Getting interested in their project. Then it doesn’t happen or falls apart. You have to be really committed if you want to make films. When I’m not at my part time job, I’m busy working on my latest project. Either getting the thing together or working on getting the film seen. It’s a full time job.

I don’t know about you, but I like to read about the failures as well as the successes. For every film that makes it, there is another film that fails. It’s great that Talent Circle will be putting these stories on their site, but I would like to read also like read about people who crashed and burned. The stories about the guy who maxed out his credit cards to make a feature and got nowhere with it. Mixture of light and dark would make the site more interesting, because the people who make it will always have pedestal to speak from. 

Anyway, what’s more inspirational then after all these letdowns that I haven’t given up. There is nothing like being on set. And you have to love the craft because it’s a tough career to break into. How many times have you heard a famous director go “I’m so lucky to have this job”. He ain’t joking. I have been at for nine years and I’m still low down on the ladder. Maybe I should send Talent Circle this entry. They might print it. You never know.

Though it’s great having my own website. I can publish the article now for you to read and I don’t have to get permission or notes on what to change. Remember it is a month old, so a few things have changed. Last word: Will I write an article that they want? I don’t know. I will get in touch with Talent Circle and explain the situation to them more clearly and see what happens from there. I think they will be more interested  once the film is finished. This might be my success story. Who knows? Let’s see what happens. Anyway, here  is the article in it’s unedited state.

Hello. My name is Simon Aitken and I am filmmaker. I have been making shorts since 1999 and I am now making my first feature film. This isn't my first try at making a feature. I have been involved in other people projects in the past, but they never came to anything. Let's say these experiences have made me want to make my own feature. Here are a few examples:

Attempt 1.

I answered an advert by an actress who had written her own script and was looking for a director. I had finished reading the script the night before the meeting, as it was a hard read. A time travel story that concerns sending two clones back to our time and the 1900s from the future to see how they would turn out - a social experiment from the future. I found it very boring, but I wanted to direct a feature, so I go and meet the actress on a Sunday morning outside a Starbucks. She turns up and with start to talk about the project. How we are going to shoot on film (Super 16). How we were going do all these CGI effects for the future scenes. (There were quite a few) I ask how much do we have to spend? £10,000. A film that scale couldn't be made for 10 grand, and as I wasn't interested, I let her know that I didn't want to do it. Best that someone else make it, as it would take a while to do.

Attempt 2.

This attempt was the closest I got to actually making a film. An actor, who

starred in one of my short films, wanted to remake "A Man Escaped", but set in Iraq during the first Gulf War. It was very doable. We had a location to double as an Iraqi prison. We had actors. We even had a budget. What we didn't have was a script. The actor could never get round to writing the script. I think a few pages where written, but they were unusable. In the end the actor pulled the plug.

Attempt 3.

A Belgium Banker, who wanted to make a feature film, approached me to direct it. We had a meeting, where he told me the story of the script. The story was about a man whose girlfriend becomes a suicide bomber. She was a nurse, a good person. He couldn't understand why she would blow herself up, so he tries to join the same terrorist cell to find out why. At the time I didn't know that there were other people being auditioned for the job. I didn't find out until afterwards. I would meet with him week after week, doing stuff for the film. I did a budget breakdown. Got a good deal on a HD Camera. I wanted a contract stating that I was the director. He would never do it. Just after Christmas I had enough. I demanded to know when I would be confirmed as the director. The reply was that I was never going to be the director. That it was going to someone else. I was crushed. I have never swore as much as I did at that banker. Though on the positive side, I had read the script. It was terrible and it wasn't the story he told me at our first meeting. There wasn't even a nurse.

I never found out if any of these films were made. I assume they haven't. It was after the third attempt that I decided that if I wanted to direct a

feature film, I would have to do it myself. It hasn't been all plane sailing.

Money has always been a factor. But I have finished writing the script with Ben Woodiwiss, that can be made on a modest budget and I am in the process of raising funds for the film by pre-selling the DVDs. If all goes well I will be shooting "In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death" later this year. Wish me luck.

Simon writes a blog chronicling the making of "In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death" at www.myfirstfilm.co.uk.