Start doing it, stop talking about it. ~ Gareth Unwin
Wow, where do i begin?
This weekend i attended the Guerilla Film Masterclass, which is run by the wonderfully talented Chris Jones. (www.chrisjonesblog.com) Which, in a nut shell, involves 350 film makers in one hall listening the the wisdom and wonders and wacky tales of Chris Jones’ life and advice.
Honestly, some of his tales, you have to hear from the man himself - you wouldn’t believe me otherwise!
I heard that Chris was running this masterclass on one of my favouritest websites in the world www.Ottfilms.com/forum . A few friends of mine had signed up to the course, and i decided to deliberate on it for a while - not knowing if it was for me, and again not knowing if i’d fit into this crazy bunch of delegates considering where i started in my career and now where i’ve been heading.
After being not very well in March, a fellow film maker & good friend of mine decided that it would be a great thing for me to as it would give me something to look forward to and would be a great experience - plus i could swing it to fit it in between shooting schedules!
(Cut to: telling Mumsy Ford about this and her and my film friends twisting my arm because at this point they all knew best and i didn’t as i wasn’t well)
So i signed up, paid my reduced rate of £60 (BARGAIN!) and waited for the weekend to arrive.
Believe me, this weekend came around quickly. Too quickly in fact which led to me having a nightmare with my business cards which then led to having the poor company woman on the phone crying because i didn’t have my new cards for this weekend! (don’t ask!)
Not many people know this about me, but i often get very nervous, very quickly around new people. I don’t know why, seeing as most of my life i’ve worked or spoken to people i don’t really know - but i do. I almost feel like a lamb thrown to the slaughter. Being chucked into a room full of people with a pat on the back and ‘go make some new friends!’ makes me queasy!
So, on the first night - i’ll admit it, i spoke to the whole of… 3 new people. 1 of which being Gareth Unwin. 1 of which being a friend of @momentsoffilm and 1 of which being a guy at the pub who was standing on his own and I told the boys to invite him to sit with us… (although i think we may have scared him off… i never saw him again)
Listening to Gareth and David speak about how they made The Kings Speech was mind blowing. As artists and film makers, i have so much respect for them.
I managed to snatch a few minutes with Gareth Unwin after the discussion and he gave me some fantastic advice about my worries on my past career with my career targets. I think i kinda blew his brains a little with the whole *in one long sentence… so um yeah, i used to do this, get photographed for this, present this, do this…. blah blah blah… and gave it all up to do make movies” followed by a bunch of questions that involved nothing to do with The Kings Speech, producing, writing etc. Guess he learnt something new that day ey? and I got some fabulous words of wisdom… everybody wins!
Over the main weekend, i bit the bullet and decided to start talking to new people. By the end of Saturday, i made some great new connections, talked about making movies with people and learnt a helluva lot of information.
Come Sunday, new people don’t scare me as much, i have business cards falling out of my pockets and have people chasing me around the auditorium to give me their cards… great stuff!
Fact is I’m a fidgety goofball with new people. I just can’t help it. I say the wrong things, laugh in the wrong places and fall over chairs. That’s me! I can’t help the way I am.
I’m a bit of a Muppet in a new social setting, but I’m a bulldog in business.
A few major points i personally noticed this weekend is how similar certain things are (business wise) in the film industry as they are in the modelling industry (business wise). How?? i hear you scream. They just are.
What’s funny is, i found myself giving other film makers advice today on certain things i learnt as a 14 year old model. Things to me, i think of as glaringly obvious and straight forward - yet i often forget. 99.9% of other film makers will not have been through the same working environments as me, will not have dealt with agents/picture syndication/sales/marketing/self promotion/press etc the same way i have and i tell you one thing - It gave me a new lease of life.
So, Instead of thinking ‘oh my god, what if they judge me based on my past career’ i’m now in the mind frame of - ‘okay well that situation is similar to this i’ve done before…. this is how i dealt with it’ and finding a way to explain my experiences in a different industry which is very similar - people GET & people most importantly RESPECT.
I say that however, with the exception of ONE film maker. Whom, i’ve been told by a very good friend uttered as I briefly excused myself from a conversation and walked by - “Ah, tits. I can see why they’re talking to her”.
I’m sorry, but i’m just going to say it. The guy who said that it a fool. An absolute fool. I could have in theory been a potential backer for his feature film and could have given him £50,000 to make a film. So, in my mind - If you’re going to judge me based on how i look, before you speak to me, and find out what i have to say - that’s your loss matey. Because when i’m attending the world premiere of my next film, you’re going to read about it on someones blog!
Anyways…
All in all, i can’t recommend this course enough. Chris Jones is a fantastic public speaker, and he knows how to draw in the audience and keep them with him. I fully endorse the Guerilla Film Masterclass to any and all film makers out there. It’s a roller coaster ride of a weekend - but i loved it and guess what - you will too! So if you get chance to attend one of his classes - just do it!
Meddy x
