Ouch!

Below is the correspondance between myself and Will Messa from Northwest Vision and Media, I think it speaks for itself:


Hi Will

I don't know if you remember giving me some script notes about 18 months ago for my script Little Things...

Suffice to say I took them on board and then went and made it. Post production on Little Things is nearly at an end and I'm now at the point of thinking about what to do with it. The ideal scenario would be to enter it into a couple of festivals in order to get it seen by more people, but I could do with some neutral eyes on it to give me some notes before I can really consider it. I'd really appreciate it if you could have a quick look at the film and give me some feedback. If festivals are a pipe dream then tell me so an save me the entrance fees, if it's something that I should go for, then what festivals are most suitable (and forgiving) to film makers as green as I am.

The film is on Vimeo, but not publicly released yet,

Many thanks

Mark

                                      

Dear Mark,

Hello – many thanks for sending me this. I’m afraid I am completely snowed under at the moment so don’t have time to give detailed feedback.

However, it is my professional opinion that this film won’t get into many film festivals. I think you should treat this film as a learning experience and move forward and make another film, and then another. This is how it works. It is very early days in your filmmaking career and whilst I sincerely congratulate you 100% for having made it, it is not a piece of work that would stand up to an audience in the highly completive world of filmmaking and festivals.  I think it is worth being honest here I really do. Take everything you have learned making Little Things and plough it into your next project and so on.

Festivals that would play this are likely to be local/rural so I would start there I wouldn’t recommend spending any money on entrance fees.

Withoutabox - https://www.withoutabox.com/ is a useful resource for finding festivals. Also, Britfilms and read the excellent Scottish Screen booklet looking at life for your short film after post-production. 

If the tone of my email comes across as harsh it really isn’t meant to be – it is hard to be honest and objective in a very short space of time. Please call me on XXXXXXXXXXX if you want to have a chat about it.

Best,

Will

                                       

I'd be lying if I was to tell you that that didn't sting a little.

So where to go from here...

Well first up I'm grateful to Will for his feedback and to be honest the main purpose of making Little Things was, as he said a learning experience. If I was to do it again today there are a lot of things I would do completely differently. 

Second thing I'm gonna do, is not take his notes as the be all and end all. Don't get me wrong I completely respect Will's opinion, but it is just that, an opinion. There are one or two other industry professionals I've asked to look at this, who's to say if Will's opinion is the consensus. He didn't particularly like the script to begin with whereas others did.

And if it is the consensus opinion, well fuck it, then perhaps it'll be time for you lot to have a look and tell me what you think. At the end of the day, I didn't do this for anyone except myself and the people who made it with me. 

Next one will be better.

If anyone needs me I'll be sitting in a darkened room listening to The Cure.