0:00

Today, we're discussing jumping on a trend.

0:03

Some trend explodes in movies and you think, I'm going to do the same thing

0:08

and be successful. Is that the smart move?

0:11

Hello, filmmakers. I'm Tom Alloy. Welcome to another action-packed episode of

0:16

the Filmmaking Stuff podcast, where we share tips and tactics so you can take

0:20

action and make your movie now. I remember I heard a great story from from famous actor friend who had a big

0:28

show in the 1980s, a great guy.

0:31

And he described the movie business much like surfing.

0:38

He had been surfing his whole life. And what he said was, you go for the wave

0:42

and it's right in front of you. And then you try again and it's right behind you.

0:47

And then you talk to the guy on the pier and he says, man, have you just come

0:51

yesterday? day, the waves were incredible. He says, so it's always a timing thing. And most of the time your timing is off.

0:59

But then he says, when you hit that wave, it is the greatest feeling and you'll

1:03

continue to chase it for the rest of your life. He told me this and I go, oh my God, that is like the most perfect summation

1:10

of the movie business that I've ever heard. And it is really what it is. Now, if you think of trends like a wave,

1:18

by the time you see that wave coming, if you're not prepared,

1:22

say you're sitting on the beach with your surfboard, how are you going to get

1:25

out there and catch that wave, right? And that is almost an analogy for trying to catch that trend.

1:33

There have been times, there was a recent story that I conveyed about a movie

1:38

called Hereditary that was a very...

1:41

Elevated horror type movie and that that

1:44

created this kind it didn't create the genre but a lot of

1:47

people had you started to use that term elevated horror which

1:51

was high-end not gory and kind of

1:54

like the thinking man's horror movie so then everybody

1:57

wanted to make those everybody was trying to make

2:00

elevated horror right when hereditary hit and was super successful

2:03

but then a movie called terrifier and terrifier

2:06

2 came out and terrifier 2 did incredible business

2:10

for an independent film and it was gory and bloody

2:14

and completely over the top and it was funny because

2:17

hereditary hits and i remember being at the

2:20

next film market and getting some movies that were like hereditary that kind

2:25

of elevated horror and by that time the buyers were like do you have any gory

2:29

type projects so it was like that train was already over and that's the tough

2:35

aspect of of the business is that when you see that trend hit and you go,

2:39

oh, all right, I got to try to do this now, it's probably too late.

2:43

When the Blair Witch Project was super successful and another being Paranormal

2:47

Activity, there were so many imitators immediately afterwards.

2:52

And that's a major problem is that they were imitations.

2:56

Now, some of them were probably fantastic and some of them were somewhat successful,

3:01

I would imagine, but most of them just fell in the kind of pit of cheap imitations.

3:07

One thing that I thought was a really interesting trend is that when everyone

3:11

was in quarantine during COVID, everybody had the idea to make this kind of

3:16

COVID-y movie or make a movie on Zoom or something. First off,

3:19

nobody wants to see a movie completely on Zoom. Now, there was a movie made starring John Cho called Searching that I think

3:25

was an incredibly well-done film.

3:29

And it was done throughout with messaging and Zooms and stuff like that.

3:34

But that was the the first time that that had been done and I

3:37

want to put a pin in that for a second I'm going to come back to

3:40

it what I'm getting at is that people were

3:43

making these COVID movies and now by the time they were like finished in

3:46

post and all that COVID was starting to die down it was over and the last thing

3:51

that people wanted to see was any reminder of that hell that we were all been

3:56

through so COVID movies are just were certain death someone would show me a

4:01

film and there'd be masks on with at the cast and I would be like, oh no,

4:05

I can guarantee nobody's going to buy this. And so that was a problem.

4:09

Coming back to searching the movie with John Cho, the key there was.

4:15

It was the first of its kind. And what I'm getting at is it's much better to try to create something new and

4:22

start a trend than try to catch something and try to be late to the game.

4:28

Because most Most likely you will. It's not easy. You can't turn around a film in three weeks time.

4:34

And I truly mean that. If somehow you could...

4:37

Shoot something in 24 hours and then get in post. And then you're in three weeks,

4:40

you're completely done and you're finished.

4:43

It's still going to take several months to get it out there and get it on VOD

4:47

and then get it through the queue and stuff like that.

4:50

So the absolute least amount of time from creating something to getting it out

4:55

there, the four months, I would say, and you know, four months is a long time.

4:59

And that's, and I'm, of course I'm using that four months is like,

5:02

if you went and you didn't sleep for those four months, try to get it out there.

5:06

So it's really something interesting if you're the one creating the trend.

5:11

If you're trying something new and you make a POV film or you make Run Lola

5:17

Run where it's, you know, running the entire time and it's got something unique

5:21

and different, and then you might be the person to set that trend.

5:25

So that's what I would try to say is instead of trying to catch the trends and

5:29

catch the waves, make your own ocean and then other people will be swimming in that ocean.

5:36

Thank you for tuning into the Filmmaking Stuff podcast. I'm Tom Malloy,

5:39

and I can't wait to see the incredible films you'll create.

5:42

Don't forget to subscribe for more tips, tactics, and inspiring stories.

5:46

Until next time, take action and make your movie now.