As Artists We Have To Control Our Work

As a writer, filmmaker, or any type of artist, I believe we have to take control of our work. By taking control of our work we control our livelihood.

So many artists say they don’t want to be involved in the business side. That’s too bad because if you’re not aware and involved with the business side, people are going to take advantage of you.

When I made my first short film, That Really Obscure Object Of Desire, it was rejected by a good 50 film festivals. Did I give up on it? No. I kept looking for a place for it and finally found one. I spoke to the producer of a national short film series being put together by a PBS station in Minneapolis. He liked the film so much that he programmed it as the first film on the opening episode of his series, American Pie.

When it aired nationally on PBS more people saw it in one night than would have seen it at all 50 film festivals that rejected it. That screening paved the way for six more short films and dozens of film festivals and television screenings around the world.

When I made my first two feature films most distributors weren’t interested, and any that were offered horrible deals. So I made a third feature and took off on a journey to independently distribute my films.

I ripped a page out of the punk rock handbook and started booking my own film tours. I went on the road in a van with my dog Moses and showed my films all over the country at independent art house theaters, media art centers, colleges and universities, anywhere that would let me screen.

Twice a year for seven years I would be on the road for six – eight weeks at a time. Sleeping in the van, on people’s floors or couches, spare bedrooms, and really cheap motels. I built a network of people and places that would show my work, have me teach workshops, do guest lectures, and sell my films and other merchandise. I built up a list of contacts and made friends all over the country. Many I still talk to today.

This is all covered in my book, Road Dog.

I wrote a couple of filmmaking books and would sell those on the road as well.

All of my tours at the very least broke even, most made money.

I could have easily been discouraged after my early films were rejected. I could’ve just let things sit on the shelf and given up.

Instead I chose to push my work out there and let audiences and readers decide if they like it or not.

When I was on the road I didn’t have any time to create new work and when I finally got home I was too tired and quickly too busy putting together the next tour to get much done.

It was a ton of work. Driving 10-12,000 miles per tour and sleeping in the van to save money was hard on me, physically and emotionally. I believed in my work and I knew if I handed things over to a distributor or someone else, my films/books wouldn’t have reached as large an audience and I wouldn’t make enough money to live on.

It was, and still is important to me to create an audience for my work.

I know how much it costs me to make a film, publish a book, and promote all of this. Would I rather hand off everything to someone else? Have an agent/distributor/publisher who takes a percentage and I get the leftover?

Honestly, no!

I have kept control of my work and I understand how the business works. And I wouldn’t trade that knowledge for anything.

Today, if you publish a book, make a film, or record your own music, you’re still responsible for promotion even if you’re with a large company. They’re not spending their money on promotion unless it’s for one of the few “big” names on their roster.

And to get in with these large companies you need an agent. So you submit your work to an agent or a producer and you wait for them to tell you that your stuff is worthy of representation or production. Often you’re getting rejections because most places don’t want to take a chance on anything new or different. You need to be established in some way so people feel safe before they work with you.

Remember that first short film that everyone rejected? After it’s PBS run I got phone calls from film festivals who wanted me to submit my film and they’d waive all fees. Some of these festivals had previously rejected the film. When I pointed that out I was told on more than one occasion, “That was before we knew who you were.”

In other words, that was before someone else took a chance on my work and it was successful. No one wanted to be the first, except a guy in Minneapolis. I owe that guy a lot for being the first, and for revealing to me how this whole business works.

There have been authors who have published and promoted their own work for years and when one of their books finally takes off through their own hard work, a large company has swooped in and taken over/purchased the publishing rights because the artist themselves proved that there was an audience for their work.

It’s why I have no interested in agents or publishers. If I’m going to have to do all of the promotion myself, what’s the point?

I don’t have time to wait on others to tell me if an audience is going to like my work. I go out and get that audience myself.

Life is short. I have books and films to create, and things to do.

Thanks for reading.

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