Film with Gabrielle Kelly

Last Tuesday in our Business of Media class we had Gabrielle Kelly as a guest speaker. The Irish filmmaker and educator has an extensive curriculum that really impressed me. She shared with us her experience in the film business, which is not as simple as I thought it was. Film is not only shooting and enjoying the millions of dollars made of it. Instead, for us to watch a movie in the theater it takes time and a lot of effort from everybody working on it to make it as perfect as it can be. I will be point out the ten most important points that got my attention during the conversation.

1.     You will not always work on what you want

            Kelly started her presentation by stating the above sentence to us. She then followed by saying that we will learn on every job, which will lead us to our goal or job that we really want.

2.     Movie – Hello, he lied

            Following her introduction we watch the movie Hello, he lied, which documents how the Hollywood business works and shows how much work it takes to produce a movie. The title tells us that even an ingénue feature such as Hello can be a lie in that business.

3.     What a producer really does?

            The producer, according to the movie, has one of the toughest jobs while producing a movie. The job requires finding the materials, reading the scripts, re-reading, creating relationship with directors, finding actors, and so on.

4.     “Relationship without a script goes nowhere” David Brown

            This quote by the movie tells us exactly what is the film business world. You can know the right people but if you do not have the right script it does not matter since 29 out of 30 scripts are not good enough for producers and directors.

5.     Brainstorming

            One of the most important actions in the business world, brainstorming mix the ideas from everybody. In order to have the perfect script or idea it is good to ask people, even kids because they can have more imagination than most adults. For instance, Shrek came from a book that the producer's son was reading and told his dad about it.

6.     Rehearsal to sell your script

            In order to achieve the level of having your script produced, one must rehearsal what you will present to the directors and producers. Make sure the writer is well prepared and know what to say in the right time.

7.     Studio bought the idea

            Most of the projects will not get the idea bought by the studio. The studio loves to put something on the way of the producers every meeting.

8.     Development Hell

            This sentence is referred when you are lost without a map. This is used when a script gets denied many times and the writes does not know what to do; but no one gets a green light from the studio easily.

9.     Making the movie

            It is an award after the hard work to produce a movie but the hard work is not done yet. Plan everyday on every detail, you do not want anything missing. Each department will want a piece of the overall budget.

10. Opening week

            In the opening goal is to top the competitors. The movie must top the others otherwise the theater will not want to give hours to show the movie. Reviews will have a big influence in deciding whether the movie will hit the top charts or not.

The conversation with Gabrielle Kelly was amazing.  She is experienced and loves what she does. I could she the passion and knowledge that she has while answering our questions.