SUCCESS
What exactly is a success? Are there different
levels of being successful? The answer is yes. Sometimes being successful has
nothing to do with money or financial rewards, but rather a personal measure
that can only be defined by those making the effort.
When I produce a film, for example, many people
are hired and how they do their job benefits their career and future
recommendations. Some I meet only once or twice early in the preproduction
process, and then again, when we start shooting. Most of these people know their job well and
do not need to be seen for them to perform to the perfection expected.
Nevertheless, a wardrobe person must listen and be trusted or a disaster is in
the making. We meet to discuss dressing the actors, and unless it’s a period
piece that requires specific wardrobe costumes, something dealing with present
day is easier but not easy. If the script is read and there is no mention of
bright-red tennis shoes, and the actors show up on the set in red Reeboks,
that’s not cool. That wardrobe person didn’t listen, and their success rate
slipped a notch or two. Many jobs on a movie set require a successful
background, and that has nothing to do with how much money they have. It does
matter what their rate of pay might be on their next job.
To a writer, albeit for the screen or a novel,
the success comes from building their audience, creating a following,
structuring who they are and how they sell themselves to their potential
buyers. For the writer who has struggled for years on end, been turned down by
every agency in the business, had his or her work criticized negatively, been
rejected by all publishers they approached and finally when all else has failed
they find their way to self-publishing, and their work becomes a hit. The size
of the hit is not as important as the audience that has been found and hungers
for another book. That spells success.
Success comes when writers help one another. It
is, after all, a very small world we live in. Many writers write alone and
their lives follow that pattern until, or unless they find their audience and a
bit of success does happen. It’s a lonely profession. I remember being a staff
writer at one of the movie studios. I had written a draft of a script, and one
of the other writers came over to look it over for me. He first read the
content, and we discussed the story. He made several suggestions, some good
ones that I ended up using with his permission. When we were all done, he
quietly pointed out a few typos and didn’t make a big deal out of it. I
remember that to this day. They were easy fixes, but the script would’ve been
sent out with them uncorrected, and he saved by butt and some embarrassment.
I always tell students, not everyone will like
your work. Not everyone will see eye to eye with your story content. Does that
make it an ominous decision? The answer is no of course not. If you gave a
thousand books away and only fifty liked it, does that make it harmful, and
once again, it may surprise you there’s good news in that message. What you
just did was find fifty readers who will look for your next book and most
likely buy it. Amazingly, you found part of your audience. I’ve had people hate
a screenplay and tell me to my face how horrible it was, how painful just to
read and get through it. A month later I sell that same screenplay, and then it
ends up making a pretty good movie. More importantly the film made money, and
thus I had another audience for my work.
In the film business, unlike books, you are only
as good as your last hit. With books, your audience tends to be loyal to you
and will follow you and your work. As you build into your success, the reader
enjoys it all the more. If you only write one genre, and it happens to be a
series, your toes need to be very strong to hold you up, as your stories need
to keep their attention with fresh and unique things for your limited
characters to do. If you write a variety of genres without type casting your
work, your audience will come to expect a bit of the unusual and accept a wide range
of storylines. If you stick to one genre and limit the story lines, for
example, writing about killers, rapists, military subjects or terrorist, then
you need to create wonderful lead characters the audience will love, identify
with and seek to follow. Any of the above will spell success when done with
passion.
Success allows you to grow and once again this
has nothing to do with your monetary world. It will eventually have great
meaning, but not early on. No one can make a storyteller. If you have the gift,
you can write. The writing part is also an art that no one can give to you. If
you’ve ever read the paragraph, many schools use to show us how gullible we
are, then you have read a horribly written string of misspelled words and
language usage and yet you, the reader, understands the entire paragraph and
can explain what it meant. That said there are some great books written with
poor language, typos and some unique spelling and then went on to be best
sellers. I am not suggesting you ignore your errors and know you will fix as
many as you can find or your editor will discover, but perfection is hard to
achieve with so many written words. Often times you will pick up a book written
by a famous best-selling author and see typos. Most of these writers have
professional editors, and yet they miss some bad usage or words missing or
misused. It happens to the best, and it will happen to you no matter how many
times to re-read your work. Unless every page is horrible, these mistakes are
forgivable if the story holds. The reader sees the error and then forgets about
it, so they can devour the next page. That, my friends, is part of the success
you achieve when you find your audience.
As a filmmaker, success is not measured by your
financial wealth. Success is based on how your film sold and if people came
back a second time or bought the DVD of your film. It helps if they not only
like the story but how the overall film looks. Were the actors dressed right,
use the right gadgets; drive the right cars and travel to locations that
captured your imagination? If they loved it all, then you made a successful
film that will be remembered. Once an audience remembers you will be asked to
make another film. You’ve earned a moment of success. What continues to be true
is you are only as good as your last film.
As an actor, success comes from how good, your
performance is and can you hold the attention of the audience. Do they like you
and your character portrayal? Once they like you, they will always like you
even when you work in a turkey. Unless you keep making junk, they will forgive
one or even a couple but not all of your additional work. That’s when a star
becomes a has-been.
Authors face a similar situation when the first
part is the storytelling of your planned journey. If your three best friends
love it or are afraid to tell you it stinks, but the next thousand hate it, you
might want to try another genre or refreshed characters in a different setting.
The story is everything, and that goes for film and television. Story, story,
story. If you can tell a story and have people listen and enjoy the tale, you
are a storyteller. Can you write? Only you will know the answer to that. No one
can do it for you. No one can make you a writer any more than they can make you
a storyteller. Once you find your handle, you have just received your first
dose of success, and each step you take after that brings more success.
Communication skills also help and they can be
taught, honed and perfected. Do you respond to fans? Always. Do you answer
emails? Everyone. Do you return phone
calls? Each one is like finding treasure. Does anger help? Never. Can you write
a good letter? Try, try and try again. They get better every time you write
one. Do they help? Success can’t be obtained if you live in a dark bedroom.
Communication is part of being visible.
Financial success usually comes after you’ve
discovered. How successful you become is basically up to you, after all, isn’t
that what you are trying to do?
The best part of success comes when you can
choose what you want to do, turn down what you don’t, and be happy with your
decisions.
Over the years, I’ve had the luxury of doing
many things, acting, writing, producing, directing and filmmaking. I’ve written
songs, music scores, created and directed commercials, and I’ve also stumbled.
I’ve done good things and bad things, had successes and failures and through it
all have enjoyed every moment. As one of my mentors pointed out to me early on,
you cannot please all the people as that will never happen. There will always
be someone who does not like what you do, including your greatest success. The
secret is to enjoy the journey, be happy with what you do and sincerely care
about others. What they think you can’t change, but you can entertain most of
them, in one way or another. A smile goes a long way and certainly makes you
feel better. The best part comes when you help someone else and because of what
you do, that little effort opens a door for their success.
Success. It’s right at the corner.
William Byron Hillman © 2012
Web site: http://www.williamhillman.com
Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/williamhillman
Book Links:
Veronique and Murray: http://tinyurl.com/8xrmmu7
The Hard Way: http://tinyurl.com/86hgtz6
Zebra’s Rock and Me http://tinyurl.com/7b28qu6
Rollie Kemp Books
Ghosts and Phantoms Part I: http://tinyurl.com/6wxef7g
Ghosts and Phantoms Part II: http://tinyurl.com/d7mtspu
APRIL: http://tinyurl.com/7gt9prd
Coming soon: Quigley’s Christmas Adventure
