Amy Tan Where does Creativity Hide?

Amy Tan was born to US immigrant parents from China.  She rejected her mother’s hopes of her being a doctor or pianist, but rather she decided to write fiction.  Her books have been translated into 35 languages.  

Tan talks about, “Where does Creativity Hide?”  There are many aspects to this topic.  Tan talks about how do we create?  All the while standing next to bag black bag.  But I get ahead of myself.  She tells how we get it from our past live and childhood trauma.  Tan tells us of how her bother and father both died from a brain tumor within six months of each other.  She even talks about how VanGogh himself had a brain tumor as researchers now believe.

She tells of how she once wrote a book about a woman who overdosed and as it turns out her grandmother had killed herself.  Her mother did not believe in randomness.  Which goes back to how her brother and father died.  Her mother thought she was next as well as Tan herself.  That there is moral ambiguity in life and as artist we need to be aware of this and make sure we don’t fall into it’s trap.

Tan asks questions like, “Why am I Here,” and “What is the Meaning of Life?”  She talks a lot about serendipity and what we can get from the universe.  She has to let go of certain beliefs when she is writing.  Certain western beliefs and think more about cultures that are uncommon to us.  She has to create something out of nothing and that there is so much uncertainty in life.  Tan tells that she has to become the story.  

At the end of her presentation she again asks the question again.  Where Does Creativity Hide?  She tells us what is in the bag and lets out a small dog. Which shows that creativity hides in life. 

Getting A Job In Film After Film School

How do you get a job in the film industry?  We all want that ever-allusive job, and the truth is that 50-72% of graduates land a job in the film industry, often before they even graduate.  The main reason is because film school puts, “you in front of the very people who have jobs to offer: working professionals.”  Now, most schools don’t get work for their students before graduation.  Most traditional institutions, which charge 30-120k, graduate thousands of students a year.  Immediately upon graduation they come to the realization that as they enter a “highly competitive” film market looking for profitable occupation, that without real world understanding they are hopeless.  

The truth is even with a diploma you might not get hired.  It’s hard to get a regular job is today's market, and even harder in the film industry. There are a few reasons why this is the case.

One reason is because a job in the film industry is what we call a “premier job.”  Let’s be realistic where would you rather work as a cashier or on location?  At this point “you are competing with more people for fewer film industry jobs.”   The second reason is because work in the film industry is not like that of the traditional market.  So when a position in the film industry comes up, industry people hire from with-in the business.  Think about it, you don’t see job for the film industry in the help wanted ads.  Rather they look to film professionals if they know of anyone. 
So the question, is how do you get hired?  It’s not what you know so much as who you know.  

Go to a school that offers on set, real world experience.  Get to know industry professionals.  Look for an institution that offers real world training.

Start a Production Company

It’s important when starting a production company to look at it like a business and not a “creative endeavor.”  Here are a few steps you can follow to help start a production company.

 
Step 1

The first step to starting a production company is to write a detailed business plan.  This business plan should consist of the experience of the management team, the type of films you want to make, and the demographics you are shooting for.  You then should find movies that relate to the films you want to make and compare them to movies recently made and considered cost.

Step 2

Step two might not be easy but it is important.  Attain start up funding to pay for business individual filings, office equipment and if at all possible funds for you first screenplays.  It’s common that start up production companies function out of home offices until a project goes into “per-production.”  This helps reduce start up expense.

Step 3

You then in step three find screenplays to “develop and produce.”  It is important to remember that not all screenplays optioned will come to a realization.  You spend some “time and money developing” the film by making a budget and spending time looking for a director and actors. 

Step 4

Like in any business networking is a great way to find “industry professionals.”  You want to at this point find accomplished individuals to move the project forward and get it “green lighted.”  This happens when talent is committed to the project.  Get backing into place by signing a contract.

Step 5

You would then want to ask a lawyer that focuses on “entertainment law.”  He or she would review the contracts you have in the development stage.  Entertainment lawyers, unlike attorneys, work for a “producer’s fee” making it so they paid upon completion and distribution of the movie. 

Step 6

You would then want to make a demo reel of past projects you created.  This is a great way to show people what you are made of and what you are capable of making.

Step 7

In like any business marketing is the key to make your company sizzles.  Get a website and highlights members of your production company and posters of the films you’ve done.