ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

9 years, 12 months ago - Marlom Tander

If you have to move on, you have to move on.

BUT if you got your footage by promising people a lot, and getting them to give you their time and maybe built up their hopes, you need to let them know what's happening and say that if they find someone to pick up the baton, or who just wants your footage for their project, you'll be pleased to help.

Failure to do so just reinforces the devious media people only interested in their own agenda meme.

9 years, 12 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin

Films are never finished, only abandoned. There's always more to do on them, always more tweaks to make, so it's really a question of if it was abandoned before distribution or after ;-)

9 years, 11 months ago - Claire Buckley

"Knowing when to cut your losses is really important."

+1 and more on that Nick.

Having passion for a story to tell is one thing, but if you are likely to be down $£money£$ over a long period of time in the pursuit of that story, and it's likely in the end you are unable to recoup those costs, there does come a time when you re-enter reality, and you have to say "enough" and let it go.

9 years, 12 months ago - Nick Hilton

I think I'm more sympathetic to your plight. Sometimes things don't work out. Sometimes that means you can create a version of the film you intended, and sometimes it means that you can't create a film at all. That's a problem that's inherent to the documentary format, and it's something that all documentarians have to psychologically deal with.

I've been worked for a couple of years on a documentary which, each time I get some nice footage, changes significantly. That's the problem with creating a film about a reality that is unfolding in realtime. And, perhaps, in a year's time, my film won't work at all - it's impossible to know whether I have bits and pieces or nothing at all.

Knowing when to cut your losses is really important. If the film isn't going to work out, then persevering with it, expending more energy on it, is going to be unrewarding or even damaging. There's no shame in realising that the project can't work as you'd intended it or envisaged it. Walking away in order to do things that are actually attainable is perfectly admirable in itself.

9 years, 11 months ago - Kays Alatrakchi

One of my first projects was a documentary. I went in wonderfully unprepared but with a great attitude and hope that this was going to turn out well. I think I had relied heavily on the idea of my subject being as fascinating and compelling in a one-on-one setting as he was on stage. I couldn't have been more wrong! This was a person who gave stage lectures and very fascinating presentations on philosophy and religion...so surely he must have some great observations that nobody's ever heard of, so perhaps his personal life story would be even more fascinating. Nope and nope! Ok, so he was also working on a book about to be published where he explored interesting historical parallels...once again dead end.

I came home with several hours worth of interview but as I got on to editing it became quite apparent that I didn't really have anything. After several months of trying various angles and hoping to build something out of my material, I had to give up and move on.

It didn't feel good, I felt like I had not only let myself down, but also this person and everyone else who had ever given me any encouragement.

It wasn't until a few years later that I came to terms with the fact that I had made the right decision. I am also convinced that the shelves of the likes of Werner Herzog, Ken Burns and Errol Morris must be full of projects that just didn't quite pan out and got shelved.

I don't think there is anything wrong with abandoning a project, as long as good lessons are learned from it and one emerges from the failure as a better filmmaker.

Sometime, true growth can only come from hardship.

9 years, 12 months ago - Alève Mine

Make sure it's not your need for new horizons that led you to think that you should now decide that there is no story to tell anymore. Remember that the viewers will not have had this project in mind for any length of time you did.

I'm saying this because I observe in myself a sinking level of excitement in projects that are ready to go and for which I've been looking for production resources for ages (gauged relatively to the size of the project somehow). What happens then? I write another script and am very excited about that one and have a higher belief that it can get made. But stepping back to get the big picture for a moment, I see that what is happening is in my head here - it's not the contents of project itself, it's my exploratory nature that causes this.

That said, it seems that you have the footage already. So you could edit and release, not? Timing in relation to zeitgeist is also important, so you may need to change the point of view on the subject the longer you wait.