by Louise Alston
Pro: meetings in bed
Am I really going to talk about finding career success in the bedroom? I think there is a lot to be said for a different kind of pillow talk. There is a genuine warmth talking to someone in their own home, even if zoom framing and lighting is an artifice of its own. I’m not sure how many people realised that despite careful camera positioning and selective wardrobe styling, I was actually sitting on my bed. With hubby working from home in one room and kiddo (barely) homeschooling in another, I was left with one quiet place…. and let’s just call it a creative decision to leave my comfy pyjama bottoms on. But let’s face it, how fake can you be if your pyjama pants are just out of shot? Also, how wonderful to break down barriers for parents and others for whom a jaunt interstate or overseas is a real sacrifice.
Con: no glamour
Ok, comfort was a factor, but maybe artifice is key to filmmaking. True, it was a short walk from my bedroom to my couch and my episode of Call My Agent, but the episode I was watching was the series 2 finale set in Cannes. Maybe what I craved was not just actual warm bodies, but being part of all the hoopla of film festivals. Scarce tickets, film moments that stay with you forever, gasps, applause, tears, champagne, movie stars, red carpets, clicking cameras, TV grabs about how honoured you are to be there, indulgent speeches, sharks and charlatans, conversations with people looking over your shoulder…. hmmm….
Pro: being real
There is something very disarming and relaxed when you collapse different parts of your world. Family and work, filmmaker persona with mummy/mommy persona. With time differences across the globe, some of my afternoon meetings were with bleary-eyed Europeans sipping their first coffees. A couple of meetings were interrupted by children and pets. By the time Friday afternoon came by, I had one meeting that started with my kid climbing down from the windowsill behind me and darting out of the room. “Yes, you did just see someone dressed in a tutu…”
When taking a film market meeting online, the best option is to be present and real. When storytelling, pitching, selling, whatever you want to say film market meetings are for, being genuine and real is a strength. Looking into someone’s home (even with a carefully curated bookshelf behind them) creates a sense that we are all real people. Somehow, getting on a plane and dressing up as a filmmaker can depart from the truth you are trying to reach with your actual work.
Con: No drinks
Sometimes, 20 minutes is just not long enough. I really wanted to ask more questions of some people. Sometimes I think sales people are the coolest people at the party, not the actual filmmakers. They work with lots of cool people in cool places. I’m just focused on my own projects. They know things I don’t know about what audiences are doing and how the sausage is sold. Several meetings ended with me saying “I’m sorry I can’t keep talking to you at the bar later.” Because, later I was planning to watch Call My Agent and order Menulog, but at least I sounded like I was up for a night on the tiles.
Pro: no drinks
I got to stay home, watch Call My Agent and order Menulog. Instead of finding camaraderie at the bar, I found there was camaraderie in sharing the difficulty of our circumstances. Many meetings started with “How are you guys going over there?” After the mental health check-in, participants were forced into hard and fast pitching. There was a 5-minute warning that the meeting was about to end and a message that “This meeting is over” at the end of the twenty minutes. So, we had to focus, truncate, edit out the BS. Just how useful is the socialising at film markets anyway?
Con: the incidental pitch
Actually, it’s probably super useful to have drinks at film markets. The thing that was missing from 37 South online was incidental conversation. “You should meet someone I know”, “I heard they are looking for that type of project over at….”, “Did you hear that person x has moved to company y?” Also, the dozens of opportunities to tryout and hone your elevator pitch. Film sales people ask pointed follow-up questions and while many of these things were discussed in the meetings, maybe these meetings did lose something in their truncation. We never know what we never know and maybe we lost a million incidental unscheduled moments.
So, while it might be nice to bring my work to the bedroom, maybe I just need to bring some more home-style honesty to the next in-person film market. Maybe, less actual pyjama pants and more pyjama pants spirit is what is needed going forward towards a post covid world?