Dilman Dila

There's a time in your career when everyone (the people in the industry who read your work) is praising you and saying you have the talent and the potential and that you are really good. And then you start to send your work to producers, and to festivals, and you keep getting the reply "...this is exceleent work, amazing, but unfortunately, we received a number of high quality work..." and you start to wonder whether all this praise is just to make you feel good?

That's how I'm feeling now. I got a rejection letter from a festival, a day after I'd finished shooting a short documentary. And I got this letter after finding out from the bank that I was broke because I put the little money I had in the documentary. Then I started to think twice, just why do i bother? maybe I'm not that good? If the rejection letter had come before I started the shoot, I might have thought twice.

But for many months now, whoever sees the short film I made says 'wow' and 'oh man, this is amazing' and 'jesus, you are good!' and then I was shot full of praise that i thought i should make another one. yet, every festival I send it too has so far been sending back regrets!

I'm so tired of being good! They should just stop being polite and tell me my work is shit! :(

There's a time in your career when everyone (the people in the industry who read your work) is praising you and saying you have the talent and the potential and that you are really good. And then you start to send your work to producers, and to festivals, and you keep getting the reply "...this is exceleent work, amazing, but unfortunately, we received a number of high quality work..." and you start to wonder whether all this praise is just to make you feel good?

That's how I'm feeling now. I got a rejection letter from a festival, a day after I'd finished shooting a short documentary. And I got this letter after finding out from the bank that I was broke because I put the little money I had in the documentary. Then I started to think twice, just why do i bother? maybe I'm not that good? If the rejection letter had come before I started the shoot, I might have thought twice.

But for many months now, whoever sees the short film I made says 'wow' and 'oh man, this is amazing' and 'jesus, you are good!' and then I was shot full of praise that i thought i should make another one. yet, every festival I send it too has so far been sending back regrets!

I'm so tired of being good! They should just stop being polite and tell me my work is shit! :(

Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gordy Hoffman, winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival for LOVE LIZA. He also wrote and directed three short films for Fox Searchlight in 2002 and made his feature directorial debut with his script, A COAT OF SNOW, which world premiered at the 2005 Locarno International Film Festival. He has a number of screenwriting articles, which can be got at www.bluecatscreenplay.com.

He had a few words of advice for African filmmakers, especially those who are making the transition from theatre to movies, and those who are making movies with budgets at far less than 10,000$ and with hope to market it without the help of major distributors.

Dilman: What drew you to become a filmmaker?



Gordy: I made a super 8 movie when I was 12, which I wrote, directed and  
starred. I have no idea where that came from! I would lose track of  
the flame along the way, but it remains to light my path.

Dilman: What trick did you use to achieve your dream? How long was it  
before you realised you'd made it?

Gordy: I don’t know what making it means. I’m not rich. But you achieve  
your dreams today. I have always been my worst enemy by far. Now I’m  
more on my own side. Maybe that’s what making it means.

Dilman: You started off as a stage playwright, then branched into  
movies. Many Ugandan (and African) stage artists are trying to get into the movies,  
with the results that their movies appear to be stage plays on  
screen, which can also be said about Nigerian films. What problems  
did you encounter during the transition? How did you overcome them?

Gordy: They are different animals. If writers are having problems making the  
transition to screen from the stage, I would suggest writing a short  
script with no dialogue. This will break the reliance on dialogue to  
carry a story. This is what I was conscious of when I started writing  
screenplays. My dependence on dialogue.

Dilman: What advise would you give to filmmakers in Africa, whose  
resources are usually limited to about US$10,000, or far less, or  
even no money at all?

Gordy: Use video. Film is no longer necessary. Work hard to cast wisely.  
Double all your efforts in finding your actors. Rehearse forever  
before you shoot. Interview your crew. Don’t settle for rude people.  
Determine what your truth is, and remember it. You will be doing  
everything, long after all the fun stuff ends.

Dilman: What advice would you give an independent filmmaker on the best way  
to market his movie, without the major distributors' backing and  
without a lot of money for advertising?

Gordy: Research film festivals diligently. Send the movie to a famous person  
to watch. Attend the festivals. Work on completing a fabulous press  
kit. Contact the media yourself. Start a blog. Join MySpace. Above  
all, consider your next movie at all times. Make another!

Dilman: What chance do African movies have of making money in America  
and Europe?

Gordy: I think they have a great chance if African filmmakers believe they  
will. It depends on the artist. Do not spend energy on questions like  
this. Tell your personal stories and you will find an audience. This  
is where it comes from.

Dilman: Do you think an African movie wouldn't sell big in America and  
Europe if it doesn't have an American/European star as a hero? (Given  
the trend in Hollywood, maybe we should say "white star" without  
being racist ) Why do you think so?

Gordy: It’s the nature of the US film business. Stars drive marketing and  
distribution. My film, A COAT OF SNOW, did not get distribution, as  
it did not have stars. But the voices of Africa are coming and we are  
getting more stories from there. African writers need fear nothing.  
Your time has come. Tell the world what you have. White Americans are  
getting boring.

Dilman: Where in Hollywood would a very African script sell? What’s the  
best trick of selling to Hollywood from outside, given that getting  
some requirements like Acco #5 Brads Fasteners can be tough in  
Africa, even with online shops.

Gordy: The Brad fasteners are not going to block a great story from being  
produced. Focus on rewriting. Focus on writing the best, most magical  
story ever. Then attend the nearest major film festival. Meet people.  
Email people. Pitch your tale. Fight. If you cannot leave home,  
email. Start a blog! You can reach people everywhere today, but the  
first thing you need to do to sell an African script in Hollywood is  
to write a beautiful screenplay. Story is king! It’s true, it really  
is……..

last night, I watched The 40 Year Virgin. With a married woman. We were alone in my two room apartment. I on the bed, she on a chair. Not that we intended to do anything, but it seemed funny watching this movie with a married woman in your room.

The movie wasn't as much fun as the script. I read the script a month ago and it was fun, I laughed more times than I can remember, but when I watched the movie, it didn't seem so funny. It's a great movie, right, but not a 'laugh-loud' comedy as the script seemed to suggest. It's a 'smile-smile, feel-good' comedy.

That got me thinking. Movies immitate life, but writing really offers one an escape from reality. If you READ a story, you will enjoy it much more than when you WATCH that story. Funny? Strange? And I think for anyone who wants to enjoy a story, reading is the better option.

American's won't like that. They don't love reading. :-) So they've pushed for movies to be the major story telling medium, just as they've made Coca Cola the major soft drink in the world. That's sad. Maybe we should give more support to Oprah and her book club, se we can get more people reading than watching TVs.

This is the first movie I ever made. I'm so excited about it, though it looks bad. Maybe I'll do better. Maybe I'll end up a Steven Speilberg. (Did i get his name right?) You can also watch it on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRgOfMmY2pg

Amazing how Editors can appear out of the blue gloom to lift up your spirits.

I've just had another terrible xmas, like all my xmases are. It's the time when people hang out with their loved ones and family. Its the time also that reminds me how much I lack all these. No family (well, there is one, brothers, father, a mother, but each time I see any of them, I get nightmares. Bad nightmares like those on Elm Street) No loved one either. It's been a long and sorrowful life for me (you call 29 long?) and this xmas brought out my forlonity in with such graphic clarity that I found myself looking back at the events that made my life what it is. It goes way back to my earliest memory, sex with a neighbours daughter. she was 3, i was 4. I've never had sex since then: there was the gal who died (hit by a car as I crossed the road with her) when I was about 5. I think those two made my life what it is. pathetic. those two sparked off a series of a lot of other incidents that make me forever a loner. And this christmas made me see all these in a new light, made me feel my ambitions to be a writer were contemptous. Made me feel my life wasn't worth living. Made me feel so many things that I swore to end this miserable life before I'm 30, if I haven't broken into the ranks of pros.

Well, and then this morning, I get an email. At first I think it's junk. I've forgotten all about this story, and this magazine, and I read the letter three times to remember both. It's an acceptance. 25$. And I'm like 'Oh shit, I aint that bad." Of course it isn't the only thing I've ever published, but its the only acceptance in over a year and it was begining to get to my throat.

It's such small favours from the Editors (who live in Olympus, is that the correct spelling of that mountain?) that keeps miserables like us going.

Maybe this year will be a different one for me.

Hi...I've heard so much about blogging that I decided to try it out. So I'm supposed to write something here every day? or probably once a week? that might be usefull because I've tried to keep a diary and failed. maybe if i do it online I'll be more successfull. So I'll be posting here intimate details about my life (i'll spice it up, so you won't have to read dreary stuff) And I'll be putting in here every successs and every failure i encounter. Smiles.