Moviebiz Myths: Interest
24 Feb
Newspaper articles, trade guides and online journals will periodically feature talk about how a certain screenwriter/director/actor has a few people ‘interested’ in them or their project. At that time, the bulk of the article will be devoted to listing the credentials of the interested parties and everything they have achieved in the past and how that is validation of the fact that the above-mentioned screenwriter/director/actor is doing important work.
People just starting out (or struggling to find a toehold) in the business will also be familiar with the term from emails, text messages or actual verbal conversations with powers-that-be (of varying intensity). The word ‘interest’, quite like the stuff you accrue on a bank account, can lead to a great deal of disappointment if you place too much hope in it.
‘Interest’ is not a commitment. It is (at best) an indication that you haven’t totally turned off a potential employer with your script/showreel/curves, at first glance. Will that ‘interest’ translate into a commitment that involves someone other than your mother/father/brother/sister/lover investing time and effort into making one of your dreams come true?
It is not the most preposterous idea in the world but you’d better have a foolproof proposition before another person (who is neither emotionally beholden to you nor someone you have some serious dirt on) will lift a single finger to help you.
In the meantime, an expression of interest only means that the two of you may dance together someday. Up until that day, take a tango lesson or two. Because you don’t want to be caught with two left feet the day it’s your turn to try on the glass slippers.
