by Michael Douglas Carlin
The reality soon set in on our little book trailer, and we all looked around the room and decided that the budget for the book trailer was about fifty bucks. The idea fairy left with the grandiose dreams for a thirty-second special effects driven commercial. It is time that we all look around the room and determine a realistic budget for our projects whatever they are, and write the future with a calculator.
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I was at a recent meeting to discuss creating a thirty-second book trailer. It sounds so simple: tell readers why they should buy this book. The people around the table were all entertainment-related, and some of their ideas were really good. But the ideas were totally unrealistic given our budget to make this happen. If we had millions of dollars and a big Madison Avenue advertising agency involved, we could spend money like there was no tomorrow. The point really hit home that we need to be writing with a calculator.
Television shows need to be written that way. Feature films can never become unmanageable again like the Disney film, John Carter. Commercials for every product also need to be based upon realistic budgets. This economy is really bringing this type of writing into focus for businesses of all types. They can have all the loftiest goals imaginable, but it all comes down to what is realistic. Spending more than we have isn't really an option.
Many may say that this will stifle creativity, but I say that creativity really begins where budgets fall short. When you can't write a check to make something spectacular, you are only beginning to tap true creativity. No work of art became great by throwing money at it. It became great because of the craftsmanship of the artist(s). Money can stifle creativity. Look at the number of directors who made compelling projects while they struggled, only to make crap when life became too easy. Very few directors were able to keep their creative edge once they became wealthy.
The implications of writing with a calculator are far reaching throughout our society. I recently reconnected with a producer, Michael Mandaville, whom I met twenty-five years ago. He has a pet project called Cities First. He is overwhelmed by the challenges that our state and federal governments face and feels that he can only really affect change on services provided by his local government; the schools his kids go to, roads, fire department, police, waste, and other services. His concept is that, if we all focused on electing officials who made sure that our local cities didn't go broke and took care of the citizens who live inside the city limits, we could work to strengthen America from the bottom up. All of government could learn from writing with a calculator beginning with cities first.
Mandaville likens his Cities First approach to Thanksgiving Dinner. We all need to decide what resources we have to put into the Thanksgiving spread. Some years, we have dinner for forty people, and some years it is immediate family only depending on how well we are doing. Cities must also face the reality of what resources they have to work with to stay within their budget. It is our duty as citizens to get involved and hold the local politicians' feet to the fire to stay within their means. If tax revenue is down this year, our Thanksgiving Dinner may only be spaghetti. When things get better, we can go back to turkey, ham and all of the fixin's. Mandaville has a tremendous point that should be adopted by the citizens of America to keep local spending in check.
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