Christopher Ming's Blog

And it’s like coming back home. It smells familiar. You can take off your shoes and get comfortable, because you’re in the hands of an artist, who may not show you where she’s taking you, but she won’t release you from her world either, until there’s nothing left to explore. I had forgotten – this is what made me want to tell stories in the first place.

 

That’s what (all non-affiliate links)  A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan did. So did Everything is Illuminated (Jonathan Safran Foer,) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz,) City of Thieves (David Benioff,) and (crossing genres now) BRICK by Rian Johnson, 500 DAYS OF SUMMER by Scott Neustadter and Michael  Weber and shit, okay really genres hopping Pain (Johnny Cash) and the time I listened to an artist whose first name was Neal and last name I left in Nashville at the Bluebird Cafe, who sang “That’s My Son” which still keeps me up at night, but right then I had to march up to him and thank him because that song meant the world to me, even though I knew I’d probably never hear it again and haven’t since.

Categories: authors,books,writing
by Chris
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It’s strange to think our relationship grew from hate.

 

Well, maybe not as intense as “hate.” “Loathing” is close.

 

Topher’s girlfriend and I were good friends – the kind that watched ONE TREE HILL together. He didn’t appreciate this, but we grew on one another nevertheless.

Watching B-roll of us work together, Topher acting in a web series pilot I wrote, me directing him, it’s easy to forget the long silences in the morning. That we sometimes go whole days without saying a word to one another.

 

I don’t like the way he does the dishes.

He doesn’t like that on many Friday nights, I’d rather hole up and be miserable than go out and meet people.

 

In another five or 10 years from now, if one of us blows up, it’s going to be too easy to look at these pictures and say, “it was meant to be.” I might not resist the urge to reduce our history to a single uplifting headline. I’ll romanticize our past with glazed eyes: prom night cigars, Indian Casinos and a summer of basements and poker chips, the never-ending stretch of asphalt leading to Los Angeles.

Not yet though. Today I want to get it while it’s real. So here it is:

 

I love working with my friend, Topher.

I don’t know if there’s a happy ending waiting for either of us.

But we’re working on it.

Categories: friends,relationships,web series,writing
by Chris
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Nassim Nicholas Taleb notes in his book, BLACK SWAN, that we are creatures of revisionist history: we edit history as we see fit, giving cause or linking relationships between events that aren’t there. It’s part of human nature he says, to search for meaning in daily occurrences. If we don’t find it, we’ll make it up.

 

Which helped me realize this blog (in its half dozen itinerations, but especially in this current version) is an exercise of revisionist history as I work in the entertainment industry. I edit, filter, and draw causal relationships between events, hunting for logic that may or may not be there. And I do these things in the face of two truths:

 

One: I don’t know what I’m doing.

 

I base my decisions on my personal value system, my limited knowledge of the entertainment terrain, and the advice of my peers who are in similar positions. Yet at times I catch myself writing as if this was all part of the grand master plan I concocted while I was still in New York.

 

There is however, perverse comfort in the belief that most everyone in the entertainment field is groping blindly in the dark – some are just less aware of it than others.

 

The second truth is that in my effort to “make it” in entertainment, and to make it as a writer, I revise and filter my writing about making it in the entertainment and writing. Voices whisper each time I sit:

 

“Don’t write about how you view the executive/assistant relationship – what if you want an assistant job?”

“Don’t sound optimistic or hopeful about this prospect – you’ll sound naïve.  Or worse, desperate.”

“Don’t call out certain rude tendencies of professionals in this industry – what if you offend someone?”

“Don’t talk too much about what or who you love – what if it changes? What if you have to take it back?”

 

These all boil down to fears I think a lot of us share: what if I’m held accountable for what I write? What if I have to make a stand? What if I upset the wrong people?

 

A solution is to write anonymously.  Take my picture off this site, change the URL, and take cover behind the shroud of a pseudonym. But I think this is a cheat solution. As Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes so eloquently put it:

 

“Bitches post anonymous.”

 

A more acceptable solution starts by making a few admissions. I admit that most days:

• I don’t know what I’m doing.
• I am scared I’m doing the wrong things.
• I wish someone would reassure me, “you’re doing the right thing.”

 

I also admit that every day:

• I am accountable for my words. For what I say and write.
• I can do good work without knowing “what am I going to get out of this?”
• I should focus more on being honest and making a stand, and less on upsetting others.

Categories: accountability,history,los angeles,spin
by Chris
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How many scripts does it take to turn a script reader sour to spec scripts?

 

I imagine not too long — if you’re patient and forgiving, somewhere in the low 200’s perhaps. Eventually you see the same mistakes repeated over and over again. Your patience wanes. Your forgiveness falters.

 

I embraced the process when I first started reading scripts — even as an unpaid reader. 

 

I thought, if I pour myself into my reads, and take care to learn from the successes and mistakes (mostly mistakes) I’ll write better material.

 

It’s tough to keep up the positivity. Script after script, you offer the same notes: show don’t tell; what does your character want?; dialogue feels snappy but where is your story? And these notes are directed towards the good material… never mind the scripts sent by writers who obviously didn’t proof read: glaring typos on page one; lengthy sections of prose; scenes completely omitted explained with the words “insert scene here” to indicate something will eventually “fill in the blank.”

 

It gets more difficult to be kind. You can’t hold your tongue in your critiques. You lash out — cruelly, at times — if you think the piece warrants it: “Good, I hope their feelings are hurt. They’ll put more care into their work before sending it next time.”

 

Perhaps some of these mistakes are because of negligence. I think just as often they’re the mistakes of a first-time script writer. And a first-time writer needs to make his first crop of mistakes at some point in his career — you’re just the reader “watching” as he dips his toes. These are people who, if they put in their time and dedicate themselves, could probably create something quite good — it just wasn’t this project or this script. And what a terrible thing it would be to destroy someone’s potential.

 

Confidence to put material out to the world is difficult to build, but it’s easily crushed.

 

Which is precisely the temptation at times. To crush egos, to remind people, “you’re not as good as you think you are.” Each time I’m compelled to do so, however, I remember my first script. An assistant whom I interned for offered to read it and give me notes, and I took her up on it.

 

It’s only now I realize the gravity of the moment. This act was the catalyst that pushed me to show my work to others, to just put it out there. It taught me to stop treating projects like my darlings; that if you’re going to be a professional, you just do your best before casting them out to the world to see who thrives and who dies.

 

This assistant could have decided she was tired of reading bad scripts. She could have gotten onto her soap box and preached to me about all the beginner mistakes I made that she’s sick of seeing. She could have said, “Stop writing like this. We get it. You love the sound of your own voice.”

 

She didn’t. Instead she said, “It’s clear you’re a good writer. Here’s what you’re going to work on for your next script…”

 

Categories: professional,scripts,writing
by Chris
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“Don’t ask people if they would buy – ask them to buy. The response to the second is the only one that matters… Ask ten people if they would buy your product. Then tell those who said ‘yes’ that you have ten units in your car and ask them to buy. The initial positive responses, given by people who want to be liked and aim to please, become polite refusals as soon as real money is at stake.”

-Tim Ferriss

With web content the details are different — we ask the audience to “buy” not with money but with time. However, the takeaway remains the same:

 

Don’t ask people “would you watch this?” Ask: “did you watch this?”

 

In my opinion, this is the most exciting element to creating and distributing a web series. This area is where you can give the biggest proverbial “f*ck you” to the big players out there. The ability to test and make adjustments based on testing is where independent producers can fully leverage their nimbleness, their flexibility, and willingness to innovate.

 

Testing is cheap.

Testing is simplified.

You don’t need focus groups. You don’t need tools to measure precise emotions.

The only thing you need is a system for your testing.

 

Below I’ve outlined a system for testing a web series. The system itself is untested, but they’re the steps I will take with the next project. I will update the post with tweaks and lessons learned as I proceed.

 

Step 1: Cut a Teaser

The key word is “cut,” not “shoot.”

 

Cutting a teaser means splicing existing content to recreate the tone or feel of your web series.  Cost is virtually zero – basically only the opportunity cost of a bomb video editor who can execute. The purpose of creating the teaser is to test your concept – are people interested?

 

Most recently, this is how Brandon Bestenheider and Allen Bey created buzz and sold their spec script, GRIM NIGHT to Universal.

(This example is solely to give you an example of potential power of a teaser. The goal of our teaser is not to sell or create “buzz.” The goal is to test.)

 

To that end, the approach is not a “let’s put it on YouTube and see what happens!”

 

Definitely not. This is a passive approach, and it doesn’t generate the information you’re looking for.

 

The teaser allows us to ask very specific questions to gauge interest in the concept. We are asking questions to find out if it has viral potential, not hoping it will go viral.

Step 2: Test the Teaser

Show the teaser to a select audience. Ask them specific questions (there are both direct and indirect ways to ask these questions.)

“What do you think of this concept?” is not a specific question. Go deeper to get answers that will help you:

 

1. “What part of this concept interests you?”
2. “What parts bored you?”
3. “What do you want to see more of?”
4. “Where do you think this series is going?”

When you’re testing, you can literally sit there and gauge your audience’s reaction as they watch (note: practice with close friends, not strangers you approach at Starbucks and ask, “wanna see something?”)

 

What is their action immediately following the video?

1. Do they ask for clarification?
2. Do they repeat the viewing?
3. Do they want to share with others?

 

Caveat: it’s unlikely you’ll disqualify your concept based on the teaser, unless reactions are particularly negative or you weren’t that attached to the concept anyway. That’s why specificity of questions is important – what can you learn from your audience?

Step 3: Shoot the Pilot

Based off the teaser, your team moves forward and shoots the pilot. Most likely you’re bootstrapped and shooting on the cheap. (There are proactive ways, of course, to raise funding, i.e., Kickstarter, but I’d suggest taking this step after shooting the pilot.)

 

Employ guerilla tactics and get the pilot shot: steal locations, get people to work for free, etc. Get the project in the can.

 

The traditional model is cutting the pilot and shopping it around to producers, financiers, and distributors. Obtaining interest from any one of these parties is definitely a level of success. However, there are more steps to this model of testing if you want to remain independent.

Step 4: Test the Pilot

Cut 3 to 5 versions of the pilot.

 

Drive an audience to different landing pages featuring these cuts. When possible, ask audience members the same questions used in the teaser. Continue to gauge what elements of the pilot are confusing, and what elements resonate with the audience. The results of this testing will provide the necessary information to shoot the rest of your series.

 

These steps can be grouped under the catch all phrase, “creating buzz.” Except creating buzz is a vague concept, with no call-to-action or goals. Following the steps in this model, the goal is testing – and you generate buzz as a result.

 

Testing allows you to create a track record. A track record you can bring with you to, say, Kickstarter, and declare “this many people watched” (not, this demographic said they would watch, or we are trying to attract this audience.) Plus, you know what elements of the pilot they liked, what confused them, and how you’re going to use that information.

 

Now with that homework in your back pocket, how much more powerful are you when you ask for financing?

Step 5: Shoot the Series

The next step is the biggest risk: shoot the entire series, in the most cost effective manner possible. It’s a big step, especially without a buyer locked. This is your greatest investment yet, and you’re exposing yourself to large scale of failure.

 

But using this system for web content creation, look at what you’ve done in the previous four steps!

 

You’ve mitigated your risk by constantly testing, tweaking your approach based on feedback from an actual audience, and generated buzz for your project as a result.  You’ve proven to potential investors that you can write, produce and package a product independently – that you value people’s time and money.

 

Who wouldn’t want to work with someone like that?*

 

*Note: I assume the answer is everyone, but this assumption remains untested. As I mentioned at the top, these are only my initial thoughts on the system. As I apply and test, I will update this post.

 

Categories: collaborations,web series,workflow
by Chris
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