Why am I sharing the Sam Bailey screenplay?

Last night, I posted the 8th draft of Sam Bailey on the 8 Sided Forum.

To be clear, this probably isn't the shooting script. At this point, the script is strong enough to attract the kind of people who make a film like this possible. These people continue to chip in at least partly because they can see the script evolving to take advantage of their contributions. In some ways, the Sam Bailey screenplay is the foundation for everything we've built so far. In other ways, it's a product of everyone involved.

Things are no different with our audience. Realistically, there's no feasible way to treat every single audience member as a producer - not that they'd want that. While we'd like feedback, we're not going to be hearing audience critique as a requirement for great storytelling, or even commercial success. We are the filmmakers. In this relationship, we're the experts.

What we can do, and what we absolutely must do if we are going to lead the wave of transformation currently sweeping through Hollywood, is get to know the people most interested in what we do. By that, I mean we need to get to know them personally. We need an open dialogue.

Is there a chance that the script will change as a result of that dialogue? Certainly. In the studio system, it happens all the time with focus groups and test marketing... At the same time, we're not going to make a movie and then offer to change it. First of all, we can't afford it.

Secondly, part of art is commitment, and part of the reason we're doing this is so that the audience can see the film we're committed to making. The, there's the fact that every artist misses opportunities that would have been obvious to a more objective pair of eyes. Sometimes, we'll pass those opportuntities up. Other times, we'll take advantage of them. Either way, opening up that process to the people who share our work and passion for film is something new.

Keep in mind that it's a balancing act. Every artist needs to feel safe and free to screw up in private, and especially when it comes to my actors and production staff, I'm very committed to protecting that privacy. At the same time, using social media to play with those boundaries, to let the audience in on what's happening, seems an essential part of that relationship.

Draft 8 might not be perfect, but drafts 1 through 7 were only shared with close, close collaborators. Even I, dear reader, need my space to discover the mistakes that work. Otherwise, why read it?

Check out the 8th draft of Sam Bailey on the 8 Sided Forum!