By : Jamie Santamore
I often struggle with blogging mainly because I'm a very passionate person about all things movie related, writing, directing, acting (I struggle with but I'm passionate about it) I love doing / learning makeup FX .
I'm one of those people who wears their feeling on the sleeve and that not always a good thing. Sometimes my passion boils over and I take to the website here and write things that aren't always in the best interests of Wicked Carnival Productions and I struggle often with When to blog and when not to blog... It's like I have two sides of me, let me explain ...
Side A : The passionate horror fan(boy) that will battle to the death with any one who talks crap about the movies, characters, actors / actresses I love, who throws caution to the wind, writes whatever he wants and doesn't think his actions through he's the angry fan who writes whatever he's feeling about the particular subject with reckless abandon and simply doesn't care if you are offended.
Note : Some fans like these things about me, some don't.
Side B : The professional business man who is trying to build a brand in a highly competitive business, who carefully thinks through every choice he makes on a daily basis (many times over thinking every little decision) the guy that knows he can succeed but has to walk on egg shells to make it happen. This side of me knows that I need to be mindful of they way the general public sees me, my business plan and how I conduct myself because one you put your work out there weather you like it or not you're a public figure with someone somewhere always having an eye on you .
Note : Some fans prefer this side of me, some don't because they see it as being a "sell out" .
When I read things like being called a "sell out" or not being a "true fan" for whatever reason people want to create on social media I look at it this way these people are the ones who belong to horror groups on Facebook and post on them like their lives depend on it and it's the same stuff posted day in and day out, thoughts on movies, who or what is better, who would win in a fight between these two horror antagonists and so on and so forth, admittedly I used to be one of those people / fans that would write or comment on these things and I still do it once in awhile if I'm passionate enough about the question being posed. However for the most part, I fail to see the point of such posts on social media especially the same questions are posed by the same people in the same groups on a daily basis ? Why spend hours a day every day on these groups rehashing old horror movies and the same rotation of boring questions, Why I ask you ???
I never understood the point of fan fiction even after writing my "fan" script for Halloween III I still don't see the big deal over writing a story or script for a movie that can NEVER be made into a movie because you don't own the rights to the characters or the title to make the movie happen, granted I admit that I wrote a fan script for Halloween III but I had every intention of sending it to the Weinstein Company and GIVING it to them and all I wanted was my name in the credits as payment for the script. I did this for TWO reasons, #1 I'm passionate about the Halloween franchise which leads me to reason #2 I wanted Halloween III to come out so badly and still do.
Take all that passion you have for your genre I don't care if it's The Walking Dead, Supernatural, Twilight, Harry Potter, Marvel, DC, Scream, Friday The 13th or whatever you're a fan of take your passion and channel it into your own work, write a short story, a comic book, graphic novel, a fan fiction or hell even a movie script and see where it takes you. write your own characters, your own storylines and create something that is yours.
Now I know that is a scary thought to put your work out there and a million things run through your mind but you can do it if you really want to. If you write a story about a boy who becomes the greatest wizard in the history of wizards people will say "It's a Harry Potter rip off" if you write a story about a Vampire, a Werewolf and they fight over a girl people will call it a Twilight rip off but you know what you can say to those people... "At least I'm pursuing my dream" and they will have nothing to say to you after that.
Note : A little secret for all the fan fiction writers out there that are scared to be called rip offs by fans There is nothing original out there that hasn't been made 100 times in Hollywood, or in books or comics everything is an idea that came from something else. Slashers all follow the same story arc (more or less) "chick flicks" follow the "boy meets girl boy falls for girl, boy loses girl by gets girl back" formula Action movies all follow the same basic story arc. the trick is to change the story arc ever so slightly to the movie appears to look different then other films, Think about it for a minute.. and you know what we go in droves to see the latest movies in our favorite genres anyway..
When I blog I try to be professional and give professional thoughts and opinions on indie film subjects and topics that are based in the film industry over all but once in awhile I do an blog that can get me in hot water, for example I worked all day (off and on) yesterday on a blog about violence in cinema and specifically the horror genre and my thoughts and feelings on the subject as an indie film maker that is sitting in my draft folder and I haven't decided weather or not I will post it or not because it is such a controversial subject.
While I don't go out of my way to jump into controversy or be controversial in anyway. I get asked abut subjects like my thoughts on violence in cinema alot and I have avoided the topic because of it's controversial status.
Part of me wants to tackle these types of subjects because I feel as an indie film maker I have a different point of view then a regular person, a critic of mainstream cinema, or a mainstream production company for that matter, now the other part of me wants to stay away from these types of subjects because I am trying to build a brand in a very competitive business, I'm trying to build Wicked Carnival Productions into a company know the world over for our horror movies and don't want to cloud the brand with controversy if I can help it.
If that's hard to understand for people look at it this way, I have loyal viewers / fans of the websites, people that read all my blogs, watch all my videos and follow me on social media and I love each and every one of you for it. Then I have casual fans who come by once in awhile and look the sites over but might not read everything I write or watch every video I post and those fans are cool too :) The people I worry about offending are the first time viewers of the sites and if the first thing they read is a controversial blog about Violence in Cinema and they get turned off by it they may never come back to the page. Having a website is all about getting a steady flow of traffic to your site(s) and I'm looking to build a worldwide fan base with these sites.
I also think about potential investors in future projects. Like I said I'm building a BRAND with Wicked Carnival Productions and a FRANCHISE with the Sins of Man trilogy. I need the help of investors, be it big business investors or fans helping with a donation to a crowdfunding campaign and I can't risk losing possible investors of any kind because I want to go off half cocked because something I read on social media gets my blood boiling.
IN CLOSING ......
I know this blog has been all over the place and I apologize for that there are alot of things on my mind with the new mystery project, working out the shooting schedule for Vengeance, planning out the next several projects and locking down release schedule for the next few years.
The two sides of me have to work together to make this thing work and to build the Wicked Carnival Productions Brand, I will continue to post content that is entertaining, thought provoking and try to stay away from the controversy if I can help it. As far as being called a "Sell Out" for wanting to be a smart and hopefully successful business man, all I have to say is I didn't sell out, I bought into my future.
STAY HUMBLE, STAY HUNGRY MY FRIENDS :)