Prometheus Unleashed: Different Styles

4.01.2005

Different Styles

So I’ve been watching the new season of Project Greenlight, and I’ve found myself identifying more with the producers than the director. One major point — which I’ve heard expressed several times elsewhere — is that independent directors aren’t used to the large crews involved in studio productions.

Here’s a case where my technique differs from others in the indie arena, I suppose (and notably from infamous do-it-yourselfer Robert Rodriguez): I like to work with others. Yes, I can be a control freak at times, but I’m perfectly happy to delegate tasks to others. We’ve already got a pretty big crew together for the upcoming 48 Hour Film Project, and I don’t really see a problem with that. Yes, it requires organization, but more importantly, it requires respect for the skills of others.

I suppose this means I’d be well suited for a career as a Hollywood director...

2 Comments:

At 2:18 PM, Ole Blue The Heretic said...: I think your best directors are those who are capable of allowing the artist surounding them to be as creative as possible, only pulling in the reins when the story becomes muddled.
At 4:40 PM, Bill Coughlan said...: There's the "auteur" theory of filmmaking, in which one single-minded individual forces everything to his whim. And while I think there's a bit of accuracy to that, I find it more accurate to say there are a whole group of creative people who bring a (successful) film together.

And frankly, it makes my job a lot easier if I don't have to worry about every little detail, and can concentrate on the overall picture. In that sense, maybe these 48-hour film challenges are great learning experiences, in that I have no choice but to depend on others -- in that time frame, I simply can't do everything myself.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that I've managed to surround myself -- through a combination of dedicated effort and blind luck -- with some extraordinarily talented people.

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: Name: Bill Coughlan; Location: Burke, Virginia, United States

William R. Coughlan is one of the founders of Tohubohu Productions (so even on pictures he doesn’t direct, he can squeeze in an Executive Producer credit) and in-house video producer for The Advisory Board Company. He dabbles in screenwriting, acting, 3-D animation, and writing autobiographical comments in the third person. He is also a published illustrator, has provided schematic graphics for several HBS case studies, designed the acclaimed Protégé clay poker chip line, wrote for the (now-dormant) online literary magazine Inkblots, and acts as editor for the MotherReader weblog (which is not-so-coincidentally written by his wife). He currently resides at a secret compound in Burke, Virginia, with his wife Pam and their two daughters.

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4.01.2005

Different Styles

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