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Writer's pictureMarcus Baker

On Work in Progress

I have mixed feelings when it comes to discussing work in progress.


When I was younger, I told everyone I knew that I wanted to make movies. I told them I wanted to make movies and then I would tell them the ideas I wanted to write. Sometimes I'd write them. Sometimes, I'd take the satisfaction I got from telling someone I had an idea and that would be enough. The ego stroke was all I wanted.


These days, I'm loathe to tell anyone about anything until it's finished or I need notes on it. I hate speaking for a project before I know what it is, for one. Like everyone, I fear being told that the writing or directing isn't good. Especially at this stage of my career when the only thing powering the stories I tell is how much I care about telling them. This doesn't even include my deep-seated fear that someone will steal my ideas. Even if I copyright them, sue them in court, it doesn't account for the loss or death of an opportunity to tell a story the way I want to tell it. That old saying about having an idea at the exact same time as someone else somewhere else on the planet honestly just inspires fear for me. The idea of being swooped, of my idea not being the first presentation- that's what scares me. It's still an ego stroke, just of a different kind.


Yet talking about work is paramount to what I do. There's the idea of being good in a room, of being a mover/shaker- that is something I have never been as a professional and almost certainly never will be. It requires a degree of confidence in your work that I typically associate with instances of failure. Any time I have felt confident in my work, it has usually gone poorly for me. I prefer to be very hard on myself and my work and only enjoy it long after the time to enjoy it has passed. If I had my druthers, I would be able to convince people to give me money to make things just by saying "give me money and I will make sure it is good." But that's a tier reserved for Nolan and Spielberg, not for no names like me.


All of this, though, is secondary to making the work. Nevermind that caring about quality and caring about theft are different concerns. What matters is whether or not there's even work to discuss. In my short time writing and making films, what I've learned above everything is that making the work- whether writing it, directing, or editing it- is what builds up confidence in talking about the story and the presentation. You just have to make it as good as you feel you can possibly make it and hope that someone else thinks it good when you decide to open your mouth about it.


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