Chloé Zhao’s story should be an inspiration for any independent filmmaker out there looking to make it in the film and TV industry. So, what are the main lessons we can take from her career so far?
Her journey to success, climaxing in her Oscar wins for her film 'Nomadland', follows an often unglamorous trajectory that many indie filmmakers must tread.
Some people are claiming amazement that she won an Oscar with only her third feature film, and likely her first one with any significant budget. But in fact, her story started a long time ago.
Before she made ‘Songs My Brothers Taught Me’, a low-budget feature that she wrote, directed, produced, and edited, Zhao’s list of credits includes over ten short films. She served in a variety of positions on these shorts, including, writer, director, producer, editor, script supervisor, assistant director, and even second assistant camera.
And while I don’t know the details of every single one of these shorts, my guess is that most of them were made for tiny budgets where she likely wouldn’t have earned much money.
It’s clear that she instead saw every opportunity as a chance to learn a new set of skills, as well as a way to meet new people to add to her network, showing off her own abilities to them as she did so.
Only then did she graduate to make her first feature film, the aforementioned 'Songs My Brothers Taught Me', which she claims had a five-page script and was made for a tiny budget. Zhao had obviously made a strong enough impression on people up to that point, and had become sufficiently skilled and knowledgeable for investors and collaborators to invest their own time and money in her.
On the back of that, she was then able to make ‘The Rider’, again for a low budget that was independently financed by unconventional investors.
In order to raise that investment, she no doubt had to learn how the business worked, and what investors were looking for to make this project attractive to them. She had to learn how to sell not just a script, but also her vision, and above all, herself and her abilities as a storyteller.
This is what got her noticed by Frances McDormand and led to the opportunity to make ‘Nomadland’. It also earned her various awards along the way, as well as a $50k grant from Film Independent and the Spirit Awards.
This is the trajectory that most indie filmmakers follow. However, this reality often gets swallowed up by headlines of filmmakers coming up through the studio system and landing jobs on mega-budget franchise movies. Of course, that can happen. However, it is not the typical journey to which most filmmakers should realistically aspire.
Whether or not she wanted to, Zhao had to learn about production, financing, and distribution, whilst also writing and directing. This is the reality of how most successful indie filmmakers make it in the industry these days.
The creative and the business sides of filmmaking go hand-in-hand. In order to be good at one, you must be at least capable at the other.
She knew that she couldn’t afford to wait around and rely on other people to make these things happen for her. The only way to tell her stories was to learn how to do it herself, and go out there and make it happen.
This was likely extremely challenging for her, as she has alluded to in interviews.
By learning how to finance and produce her own work, Zhao was able to control her own destiny. And while filmmaking is a team sport where picking the right collaborators is an essential part of the process, this meant that she was able to retain the creative and financial control that she needed in order to get her vision in front of audiences.
None of this was purely by chance. To achieve her success, she developed the essential skills and knowledge over a number of years, and over a number of projects where she likely made little or no money.
This education undoubtedly influenced the creative decisions that she made. Knowing how to raise money taught her what investors are looking for, what actors need from a script, and what audiences respond to. Understanding the business side of the industry helped her craft the projects that have ultimately led to her success.
So, the major takeaway that I see from what Chloé Zhao’s story so far is this: when given the opportunity, she went out there and got stuff made!
Every project she worked on gave her more experience, more education, and more opportunities for the future. She was able to leverage these opportunities to make the projects she wanted, which then propelled her to success.
There’s nothing wrong with entering competitions or trying to get representation - these can be helpful for any filmmaker. But it should never be at the expense of actually getting something made.
That, after all, is the essence of every writer, director, or producer. And even though it may seem like young directors such as Chloé Zhao arrived out of nowhere to win big at the Oscars, in fact she has been developing her craft for many years, often on unheralded projects that paid her nothing.
So, for filmmakers looking to get started, get out there and start getting stuff made! You never know what you might learn, who you might meet, and where it might lead...
Ricky Margolis has over 15 years' experience in the entertainment industry, and has been involved in the finance, development, production, and/or distribution of over 30 titles.
To learn more about how you can get your next project financed and produced, check out our series of books "How The Hell... Do I Get My Film Financed?" by clicking here.
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