Communication

With mobile telephones, emails, Facebook and Skype freely available to the majority you would think that communication would be easy... but it isn't.

My first feature commission The Lost Soul has been a giant learning curve for me. When I received the notes for the second draft it was obvious the producer and I were miles apart with our thinking and that's all due to not communicating properly. To be honest no one person is at fault, we all have to take a share of the blame. The producer and director should have been up front with me about why they wanted to make The Lost Soul, where they were coming from and what they expected of me, and I should have made sure I asked enough questions so I properly understood what was needed. I could have used the French/English language barrier as an excuse, it certainly didn't help the process, but it wasn't the route cause. The extremely tight deadline of 31 days to write the first draft, with little or no preparation, might have contributed to things as well, but really poor communication was what let us down.

Communication is key when working with someone, whether it's a paid commission or just a collaboration with a friend. If you're not absolutely clear about what you are working on then mistakes are going to happen. You should never rush into a project before you know exactly what is wanted from you, no matter how tight the deadline. If you don't know, then ask. The people you're working for won't mind you asking silly questions, they just want you to understand, to get it right. Get it right first time and it'll save you a lot of time and effort down the line. This is a lesson I have recently learnt and will never make again.