Does showing your cut for the first time make you cold sweat and break out into hives?

Does it send chills down your spine and make you want to disappear into the floor of your editing room?

Same.

This week we’re talking about the delicate art of showing your early cuts:

• When do you show it
• Who you’re showing to
• How to get the most out of the screenings

Showing an unfinished version of your film to anyone can be terrifying. But if you don’t, you end up missing out on valuable feedback that might hurt the finished film. That’s why having a framework for screening early versions of your film is so important.

Let’s roll.

You have to show your film before it’s finished

There’s no getting around it.

At some point in the cutting process you’ll have looked at the material so long, and seen the same cuts so many times, the only way to tell if anything works is to get fresh eyes on it.

You don’t want the big premiere night to be the first time someone else sees your film.

Getting people who’s opinions you trust and respect to watch your film and give you feedback is invaluable. You want to get feedback while you’re still able to make changes and fix mistakes, not find out when everything is locked.

If you choose to not share your film for feedback you’re giving in to your fear and letting your ego run amok with the fate of your film.

This is a terrible idea.

There are a few reasons why filmmakers don’t show their films early:

• Because it’s not ready: Showing unfinished work is uncomfortable at best. We fear being judged for all the things we know are bad about our film.
• You’re scared of what they’ll say: When you share a rough version of a film you’ve put your soul into, it’s nerve wracking to think about what people will say about it. Especially people you trust and respect.
• Imposter syndrome: We’re scared that when showing our rough cut we’ll finally be found out. Unmasked as the frauds we’ve always been.

All this fear and discomfort is well founded, and feeling it doesn’t make you a bad filmmaker.

But if the road to a great film goes through this fear.

So let’s talk about how to have a great rough cut screening.

When to show your first cut

Timing matters when sharing your first cut. Showing off your first slapped together version of the film, when you still have tons of things you want to change and improve isn’t helpful.

I like working with the material enough that I’ve been able to handle most of my own objections. Once I’m in a place where I’m starting to lose perspective and can’t tell what’s working and what’s not, I know I’m close to needing fresh eyes.

When you’re the director editing your own film the line between cuts gets a bit blurry. Normally you’ll have an editor’s cut, where the editor puts together their first pass at the film. Then the director comes in to work with them on the director’s cut, which is often the first fully fleshed out and semi-polished version of the film.

The director’s cut is the perfect stage to start getting other people’s eyes on the film.

When I’ve worked in editorial on studio features and indie features we always have screenings of the director’s cut. Both to producers and executives, but also to friends and family the filmmakers invite to come see the film.

We did the same for Wild Boys. The first time I showed a cut was an early version that I shared with star and co-writer, Vincent Catalina. We watched it in my editing room (read garage) on a TV. Nothing fancy, but a good way for us to take in the film as a whole.

When you’re thinking about showing your film it’s important to understand that there will be stages to this process. You’ll be showing different versions, and hopefully progressively more complete versions of the film.

Each person will only be able to give you their first impressions once, so don’t burn them all on the first screening.

Who are you showing it to?

The who matters almost as much as the what when screening the first cut of your film. Just because someone is your friend, or you trust their opinion, doesn’t mean they should be watching the earliest version of your film.

I like to think of the screenings as concentric circles. Start small with only a few people. As you work more on the film and get more and more pieces into place, expand the number of people you invite to watch the film.

For the early cuts when a lot of elements are still unfinished the most important question you need to ask is:

Can they watch a rough cut?

Not everyone should watch a rough cut. It’s a skill. It takes experience and a certain level of imagination to see beyond the obvious flaws of the film. You need this to be able to provide feedback on what really matters: story, pacing, performances, emotional impact.

Watching cuts is totally different from watching a finished film. When you go to the movies you’re watching a finished product that you can’t change. When you’re watching someone’s cut everything is still malleable.

Your feedback can change the trajectory of the film.

Developing this skill takes time. It’s like learning to listen like a musician or observe art like a painter.

Be selective when choosing the people you invite to your first screenings.

Once you’re closer to a fine cut of the film, it can actually be beneficial to bring in people who don’t have this rough cut experience.

Both sets of feedback are valuable for different reasons and at different stages.

In fiction writing a lot of authors have “beta readers” who read drafts of their books and provide feedback along the way. Every director should have a group of trusted “beta watchers” they can call upon to give notes on their cuts.

As you build your careers and make films, build your group of beta watchers too. Their inputs will be crucial to your success.

What kind of feedback should you look for

During early screenings of your film some of the most valuable feedback will actually come from yourself.

Watching your film with other people can be skin-crawling. But the feedback you get from watching it with other people is priceless. You’ll see things you never noticed in the edit, you’ll feel the pacing and the emotions at a much more acute level than when you’re by yourself in the edit bay.

You absolutely have to be in the room when you’re screening your film. Take note of how you and the people around you are reacting.

Your gut feeling will be very telling.

That’s also where I like to start when asking for feedback. Get the audience’s raw emotional response. Often we can’t articulate exactly how we feel about a story right after watching it, but we can give a gut reaction.

The second key feedback to look for is on story, characters, performances, pacing and emotional response. Was the story clear? Did they care about the characters? How did the performances come across? Were they engaged throughout or were there parts where they were taken out of the film? How did they feel during and after watching the film?

The third thing is focusing on things you’re unsure about, or that you’re on the fence about. It can be a character choice or the way you’re cutting a scene. It can be valuable to make sure you’re on the right track in the areas where you’re taking chances.

It’s ok to stick to the basics at this point and focus on the big questions. There will be time later for getting into the nitty gritty.

And cut!

That does it for this week. Here are the key takeaways I want you to bring with you into your directing career from today:

• Pick the right people to watch your first cut
• Make sure you’re sharing a version where you’ve answered all your own notes
• Be specific about the feedback you ask for, take more note of the problems the notes point out than the solutions you’re offered.

As always, thanks for reading.

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