Sunday 6 March 2011

1%

"I'm writing about 'The Apartment' all week. problem is, it bores 99% of readers. The good thing? 1% love it. Never forget the 1%."

That was me, on Twitter two days ago. I'd never thought about that until I wrote it, but it's been playing on my side ever since. Blogging is like making a movie; you have an idea and then try and shape it into something that everyone will like.

But when you go chasing everyone, you don't truly grab anyone. But when you do what you truly want to do, even if it's for one person, that's when it means something. The problem is, when you do it for the 1%, there's not going to be a lot of support because it doesn't make a lot of business sense.

Film is about business. Every artist suffers. Even most great indie films have a rewritten beginning or a re-cut ending. We're always changing and adapting things to appeal to a bigger percentage. But when the percentage gets bigger, the true satisfaction gets smaller.

The stuff we truly and madly love is rarely the stuff that was made for everyone. You can cook yourself a perfect pie but if you're going to sell a lot of them, you need to package them differently; and you need a recipe that will appeal to everyone.



But that's the reality. That's the business. And we all cave. We take out the violent scene to get a lower rating, we hire the famous actor over the right actor to get the funding. By doing it-- we make a living. But we rarely make magic.

Magic is made when you do things for the 1%. It's just hard, is all.

Care to share?

11 comments:

  1. I can't speak for anyone else, but you haven't bored me. I'm up at 1AM just trying to catch up. I am really pleased that you posted them and I will come back and read them again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have had The Apartment on my computer for some time now, but I never got around to watching it. A few days ago, I saw that you were writing posts about the movie and didn't want to be completely out of the loop, so I watched it.

    I'm REALLY glad I did. I loved it. So yeah, here's one reader you are definitely NOT boring.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I shouldnt lie, am actualy one of the 99percent. I didnt even care reading it by just reading the topic but that doesnt mean anything like I dnt like what u write. U know people have diffrnt tastes and everyone goes for a taste that fits their tongue. I enjoy what u do. Kip it up!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That pie looks divine! You really can't grab everyone no matter how hard you try. Excellent post!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Couldnt agree with you more! Thanks for the reminder :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. The minority is not a bad place to be. What's sad about the 99% is that is forces you to cater to the lowest common denominator. For money. And those LCD films will not be written about or watched ten years (or even less) from now. You're doing great work here. The 1% adore you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. From someone whose blog ISN'T followed by 850 people (and I'm sure isn't ever likely to be) I'm very happy that ANYONE takes time to read it and especially happy when people sometimes tell me they like it. But that's not why I write it.

    I write my blog because I enjoy writing it and it starts my day off well in writing mode. It's like a diary that I can look back on.

    Why do you write yours? Are you not getting too hooked up on stats?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Count me as part of the 1%. And remember, The Beatles didn;t make music that everybody liked...they left that to The Bee Gees.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think that every reader should count. I have (only) 74 followers on my blog and a few of them regularly comment my posts and I really appreciate those comments. Even if only one person takes his/her time to read my post and leave a comment it means a lot to me, so yeah I agree with you - 1% counts.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Happy Frog - I'm glad you enjoyed them!

    Booki - I'm SO HAPPY you watched the film and liked it!!! great!!

    Teboy - Thanks for the compliments at the end, and the honesty about being the 99% -- thanks for keeping faith with me!

    Mo Pie - Divine indeed!

    Constructive Attitude - Great to see you around these parts again!

    Jayne - I absolutely agree with everything you say -- you hit the nail very precisely on the head.

    Caroline - the point of my blog was about the opposite, about not focusing on stats-- about writing the one thing you love for loving it's sake.

    Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters - I think we're getting closer to 2% now :)

    Starlight - The 1% makes it all worthwhile :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. And of course, 1% can be an awful lot of people. Pixar have only ever tried to make stories that they themselves like, and they deliberately don't target a particular audience. They've done pretty well...

    100% popularity is impossible; you can't grab everyone, as Mo Pie Says. Even Toy Story has 19% of people (on RottenTomatoes) who don't like it.

    ReplyDelete