You’re Focusing on the Wrong Things
If you’re over 30 and still trying to break through, you don’t have a knowledge problem.
You have a focus problem.
Right now there are:
Endless social media threads about “breaking in.”
Advice about personal branding.
Advice about building an audience.
Advice about AI.
Advice about festivals.
Advice about networking hacks.
It feels productive to consume it.
But it’s mostly noise.
Because in a power-law industry like film, only two things matter:
Is there real demand for your film?
Is the craft undeniable?
Everything else is secondary.
Why This Matters (Especially If You’re 30+)
At 25, you can afford distractions.
At 40, you can’t.
You don’t have infinite cycles left.
So the danger isn’t failure.
It’s dilution.
Dilution of focus...
Dilution of energy...
Dilution of standards.
And most of that dilution comes from chasing noise instead of signal.
The Only Two Things That Actually Matter
When you strip everything away it comes down to this.
1. Demand
Before you spend two years of your life on a film, ask:
Does this genre travel?
Are there recent successful comps?
Have I pitched this to distributors?
Have I spoken to sales agents?
Can this realistically recoup its budget?
Not:
“Do I love it?”
“Is it personal?”
“Is it important?”
Demand.
I learned this the hard way.
It took me too long to realise buyers didn’t want what I was making.
Not because the films were bad.
But because they weren’t engineered with demand in mind.
I was thinking like a filmmaker.
Not a Producer.
The Sunk Cost Trap
Here’s where it gets dangerous.
You write a draft…
Then another…
Then attach a name…
Then spend months packaging…
Then talk about it publicly…
Now you’re emotionally invested.
And when distributors pass or stall, you don’t hear the signal.
You tell yourself:
“They just don’t get it.”
“We need a better cast.”
“The market will shift.”
“Once we’re in a festival, it’ll work.”
You think of stories like JK Rowling being knocked back by every publisher before finally getting Harry Potter published, and you think, well maybe that’s the same here.
But that’s sunk cost mixed with a dose of survivorship bias talking.
The more time you’ve put in, the harder it is to pivot.
But sunk cost doesn’t create demand.
It just makes you slower to accept reality.
And at 30+, time is your most valuable asset.
Listening to market signal early is not a defeat.
2. Craft
Demand gets you in the room.
Craft keeps you there.
If the script isn’t undeniable, nothing else saves it.
Not branding.
Not networking.
Not a slick pitch deck.
Undeniable means:
Clean structure.
Emotional clarity.
Tonal control.
Professional presentation.
You don’t need five scripts.
You need one that’s bulletproof.
The biggest mistake you can make with limited time is to stretch that time across multiple projects.
You will have 5 mediocre scripts instead of one banger.
And in this industry, only bangers matter.
Why This Is Good News
If you’re over 30, this should simplify everything.
You don’t need to catch up.
You need to narrow down.
Two questions:
Is there demand?
Is it undeniable?
If yes, push hard.
If no, adapt early.
I used to feel pressure to keep producing.
To stay visible.
To keep momentum alive.
Now I feel pressure to choose correctly.
Focus on the right two things.
Everything else is noise.
Alexi
