Happy Monday!
Welcome back to my delusional thoughts, where I speak into the void.
This week’s topic is about the thief of joy: comparisons! Not to make things gloomy to start your week but we’ve all felt it. Siblings, coworkers, idols, the comparisons are unavoidable.
Reminder to click Read Online so you won’t miss our thumbnail! We’re in the process of allocating more funds toward our graphics department, so stay tuned.
Comparing is how we make sense of things in real time. In cinema and storytelling, there’s nothing worse (or better, depending how you see it) than pouring your heart into an idea and having the first response be: “That reminds of X and Y, have you seen it?”
But I don’t think that should hinder your excitement or make you second-guess the idea itself. Whenever we’re making films, we’re inspired by other films from the very beginning.
If you pitched something as Cars meets Saving Private Ryan, people would immediately be like holy shit. Btw, I just made that up while writing this, if anyone’s interested in making this - lmk. Bottomline is that those comparisons elevate your idea to resonate with the audience you're appealing to.
People compare because they’re trying to understand what they’re looking at. Most of the time, it’s not judgement, it’s actually engagement. I’ll take comparison over polite nodding any day, and I know we’ve all been there.
I’d even go as far as to say the idea of being “totally” original is kind of fake anyway. Everything comes from something, even the stuff we pretend arrived fully formed. Most “original” ideas are just honest about their influences rather than hiding them.
Also, you don’t get compared unless you’ve actually put something out there. Comparison is really the cost of visibility, which sucks, but again, it beats the alternative of no reaction at all. No one compares work that doesn’t exist.
I think about whenever I need to pitch my own work, specifically my novels. Like I’m fully aware asking someone to take time out of their day to read works on a page for a rough 6-8 hours ain’t a small feat. So to draw them in, I have to say what inspired me. “It’s like Fallout, Wall-E, and Guardians of the Galaxy, meets The Last of Us and I Am Legend,” now if you know those worlds, you know it’s going to kick-ass.
So yeah, you’re going to be compared. To people, to ideas, to things that came before you and things you’ve never even heard of. Most of the time it’s not judgement, just someone understanding out loud. And honestly, it’s not the worst position to be in.
Anyways, that’s me yelling into the void this week. Sorry for getting philosophical. If the void yells back with comparisons, I’m trying to remind myself that it means something landed.
See ya next Monday,
Pat and the Marquet Films team