The more you create, the more ambitious you become with your projects. Short films were a direct result of over 200 web series sketches and vlogs. After you create enough 2-minute videos, you start to wonder what else there is. Deadlines and discipline and quantity with a focus on quality have always been what keeps me going.
During the lockdown, I used to eat a lot. Shalini and I watched a lot of TV shows, web series, and films on OTT.
In the last 10 to 12 years when things were not going my way, I was just writing scripts. I have a bank of 10 to 12 scripts for web-series, films and short films.
One does not have to get frustrated with getting an opportunity, whether it is film, short film, web series or TV shows... As an entertainer, opportunities have expanded.
For me, competition is good; that is what keeps me on my toes and keeps me going. I am always trying to better my own work, do better than my earlier films... do films that are challenging and exciting for me.
Online content is the new game in the field of entertainment. Web series, short films, independent movies. This new medium has been a boon to both the makers and its viewers.
The term 'web-series' has a stigma attached to it because it was created at a time when the only web-series that were being created were being created by people who would have loved to have a television show, but they couldn't. So they created a web-series instead, on their own dime. And those series look cheap because of it.
When I went to film school about three years ago, the first two years you're required to make a series of short films. I started making films based on short poems.
The problem with Flipboard is that it's an app, not the Web, and I keep hoping someone will show me a really well-designed Web app that shows me that the Web can still win.
I hate reality shows. It's funny because me and my wife be arguing all the time about reality shows 'cause she loves reality shows and watches them all day, all the time. And I be like, 'C'mon. No. No.'
I hope that my work helps people - that's the thing that drives me and keeps me going.
I usually take up short films when I am not tied up with feature films. Short films are easier to work on... because it doesn't take much of your time. The number of shoot days are lesser as compared to feature films.
It does not bother me whether my work is reaching the audience through cinema, TV or a web series.
There's a stigma about reality shows and the people who star in them. Reality shows mean your career will end, your marriage will be cursed, you have to fight and/or throw a drink, or you're going to end up broke and a has-been when the series ends.
When you are putting yourself out there - be it a web series, movie or a reality show - you have to prepare for the good and the bad.
I think what working in a short film online is that the response from the audience is immediate whether your short film or web-series works or not, it is immediate. You can see comments and you can also see how many people have viewed it.