In Hollywood Animal, you’re the head of your very own film studio set in the lively 1920s! This era is filled with excitement, indulgence, and plenty of challenges. Your mission is to create captivating films with nothing but hard work and your big ideas.
When you first step into this role, starting out can be tough, but we’re here to help you make the right early decisions that will benefit your studio and ensure your films shine. And of course, we’ll assist you in keeping any shady or questionable activities under wraps because nobody wants a scandal that could ruin their reputation.
Invest in Your Staff
Your team is the heart of your studio, and having highly skilled workers leads to top-notch filmmaking. From crafting scripts to keeping unsavory dealings discreet, happy and committed employees are key to success.
Regardless of their dubious traits, it’s essential to maintain good relations with your staff, as things can get messy otherwise. Although it’s challenging to keep everyone satisfied, it’s crucial to find ways to maintain harmony. You might choose to have favorites and see how that pans out, but keep in mind that unhappy employees might take matters into their own hands, leading to unforeseen consequences.
Protect Your Secrets
Sometimes, you might have to make some questionable choices, and that’s fine—just know that others may not take kindly to your dubious practices. If you have a secret to safeguard, it’s crucial to protect it fiercely.
Establishing a security team early on is vital for your studio’s success. You’ll want to hire the right people and entrust them with keeping your scandals under wraps; otherwise, you could end up wasting precious time on damage control instead of focusing on your next big hit.
Don’t Undercut Contractors
When hiring for your studio or working with contractors, you’ll encounter a range of options, from low-ballers to reputable professionals. While high-quality resources can significantly improve your films, managing finances is also important.
If you need to save money, consider some compromise instead of jeopardizing safety. Rushing to cut costs can lead to a host of problems down the line.
Be Aware of Bias
Every employee brings something different to the table, and fostering diversity is beneficial. However, the 1920s film industry often reflected issues like addiction and prejudice, so you might find it a challenge to recruit a varied team without encountering some problematic characters.
Sometimes, you may have no choice but to hire individuals with troubling views. In those cases, focus on other factors like skill set or contract duration, and hope for the best.
Keep Improving
Whatever your focus, continually work on building and enhancing your facilities. You want your studio to be the best it can be, and that won’t happen without consistent investment in growth.
Take time to review various upgrades and choose carefully. Once you move forward with an upgrade, keep in mind you can cancel them, but doing so will lose all progress made.
Leverage Your Strengths
You can’t do it all, so concentrate on the genres and styles you enjoy most and that yield the best results. Encourage your writers to work in areas they’re passionate about; a motivated team is a successful team.
Training staff who might not yet have a specialty in your preferred genres can be beneficial too. Tap into your team’s strengths to maximize profits. If a project isn’t going well, analyze what went wrong and learn from it for future projects.
Know When to Let Go
There are times when tough decisions must be made. If an employee raises a concerning issue, you may need to prioritize the company’s needs over individual happiness. Keeping loyal employees can help ease these types of difficult decisions, but they’re still challenging.
Be aware that not every film will succeed, and various factors can contribute to this. When it’s clear a project is floundering, it’s often smarter to cut your losses rather than risking even more investment.
Don’t Stop Filming
Ultimately, your job is to create films that capture public interest. Despite any hurdles, keep the momentum going. Play with different storylines, explore new filming locations, and give new talent a chance.
Experiment with various genres if one isn’t resonating and monitor audience feedback closely. You never know what can turn into a blockbuster, so be ready for anything that comes your way and aim to capture something extraordinary that could lead your studio to even greater success.
