Shoot the Damn Thing
A War Cry Against Creative Cowardice
There’s a rot in the film world.
It’s not loud. It doesn’t announce itself with drama or collapse. No, it creeps in quietly. It sips artisanal coffee. It knows the latest camera tech. It wears tote bags from obscure festivals and speaks fluently in funding-speak.
It’s the rot of creative paralysis—and it’s spreading.
Since I founded Alamo Pictures in 2019, I’ve seen this disease up close. We work in documentaries—real stories about real people. But even in that raw, urgent, truth-hungry space, I’ve seen filmmakers stall. Not because they’re lazy. Not because they don’t care. But because they’re waiting—for money, permission, perfect conditions, divine timing.
Most people would rather die than shoot something imperfect.
The Art of Avoidance
It always sounds like work.
“We’re polishing the pitch.”
“We’re finalizing partnerships.”
“We’re waiting to hear back from Arte/BBC/Netflix.”
“We just need a little more time.”
And yet—no footage. No audio. No rough cut. Nothing real.
It’s the illusion of movement. A treadmill dressed up as a runway.
This isn’t just frustrating—it’s tragic. Because the world is full of stories begging to be told. And yet the people who claim to tell them are too busy tweaking treatments to hit record.
Alamo Had to Wake Up Too
Let me be clear: we fell into it as well.
At Alamo, we had to take a hard look at our own pipeline. Beautiful ideas. Meaningful stories. But we were stuck. Projects we believed in… sitting still. No camera rolling. No story moving forward.
So we made the hardest decision a creator can make:
We killed projects we loved.
Why? Because they weren’t getting made. And if they weren’t getting made, they weren’t real.
We also saw the wider shift:
Streaming is saturated. Budgets are drying up. Audience habits are changing. People want real content, now—raw, honest, immediate. YouTube is booming. Pay-per-view is viable. Podcasts are powerful again.
So we adapted.
We started producing for YouTube. We launched direct-to-audience experiments. We began turning podcasts into pictures. We focused less on perfection, more on momentum. On telling stories now.
And here’s the real shift:
We now expect our producers to go out and make something.
Grab a phone. Hustle. Find the story. Shoot.
Learn how to edit a rough cut.
Figure it out.
Create.
No more hiding behind meetings and funding rounds. The first draft might be ugly. The audio might glitch. But it’s real. And real beats perfect every time.
The New Reality: Create or Fade
Today’s market + creative procrastination = zero output paralysis.
And if you’re not fighting that actively, it will consume you. It’ll convince you you’re being professional, when really you’re just afraid.
What breaks the cycle?
Action.
Not waiting. Not scheming. Not perfecting.
Pick up your phone.
Walk outside.
Start shooting.
Start asking.
Start listening.
Start documenting.
You don’t need a gimbal. You need grit.
You don’t need a budget. You need backbone.
You don’t need a grant. You need guts.
Shoot the Damn Thing
This is not just a creative pep talk.
This is our company policy now.
This is how we work.
This is how we hire.
This is how we survive.
We make.
We learn by doing.
We tell stories with whatever we have.
And we tell our team: Go out. Make it. Hustle. Use your phone. Learn to make a rough cut.
Because in the end, no one gives a damn about your idea.
They care if you made something.
If you had the courage to push “record.”
If you put the story first—and your ego second.
So to every documentary filmmaker still hesitating—still waiting for someone to bless their brilliance:
No one’s coming.
Shoot the damn thing.
