I've not blogged much as I've been very focused on marketing myself. I figure for years people have hired me to make them look good, it was time to try to make myself look good. I cut a new demo reel - assembled my favorite movie clips and made a relatively involved website. I'm debating whether to switch my blogging efforts entirely over there or if I'll maintain a little bit of the anonymity factor so I can say things about people. :) If I switch I'll give any regular readers the address somehow. (The blog is using wordpress and not blogger as i wanted to control the system more.)
An agent from a large agency contacted me to write a pilot for his newest client. Sounds impressive? Well, let me restate it.
An agent's assistant from a large agency who is a friend asked me if I'd write something for his friend who he has taken on as his first client. Less impressive - the truth is somewhere in the middle. See? This is stuff I wouldn't write i a non-anonymous blog.
Anyway - so at first I was pretty unenthusiastic about the prospect, but then I emailed a TV writer friend about what the TV structure was. Outside of the 3 shows I watch on DVD, I do not see television at all. When she did that, I was pretty excited about the concept. It was so structured... 5 acts, all one length, each with about five beats, and each act ends with a twist. That just sounded fun to try, and very manageable, so in one morning I outlined the entire show. The agent couldn't believe the turnaround time. Since then I've done nothing on it because I've been so busy, but I have to be done with it by the 20th. Yikes. But I will - with a structure in place, the writing is pretty smooth sailing and, frankly, fun. But it really enthused me about writing again. I was having fun. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have put in the time.
There are so many times this issue comes up - what to invest your time in. Up until now I'd never thought time spent in marketing was worth it. Huge mistake. There is no point in having things to show if you have no format or venue to show them.
Was it worth the gamble to spend the time on the TV pilot? Never know, but since it was fun and therefore gave me energy, I would say yes. What is important is to look for the things which are draining energy and cut them off as soon as possible.
It also actually got me excited to write this new project I alluded to in my last post. I have 3 projects to finish before I can dive into that, but I plan to do that within a couple weeks with a finish date of January 1.
And other than that, I'm working on everything I laid out last time - including the prospectus.
The only other news I'll mention because it's a land of "could be." I got a call from a producer I'd had a 3 hour meeting with recently and it sounds like everyone is liking the project I pitched (already finished screenplay). They say they will have some clarity on it by the holidays. Could be - would be amazing, but I've learned to temper my enthusiasm.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
A New Approach
Considering that the good news this year was getting directing work with the opportunity of maybe getting more for commercials and music videos, I'm taking a new look at what the plan will be.
Instead of rushing in and "shooting just anything" this year just to keep my word, I'm thinking now that my energies might be best spent taking what I've learned from everything this year and applying that to a new project.
The problems I've run into this year with indie projects have been:
- locations too expensive, whether they be specific or not, I need something where I can actually access the locations.
- horror films seem to not really be what I want to define myself with or, frankly, would be willing to deliver the way they need to be delivered in order to be salable (which would be the point of a horror film).
- small, personal dramas with no stars simply are not money well spent and beyond that will have a hard time exciting people. People weren't even READING the damn thing. People who were meant to be involved. People who did liked it, but it obviously shows that the idea is a tough pitch.
- Something totally unique really touched people's interest an imagination.
- Trying to get celebrities without making an offer was a slow and lousy experience.
Anyway - so adding all this up I am thinking of doing two things at once.
1. I will try to get one of my scripts I really love indie financed PRE-actor but with the agreement that the investment can be cancelled without one of the approved actors.
2. I will start writing something which is very "out there" - the kind of thing you just don't see often. Touching and beautiful - the kind of movie I would want to see. I might adjust one of my scripts to be this story, not sure. But it will need locations I can actually access. But costumes and extras I think I could motivate and afford.
The RED camera comes out by May 1. So, that should be when I go into production. Why not? Plenty of time to write and prepare.
In the meantime I am pursuing short form work as well - making demo reel - improving my (real) website.
Instead of rushing in and "shooting just anything" this year just to keep my word, I'm thinking now that my energies might be best spent taking what I've learned from everything this year and applying that to a new project.
The problems I've run into this year with indie projects have been:
- locations too expensive, whether they be specific or not, I need something where I can actually access the locations.
- horror films seem to not really be what I want to define myself with or, frankly, would be willing to deliver the way they need to be delivered in order to be salable (which would be the point of a horror film).
- small, personal dramas with no stars simply are not money well spent and beyond that will have a hard time exciting people. People weren't even READING the damn thing. People who were meant to be involved. People who did liked it, but it obviously shows that the idea is a tough pitch.
- Something totally unique really touched people's interest an imagination.
- Trying to get celebrities without making an offer was a slow and lousy experience.
Anyway - so adding all this up I am thinking of doing two things at once.
1. I will try to get one of my scripts I really love indie financed PRE-actor but with the agreement that the investment can be cancelled without one of the approved actors.
2. I will start writing something which is very "out there" - the kind of thing you just don't see often. Touching and beautiful - the kind of movie I would want to see. I might adjust one of my scripts to be this story, not sure. But it will need locations I can actually access. But costumes and extras I think I could motivate and afford.
The RED camera comes out by May 1. So, that should be when I go into production. Why not? Plenty of time to write and prepare.
In the meantime I am pursuing short form work as well - making demo reel - improving my (real) website.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Facing Reality
It's nearing the end of the year and it does not look like a feature is going to happen. Again. Obviously this is sad news. The good news is that I've been working professionally as a director pretty much as my primary job this year. So, I don't want to downplay the significance of that; it's a big step forward.
Lately I've been feeling like my approach to getting a film made might be becoming too rushed and intended mostly just to have kept my promise to myself. I am right now analyzing a couple other pathways which might prove more logical.
One major problem I'm finding is that all the projects I'm really passionate about AND I think have a solid return potential are simply more expensive than I can afford to make myself. And the ones I can afford are either still expensive considering they have little sales return potential or I just don't feel passionately about them.
As a result, I am thinking of going back to investors with an alternate method. I would go to them with a script and a list of potential actors. They would invest based on the ability to attach one of the actors. But they would invest first. If no actors were attached, they lose nothing. The advantage here is that we are able to make OFFERS to actors rather than beg on spec. I'm talking to various industry people trying to set this up.
The best news I have is that I'm very proud of the last project I directed and I've been hired for another one next month. I'm trying to focus on the wins here.
If I could package something with investors, by the end of the year, I think I would feel accomplished on this goal of stepping into features. I am still considering a micro-budget, self financed movie - but I am tempted until the brand new camera comes out because at least that would be one facet I would not have to worry about (since I'm already paying for it).
Lately I've been feeling like my approach to getting a film made might be becoming too rushed and intended mostly just to have kept my promise to myself. I am right now analyzing a couple other pathways which might prove more logical.
One major problem I'm finding is that all the projects I'm really passionate about AND I think have a solid return potential are simply more expensive than I can afford to make myself. And the ones I can afford are either still expensive considering they have little sales return potential or I just don't feel passionately about them.
As a result, I am thinking of going back to investors with an alternate method. I would go to them with a script and a list of potential actors. They would invest based on the ability to attach one of the actors. But they would invest first. If no actors were attached, they lose nothing. The advantage here is that we are able to make OFFERS to actors rather than beg on spec. I'm talking to various industry people trying to set this up.
The best news I have is that I'm very proud of the last project I directed and I've been hired for another one next month. I'm trying to focus on the wins here.
If I could package something with investors, by the end of the year, I think I would feel accomplished on this goal of stepping into features. I am still considering a micro-budget, self financed movie - but I am tempted until the brand new camera comes out because at least that would be one facet I would not have to worry about (since I'm already paying for it).
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Stars in the Future
I actually think that Hollywood type star-fame is being diluted as people from youtube and myspace become more and more stars of their own.
I'm guessing that in the future stars will be much more niche - meaning that people who love horror films may love this actor and she is famous to them (Angela Bettis for example) - but no one else knows who she is. Same for comedy. Then split those categories vertically between age groups and then in z-space between cultural groups. Fame from single projects will therefore become more common and it will be hard to hold onto fame more than a decade - nearly impossible. People will grow out of their demographic and crossing over will be nearly impossible.
That said, there will be a lot more momentary stars.
However... I do believe there will be some crossovers and some people who appeal to everyone. The super-beautiful, super talented types will always retain some crossover appeal. HOWEVER - I think that there has become so much media exposure (both intentional and unintentional) that these untouchably perfect people with either reveal themselves to be or will be sneakily shown to be less-than-perfect.
If I were trying to market a star today I would probably market the fact that they are so mysterious and we don't know anything about them. Rather than talk about who they are, talk about how we don't know who they are.
I'm guessing that in the future stars will be much more niche - meaning that people who love horror films may love this actor and she is famous to them (Angela Bettis for example) - but no one else knows who she is. Same for comedy. Then split those categories vertically between age groups and then in z-space between cultural groups. Fame from single projects will therefore become more common and it will be hard to hold onto fame more than a decade - nearly impossible. People will grow out of their demographic and crossing over will be nearly impossible.
That said, there will be a lot more momentary stars.
However... I do believe there will be some crossovers and some people who appeal to everyone. The super-beautiful, super talented types will always retain some crossover appeal. HOWEVER - I think that there has become so much media exposure (both intentional and unintentional) that these untouchably perfect people with either reveal themselves to be or will be sneakily shown to be less-than-perfect.
If I were trying to market a star today I would probably market the fact that they are so mysterious and we don't know anything about them. Rather than talk about who they are, talk about how we don't know who they are.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Starting To Budget
Could this be? A post not about the script but about budgeting? Indeed.
Just a quick thought (as someone who used to make custom excel programs for budgeting long before there were computer solutions).... Independent films need to have their own budgeting format.
The way the studios do it is to include the labor for the departments within the sections of the department. That makes sense when you have 100 people working on something and you are in the department mindset where each person is in charge of their own department essentially.
But Indies don't think this way - they think about the people separately. They're not thinking about the DP in the same category as the camera for example. There are surely other examples that would make things easier to work with as well.
While budgeting this I will try to make my own format, when done I'll post it online for anyone else to follow if they wish.
Just a quick thought (as someone who used to make custom excel programs for budgeting long before there were computer solutions).... Independent films need to have their own budgeting format.
The way the studios do it is to include the labor for the departments within the sections of the department. That makes sense when you have 100 people working on something and you are in the department mindset where each person is in charge of their own department essentially.
But Indies don't think this way - they think about the people separately. They're not thinking about the DP in the same category as the camera for example. There are surely other examples that would make things easier to work with as well.
While budgeting this I will try to make my own format, when done I'll post it online for anyone else to follow if they wish.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Script is Out
Script is off to some new readers as well as the Famous Friend who will read it before sending it on to her friend. She may have someone else read it as well.
In the meantime, getting my life back in order and actually starting to jot tons of notes about two other projects. Just things that have been building up in my head over the last couple months but I didn't want to distract myself with. One is an epic sci-fi adventure, the other a kid's adventure film.
In the meantime, getting my life back in order and actually starting to jot tons of notes about two other projects. Just things that have been building up in my head over the last couple months but I didn't want to distract myself with. One is an epic sci-fi adventure, the other a kid's adventure film.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Finished the Re-Write
Yep. Re-write is done.
Another nonspecific genre movie to my name. :)
I have this incredible temptation to write something 100% formulae. Just to see if people eat it up and that all the classic "you musts" of screenwriting really do make for "the best" movie. But first... I think I'll enjoy being done with this rewrite.
It's hard to finish a re-write because by the time your done. You're bored with the material.
Another nonspecific genre movie to my name. :)
I have this incredible temptation to write something 100% formulae. Just to see if people eat it up and that all the classic "you musts" of screenwriting really do make for "the best" movie. But first... I think I'll enjoy being done with this rewrite.
It's hard to finish a re-write because by the time your done. You're bored with the material.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Review of Previous Horror Script
Since I am not doing the horror film I sent it out to a company looking for horror projects. Note that one company late last year wanted to buy it - maybe more - so it doesn't totally suck - however, this new company didn't care for it. I had the rare chance to talk to once of the people at the company as to why.
The interesting thing about this discussion was that nothing they said surprised me - it was just whether or not that aspect was a good thing or a bad thing. For example - there isn't a lot of running around and physical danger until the end. Well, I thought that was okay - but for them - that was really a horror film sin. It was around this moment that I realized that if I'm going to write a genre film... I am really going to need to play by the rules. Regardless of whether the movies I've been writing are good or not - I've been making bread and calling it cake. No matter how good the bread - if you're looking for cake - it's going to be disappointing.
The conversation made me leap into jotting some notes down for genre heavy movies which play exactly by the rules. I will have to do this for fun at some point and to test my theory now that I seem to have places to send the scripts to. But I would almost say every movie I've written is a genre bender. Maybe not the best career move.
Furthermore... it made me think that maybe what I really need to do is totally leave genre all together - just go on a wild ride of my own and see if I find an audience.
But for now - with the music videos finally over - I'm just about done with the rewrite. Next couple days max. Finally. I am letting some stumbling blocks go - meaning not trying to add in something I thought would be good but just don't seem to be happening. Once I'm moving forward I will address this again.
In other news, I got a call to direct something in September. I like being called to direct. Makes me feel like I do this professionally. :)
The interesting thing about this discussion was that nothing they said surprised me - it was just whether or not that aspect was a good thing or a bad thing. For example - there isn't a lot of running around and physical danger until the end. Well, I thought that was okay - but for them - that was really a horror film sin. It was around this moment that I realized that if I'm going to write a genre film... I am really going to need to play by the rules. Regardless of whether the movies I've been writing are good or not - I've been making bread and calling it cake. No matter how good the bread - if you're looking for cake - it's going to be disappointing.
The conversation made me leap into jotting some notes down for genre heavy movies which play exactly by the rules. I will have to do this for fun at some point and to test my theory now that I seem to have places to send the scripts to. But I would almost say every movie I've written is a genre bender. Maybe not the best career move.
Furthermore... it made me think that maybe what I really need to do is totally leave genre all together - just go on a wild ride of my own and see if I find an audience.
But for now - with the music videos finally over - I'm just about done with the rewrite. Next couple days max. Finally. I am letting some stumbling blocks go - meaning not trying to add in something I thought would be good but just don't seem to be happening. Once I'm moving forward I will address this again.
In other news, I got a call to direct something in September. I like being called to direct. Makes me feel like I do this professionally. :)
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Music Video Delays Writing
Wow. I am still not done with this rewrite. I had a music video fall in my lap which I had to go to Vegas to shoot. Crazy limitations on the shoot - but it went well overall I think.
Unlike other types of work, I do not mind delays in progress when it is due to directing because that's the end goal anyway.
One observation from this shoot was how the big star musician had like 10 people swarming around her and generally seeming to make things more stressful than more easy. Their job was to make everything smooth (I think) - but the summation of their presence seemed to be more of stress - like the kind of stress one might see at a wedding around the bride.
Another thing... I really want to have at least a 5 minute discussion with whomever is the key decision maker before hand. I felt like 30 minutes into the 2nd video that the artist and the person I had been talking to leading up to the shoot were not at all seeing eye to eye on what the video should be. The very first shot I saw that the artist's' interpretation of the song was nothing remotely like I'd been told. And when the artist basically refused to do what the other key decision maker had said was the plan - that made for some very interesting improvisation on my part. Very odd shoot. Will end up being a tad more minimalistic than originally intended.
So, I'm setting aside 2 hours everyday still - despite the editing schedule - to try to get this script done. Ironically - the PA on the shoot is hanging out with the "Famous Actor's Famous Friend" this weekend. He's totally willing to put in a word about the script - but better if he's read it! So trying to finish it in the next couple days. At least to a version where all my little notes are out of it and it is showable to the PA as a pre-final - if not the final itself.
Unlike other types of work, I do not mind delays in progress when it is due to directing because that's the end goal anyway.
One observation from this shoot was how the big star musician had like 10 people swarming around her and generally seeming to make things more stressful than more easy. Their job was to make everything smooth (I think) - but the summation of their presence seemed to be more of stress - like the kind of stress one might see at a wedding around the bride.
Another thing... I really want to have at least a 5 minute discussion with whomever is the key decision maker before hand. I felt like 30 minutes into the 2nd video that the artist and the person I had been talking to leading up to the shoot were not at all seeing eye to eye on what the video should be. The very first shot I saw that the artist's' interpretation of the song was nothing remotely like I'd been told. And when the artist basically refused to do what the other key decision maker had said was the plan - that made for some very interesting improvisation on my part. Very odd shoot. Will end up being a tad more minimalistic than originally intended.
So, I'm setting aside 2 hours everyday still - despite the editing schedule - to try to get this script done. Ironically - the PA on the shoot is hanging out with the "Famous Actor's Famous Friend" this weekend. He's totally willing to put in a word about the script - but better if he's read it! So trying to finish it in the next couple days. At least to a version where all my little notes are out of it and it is showable to the PA as a pre-final - if not the final itself.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
A Paradigm Shift of Focus
A job came in for me today. Free and clear and easy and even a tidbit lucrative.
And I turned it down.
I am proud. I made a choice to curtail the things which distract me from the mission critical goal of doing my first feature (or as trek fans would say, my "prime directive.")
The script is coming along, I am really just trying to make it better before I leave for the shoot.
And I turned it down.
I am proud. I made a choice to curtail the things which distract me from the mission critical goal of doing my first feature (or as trek fans would say, my "prime directive.")
The script is coming along, I am really just trying to make it better before I leave for the shoot.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Close to Done on Rewrite
This was a hard rewrite to do. I'm mostly just checking in.
Yes, I've had my other work distracting me, but that hasn't been the only issue. I really struggled to find this rewrite. I just finished the last page of the new ending and now I'm headed back into the script for my second pass. I already made some changes, but I still want to heighten the story focus more. I always says "hopefully in the next couple days." This time I mean it because I have to go out of town for a shoot for a few days and by then I want it in the hands of Famous Friend's Famous Friend.
Yes, I've had my other work distracting me, but that hasn't been the only issue. I really struggled to find this rewrite. I just finished the last page of the new ending and now I'm headed back into the script for my second pass. I already made some changes, but I still want to heighten the story focus more. I always says "hopefully in the next couple days." This time I mean it because I have to go out of town for a shoot for a few days and by then I want it in the hands of Famous Friend's Famous Friend.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Finding Inspiration
It's been two weeks since my last posting. Took me a while to figure out where I wanted to take this story. I have had projects in the past where everyone wanted a piece of it. So much so that it ended up being torn to shreds. This one is not feeling like that. I sort of feel that while the general response of the reading (especially in follow up discussions) was positive - that no one really cares that much if I finish this. Or make a film. Or become a filmmaker.
When I was younger, people were very excited about it. But I think when you near and cross 30, people start to sort of wish you'd just do something else with your life. They may think you're talented. They may even want to see the stuff you create, but the sense I get from most people is that they wish I'd just let myself live a normal life that wasn't obsessed with this goal.
So. Here I am rewriting a script that I really am not sure anyone cares if I finish. That's one thing I like about writing fantasy - it always seems like it really captures people's imagination much more and they want to visit that world for a while. With drama and even comedy - while they might enjoy the movie, it's never as sexy. It's like suggesting going for an organic salad verses a chocolate Sunday with caramel and chocolate syrup mixed... Well, no matter how much of a healthy eater you are - that Sunday sounds so good!
So here I am mixing a salad together anyway (though I must admit I'm also jotting notes about a very large Sunday as well).
The rewrite is finally coming along. I would very very much like to have it done in the next day or so. There are some placeholder details which are slowing me down. Many times in writing there are things which don't affect the story itself much, but affect the impact of the story.
When I finish I will be sending it to a well known actor who is friends with Famous Friend. Then, I bet, I'll be waiting. However - if I'm committing to making it I can just start preproduction on it anyway. Lining up the locations will be the biggest trick. But the locations (unlike the film I started with this year) are much easier to do.
What I keep longing for is a team. A team of people who would have a vested interest in making this movie happen. I think that will come though after I get it moving. That's my hope at least. And after it is done, hopefully there will be momentum for another. Ideally something I've already written so we can move right into it.
When I was younger, people were very excited about it. But I think when you near and cross 30, people start to sort of wish you'd just do something else with your life. They may think you're talented. They may even want to see the stuff you create, but the sense I get from most people is that they wish I'd just let myself live a normal life that wasn't obsessed with this goal.
So. Here I am rewriting a script that I really am not sure anyone cares if I finish. That's one thing I like about writing fantasy - it always seems like it really captures people's imagination much more and they want to visit that world for a while. With drama and even comedy - while they might enjoy the movie, it's never as sexy. It's like suggesting going for an organic salad verses a chocolate Sunday with caramel and chocolate syrup mixed... Well, no matter how much of a healthy eater you are - that Sunday sounds so good!
So here I am mixing a salad together anyway (though I must admit I'm also jotting notes about a very large Sunday as well).
The rewrite is finally coming along. I would very very much like to have it done in the next day or so. There are some placeholder details which are slowing me down. Many times in writing there are things which don't affect the story itself much, but affect the impact of the story.
When I finish I will be sending it to a well known actor who is friends with Famous Friend. Then, I bet, I'll be waiting. However - if I'm committing to making it I can just start preproduction on it anyway. Lining up the locations will be the biggest trick. But the locations (unlike the film I started with this year) are much easier to do.
What I keep longing for is a team. A team of people who would have a vested interest in making this movie happen. I think that will come though after I get it moving. That's my hope at least. And after it is done, hopefully there will be momentum for another. Ideally something I've already written so we can move right into it.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
The Cycle
We had the reading on Wednesday. Took me a couple days to think about it.
Last time I had a reading it was for a much more commercial project and it went very well. I made some changes after it which were easy and obvious.
This time it's not so easy.
It seems the lack of a clearly defined genre is a problem because people aren't sure how to prepare themselves. It's not all comedy - it's not all mystery. And it doesn't seem to be either one enough.
That said, people seemed to enjoy it and like it - mostly the relationship. However, the irony is that most people also wanted more of a pay off and follow through on the mystery. So - it's not dead, it's just hard to decide now what I want from it.
One producer warned me of course that ...Well, here's the discussion.
Now this producer understands why I want to make a film - she is just cautioning me from losing sight of the overall goal.
But this of course makes me think - Well, once again I've created something which isn't necessarily the answer. The first time around the problem was the locations were so expensive and the production as a whole was just too big to do. The second time around (this time) now I'm discovering that I've maybe created something which won't accomplish my goal (unless I can get a name actor in it... which... was exactly the thing which killed my chances before). HOWEVER - there is one little difference. Actors get offered horror films all the time. They rarely get offered oddball little movies with very interesting characters. If they are going to do something for backend, they're probably going to want to do something they don't get to normally do. This might do that. But then I'm suddenly relying on getting some actors.
Do I just pony up the cash to do the other one since it might not require name talent to sell?
Do I start the process of rewriting this and then hope I get a name actor?
Do I write a whole new project which will be easy enough to shoot, but still be a genre film enough to sell without a lot of trouble?
Lots of questions.
It's always this same story. You can't get the money to do a movie on the scale you need to show you can direct - then you can't do a smaller scale movie because it won't show that you can direct a salable movie. I could word that better when less sleepy - but the basic idea is there.
I need to get my motivation back. At the moment I feel so beat up by the process that I almost just want to quit. But then I realize. What on Earth would I do? I feel a calling to this like I would imagine monks feel to the church. It makes sense to me - I find the idea of being a storyteller to be too luring. I see the storyteller's role in the history humanity and I see myself being that person.
Sometimes I wish I didn't.
The next blog ought to be more clear.
Last time I had a reading it was for a much more commercial project and it went very well. I made some changes after it which were easy and obvious.
This time it's not so easy.
It seems the lack of a clearly defined genre is a problem because people aren't sure how to prepare themselves. It's not all comedy - it's not all mystery. And it doesn't seem to be either one enough.
That said, people seemed to enjoy it and like it - mostly the relationship. However, the irony is that most people also wanted more of a pay off and follow through on the mystery. So - it's not dead, it's just hard to decide now what I want from it.
One producer warned me of course that ...Well, here's the discussion.
PRODUCER
It's going to be hard to sell this without it having name cast and without it being a thriller. A no-name romantic comedy which isn't really even that is going to be hard.
ME
But I just want people to have a chance to see that I can direct and tell a story - direct actors.
PRODUCER
If you make a movie that doesn't sell, you're not doing yourself any favors. You are suddenly a guy who makes unsalable movies. How does that help your career? Your first movie is very important.
Now this producer understands why I want to make a film - she is just cautioning me from losing sight of the overall goal.
But this of course makes me think - Well, once again I've created something which isn't necessarily the answer. The first time around the problem was the locations were so expensive and the production as a whole was just too big to do. The second time around (this time) now I'm discovering that I've maybe created something which won't accomplish my goal (unless I can get a name actor in it... which... was exactly the thing which killed my chances before). HOWEVER - there is one little difference. Actors get offered horror films all the time. They rarely get offered oddball little movies with very interesting characters. If they are going to do something for backend, they're probably going to want to do something they don't get to normally do. This might do that. But then I'm suddenly relying on getting some actors.
Do I just pony up the cash to do the other one since it might not require name talent to sell?
Do I start the process of rewriting this and then hope I get a name actor?
Do I write a whole new project which will be easy enough to shoot, but still be a genre film enough to sell without a lot of trouble?
Lots of questions.
It's always this same story. You can't get the money to do a movie on the scale you need to show you can direct - then you can't do a smaller scale movie because it won't show that you can direct a salable movie. I could word that better when less sleepy - but the basic idea is there.
I need to get my motivation back. At the moment I feel so beat up by the process that I almost just want to quit. But then I realize. What on Earth would I do? I feel a calling to this like I would imagine monks feel to the church. It makes sense to me - I find the idea of being a storyteller to be too luring. I see the storyteller's role in the history humanity and I see myself being that person.
Sometimes I wish I didn't.
The next blog ought to be more clear.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Amazing How Slow Things Move
Well, the actress I'm interested in doing the lead finally read it and spoke to me about it. I am a little bit concerned about how she always has so many things that get in the way. I remember this from working with her before. I will have to make sure that this is not an issue on this project in advance. She is extra-ordinarily talented and interesting though - but the whole thing could crumble around her.
We've set a reading date for June 7th.
When things go slow, I am having a hard time getting my motivation together to do much of anything. The waiting is like a poison. Do I start something new? Do I just commit to this and start working on storyboards?
In other news - there is an actor who about a year ago we decided would be perfect for a movie that is pretty much everyone's favorite writing sample of mine. I was at a party last weekend (rare for me!) and low and behold - who do I meet? This guy. But only for a brief brief moment and I wouldn't say we instantly bonded. You know how that happens? Well, it didn't. He was on his way out. That's okay. He is apparently a friend of someone I know... and I had no idea. So - I'm going to ask her about getting him the script. Now that I know how long it takes, could be until after I finish the first movie.
In the mean time I'm going to do one more pass/polish on this script - there are just a couple simple things that will take maybe 2 days to do right and then it should be pretty solidly finished. I like it when problems are not structural.
More and more I am thinking about the cyclical nature of storytelling and how a story is finding how much of the circle you are revealing instead of thinking of it as a linear step by step process. Things in life go well, then poorly, then good, then bad... and if it isn't true for life always - it's always true for the stories we tell. That's what makes things interesting... the undulating cyclical nature of stories. Then every element in the story has it's own cycles. And much of what you're deciding is simply how many cycles to show - or what cycle to show.
You could almost say that the "arc" is therfore the curve of the circle. However, usually when people are thinking of arc's they have solid beginnings and ends and I think it might be much more exciting to think of them as not having an end. Even if the audience doesn't know this because the movie ends first... fate will turn again - and I think knowing what happens after the movie is quite exciting for the movie itself. Just like an actor... they want to know 1. where they came from 2. where they are going 3. what they want (why they are there).
We've set a reading date for June 7th.
When things go slow, I am having a hard time getting my motivation together to do much of anything. The waiting is like a poison. Do I start something new? Do I just commit to this and start working on storyboards?
In other news - there is an actor who about a year ago we decided would be perfect for a movie that is pretty much everyone's favorite writing sample of mine. I was at a party last weekend (rare for me!) and low and behold - who do I meet? This guy. But only for a brief brief moment and I wouldn't say we instantly bonded. You know how that happens? Well, it didn't. He was on his way out. That's okay. He is apparently a friend of someone I know... and I had no idea. So - I'm going to ask her about getting him the script. Now that I know how long it takes, could be until after I finish the first movie.
In the mean time I'm going to do one more pass/polish on this script - there are just a couple simple things that will take maybe 2 days to do right and then it should be pretty solidly finished. I like it when problems are not structural.
More and more I am thinking about the cyclical nature of storytelling and how a story is finding how much of the circle you are revealing instead of thinking of it as a linear step by step process. Things in life go well, then poorly, then good, then bad... and if it isn't true for life always - it's always true for the stories we tell. That's what makes things interesting... the undulating cyclical nature of stories. Then every element in the story has it's own cycles. And much of what you're deciding is simply how many cycles to show - or what cycle to show.
You could almost say that the "arc" is therfore the curve of the circle. However, usually when people are thinking of arc's they have solid beginnings and ends and I think it might be much more exciting to think of them as not having an end. Even if the audience doesn't know this because the movie ends first... fate will turn again - and I think knowing what happens after the movie is quite exciting for the movie itself. Just like an actor... they want to know 1. where they came from 2. where they are going 3. what they want (why they are there).
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Finished the Script
I finished the changes on the Mysterious Romantic Dramedy. I have sent it off to a couple people for a quick review and then I will set up the reading. So - finally getting some momentum back. In some ways, I am even ahead of schedule since this was my task to be done on the weekend and it is only Friday. Lets see if I can keep that up.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Catching Up
It has been about three weeks since my last posting. Twice a year my "other job" takes over my life - once is in April/May. My plan was to hand off enough of the work such that I could continue the efforts on my own project - but then an unexpected life event appeared and absorbed more than every remaining free moment.
Tonight was my first night back on track. This doesn't mean I've done nothing, but my focus has really not been clear.
In the last three weeks I did a lot of camera research. There are many new cameras coming out - Red, Silicon Imaging, and many enhancements to existing 1/3" sensor cameras. But - technology literally changes daily and while I don't regret spending time catching up with it - but it's really irrelevant until the project is started.
So, in more exciting news - I also did a lot of writing research. I read a fascinating book by James Bonnet called "Stealing Fire from the Gods" and also listened to some audio CDs from www.scriptsecrets.net - both of which I found quite inspiring in totally different ways.
Which brings me to the script at hand. I am now doing my final pass of it. All the new material has been added, I'm just smoothing it through. Yes, I know I'm very late on my original finishing goal. But on the plus side I'm quite excited about it. I plan to be done in a few days and then I will set up the reading and get back on track. There is ONE well known actor I will try to get attached. If that does not happen, I will pursue no one else and simply make it independently - as cheap as possible just to show that I can do what I do.... not sure how to put that... do in feature form what I've been doing in short form?
And in anecdotal news, I had a good meeting with a major production company who apparently liked me. I thought I'd sort of blown the meeting. My stomach started growling really badly as I was feeling not so well and it was so loud I had no choice but to mention it and make it part of the meeting. But even though I thought the meeting didn't go so well, she apparently thought it did and asked my manager to send over a couple of the scripts... not all of them, but 2 of the ones I'd pitched which isn't bad. I may come up with some additional ideas to pitch her way which would fit their charter.
that's a huge thing by the way. Companies get charters... they always do. Whether they all of a sudden want "teen slasher horror" or "contemporary action" - they always have an agenda and are looking to fill that agenda. Something to keep in mind for people writing things on spec for sale. Writing unique script in definable genres is a good idea. Having more than one genre of writing is like diversifying your investment.
More soon. I'm back.
Tonight was my first night back on track. This doesn't mean I've done nothing, but my focus has really not been clear.
In the last three weeks I did a lot of camera research. There are many new cameras coming out - Red, Silicon Imaging, and many enhancements to existing 1/3" sensor cameras. But - technology literally changes daily and while I don't regret spending time catching up with it - but it's really irrelevant until the project is started.
So, in more exciting news - I also did a lot of writing research. I read a fascinating book by James Bonnet called "Stealing Fire from the Gods" and also listened to some audio CDs from www.scriptsecrets.net - both of which I found quite inspiring in totally different ways.
Which brings me to the script at hand. I am now doing my final pass of it. All the new material has been added, I'm just smoothing it through. Yes, I know I'm very late on my original finishing goal. But on the plus side I'm quite excited about it. I plan to be done in a few days and then I will set up the reading and get back on track. There is ONE well known actor I will try to get attached. If that does not happen, I will pursue no one else and simply make it independently - as cheap as possible just to show that I can do what I do.... not sure how to put that... do in feature form what I've been doing in short form?
And in anecdotal news, I had a good meeting with a major production company who apparently liked me. I thought I'd sort of blown the meeting. My stomach started growling really badly as I was feeling not so well and it was so loud I had no choice but to mention it and make it part of the meeting. But even though I thought the meeting didn't go so well, she apparently thought it did and asked my manager to send over a couple of the scripts... not all of them, but 2 of the ones I'd pitched which isn't bad. I may come up with some additional ideas to pitch her way which would fit their charter.
that's a huge thing by the way. Companies get charters... they always do. Whether they all of a sudden want "teen slasher horror" or "contemporary action" - they always have an agenda and are looking to fill that agenda. Something to keep in mind for people writing things on spec for sale. Writing unique script in definable genres is a good idea. Having more than one genre of writing is like diversifying your investment.
More soon. I'm back.
Monday, April 17, 2006
New Script & Other Avenues
I've made a lot of progress on the new script. I am not done, but I am very close and I know what is remaining and I'm pleased with everything that has been changed and added. Whenever you aren't sure about something in a script. Cut it out. It's poison. It's wrong. You know. That's pretty much how I attacked this rewrite. I was not happy about how it ended, not so happy in the middle... However - I did like some of the stuff near the end. So, I cut out everything that I didn't like, made the stuff that I did like near the end... The actual end - then added a whole new adventure that provided a much bigger boost to what is now the end. And, I think it worked.
Why am I working on this script?
From the very beginning I said I was going to shoot a film this year. I did not specify what film. I need to shoot something full length for my career to progress. The other film started to seem like too big a horse to drag. Even though it was going to be excessively cheap for what the final product was - it was still going to cost enough that I wanted an insurance policy. I feel like this film will be so much less expensive that even if it didn't get a big sale and I ended up having to pay for it - that's okay. As long as it got out there a little bit.
Also - the other film was a genre film. A good one. However, it wasn't the most unique of the genre - nothing exploitable about it really - not THE grossest, not THE silliest, not THE scariest even. Just a good movie. This one is a different kind of movie altogether. If it works, it will have a strong niche market on it's own.
I've already started trying to set up a time to do a reading for it.
As for the other script - I'm just hunting down new financing avenues.
I'm also (I should admit) working on my "other job" for the next two weeks. I'm trying to hand it off more and more - but I'm not there yet. Soon I hope.
Why am I working on this script?
From the very beginning I said I was going to shoot a film this year. I did not specify what film. I need to shoot something full length for my career to progress. The other film started to seem like too big a horse to drag. Even though it was going to be excessively cheap for what the final product was - it was still going to cost enough that I wanted an insurance policy. I feel like this film will be so much less expensive that even if it didn't get a big sale and I ended up having to pay for it - that's okay. As long as it got out there a little bit.
Also - the other film was a genre film. A good one. However, it wasn't the most unique of the genre - nothing exploitable about it really - not THE grossest, not THE silliest, not THE scariest even. Just a good movie. This one is a different kind of movie altogether. If it works, it will have a strong niche market on it's own.
I've already started trying to set up a time to do a reading for it.
As for the other script - I'm just hunting down new financing avenues.
I'm also (I should admit) working on my "other job" for the next two weeks. I'm trying to hand it off more and more - but I'm not there yet. Soon I hope.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
No, It Is Not Over
So - The horror film is not dead. I've handed it to another actress who is a friend and would be amazing in the role and who has a potentially interested investor. Without that investor, I could not justify her in the role though (from a personal investment perspective because she is not a bankable entity). On the flip side, I believe in her enough that I'm willing to change the intended financial structure to have her involved with the investor taking on some of the fiscal responsibility. I think it would make a great movie. Chances? Not sure. Two big ifs there. Her. Him.
I also had lunch with a producer who has a deal on the Disney lot and we talked about one potential project which turned into two potential projects - but I took the chance to pitch some existing scripts of which this was one of them. So, he is reading it and another film.
I am trying to get SOMETHING going right now - so I'm just trying to get active.
My famous actress friend I mentioned earlier tried to kick my ass a bit and said that basically my goal should be to send out everything to everyone - attach anyone I can. Just keep sending, searching, finding people until a package comes together. So - I'm going to follow this notion with some existing scripts. She was willing to lend her name to two of them. It's a start, will make me seem less nutty-go-crazy. I could maybe get another up and coming star actress to attach to one of them as well. The men are more difficult, though I have a crazy idea for a few of them.
Now - this blog though is not about me running around town trying to package a movie - this is about me trying to MAKE a movie. So - I actually decided I should make one of two alternate movies. A romantic comedy which is almost finished or a surreal adventure film. Both affordable without name talent - pretty much because it is worth it for me to have a finished project. So, I am working on the one which is most close to being finished. I will be done with the rewrite in 1 week. Keep me to that. The rewrite involves writing about 30 new pages. Not a small matter. But the other doesn't even have a beat sheet... So.... better to get the one that is closest to ready. I plan on doing a big reading of it within 2 weeks of the finished draft. I'll evaluate the confidence of the crowd there and if people love it. I'll move forward.
I also had lunch with a producer who has a deal on the Disney lot and we talked about one potential project which turned into two potential projects - but I took the chance to pitch some existing scripts of which this was one of them. So, he is reading it and another film.
I am trying to get SOMETHING going right now - so I'm just trying to get active.
My famous actress friend I mentioned earlier tried to kick my ass a bit and said that basically my goal should be to send out everything to everyone - attach anyone I can. Just keep sending, searching, finding people until a package comes together. So - I'm going to follow this notion with some existing scripts. She was willing to lend her name to two of them. It's a start, will make me seem less nutty-go-crazy. I could maybe get another up and coming star actress to attach to one of them as well. The men are more difficult, though I have a crazy idea for a few of them.
Now - this blog though is not about me running around town trying to package a movie - this is about me trying to MAKE a movie. So - I actually decided I should make one of two alternate movies. A romantic comedy which is almost finished or a surreal adventure film. Both affordable without name talent - pretty much because it is worth it for me to have a finished project. So, I am working on the one which is most close to being finished. I will be done with the rewrite in 1 week. Keep me to that. The rewrite involves writing about 30 new pages. Not a small matter. But the other doesn't even have a beat sheet... So.... better to get the one that is closest to ready. I plan on doing a big reading of it within 2 weeks of the finished draft. I'll evaluate the confidence of the crowd there and if people love it. I'll move forward.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Actress Declined
So I got the decline email from the actress today. So, it's a good day to really think about my other options very thoroughly.
Very much how actors should not obsess over auditions whether good or bad, my best plan here is to just let it go and move on.
So - either I should send off to another actress I think could do the role or commit to another project. I have a lunch meeting with a Producer with a deal at a studio on Thursday - maybe something will come of that. But I think my gut is telling me... to figure out everything that slowed this project down or made it seem problematic and then create a new one which would avoid these issues.
For the record, here is what the decline said:
"Unfortunately at this time [Actress] is going to have to pass on the
project. She has a lot coming up in the near future and doesn't feel she
can give it the time and attention it would deserve."
Very much how actors should not obsess over auditions whether good or bad, my best plan here is to just let it go and move on.
So - either I should send off to another actress I think could do the role or commit to another project. I have a lunch meeting with a Producer with a deal at a studio on Thursday - maybe something will come of that. But I think my gut is telling me... to figure out everything that slowed this project down or made it seem problematic and then create a new one which would avoid these issues.
For the record, here is what the decline said:
"Unfortunately at this time [Actress] is going to have to pass on the
project. She has a lot coming up in the near future and doesn't feel she
can give it the time and attention it would deserve."
Friday, March 24, 2006
Actress Has Script
The Agent's Assistant responded. The Actress has the script and so we are just waiting on her to read and respond. They did want to confirm that the financing was in place. Fair question. I assured them it was. Quite often people are trying to attach actors before there is even money to make the movie. In these cases, you have to make a "pay or play" offer OR have some pretty serious credentials and/or attachments.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Emailed The Agent
I emailied the Agent's Assistant to prod for a response. Not big news, but just keeping record of everything.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Actress Has Scheduling Conflict
The Agent's Assistant contacted me today to inform me that the actress had just accepted an offer for another movie which shoots at the same time as mine. I said "We can push if she's interested in doing my film. Has anyone read it?" She declined to answer the question by saying "I just called to give you this information." At which point I reiterated that the date was mostly chosen because it's hiatus for TV season, but if I knew within a week or so if she was going to be interested, I could schedule around it.
I'm not totally sure what this means because on the one hand, I'm on the radar enough to be called. On the other hand, my suspicion is that no one has read it. Pushing six weeks is fine by me as long as it's a lock. If she locked in next week, I wouldn't mind the extra six weeks of delay - I'll just get the FX started early and have more prep time. But if it will be a decline - then I'd like to know sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, I'm still writing.
I'm not totally sure what this means because on the one hand, I'm on the radar enough to be called. On the other hand, my suspicion is that no one has read it. Pushing six weeks is fine by me as long as it's a lock. If she locked in next week, I wouldn't mind the extra six weeks of delay - I'll just get the FX started early and have more prep time. But if it will be a decline - then I'd like to know sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, I'm still writing.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
No News is No News
It's Tuesday. I called the Agent's Assistant and asked if they had any more questions for me and they said if they did - they would email me. I should have then said "So, I assume it's being reviewed now?" - but I don't know if that was necessary.
So... Next post will be next Tuesday when I email them to find out what might be going on and ask something a little more specific. By then, it's feasible that they should have read it.
So... Next post will be next Tuesday when I email them to find out what might be going on and ask something a little more specific. By then, it's feasible that they should have read it.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Next Tuesday
I am going to call the Agent's Assistant next Tuesday to follow up. I figure they'll have had two weekends at that point though I suspect they did nothing with it the first weekend. And I'm giving Monday for them to contact me first just in case. I don't actually expect to hear anything, but I think it is an appropriate time to try.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Another Follow Up Question
Well, they haven't said no yet. Just got another question from the Actor's Agent's Assistant. It was answered on the offer, but the email gave me a chance to expand on the question - When are we shooting.
I've not figured out yet what my back up project will be. I'm torn between doing something very small and "indie" which is almost totally written or writing something new which is very stated, "loud," and nichefully unusual.
I've not figured out yet what my back up project will be. I'm torn between doing something very small and "indie" which is almost totally written or writing something new which is very stated, "loud," and nichefully unusual.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Follow Up Questions
The Actor's Agent's Assistant sent me back an email with some follow up questions asking:
Who is directing (that was already clear in my first email)? Who is Producing? What is the budget? Is it already financed? Is there anyone else attached?
My only strong card is that it is financed - albeit low budget. The irony is that the next actor I want to approach is also represented by this same agency - so I asked for a contact name for the agent (because my source imdbpro.com doesn't have a specific name). Now, this is a hugely convenient and good thing in that - they are now looking at one project for two clients. Agents like that sort of thing - you can imagine, it's like half the work - especially in the beginning. Agents will often suggest other clients if a project is a "go." That is one of the advantages of being a client at an agency which packages deals.
So - basically - that's that! Could take two weeks, could take a month. If anything more than 2 weeks I will need to push my shoot date for sure.
Who is directing (that was already clear in my first email)? Who is Producing? What is the budget? Is it already financed? Is there anyone else attached?
My only strong card is that it is financed - albeit low budget. The irony is that the next actor I want to approach is also represented by this same agency - so I asked for a contact name for the agent (because my source imdbpro.com doesn't have a specific name). Now, this is a hugely convenient and good thing in that - they are now looking at one project for two clients. Agents like that sort of thing - you can imagine, it's like half the work - especially in the beginning. Agents will often suggest other clients if a project is a "go." That is one of the advantages of being a client at an agency which packages deals.
So - basically - that's that! Could take two weeks, could take a month. If anything more than 2 weeks I will need to push my shoot date for sure.
Do I Send Out the Second Offer?
This is the question now. It has been suggested that I should send out now to the male lead because... Well, mostly if they are going to take a while, then I need to be ready with both. I think I probably will.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Emailed the Offer!
Okay - it's off! We shall see what the response is. I will contact them next Wednesday if I do not hear from them before then.
So - now... it's time to focus on a back up plan. I think the back up plan should be infallible. Something that requires nothing... no contingencies. No actor requirements, no one thing that could bring down the possibility of doing it.
I think it should ideally be bold and different - but certainly should be non-standard in some way.
So - now... it's time to focus on a back up plan. I think the back up plan should be infallible. Something that requires nothing... no contingencies. No actor requirements, no one thing that could bring down the possibility of doing it.
I think it should ideally be bold and different - but certainly should be non-standard in some way.
Phoned the Agent
Okay - so it took me like 2 hours to get up the courage to call... and then the phone call lasted about 30 seconds... after I phoned and reached the receptionist.
ME
Hello may I speak to [agent].
RECEPTION
Please hold.
AGENT'S ASSITANT
[agent's name] office.
ME
Hello. I have an independent film called [NAME] for which we would like to offer the lead role to [actress name].
There is a little bit of a lull and it sounds like she's typing something else. Sensing that I haven't wowed her and that I need to take the initiative I start to speak - she does as well, I say:
ME
Go ahead.
AGENT ASSISTANT
No, please go ahead.
ME
Would you like me to e-mail the script and the offer?
AGENT ASSISTANT
Either e-mail or hand delivering is best.
ME
Is one preferred?
AGENT ASSISTANT
You know, it doesn't matter.
ME
I'll email it, may I have the email address?
AGENT ASSISTANT
Absolutely.
So! There you go. That's what happens when you call an agent. Now, I could have pushed to talk to the agent, I could have tried to sell myself or the project more, but the fact of the matter is that I don't have a lot to sell on the project. Not until I have someone attached.
So now I'm about to make my offer letter and email the script and offer. I should have had this prepared, but it will probably only take me a moment to create since I know the details.
Now, the real trick will be get them to do something about it!
ME
Hello may I speak to [agent].
RECEPTION
Please hold.
AGENT'S ASSITANT
[agent's name] office.
ME
Hello. I have an independent film called [NAME] for which we would like to offer the lead role to [actress name].
There is a little bit of a lull and it sounds like she's typing something else. Sensing that I haven't wowed her and that I need to take the initiative I start to speak - she does as well, I say:
ME
Go ahead.
AGENT ASSISTANT
No, please go ahead.
ME
Would you like me to e-mail the script and the offer?
AGENT ASSISTANT
Either e-mail or hand delivering is best.
ME
Is one preferred?
AGENT ASSISTANT
You know, it doesn't matter.
ME
I'll email it, may I have the email address?
AGENT ASSISTANT
Absolutely.
So! There you go. That's what happens when you call an agent. Now, I could have pushed to talk to the agent, I could have tried to sell myself or the project more, but the fact of the matter is that I don't have a lot to sell on the project. Not until I have someone attached.
So now I'm about to make my offer letter and email the script and offer. I should have had this prepared, but it will probably only take me a moment to create since I know the details.
Now, the real trick will be get them to do something about it!
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Finishing Script Changes
First off - I actually took last weekend off. I took an in-home vacation. Basically - I did what most people probably do on weekends, talked with friends, sat at cafe's and restaurants for hours on end. Yes, of course we talked about movies and movie business stuff - but it was also very social and different and I will definitely try to incorporate more of these sorts of occasions into my schedule. I seem to always spend any "free time" I have traveling away from my home and then being sucked into someone else's schedule. Was nice to actually have the feeling of not having to do anything.
It did put me 2 days behind though.
So, here I am tonight finishing the final changes to the script. I made some slightly more drastic changes than I had originally planned. Still nothing structurally different. I could make a few more changes, but I am going to stop in an hour and leave it at that (assuming I've closed the last hole that I've opened).
Tomorrow I will call the agency.
I'm so nervous about that. It reminds me of the very first time I called a girl up who I didn't know very well and asked her out. I think I sat by the phone for 3 hours. I picked it up. Put it down. I thought about it. I never dialed and then hung up though - but when I finally did dial, I got through immediately and I didn't even stumble in my question. She turned me down in one pretty simple phrase, I think it was "I don't think so." But it wasn't that painful. Almost a relief just to have the question answered.
My expectations are for some abuse tomorrow. We'll see. I'm only approaching the one actress. I'm not offering pay or play because it seems like too little an offer to do that. I know my offer parameters, the hopeful shoot date. I will report it here immediately after I've phoned though.
My biggest concern is the response of.... "Who exactly are you? And why do you think our client would bother reading anything you wrote?" The only thing I have going for me is that the film is financed. Very limited financing to be sure, but it can be shot as scripted. So, unlike many projects, it will happen if she wants to do it.
You know what I'm doing right now? I'm avoiding writing. I've got to go finish.
It did put me 2 days behind though.
So, here I am tonight finishing the final changes to the script. I made some slightly more drastic changes than I had originally planned. Still nothing structurally different. I could make a few more changes, but I am going to stop in an hour and leave it at that (assuming I've closed the last hole that I've opened).
Tomorrow I will call the agency.
I'm so nervous about that. It reminds me of the very first time I called a girl up who I didn't know very well and asked her out. I think I sat by the phone for 3 hours. I picked it up. Put it down. I thought about it. I never dialed and then hung up though - but when I finally did dial, I got through immediately and I didn't even stumble in my question. She turned me down in one pretty simple phrase, I think it was "I don't think so." But it wasn't that painful. Almost a relief just to have the question answered.
My expectations are for some abuse tomorrow. We'll see. I'm only approaching the one actress. I'm not offering pay or play because it seems like too little an offer to do that. I know my offer parameters, the hopeful shoot date. I will report it here immediately after I've phoned though.
My biggest concern is the response of.... "Who exactly are you? And why do you think our client would bother reading anything you wrote?" The only thing I have going for me is that the film is financed. Very limited financing to be sure, but it can be shot as scripted. So, unlike many projects, it will happen if she wants to do it.
You know what I'm doing right now? I'm avoiding writing. I've got to go finish.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Final Script Changes
Just going through the script and making some final changes before sending it off to cast. Several producers have warned me that I'm fighting an uphill battle with no one attached and no lucrative offer ready to go. They're encouraging in that they'll say "They should WANT to be in your movie because the script is good" - but cautious and say "it might take them a month and you need to think up some back ups." We'll see. I'll hopefully finish these up tomorrow, if I do and I feel ready, I'll send out Thursday. Friday and Monday are not great for first contacts - but if I miss Thursday I will definitely try to hit first thing Friday.
As soon as it goes out... I'm on to figuring out the back up movie. I think I should make sure it's something that I can do no matter what. Even if it isn't going to fit any necessary guideline other than being a feature film. It has to be shootable and finishable and it has to be feature length and something I think is good regardless of sales potential (as long as the budget can be limited).
As soon as it goes out... I'm on to figuring out the back up movie. I think I should make sure it's something that I can do no matter what. Even if it isn't going to fit any necessary guideline other than being a feature film. It has to be shootable and finishable and it has to be feature length and something I think is good regardless of sales potential (as long as the budget can be limited).
Monday, February 20, 2006
How To Proceed
After a bit of pondering (read as deflated disappointment), I think the answer is in the "What do I have to lose?" If the only thing you have to lose is being rejected, then you have nothing to lose if you reward yourself with the pride of having tried.
Having Tried > Being Rejected.
Meaning, you get more points for having tried than you lose for being rejected - so your net sum points is greater even if you are rejected after trying. This rule applies for all things. I wish I'd learned it when I was 10 years old. Actually I learned and knew a lot of things at ten. Perhaps I should say "believed this when I was ten."
I am not expecting to get a yes. The people who profess that you create your own existence by what you believe have not spent much time in Hollywood. Actors always get the parts they think they wouldn't get and never get the parts from auditions they "nailed." I think the rule is - if you believe enough to try, then you believe enough to make it happen.
Anyway - Since I'm not expecting to get a yes from the talent for whom I (and I semi-alone) have deemed worthy of the investment, I am going to push the start date to allow the actors 1 full month (2 weeks per actor ideally) to read it. So, new start date would be may 15th. Blah, but takes off the stress. I will say that it is negotiable. I need six weeks to prepare the movie minimum. In the meantime, I will pick one of four projects to create, develop, finish, or push. I've started that process today.
Tomorrow and the next day I will focus on finishing a rewrite of this movie and then just send it off and wait... but not count on anything. Move forward in other directions.
Having Tried > Being Rejected.
Meaning, you get more points for having tried than you lose for being rejected - so your net sum points is greater even if you are rejected after trying. This rule applies for all things. I wish I'd learned it when I was 10 years old. Actually I learned and knew a lot of things at ten. Perhaps I should say "believed this when I was ten."
I am not expecting to get a yes. The people who profess that you create your own existence by what you believe have not spent much time in Hollywood. Actors always get the parts they think they wouldn't get and never get the parts from auditions they "nailed." I think the rule is - if you believe enough to try, then you believe enough to make it happen.
Anyway - Since I'm not expecting to get a yes from the talent for whom I (and I semi-alone) have deemed worthy of the investment, I am going to push the start date to allow the actors 1 full month (2 weeks per actor ideally) to read it. So, new start date would be may 15th. Blah, but takes off the stress. I will say that it is negotiable. I need six weeks to prepare the movie minimum. In the meantime, I will pick one of four projects to create, develop, finish, or push. I've started that process today.
Tomorrow and the next day I will focus on finishing a rewrite of this movie and then just send it off and wait... but not count on anything. Move forward in other directions.
Friday, February 17, 2006
Friend Declined
Apparently my friend just did a movie where the character had the same major event in a similar movie and has another ongoing offer on the table for another similar path... So she felt three would be too many. Open to doing another film, but not this one.
I just finished all that work I had to do and was hoping to jump full force into this film now, but the new goal this weekend will be to evaluate if I think without anyone attached I'll be taken seriously by any actors. I guess I could always toss my hat into the circle to find out.
I only slept 3 hours last night due to finishing up "the other job's work" and clearing my schedule... So now isn't the best time for blogging or decision making. But I thought it was important to put this into the chronicles.
Right now I'm thinking of everything from abandoning this project for doing a much more unique and specific type of film, geared specifically for actors I know I could cast (and check in advance that they'd do it)... and make sure the locations are not impossible for me to find.
There are plenty of projects to do... The problem is that I can't afford to do most of them without getting investors and I was really trying to avoid that.
Maybe I'll just go out to the other cast people anyway and hope that I get a response. I don't know. My concern with that would be to get just one of the actors... Then I'm in a bind if I can't get another one. We'll see. I do know I need a cast to justify the investment though. I have another friend I could ask - doesn't fit the profile I had in mind when I thought up the whole scheme though.
I think maybe in my over tired weary state I'll drift into thoughts and see if some new project magically materializes in my head. And if not, I'll get practical tomorrow and figure out how to go forward.
I just finished all that work I had to do and was hoping to jump full force into this film now, but the new goal this weekend will be to evaluate if I think without anyone attached I'll be taken seriously by any actors. I guess I could always toss my hat into the circle to find out.
I only slept 3 hours last night due to finishing up "the other job's work" and clearing my schedule... So now isn't the best time for blogging or decision making. But I thought it was important to put this into the chronicles.
Right now I'm thinking of everything from abandoning this project for doing a much more unique and specific type of film, geared specifically for actors I know I could cast (and check in advance that they'd do it)... and make sure the locations are not impossible for me to find.
There are plenty of projects to do... The problem is that I can't afford to do most of them without getting investors and I was really trying to avoid that.
Maybe I'll just go out to the other cast people anyway and hope that I get a response. I don't know. My concern with that would be to get just one of the actors... Then I'm in a bind if I can't get another one. We'll see. I do know I need a cast to justify the investment though. I have another friend I could ask - doesn't fit the profile I had in mind when I thought up the whole scheme though.
I think maybe in my over tired weary state I'll drift into thoughts and see if some new project magically materializes in my head. And if not, I'll get practical tomorrow and figure out how to go forward.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Reading went well
The reading went very well. I felt like people did like the script, enjoyed the read and I also got a couple good ideas that I'm going to incorporate. Plus a few things came to light that I need to fix. Nothing major.
There were also a couple ideas which were good, but I'm not going to incorporate them because at some point, you're just making another movie. Even if ideas seem like they'll enhance this movie, sometimes they'll just make it different. And sometimes good ideas can break a script and I don't have the time to break the script down entirely especially when all it would add is one cool moment as a pay off in actuality.
My friend has not responded yet. Grrr... if it takes this long for a friend to respond... how long will it take the other actors to respond. I may have to push the entire shoot a couple weeks, but that would be the limit. No leeway after that.
I need to get people to start working on this.
There were also a couple ideas which were good, but I'm not going to incorporate them because at some point, you're just making another movie. Even if ideas seem like they'll enhance this movie, sometimes they'll just make it different. And sometimes good ideas can break a script and I don't have the time to break the script down entirely especially when all it would add is one cool moment as a pay off in actuality.
My friend has not responded yet. Grrr... if it takes this long for a friend to respond... how long will it take the other actors to respond. I may have to push the entire shoot a couple weeks, but that would be the limit. No leeway after that.
I need to get people to start working on this.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Setting things up
Helped friends with their network auditions a lot this week. That kind of stuff hopefully pays off down the line.
"Famous Friend" will give me a yay or nay by next Monday.
Sunday I am having a reading for the script. This is sort of "last looks" for the script. "Speak now or forever hold your piece" on the go ahead. I have a few friends coming to this in addition to the readers. I'm hoping of course everyone gets excited and goes "great! this will be awesome." I'm open to them going... "hm... not sure this is ready." Honestly, if people are mediocre on it and my friend doesn't want to do it, I may cancel it. It's okay - I will then just do something else instead. Maybe prepare the "other film" and plan to shoot the super low budget one instead. Or, as I warned my best friend, stop doing film all together and finish that crazy performance art piece I've always been working on. I think she is secretly hoping I do that. :)
Tonight I am doing the script breakdown (finally) which will give me a sense of the EXACT number of days all the talent will need to be there. Also shows me where character balances might be out of whack. It's a very interesting way of looking at your script. For example, I'm realizing one important character practically disappears in the middle. Seems wrong now that I see it this way. I will need to fix that.
This also acts as the base for the budgeting process - though in the case of this film, it won't affect the budget that much.
"Famous Friend" will give me a yay or nay by next Monday.
Sunday I am having a reading for the script. This is sort of "last looks" for the script. "Speak now or forever hold your piece" on the go ahead. I have a few friends coming to this in addition to the readers. I'm hoping of course everyone gets excited and goes "great! this will be awesome." I'm open to them going... "hm... not sure this is ready." Honestly, if people are mediocre on it and my friend doesn't want to do it, I may cancel it. It's okay - I will then just do something else instead. Maybe prepare the "other film" and plan to shoot the super low budget one instead. Or, as I warned my best friend, stop doing film all together and finish that crazy performance art piece I've always been working on. I think she is secretly hoping I do that. :)
Tonight I am doing the script breakdown (finally) which will give me a sense of the EXACT number of days all the talent will need to be there. Also shows me where character balances might be out of whack. It's a very interesting way of looking at your script. For example, I'm realizing one important character practically disappears in the middle. Seems wrong now that I see it this way. I will need to fix that.
This also acts as the base for the budgeting process - though in the case of this film, it won't affect the budget that much.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
The Script
Strange. I'm having a lot of insecurity about the script right around now. I had a couple tiny changes I wanted to make to it before sending it out to talent - but then I suddenly started worrying that it was too static, the scenes were too long, there was too much dialogue - etc. I'm considering doing a table read just so I can heart it out loud. Perhaps I should try to do that this weekend. Nothing fancy - just some people in a room speaking it out loud.
It's really amazing how much tenacity fear has. At some point you'd think I'd be able to stop questioning everything. Perhaps when there are more people involved in the project this will start to be the case.
Hoping to schedule and breakdown the script this weekend. I'd like to know exactly how many days I'm going to be asking these actors to work rather than just tossing out a guess.
It's really amazing how much tenacity fear has. At some point you'd think I'd be able to stop questioning everything. Perhaps when there are more people involved in the project this will start to be the case.
Hoping to schedule and breakdown the script this weekend. I'd like to know exactly how many days I'm going to be asking these actors to work rather than just tossing out a guess.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Facing Challenges
I'm being totally distracted. I have to say it, because I have to admit it. This is a wake up call entry for myself. Say the true state of things so I can address them.
Currently:
For "the other project" - I mentioned a friend of my "famous friend" to her and she agreed to take the script to him. I want to bounce him off a couple people, but I think it's totally unique casting and a part he would never get normally and thus might be interested.
I still need to do this movie first.... though... as a back up option, it wouldn't hurt. If not a back-up, it becomes a follow-up.
Currently:
- I'm doing too much work that is not related to this movie. Yes, it's great that it seems my other company (which does involve directing) is going to have a great year. However, it is terrible that it is distracting me from doing important things to prepare this movie and I'd better learn to discipline myself now.
- I'm helping my "famous friend" on her pilot auditions, she's going to network on one apparently. She can't read my script until this coming weekend. I decided to wait on her response just because I felt (and confirmed with one of my producer consultants) that since I have literally nothing else in my corner (no agent, production company, distributor), I should have something that makes me seem like not a total outsider. (Actually I do have a manager who is well connected and such, but that is not related to this project really. I suppose I could ask him to make some calls on my behalf, but that would turn him into a producer and I'm not sure he wants that and I'm not sure I need that. I'll surely use him as a reference if need be.)
- I'm concerned about the time it might take these other actors to read the script and commit and will that allow me enough time prepare the production - more so, will it allow enough time for my production team to prepare. Also - if it takes a month to get a "no." That's going to be an issue as it will leave me very little time to find someone new. I should probably decide at some point what my minimum "name" requirement for going into production will be. I believe this script will make a good movie. I cannot market it as "the grossest" or "sexiest" or "blackest" or "gayest" or "religious" or "anti-religious" or... "cheapest" or... "most expensive" or... "most surreal" "most punk" "most conservative" "most liberal" - etc. There is no exploitable angle on it. This makes me feel like I need a name cast. A name cast will substitute as the exploitable angle. Note to people who can't get a cast for their film. Ask yourself what your exploitable angle is.
For "the other project" - I mentioned a friend of my "famous friend" to her and she agreed to take the script to him. I want to bounce him off a couple people, but I think it's totally unique casting and a part he would never get normally and thus might be interested.
I still need to do this movie first.... though... as a back up option, it wouldn't hurt. If not a back-up, it becomes a follow-up.
Monday, February 06, 2006
and even more Meetings
Met with another LP. I didn't feel he was the right match for the project. Wrote up the offer letter (based on friend's existing one).
I'm concerned that my "other work" continues to distract me most of the day... even real life stuff is getting post-poned and ignored... It should be done by the end of this week - the distracting part of it at least. I'm taking a big chunk of Wednesday off to regain sanity though.
Top of my current to do lists are:
I'm concerned that my "other work" continues to distract me most of the day... even real life stuff is getting post-poned and ignored... It should be done by the end of this week - the distracting part of it at least. I'm taking a big chunk of Wednesday off to regain sanity though.
Top of my current to do lists are:
- Add scenes I've sketched to the script
- Breakdown all the Sets / Props / Art / Costumes for people to have a sense
- Talk to Art Dept person who I'm interested in doing this more
- On Tuesday talk to friend about her attaching herself to the movie
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Meetings and Meetings
Met with a set (and prop) builder today. Turns out we know a lot of the same people. Not a surprise I suppose. Boy - set labor could be an issue. I'm going to sketch out the sets, but he wants an idea of what I have for the budget. I always want to say. "I have $500, what can you do?" :)
Meeting with another LP/AD option tomorrow night.
I really need to get something together ready to send out to actors on Tuesday. Still feel unprepared for that.
Still finishing other job work too and the fact that this is taking up so much time is a major concern.
Meeting with another LP/AD option tomorrow night.
I really need to get something together ready to send out to actors on Tuesday. Still feel unprepared for that.
Still finishing other job work too and the fact that this is taking up so much time is a major concern.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
Assembling Assets
Oh - lets just do a bullet point list...
Next week should be very interesting. I will try to document my experience approaching these actors very closely because I have a feeling that this will be something that most of the filmmaker who might be reading this will be most interested in.
- I contacted a friendly stage (I've known the people who run it for a while). They offered a very nice deal. It's still very expensive.
- Tomorrow I should be talking to my first option of set builders - a recommendation from the friendly stage.
- The LP/AD (Line Producer/Assistant Director) I spoke with and liked is unable to schedule this project into his life, but is going to do his best to provide some help - he should be sending me some photos of an alternate (and cheaper) location tomorrow.... HOPING that it works.
- I've decided to NOT WAIT to approach actors. Even for my famous friend... actually - I'm waiting until Tuesday for her because she may read on Monday.
- I'm meeting with another LP/AD option and there is someone else who doesn't have all the experience, but could add to the family atmosphere of the shoot which would be nice.
Next week should be very interesting. I will try to document my experience approaching these actors very closely because I have a feeling that this will be something that most of the filmmaker who might be reading this will be most interested in.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Waiting and Money
Feel like I'm just waiting on everyone. Need to start trying to contact people before I am ready. Is that possible? But waiting on word from Logistical types, Crew types, Actors types.
In the meantime, sketching and making budget adjustments. Seems like everytime I find a way to make something cheaper, another expense shows up. When things get expensive I, of course, start thinking "Well, geeze, maybe I should do another movie with less of that [whatever seems expensive]." But I'm sticking to the plan. Supposed to be shooting in two months and 13 days from now! I should make some sort of day countdown on this site.
In the meantime, sketching and making budget adjustments. Seems like everytime I find a way to make something cheaper, another expense shows up. When things get expensive I, of course, start thinking "Well, geeze, maybe I should do another movie with less of that [whatever seems expensive]." But I'm sticking to the plan. Supposed to be shooting in two months and 13 days from now! I should make some sort of day countdown on this site.
Depression before the Storm
I wasn't going to write anything today - but then I realized today is EXACTLY the day I need to write something.... if not for anyone else, for myself to remember this.
For no apparent reason - no bad news. Suddenly, my momentum feels like it totally dropped.
I think this is where other people come into the mix. Even a very independent person like myself still relies on the excitement of other people. It's why actors still love theater. The live response.
What this is telling me is that I need to start including some people in the project and give them a reason to care.
Probably I got some disinterested reactions from people in an almost so-casual-I-didn't-notice way - but I did feel it. And it brought me down. It's not that anything went wrong.
Maybe it's also just coming to see the greater picture of what a huge project this will be and maybe the last week of pushing this project and attending to my regular job just wore me out. This won't be the last time. I should make sure though that I keep some people around who encourage me. And some other people who may have something at stake in this as well. Starting to understand why groups of people make movies a lot more often than solo efforts.
For no apparent reason - no bad news. Suddenly, my momentum feels like it totally dropped.
I think this is where other people come into the mix. Even a very independent person like myself still relies on the excitement of other people. It's why actors still love theater. The live response.
What this is telling me is that I need to start including some people in the project and give them a reason to care.
Probably I got some disinterested reactions from people in an almost so-casual-I-didn't-notice way - but I did feel it. And it brought me down. It's not that anything went wrong.
Maybe it's also just coming to see the greater picture of what a huge project this will be and maybe the last week of pushing this project and attending to my regular job just wore me out. This won't be the last time. I should make sure though that I keep some people around who encourage me. And some other people who may have something at stake in this as well. Starting to understand why groups of people make movies a lot more often than solo efforts.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Gathering My Thoughts
So - the work from last week spilled into this week, but I feel like I was pretty well able to keep things moving forward. Even had a chance to do a little design work. I am trying to figure out the lay out of certain locations according to how they would be work with the dolly shots. Nothing worse than getting to a location with a shot in mind and then realizing "There's no room for the dolly here."
So here is a random catch up list for "where everything is at:"
So here is a random catch up list for "where everything is at:"
- Asked my "famous friend" to be in the movie. Need to push her to commit soon as I want her confirmation prior to approaching the TV Actors (I'm starting to hate using these generic labels - it's sort of demeaning seeming.) Lesson Learned - approach sooner.
- Talk to the line producer type about his interest. I feel he could be an asset and would like to know his involvement level.
- I've figured out a backend offer for the actors.
- I really need to find someone who can talk to me about the expense for building and painting sets. This is information I'm lacking.
- I'm very much eyeing renting a studio or warehouse and building sets since they are so simple and plain verses finding the right location - unless someone brings something great to my attention.
- Going to keep the whole shoot to 3 weeks instead of adding on a weekend for the other location. Mentally keeps the shoot so much shorter. (LP's advice)
- Going to add a little short action scene which wasn't in the script before - but I think it needs a punch near the end - something fun to watch to break up the suspense.
- Going to add another scene which has been on my mind lately.
- Going to cut off the last scene as it locks me into a particular sequel and has extra actors and FX and props that don't help tell the story necessarily. As tempted as I am to shoot it anyway - it will get expensive.
- Going to start storyboarding it and breaking it down under the assumption that the actors will sign on. I'm being warned the actor signing can take a month - this could become an issue as if I cannot get the people I want, I need to make sure that have a cast I feel makes it work.
- I need to include rehearsal into the schedule for the major scenes even if I have to pay for the time. I need to make sure the performances work. This movie is made or lost on the performances - 'cause it's not a blood splattering horror film.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Inspiration and Insecurity
The meeting today was great. This guy very much knew what he was talking about. Lots of great information which I will write about as it becomes relevant. He is reviewing the project and my limitations now to see where he feels he can fit in. I liked that he understood where I am at and respected it.
That was the inspiration.
The insecurity is just those constant second guessings. "Is this really the movie I should be doing? Is it the right time? Will it work? What will happen if it doesn't work? Shouldn't I really be following my heart and making something strange? Wouldn't I really be better at something with a lot more youth fashion in it - something a little more designed, a little more artsy surreal? What if I don't understand my audience? What if..."
What if is probably a natural question for people who tell stories. It is obviously something we think about a lot. It may, however, account for the neurosis of most filmmakers and artists. Being so close to the "what if" and so responsive to it can be as destructive as it can be constructive.
One thing actors must learn is how to stay in the moment - not consider everything - stop thinking about the lights and crew or audience or anything other than the scene or what the character would be distracted by. People could do the same, but consider their entire life the stage. Staying present in the moment.
All those good thoughts spoken. I still am second guessing myself a lot. It's a lot of money - I don't think it's unnatural to be afraid of losing it. I think this is an advantage of youth. When I was just out of college, I hadn't quite yet had the really lousy experiences which earn a good deal of second guessing. Until you've been really incredibly slammed a few times by bad choices - you don't quite have the degree of insecurity that you gain later on. Some caution is maturity. Too much is perhaps heading back in the other direction. Awareness and caution are decent things - but not when they freeze you from taking action.
There is power just in the making of a decision regardless of the end result.
That was the inspiration.
The insecurity is just those constant second guessings. "Is this really the movie I should be doing? Is it the right time? Will it work? What will happen if it doesn't work? Shouldn't I really be following my heart and making something strange? Wouldn't I really be better at something with a lot more youth fashion in it - something a little more designed, a little more artsy surreal? What if I don't understand my audience? What if..."
What if is probably a natural question for people who tell stories. It is obviously something we think about a lot. It may, however, account for the neurosis of most filmmakers and artists. Being so close to the "what if" and so responsive to it can be as destructive as it can be constructive.
One thing actors must learn is how to stay in the moment - not consider everything - stop thinking about the lights and crew or audience or anything other than the scene or what the character would be distracted by. People could do the same, but consider their entire life the stage. Staying present in the moment.
All those good thoughts spoken. I still am second guessing myself a lot. It's a lot of money - I don't think it's unnatural to be afraid of losing it. I think this is an advantage of youth. When I was just out of college, I hadn't quite yet had the really lousy experiences which earn a good deal of second guessing. Until you've been really incredibly slammed a few times by bad choices - you don't quite have the degree of insecurity that you gain later on. Some caution is maturity. Too much is perhaps heading back in the other direction. Awareness and caution are decent things - but not when they freeze you from taking action.
There is power just in the making of a decision regardless of the end result.
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Tidbits
Renamed the movie! The new title sounds so much less B-movie horror and much more like a drama. I like it that way. Never cared for the other title. There was meant to be a slight irony in it which was lost on... everyone... including me after a while.
Starting to talk to people to potentially get involved now. Sticking to my minimalist crew plan.
Spoke to someone today about a potential presales plan - but the logistics seem wrong. Wouldn't mind selling a country or two - but the whole point of self-financing was to push the project forward. Still, not bad to have some distributors aware of the project. It did, actually, make me start thinking that maybe I should put a package together for "the other" film which would be salable at Cannes based on the package alone. I would need to make a couple more attachments. But that might be the thing to put together. Could cut some existing footage with some new bits of sample art and make a little presentation for it. Hmmmmm... Doesn't help this film much - but I'm adamantly non-myopic on this. I don't want to make this movie my career - it's just the first step. As I said early on, I want to move into preproduction on movie 2 immediately after finishing movie 1.
Whatever the artist working on concepts can come up with in time, we can include those into the package as well.
One thing about Cannes... would have been nice to have enough footage to cut a trailer together - but I don't really see that as possible if I start shooting in mid April verses April 1. Unless I let someone else edit while I'm shooting and then just use whatever we shoot in the first 2 weeks.
Starting to talk to people to potentially get involved now. Sticking to my minimalist crew plan.
Spoke to someone today about a potential presales plan - but the logistics seem wrong. Wouldn't mind selling a country or two - but the whole point of self-financing was to push the project forward. Still, not bad to have some distributors aware of the project. It did, actually, make me start thinking that maybe I should put a package together for "the other" film which would be salable at Cannes based on the package alone. I would need to make a couple more attachments. But that might be the thing to put together. Could cut some existing footage with some new bits of sample art and make a little presentation for it. Hmmmmm... Doesn't help this film much - but I'm adamantly non-myopic on this. I don't want to make this movie my career - it's just the first step. As I said early on, I want to move into preproduction on movie 2 immediately after finishing movie 1.
Whatever the artist working on concepts can come up with in time, we can include those into the package as well.
One thing about Cannes... would have been nice to have enough footage to cut a trailer together - but I don't really see that as possible if I start shooting in mid April verses April 1. Unless I let someone else edit while I'm shooting and then just use whatever we shoot in the first 2 weeks.
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Budget Round One
Today is the first day I've had enough information that I could assemble a budget that had any sense of reality. It's about twice what I'd like it to be which means - it probably can't be what I'd like it to be.
I am budgeting in an unusual way this time. Normally I follow the standard budget form, but this time I wanted to organize it in a way that made sense for this kind of production so what I've done is make four categories which I felt would be equal parts. I'm doing this to make sure the film is balanced. I don't think it is a good idea to spend 50,000 on your set and then shoot on DV because the equipment rental becomes 5,000. That seems imbalanced to me. So, the logic behind finding four separate categories is to think if you can get your set for 5,000... then it makes sense to get your camera for 5,000 too.
I've never seen anyone think of a budget this way - but somehow it is making sense to me on this project.
My categories are:
I am budgeting in an unusual way this time. Normally I follow the standard budget form, but this time I wanted to organize it in a way that made sense for this kind of production so what I've done is make four categories which I felt would be equal parts. I'm doing this to make sure the film is balanced. I don't think it is a good idea to spend 50,000 on your set and then shoot on DV because the equipment rental becomes 5,000. That seems imbalanced to me. So, the logic behind finding four separate categories is to think if you can get your set for 5,000... then it makes sense to get your camera for 5,000 too.
I've never seen anyone think of a budget this way - but somehow it is making sense to me on this project.
My categories are:
- Cast & Crew & Workers Comp
- Equipment & Stock & Processing
- Art Department & Sets
- Post Production & Legal & Insurance
InDigEnt
I'm going to talk about an article I read because it applies to what I'm doing. The article is here:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70074-0.html?tw=rss.index
The basic premise is that it is impossible to make money of DV movies and they are using InDigEnt as an example. However, there is a logic gap in the conclusion. First of all, Pieces of April made 2 million at the box office - plus whatever it brought in on video. That movie alone probably paid for the other 16 movies - and I thought that this was the whole concept. You make a lot of money hoping for one or two of them to break out. And other would have seemingly made profit. I can't imagine "Tape" cost that much to make and it's boxoffice was in the hundreds of thousands - again, just domestic box office.
The largest logic gap is this: Part of their model was to allow celebrities or established people make their own films that no one else would make. But just do it cheaply. Wait, roll back the tape. These are movies that apparently despite a celebrity attachment - a bunch of other financial sources deemed would not make enough money to be worth financing.
So... where's the shock? The whole strategy therefore is that you're making a niche market movie. A movie that is really meant to be of interest to one particular audience. And, if you're lucky, it will crossover. "Paris Is Burning" is a great example of a cross-over movie. I'm sure the filmmakers weren't thinking "Oh boy, this will be a national hit" as they were documenting the drag queen competitions in New York.
And "Pieces of April" did just that - it crossed over and even earned an Academy Award nomination for one of it's actors. Hello! This sounds like a success. Maybe they were hoping for more crossovers. In order to do that, they would have to start aiming at more mass appealing material at which point they will be competing with larger studios and their charter will be broken.
Last point on this. I have see a few InDigEnt movies and I will say that all of them have a very "indie" feel to them. Hand held cameras, nothing slick. Seems like that is the style. Tape, notably, seems like it was shot live with just a guy sitting in the room with a camera. But that's sort of what seemed to make it cool. But that's not a big popcorn audience movie.
There's an audience for that... just not a big one.
Myself, I like well designed, solid movies. I see movies as the modern form of opera. I want the grandeur. Even in a simple story - I want every sense touched. Unless the story calls for it, I don't want a film looking like a home movie. By breaking established film style with a cinema verite, you are not avoiding artifice - you are making a definite statement. A strong one.
So, what am I doing differently?
Good question. First - I'm picking an established genre. I feel like Hitchcock was making "art films" in established genres. I like to think that just as you can choose to make a movie verses a novel, you can pick a genre which is an established form of communication to tell your story. People obsess over Shakespeare's greatness, but rarely mention what a genre writer he was. He just did it well and put some heart into it. That's the key. Don't get hung up on the labels, and don't RELY on the label either. Second - I plan to shoot it like a "real film." It's not a cinema verite. I'm going to use one of my cheats and bring in the ability to make things looks "cinematic" (and I don't mean make video look like film... I mean make anything look like "cinema.") Thirdly - I'm also trying to go for a niche audience with my casting.
I read a book a couple years back that I recommend called "Cult of Marketing." One of it's points was that even if your base/core audience/customer might not be the largest - they are the most dedicated and you must feed that because they are the ones who provide the base for the rest of the customers. Many other good points in that book.
Will all of this thinking work?
Tune in to find out.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70074-0.html?tw=rss.index
The basic premise is that it is impossible to make money of DV movies and they are using InDigEnt as an example. However, there is a logic gap in the conclusion. First of all, Pieces of April made 2 million at the box office - plus whatever it brought in on video. That movie alone probably paid for the other 16 movies - and I thought that this was the whole concept. You make a lot of money hoping for one or two of them to break out. And other would have seemingly made profit. I can't imagine "Tape" cost that much to make and it's boxoffice was in the hundreds of thousands - again, just domestic box office.
The largest logic gap is this: Part of their model was to allow celebrities or established people make their own films that no one else would make. But just do it cheaply. Wait, roll back the tape. These are movies that apparently despite a celebrity attachment - a bunch of other financial sources deemed would not make enough money to be worth financing.
So... where's the shock? The whole strategy therefore is that you're making a niche market movie. A movie that is really meant to be of interest to one particular audience. And, if you're lucky, it will crossover. "Paris Is Burning" is a great example of a cross-over movie. I'm sure the filmmakers weren't thinking "Oh boy, this will be a national hit" as they were documenting the drag queen competitions in New York.
And "Pieces of April" did just that - it crossed over and even earned an Academy Award nomination for one of it's actors. Hello! This sounds like a success. Maybe they were hoping for more crossovers. In order to do that, they would have to start aiming at more mass appealing material at which point they will be competing with larger studios and their charter will be broken.
Last point on this. I have see a few InDigEnt movies and I will say that all of them have a very "indie" feel to them. Hand held cameras, nothing slick. Seems like that is the style. Tape, notably, seems like it was shot live with just a guy sitting in the room with a camera. But that's sort of what seemed to make it cool. But that's not a big popcorn audience movie.
There's an audience for that... just not a big one.
Myself, I like well designed, solid movies. I see movies as the modern form of opera. I want the grandeur. Even in a simple story - I want every sense touched. Unless the story calls for it, I don't want a film looking like a home movie. By breaking established film style with a cinema verite, you are not avoiding artifice - you are making a definite statement. A strong one.
So, what am I doing differently?
Good question. First - I'm picking an established genre. I feel like Hitchcock was making "art films" in established genres. I like to think that just as you can choose to make a movie verses a novel, you can pick a genre which is an established form of communication to tell your story. People obsess over Shakespeare's greatness, but rarely mention what a genre writer he was. He just did it well and put some heart into it. That's the key. Don't get hung up on the labels, and don't RELY on the label either. Second - I plan to shoot it like a "real film." It's not a cinema verite. I'm going to use one of my cheats and bring in the ability to make things looks "cinematic" (and I don't mean make video look like film... I mean make anything look like "cinema.") Thirdly - I'm also trying to go for a niche audience with my casting.
I read a book a couple years back that I recommend called "Cult of Marketing." One of it's points was that even if your base/core audience/customer might not be the largest - they are the most dedicated and you must feed that because they are the ones who provide the base for the rest of the customers. Many other good points in that book.
Will all of this thinking work?
Tune in to find out.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Another Producer's Perspective
Just spoke with the prolific producer and he had a few interesting thoughts. I'll keep them bullet pointed and simple:
- Horror is good now despite what anyone says.
- Currently in the industry the middle ground stars are starting to go away. It's a big pay day star and then everyone else. Backend offers are becoming more and more common.
- I should call agents myself and not even worry about a lawyer's work on it. The deal will be the deal. A one page memo deal - the rest will be the SAG contract and that's not negotiable anyway. (I thought this was interesting actually.) He is emailing me over a pay or play offer deal which I can base my offer on.
- Expect weeks of trouble getting a response from an agency. They are not super excited about scale offers despite the back end. That's going to be the hurdle.
- Absolutely focus on name talent. Non name talent movies are very difficult in today's market. He thought the names were okay - not super strong. Wanted me to put my "famous friends" in as much as possible.
I'm still working on how much backend to offer and how to work backend offers in to crew.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Just Researching and a Delay
Just doing more research today. Find new location options. Find out how much sets and flats would cost. Starting to look for team members. Starting to figure out compensation methods. Will be speaking to a very prolific producer tomorrow about some things and that ought to be enlightening.
Started sketching out set and prop pieces.
I'm doing double duty this week with the other job and keeping this moving forward. It's a lot of work.
I heard a rumor that one of my TV actors might be doing a movie with a huge actress - this would not bode well for my chances of getting her. We shall see. Probably the sooner the better for contacting them, but I cannot contact them until I have all my elements lined up or I'll seem to flimsy.
That said, I think I'm going to delay the movie 2 weeks. If I'm having to build a set, I need to have some extra time or face a lot of additional expense from the production trinity ("Fast, Good, Cheap - pick two").
Started sketching out set and prop pieces.
I'm doing double duty this week with the other job and keeping this moving forward. It's a lot of work.
I heard a rumor that one of my TV actors might be doing a movie with a huge actress - this would not bode well for my chances of getting her. We shall see. Probably the sooner the better for contacting them, but I cannot contact them until I have all my elements lined up or I'll seem to flimsy.
That said, I think I'm going to delay the movie 2 weeks. If I'm having to build a set, I need to have some extra time or face a lot of additional expense from the production trinity ("Fast, Good, Cheap - pick two").
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Location 01 review
Saw the first option for locations this morning.
I don't think it will work. It didn't seem like there was a good way of making it cheaper and, frankly, I'm not sure it is healthy to be there. Lots of lead paint chipping everywhere. Too many strikes, it's out. The cost of california security is ridiculous. It makes any free locations expensive.
I am going to call realitors and ask about the basements of any empty retail spaces. Also now contacting people about the cost of building on a stage or warehouse. It's a pretty simple set, but large.
I am going to push my start date by 2 weeks to April 15.
I don't want to approach cast until I have several things figure out.
1. Who will negotiate the contracts. I have used a lawyer in the past, I need to touch base with him.
2. I need to set up an LLC for liability, so will need to have that started at least.
3. I need to know I will be able to afford the dang location without outbalancing the movie.
I don't think it will work. It didn't seem like there was a good way of making it cheaper and, frankly, I'm not sure it is healthy to be there. Lots of lead paint chipping everywhere. Too many strikes, it's out. The cost of california security is ridiculous. It makes any free locations expensive.
I am going to call realitors and ask about the basements of any empty retail spaces. Also now contacting people about the cost of building on a stage or warehouse. It's a pretty simple set, but large.
I am going to push my start date by 2 weeks to April 15.
I don't want to approach cast until I have several things figure out.
1. Who will negotiate the contracts. I have used a lawyer in the past, I need to touch base with him.
2. I need to set up an LLC for liability, so will need to have that started at least.
3. I need to know I will be able to afford the dang location without outbalancing the movie.
Monday, January 23, 2006
The Crew
How few people can I shoot with?
Well, there will be about 2 to 5 cast members at any point in time...
Director - Me
Line Producer/AD/Production Manager
Art Department/Costumes/Props
Make Up/Hair... hm... that might not be enough for one job all the time.
DP
Grip/Electric/Swing
AC/Swing
Sound/Boom (doubling his job.)
Production Assistant/Catering
Totally crazy thought... I wonder if my make-up or Art person could hold a boom. :)
No, I'm not kidding.
I think people like having things to do. I want everyone there to be a part of the team and I'd rather pay one person more than pay for two people if it comes down to that.
The PA (who I'll give a better credit) is the person who can leave the set. You always need someone who can leave. And him or her handling catering will be enough of a job. I imagine that my Line Producer will also be able to leave the set if necessary.
Nine people. It costs to have people on the set. In addition to paying them, you have to feed them. You have to have a place for them to park. Now... pay... this will be interesting to figure out. It's going to have to be the lowest possible or it will rock the balance.
One thing I know for sure. I will know these people before the first day of shooting. Even one person can totally throw off the vibe of a production. And the vibe is very important.
Behind the scenes there will be prop makers and other specialists. A lighting crew for the first couple days. A strike crew. Set Dressers and Art Department for a couple days in the start (especially for on location... about five people on that).
Well, there will be about 2 to 5 cast members at any point in time...
Director - Me
Line Producer/AD/Production Manager
Art Department/Costumes/Props
Make Up/Hair... hm... that might not be enough for one job all the time.
DP
Grip/Electric/Swing
AC/Swing
Sound/Boom (doubling his job.)
Production Assistant/Catering
Totally crazy thought... I wonder if my make-up or Art person could hold a boom. :)
No, I'm not kidding.
I think people like having things to do. I want everyone there to be a part of the team and I'd rather pay one person more than pay for two people if it comes down to that.
The PA (who I'll give a better credit) is the person who can leave the set. You always need someone who can leave. And him or her handling catering will be enough of a job. I imagine that my Line Producer will also be able to leave the set if necessary.
Nine people. It costs to have people on the set. In addition to paying them, you have to feed them. You have to have a place for them to park. Now... pay... this will be interesting to figure out. It's going to have to be the lowest possible or it will rock the balance.
One thing I know for sure. I will know these people before the first day of shooting. Even one person can totally throw off the vibe of a production. And the vibe is very important.
Behind the scenes there will be prop makers and other specialists. A lighting crew for the first couple days. A strike crew. Set Dressers and Art Department for a couple days in the start (especially for on location... about five people on that).
Perfs
An addenum to my last post.
The 35mm numbers were based on shooting 4 perf. If I am finishing HD, it makes sense to shoot 3 perf instead.
"Perfs" are the number of holes on the side of film per image. 4 perfs makes for a 4:3 image, 3 perfs makes for a 16:9 image.
It literally aves 25% on stock and processing to shoot 3 perf with nothing lost on my end.
Even if you are shooting totally 35mm, finishing on HD makes a lot of sense and therefore using 3-perf is an option.
The 35mm numbers were based on shooting 4 perf. If I am finishing HD, it makes sense to shoot 3 perf instead.
"Perfs" are the number of holes on the side of film per image. 4 perfs makes for a 4:3 image, 3 perfs makes for a 16:9 image.
It literally aves 25% on stock and processing to shoot 3 perf with nothing lost on my end.
Even if you are shooting totally 35mm, finishing on HD makes a lot of sense and therefore using 3-perf is an option.
Cameras and Numbers
Had a great meeting with the DP.
This blog is serving as a scratchpad today and will get into the nuts and bolts a little bit.
We've worked together enough that we didn't spend a great deal of time talking about "the look." He knows my tendencies, I know he can make things happen. The only potentially unique piece of information is that because of the nature of "The Location" - I want to make sure I have a limited Depth of Field because I want to make sure that I can control where people's eyes are. This is a notable issue in shooting with digital forms.
One thing I talked to him about that I will state here is that I am trying to be very conscious that no area receives too much of the budget. For example, the location cannot absorb 30 percent of the budget.
That said, this rules out a completely 35mm shoot because rule of thumb is that it costs at least $60,000 in stock and processing for shooting 35mm.
Now, because of the nature of the location, this should be fine. However, we do have several scenes which are exteriors with a lot of limiting conditions for lighting. We may, in fact, shoot these scenes in 35mm and use a degrainer (his suggestion) during telecine to remove the grain to fit in with the rest of the film. Since the look would be so drastically different anyway - I'm not sure anyone would really notice. Also - because those locations are rather remote, it might be easier to shoot film out there (another comment he made).
So - for the bulk of the shoot this basically leaves two options: The F900 HDcam or the HVX200 DVCPro100. In either case I would require special lenses for the depth of field. The HVX200 is a brand new prosumer camera. It would absolutely be the least expensive option. It will just barely be on the market by the time we are shooting. The F900 is what most TV shows that shoot in HD are using. The F950 shoots to HDSR which would be great, but prohibitively expensive. The HVX with a 35mm adapter and appropriate amount of p2 storage would be around $12,000 as a purchase. Could definitely turn it around for a 20% loss, keep it and use it, or rent it through a friendly rental house. But worst case actual cost to production would be around $3000 on a purchase/sell turnaround. I'll need to see sample footage with the camera/lense combo before deciding if it is really an option.
F900 with the lens package I need for my DoF obsession would be about 1750/day at 3 day weeks, for 3 weeks. $15,750 The 35mm camera would be about this plus stock (.57/ft) and processing (.12/ft) and minimum 200/hr telecine to HD (350 if you don't have a deal anywhere) at a 3.5:1 ratio.
Here's a little movie math for anyone interested:
90 minute movie shot on 35mm at a 10:1 ratio (don't assume you can shoot less than that, everyone does and goes over budget. Maybe 8:1 if your strict. 2:1 if you do 1 take and have no coverage. "The who shot Primer did it in a 1.5:1 ratio" - yes, and regretted it, listen to his commentary.)...
that's 81000 feet = 55,890
15 hours of telecine = 3,000
and... hey! that's 58,890. And the rule of thumb holds true!
Since in my film we're talking about 10 minutes of exterior stuff at the most, I can divide that by 9 and get: 6543. I'll see what I can do to reign that in. S16 is not an option. It's too grainy and would never match the HD.
also note that this exterior stuff will be shot over a weekend and therefore be a one day rental on all the equipment which means it will make sense to shoot it outside of the solid three weeks of the rest of the shoot. Which give me 18 days to shoot about 80 pages, about 4.5 pages a day.
What I did not talk to the DP about was his lighting and grip package. We did talk about the lighting method and were in agreement that for the most part we want to try to use practicals. This will give a lot of extra time to get the performances right - and the dolly moves. I'm adamant about the camera moving a lot. I will have to email him and ask him his thoughts on a grip package.
The other point of budgeting interest we figured was that we could get away with 1 swing grip/electric and 1 camera assist. We will need a handful of guys for 1 or 2 days at the start to prelight the set.
I'm realizing that this blog will be required reading for whomever ends up coming on to help run the production.
Speaking of which - we also spoke about the possibility of using his production company because they have insurance and accounting in place already. This may work out well. I won't get into the details until I get to that part of things.
This blog is serving as a scratchpad today and will get into the nuts and bolts a little bit.
We've worked together enough that we didn't spend a great deal of time talking about "the look." He knows my tendencies, I know he can make things happen. The only potentially unique piece of information is that because of the nature of "The Location" - I want to make sure I have a limited Depth of Field because I want to make sure that I can control where people's eyes are. This is a notable issue in shooting with digital forms.
One thing I talked to him about that I will state here is that I am trying to be very conscious that no area receives too much of the budget. For example, the location cannot absorb 30 percent of the budget.
That said, this rules out a completely 35mm shoot because rule of thumb is that it costs at least $60,000 in stock and processing for shooting 35mm.
Now, because of the nature of the location, this should be fine. However, we do have several scenes which are exteriors with a lot of limiting conditions for lighting. We may, in fact, shoot these scenes in 35mm and use a degrainer (his suggestion) during telecine to remove the grain to fit in with the rest of the film. Since the look would be so drastically different anyway - I'm not sure anyone would really notice. Also - because those locations are rather remote, it might be easier to shoot film out there (another comment he made).
So - for the bulk of the shoot this basically leaves two options: The F900 HDcam or the HVX200 DVCPro100. In either case I would require special lenses for the depth of field. The HVX200 is a brand new prosumer camera. It would absolutely be the least expensive option. It will just barely be on the market by the time we are shooting. The F900 is what most TV shows that shoot in HD are using. The F950 shoots to HDSR which would be great, but prohibitively expensive. The HVX with a 35mm adapter and appropriate amount of p2 storage would be around $12,000 as a purchase. Could definitely turn it around for a 20% loss, keep it and use it, or rent it through a friendly rental house. But worst case actual cost to production would be around $3000 on a purchase/sell turnaround. I'll need to see sample footage with the camera/lense combo before deciding if it is really an option.
F900 with the lens package I need for my DoF obsession would be about 1750/day at 3 day weeks, for 3 weeks. $15,750 The 35mm camera would be about this plus stock (.57/ft) and processing (.12/ft) and minimum 200/hr telecine to HD (350 if you don't have a deal anywhere) at a 3.5:1 ratio.
Here's a little movie math for anyone interested:
90 minute movie shot on 35mm at a 10:1 ratio (don't assume you can shoot less than that, everyone does and goes over budget. Maybe 8:1 if your strict. 2:1 if you do 1 take and have no coverage. "The who shot Primer did it in a 1.5:1 ratio" - yes, and regretted it, listen to his commentary.)...
that's 81000 feet = 55,890
15 hours of telecine = 3,000
and... hey! that's 58,890. And the rule of thumb holds true!
Since in my film we're talking about 10 minutes of exterior stuff at the most, I can divide that by 9 and get: 6543. I'll see what I can do to reign that in. S16 is not an option. It's too grainy and would never match the HD.
also note that this exterior stuff will be shot over a weekend and therefore be a one day rental on all the equipment which means it will make sense to shoot it outside of the solid three weeks of the rest of the shoot. Which give me 18 days to shoot about 80 pages, about 4.5 pages a day.
What I did not talk to the DP about was his lighting and grip package. We did talk about the lighting method and were in agreement that for the most part we want to try to use practicals. This will give a lot of extra time to get the performances right - and the dolly moves. I'm adamant about the camera moving a lot. I will have to email him and ask him his thoughts on a grip package.
The other point of budgeting interest we figured was that we could get away with 1 swing grip/electric and 1 camera assist. We will need a handful of guys for 1 or 2 days at the start to prelight the set.
I'm realizing that this blog will be required reading for whomever ends up coming on to help run the production.
Speaking of which - we also spoke about the possibility of using his production company because they have insurance and accounting in place already. This may work out well. I won't get into the details until I get to that part of things.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Meetings
Meeting my DP tomorrow. In addition to being a notably good DP, he has a great and reasonable sense of production and we communicate well.
Absolutely I'm trying to recruit him to the project. Beyond that I want to talk to him about... well, to put it bluntly, how few people we could get away with on his crew. I want to have as skeleton a crew as possible.
First thing I ever shot on film (other than super 8) I had a crew of 4 total - all departments. We were all just out of school, so we had limited experience - but we shot fast. Sometimes a big crew slows you down. People not wanting to step on each other foot and "do things right" can be a huge slow down. Additionally, sometimes with the advantage of experience comes the disadvantage of lackadaisicality.
I have some thoughts on what my crew will be, but I will write more on that and many other things tomorrow as I'm going to be getting a lot more information in on Monday.
At the moment I've been mostly focusing on researching cast and scheduling the movie.
I'm hoping to call January 31st my first day of preproduction.
So much is riding on casting in my mind. Despite what the film rep says about value, my gutt says something else. I might have to manipulate myself a little internet buzz about the casting (once done) to make distributors feel it, but I have a feeling about it.
Absolutely I'm trying to recruit him to the project. Beyond that I want to talk to him about... well, to put it bluntly, how few people we could get away with on his crew. I want to have as skeleton a crew as possible.
First thing I ever shot on film (other than super 8) I had a crew of 4 total - all departments. We were all just out of school, so we had limited experience - but we shot fast. Sometimes a big crew slows you down. People not wanting to step on each other foot and "do things right" can be a huge slow down. Additionally, sometimes with the advantage of experience comes the disadvantage of lackadaisicality.
I have some thoughts on what my crew will be, but I will write more on that and many other things tomorrow as I'm going to be getting a lot more information in on Monday.
At the moment I've been mostly focusing on researching cast and scheduling the movie.
I'm hoping to call January 31st my first day of preproduction.
So much is riding on casting in my mind. Despite what the film rep says about value, my gutt says something else. I might have to manipulate myself a little internet buzz about the casting (once done) to make distributors feel it, but I have a feeling about it.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Revised To Do
Once I approach the actors I want everything to seem in place. If someone asks a basic question, I need the answer.
So - I am adding to my to do list:
Continue to hunt a location (so I can be sure of what the location and art budget are)
Schedule the movie (within 80% accuracy)
Schedule the preproduction necessary so I know a real shoot date
Budget the film (within 80% accuracy)*
Decide on backend share division. (Will the supporting chars get as much as leads.)
Decide on any cast that will be from friends and attach them.
I would also like to do a reading of the script. I'm not going to make that a requirement before approaching actors because it's been rewritten a few times already. It would be fantastic if I could get my real cast to record a reading of the script so that I could build my previs** to that. Doubtful. But I do want to hear it so that I can work on any potential weak points in advance.
I want all of this done by the end of this week, so that at the beginning of next week I can make my calls to talent. That will be my cut off. If I can make the calls by the end of this week - so the scripts go out this weekend. Even better.
By having a set of things to do, I'm hoping to avoid letting any other distractions derail me.
It's January 21 today, if I make January 31 the deadline for contacting the cast, then allow 2 months of preproduction. I will be shooting April 1.
This would work as it would mean the film would be totally completed with effects and sound by July. This won't be a difficult movie to edit and the effects are totally reasonable. The only reason I'm even giving 3 full months is that I may end up having to do so many things on my own for cost considerations. I think the first edit would be done in 4 weeks. Final edit by 8 weeks with most effects. Then music and sound for the last 4 weeks. I want to keep the finishing process quick because for me, time spent on this movie is paid in "opportunity cost" - an economics word to describe the phenomenon that something has a cost by the fact that you are not making money from another opportunity.
This whole time I want to be developing and packaging another project (most likely "The Other Project") such that I can launch into preproduction the moment this project is completed. I am adamantly not going to be waiting to sell this project before doing my next film. There are so many directors who have done even fabulous first efforts and then don't direct again for four years. I've done all my waiting.
I'm sure there will be distractions and challenges. Some of the may be good ones - like what if the TV show actually gets buzzing. What if my "day job" gets a huge and high profile account? Many things like this - but I think they are all manageable.
*(Budget - At somepoint to determine the budget I will have to address the issue of what format to shoot on, 35mm, HD, S16, HDV. I'm making it a priority to NOT overly concern myself with this issue at the moment because that's a huge trap with such a simple answer based on a balance between budget and preference. I'll make a post about this at some point.)
**(Previs is the process of "previsualization" for a movie. This can include story-boards (pictures of each shot), animatics (animated sections which are usually done with computer animated characters today), vocal tracks. It's everything that helps a director to determine how the story is going to play out for the film and helps everyone understand what needs to be shot.)
So - I am adding to my to do list:
Continue to hunt a location (so I can be sure of what the location and art budget are)
Schedule the movie (within 80% accuracy)
Schedule the preproduction necessary so I know a real shoot date
Budget the film (within 80% accuracy)*
Decide on backend share division. (Will the supporting chars get as much as leads.)
Decide on any cast that will be from friends and attach them.
I would also like to do a reading of the script. I'm not going to make that a requirement before approaching actors because it's been rewritten a few times already. It would be fantastic if I could get my real cast to record a reading of the script so that I could build my previs** to that. Doubtful. But I do want to hear it so that I can work on any potential weak points in advance.
I want all of this done by the end of this week, so that at the beginning of next week I can make my calls to talent. That will be my cut off. If I can make the calls by the end of this week - so the scripts go out this weekend. Even better.
By having a set of things to do, I'm hoping to avoid letting any other distractions derail me.
It's January 21 today, if I make January 31 the deadline for contacting the cast, then allow 2 months of preproduction. I will be shooting April 1.
This would work as it would mean the film would be totally completed with effects and sound by July. This won't be a difficult movie to edit and the effects are totally reasonable. The only reason I'm even giving 3 full months is that I may end up having to do so many things on my own for cost considerations. I think the first edit would be done in 4 weeks. Final edit by 8 weeks with most effects. Then music and sound for the last 4 weeks. I want to keep the finishing process quick because for me, time spent on this movie is paid in "opportunity cost" - an economics word to describe the phenomenon that something has a cost by the fact that you are not making money from another opportunity.
This whole time I want to be developing and packaging another project (most likely "The Other Project") such that I can launch into preproduction the moment this project is completed. I am adamantly not going to be waiting to sell this project before doing my next film. There are so many directors who have done even fabulous first efforts and then don't direct again for four years. I've done all my waiting.
I'm sure there will be distractions and challenges. Some of the may be good ones - like what if the TV show actually gets buzzing. What if my "day job" gets a huge and high profile account? Many things like this - but I think they are all manageable.
*(Budget - At somepoint to determine the budget I will have to address the issue of what format to shoot on, 35mm, HD, S16, HDV. I'm making it a priority to NOT overly concern myself with this issue at the moment because that's a huge trap with such a simple answer based on a balance between budget and preference. I'll make a post about this at some point.)
**(Previs is the process of "previsualization" for a movie. This can include story-boards (pictures of each shot), animatics (animated sections which are usually done with computer animated characters today), vocal tracks. It's everything that helps a director to determine how the story is going to play out for the film and helps everyone understand what needs to be shot.)
Distractions
A box of tapes was delivered to me today. A project that is not this one needs finishing.
It's just another challenge to my resolve.
If I am fearing this project, I will let it consume me. If I am ready, I will manage it so that it does not overly distract me.
It's important to keep some income happening. Until I can switch entirely over to film production, it's reasonable to continue to do some other work. But it is important to sacrifice the amount of work and living situation as much as possible so that the movie continues forward.
Everyday - it must move forward.
People let things consume them in order to avoid things which contain emotional strength - good or bad. It's not just bad things that people avoid, they avoid things which simply involve the possibility of loss.
It's just another challenge to my resolve.
If I am fearing this project, I will let it consume me. If I am ready, I will manage it so that it does not overly distract me.
It's important to keep some income happening. Until I can switch entirely over to film production, it's reasonable to continue to do some other work. But it is important to sacrifice the amount of work and living situation as much as possible so that the movie continues forward.
Everyday - it must move forward.
People let things consume them in order to avoid things which contain emotional strength - good or bad. It's not just bad things that people avoid, they avoid things which simply involve the possibility of loss.
Friday, January 20, 2006
Industry Responses
Okay - so I've been getting reactions from various industry people.
My friend who is a former studio VP was very encouraging. I expressed my nervousness about contacting the two "TV actors" and he assured me that since I'm offering something without asking for an audition and neither have done theatrical work, the offer of scale plus 10% backend is perfectly fair and would be taken seriously. He likes the script and thinks that's where his confidence lies.
Interestingly enough I spoke with a Producer's Rep today who said that the actors I have in mind have zero sales value for distributors except for the value of their good performances. But from a "name on the box" standpoint, they felt it was of no added value. I tossed out a couple names of people I have contacts with to see what her reactions were and it seemed that many people were "not of real value." Now, I know that a lot of these people even charge a lot per movie, so someone must be thinking they bring value beyond their performance. This is just one Rep though and you can never take one person's opinion as the rule. I respect her interest in story and performance though. In a past conversation the comment had been made that ther are a lot more movies coming to distributors now than in years past and because movies are becoming easier to make, the quality is dropping.
A Producer's Rep, by the way, is someone who takes your finished film and negotiates a deal with a distributor. Usually they get 10% of the deal. This is a hugely lucrative job if you have the contacts obviously.
So, my reaction to this is mixed. I feel that my little casting brilliance might not be as solid as I had thought. HOWEVER... I think these people would be awsome in the movie anyway - their performances, so maybe I don't care and push forward anyway. It's just that as the person investing in this, I'm hoping to at least get my money back so I can make another.
Yes, this is one more thing which has encouraged me to reconsider what movie I'm doing. But, it falls back to that you can live your life evaluating, determining, considering, or you can make do something.
Again - fear. When does reasonible evaluation become dangerous? At what point does our concern become simple fear?
I did come up with two great casting ideas for the lead of the other movie (both actos accessible through friends, one who I saw last night even). Nice to have that as a back up option if this movie starts to derail, but that one would take a while to put together. Maybe. Feels like it would at least.
When does having a back up plan take away energy from your primary plan? Happens fast.
At what point can you look at two options and say, "Both?"
At what point to resources become a secondary consideration to the power of momentum?
My friend who is a former studio VP was very encouraging. I expressed my nervousness about contacting the two "TV actors" and he assured me that since I'm offering something without asking for an audition and neither have done theatrical work, the offer of scale plus 10% backend is perfectly fair and would be taken seriously. He likes the script and thinks that's where his confidence lies.
Interestingly enough I spoke with a Producer's Rep today who said that the actors I have in mind have zero sales value for distributors except for the value of their good performances. But from a "name on the box" standpoint, they felt it was of no added value. I tossed out a couple names of people I have contacts with to see what her reactions were and it seemed that many people were "not of real value." Now, I know that a lot of these people even charge a lot per movie, so someone must be thinking they bring value beyond their performance. This is just one Rep though and you can never take one person's opinion as the rule. I respect her interest in story and performance though. In a past conversation the comment had been made that ther are a lot more movies coming to distributors now than in years past and because movies are becoming easier to make, the quality is dropping.
A Producer's Rep, by the way, is someone who takes your finished film and negotiates a deal with a distributor. Usually they get 10% of the deal. This is a hugely lucrative job if you have the contacts obviously.
So, my reaction to this is mixed. I feel that my little casting brilliance might not be as solid as I had thought. HOWEVER... I think these people would be awsome in the movie anyway - their performances, so maybe I don't care and push forward anyway. It's just that as the person investing in this, I'm hoping to at least get my money back so I can make another.
Yes, this is one more thing which has encouraged me to reconsider what movie I'm doing. But, it falls back to that you can live your life evaluating, determining, considering, or you can make do something.
Again - fear. When does reasonible evaluation become dangerous? At what point does our concern become simple fear?
I did come up with two great casting ideas for the lead of the other movie (both actos accessible through friends, one who I saw last night even). Nice to have that as a back up option if this movie starts to derail, but that one would take a while to put together. Maybe. Feels like it would at least.
When does having a back up plan take away energy from your primary plan? Happens fast.
At what point can you look at two options and say, "Both?"
At what point to resources become a secondary consideration to the power of momentum?
Location review scheduled
I've set up a meeting to check out "The Location" next Tuesday. I'm increasingly concerned though with the amount of money that the location would absorb from the budget. I think I really would need to see if somehow the whole thing would be more like 10k than 20k. Almost takes out the advantage of having a one location movie if it is too expensive for the one location.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Location, Location, Location
Lots of location information today. Got on the phone first thing and spoke with a few very helpful people.
First of all. The Los Angeles location turns out to be $300/day... not bad... ah, there's more... but $54 per hour per security guard and it might be that one guard is needed per every 10 people! Let's say I can get just 1 guard, but do 12 hour days plus one hour lunches. That's about 1000 per day. That's $18,000 - plus move in and out days. So, it isn't the happy 10,000 or the shocking 40,000. It's a workable number. But it needs to be worked some more.
They are going to call me back, I will go take photos and speak to them about options - like hiring my own security at a lesser price or if there is any sort of bulk rate. Three weeks is a very long time for this type of location I would imagine.
Okay - on to New Mexico. New Mexico has a bunch of incentives for productions to shoot there. Very few of them apply to me (like 0% loan which requires having distribution being in place which is usually only achieved by a studio). Many require 60% of below the line to be hired in New Mexico (which is fair enough since it means you are not housing people). And while the 20% rebate is very intriguing... what I'm most interested in... are the locations.
I spoke with JB Smith who is their locations person and this is what I've gleaned:
locations generally fall into the 400 to 500 or 1000 to 2000 per day category. However, the security restrictions are not as strict and the labor for it is usually just $20/hr. Police run $25 or $50/hr for state police with a patrol car.
Like everywhere, 1 million in liability property insurance is required.
But... there are 800 state buildings which are fee free. (Like the Caltrans starz locations.)
They usually require one security at 20/hr. - the math is saying $260.
There is also a lot of state trust land which would be free. No security on land.
Obviously - this is pretty appealing! The only "catch" is the logistics of getting a cast and crew out there - especially for this horror film which really doesn't require a lot of locations.
And I'd bring my keys - so I'd be housing like 8 people for 3 weeks. Probably in the neighborhood of $8,000 in hotels. Sort of balances it out.
However... if the film was "The Other Movie." It might make perfect sense. Plus the other movie requires a lot of exotic locations and warehouse type interiors and such.
So, for now, I'm going move forward thinking that I will shoot this in LA. Actors prefer to shoot in LA generally because it interrupts their lives less. Unless it's somewhere really exotic and exciting and all expenses paid.
First of all. The Los Angeles location turns out to be $300/day... not bad... ah, there's more... but $54 per hour per security guard and it might be that one guard is needed per every 10 people! Let's say I can get just 1 guard, but do 12 hour days plus one hour lunches. That's about 1000 per day. That's $18,000 - plus move in and out days. So, it isn't the happy 10,000 or the shocking 40,000. It's a workable number. But it needs to be worked some more.
They are going to call me back, I will go take photos and speak to them about options - like hiring my own security at a lesser price or if there is any sort of bulk rate. Three weeks is a very long time for this type of location I would imagine.
Okay - on to New Mexico. New Mexico has a bunch of incentives for productions to shoot there. Very few of them apply to me (like 0% loan which requires having distribution being in place which is usually only achieved by a studio). Many require 60% of below the line to be hired in New Mexico (which is fair enough since it means you are not housing people). And while the 20% rebate is very intriguing... what I'm most interested in... are the locations.
I spoke with JB Smith who is their locations person and this is what I've gleaned:
locations generally fall into the 400 to 500 or 1000 to 2000 per day category. However, the security restrictions are not as strict and the labor for it is usually just $20/hr. Police run $25 or $50/hr for state police with a patrol car.
Like everywhere, 1 million in liability property insurance is required.
But... there are 800 state buildings which are fee free. (Like the Caltrans starz locations.)
They usually require one security at 20/hr. - the math is saying $260.
There is also a lot of state trust land which would be free. No security on land.
Obviously - this is pretty appealing! The only "catch" is the logistics of getting a cast and crew out there - especially for this horror film which really doesn't require a lot of locations.
And I'd bring my keys - so I'd be housing like 8 people for 3 weeks. Probably in the neighborhood of $8,000 in hotels. Sort of balances it out.
However... if the film was "The Other Movie." It might make perfect sense. Plus the other movie requires a lot of exotic locations and warehouse type interiors and such.
So, for now, I'm going move forward thinking that I will shoot this in LA. Actors prefer to shoot in LA generally because it interrupts their lives less. Unless it's somewhere really exotic and exciting and all expenses paid.
Storyboards, Time, Designers, and More
Today (Monday) turned out to be a holiday, so I wasn't able to make any of the informational phone calls I needed to. That will all happen tomorrow.
I did however gather more information.
I spoke to my props friend about certain make up effects and sets and was not shocked at what I heard. What I was mostly looking for was the shocking price on something. The special effects lenses for the eyes might end up being more expensive than I would like, but I actually had suspected this already.
I also sent out letters to several producers and producer reps asking advice on how to approach the agents for the actors I want.
I also began to address storyboarding. Now... my absolute favorite way to storyboard is to actually use photographs of live actors and I may end up doing this - but I have been experimenting with using poser with some luck. The advantage of live shots is that it goes so incredibly fast compared to any other method - even included the necessary post fixing.
With either method I still sketch really really rough thumbnails on paper first just as a list of what I want. It's part of the brainstorming process. It's fun. Low pressure, very creative - and absolutely essential. Do not go into your first film without having boards. Seriously. You don't need to stick to them, but you will absolutely want something to fall back on.
Another thing to do is mount your boards for everyone to see them on a set. Mount them on an easel. You would be surprised at how much this can help motivate everyone. Everyone knows what you're going for and what is coming up.
Be careful with letting people know that the lighting in the boards does not indicate the set lighting (unless it does) - because DP's and gaffers will sometimes think the boards are an indication of this.
During the thumbnail process, you really need to have broken down your script first. You need to really understand why each character is there, what they want in that scene and you want to place your camera to comment on that in some way. You don't have to. Kevin Smith certainly doesn't - but it's always good to think of have everything you do from designing a set to designing a shot comments on the story of the moment. Mammet in the book I suggested actually contradicts this notion in some ways - but not totally. My feeling is that no matter what you do, you are making a comment. If you just walk in there with a camera on your shoulder, you are making a comment - so you'd better make sure you are making the right comment. The comment that helps tell your story is the right comment. Unless your goal is to confuse your audience. I like surreal films, but I don't like confusing films.
The other thing you're figuring out is flow. If you're on a budget you might need to be thinking about shot economy as well. There are only so many times you can move the camera in a day. There are definitely a limited number of times you can move lights. That's the break down in time:
Location
Set
Angle or Time of Day
Camera
lens
This is the order in which things are difficult to change while shooting. Location is at least 1/2 a day. Set (at the same location, e.g. a room change) is around 3 hours depending on many factors. Angle or time of day is like 30 minutes to an hour or so. Camera position without a lighting change is about 10 minutes. Lens is about 3 minutes.
I'm making up those numbers and conditions vary wildly - it's just to get you thinking about factors like this.
So - figure out how fast you think you can shoot (hopefully something you can evaluate by experience). Then cut it back some because something always slows you down. Then calculate how many shots you can actually get. For example: If you're shooting 18 10 hour days... and you have a mix of angles per scene, maybe you can get 16 shots off per day. 288 shots in your entire film (not cuts, because you can come back to your same shots many times in a scene). So, you have 288 shots to tell your movie with. That doesn't seem like a lot does it? Make them count.
By the way - I know you can shoot a lot faster than this. But you can also shoot a lot slower than this.
The important thing at this stage - is just to keep in mind that you have a limited number of shots. 3 per page according to our previous calculation if your script is just shy of 100 pages. Now, in actuality, if you can get clever and do some lens changes - take a medium shot and then swap lenses to a close up, you can cheat a few extra shots. DP's will sometimes want to tweak lighting on a shot that will appear for a split second. You need to let people know when a shot will be on screen for 12 frames. You are responsible for the balance of effort on your film. Don't let a prop designer spend 4 days on something which is 20 feet from the camera and 1 hour on the thing the camera sits on. For every key on your movie (a key is the head of a department) - they need to know what the importance of each aspect is. It's your job to tell them. There is no way for them to know otherwise. If the movie is called "The Locket" - they might guess the locket is very important... but outside of that, they don't get a lot of clues. Baz Luhrman believes every aspect of his costumes and props has to be designed in tremendous detail. That's great if you can afford it. If you're reading this, you probably can't. So get clear before they ever start.
Since I'm talking about designers, I might mention this: This is one of the few quotes I can attribute to myself....
Speak to designers in adjectives; speak to actors in verbs.
And limit the amount that you speak to either. Let them speak back to you to make sure that they understood you.
Designers understand a statement like, "This room is foreboding, cold, shadowed, sinister." They can visualize these things and come back with samples. Not so easy for an actor though you might think you could say these same things. It's very hard to "play" sinister without resorting to an archetype and usually actors do that timidly and the performance goes away. For actors focus on what the want and what they are doing to get that. It isn't a bad idea to explain the scene from the characters point of view. I may launch into a discussion of talking with actors as it is something I have a lot of thoughts on as I was actually a theater major in college and continue to workshop and study. But I will save that for a later blog. I've been tangential enough.
Okay back to the movie:
Right now I'm feeling the actual production is quite manageable. I think a lot of effort put into the right props and set items and prepping the set will create for a smooth shoot.
The location, the cast - these are the primary factors which will determine the go ahead on this. I'm thinking of March/April as the shoot date. The reason for this is that I need about 3 months to meticulously prepare for everything.
On a side note, I'm actually thinking about not working on movies one day a week. It's a crazy thought... but it might be healthy. Not sure what I would do though. Probably going to see a movie wouldn't really work.
I did however gather more information.
I spoke to my props friend about certain make up effects and sets and was not shocked at what I heard. What I was mostly looking for was the shocking price on something. The special effects lenses for the eyes might end up being more expensive than I would like, but I actually had suspected this already.
I also sent out letters to several producers and producer reps asking advice on how to approach the agents for the actors I want.
I also began to address storyboarding. Now... my absolute favorite way to storyboard is to actually use photographs of live actors and I may end up doing this - but I have been experimenting with using poser with some luck. The advantage of live shots is that it goes so incredibly fast compared to any other method - even included the necessary post fixing.
With either method I still sketch really really rough thumbnails on paper first just as a list of what I want. It's part of the brainstorming process. It's fun. Low pressure, very creative - and absolutely essential. Do not go into your first film without having boards. Seriously. You don't need to stick to them, but you will absolutely want something to fall back on.
Another thing to do is mount your boards for everyone to see them on a set. Mount them on an easel. You would be surprised at how much this can help motivate everyone. Everyone knows what you're going for and what is coming up.
Be careful with letting people know that the lighting in the boards does not indicate the set lighting (unless it does) - because DP's and gaffers will sometimes think the boards are an indication of this.
During the thumbnail process, you really need to have broken down your script first. You need to really understand why each character is there, what they want in that scene and you want to place your camera to comment on that in some way. You don't have to. Kevin Smith certainly doesn't - but it's always good to think of have everything you do from designing a set to designing a shot comments on the story of the moment. Mammet in the book I suggested actually contradicts this notion in some ways - but not totally. My feeling is that no matter what you do, you are making a comment. If you just walk in there with a camera on your shoulder, you are making a comment - so you'd better make sure you are making the right comment. The comment that helps tell your story is the right comment. Unless your goal is to confuse your audience. I like surreal films, but I don't like confusing films.
The other thing you're figuring out is flow. If you're on a budget you might need to be thinking about shot economy as well. There are only so many times you can move the camera in a day. There are definitely a limited number of times you can move lights. That's the break down in time:
Location
Set
Angle or Time of Day
Camera
lens
This is the order in which things are difficult to change while shooting. Location is at least 1/2 a day. Set (at the same location, e.g. a room change) is around 3 hours depending on many factors. Angle or time of day is like 30 minutes to an hour or so. Camera position without a lighting change is about 10 minutes. Lens is about 3 minutes.
I'm making up those numbers and conditions vary wildly - it's just to get you thinking about factors like this.
So - figure out how fast you think you can shoot (hopefully something you can evaluate by experience). Then cut it back some because something always slows you down. Then calculate how many shots you can actually get. For example: If you're shooting 18 10 hour days... and you have a mix of angles per scene, maybe you can get 16 shots off per day. 288 shots in your entire film (not cuts, because you can come back to your same shots many times in a scene). So, you have 288 shots to tell your movie with. That doesn't seem like a lot does it? Make them count.
By the way - I know you can shoot a lot faster than this. But you can also shoot a lot slower than this.
The important thing at this stage - is just to keep in mind that you have a limited number of shots. 3 per page according to our previous calculation if your script is just shy of 100 pages. Now, in actuality, if you can get clever and do some lens changes - take a medium shot and then swap lenses to a close up, you can cheat a few extra shots. DP's will sometimes want to tweak lighting on a shot that will appear for a split second. You need to let people know when a shot will be on screen for 12 frames. You are responsible for the balance of effort on your film. Don't let a prop designer spend 4 days on something which is 20 feet from the camera and 1 hour on the thing the camera sits on. For every key on your movie (a key is the head of a department) - they need to know what the importance of each aspect is. It's your job to tell them. There is no way for them to know otherwise. If the movie is called "The Locket" - they might guess the locket is very important... but outside of that, they don't get a lot of clues. Baz Luhrman believes every aspect of his costumes and props has to be designed in tremendous detail. That's great if you can afford it. If you're reading this, you probably can't. So get clear before they ever start.
Since I'm talking about designers, I might mention this: This is one of the few quotes I can attribute to myself....
Speak to designers in adjectives; speak to actors in verbs.
And limit the amount that you speak to either. Let them speak back to you to make sure that they understood you.
Designers understand a statement like, "This room is foreboding, cold, shadowed, sinister." They can visualize these things and come back with samples. Not so easy for an actor though you might think you could say these same things. It's very hard to "play" sinister without resorting to an archetype and usually actors do that timidly and the performance goes away. For actors focus on what the want and what they are doing to get that. It isn't a bad idea to explain the scene from the characters point of view. I may launch into a discussion of talking with actors as it is something I have a lot of thoughts on as I was actually a theater major in college and continue to workshop and study. But I will save that for a later blog. I've been tangential enough.
Okay back to the movie:
Right now I'm feeling the actual production is quite manageable. I think a lot of effort put into the right props and set items and prepping the set will create for a smooth shoot.
The location, the cast - these are the primary factors which will determine the go ahead on this. I'm thinking of March/April as the shoot date. The reason for this is that I need about 3 months to meticulously prepare for everything.
On a side note, I'm actually thinking about not working on movies one day a week. It's a crazy thought... but it might be healthy. Not sure what I would do though. Probably going to see a movie wouldn't really work.
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Cinema Reverence
Growing up and probably to this day still I've had a great reverence for cinema. It's importance has multiplied over the years as I've made a many difficult decisions which favored a life of working in movies than a life of... well, living. I'm not alone, there are many people - some who do not even make an effort to work in films who have the same reverence for the medium. There are still people who will line up for days (and at least hours) for a movie and discuss it adamantly with friends afterwards - maybe for days.
So many filmmakers will love film with the passion others reserve for family.
It's strange and sad then that this is not a requirement for becoming a director. In fact, it is most likely a hindrance because reverence results in intimidation.
Passionate filmmakers respect the medium so much that they have a hard time viewing it as a product. See? Some of you imaginary readers just cringed when I said that word. But it's true. At the end of the day, it's a product.
I've mentioned before that I've worked on a lot of movies. I've probably been involved enough in a movie such that I've met the director on nearly 100 movies. I know, that's a lot. And I can tell you two things:
1. More than half of these directors were not as passionate about making movies as you are. In fact, many of them just thought it would be something interesting to do, but they actually do other things with their lives.
2. And here's the really amazing one... It doesn't always make them a worse filmmaker.
Yes, it's the tragic truth. One's passion for the medium is superficial. The film doesn't benefit from a passion for the medium. A movie benefits from one thing only - an understanding of how to convey the movie's story.
People love to be entertained - whether intellectually or pruriently - it's entertainment. The secret of entertainment is as simple as someone telling you a really great story in your living room.... or anywhere. Can you remember when someone was telling you a story and you were captured by it? Why? Because you were curious what was going to happen. Sometimes you have the advantage of knowing something about the characters in advance - but sometimes it's a story that you know no one. That's the heart of everything. You can tell a story without ever uttering a word. A 30 second silent commercial can tell a story, a music video can tell a story, a single frame of film can tell a story... Photographers have been telling stories for years. The directors who understand that are making the good movies. Some of them will be passionate about movies as an art form and will expound upon occasionally interesting theories of cinema and filmmakers. Others understand this and just keep it simple - they stick to telling the story and don't attach a lot of hoopla to it.
So, you can get away with being a passionate filmmaker, but you'd better really focus on your story at every moment.
If you're left asking, "but what do I do to focus on the story of my movie?" David Mammet has a very good book about this: "David Mammet on Film Directing." Highly recommended. (I'm not going to include a link because I don't want anyone thinking I'm making money off them buying the book.)
So, what do you do with all this passion you have for movies? Just make sure it doesn't make you respect the medium so much that you are afraid to ever do something in the medium. A lot of filmmakers actually get to start making movies simply because they make the decision to do it. They're not afraid of it. They're not afraid of failing at it either - they don't have nearly as much to lose as you. You failing would be like failing for your family or your lover or your best friend or your God. Them failing is hardly even failing - it's just an "oh well, that didn't work." So giving it a shot isn't such a big deal.
So many filmmakers will love film with the passion others reserve for family.
It's strange and sad then that this is not a requirement for becoming a director. In fact, it is most likely a hindrance because reverence results in intimidation.
Passionate filmmakers respect the medium so much that they have a hard time viewing it as a product. See? Some of you imaginary readers just cringed when I said that word. But it's true. At the end of the day, it's a product.
I've mentioned before that I've worked on a lot of movies. I've probably been involved enough in a movie such that I've met the director on nearly 100 movies. I know, that's a lot. And I can tell you two things:
1. More than half of these directors were not as passionate about making movies as you are. In fact, many of them just thought it would be something interesting to do, but they actually do other things with their lives.
2. And here's the really amazing one... It doesn't always make them a worse filmmaker.
Yes, it's the tragic truth. One's passion for the medium is superficial. The film doesn't benefit from a passion for the medium. A movie benefits from one thing only - an understanding of how to convey the movie's story.
People love to be entertained - whether intellectually or pruriently - it's entertainment. The secret of entertainment is as simple as someone telling you a really great story in your living room.... or anywhere. Can you remember when someone was telling you a story and you were captured by it? Why? Because you were curious what was going to happen. Sometimes you have the advantage of knowing something about the characters in advance - but sometimes it's a story that you know no one. That's the heart of everything. You can tell a story without ever uttering a word. A 30 second silent commercial can tell a story, a music video can tell a story, a single frame of film can tell a story... Photographers have been telling stories for years. The directors who understand that are making the good movies. Some of them will be passionate about movies as an art form and will expound upon occasionally interesting theories of cinema and filmmakers. Others understand this and just keep it simple - they stick to telling the story and don't attach a lot of hoopla to it.
So, you can get away with being a passionate filmmaker, but you'd better really focus on your story at every moment.
If you're left asking, "but what do I do to focus on the story of my movie?" David Mammet has a very good book about this: "David Mammet on Film Directing." Highly recommended. (I'm not going to include a link because I don't want anyone thinking I'm making money off them buying the book.)
So, what do you do with all this passion you have for movies? Just make sure it doesn't make you respect the medium so much that you are afraid to ever do something in the medium. A lot of filmmakers actually get to start making movies simply because they make the decision to do it. They're not afraid of it. They're not afraid of failing at it either - they don't have nearly as much to lose as you. You failing would be like failing for your family or your lover or your best friend or your God. Them failing is hardly even failing - it's just an "oh well, that didn't work." So giving it a shot isn't such a big deal.
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