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?