The Joys of Development

I am very glad I am still only in the development stages of this project.  I met with a good friend of mine that gave me some great notes that will be great elements to incorporate into the second draft of the script.  I was reminded that when writing a story you have to make sure that you add a meaning to everything that happens, the cloths they wear, the reason why they do what they do and, what I thought was the biggest learn from the notes I received, where the action takes place.  Blocking can make or break a scene on the performances given by the actors.

After the next rewrite is done I will have the read through of the script and see what other changes needs to be made.  I plan on having that complete sometime in December.

On a Rabbit Trail

This usually isn't something that you should worry about in the story stages of your script but I just realized this as my film Bounty had an offer made on it today and some carelessness in planning reared its ugly head.

When budgeting make sure you set aside money for E&O insurance, MPAA rating and Title Search and Opinion, not to forget everything you need for completing the edit, color correction and sound.  If you do not dip into these funds then you will have a much larger bartering leverage when it comes to distribution and if you are self distributing you will need these anyway if you want to get it into major outlets or even something as simple as Netflix.

Story, Story, Story

I have to catch myself from getting too excited about all the technical stuff this early in the stage. One thing that ends up being a problem for most low budget indie films is that the stories just flat out suck. Although I have no guarantee's that I will not fall into that pool of films with my audience, I do need to do my best to avoid that from happening.

The first step is to have a script which I fortunately have. While I am happy with the way the first draft turned out I have had hardly any feed back on it, so to solve that problem I am having people I trust read through it to give me feedback. I believe that a script sometimes changes shape when people here it read out loud, for me it forces me to hear how ridiculous something might sound, whether it be dialog or action. I am working on setting up a read through with people to give me insight on how to make the script better. I'll probably hold it at my house on some soon to come weekend and buy everybody pizza and drinks -- you'll learn later in this process, if you don't know already, that your greatest asset as an indie low budget filmmaker is feeding the troops (more details to follow).

I put a lot of thought into casting my movies, partly because it is sometimes so hard to do but also because if done right can make your job as a director 100 times easier. What I plan on doing is selecting a cast for the read through, I don't want just anybody reading the parts because a trained actor will read a line of dialog much differently than your average Joe, which adds to the experience of the read through. I am also going to try working with a casting director on this project so the actors casted for the read through will need to know that they won't be playing the part in the movie.

Apart from the cast reading I am going to have my trusted friend critics listen in and give me notes when all is done. The main purpose of the read through is to get an unbiased opinion and be able to improve the story. Once the story is at a presentable stage then I can move on to the next steps in Phase 1 and put more time into a poster for pitching purposes...okay, I have one made up already but you'll have to wait before I show it to you.

Phase 1: Development - Pg 2

• Incorporate Widgets

• Progress Updates

• Newsletters

  • Frequent Progress Report Updates

• Website

  • Blog

  • Newsletter sign up

  • Widgets

• Determine Donor Perks

• Casting Directors Submissions

  • Contact Different Casting Directors

  • Submit Scripts

• Distribution

  • Seek out D-Cinema Theaters

  • Video Stores and V.O.D. Services

  • Video duplicators

  • List of places video will end up

  • Strategic Cities for World Premiere

  • Film Festivals

  • Foreign Market and Territories

• Trade Outs

  • Make list of possible Trade Out companies

Phase 1: Development -- Pg 1

• Rewrite Script

  • Move to Pitchable draft

  • Register Script

  • Hold Read Through to discover plot holes and dialog fixes if needed

• Create Dream Cast List

  • Make 1^st choice to 3^rd choice

• IndieGoGo

  • Build Fan Base

  • Create Pitch Video Clip

  • Write a 1 paragraph summary

  • Write a 1 Page Synopsis

  • Write a 5 Page Synopsis

• Build a Website for Movie

• Create a Hard Copy Pitch/Press Packet

  • Include all summaries/synopsis'

  • Put together a Business Plan

    • Have cost estimate/ Preliminary Budget

    • Create Distribution Strategy

      • Theatrical

      • DVD

      • Television

      • V.O.D

    • Estimated Timeline

      • Pre-Production

      • Production

      • Post Production

      • Delivery Date

      • Release Date

    • Include Artwork

    • Packaging should be catch and reflect the movie's theme

• Start a Blog for Movie

  • include on website

  • use video updates

  • podcasting

• Create List of Movies w/ Casting Directors

• Fund Raisers

  • Silent Auction

    • Post Art Work

    • Photos

    • Donated Items

  • IndieGoGo

    • Web Campaign

    • Blog    

The 5 Step Process

One problem that I faced in the making of Bounty, that I'm sure a lot of first time filmmakers face - sometimes veterans as well, is that I didn't have a clear plan of action for the life of the film.  For this time around I have developed a 5 step process that I believe will help me in developing a solid business plan that will guarantee a return on profits, well as much of a guarantee that the world of filmmaking can provide.

My 5 steps I am referring to as Phases and are broken down as follows:

Phase 1: Development

Phase 2: Pre-Production

Phase 3: Production

Phase 4: Post-Production

Phase 5: Distribution

I am almost certain I did not come up with these steps but for me and for any filmmaker getting ready to shoot a film it is a good idea to think of them all at the get go.  One thing that I only touched on the last time time I was in development/pre-production for a movie was the distribution.

It is important to thoroughly outline your goals and strategy for Phase 5 while you are still in Phase 1.

In the following post I will include the first page of my outline for Phase 1.  The key thing to know about it is that I will constantly be making adjustments to it, additions will be more likely.  You will also see were I am incorporating some new online tools that may assist me in the fund raising and building of a fan base process.

It All Starts Here

I directed my first feature film in January of 2007 and, nearly two years later, I am almost done with it.  I currently have the film being reviewed by some distributors and, if all goes well, will have it released sometime around January 2009.  So while making features is somewhat new to me I have at least successfully completed one and am working on the next project.

The process of making the film, Bounty, has taught me a lot regarding filmmaking and has peaked my curiosity to try some of these learns out.  When I first decided to try directing my first feature film I only had three scripts to choose from: an action comedy, a Greek tragedy that was set in 400 B.C., and a western.  My initial thought was budget, so I made the decision based on what I thought would be the cheapest movie to make.  When I was making short films the hardest part for me was finding locations to shoot the films, so it was an obvious conclusion to go with the western I had written -- took place in one western town...in the first draft.  I also thought that if I was to stand out from all the other first time directors I had to make a movie that was unusual and  I had to incorporate a style that screamed my own style.  So I went with the western for cost reasons and because I did not know of many people who were making westerns, plus it happened to be my favorite genre.

Enter the next movie.  Even with the slow moving process of the first film I saw some of the success from my initial thoughts, westerns were becoming a hot commodity and I was able to find interest from distributors in the early stages of production.  So the next movie had to be unique, scream my own style and simple locations and not get boring...and The Celsius Effect was born.

I have a first draft of the script and a plan of action that I will try to discuss as the process unfolds.  I have always wondered how people are able to get money for films and always received the same answer even while in film school.  Guest speakers would come in and share about their movie experiences and I would ask them, "how did you get the funding for the movie?" Strange or not, I got the same answer from everybody I asked, even when I heard big time Hollywood producers speak.  The answer usually ended up being, "I sold my Porche," or "That wasn't my role on the film."

The one that I thought to be the most shocking that put the clinch on it for me was when I heard some ask a producer from the movie The Pursuit of Happiness where he got his money from.  I turned to my brother who was with me and told him exactly how I thought the guy was going to answer and was spot on.  He response was, "I'm just the creative guy, I don't deal with the money."

So if no one knows how to get funding for movies than how do you get your hands on the cash.  The last film I made on credit cards, bad idea - I probably contributed to the need for the U.S. $700 billion dollar by out.  I am going to share my ideas or things I've learned, if they work or if they don't and hopefully put together a system that will work for raising funds for a low budget indie feature.

Enjoy and comment often as this will be a learning process for me as it will be for you.