24 August 2008
Of Kittens and CleavageThe quest for film funding takes some weird turns sometimes. I don't like to put things in my Investor newsletter that are highly speculative, but there are a few very speculative situations going on just now.
I mentioned last blog that my publisher has re-submitted it to someone who is listening with a more listening ear now, as he wasn't interested in Fantasy before but seeing that film investment is being touted as safer than many other traditionally safe investments in the papers, even Financial Times, and that Fantasy is taking a third of box office sales, has interested the business sense of the person concerned.
Along with that there is another potential investor from my salesman's list. He was ill at the time the information was going out originally, but he's back on the maybe list now.
My assistant, who I knew was sharp, came up with a whole new area to look into at our last meeting. The main project I've got him on continues, which has to do with young banker types in London, but he came up with something else that never would have occurred to me.
No I'm not going to tell yet. ;P
Sometimes an idea is best on its first time, like going on Dragon's Den. If everyone was doing it, it would be ineffective. Actually I've had some random thoughts about trying to get on another game show, as the cheekiness of it would do wonders for my crazy goblin lady reputation. But as Jack Sparrow says, "Ah, but you HAVE heard of me!"
Meanwhile, as the business end of things moves on, a slight distraction came up about a week ago which I made my most recent obsession and got done. I'm not sure if I've mentioned before, but I'm a little reluctant to approach new technology. I was probably the last person on earth to get a mobile phone, and I'm still on my first one. Talking to me about ipods and blue ray generally makes me want to shut down and pass it to the technical people. But I do get there eventually.
I moved into my current flat about a year and a half ago. The quest to completely unpack is ongoing. I discovered just a week and a half ago a box with a brand new camcorder in it, never opened. I have to get in the right mood to read the instructions on gadgets. And well-justified on this one, they even confused my most technical friend.
Anyhow, I did work out how to use it and tested it on my kittens, as you do. It's nothing like the professional cameras I've been working around of course, but something a bit fun, to make things for YouTube. The very next day, I came across a music video contest. The criteria was to make a video of absolutely anything, but to use a particular song. Then it was to be uploaded to YouTube and whoever gets the most views wins! No restrictions on sex and violence even. As long as it isn't illegal or in very bad taste. I'm surprised no one has a zombie movie up there yet, although I might have missed one.
I listened to the song, and it was good. It also had weird lyrics, that immediately suggested a shot list. Right, that's it, I'm making a kitten video for YouTube! But because the hit count determines the winner, I've got to make it quickly. It will definitely have to be the camcorder, no time to organise the local contacts who would put perfectionism on it, over time. We're going for cute, and I've got my secret weapon: The Cutest Kitten Ever Born, just 5 and a half weeks old at that time.
Even on a YouTube scale home movie of a kitten, I immediately launch into producer mode and start organising my supporting actors and props. Unlike the other animal videos on the contest (I checked the competition), my shots would fit the lyrics. I even made an elaborate wedding cake to fill a reference in one line. Took me half a day shopping in town for decorations, mainly because bride and groom cake toppers aren't easily available on the cheap. I wasn't going to spend twenty quid for something I would probably never use again!
Actually, there is a scene in Dance of the Goblins where the main goblin goes into a cavern with a random selection of human articles hoarded up. The one I got is too cute to use even if my daughter ever got married, teddy bears! But it was £2.99 and fit the video 'cute' theme.
It occurred to me as I organised daily progress on this project, that actually it's a good opportunity to test viral marketing. Spreading a cute kitten video around the Internet should be dead easy! So, although the video itself is finished now and I can rest from that, pushing it around cyberspace is just beginning. I won't let the marketing distract me from my important work towards funding, but it will be interesting to see how many views it gets by the deadline.
Have a look, the song is nice and the video is cute. Oh, the cleavage? The Catgirl in the corset is my daughter. Please dribble quietly. ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zricqp4x0iI
17 August 2008
Sacrificing Myself To Dragons For The ProjectHow many people can say they've done anything so foolish for art?
Ok, so I know a thing or two about publicity. I used to live in Los Angeles, they teach Media & Advertising 101 in primary school and take you surfing for PE. Don't laugh, I actually did have a Surfing and Senior Lifesaving class in high school. How Californian is that? It was experimental that year.
The biggest learning curve I've faced in film production is learning how to identify and then gain an audience with those who have investment capital. Ironically, it's a world I had no interest in when I lived in L.A.
The rest was all too easy. I'm a naturally organised person, with some accounting qualifications and a pedantic nature. My first production spreadsheet has impressed a few old hands in the biz already, as my first instinct when planning anything is to draw it all up on paper. I went through the script scene by scene and analysed the details of what was needed; location; actors; extras; props; make-up; weather conditions, you name it I had it down on paper.
From there, making up a budget sheet was just a matter of transferring the information to the appropriate page and then doing the research to find out where I could get what was needed and what it would cost. I have a separate location spreadsheet as well.
I'm far too pedantic to deal in estimates. The first time I saw a small producer write up a budget, I was horrified. He gave a general estimate for crew. No wonder films go over budget so easily! I wanted to know exactly what crew was needed, their daily rate, and how many days they were needed. That information is on my budget sheet now, based on quotes given by my DP who is familiar with all the crew members and their rates as well as their talents.
What can I say, I got a 99% in my SAT's in maths and I've got 3 planets in Virgo. I organise well.
This of course serves me well when I do get a chance to speak to serious investors. I don't mean the panel of Dragon's Den, they never saw any of my planning sheets. You can't take that sort of thing in, although I knew the numbers and would have been able to quote them if we had talked business.
I get an interesting variety of reactions from people over my Dragon's Den appearance. You have the sort of people who think television is real, berating me for getting pwned by the Dragons; and the sympathetic ones that want to console me because the Dragons were "so mean."
Maybe it's because I grew up in television land that the punch line is so obvious to me, and not to them. It's television guys! That's what they do to entertain the audience!
They are there to entertain a blood thirsty audience who want to see people torn apart, and occasionally for someone to slip through and get a positive response. It's a bit like a game show really. The contestant's challenge is to get as much relevant information into a three minute pitch and answers to random questions as possible before the Dragons start taking the . . . mick. The chances of them taking a film proposal seriously were always slim. Who invests in a film without reading the script?
The publicity from the show has been priceless though, and brought me distribution interest. Many people respond with fascination, and admit they wouldn't have the guts to do the same. The interested investors I have so far have worked out, whether consciously or sub-consciously, that someone who is prepared to step outside the box and do something a little weird for publicity will make this project go far, rather like Blair Witch made its fortune from widespread unorthodox publicity.
Why am I bringing this up now, several months after the event? Because apparently they had a re-run of the episode, and it brought in loads of new interest. Much of it more positive than the first wave.
Meanwhile, have you been reading the news about the recession? People are cutting back on eating out, but film sales are up. I've got a film project with name talent and distribution in place (the key to this business), and that makes me a more secure investment than the food franchises that were considered a good bet last year.
I find that amusing. And also encouraging. One more substantial investor could mean that the merchandising alone from my goblin films would surpass Theo's entire fortune. By the time the second of the trilogy comes out, I expect there will be conferences with fans dressing up as their favourite goblins and all the merchandising that goes with that.
But company shares are only available for financing the first film. After that, it will be too late to jump on the bandwagon. When we hit £200,000, we start rolling. So far, getting to investors has relied partially on 'lucky accidents', which have always been a feature of my life. Dragon's Den was a way of fuelling the 'lucky accident'. One of the interested investors I have now resulted from a chain of events that started with a marketing person recognising me from the show at a business networking meeting. He had a list of possible investors.
This weekend, my publisher is discussing the project with someone who has an interest in film investment. At first he wasn't interested in fantasy and had his eye on a romantic comedy. But numbers talk. My numbers are on spreadsheets. The numbers in the news indicate that fantasy is taking about 1/3 of film sales, and that's without figuring in the merchandising that naturally follows the genre.
Interestingly, my publisher doesn't read fantasy. He had to ask a reader for the company if my novel was any good. But he is savvy about numbers, and the potential of a series that takes off. But what makes a series take off isn't just good writing. People have to know about the story in the first place! The uphill battle for small publishers to distribute books has kept mine in the 'cult following' category so far.
But I've shown that I'm prepared to step outside the box and get publicity for my project in the same ways that made Blair Witch make over $250 million despite its low production.
Ironically, my film project is more likely to spread the popularity of the book than the other way round, the way the common person perceives that the media works. This is actually a mis-perception. If you read websites like the-numbers.com, then you'll know that the highest category for successful films is original story, with book adaptations in second place.
When you actually look into the numbers, the crazy goblin lady doesn't seem so crazy after all. ;)
15 August 2008
Goblin CircleGoblin Circle started on an artist website called Deviant Art. I can't draw, but I joined the site anyway and put bits of writing and photo-manipulation on my profile.
After a while, I began to notice the contests. Someone would set a theme, and hold a contest for anyone who wanted to enter. Prizes varied, usually a first prize would be a drawing by the artist who called the contest. It was all done in a friendly, community spirit.
When my novel was finished and I got snapped up by a small publisher who was prepared to let me have a say in the book cover, I went to Deviant Art and held a book cover contest. The winner would have their artwork grace my cover, and would receive 5% of my royalties. Not a bad deal actually.
Several artists entered, and there was some good artwork among the entries. They are posted on the art page of my author site at http://jaqdhawkins.co.uk
But one picture in particular encompassed the feel I wanted for the book.
It was drawn by a young artist called Gina Curtis. It depicted the goblins
in The Dance, the spiritual celebration of life in the goblin culture that
forms their connection to the earth. She won first prize. I did the graphic
art myself.
In the process of the contest, some of the artists developed a real interest in the story and did various bits of fan art outside of the contest. A few had even done them before that point. These artists became the original Goblin Circle.
Over time, I held contests for website images and paid £10 a pop for the winning entries, which paid the artist commission for permission to use their drawing. Copyright always stayed with the artist. I believe in looking after my artists, of all types.
So Goblin Circle expanded slowly, until the film became a reality. Then it expanded rapidly. Goblin Circle includes people who have worked directly on the project, as well as those who have worked in supporting roles to help get the project off the ground. This group has become fairly substantial.
Back at Deviant Art, I continued to hold contests for things that needed design, like the goblin swords. I have some brilliant designs for those. I will pay the artists a fee for using them and help negotiate reproduction deals. The idea is that the artist should benefit from their work, while I benefit from being allowed to use it.
Goblin Circle has expanded into overlap with local arts groups and young people (plus even a few older people) wanting to get into media, but facing the usual barriers to the inside track. As a local company, I have made it policy to get involved in the community and support talent where I find it, of many types. It's amazing how much talent is around. This is something I learned in high school, spending my time around music and drama enthusiasts and again later in 1980 when I went through a phase of Los Angeles based band management. Many very talented people never get to be well-known. I learned a lot about the reasons for that.
Oddly, Goblin Circle took on its own dynamic very like the society of the goblins in my stories. It's a close-knit community. No one is "in charge", we are all creative people doing whatever we are able to do to support each other. It isn't all young people looking for a break, there are some members of the circle that are already successful in acting, journalism, or other aspects of media.
It's only a matter of time before we find the rest of the investors we need, people with imagination and creativity as well as a bit of capital. We're already partly there, we just need another £180,000 to roll into production.
Meanwhile, the journey is rewarding in itself, because of Goblin Circle. The creative projects flow, in one form or another. I lend my prop swords to someone for a short film they're doing, someone else lends me a few items for a little video project of my own that you'll hear about soon. We pool ideas and manpower, and life is a wellspring of imaginative and artistic expression.
This is life in the Goblin Circle. I report about film progress to the various people that are helping to make contacts and ferret out those savvy investors who are reading the news about film investment being a safer choice than even food franchises now. Hey, I've got distribution. I'm as close to guaranteed profit as it gets!
But more importantly, we have fun. That's what Goblin Circle is about. Creating, and the satisfaction that goes with it. If you're reading this, you just might be one of us…
9 August 2008
There's a Goblin in my SoupOne of the things that continually comes up when you're looking for film funding is making a sample trailer so that you have something to show potential investors.
The trouble is, it takes money to make a trailer, and you need a trailer to get money. What's a filmmaker to do?
Well, after going over this dilemma many times, I ran into someone with experience
of getting free help and with access to an incredible location. He had worked as
an AD (Assistant Director), but also did gardening at a lovely property in Norfolk.
Perhaps not quite as grandiose as some of the stately homes we plan to use for the
castle interior scenes, but still a lovely mansion with extensive grounds, a forest,
an orchard, and a moat!
The one thing I could not get for free was the goblin prosthetics and make-up. These cost a bit. This will be a consideration in planning shoots, getting the most out of the make-up and prosthetics as well as the locations.
I got a friend of mine who does Morris Dancing to recruit some goblins for me. Why? If you've ever been familiar with Leekspin.com or the Leekspin phenomena on YouTube, you can imagine the attention that a quatrain of Morris Dancing goblins could draw. The result is on my YouTube channel. But that's an aside, the main goal was to do a trailer, or rather a taster, as we didn't have the right actors to do actual scenes from the film. As nobody was getting paid, the humans were played by local aspiring actors with potential. Ironically, the one with the most actual acting experience was the actress, Donna O'Hare, who didn't get to do any real acting as her part was very simple.
She did the voice over though, which came out great. Ironically, that too was left out of the last version. But I'm getting ahead of myself…
I based the script on back story to the film plot. Five generations before Count Anton's troubles begin, his ancestor, Count Victor, has his first encounter with the goblins. The story about this is going into a radio play, which I really must finish writing.
I used what little investment money we had (plus a fair bit of my own money) for the goblin prosthetics and food and transport for the volunteers. That's standard on a no pay shoot, food and transportation costs. Another good reason to use locals. I cooked the food myself, it just needed warming up in a small oven we got for on-set use. A lot of things like the oven, make-up chairs, goblin teeth, will be useable later for the film as well.
All things considered, it went rather well. We had no lights and so were fighting
the clock all the way. The goblins took longer to do than was estimated, so it got
a little tight towards the end. Their body make-up was patchy as a result, but
their faces looked great. The hair didn't get done either, a result of too few
people to do too many jobs. Notes were taken about anything that might improve
future shoots.
We were using off-the-shelf prosthetics rather than original ones as we will for the film itself. They still looked pretty impressive. The one thing I have to be very proud of my goblins for though, is the way they braved the cold in November with no complaint. My goblins don't wear a lot, and it was a very cold day! We kept them running as much as possible to stay warm, and kept blankets handy for between shots.
We got all the shots done and a lot more fighting shots than we had planned. We did run out of daylight for the Leekspin dance though, so my AD rigged up an outside light that would serve the purpose, just.
The shoot is only part of the process though. Rather a lot of filmmaking gets done in post production. I had my first lessons in editing as a result of this project. We did run into a problem when one of our people suddenly dropped off the map due to a family crisis. He was key to sorting the music. But, the show must go on. Time was stretching out as we waited too long for our missing person to reappear, and in the end we went with some music that wasn't good enough.
Some of the shots I liked best got left out of the first edit too, so I did the second one myself to get them in. But we still had cack music. You would be amazed at how much difference this makes to a clip. At this point I didn't put the samples on the website. I knew they weren't good enough. I did put them on YouTube though. People who frequent sites like this can be funny animals. Some with imagination found it exciting, but many made disparaging comments.
Now if you spend time around sites like YouTube and the IMDB forums, you'll come across loads of people who have nothing better to do than criticise other people's work. Many of them have never created anything in their lives, but they make negative comments about others. I got the student filmmakers who threw comments like "Is this a student film?"
Well actually guys, it's the first thing I've ever made, without the professional training you got in film school or any of the professionals involved that I have lined up for the actual film (you need money for that level of expertise), and it's still better than most of the first projects made by those who have ever made anything at all.
The real trolls (as they're referred to in the world of Internet forums) repeatedly
encourage me to quit. My first shoot didn't come out looking like a Hollywood epic,
so I should quit now. These are the ones that never will do anything creative. If
you look at the histories of successful people, you'll find that they are the people
who don't quit.
However, I did recognise that it wasn't good enough. So, I went looking for music. I found composers who wanted samples to get in the public arena and were prepared to do just over a minute of free music for the exposure. Some of these people are really good. The last one I found, called simply 'Sylvan', captured the epic drama and tribalism I was looking for. I did a complete re-cut of the taster around the music this time.
This one got a majority of good comments, although there is always someone who will find something negative to say. But for every one of those, there is someone more helpful who will suggest improvements. Sometimes, you even get offers of help.
One of those came recently. A couple of guys who do post production for a living at proper studios in London offered to do some of their magic on my clip. I was sensible enough to accept the offer. As I write this, my raw shots have just been received by the lovely person I've been speaking to, so the magic is going to happen over the next week or two. I'm not sure how long it will take as the work is being done in spare time.
So the message of today's post is basically don't let the losers of the world get in the way of pursuing your ambitions. Let their comments roll off like yesterday's rejection slips. A writer learns to let those roll off quickly, JK Rowling and any other famous author you can think of got them too.
If it isn't good enough, then it isn't finished yet. One of the advantages of being an Independent is that I'm not locked into a schedule until I make one. My distributor wants to see the rough edit when it's done, until then, seeking funding and juggling schedules is still important, but not locked by a release deadline. We will get it right, whatever it takes, and however long it takes.
Besides, they are vastly outnumbered by those who lend encouragement or directly support the project. Perhaps next time, I'll explain about Goblin Circle. If you're reading this regularly, you may well be one of us.
22 July 2008
The Value of an Open MindI had no idea that the latest story about my project in the Evening News would be picked up by the Advertiser as well. So, it was completely out of the blue, an email from someone at the paper passing on a name and a phone number of someone who was interested in investment.
Sound too good to be true? Stranger things have happened, at least to me. However, it did occur to me that the message could have been passed by someone who got the information wrong and it was really another local actor that wanted in. No matter, I'll meet with anybody and I do especially want to use local talent in the film as much as possible. And you never know…
So I set up a meeting. I went prepared for a meeting with a potential investor, all the while knowing that I could have asked more questions by phone to establish the actual situation. There's always a reason behind things I choose to do or not do for no apparent reason, I often find out what it is after the fact.
So, I settle into a coffee shop with a nice cold frappuccino on a hot day and in comes a young man. Immediately I know he's not a rich kid with loads of dosh he's dying to invest in an Executive Producer credit, he's thanking me for seeing him. But, it turns out he's not just an aspiring actor either.
Oh yes, he's into acting and fits with what I need for the world I'm building, but he's actually interested in hands-on learning about production. It turns out he's interning with local BBC radio because he had the audacity to walk in and ask for a job, and is doing a business and accounting degree. Valuable skills for a producer. He's got a few other useful skills as well.
Within minutes he's pouring out ideas for approaching people for funding, many of them personal contacts. He's got a friend who owns a theatre company in London who has had some interesting success as well. It isn't hard to see this kid is sharp, full of enthusiasm, and just the sort of person that will go far in life through pure energy and drive.
So, it looks like I've got an assistant. Maybe even a co-producer if he turns out to be the sort of person who has a natural talent for getting people to stump up cash. I can see that possibility in him. One of my own talents is recognising potential in others. He might turn out to be a good actor as well.
So, one more for the local focus of the company. If I can get local investment, I'd love to make a special credit to the people of Norwich. The community aspect of the company does matter to me. The tricky bit is getting the message to those who have the investment capital. I have a feeling this lad just might be the driving force that helps that happen. Call it instinct.
It just goes to show that it's worth keeping an open mind. That's why I network with just about anybody. After all, that's how I got the ace location for the trailer shoot. You just never know who somebody might know, or turn out to be.
14 July 2008
A Moment of Calm
The past three weeks have been mad with meetings, events and social engagements. I find that business networking (through Bizzfizz) is very valuable and actually fun. But sometimes events all happen at once, and I find myself having to look at my calendar every day to see where I'm supposed to be that day. If I'm off to London, I might have as many as three places to be at different times of the day!
Well, this week is different. I have some time to catch up on things, which is good because the one meeting I do have on Tuesday requires some preparation. Not that I'm ever unprepared, but updating my Business Plan and the script needed doing, which I managed to accomplish last week despite the whirlwind of activity. Ironically, my day job (which pays the rent) often provides a breather because I don't schedule meetings to conflict with it.
Despite going out to the cinema yesterday, I managed to go through my various bits and pieces of information and gather together the papers I need for an investor meeting. I should say potential investor in this case. My meeting Tuesday is with someone who contacted me because of the most recent newspaper story about the project. The message I got was that he's interested in investment. Whether it's large or small or something that will hurl me into production this week is something I'll learn on Tuesday. I take every such meeting seriously, it only takes one person with imagination and a bit of investment capital to make this project roll.
One of the things that makes me a good Producer is the satisfaction I get from having admin caught up. It's nerdish, I know. But having all my meeting minutes in place, my receipts neatly stapled to colour coded forms, my financial spreadsheets up to date so that any public inspection would have me coming up smelling of roses, gives me satisfaction.
This is where many independent filmmakers fall down. The 'artistes' that can't be bothered with anything more than the minimum required admin and business consideration because their 'baby' is all that matters. Well my 'baby' matters enough to put the hard graft into making sure the papers are in order. That's what will make me successful while many others continue to slog to get their arty films made and then lose money. Considering commercial potential and keeping records is the business aspect that too many can't grok.
It's also useful going through details of the locations and actors etc every time I have a meeting because it is then fresh in my mind.
Meanwhile, my artistic side is not sitting idle. Apart from continuing to write, I am editing a whole new teaser from the footage that we took last November.
For those who don't know, we got a fantastic location and had a one day shoot to make a teaser/trailer to give some flavour of the world created in Dance of the Goblins. We didn't ask any of the principle cast to participate as we were making it on almost no money so it was all volunteer help, apart from the make-up prosthetics team.
The shoot served as a good test of various aspects of working together. One of the most valuable things I learned is not to leave any of the organising to anyone else, especially if they are used to working in low/no budget projects and settling for 'good enough'. The facilities for the make-up team were far too cramped for starters. But, lessons learned for the 'real' shooting days.
Unfortunately we lost the person who was going to do the music in post-production. A family crisis caused a sudden disappearing act that left us finishing up quickly so I would have something to show the existing investors. Music is an important part of film, and can make the difference of it coming over amateurish.
But, being too stubborn to settle for something amateurish, I found a few aspiring composers on Internet forums who were happy to so a short piece of music for me for no cost. Two of them did nice pieces which I've put on different versions of the trailer on YouTube. However, although the music was good, they lacked the tribal feel I was looking for.
Then I got an inspiration. I decided to do a different teaser, using the best shots from the filming and some new sound effects. One of the composers came up with a brilliant piece of music that would work perfectly for it, so much so that I'm thinking of asking him to do some of the incidental music in the film although I already have a composer attached.
But being a glutton for punishment, I decided that having the whole thing in one location was too limiting. We had the grounds of a beautiful stately home with a moat, bridge, orchard, forest and large lawn at our disposal, but no caverns for the goblins.
However, I have recce photos from the caverns I plan to use for the underground locations. Unfortunately I know enough about editing and animation to do what I then decided was essential. I took a couple of seconds of footage of goblins sauntering through the forest and exported all the individual frames so that I could cut them out of their background in Photoshop. The original clip was 4 seconds. Film runs at 25 frames per second. Eek!
So, I had 102 frames to do delicate cutting work on originally, although I've shortened it to 40 frames after looking closely at the individual frames. I've done about a dozen of them so far, and will be working diligently on doing the rest over the next couple of days. Then the goblins have to be superimposed on a cavern background, which can be nice and shady which helps with the detail. All this so I can add slightly less than 2 seconds of goblins in the caverns to what I already have.
But it will be worth it.
All these things take time time time! But it's all great fun too. Ironically, I'm having more fun with my life than most of the rich people that I'd like to get to invest in my film. I just need to find one that is ready to come and play too. *grin*
6 July 2008
I've decided to start this page over. Why? because I was recetly advised by a newspaper editor to keep a blog, update it at least weekly, and spread it around the Internet as much as possible. I figure he knows his business, so instead of neglecting this page for months at a time, I will put the weekly updates here along with various oither sources.
So What Does A Film Producer Actually Do?
There is a lot of glamour surrounding the idea of that entity, the Film Producer. Most of us think of a producer as the rich guy with the cigar lounging around the swimming pool in his mansion that we see on television and in the movies.
Actually I've met a couple of those. I used to live in Los Angeles and spent some time around Film Industry people there. Mostly parents of friends. You see, I was in high school at the time. But I digress.
The image is overblown. It also only applies even as a cliché to the big studio execs in Hollywood. Any film that is produced outside of the big studios is considered an Independent film, and that brings you back to me. The small Independent Film Producer in your neighbourhood. Ok so there are a lot more in London than in Norwich, but you'll find that outside of the quirks of the job, they are pretty ordinary people in general. If you allow for the fact that 'arty' people can be just a little eccentric in (usually) small ways.
So, what does the film producer do? Well, today started with writing an introduction for a friend's comic, followed by domestic chores, breaking up a cat fight (my cat is the yob in this encounter) then finishing a book proposal, doing some sewing repairs on my jeans, and going out to a meeting with a PR Advertising person I met at a business networking meeting a couple of weeks ago. That's all in between hanging out on the Internet, where my time is divided between business emails and playing around on forums. Some of them are film related.
But how did I get here? This is actually a pretty typical day. I seem to be busy on a regular basis these days between meetings and social obligations and ordinary tasks at home. I have a daughter, although she's grown. I give her time as well. Getting back to the question, before I wander off and start cutting out goblins in Photoshop for the 2 second scene (50 frames) I want to put in a different setting for a re-cut of the marketing trailer, I did actually start out asking that question, what does a producer do?
I had written a story you see, with sequels. And it needed to be a film, it was obvious. So I wrote a screenplay (after consulting a book on screenplay format of course) and I was just looking for information on who I should try to sell it to. Norwich Library has a great film section. I started reading.
I not only found that what a producer does is all my best talents, I also learned the answer to the age old question, "What does a Best Boy do!" No seriously, what a producer does is basically admin and organising. Oh, and raising money. That's why I'm off to see an Advertising person tonight. We may be able to cut a deal on video advertising that could help fund my film.
But that's just one possibility among others that I'm juggling until I reach that goal. 95% of Independent films are privately financed, and I do have a couple of investors already. But I have to reach a target of £200,000 to get through production. In film terms, it's a drop in the bucket. In the lives of ordinary people like me, a fair fortune.
There's always a way to do something, you just have to find it. That philosophy has allowed me to accomplish the impossible before, so this should be a piece of cake. I've already got a name actor (Kevin McNally) and distribution with an L.A. company, which is more than many Independent producers have when they go looking for financing. I've also got two years of organising in place with full crew, locations spotted, props sorted, you know, all the elements that come together to make a movie.
That's what a producer does. He, or she, puts together the right people and all of the ingredients that will come together to make a film. That's what it actually comes down to. I'm surprised there isn't a bigger percentage of women doing it, because it requires a lot of multi-tasking.
To quote Julia Phillips (producer of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Sting, Taxi Driver among others), "That is really all you need to do to be a good producer; you have to convince them that you are ten feet tall all the time. And that you can do something a little crazy. So they better watch it."
