Tyler Purcell

He means minutes... whoops. That's how they keep the tax down? That's a scam eh?

Actually, many DSLR's do 1080x1920 @ 60p. It's pretty common actually, just not on the 5D. This is because the imager is so big, it requires a lot more processing power and Canon has always under spec'ed their processors on that camera.

Write up a contract! :D

Right, but that makes the assumption anyone in their right mind would work for a free and "potentially" some back end money. Sorry man, that's not reality, nobody who knows anything about this industry would work for a promise, even if it's in a contract. Anyone with a head on their shoulder can make $125/day as a PA. Extras get paid $100/day on most big shows and you don't need to know anything to do that job. So first off, anyone "working" for the rate of "zero", is stupid because they could be making actual money. Now lets say you are getting a low rate, $100/day + back end money. Well, anyone signing up for that, isn't "expecting" any of that back end to come and if you are, you're just naive and deserve to be taken for a ride. So lets use your example... MR filmmaker makes 5 million off the movie you never got paid for, or expect payment down the road. He isn't going to pay you, why would he? You go to him and threaten a lawsuit, but how are you going to do that? How are you going to prove anything with the judge. You think you can walk in to arbitration and get money? Sorry dude, no way, it's not happening. The filmmaker can claim all the earnings went to payback investors and they will doctor the books to make it seem that way. I've been involved in TWO class-action lawsuits against productions who didn't pay the last two weeks on a show. Wanna know what happens? Nothing... absolutely nothing. Why? Because there is no money. The producers are broke, the film ran out of money and there is nothing anyone can get. How does a contract help you when there is no money? How about THIS example. I worked as the lead engineer for the 5th largest entertainment marketing company in the US, which was called The Cimarron Group. We had a 4 story high-rise down town Hollywood all to ourselves. Company had been in business for around 32 years I believe. Anyway, boss embezzles money to pay for a "division" of the company in China, which was a shadow company, it never materialized. Several million dollars disappeared and he couldn't pay people. We had a big meeting, he promised we'd get paid, he wrote a contract for everyone to sign saying he would pay. Two more weeks went by, no money. Then, they simply closed the doors, didn't pay us a thing. He lost everything, house, car, boat, wife, all gone. All that money went to the bankruptcy and NONE of it went to the staff of 220 employees. We tried to file a class action lawsuit, but nobody has the money and he was already in trouble with the fed's for his embezzlement. Moral of the stories; you can be protected all you want, but when the music stops, if you don't have a chair, you will be out of the game. You can teach people on youtube all you want, but when push comes to shove, doing the "right thing" isn't what the vast majority of people are interested in. They are interested in making their product as quickly, cheaply and good as they can. You as the "worker" have little to no rights, contract or not, it's still down to the people paying you. Look, As a teacher, I'm very much up front with the realities of the entertainment industry.I'm so happy you're excited about being involved in the film industry. You have a great deal of enthusiasm and I understand the desire to give back knowledge. At the same time, I think you have a lot to learn about the industry before you can be credible in your comments. Having never worked on a real film set before or lived in an entertainment based city like Los Angeles or New York City, it's very hard to understand what it's like. My comments aren't made to turn you off, they are hopefully meant to inform you; things are very different away from college, books and a small town life. As a teacher, I want to educate and help correct your comments towards the reality of things. So discussing it here on this thread is perfectly fine. I like a good discussion and I'm sorry if it feels like your baiting me, you absolutely aren't.

:) Yea, but you still do it and in my opinion, you've been pretty successful all things considered. Thanks for your on-point rebuttal, it's nice to know other people understand the power of living here as a filmmaker.

It's not that simple though, maybe it is where you live, but it's never been where I lived. - First off, it takes upwards of a month to get LLC paperwork back and approved. - Second, there is a tax burden of $800 here in CA every year you keep it running. - Third, you do need an lawyer to write every contract you make. Otherwise, you have zero recourse if something should go wrong. You need that stamp of approval and that's very expensive. - Fourth, even if you have all your ducks in a row, all the contracts are perfect and someone sues, nothing says they can't take your house away. If one of your crew members makes one small mistake, it's on you as the owner of the company. You will get sued and you will have to probably hire a lawyer and defend yourself. Again, with what money will you do that? - Fifth, as an LLC you need to have contracts for every single person and location you use. This means, if you use a park in the middle of nowhere, you need to get approval from the owners if you can shoot there. If you go, setup shop an leave in an hour, you still need to get approval in writing. Guerrilla filmmaking with LLC's is almost instant lawsuit. Maybe not a big deal in a small town (one of the only benefits), but it's still something to think about. Landon, if you aren't making any money with your products and you don't have money to pay your crew, there is little to no reason to do all this business stuff. Hand shake deals, no contracts and no paperwork equate to little to no liability. If someone goes to sue, still need a lawyer. But here is the difference, if one of your "crew" members does something crazy, it doesn't fall back on you because it's all deniable. There is no physical evidence so in the court of law, who would convict? If you're paying your crew, if you have actual cast, if you have rented equipment, if you have real locations that need permits, having an LLC and insurance are kind of necessary. However, with zero budget, free-bee projects, it's all a waste of time and effort for nothing but headaches. Yes, I do call you naive! You haven't made a big enough production to know any of this stuff. You also haven't been sued yet and know what it's like to loose everything even when you have an LLC. I know these things because I've been around and seen it happen in front of my face. You think all this legal poop actually protects you somehow, but it really doesn't. It sure looked like a community theatre from your demo video. Bunch of kids on super small stage with very few set pieces, poor costumes and barely audible dialog. Not putting it down, theatre is great fun and an awesome experience. But be honest with yourself, it's just a small town theater. Also, the documentary on the Wizard of Oz does look like something shot on a handycam. I'm sorry to break it to you, but from the outside world, that's what it looks like. I've made plenty of productions like that when I was in middle and high school, so did a great deal of filmmakers. But we didn't put any money into them because what's the point? The fun of it is making it yourself, even if I had the money, I wouldn't have paid to polish the turds I made back then. :shrug: Articles? You're basing your knowledge on articles? :rolleyes: Unfortunately, the reason why filmmaking is "growing" in other parts of this country is due to tax incentives. The moment those states remove them because they realize it's stupid, all of that work will dry up almost instantly. So planning your life around living in one of those "growing" industries, is not a smart idea. In fact, there have been numerous threads on here from cinematographers, gaffers and camera operators/assistants who moved to those "budding" locations, to find out the work dried up in a few years and now there is no more work. The great thing about Los Angeles is; there will always be work. Now as I've said numerous times in this thread, I'm not an advocate of simply moving straight out of college or something. If you come here without any experience, you will move home crying like over 250,000 people do each year. If you come here with your ducks in a row, if you already have excellent connections here and have work lined up right away, it's worth making the transition and seeing if it works for you. For some, it won't ever work, the film industry is dog eat dog in these parts of the world. If you can't bite back or show your immense talent, you'll probably go home with your tail between your legs. This is my 14th year living here, so I have met quite a few filmmakers and been involved in many productions. I've come to like this place because I've learned the ropes through much pain and anguish, but that's life. Either you get a measly job doing something you hate, or you roll the dice and make something for yourself. People can complain about this place all they want and it's not for everyone. I for one like riding my bicycle year round any day I want. I love riding dirt bikes and racing every weekend I can. I also teach scuba diving, so being right on the ocean rocks. We have awesome food, even better entertainment and there are so many things to do, it's crazy. If you can't find a job here making three times what you make, it's because you're too lazy or you have zero skills. I'm offered jobs ALL THE TIME by random people who find me on Linked In, but I turn them down because I like being freelance and I have plenty of work to do. Which reminds me... back to work! :)

No, its most relevant. You can't give advice on living in Los Angeles without any experience living here. You can go on all day about how horrible this place is and it's on the decline. Yet, most of the work is still here and so is the expertise. I've never seen someone dish out so much advice without themselves having any experience. I hate to break it to you, but producing a small-town theatre production, is VERY different then making a feature film and I have a considerable amount of small-town AND big city theater experience as well. Again, you don't know until you actually do it. You do know that most people who ask others to work for free, generally don't have LLC's, insurance or the whereabouts to get those things. If they had that kind of money, they'd probably be able to pay for their crew. Believe it or not, most productions are illegal and that's never going to change. People skirt around the legal system constantly and to be 100% legitimate can be financial suicide for smaller productions. How do I know this? Because I've actually worked on big and small shows and I know how people doctor the books, fake permits, write contracts that keep them from being liable and eventually don't pay people even if they're suppose to be paid. The individual has zero repercussions because they generally can't afford lawyers. I can't tell you how many contracts I've signed and been screwed out of the money. So your "advice" as sound as it may seem in some sort of fictional world where people follow laws, is basically unrealistic nonsense in the real world. Yes, HUGE multi-million dollar films have no choice but to follow the rules and laws, but you're not discussing them in your video. So as a creative, you have two choices in life; don't work or take your chances. Most of us take our chances. Again, Robert Rodriguez got into the industry a long time ago. Things were very different back then. If you follow his advice today, you won't see the same reward structure since that market is flooded. Also, once you're a well known filmmaker, it doesn't matter where you reside. I've stated that at least 3 times in this thread. Well, I kinda guessed it was shot over a long period of time, as you've touted it being ultra low budget. Still, it seems like your only experience is from that movie. If that's the case, remind me again how some community theatre experience in a small town and a doc you helped finish, give you the necessary skills to preach good filmmaking practice to others?

Most providers require 10 bit 4:2:2 1920x1080. What codec you use is up to them. Most everyone takes 50Mbps MPEG 2's, as a lot of facilities finish to that format. However, I've delivered Pro Res files to a bunch of networks without a problem.

Yea, plus the Krasnogorsk's aren't very good cameras. They aren't really well made and the movement isn't anywhere near the quality necessary for decent registration. I recently got the opportunity to use one and was very dismayed. Nobody makes a quick loading 100ft camera. 100ft delivery is always on daylight spools (outside of some rare examples). Some other cameras like the A Minima, used 200ft daylight spools, but anything over 200ft are going to be 400ft loads. Not a big deal to buy some daylight spools on ebay and breakdown a 400ft load. Much more of a big deal to load the camera properly between takes. The Bolex cameras do try to make it easy, but if you're in the middle of something, it's going to be challenging. Now... before someone asks it, I will go a head and ask the $10,000 question... if you can't afford a good camera, what makes you so certain you can afford the stock, processing and transfer? Not to push you away from shooting film, but it's awfully expensive. Heck, I have a beautiful kit and the only reason I'm not using every day is due to film cost.

So 400 foot loads because 100 foot loads are 3 minutes. If that's the case, you're probably too low on budget. Even if broken, finding a 400ft load camera for under $600 is nearly impossible.

Do you need a quiet camera for sync sound? 100ft loads OK?

I think only the 3D are 4k

Right right, likely story. I've seen it on a map! HAHAHAH! :D

No doubt! :) At the same time, I wasn't referring to the; "I've already made a successful film" filmmaker. I'm referring to the "I've got my ducks in a row and I'm ready to make movies" filmmaker. Do I also dare suggest that Ontario is probably a more "artistic" city with more connections to proper commercial filmmaking then say MOST US cities. Not saying Los Angeles is the only place, far from it. Only saying, if you really want to make something of yourself, it's not a bad idea to try and do it here. Also... you can make short films with friends anywhere. Ya only need to come here when your good and ready. I came here a bit early unfortunately. In hindsight, I should have come much later, once I had a few bigger projects finished in Boston.

Yea, but honestly, very few of them are talented enough.

Actually, the information I've been typing is common knowledge. If you follow the straight forward path and do a good job, you can make it. Most everyone I know who has made it, has taken the same path. Those who didn't take that path, generally had outside help financially OR industry jobs through nepotism.

Ohh sorry, yea you're right, long winded huffin' puff. Here are my suggestions: Focus on your craft, if it's directing, shooting, writing, editing, lighting, sound, you need to constantly be working in and around that specific trade. If you're a generic "filmmaker", make movies! Shorts, music video's, narrative/documentary, doesn't matter. Focus on quality, not quantity. A solid 3 minutes is better then an OK 5 minutes. Make stuff you're proud enough to submit to festivals and don't stop submitting. I also suggest people hook up with well known bands to produce music video's that will be seen on their sites. Another way to practice the craft is to produce educational content. Write, shoot, learn from your mistakes and do it again next week.

Yea but I'm sorry, you aren't going to meet the right people living in Ohio. You will meet the right people going to screenings and parties here in LA. Heck, 90% of the people I know, I met having a job as a computer technician at the best shop in LA back in the day, the shop everyone went to. I've met Janus Kaminski, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Hans Zimmer, Peter Starr, James Torme, and so many other actors, directors and producers, just from that job. The few people I stayed in contact with, have led me to where I am today. You aren't going to meet those type of people in Ohio, it just doesn't happen. Again, "qualified" people are the key. What frustrates me is that you somehow feel like you know something about this, having never worked in the film industry and unless I'm missing something, haven't made any real watchable products yet. Yea, I saw the trailer for your wizard of oz documentary which was clearly shot with a handicam. Now you're making "educational films" on how to make movies, especially dealing with contracts? I appreciate your enthusiasm, but until you've experienced a different reality outside of your home town, it's hard for you to comment.

Yes, impossible is the right word. That's a pipe dream. Producing 10 high quality 22 minute episodes is a HUGE expense and no network is going to buy it. Netflix doesn't talk to random people, nor do they buy other people's properties anymore. They don't care how good your series is. Now, if you're a reputable producer/director with a lot of credits and you have a great idea for a new show. You can shoot a pilot and shop it around to the networks. However, you need successful credits first and you can't build those from youtube. Even if you get a meeting with some execs, you'd have to live in LA or NYC where they are for those meetings to be successful because they want people who are serious and if you live in Ohio, they know you're not serious. Both series had decent budgets and were produced by TOP industry professionals with lots of success behind them. Nobody is going from ground zero without any previous success and producing a successful web series that goes broadcast, it just doesn't happen. Now if you wanna put cat video's online or do stupid fart jokes, you can make a killing on youtube if you're willing to sell yourself out. A few hundred thousand hits, doesn't even pay for your catering on a single day of shooting. Adian 5 is a green screen series, it could be made by one person and a few actors. Plus it has very few hits. I have a youtube series about riding dirt bikes that has far greater hit's then Aidan 5. You can use Sag actors on NON union shows, it's called "SAG WAVIER" and the vast majority of lower-budget films work that way. Paying union scale for standard crew is cost prohibitive in most cases, where you'd rather pay for a technocrane. The numbers don't really matter. What matters is that the right person see's your product. If you make a narrative feature, the venue to score the right people is going to be theatrical. It takes a boat load of marketing and word of mouth to get the qualified people to see your film. Right now there is a movie called "Too Late" shot on 35mm for ultra low budget, being screened around the country in 35mm that's getting a lot of buzz. Heck, even I went to see it because I wanted to know what it was about. They did a great job marketing it and the 25 people in the theater, were all suit and tie adults, I felt so out of place wearing my T shirt and jeans. Talk about "qualified" viewers. That's what it takes and honestly, if you release something theatrically, you get A LOT of brownie points. First off, what I'm explaining has to do with young filmmakers who haven't made a name for themselves yet. It has nothing to do with people already in the industry looking for another job, like the guys who made Game of Thrones, or any other television show you've seen. That's what you don't quite understand, nobody cares about youtube series, they just don't. You aren't going to be producing the next Game of Thrones from something you made for online distribution, it just doesn't happen. Your examples have been debunked above and the more you throw at me, the more I will debunk because nobody and I mean not a single person has done the path you're planning on doing and been successful. Yet, the path I lay out has been done by EVERY SINGLE successful filmmaker from Spielberg through Nolen.

Nice, that's a good trick ain't it! :)

Well, I saw it last night! :sigh: I will start with the good. The 70mm print projected at Arclight Cinema's in Hollywood was absolutely flawless. Actually, it was beyond flawless, it looked damn good. Reminded me of the Interstellar 5/70 print, just flat out perfect. No registration issues, no color shifting, no flickering, nothing at all, just a perfect image. What shocked me the most about the presentation the most was how crisp and steady the text elements were. With a digital projection, you would see aliasing around text on most releases, but not with the film out. I want to say they did more then a 4k film out. Of course you could tell it was a digital film out because it was missing much of the grain particulates and the real big grain nastiness from the underexposed 500asa shots, were blurry, not so with the original camera negative. The IMAX shots stood out like a sore thumb, they were grain-less and beautiful, almost looking like digital. Unfortunately, there weren't very many, which was disappointing. I only counted Four occasions where they used large format for capture and one of 16mm, which actually looked pretty cool and worked well. So those were the positives... now for the negatives. The film is a real mess both cinematically and technically. The filmmakers shot in the dark incessantly, forgetting that 500T isn't quite as clean looking at an Alexa would be. So the vast majority of the film was underlit and grainy as all get out. One of the reviewers said it looked like 16mm (which there is a scene shot in 16mm early in the film and it looks pretty good) and I agree, it really did. Sure, the few daylight exteriors looked great, crisp and beautiful. What frustrates me the most is that they COULD have shot all those night scenes on 5/70 and been able to push the stock even harder if they wish to underlight. Still, it would have been nice for scenes to be lit properly. But it was a huge movie and I understand they had to move along, they couldn't dwell too much on things. In terms of the movie itself? Just one solid piece of poop. To me, it seemed like a 200+ minute movie which was cut down substantially. There wasn't a moment to rest, contemplate, nothing. It was solid poop from the credit sequence with the Batman origin story told once again, through the end where it was clearly leading up to a sequel. Jessie Eisenberg was good at Lex Luther, and some tracks of Hans Zimmer score was interesting, nothing great, but interesting. The rest was just background noise with crazy VFX that were poorly done in most cases. So in the end, really the 70mm print was the only reason to go! LOL :)

Yes, I'm referring to standard theatrical and video/vod deals. There are two types of filmmakers out there; those who only wish to make product and those who care about what they make and how it's seen. If all you care about is churning out product, for better or worse, it doesn't matter what deal you get. If you can recoup on your investment then you will probably be happy. Unfortunately, most of those films wind up on the .99 cent DVD box AND at the bottom of the list on Netflix, stuff that people simply throw away when done or never finish watching. In my eyes, if you can't score a theatrical deal, you haven't worked hard enough. Also, getting money for your next production can be even harder. The goal of a filmmaker should be a standard theatrical deal, which means they need to work extra hard in order to make it happen. I know I use examples from my life all the time, but the little doc I made few years ago had a small theatrical run and was screened all around the world in 12 different languages. We were also picked up by Criterion for television, DVD and VOD release. Will we see any money back? Maybe... but it was funded through donations, so it's not a big deal. We got some great reviews and the majority of people who see it, really enjoy it. The problem is, it's a feature doc and nobody gives you work from a feature doc. ;

Isn't it hard to get cast to South Africa without a pretty decent budget? Heck, I can't even imagine the cost to fly everyone from L.A. to Toronto or Vancouver, that would be quite a bit of my budget! :(

HA! NICE JOB! :)

Distribution generally means another company is investing in your film and placing it on the open or regional market, for the purpose of profit. A distributor buys your film, reimbursing you for the cost and puts money into marketing, so they can make money off their investment. Ohh, there are dozens of sub 10M (low budget) films made that get international distribution through major players. They're probably just not on your radar, but trust me they're shown in theaters just like the US blockbusters. Sub 500k, yea you're going to struggle. But anything from 1.5M and up, if you've hit all the nails on the head, crossed your T's and dotted your I's, absolutely you'll get decent distribution. It happens all the time, but in a lot of cases, smaller cities without huge art followings, won't get the film. Distributors will focus on specific regions for their releases, so they don't waste money/time on towns they know won't sell. For instance, one of my clients makes horse movies. He does very well in Texas and the south, but his films aren't shown in the major cities, just small towns. He's made PLENTY of money off those movies and has been churning them out every few years. Yep, it's called investing in yourself. If you don't invest, you won't succeed. So if that means selling the car and buying a camera so you can make short films because you wish to be a filmmaker, so be it. If you don't constantly practice your craft, you will never be ready for the big leagues. It's true that making a crappy ass short film, like the one's most college students make, really isn't a calling card for the big leagues. Again, this is why you practice your craft and the people who know what they're talking about, can watch a short film and know if you're ready or not. I also suggested music video's because in today's world, a great deal of music video directors get offered bigger shows due to their style. There is some truth in the concept that very few will fund a first time feature filmmaker. On the flip side of that, if you follow the directions I laid out and are good at what you do, you can make it happen. I've seen it SO MANY TIMES it's not even funny. Not to cattle prod, but this is one of the perks of living in Los Angeles. You meet other successful filmmakers and get to hear how they made it. I've met and talked with the Duplass brothers. They are probably the most modern version of the filmmakers you referenced. They have a great deal of talent, but they started with money from their parents. Again, it takes money, to make money. Plus, they did LOTS of shorts prior to their first feature, some of which won awards. They know what audiences want and they deliver just that, banging out project after project for the "GE" general audience. He absolutely agrees with the idea of making short films to refine your craft. He also agree's with the idea that success in the film industry is luck, having what audiences desire at that exact time and being at the right place at the right time. A web series isn't a bad idea, but what is a web series after all? It's just a bunch of short films ain't it? Heck, most television is just a bunch of strung along short films. I've worked with many people on their web series and honestly, the only people who are "successful" as in, millions of hits, were mostly uninteresting crap for mass audience appeal. Point me to something otherwise, something that's just flat-out good and maybe I'll change my mind. But remember this... attracting people to your series cost money, lots and lots of money. On average, one click through costs one dollar. So lets say you have a budget of $100 per week for advertising and you get 100 click throughs. How many will watch? Maybe 5%? Out of those 5%, how many will share with their friends? Maybe .5%? So for your 100 click throughs, you may get HALF a watcher. I've done the math, you need to have 10M + watchers per video + own the content outright, to ever make it happen. That not only requires substantial dedication, but a lot of money. I know people who went into 100k + worth of debt to get their web series going and weren't successful. Yea, but with 500,000 views, you'll most likely not be making much money. After fee's and taxes, the content maker will receive around $1000 for every million views. So if you aren't getting a few million views per video, you really aren't making much. Plus as I said above, it's very expensive to get those hits, that's the real game and the expensive part. Launching a channel and marketing it is easy, getting qualified users who will keep coming back, that's hard. Ohh I get it for sure, you're in a little zone right now in your life. It's hard to make a good movie making $100/day and trying to survive at the same time, even if your monthly nut is low. Also, how many good cinematographers, gaffers, location sound guys are their in Cincinnati who are willing to work for $100/day? That's actually kind of a requirement for success because without it, you won't stand out in a crowd. Well, I for sure was not thinking union. I'm very much a non-union filmmaker and so are the people I work with. Someday I can teach you feature film breakdowns and what people get paid and why they're necessary on set to make a competent looking production. There is a lot more to a decent looking production then union involvement.