hey everybody,
I just wanted to drop in and say thank you all who have posted here, this has actually been very enlightening. I've secured about $3,000.00 USD to shoot a feature with unpaid crew, actors, etc...We got a script and we're just combing through pre-production to make everything more manageable, cheaper, more interesting.
Here's the deal. I'm not looking for studio funding (yet), right now its about forging that trail that will inevitably become a small demo reel. I'm 23 years old, I've made about a dozen shorts, I've got a whole group of independent producers, financiers, audio people (a real ragtag team of hard working folk), locations and sets are secured and what I'd like to do now is set up a production company entity.
I've got the business plan, but I need to articulate it in the proper, professional way. I've never seen on paper how somebody does this. I've seen budgets, and I've been working that out, as for the bigger picture, it needs to evolve from enthusiastic conversation to a document.
I live in Portland, Oregon, and I've seen how production companies run their offices here, and it is strange to me. The biggest player in town, who makes high-end commercials and music videos for a lot of the trendier Portland bands, has this office space that seems like a big video gaming lounge. Dudes in skateboarder clothes with tattooes lay around reading magazines and playing X Box, and this is the whole office space. Oh, and somebody has their own cubicle for doing something slightly more serious.
This is not the operation I want. I'm ready to sacrifice it all, folks...happiness, ego, love, harmony, I will go to hell and back to make a feature for less than $5k. I want every inch of the office floor to be working like a factory to turn out all of the different kinds of product we have in mind, including commercials, event photography, film development (not alot of folks deal with film in Portland anymore). I don't want to solve any problems by throwing money at it. I love storytelling to a degree that is possibly dangerous to other areas of life, but I've accepted that since I wanted to be a filmmaker at the age of 6. As for the production company operation, I'm just looking for a good way to structure it so a group of six people show up at 6 in the morning, stay until 10 at night, and make thorough use of our office space throughout.
This may all sound vague, but I have the people I need to make this thing happen. The next step is to structure the plan so there is something guiding our micro-budget exploits. I'm a film student, yes, a possibly typical college boy but I'll tell you right now...I'm not in it for the money, the ladies, the drugs...I love working. I have patience that has outlasted every single person on a 10-hour outdoor shoot around Goat Mountian. I love this work to the point of self-torture. My backers have faith in the idea, they love the script, the (unknown) actors are tried and true...what needs to happen now is a well-structured business plan, which would motivate the backers to invest a little extra cash in a small production office space.
I'm thinking of an entity not unlike the Wu Tang Clan. Before you laugh or say this is ridiculous, hear me out. Every member has their trade, or an already-operating business in line (a graphic designer who engineers shirts and logos, for example) so we are thinking of centralizing operation for each member to bring their project to the table for everyone to put in their two cents, but still retain our individual projects, like the individual members of the Wu Tang do. I won't bore you with specifics unless you ask me. This post is getting long enough.
I'm ready for the wise fellows to offer anything you've got. I don't want niceness or politeness, you guys are straight up with the advice here and I love you for it. Any recommended texts or DVD commentaries are a plus.
With love,
Tony
