2 openings at Deathworld Mansion: Apply Now

Hello All,

Many of you already know about the Deathworld project, and the production company we're starting at a mansion in California. For a while it looked like we had 7 solid people, but we have lost one today due to an issue with their previous employment, and now have 2 spots available that must be filled within a month.

For those that do not know about the project, we are a team of indie filmmakers that are combining forces to create a central film, and run a production company in the lucrative Bay Area of California. We have been successfully finding connections to create income already, and have secured an incredible property that serves as both a base for filming, and a high end front for investor relations.

We already have a diverse team of highly skilled and motivated workers, a full blown film project with real investment potential, and a Red Epic motion picture camera, the same being used to film Spiderman, The Hobbit, and Avatar 2.

Overall, this is an opportunity to join a coordinated team with a real focus on making money with filmmaking, and a focused destination of creating a theatrical release film.

Are you out there by yourself trying to break into the industry with a $1,000 camera and no help? This is a situation where everyone who joins will have 7 others helping them to create a cinema quality reel with high end equipment and locations. It's a layout where several of us will be constantly campaigning on your behalf for professional jobs, and recruiting investment to allow you to work full time on a feature film as soon as possible.

Move in cost is only $1,400 and provides you with a room and a bathroom of your own inside the mansion in the video below. Rent after that is only 700/month. The company will work immediately towards placing you into a gainful employment situation, and income is likely to reach 2k per person within a few months, 4k in 6 months. In an investment scenario, you would be compensated 2k per month for the next year to work directly on a feature project. This is the situation we would be working towards every day.

To Apply to the project, you must call me and pass 2 checks. One is the phone interview, and online film resume scan. The second is to simply have your move in funds available.

A 75 page PDF document describing the central project is immediately available upon request, and details about the production company are available by speaking with me directly. Below are some videos illustrating the housing and production capabilities of our existing team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWpPT2KGwDI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD45OCxcQaE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0tBzIVlA74

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QvtrGV56aY

This is really the opportunity of a lifetime. I can't wait to get started and we only have room for two.
Anyone out there trying to make a distributable movie for less than 500K needs a wakeup call.
Distribution will almost never come to a film made for less.
One must find a way to get on a team that is already moving to attain real momentum, effectively generating escape velocity for their own career.
This is it.
I for one am excitied and humbled to be a part of this team and this project.

Joining this team was an absolute no-brainer decision, for me. I'm very excited about it.

Nate North said:

Hello All,


Move in cost is only $1,400 and provides you with a room and a bathroom of your own inside the mansion in the video below. Rent after that is only 700/month. The company will work immediately towards placing you into a gainful employment situation, and income is likely to reach 2k per person within a few months, 4k in 6 months. In an investment scenario, you would be compensated 2k per month for the next year to work directly on a feature project. This is the situation we would be working towards every day.



[YTrGV56aYYT]

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Okay I pay YOU to work on your film reel and then MAYBE I'll get a salary in a few months, and IF you get a truckload of money somehow I MIGHT get a job on the feature? Do I have it right?

Thread moved to classifieds

brianluce said:

Okay I pay YOU to work on your film reel and then MAYBE I'll get a salary in a few months, and IF you get a truckload of money somehow I MIGHT get a job on the feature? Do I have it right?

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That's kinda what I got, too. I thought I was the only one, though.

Must be a good script.

brianluce said:

Okay I pay YOU to work on your film reel and then MAYBE I'll get a salary in a few months, and IF you get a truckload of money somehow I MIGHT get a job on the feature? Do I have it right?

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With All due respect, you do not have it right.

What's actually happening here is that a group of indie filmmakers are combining forces to create a production company with the staff and resources neccesary to take on serious professional work. For those that are not alone, or have money, or live with their mom, I doubt this would be much of an upgrade.

For those of us that are struggling against the current with no one to support us, this is the best we can do. I personally don't think that by myself I have much chance of success, other than to take freelance work that is unsteady and laden with compromises. However, through combining the abilities and resources of a team with similar goals, I feel that the odds for every persons survival in this difficult industry are improved.

I have worked tirelessly for a majority of this year to create that possibility. It may not be a tropical resort with fountains of money, but it is what I said it is, an opportunity to have some real support, work on a great project, and proceed towards the goal of creating a theatrical release film in the most realistic scenario available to many of us.

I understand your cynicism, and to a degree it's warranted, but we are really making an honest effort to create a better place for those tired of fighting the fight alone.

Financial stability will come first, then the movie second. It is not my movie, it is Harry's movie, a man who knows more about writing a good story than anyone on this form, myself included. And it is something really amazing and cool.

If you have your doubts, that's fine, but I would appreciate it if you would speak to me and learn about the project (both it's positives and negatives) before drawing any conclusions. I'm sorry I'm not rich, we'd all prefer it if I was. My offer is not one of ego, but of necessity, and if you knew me, you would understand that.

Nate

I am open to all of you at any time, 408-676-6479

Just out of curiosity- Why are you renting such an expensive house? Obviously it's a steal for what it is (at that price) but surely it's a totally unnecessary expense. The whole 'mansion' idea is a nice, if somewhat vain, idea but when it's forcing you to charge $1,400 for people to come work on your film then maybe it's worthwhile seeing whether there's somewhere cheaper for you to tucker down...? After all it's a film production, not a frat party.

But best of luck CF (or Cracker as we racists might be inclined to call you), I hope this doesn't put the road trip movie on too much of a back burner...

NickClapper said:

Just out of curiosity- Why are you renting such an expensive house? Obviously it's a steal for what it is (at that price) but surely it's a totally unnecessary expense. The whole 'mansion' idea is a nice, if somewhat vain, idea but when it's forcing you to charge $1,400 for people to come work on your film then maybe it's worthwhile seeing whether there's somewhere cheaper for you to tucker down...? After all it's a film production, not a frat party.

But best of luck CF (or Cracker as we racists might be inclined to call you), I hope this doesn't put the road trip movie on too much of a back burner...

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Serious question: Have you ever tried to live and work with a group of 8-10 other people for upwards of a year? Especially when your work environment is also where you're living? So you're all there, 24/7, in a new place where none of you know anyone outside of the house?

Trust me, that $700/month is going to be well worth it after six months when everyone isn't at each other's throats because they decided to rent a four bedroom house and everyone has been sleeping 2 and 3 to a room on bunk beds and working in the living room 10 hours a day for $300/month.

My husband and I both work from home, and are together pretty much 24/7, and even our 2200 square foot house starts feeling pretty small in the middle of winter when we're basically snowed in. And we love each other. I can't imagine if 10 people were living and working in this house (it's a four bedroom). We'd all kill each other.

Brian, Kholi -- I can see how you might think what you have, but I'm afraid you just haven't got enough info. As Nate stated, you've got it all wrong.

I'm not paying one cent to work on anyone else's film. I'm paying $1,400 for rent and deposit on a house I'm moving into. Because that's what you do, when you move into a new place of residence. And it's worth noting that Nate has already paid a sizable deposit, on his own.

As far as income is concerned, how many people on this forum can say that they have a guaranteed source of income, from filmmaking? I'd be willing to bet you could probably count them on one hand. So, Nate is being honest with us. He's told us about a couple of strong leads that he has, but he's honest enough to let us know that a strong lead isn't a guarantee.

Imagine if you wanted to start a new production company -- a legit production company, one with full-time employees, and good equipment. That requires a great deal of capital, and one of the reasons it requires capital is simply to secure a location to be based out of. Office spaces can be rented, but seriously, how many people on this forum could just go out and rent a bunch of office space, for the purpose of starting a production company? The way around that problem is for your base of operations, and your home, to be one and the same. Everyone who lives there pays rent, just as you would pay rent for any home. But on top of a place to live, we also get a great location to be the home-base for a start-up production company.

Another reason for us to be together is that it's just that much more intense of a commitment to producing big things. Let's say, for example, that there is a particular day in which I've already put in a full day of work, and I'm done with what I was doing, so I go turn on the Xbox. Nate, however, is still working on a particular job he wants to finish. Halfway through the night, he realizes he needs to ask my opinion on something, show me a rough cut and get some feedback, or whatever. If it were a "normal" production company, in which everybody lives at their own home, commutes to work, clocks-in and clocks-out, Nate would have to wait to see me at work, the next day. But if I'm just in the other room, playing Xbox, he can ask me to check it out, right then and there. Some people might find that to be too intense of a work-environment, but it's exactly the kind of place I want to be.

I want to be surrounded by people who are willing to completely throw themselves into our greater goal of making kick-ass movies (one, in particular). I want to be surrounded by people who are risk-takers, like myself, and who are willing to make a bold move that might be kinda crazy, but is also pretty genius.

Truthfully, the only thing I'm hesitant about is the fact that there'll be eight of us, working and living together. As Cameron mentioned, there will be moments of stress. For that purpose, I'm glad that we'll have space. I'm also glad that it's actually a 5-bedroom house, and a 3-bedroom guest-house. I'm also glad that everyone who is moving in is a mature adult -- I don't expect this to be anything like The Real World. Also, since when is $700 a lot of money to pay for rent? I pay $725, in Richmond, VA.

Whatever, just thought I'd clear up some misconceptions.

Nick, thanks for the well-wishes! And, no, the Road-Trip movie is absolutely not on the back-burner. In fact, I see my aligning myself with the people in this house as my best strategy for securing funding for the next feature. I'm definitely committed to the "Deathworld" project, but I can also envision a way in which this will lead to the successful production of "A Slow Death" (the Road-Trip movie); I don't see the two projects as mutually-exclusive.

Cheers!

Nate North said:

For those that are not alone, or have money, or live with their mom, I doubt this would be much of an upgrade.

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With all due respect, why do you feel the need to go there?
As you said:

Nate North said:

I understand your cynicism, and to a degree it's warranted, but we are really making an honest effort to create a better place for those tired of fighting the fight alone.

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So why not treat the people who have honest questions - even
cynical ones - with respect? Tossing out the "have money" and
"live with their mom" is insulting. You are way to smart to not
know that.

Nate North said:

If you have your doubts, that's fine, but I would appreciate it if you would speak to me and learn about the project (both it's positives and negatives) before drawing any conclusions. I'm sorry I'm not rich, we'd all prefer it if I was. My offer is not one of ego, but of necessity, and if you knew me, you would understand that.

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I'm going to ask a serious question.

Can we not ask questions here on the boards? Most of us do not know you.
We don't understand. So we ask questions. This is a public notice, you will
get people who draw conclusions. Why not respect those people and answer
with honesty and respect? Even to those who have doubts and are cynical.

Can we learn about this here or only by calling you on the phone?

I'm going to be very honest - if that makes you uncomfortable I will respectfully
withdraw from this - your post comes off as very defensive and insulting. No one
is expecting a "tropical resort with fountains of money". Brian's question seemed
legit to me. It's the question I would have asked because that's what I got from
your first post.

Cracker - I really appreciate your post. No hyperbole, no insults and respectful.
It helped me understand a little better what is happening.

The best time I had in my life was the summer that I moved into a filmmaker's house to shoot a movie, DEAD RIGHT, in Fort Collins, CO. There were about 8-10 people living there, but I was happy in my basement bedroom. Man, did we have a great time while making a feature! Even when production got held up for a couple of weeks, there were always pretty girls around, we went out to movies together, played aerobie (flying disc) catch, ate like kings... Of course, it didn't hurt filmming at locations like the Denver Zoo, Rocky Mountain national park, etc.


I think this sounds like a good opportunity for a single person. Unless Nate is BSing, then you access to some quality equipment, a creative team and a nice place to live. $700 is a bargain in CA, especially for your own room and bathroom at that place.

What it's really about is getting together with some hungry, like-minded people. You're not there to do nothing, but rather do something. The motivation is all around you. Plus, coastal CA weather is year around tropical/cool - you can always go out.

directorik said:

With all due respect, why do you feel the need to go there?

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I agree, this could be offered without some of the commentary.

Rob Ellis said:

Anyone out there trying to make a distributable movie for less than 500K needs a wakeup call.
Distribution will almost never come to a film made for less.

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The idea behind forums like these is the total opposite of that, so I would stress the positive of what you are doing. I do like the idea and opportunity of what is being presented.

directorik said:

With all due respect, why do you feel the need to go there?
As you said:


So why not treat the people who have honest questions - even
cynical ones - with respect? Tossing out the "have money" and
"live with their mom" is insulting. You are way to smart to not
know that.


I'm going to ask a serious question.



Can we not ask questions here on the boards? Most of us do not know you.
We don't understand. So we ask questions. This is a public notice, you will
get people who draw conclusions. Why not respect those people and answer
with honesty and respect? Even to those who have doubts and are cynical.

Can we learn about this here or only by calling you on the phone?

I'm going to be very honest - if that makes you uncomfortable I will respectfully
withdraw from this - your post comes off as very defensive and insulting. No one
is expecting a "tropical resort with fountains of money". Brian's question seemed
legit to me. It's the question I would have asked because that's what I got from
your first post.

Cracker - I really appreciate your post. No hyperbole, no insults and respectful.
It helped me understand a little better what is happening.

Click to expand...

I didn't need to go there. But I did need to discourage people without the experience to survive our companies rocky start in the red. I probably could have found a better way to say it.

In the second question you are just asking the same thing again. I assume you really disliked that.

It would have been a completely legitimate question without the CAPS LOCK

Imagine if you were going through horrifying expenses to make something happen that you believe provides more benefit to others than it takes from them. You make a generous offer and get a sarcastic response.

Maybe you read that the wrong way, but really, I didn't intend my post to sound argumentative, I was trying to say that it was ok to be cynical and question this, I really don't mind. Yes, please ask questions, I did not mean anything negative towards Brian, and I'm sorry if it came off that way.

As far as the phone thing. I'm trying to be more accessible, not less. How in the world did you twist that around? I find a digital cloud of hidden people with fake names, in my perception it's a rarity to have any person that will talk directly with you and answer questions. I also feel like I learn a lot more about a person by talking to them for half an hour than I ever would on a text based system. I learn about the real person rather than their internet persona.

Nate North said:

With All due respect, you do not have it right.

What's actually happening here is that a group of indie filmmakers are combining forces to create a production company with the staff and resources neccesary to take on serious professional work. For those that are not alone, or have money, or live with their mom, I doubt this would be much of an upgrade.

For those of us that are struggling against the current with no one to support us, this is the best we can do. I personally don't think that by myself I have much chance of success, other than to take freelance work that is unsteady and laden with compromises. However, through combining the abilities and resources of a team with similar goals, I feel that the odds for every persons survival in this difficult industry are improved.

I have worked tirelessly for a majority of this year to create that possibility. It may not be a tropical resort with fountains of money, but it is what I said it is, an opportunity to have some real support, work on a great project, and proceed towards the goal of creating a theatrical release film in the most realistic scenario available to many of us.

I understand your cynicism, and to a degree it's warranted, but we are really making an honest effort to create a better place for those tired of fighting the fight alone.

Financial stability will come first, then the movie second. It is not my movie, it is Harry's movie, a man who knows more about writing a good story than anyone on this form, myself included. And it is something really amazing and cool.

If you have your doubts, that's fine, but I would appreciate it if you would speak to me and learn about the project (both it's positives and negatives) before drawing any conclusions. I'm sorry I'm not rich, we'd all prefer it if I was. My offer is not one of ego, but of necessity, and if you knew me, you would understand that.

Nate

Click to expand...

If you're asking for $1400 front money and then become the landlord and in return you're asking skilled, creative people to work unpaid on your project with the idea of attracting investment. That's fundamentally a pay to play scheme.

And yet you didn't initially post it in classifieds, the mod had to move it. And the language is slippery. A cursory read might lead one to think they'd be working on feature film. But a closer look, as I understand it, your crew is merely tasked with creating a teaser or sizzle reel of some kind to attract money. So what happens if the money shows up? Clear the decks of the people upon whose shoulders you stood on the get funding?

And there are lines like,
The company will work immediately towards placing you into a gainful employment situation, and income is likely to reach 2k per person within a few months, 4k in 6 months. In an investment scenario, you would be compensated 2k per month for the next year to work directly on a feature project. This is the situation we would be working towards every day.

This sounds like an ad for a telemarketing job. This is vague CYA ambiguous language. I think the community at IT deserves better than this. You're better than this Nate. It's one thing to use an Epic as a prop to attract investers, but don't do it to people.

Am I cynical? Probably. I've been burnt and know a lot of people that have been burnt by such kiss and promise pitches.

I am not discounting the viability of this project or suggesting Nate is a flimflammer. Nate is resourceful and ambitious and apparently has the rights to a legit sci fi brand -- which is worth about 500 Red Epics as far as I'm concerned, and it baffles me that Nate never talks about that brand, only that Epic does 120fps. And that raises the basic question, can a pay to play scheme, like this, make sense for the right person? Why not? Really no need to couch this ad in the language of infomercials. You've got the rights to fucking Deathworld after all. What better pitch is there than that?

brianluce said:

If you're asking for $1400 front money and then become the landlord and in return you're asking skilled, creative people to work unpaid on your project with the idea of attracting investment. That's fundamentally a pay to play scheme.

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Nate is not the landlord. He is a co-tenant. The $1,400 is what all co-tenants must pay. You really got this thing wrong, dude. I'm not paying Nate. I'm paying rent. And a deposit. That is how you move into a new house. And Nate is not the landlord of the place I will be living.

This is not "pay to play". It is pay to have a house to live in. Some people call that "paying rent".

And nobody will be working on any project, unpaid. If we aren't getting paid, then we will all be actively looking for ways to get paid. So that we can pay rent. This is a co-operative, in the truest sense. I'm sorry that you think it is some sort of scheme. I think it's pretty freaking genius.

Nate North said:

In the second question you are just asking the same thing again. I assume you really disliked that.

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Not a good assumption. I neither liked or disliked that - I only have
the question. My question does not imply anything other than genuine
curiosity.

Nate North said:

Imagine if you were going through horrifying expenses to make something happen that you believe provides more benefit to others than it takes from them. You make a generous offer and get a sarcastic response.

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I imagine getting sarcastic, cynical and skeptical responses when posting
on a public message board is to be expected. It's impossible to control
how others will respond. My suggestion is to temper how you respond.

What you are offering is unusual - you know that. Your restrictions are
strong - for a very good reason. You cannot expect everyone to respond
the same way or to be completely positive. Take the high road. If you feel
you are getting a sarcastic response to your generous offer, treat that
person with the utmost respect and help them understand without the
sarcasm.

Nate North said:

Maybe you read that the wrong way, but really, I didn't intend my post to sound argumentative, I was trying to say that it was ok to be cynical and question this, I really don't mind.

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Thanks for the clarification. I'm glad your intent was different than the way
your post seemed.

Nate North said:

As far as the phone thing. I'm trying to be more accessible, not less. How in the world did you twist that around?

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Again a poor assumption. I was not twisting anything. I was simply asking
a question to clear up something I found unclear. I'm sorry you read my
question about calling you that way.

I'm really curious about this. As I have been about other projects of yours.
You seem to think my questions and curiosity are some kind of challenge to
your integrity or to you personally. I am genuinely sorry you get that from me
often. I am by nature a very curious person.

I apologize for twisting anything you have said. Even though I have several
more questions, I'll back off.

Cracker Funk said:

And nobody will be working on any project, unpaid. .

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Okay well that's not what the ad said. If there's a guaranteed salary, the ad should say that.

Again, not trying to discourage you or anyone, for the right person, this might be an opportunity. Pay to play has its place perhaps when -- especially if you have a branded property. I just think the language in the ad is unnecessarily ambiguous at best.

brianluce said:

Okay well that's not what the ad said. If there's a guaranteed salary, the ad should say that.

Again, not trying to discourage you or anyone, for the right person, this might be an opportunity. Pay to play has its place perhaps when -- especially if you have a branded property. I just think the language in the ad is unnecessarily ambiguous at best.

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I don't know why you keep using this term, "pay to play". I think I've explained, quite clearly, that I'll be paying rent. Rent is not "pay to play". That's just living. In a house. That I pay rent for. Why is this difficult to understand?

And, no, the ad says nothing of guaranteed salary. You're connecting dots that aren't there. I never said there is guaranteed salary. I said that I won't work for anything that is unpaid. If there is no income coming in, from this project, then I will try my hands at this wild new thing, called, "getting a job".

Cracker Funk said:

I don't know why you keep using this term, "pay to play". I think I've explained, quite clearly, that I'll be paying rent. Rent is not "pay to play". That's just living. In a house. That I pay rent for. Why is this difficult to understand?

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Because when $1400 goes from my hands to someone else's, it feels like paying. I guess I'm funny that way.