How much would.....

yatesy_2k4 said:

I was thinking about this and I want my projekt which is called 'Mirror Man' to go extremely far in the world and I believe I have the know how to do it. Only thing I was wondering is that if I was to get signed by a production company how much money would they pay towards the film?

Click to expand...

More than likey, you're going to have to raise the money yourself.

I don't want to be harsh, but I think that is what a lot of film makers are thinking, but it doesn't always work out...

Just keep hoping high and dreaming egorganticly.

Poke

Sorry, poke, I don’t know that word, “egorganticly,” nor could I find it in the dictionary. Did you mean exogeneticly?

yatesy_2k4, I’m afraid that’s not how most production companies work. Unless you have the next ‘Good Will Hunting,’ and you can convince them that it is, think of a production company as a rental house that has everything you need that’s too expensive for you to buy yourself. They also have access to all the people to get it done right. If you do find one that is willing to invest money or services in kind, you should expect to give up significant control.

Now if you’re talking about a major studio, they’ll just write you a check and take it for themselves. It may or may not ever be produced, but you’ll loose all control.

A production company’s not a bad idea, just expect to come to the table with a bare minimum of 15 to 20% (preferably 50% or more) of the funds secured, or a name or two attached with a letter of interest. This shows that you’re serious and not just some starry-eyed kid from off the street. Having the production company attached should help you to raise the remaining funds needed to produce the piece.

You may want to try to find a producer that’s sympathetic to your situation. S/he may have contacts themselves, but can also help with all the legalities that have to be done first, if they haven’t been done already, like copyrighting, budgeting, investor packets, business plans, incorporation, etc.

I don’t know what your situation is, but that’s my two cents.

By the way, I’m a developmental producer for a production company, AMVF Productions (www.audiomediavideofilm.com). PM me if you want to talk about it more.

Best advice I can give honestly - 99% of the people you encounter are not going to believe in you. I'm one of them. You're very young and you have to prove yourself to be talented, reliable - someone who has proven that they can truly deliver.

So, write the script, polish it, which means you're going to have to write several drafts, probably between 10-20. Then submit it to screenplay competitions. This is practical. And if your script is as good as you think, it will go somewhere.

I recommend the NICHOLL screenplay competition. It is for amateurs - non-professionals, you dont need an agent, its easy to apply, and cheap (like $30 per script entry)and the winning scripts get recognized by serious industry people. But the competeiton is fierce, thousands of people enter each year. Your script REALLY HAS TO SHINE. The craft and art of screenwriting is much more complex than most think. And being as young as you are - youd have to be a child prodigy to have already discovered what it takes. But everyone starts at the beginnig - yo gottalearnt o swim before you dive into the deep end - oterwise you'll drown.

I doubt you'll get better advice than this.

Hey 'film8ker' I tried to pm you but it wouldnt send because theres something up with this board. I tried that website addy but it didnt work.

If you could give me your email addy coz id like to speak more about this topic to you.

film8ker

film8ker,

I tried your website hyperlink and got a page error. Then I ran it through google and it could not find it. Then I sent you an email, which was very slow to open, and the email gave a send error:

Failed sending email ::

DEBUG MODE

Line : 225
File : /hsphere/local/home/mysites/indietalk.com/forum/includes/emailer.php

Don't know what that means, but I think someone's preventing you from receiving correspondence.

yatesy_2k4,

If you have the know how to get the project off the ground, try and make it go extremely far in your own state. That will be enough to begin with.

Production companies aren't always the answer

I guess my experience of this is that it's easier and more productive to learn how to make your own films, than trying to work with production companies. This is not only because it removes wrangles over control, but also in making my own films, I learnt more about writing for film than I could believe possible. I've also learnt that the smaller the budget, the more creative and skillful you have to be to make the project work.
I know it's not considered fashionable to think of paying your dues, in order to learn the craft of something, but with film making and writing I really believe that it's true.

On the other hand, the one thing I hear more often than not from producers, is that there is a real shortage of good scripts. Personally I don't think that they are looking in the right places (ie me), but it could be that you have just the product that some company is looking for. What I do suggest is that before you try and pitch it, you get as much of the script written as possible. It's not possible to copyright your idea, but your script can be protected.

Hope it works out for you.

Thnx for your reply. Personally (others may have different opinions) that my idea is something very original and has not been done before. I believe the ideas that I have for this are of a good klass and hopefully my script once completed will live up to the standard I hope.

If I was to do the film on my own at a rough estimate how much would you say id need to get it complete?

How much

That's one of those, how long is a piece of string style questions.

The answer depends on, what format you shoot on? What you need in terms of special equipment to make your picture work and who is going to work on it, either as cast or crew?

The truth is that with enough knowledge and hard work you can make a film with very little money.

The difficult part is getting enough knowledge and finding enough pepole with equipment and skills to help you achieve your project. Some people go to film school to learn this stuff and some just find other local film makers and offer to help out for free, in order to learn how it all works, others just start by making small camcorder movies and learning the basic principles of shooting and editing.

Of course, if you are fabulously rich, you could just buy in all the people you needed to make your project happen. Then you are looking at quite serious money to make anything to broadcast standard.

Hope this helps

film8ker said:

Sorry, poke, I don’t know that word, “egorganticly,” nor could I find it in the dictionary. Did you mean exogeneticly?

Click to expand...

Since I have low self esteem, I combine words to make unintelligible words so that I can feel smarter than everyone else. In this case, "egorganticly" is a combinations of "ernormous", "gorgantuous", and "giganticly".

If this method doesn't make sense, just tell yourself that you are not as smart as I am.

Poke

Funny poke!

Okay, so the mirror site must be down or they changed it and never told me - my bad. Try www.amvfproductions.com. The email address in the system is right, I don’t know why it’s not getting to me. yatesy_2k4, the pm did get to me. I think that, GREATwarEAGLE, has the best advice. You can also go to http://cinefuse.com/ and upload your screenplay to get criticism by other writers. You have to review a certain number before you can post, but it’s no big deal.