Good evening everyone! Its my absolute pleasure to discover this forum and share my thoughts here. Im an independent filmmaker who has produced and directed couple of award winning and multiple festival screening short films and one documentary. Infact my second short film also got a distribution here in the US. I made these films couple of years ago and since then have been working in corporate world in an unrelated field. Since quite some time I had been planning to find ways to make my real passion as profession. As we all know, its tough!
I have plans of making an independent feature film soon, but im not expecting that to turn into any windfall as most indies lose money! Recently I decided to go part time in my alternate career and put some of the money I have earned over the last few years in starting a video production business which will have some decent cameras, lenses, post production studio etc etc. Looking at some existing similar businesses, I estimated total investment to be around 50-75k which included 4-6 small to medium end cameras, high end lenses, solid lighting equipment, microphones, sound design softwares, couple of editing workstations and other miscellaneous stuff.
So, here is my plan-
1. Rent a small office space in an inexpensive semi commercial area where I can put equipment and have decent space for post production work, including mini interview shoots, green screen etc.
2. Immediately start making some revenue for the company by renting out equipment, post production equipment and studio space to independent filmmakers, documentary filmmakers, political marketing companies, etc etc
3. Start producing and developing work for corporate clients, educational clients, events etc. Ofcourse this will take some time to take off, I assume
4. Develop a team of other technical people-DOP's, sound designers, editors and animators etc and hire them on project basis; hire a part time administrative assistant to help in scheduling, answering calls etc
Btw, forgot to mention, I plan to start this business somewhere around greater washington DC metro area-northern virginia/baltimore area.
My long term plan is to hone my both creative and technical skills through the projects I will do through my production company, develop a network of creative people and eventually make my indie feature film using most of resources from the company (both equipment and talent wise)
I would like you experienced guys to give your two cents on following points-
1. How does the overall plan sound in the context of current climate of video production business and is there anything important Im missing here?
2. What kind of cameras and other equipment you guys advice on investing in keeping in mind the current advancements in technology and future?
3. Is there anything else I can add in my planned list of equipment rental/services offered which has lot of demand nowadays. I mean may be something like media conversion from one format to another or perhaps something else?
Million thanks in reading it and thanks in advance for your help.
I have plans of making an independent feature film soon, but im not expecting that to turn into any windfall as most indies lose money! Recently I decided to go part time in my alternate career and put some of the money I have earned over the last few years in starting a video production business which will have some decent cameras, lenses, post production studio etc etc. Looking at some existing similar businesses, I estimated total investment to be around 50-75k which included 4-6 small to medium end cameras, high end lenses, solid lighting equipment, microphones, sound design softwares, couple of editing workstations and other miscellaneous stuff.
So, here is my plan-
1. Rent a small office space in an inexpensive semi commercial area where I can put equipment and have decent space for post production work, including mini interview shoots, green screen etc.
2. Immediately start making some revenue for the company by renting out equipment, post production equipment and studio space to independent filmmakers, documentary filmmakers, political marketing companies, etc etc
3. Start producing and developing work for corporate clients, educational clients, events etc. Ofcourse this will take some time to take off, I assume
4. Develop a team of other technical people-DOP's, sound designers, editors and animators etc and hire them on project basis; hire a part time administrative assistant to help in scheduling, answering calls etc
Btw, forgot to mention, I plan to start this business somewhere around greater washington DC metro area-northern virginia/baltimore area.
My long term plan is to hone my both creative and technical skills through the projects I will do through my production company, develop a network of creative people and eventually make my indie feature film using most of resources from the company (both equipment and talent wise)
I would like you experienced guys to give your two cents on following points-
1. How does the overall plan sound in the context of current climate of video production business and is there anything important Im missing here?
2. What kind of cameras and other equipment you guys advice on investing in keeping in mind the current advancements in technology and future?
3. Is there anything else I can add in my planned list of equipment rental/services offered which has lot of demand nowadays. I mean may be something like media conversion from one format to another or perhaps something else?
Million thanks in reading it and thanks in advance for your help.