Here goes:
I have a feature (120min) screenplay that I have knocked up in 6 months. Unfortunately those 6 months were spread over 6 years...
It's low budget in terms of being under $6million but is low in SFX (sorry no zombies)and has had some pretty good (okay very good) reviews from other screenwriters @ zoetrope.com... don't worry I appreciate these people aren't executives!
Having been bitten in the ass by an over zealous director before, I was wondering the best way to get it produced?
You can't get an agent without experience.. you can't get it produced without representation?
When it comes to marketting and production I have in the past been exceptionally cheeky; unsolicited emails galore and some great replies (mostly thanks but no thanks). My previous two short films were crewed by folk who wanted to be involved as they liked the concept, not just because they had nothing better to do (ok they had nothing better to do). I am wondering whethe to go down the sell it and run avenue and don't care what it looks like. Or have some involvement in the film making process.
What are your guys experiences? Miker... you did yours all yourself? Kigo? Vertino? Experiences of Mirror Man? jb? Chance? Marcus... everyone!!?
I'm not intending a flame war. I know some of the answers. Just thought it would be good to talk about film production!
Me
I bankrolled every project myself with the result that they all were cack. Funny cack mostly, but you can't really polish a turd. Hence my withdrawal from actual shooting and focusing more on getting the business side right first before even putting together a shooting schedule, let alone picking up a camera.
You may sell on the script but )as mentioned in another thread on this board) don't expect the finished product to be anywhere near your original script.
First of all, congrats on getting the thing written at all. I'm sure everyone that's ever written has a few dozen 30 page starts before they get to the end. It can be soul destroying.
I would say go the agent route. I know you wrote that you can't get an agent without exerience but I don't think this is true. Agents live by getting work sold and if your script is good and marketable then a decent agent will be able to sell it. I've only sold a couple of things (none produced) but I found an agent by sending out samples to people willing to read them. (Can't pass you on I'm afraid as she doesn't do referels). Believe me, if you follow the submission rules then it WILL get read. And if it's any good it might get sold.
Pick up a good agent directory or hit the ol' internet. You'd be amazed how many people will accept unsolicited scripts.
However, if you're talking about being involved in the actual production then I don't know. Maybe send it to some rich actors. If you tweaked it to flatter someone rich and stupid (that guy from East Enders who paid for his own film springs to mind) then they might take it to a producer and off you go.
I don't think rich, stupid actors are in short supply on either side of the Atlantic.
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I've written 3,500 words on my novel today and this post is the only thing that doesn't suck.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Might have to steal that for a t-shirt.Originally posted by miker:
Nobody cares. Population: 6 billion.
got a couple of projects which im going to chase down the funding route (one of them involving eddie of this board) which feeling quite confident about as its a short, animated, of local interest (to someone who lives in dartmoor)
The other is a feature Silva Superior set immediatly after the Varus Defeat in AD9 (three roman legions anilated) nice thing about it, is its one location and just three cast of whom one doesnt even need a costume.
http://www.5ylac.biz/flashing/silva1%20copy.jpg
Mainly putting that through the funding route to get the experience of putting together a whole proposal package etc and collecting a few rejection letters, though in no rush for that, way at the bottom of the pile but in the background , I'm quietly making props and costume for it , though 99% of the film is the three characters the opening section is going to be huge, Hopefully in the first week of february if the weather breaks ill be putting this together http://www.5ylac.biz/flashing/shield.avi ,(designed by chances school of engineering) all the wood is currently sitting in my garage , and had the bolts and mechanism made especially for it by a steam engine engineer as its going to take pressure !!!!(each one of those purple sections is 60') what is it i hear you cry, its how im going to be able to churn out 30 or so Roman Scutum shields, with out breaking a sweat.
So most likely on that front, will end up funding the film myself as everything will be made by then when i get up to that point...long way down the road
So to answer your original question Them1th , yeap mortus illumina is stuck in a rut at the moment, but that review on nunsploitation has given us abit of a kick to make some more time for it. yes its horribly behind schedule, yes its taken up way to much of my life, headaches, near bankruptcy but if i had to do it all again , i would. Though ask me again once ive gone through the whole trying to find funding route whenever that maybe.
In the meantime, ill keep churning out props scraping by and taking my creative frustations out on flash and photoshop and trying to bring surealist humour to greece.
I don't think my end product is complete cack, but it's not exactly Trauffaut either.
http://www.ratemymovie.co.uk/
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0466740/
It was co-produced with an IT company (there's a surprise), but a lot of petty cash ended up coming off my personal credit cards :-(
The hardest part of filmmaking isn't making the film, surprisingly. It's getting anybody even remotely interested in watching it.
I still love making films, and I still work for crumbs as a sound recordist on other people's shoots (though if I'm a true professional I should call everything - everything - a show).
The festival circuit is either so high-brow that you must be a black lesbian in a wheelchair, or so low-brow they show any old shit.
Pompous directors and producers only care about visuals. Directors will wait for the camera crew to fuck about with lighting and framing, but the moment the sound department causes a delay there's hell to pay. That's why laveliers are so popular even though they generally sound "wrong" and are susceptable to clothing noise. Wardrobe!!
What have I learned? Nobody cares. Population: 6 billion.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I've been reading that crock of shit and hearing people say it for about 15 years and I am STILL waiting to see a film made by a black lesbian in a wheelchair. Or even one with a black lesbian in a wheelchair IN the fucking movie.Originally posted by miker:
The festival circuit is either so high-brow that you must be a black lesbian in a wheelchair, or so low-brow they show any old shit.
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Sits back, sips his coffee and waits for people to search the internet for an example to prove him wrong. And the "Queer women of colour" festival DOESN'T COUNT.
So do i do what I did last time and get on shooting people and get people on board? Or do I get myself on some courses and on some shoots and learn the art of direction for myself?
Has anyone gone down the funding route? I mean a little funding... 10p? I appreciate this is a Guerilla forum and most people tend to shoot for themselves.
I must dust off my old copy of Guerilla Film maker's hand book and delve in.
.......
Me
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">good god man!,next you will be reading rebel without a crew !I must dust off my old copy of Guerilla Film maker's hand book and delve in
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