Crazy Idea (Open minded people only)

Actually, everybody taking 4% is better so their 1% left over goes into the production company account... that money can be used to get loans and invest in future films... When one guy decides o leave the company for whatever reason... He gets his 1% out of the bank account as a present...

You know, it's like a little company that 20 people start up together... I know an acountant who would love to do the money handling... The problem is so much money would be lost in accountant fees, insurance, and tax... But with good enough movies and a unanimous decision by 20 people on the best screenplay... good movies can make some big bucks... or so I've heard... Than again, I don't really care about that right now...
 
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You know, I had the same idea but mine entailed keeping everybody in touch that was in my college film program so that we all could get together and start up a studio of our own to make all of our films.

Problem was, there were tons of questions.

"Who's going to be the boss?"

"Who's films do we make first?"

"Where's the money coming in from while we make the first few films?"

"Who gets to be the ______ for this film?"

"Can anyone within the studio act the parts?"

"If not, should we bring in the theatre students as well?

"Will people stay loyal or shoot to Hollywood and sell (ie. steal) our scripts?"



and ultimately, the biggest question of them all...


"Who's going to go along with this to begin with?"


Heck, if I could do something like this, not only would doors be open, there wouldn't be any doors in the way of anyone involved. It's a beautiful dream and I know where you're coming from. But I already see a few flaws in your plan that kind of makes it sound like you're simply devising a scheme.

For one, the idea of throwing out the least liked script. Already that's a foolish move since, as I've come to learn, you should try to have as many ideas as possible, even if it is the one you'd least like to do. Say you make your first 5 films but the entire staff gets writers block, well, you'll at least have that least liked 6th script.

Secondly, you're depending on people to drop out. Already that sounds like a pyramid scheme of some sort and will hurt your idea most of all. Also, I don't think you're looking at the overall legal ramifications of the plan. Say some guy named Jeff gets his movie made, a month later, Jeff drops out after the massive success of his film and he'll do well on that 5% for a long time. Well, according to you, the company will cut off Jeff's 5% when in fact, the script was written by Jeff. Of course, if he sold it to you, I'm not sure what he can do, I'm no lawyer. But say for instance, Jeff had previously gotten a copyright and WGA register on his script before going into "FutureDVXUser Studios" (or whatever you guys would call yourselves), then after a more than likely swift trail, Jeff would then own FutureDVXUser Studios because he sued everyone so badly for ultimately attempting to take away his creative property.

So, if you're going to look at profit, then that 5% had best stay where it's at no matter who drops out.

The problem, as many have said, is trying to spread the wealth among so many people. Unless you started selling stock in your company, then you could do as you say, but then you would be entirely up to the stock market trade and constantly having to shift stocks to new people and all that (at least from my understanding of how that works). So devising a contract for everyone involved to sign in for this ambitious project would be paramount to anything else.

Yes, if you could equally distribute the money, the workloads, and the talent to everyone involved, then you would be able to pull this off. But maintaining that is key and I'm definitely not sure if that can be done.

Honestly, you're better off having those 20 people do a film on a film-by-film basis like all other independent filmmakers, as long as they are willing to donate and contribute to the movie that you're making, again, like all independent filmmakers do. Once you start trying to make a business thing about it, then trouble comes in and makes things ugly.
 
If somebody that left is already collecting royalties from a film, how would their royalties from them? It's just... they're not in the company anymore... so for the next films... everybody can split their portion up... But the person who left would still be collecting from the film he/she did with them...

The who does what thing is all based on votes... Because say all 20 people want to get their idea or their story across... Now out of 20 stories, you'll see who which the best one is...

Yes, it's kinda like investing and owning part of the company... The 1% going back into the account you still own... And when you leave (so many people want to leave and go off on their own... some people can look at the bank account as saving up to go into their own production and when they have enough in their 1% to go make their own feature film, why not just break away?)

Also, say for some reason everybody just out of nowhere decides to close the company down... or it got bought out... (this is getting real corporate over here heh) now we all split the buy out 5% and than everybody gets the money from what they put back in the company account. (because it has to be evenly devided) So say everybody puts in $10,000 tops from their 1% over time. They get that $10,000 back.

It's not like I would want anybody to leave... with 20 people you always have a crew and you can get everything done much smoother... But people are going to want to leave and their share of the company will have to go somewhere...

The owner should be the person who starts it up... Say you start a search for 20 people with different talents in film... You register the company... Than say you throw in $3,000... So that'd be the company business plus the $3,000. Now you go to other people interested in film... or with expierience or whatever... They invest $2,500.

The first stage, "the pitch", all the story creators would send their stuff to you. You put them all together. Send it out to everybody. Than everybody gets their votes in... Keep the least voted script or not... Why do you wanna look at it again in the next round?

Everybody who would do something like this would have to invision themselves as... talented investors? I dunno... something like that... You know theres investors who do nothing ... Like real estate investors... They cough up money and everybody does the stuff for them... Well here, your an animator investor... Your a cinematographer investor... And your getting a share from the company...

Not only will you have the $50,000 to start with, but you should also have a producer who can go out and get sponsors for the film (because that's their part in this)... So there's more money in the dish... Also the 20 people who get together... They can all colaborate their work and make a reel type thing for the company...

The person whose story gets picked is usually the head of everything... After the script is completed... All 20 people must read it again and another vote from the director list would take place... From their... people who have their skills will take over... People don't have to only have one skill... They can do lights and be an animator... They can do casting and do audio...

(So at this point... This business plan is like a reality show, investmen, and a film company... And to others a scam... But the whole thing of somebody dropping out and other people in the company splitting their share is the way business really works...)

I can't see any other way to make a film with less money out of pocket... Well, unless you got somebody to produce it... Or invest in the whole thing... But that's tough...

Well whatever... it was just an idea I had...
 
how about having a contest like dramafest and everybody that enters a film has to put money in the pot, the winner gets to choose designated partners to work with on the feature. now we will need a voting board.............ah too much crybaby sh it will happen.
 
lol, I heard when you enter certain contests like they, they get full creative control over your material... I was reading the forums in On The Lot and I saw somewhere that when you submit your short film, they own the material...
 
FutureDVXUser said:
Once the movie is done... The publicists and trailer cutters take over... After it gets distributed... The prophet gets split 20 ways... That's 5% each...
Any thoughts?
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Do you have a plan B if you don't get distribution? When you say "gets distributed" I'm assuming someone picking it up and not self distributution right?

Say you go through all that stuff, there's still no guarantees you'll get distribution? Now what, shoot another movie?

Don't get me wrong, the plan sounds good, but the business side of things would kill it, I'm assuming your an indie like the rest of us and business is not your expertise. Here's something better, why don't you gather up those same 20 people and not have them invest $2,500 or even start a business.

Just make the movie, keep the same formulla but have no money involve, money will ruin everything. I'm pretty sure of those 20 individuals, there will be tons of resources to make a great film.

Count me in. Now get 18 more.
 
FutureDVXUser said:
Well, I would do story/concept idea, screen writer, I have a DVX (but I haven't used it yet though I plan on making a short film next week with two actors and one location ... >.< ...) Probobly direct the stuff I write... Do casting... I always thought an actor should have "that voice" ... theres a specific voice that can get a mood over well and have it sound good during a film... It's a really detailed thing that I've noticed is over looked a lot...

I'd do also handle planning/scheduling (keep the filming days to a minumum)... A lot of stuff... Cut trailers... Write trailers for movie ideas that we don't exactly know how to go about... But know the concept... So we make the trailer... See peoples reaction... And know if it's worth beatting your brains in to figure out how it's gonna be put together... (There's a lot of people with ideas that don't exactly know how to make it work, but have the concept... you know what I mean??) With 25 people, you'll have somebody to go to for help... If you get a full 25 person crew to like an idea... That means you have somethin... So like I said, nothing should turn out dry... And better looking movies can be made because of the $50,000 start off... And everybody has to know where to find somebody famous to read a script and try getting there interest to take a roll... So that can be another good thing...

I can't sound mix or do animation... So I'm worthless there... I can't make custom music... I can invest the start off money...

Let me know your thoughts...

Thanks
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Count me in! HOWEVER I am going to do the planning/scheduling, come up with the story idea, write the screen play, do the casting, cut the trailers, direct the film and a lot of other stuff. Where do I sign up?
 
capitalP said:
Do you have a plan B if you don't get distribution? When you say "gets distributed" I'm assuming someone picking it up and not self distributution right?

Say you go through all that stuff, there's still no guarantees you'll get distribution? Now what, shoot another movie?

Don't get me wrong, the plan sounds good, but the business side of things would kill it, I'm assuming your an indie like the rest of us and business is not your expertise. Here's something better, why don't you gather up those same 20 people and not have them invest $2,500 or even start a business.

Just make the movie, keep the same formulla but have no money involve, money will ruin everything. I'm pretty sure of those 20 individuals, there will be tons of resources to make a great film.

Count me in. Now get 18 more.
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i'm with P - i'd love to work on a project just for the benefit of experience and the community - i'd much sooner donate my time than my money :)
 
ozduc said:
Count me in! HOWEVER I am going to do the planning/scheduling, come up with the story idea, write the screen play, do the casting, cut the trailers, direct the film and a lot of other stuff. Where do I sign up?
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:laugh:
 
CapitalP, don't you have a movie coming up? I'm gonna take a look at the bus schedule and I'll bring my camera down there when your shooting...

Maybe we can do something in the summer... Get a bunch of people together... I can get NDA contracts written... Everybody pitch their story... And whichever story gets most votes is the film we work on... How does that sound?

We'd still need to pitch it to investors and stuff like that thought... But we can all colaborate our material together into one big trailer...

Heck, I got a cheesy business plan written up... PM me with your e-mail if ya wanna check it out...

Any thoughts?
 
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All this seems very interesting... I'd love to see how this pans out..... Keep in touch.
Looking forward to later this year Patrick......

Chris
 
Later this year Patrick... Like... Later this year for St. Patricks Day? I like St. Patricks Day... evan though I don't drink... =)
 
FutureDVXUser said:
So what happens is... everybody gets to confidentially pitch in their story Whosever story is picked is liked out of the majority... so that's the story you'll go with
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This is not as clear cut as it seems to be. 20 people submitting 20 ideas that they all love. Then one film "lost" the right to be made and you vote again for the other 19 until one film eventually "won." How do you think the authors of the other 19 scripts is going to feel? There's guarantee to be someone who thinks that the chosen script is crap. Most likely quite a few people will get angry or disconnected from the chosen film simply because "their" idea isn't chosen.

FutureDVXUser said:
Now, with the completed script... All 20 people get together again... Read it...And another unanimous type voting is done for the director
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This sounds too much like a written by committee situation. What if disagreement breaks out between the writers and the rest of the investors? What if the chosen director doesn't like the script and wants to change it? What if the original writer wants to direct but everyone voted him out? The ultimate question is: who's in charge? Which person gets the final say, and by what authority? Everybody contributed the same amount of money, so they're all going to demand an equal voice. Sorry for being skeptical, but you always need one or two person to be in charge; try to run it democratically and it just falls apart.
 
brownhood said:
All this seems very interesting... I'd love to see how this pans out..... Keep in touch.
Looking forward to later this year Patrick......

Chris
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Yes C-Brown, can't wait...
 
Sometimes a different director can give an extra tweak/better look or feel to another persons writing...

Also, the money invested at the beginning is really just to make everybody a fair share from whatever movie(s) is/are made...

Nobody loses their rights to the movie if it doesnt get voted... Why does everybody keep thinkin' that? Well, if it sounds like that... Sorry, but it's not supposed to...

And with the voting, if the majority of the people vote for a movie... Than that should be the main story to focus on because... Well, weather its by a landslide or not... a majority of the people liked it... and thats usually how things go... If a majority likes something... Than thats what you should focus on...

How are the authors who dont get picked going to feel? Well bad, but everybody gets turned down so many times, everybody should be used to that... I've been turned down from a lot of things and I feel bad in the end... But than again I just look at it as sh*t happens heh... The thing is, it has to be... I don't want to say competitive... But wouldn't it be nice to work on something, (doing anything! lighting, camera, clean sets), that has most of the interest?

If a writer or a director gets beatten out, tough luck... You'll still be involved and credited for something that should turn out excellent... Why limit yourself to only your script? I know everybody wants to ... But maybe your script just at that time doesn't have the extra edge it potentially has... so that just gives you more time to work on it some more to the best of it's ability... right?
 
First, please don't take any of my comment as an attack, I'm simply trying to give some critique about points that you might be missing

FutureDVXUser said:
Sometimes a different director can give an extra tweak/better look or feel to another persons writing...
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I agree, but who gets to decide this?


FutureDVXUser said:
And with the voting, if the majority of the people vote for a movie... Than that should be the main story to focus on because... Well, weather its by a landslide or not... a majority of the people liked it... and thats usually how things go... If a majority likes something... Than thats what you should focus on...
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The problem is, the script voted for by most people isn't necessarily the best script. To make a movie, it's critical that everyone involved be passionate about the materials and be 100% behind the idea. Let's say a script won by a vote of 14 to 6. Well, then you have 6 people who opposed the idea who are going to be working on it. How much of an effort do you think they'll put in?

FutureDVXUser said:
If a writer or a director gets beatten out, tough luck... You'll still be involved and credited for something that should turn out excellent... Why limit yourself to only your script? I know everybody wants to ... But maybe your script just at that time doesn't have the extra edge it potentially has... so that just gives you more time to work on it some more to the best of it's ability... right?
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You're being way too optimistic here by assuming that everyone would want to sacrifice for the good of the whole group. There's one thing that will always crop up and ruin everything: Ego. Everyone has their own idea of how to make the movie "good." The bigger the project, the more people will want to exert their own influence on the film, be it the script, the directing, etc. We see this happens all the time in the industry, but I'm afraid that it's going to be so much worse in your case because everyone is entitled to a voice in how the film get made (seeing as how they all invested equally).

A similar but better model in my opinion would be to give the writer of the winning script complete creative control. He can choose to direct the movie himself or he can appoint someone else to do it; same with all other creative positions. This way, at least the people in the post will be on the same wavelength as the writer as to how the film should be made. A film is best made with a unifying vision.
 
jade8472 said:
First, please don't take any of my comment as an attack, I'm simply trying to give some critique about points that you might be missing
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Ahh, it's all good...

Anyway, check this out... It's funny you say the person whose story wins should get creative control because... He actually does... Than it's his choice to pick either one or two other people to write a script, write the script with those one or two other people, or simply write the script on his own. It's always good to write a script with maybe one or two people... Because... Well, it closes any parts that might not be to the best of it's ability...

From their, they take it to whoever the creator want's to be the producer... The guy who will go out and get sponors to raise more or a budget... He/She reads the script... States his opinion... Tweaks it... Does whatever...

I gotta say... The director thing shouldn't be done by a vote... But should be a unanimous decision by the writers and producer weather or not to have the story maker be the director or somebody else...

About the people that picked a story that isn't going to be filmed... If those people are really passionate about making movies... They'll work on any set... Well, that's just what I believe... Heck, I'd do it... Which means I'd also need a ton of other people like me haha...

You're right about so many people wanting to back out if it isn't THEIR story that gets picked... And than they wanna take the money out of the budget... And thats the root to all fighting...

I was just tryin' to figure out a way to make movies with people and start off with a nice chunk of money... But the first day I posted this I said to myself, "Ok, this isn't gonna happen..."

It is cool when people bring their equipment on other peoples sets and donate their time... But wheres money for props, food, locations, insurance, a famous guest star, etc? The start off money should show sponsors how serious these 20 people are about makin movies...

But like I said b4, it was just an idea... heh...
 
FutureDVXUser said:
About the people that picked a story that isn't going to be filmed... If those people are really passionate about making movies... They'll work on any set... Well, that's just what I believe... Heck, I'd do it... Which means I'd also need a ton of other people like me haha...
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People starting out will do just about anything to work on a film but once the novelty wears off, it's about a career. Indy films can make a career for the writer, directer, producer, and actors. The rest of the crew will see no progression forward in their career. It is a urban legend that the directer of a successful film can "take" his crew along with him as he goes on to make studio films. They will hire and use experienced union crew at that point.

So, why would I want to pay to work some lowly crew postions on a film when I could just as easily throw a dart at craigslist and work on one of a thousand films looking for free crews and offering "points on the backend"

It seems I would get involved in this endevour because I thought I would have some serious creative input, otherwise I will save my money and work for free somewhere else.

I guess the question you have to ask yourself FutureDVXer, would you be a part of this group of yours if there was zero possiblity that YOUR script would be choosen or that you would be producer or director?

my $.02
 
FutureDVXUser said:
And with the voting, if the majority of the people vote for a movie... Than that should be the main story to focus on because... Well, weather its by a landslide or not... a majority of the people liked it... and thats usually how things go... If a majority likes something... Than thats what you should focus on...
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One major important point you are missing. If you have 20 people with a script they want produced then you will never have a majority vote. You will have 20 votes...one for each script. Are you going to vote for someone else's script to be produced if you're putting money in the pot?
 
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