"Corrado" - A production blog

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Prodigi Pictures said:
At last year's AFM they had a panel of the top twenty buyers. Every one of them said the same thing, "We're sick of horror. We're not buying horror. For the past 7 years horror has dominated the AFM and the audience is sick seeing us buy horror films. They aren't performing like they were four years ago. Don't make any horror films."

Do what you want, but the buyers were loud and clear.

Someone then asked a follow up question "Well, what are you buying?" The answer "You can never go wrong with action or a thriller. Just make it good."
Click to expand...


That's amazing, Justin. I heard all kinds of bad things about horror - in fact I mentioned staying away from it in the beginning of this thread, but I have never heard anything quantifiable about it. That's good info to know!
 
Thanks, Adam. :)

You have to go to the AFM panels, Adam. Even if your film has already sold by then, you should still go. The AFM panels often have the top financiers and top buyers talk about how they make decisions.

It is an opportunity to learn about bank loans, pre-sales, buying trends and the thought process of the movers and shakers at the AFM.

I don't go into anything blind or without thorough research. :)
 
Well yea I know they don't want horror right now, or atleast they didn't last year, and might not this year, but lord willing, my film won't even be ready until next year as I'm still in the beginning stages of the script.

however as adam said, if you meet the criteria, you will probably sell, there is ALWAYS an October 31st..there is ALWAYS a horror fan..hell, go on IMDB and check the message boards, horror is destroying every other category as far as genre's are concerned.

Crappy horror isn't going to sell, that's probably true..however I think if you put thought into a film and generate a buzz, it will do well, we're already working out a marketing plan to create a buzz for the film (which may or may not work but we'll see)..

And also following Adam's advice as far as those 4 points go.

Speaking of Adam, that was genius, even though you did it on accident (most genius things seem to happen this way) having Tom in the film every 5 minutes..that is something to think about, and something I may steal from you lol.

Also that's cool that you have talent with familiar names or faces in pretty much every scene, that's smart and that's impressive considering your budget. I don't think that's necessary for horror, however that name talent every 5-7 minute thing, that's brilliance my friend!
 
Guys a slight shift of focus for a moment...

TODAYS QUESTION;

Dear Mr. Cultraro,

You can do a lot of market research on your own and thats a smart thing right? I mean you do have to have some sort of concept of whats what at the moment, whos buying where etc and also who is making what? So you/we don`t all show up at the door knocking with the same damb vacuum cleaner for sale ( : Why vaccum cleaner? - Something that sucks - ( Thats why ) : )

Now if we would take that a step further. Lets say you have been around the block once or twice and its starting to be routine you are able to refine your game for next time around and you want to of course make more money for yourself for whatever reasons. The questions is, in a list of prioreties which infromation would you go about getting and from where?

For example;

A. How many Territories.
B. How many windows in that Territory.
C. Case histories of previous sales.
D. Performance and revenue streams from each window against purchase price.
E. Prices paid.

( Etc-Etc-Etc )

I guess what I am after is what would be the most exhustive way to go about researching this on the next level...Why some may wonder, because of the marketing thats why. And when you are working with 1/1000th of a Advertising/Marketing/P&A budget that a major has at its disposal you need to think strategically to be able to maximize damage with minimum resources ( Thats why )

Are there bureau`s, directories, listings, etc to get a hold of these types of statistics? Where? How much to get a peek?

Dogday.


P.S.

How about some Photos on the "Corrado" IMDB page? ( Too Soon or what? )
 
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Dog,

Researching previous sales is one of the hardest things to do in this business. Almost impossible. Even with the anomalies like Big Fat Greek Wedding and Blair Witch, it's pretty public what the film grossed, not so public what the filmmakers were actually paid.

Researching small films like Corrado is even harder: you are flooded with anecdotal evidence of films that sold. The stories typically go like this:

1. I know a guy who sold a film to Lionsgate
2. I was at AFM last year and saw tons of movies that sold
3. I sold a film I made for $30K to Sony but I'm not at liberty to disclose what I received.

No one wants to share this information. It's hard to come by. The stories above are common ones and grounded in truth but contain little factual data.

I will disclose what I sell Corrado for if I am at liberty to do so, if I am not, I will give people a ballpark figure. I'm sure Justin will do the same.

As for looking into all the territories, one distributor who saw my demo simply told me Corrado would sell in every territory. No need for analysis there.

As for pics on the imdb, I'll have to do that asap!!!!
 
Alright there are a lot of books out there now tons & tons actually on every aspect of the business behind and in front of the cameras...Does anyone now where I can get something that goes into the exact tasks and procedures of what a sales agent does? and or war stories from the trenches? A confessions of a sales agent type of thing or blog?

Dogday.

P.S.
The pictures of you in action pointing here and there were fun...Say when they are up so we can sneak a peek.
 
"Spike, Mike, Slackers, & Dykes" and "Down and Dirty Pictures" talks about what sales agents/producer's reps do. The only rub is, the stories recounted are all from the 90s.
 
Wow, I can't believe I just read almost 169 pages. Great thread. Way late to it but I got to read it all at once and get the entires story.

What's the latest? Has the film sold? Whats going on with movie #2?
 
Duke = Big Thanks for the tip I just ordered both of them from Amazon. Its a long haul and understanding where up to 25% can go for Producers Rep & Sales Agent Fees is IMHO PPPretty F-King important to scrutinize that particular link in the chain.

Vic = You are the Fellini nut yes? Tell about whats in your book if you will, Is it Artistic Manifesto or Nuts and Bolts about Business that covers what I am looking for now as stated above? I will get it either way but interesting to know a bit about it. You can PM me so we don`t get too far off topic here.

BTW I am a Fellini nut too!

Dogday.
 
whoa two fellini nuts in the same forum? i guess that makes 3 =)

kiddin aside i have no idea what fellini is? sounds like some type of cat youd purchase from home shoppin network
 
Fellni isn't off topic in this thread. LOL This is Italian style filmmaking; you march the centurions in a single formation through hell and high water until they vanquish the enemy shouting "victory or death!"

My film book is about 35mm filmmaking; but it doesn't matter as far as philosophy of filmmaking is concerned. It goes into distribution as well and a bit about financing.

You can review it from http://www.releasing.net/books/

In fact, it's all posted online :-)

My email address is: vic@felliniesque.com

My fellini website is: http://www.felliniesque.com
 
Hi Adam,

Great to see the film is coming along so well, i knew you had a winner from the beginning. This thread is truly inspirational, thank you for what you are sharing.
Here some questions about the production.

Financing -

Lets say budget your film at 350k and you start seeking financing for this, how much return is the average investor going to expect on his investment? And how do you go about laying out worst and best case scenario? Where do you find the data to back that up? I totally agree with you that using Blairwhich and such examples is nothing less than misleading and will come to bite you in the ass later? So what do you base your estimated profit on? To what extent did you explain the risk level to your investors or to future investors? What is common practice in other business ventures? Do you as a producer seeking investment only focus on covering your self? Or is it also important that you point out the several ways in which a project might and could go wrong to investors? What is your opinion on the "reveal all" approach in business, or is this just a sucker way of doing it?


I have heard that often making the second film can be much more hard, especially if the first one did not make good business? What was your strategy in approaching investment, with this in mind? I guess its better to use the least number of investors possible so as not to burn your bridges if the first project does not pan out as expected?


Splitting the cake -

How much percentage of the profit are you expecting to keep for your input - directing, writing, editing, producing.....? On what do you estimate the value of your contribution? I mean if you spent a year writing a script, what is that worth in $?


On casting-

When approaching agents, if i remember correctly, you simply said you would like to book Tom for five days, got a quote and paid up? Was there no negotiating involved? Are rates for actors like Tom simply fixed, regardless of the total budget? I have heard that you can not approach other actors if you are waiting for a actor to give you an answer. How did you deal with this, when waiting at lest 2 weeks or more every time before having a yes or no? What would you do differently if you would have to go through this process again (as a first timer)?


Would love to hear your or anyone else's, that has first hand experience perspective on these questions?
 
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Also i know you had an incredible short turnaround time for your film, how does this relate to investors expectation of how much they want on there return? As in if you would have taken a year to post produce would that mean they where less inclined to invest and such????
 
Man, Adam I tried to find this information again but I couldn't may I ask again was your budget 350k or 750k..(imdb says 750 but I SWEAR I thought you said your full budget was like 350 with 120 going to cast)..

Sorry I'm trying to get an idea of pricing and that info would help greatly..I want to have a thread like this sometime next year and be the next guy!!

I'm SO routing for you dude, I think I'm gonna cry when this film is done, it's pretty symbolic at this point!!
 
Sorry about that Justin. Maybe I crossed the line. Anyway, it was related to the subject under discussion that Adam had also commented on. It was something DogDay was talking about regarding distribution and return on investment. My book goes into a lot of that, but it's maybe too marginal.

I noticed you have a lot about the making of your films on companion DVDs. So you do a lot of instruction regarding the how-to's of filmmaking. I've read a lot about lighting, grip, finance, posters -- really everything on your threads. It's very informative and useful information for filmmakers. I'm no where near as prolific in those areas of instruction and marketing books or DVDs as you are. I'm doing very poorly in sales in fact, unlike you, so I hope you won't hold this one mention of my book against me too much :-)
 
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