Don't get me started on surprise goat legs!
Another lucrative "no pay" Craigslist job post
- Thread starter mainstreetprod
- Start date
Don't get me started on surprise goat legs!
David W. Richardson
Chapelgrove Films
Well it is a great script, if the script reader at the Bluecat Screenplay competition is any indication -- "Your story is nicely structured and benefits from strong clarity of writing. You organize scenes in a way where the desired effect is achieved, especially in terms of cross-cutting. For example, when Brandon returns to his dorm and recaps that evening with Jamal you intercut his retelling to Jamal with the dialogue from the flashbacks which yields humorous results."
But your point #1 is no doubt on the mark. If I knew where 'the right places' were, I'd be looking there. Apparently your friend who has been looking for money for 5 years either doesn't have a great script or doesn't know 'the right places' either. Even you imply that if you were looking for money, it would take "6-8-12 months".
I would happily finance the movie myself if I had a spare $500,000 lying around. I believe in it. We just spent a chunk of money shooting a promo trailer for it, which we plan to use to help lure investors. I'm not worried about anything in the script 'offending' the money people -- it's a very family-friendly movie.
Could 'A Scottish Fling' be done on a small budget? Yes. But it's too good a script to not give it the very best execution we can. It deserves a chance to shine. And that means things like actually going to Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland to shoot the final scenes, rather than just using stock footage and sets and pretending we're there. We want the ending shot -- the newly married couple kissing on the turret of the castle as the sun sets on the loch behind them, and the camera slowly flies away (helicopter shot).
Unlike 'Tangled Web', 'A Scottish Fling' wasn't designed to be cheap -- it was designed to be great.
FrameFarmMedia
Veteran
People giving nice reviews of a script are great and all but really it needs to be more like Dragons Den or Shark Tank. You like my script but would you fund it? Why not? I'm sure there are a lot of of awarded scripts that the same judges wouldn't put a penny towards.
The thing is, money people have a slightly different view of a "great script" which includes "do we think the resulting film would be marketable" - after all it's not just about the artistic merits of the writing, but whether it'll make money; there's that list that circulates in hollywood of "great unproduced scripts" - the writing may be great, but they're unproduced because people don't think it'll make money. It sounds like your script is a comedy - fwiw, comedies are some of the most difficult genres to get financed, because the success/failure rate of comedies is very poor; genres like f.ex. horror, no matter how badly made, have a much better success/failure rate, and so are easier to finance; plus, humor is always in the eye of the beholder and notoriously hard to get a consensus on - show it to five different people, and you'll get five different opinions, but with f.ex. the action genre, it's much easier to get agreement "it's good".
All true. Though it is also true, that the better the project is, and the more commercial potential the project has, the easier it is to find those right places. But the money is there for almost all decent projects, and for a HUGE number of bad scripts too, it just may be harder to find - just two weeks ago, a guy I know found money to make a lowish budget film of a to be honest pretty bad script, because he pitched it to emigres from Georgia (former Soviet country) who just loved the idea of shooting a film in their old country.
It's good to believe in the project, because it'll carry you through the inevitable hard times. If you had a spare $500K, you wouldn't have it for very long since you'd spend it on the film. Shooting a trailer is a good approach - or even a 10 minute reel of scenes - it's cheaper than spending $500K (even if you had it), and it will let you know if you have something or not. I'll be brutally honest, I'm pessimistic based on the fact that it's a comedy - and I don't know the first thing about your script, all I know it's a comedy, and that's enough. I've spent several years working at one of the top three talent agencies in town, and I've read a ton of scripts. Just based on the odds, I'm not optimistic about a comedy - comedic talent is hard to find, without money, you'll be using third or fifth rate actors, and in comedy that means almost certain failure. There are exceptions, of course (Napoleon Dynamite etc.), but boy is it rare.
Could 'A Scottish Fling' be done on a small budget? Yes. But it's too good a script to not give it the very best execution we can. It deserves a chance to shine. And that means things like actually going to Eilean Donan Castle in Scotland to shoot the final scenes, rather than just using stock footage and sets and pretending we're there. We want the ending shot -- the newly married couple kissing on the turret of the castle as the sun sets on the loch behind them, and the camera slowly flies away (helicopter shot).
Unlike 'Tangled Web', 'A Scottish Fling' wasn't designed to be cheap -- it was designed to be great.
I don't agree at all. If you must do it, your original plan is much better - shoot a reel, or a trailer. If it's great, find real money, not $500K, because $500K is not enough to get good comedic actors, and your film will live or die based on them. And to find real money for a comedy from an unknown, will be very hard - you are not Judd Apatow. A trailer is your best shot, hoping that someone can see the potential through the inevitable bad acting. It's gonna be tough. All IMHO, YMMV.
David W. Richardson
Chapelgrove Films
Bluecat was founded by the brother of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. I think it's pretty well respected.
David W. Richardson
Chapelgrove Films
Many years ago, when I managed a video store, the distribution companies would send us 'mini movies' -- short 15-20 minute versions of their latest releases. That way the store clerks could familiarize themselves with the movies without having to watch each on in its entirety. I always thought that was a good approach. No idea if they still do that.
David W. Richardson
Chapelgrove Films
That's sort of our approach. Our story is set in the small NC mountain town of Franklin -- a town I know well, as my family comes from there and I've been visiting the town since I was a child. The movie uses real places and real events in the town, such as the annual Taste of Scotland Festival. We depict the town and its people in a very positive light, so we've gotten a ton of support from both merchants and the town council, who will do all they can to help us. We believe 'A Scottish Fling' will do a lot to boost tourism in Franklin, which is important to their economy. And there are several people who live in Franklin who have the ability to write us a check today that would give us more than enough to make the movie.
When the trailer is finished, the promo pack is put together, and the business plan and budget are in order, then we plan to approach those people.
Angelshare1
Well-known member
I used to know a guy who would mention grant money in his ads.
Nothing wrong with freebies but I've always found it's best to put "This is a non-paying role". People are more likely to answer the ad if you're frank and candid about not paying anyone anything.
Nothing wrong with freebies but I've always found it's best to put "This is a non-paying role". People are more likely to answer the ad if you're frank and candid about not paying anyone anything.