Are indie films profitable ?

[jls4]

Well I agree you want people with a great attitude who are stoked about your project too. But those people are pretty easy to find in L.A. ..., to the point where their hourly pay was probably like $8, haha. People are very passionate about that stuff here, at least they have been with what I've done.

It must be an LA thing. Every blue moon you get really enthusiastic people here. but a good portion are just there for the cash only. No cash/Little Cash - no person.

I don't want people who do a bunch of jobs, though. I can't use those people. I want someone who does one job and does it very well. ... -- a ton of talented professionals come together on a project, and for some reason the project is a total disaster, is awful in almost every respect, and you wonder how did so many talented, amazing people make such a turd

I'm not saying I want 1 person to do 20 jobs, but it'd be great if they could do at least 2 jobs well. And that's not difficult. For instance, my asst producer many times slated scenes and also wrote down continuity notes (by the time we recognized we had to have them). It wasn't hard for her, just became a part of her "job". At the point I'm at now, I don't see how I could separate Director and Producer, they just go hand and hand. I don't want to edit anymore and definately no sound work. But I'll always help with lighting and DP work, because I'm going for a certain look.

There was a thread about directors and dps on another part of this board and people were asking where to draw the line between the two positions. For me, I don't have any "true" lines on my set. Anybody can say anything, give advise or help someone else. This to me creates checks and balances and fosters an open and "family" type of environment. So as long as if I'm directing on a set, it automatically makes me Producer/Asst. DP/Asst. Lighting.

I do hope though, once I have enough money, I can produce other people's films. But I will want to incorporate them into "our" type of environment that is more open. I think about this all of the time, because my ultimate goal is to own a studio here in Atlanta. But I want a different type of environment than what is out in LA, one that is more "realistic" and less likely to exist in the 80% success/20% failure rate of many Hollywood Studios. I truly believe that 95% of movies can be true successes. To foster this, I'll probably recruit younger directors because they haven't been "raised up" in the Hollywood environment.