Corrado Part II

adam did you use a casting director for Corrado? how did you go about selecting the supporting cast members?

i remember at the start of the first thread you said the rest of the cast kinda fell in line once Seizmore (and maybe a coupla other names) were on board. did the supporting cast members just get paid scale?
 
Mickey Munday said:
adam did you use a casting director for Corrado? how did you go about selecting the supporting cast members?

i remember at the start of the first thread you said the rest of the cast kinda fell in line once Seizmore (and maybe a coupla other names) were on board. did the supporting cast members just get paid scale?
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No, I hired them all personally. Once I had my big roles filled in, I moved down the line. Some of my TV guys got paid more than scale. By the time I was at my day and two or three day players I was into scale territory for sure. Some of these lesser characters were found via calls on Breakdown Services, while others came as referrals from agents who had already provided larger cast members.
 
So a ballpark idea of when your + investors cash is recouped? Was there money down/up front? What % of your budget ( Estimate ) and when does the rest come ( If ) ... Did you establish milstones for that or is it something that has to monitored as it trickles back over a span of TTTTIIIIMMMEEEE?

Why I wonder? Because I have cash & am toying with the idea of putting it into something if the ROI turnaround is within reason so it doesnt cripple the possibility of getting other projects off the ground.

In a nutshell=How long do you think it will take to get your money back...All of it.


DogDay.




__________
 
Dog,

You've brought up an excellent topic - one that hasn't been mentioned yet - recoupment.

The short version is you ask for money from your investors, you make a movie, sell it, then get the initial investment back with a profit. Hopefully!

I'm going to discuss recoupment in a movie like Corrado first. RRB's method of recoupment will be different.

Firstly, I borrowed the money for Corrado in February, March, and April of 2008. Nigh on a year ago. You will obviously need to borrow money somewhat prior to the filming of your movie, since the bulk of it will be spent before you ever shoot a frame of film.

We shot the film in late April / May of '08. Post was complete and I had a finished film in October of 2008.

I just signed with a sales agent, who does not provide an advance since they aren't the end buyer...the end buyers are yet to come.

I've been told to expect the bulk of the money to come in within the next 180 days or so.

Recap: On Corrado, the money should come in approximately 16 months from the initial investment.

There are caveats to all of this; the money may never come in. It could come in sooner. It could come in, but much later than I have planned. It's hard to control these things.

I experienced many delays and setbacks in Corrado due to sheer inexperience. It's stuff I'll never repeat agin for sure, but I could have cranked it out quite a bit sooner:

  • I had 3 pickup days in June. Shooting more days during principal would have saved me over a month of time waiting to do pickups.
  • I edited the feature myself. I enjoyed it, but it took time: about 90 days! Having an on-set editor or at least an assistant would've saved me another month.
All of this means that I could have shortened the recoupment window down to 12 months or maybe a bit longer.

Part II

Your recoupment strategy varies on the deal you will ultimately get. You will recall I posted a list of deals in the order from best to worse:

1. Presales / negative pickup: You'll never sell all of your investment here, but you will have a guarantee of recouping at least part of your investment the second you turn over a finished movie. This one is kind of tied with number 2 as far as favorability, I just put it as number 1 from a recoupment strategy because you have a guarantee of at least some cash coming in before a single frame is shot.

2. Studio Buyout deal: Sometimes you can get these yourself, sometimes you need someone from #3 to do it for you. It's just like it sounds. You finish a film and some big studio buys the whole thing out from you - worldwide rights. You get a big advance, a piece of the back end, and live happily ever after - hopefully. Hard to get unless all of the elements are in place - awesome cast - festival (cough...Sundance...cough) winners....


3. Sales agent / producer's rep: These guys will sell your film for you piece by piece or potentially to a larger entity in one piece depending on their connections. Your recoupment time on this can be anywhere from immediately to 18-24 months if it drags it's ass territory by territory. Some films never sell. Some sell quickly and for a profit. Your mileage may vary.


4. Sell it yourself: Bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. You are now selling DVDs one by one off your site! Actually this could vary between that deal and you getting yourself a studio deal all by yourself. This one here depends on your skill level. In any case, recoupment here will simply take more time because there is only one of you (or at best your producing team) instead of a big sales agent or studio running the deal.


So that's how Corrado wound up, how about Red Ruination Blue?

I probably will not go into RRB without some presales commitment from a studio or mini/major. I've already got pretty good heat from Starz Anchor Bay.

This makes it so much easier for people to invest in your films. Oversimplified, it's like I'm being guaranteed a million in sales on a two million dollar budget. Now only half the money is at risk.

How would you (the guy on the street) like to invest in that combo. A great cast, a great script, and a bunch of money promised when the film is delivered????? Yeah, sign me up too.

Which is 50% less than on a film like Corrado - where ALL of it is at risk!

Milestones are much easier to set with this system. This is what I will do on RRB.

edited:

Actually realized I didn't directly answer your question, Dog. On a film like Corrado, you would see your money back in about 16-18 months. On a film like RRB, you'd see the BULK of it back within 8-10 months and the rest, including the profit, probably 6 months from that.
 
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Hey Adam, thank you for sharing your documentation of what it really takes to not only make a film but to find distribution. I spent four hours last night just on Thread II and will start reading Thread I. The information on distribution is invaluable and an eye opener. It's not enough to submit your feature to film festival but to get distribution. What's a festival prize worth when you have to recoup your investors money.

I am producing my first feature already and will be directing it on 35mm. My question to you is at any point did you hire someone for consultation? Is a service like http://www.filmspecific.com/public/main.cfm a benefit? I am setting aside a modest budget for consultation especially in processing, labs, editing and distribution. I can handle pre-production budgets & production but post production, deliverable, travel & distribution is where all my focus is at the moment. A miscalculation on any of these phases can shot down my film.
 
El Gato Negro said:
Hey Adam, thank you for sharing your documentation of what it really takes to not only make a film but to find distribution. I spent four hours last night just on Thread II and will start reading Thread I. The information on distribution is invaluable and an eye opener. It's not enough to submit your feature to film festival but to get distribution. What's a festival prize worth when you have to recoup your investors money.

I am producing my first feature already and will be directing it on 35mm. My question to you is at any point did you hire someone for consultation? Is a service like http://www.filmspecific.com/public/main.cfm a benefit? I am setting aside a modest budget for consultation especially in processing, labs, editing and distribution. I can handle pre-production budgets & production but post production, deliverable, travel & distribution is where all my focus is at the moment. A miscalculation on any of these phases can shot down my film.
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Hey Cat,

I didn't consult with anyone during the making of Corrado. The closest I came was speaking with my DP all the time, who I had done two other projects with. He's very knowledgeable in the areas of crew and shooting in general.

I belong to Stacey's site (just joined a couple weeks ago) and I think she's definitely a guru on distribution for sure. I don't think. however, she knows too much about production. I've spoken to her on the phone once for one of her teleclasses - there was a q&a at the end and I remember thinking she was out of her element in production, but that's okay - her specialty is as a distrib consultant.

You will need someone knowledgeable to guide you through the murkiness of production in general. You can figure it all out on your own with time, though.

If I had time I'd charge you a couple Gs to guide you through the whole thing, or you could read through the thread.

The thread can be downloaded (free!) from my website www.taorminafilms.com under the media section. Shawn Nelson graciously ediited most everything out leaving only my blog for faster reference.
 
Thanks man. I watched the HD mastered DVD version today with the new sound. It's a jaw dropper. In a good way! I can't believe we squeezed that movie out of a couple HVXs.

Anyone who says you can't make a feature on an HVX is totally full of ****. The footage looks amazing!
 
At what point if at all does it break up and look HVXish? Have you seen it projected? What types of screens have you watched it on?

Your statement is true but also credit where it is due...The people on this project are very gifted from the camera work to the acting A-Z. So rephrase that "If you know what you are doing and know what you want and surround yourself with great people its doable on a HVX"

I so look forward to watching this Movie & after that RRB!



Dog.
 
Actually speaking about giving credit where it is due, let's not forget the amazing Letus Extreme and Ultimate that gave Corrado such a great look. My film looks like a movie because of it.
 
taormina said:
Thanks man. I watched the HD mastered DVD version today with the new sound. It's a jaw dropper. In a good way! I can't believe we squeezed that movie out of a couple HVXs.

Anyone who says you can't make a feature on an HVX is totally full of shi*. The footage looks amazing!
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Sweetness! :beer:



I am so interested to hear more about the nitty gritty!

How hard was it to land Tom Sizemore?

What kind of negotiations and cabbage did it take?
 
taormina said:
Actually speaking about giving credit where it is due, let's not forget the amazing Letus Extreme and Ultimate that gave Corrado such a great look. My film looks like a movie because of it.
Click to expand...

That and your colorist. He did a really nice job grading it. It looks expensive which makes it stand out from so much other crap in your budget range.
 
Just wanted to say, I only read just a few pages at the end of this thread and you are a good person for sharing all this information with everyone. Most individuals myself included probably wouldn't share such personal information about the whole process and everything you are going through right now. And the way you just volunteer to answer questions with just more than a yes or no is amazing. I always believe in good karma, and for showing such interest in willing to help other filmmakers, the movie gods will shine on you my friend. I wish you the best with Corrado and I plan on reading the entire first thread and this one too from the beginning.

Don’t know if you already mentioned this, but writing a book on the independent movie business would fit your personality very well. I think you have a natural gift writing and teaching, combine that with your business aspect and drive/passion, the book could be a best seller cause, as evidence on this forum and this thread, there are a lot of filmmakers out there hungry for such knowledge and enlightment you are displaying in your threads. And you never know, the book would be able to finance your next film and you can write another book about that…lol

Best wishes.
 
Thanks Capital P, I appreciate you taking the time to write that.

I think ultimately the thing I may do is an educational behind the scenes type DVD...still up in the air on that.
 
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