Hyperactive Studios (What Matt and Mark are up to)

Mark T. Aro said:
We have a meeting with our Executive Producer on Monday. He is coming up here from L.A. to discuss some good news. He just returned from the Berlin film festival and he apparently had a fruitful trip. Hate to be vague, but that is all that I can share for now. I am not holding my breath, but we are hopeful.

Hopefully more SOON!

:Drogar-Shock(DBG):
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Hey guys!!!! Give us the latest. A bunch of us are watching your developments with great anticipation. How'd the meeting go and did the good news help you move the ball forward?

We're all pulling for you!
 
Your guys' FX work looks pretty amazing, and I really liked what I saw of the DVD/reel link! Nice work, and I hope the best for you all!

I may or may not be able to be of some counsel on deals, contracts, etc., as I don't know all of your resources. But I've got a pretty deep business banking/investment background (day job), and have researched the major studios fairly extensively as well for a few years. So if you ever want to bounce anything, just PM me.

Again, best, and I'll look forward to watching this develop!
 
Mark Johnson said:
Hey guys!!!! Give us the latest. A bunch of us are watching your developments with great anticipation. How'd the meeting go and did the good news help you move the ball forward?

We're all pulling for you!
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Sorry man... Haven't checked this thread in a week or so...

UPDATE #1

The meeting with the EP went well. The EP didn't have a diffinitive deal but some serious open doors. The Berlin thing led to a meeting the following day with a European group in LA. That meeting went over well which made the EP miss the follow-up meeting with the group that has been looking at the whole slate. The Slate group has been dragging their feet, but after the missed meeting, the EP got a call from them the next day and all of the sudden they were much more motivated. Long story short, they took our whole package and sent it to three different funding sources that they have for Slates.

The meeting that the EP had with European investors went really well. They loved the slate, asked to take our DVD and all the content. The EP said NOPE... not without contracts, NDAs.... blah blah blah... They said, NO PROBLEM... They set up another meeting for two days later... signed all the necessary stuff and went away very excited and well armed. They asked if they had to take the whole slate or if they could pick and choose. The EP said, take whatever you want. They showed strong interest in a few and went their merry way. The next day they asked for POTENTIAL CAST SUGGESTIONS for one inparticular and then some other more detailed story beat information and had it all as of Monday. They set up an appointment for 5PM today in LA. Hopefully that is a good sign. I haven't heard any more from the Slate guy, but that is still in the works as well.

The main thing to note is that we are looking to get at least one funded. 5 out of the 10 movie slate are real modest film budgets, but just one of those would be enough for us to quit our day jobs. Once that happens, we start Pre-Pro and then dedicate some time and money into getting the funding in place for some or all of the others. The idea is to get the ball rolling and then keep it rolling.

I will share more soon, but for now, good things are happening and the most important thing is that people are interested and there is forward movement. It took use many months to really get that much.

I have included the poster for Fish Bomb, which is one of the films that the European group was interested in.

It will be very interesting to see how things play out. We are very excited, worn out, nervious and generally exhausted, but it is by far the best fun that we have ever had.

Stay tuned for more soon... :zombie_smiley:


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Norm Sanders said:
Your guys' FX work looks pretty amazing, and I really liked what I saw of the DVD/reel link! Nice work, and I hope the best for you all!

I may or may not be able to be of some counsel on deals, contracts, etc., as I don't know all of your resources. But I've got a pretty deep business banking/investment background (day job), and have researched the major studios fairly extensively as well for a few years. So if you ever want to bounce anything, just PM me.

Again, best, and I'll look forward to watching this develop!
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Norm... Thanks so much for the offer. We may do that. We will definitely let you know.

Also... Thanks for the good vibes.
 
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UPDATE #2

Well I just talked to Jen.... She spoke with the EP and the meeting with the Group that he was supposed to meet with last night, got pushed off to today at 2PM. So keep your fingers crossed!

He was also contacted by the first investment guy (the SLATE guy) and it looks like he is coming out to the EP's Ranch to go over stuff! :undecided Another SLATE that they are involved in is aparently closing and he said to our EP, that OUR SLATE is coming along nicely too! I have NO FLIPPIN IDEA what that means:huh:, but... there it is! At least he hasn't forgot about us.

On a side note, our EP got back from a trip where he was at a premiere or somesuch thing and he has wrangled up interest with 17 other groups. How much of that is serious interest and how much is the booze talking... :beer:Who knows, but it is movement and that is always good. One thing I have to say for our EP is that he is never complacent and definitely keeps pushing the product like nothing is happening elsewhere. I like the fact that he doesn't stop moving when someone shows a little interest, he keeps going like nothing has happened, that is always a good thing!!! :cool:

More to come...
 
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Fingers are crossed! Toes, legs, arms and eyes as well!

btw, I love that poster and title! Damn snazzy! :thumbsup:
 
Matt and I have a last minute mysterious meeting with our co-producer (Jen) tonight... Don't know if it applies to our slate/films or some stuff that she has been working on over the last year.... She wouldn't say!

MAN I HATE SITTING ON THE FENCE!!!!!!!!!!
 
UPDATE #4

WELL we came away from a 3 hour meeting with a few potential things on the horizon, but once again, nothing concrete and in hand. It is very hard to not get discouraged. Mainly because we are struggling so much in the rest of our lives'. If it was a matter of just waiting for funding, well that would be a minor discomfort. It is the thought of being on the edge of destruction on a daily existence that is maddening.

When I think of this and everything that we have gone through to get this far, well it is an amazing thing. I know that there are a lot of people on this list that can relate. I know that it is the BOLD that succeed and not always the most talented. If you question this TRUTH of LIFE then take a few minutes and cruise the isles of your local video store and you will see what I mean. There is a lot of the stuff on the shelf that in a sane world would never have been funded or made, but alas we are not living in a sane world. So I say to you film-maker friends... BE BOLD and BE GREAT and (in time) success will be yours...

That doesn't mean that you wont know struggle or trial, it just means that if you keep going and keep trying, then when opportunity meets preperatiion, you will have success. And of course that doesn't mean the end to your trials, but it will make overcoming trials a little more pleasant.

I try to remember this quote when I feel like I do today... sometimes it is hard to stomach... today is one of those days...

"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." Harriett Beecher Stowe

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Never give up... never surrender!
 
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Ted Arabian said:
:thumbsup:

Keep that faith! I am rooting for you guys!
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Thanks Ted. It is difficult when every opportunity of hope ends in dissapointment. As many people here can relate, this industry is filled with people who will walk over you to get to the top. To be one of the people who will not do that means a slower journey, but a better, more fullfilling end to the journey. When we are able to stand at the top of our mountain of dreams, knowing we brought the people who care about us up there with us instead of realizing we destroyed people's lives to get there...that will be success. :beer:
 
Mark T. Aro said:
"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." Harriett Beecher Stowe

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Never give up... never surrender!
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That made me think of this quote:
"Now remember, things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. 'Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That's just the way it is." Josey Wales
 
Blaine said:
That made me think of this quote:
"Now remember, things look bad and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. 'Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That's just the way it is." Josey Wales
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AMEN BROTHER! That is one of my all time favorite Westerns.

One of favorite quotes from that movie, "I aint yer Paw!" Sure it has nothing to do with anything, but it makes me chuckle everytime I think of it. Good times... good times... :happy:
 
UPDATE #5
Well more interesting news yesterday... Can't get into details, but in regards to funding only Stricken right now. The question was asked, "Would you be willing to film STRICKEN in Europe... at least half of it?" My first response... (in my head was)

"WHAT THE FLIP?"

Matt, was cool with it.... I am still in on the fence, but there is no question... if it means funding WE FILM IN EUROPE, but it is a little surreal. I mentioned to Matt that we could film all of the closed set and green screen stuff here and the rest of the film there. He was cool with just renting a soundstage and doing it all there and doing post back here in the states. Whacky thought! I am sure some of you are puzzled by my:Drogar-Mark-07(DBG) response, especially anyone not living in the US, but it just never occurred to me that we might not shoot it here. I don't know why it didn't, it just didn't.

Jen our co-producer has another project (outside our stuff) that should close any day and she is looking at filming most of it in Louisiana. Apparently there are a lot of incentives over there. The funders also asked at one point if we would be willing to film in New Mexico (When we first started talking). This all seems so puzzling to me. You hear about it all the time, this production went to Austin (my old stomping grounds), this group went to Vancouver, etc... Bottom line is, those places are making it affordable. I have always had a disconnect but now I am like, "Heck if I can role that extra money into post... sweet!"

I heard that we are only producing 10% of the films here in California. That is such a strange concept to me. Granted we are not in LA. We are in Central CA between LA and San Fran. The City and County here are trying real hard to make it affordable to film stuff HERE, but I don't think that they will be able to do enough at first. :crybaby:

In short... We may be filming outside the US and it kinda pisses me off... I don't have anything against other countries, it just ticks me off that a lot of places in the US are still trying to get top dollar and there are so many other places in the world that are bending over backwards to welcome and reward film-makers from bringing work and revenue to there towns/cities/countries.

Oh well... nothing is in writing yet and the tide can turn at any moment.

More soon...
 
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