Hyperactive Studios (What Matt and Mark are up to)

I know you're sorta at the mercy of your investors, but is there no way to shoot in Fresno?

I mean, that would be great for the community.





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We can shoot half of it in Fresno if these investors go for it. They require 50% or more to be filmed in the country that funds it. Our goal is to establish a studio here in Fresno, so hopefully soon, we will be based completely or mostly out of Fresno.
 
msconce said:
We can shoot half of it in Fresno if these investors go for it. They require 50% or more to be filmed in the country that funds it. Our goal is to establish a studio here in Fresno, so hopefully soon, we will be based completely or mostly out of Fresno.
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What exactly is "50% or more"? Why not shoot a few scenes over in St. BerlinViennasBurg and then come home and finish your movie in Fresno? If anybody asks you say you shot half the movie in Europe and even tell them it was the most important half. Once you're in Europe and shooting the niceties of "%50 are pretty much a non-issue. The idea is to get you shooting a significant portion of the film there and, in fact, most production companies would want to avoid splitting production costs with an ocean and would probably do most of the film there anyway. However, you guys have a whole infrastructure set up in Fresno that would likely allow you to film cheaper there.

If the economics would allow you to get more bang for buck in Fresno I'm sure you and your line producer can figure a way to satisfy the completion bond by calling the European location "half of the film" with a little ingenuity even if more time is spent shooting in Fresno.
 
Our Executive Producer has made it clear we would have to actually film half the film or more in the country that gives the money, if that group even funds Stricken.
We talked to an investor last night and two of our movies, Dark Pool-written and directed by myself, and Fish Bomb- written and directed by Mark Aro are moving into a slate that should get financing soon we hope. We will keep you posted.
 
UPDATE #6

Matt is madly finishing Dark Pool feature script and Scott and I are doing the same on Fish Bomb. Our co-partner/co-producer Jen mentioned (in regards to the other slate that she is involved in) that it looks like the papers are all signed that means the deal is theoretically ""closed". She still doesn't know when funds will be available. For us this is indirectly beneficial. The gentlemen that arranged the funding for her slate is the one that is working on ours, specifically, Fish Bomb and Dark Pool. We are still trying to push the STRICKEN film through this guy, but like we mentioned last week, it is possible that the movie will get funding through a combo of US and European funds. Of course it is never fast enough.

Some day in a "MAKING OF" segment on one of our films, I will tell the story of what I am currently going through while all tihs is happening. It is ridiculous how many other things (totally unrelated to film) are going horribly wrong in our lives... it has become VERY comical. I just keep telling my wife, "This is just a good sign that we are in store for sometihng big... GOOD BIG!" She doesn't believe me... WE SHALL SEE... OH YES... WE SHALL SEE!!!

On the Stricken front, we are preparing to shoot a new trailer for the feature.. one that is more accurate to the new story. Most likely we will shoot it with Blare Medias RED (with their collaberation of course). We are shooting RED tests tomorrow night and we are filming footage for PUSH and NETHERBORN (some green screen shots) this weekend and next weekend (with the RED). We are very excited.

More news soon.
 
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UPDATE #7

Well good things are happening. Our EP is working on the other half of the funding for Stricken meanwhile the finance guy that we have been working with has stepped up work on trying to get Stricken Financed 100% here. Our Finance guy has been reluctant to do anything with Stricken because he doesn't really get the genre, but there are some other things in the works that I believe have motivated him to get it behind Stricken regardles and help us get it funded. Well see how it all plays out.

Jen, our Production partner is getting closer to final on her project that is in the other slate that she is directly involved in. That is coming together nicely and she should have access to funds in the next few weeks. Matt and I wont see much from that, but I believe that I am going to be doing Storyboards and some Pre-Viz so that should shore up the weak side a little while we get stuff moving forward.

On the FISH BOMB front, I am being push to get the script done. Apparently there is some real interest and they are anxious to see the whole package. I am very excited about this because it is a wonderful tale, but also a little stressed because so much crap is happening in the personal life. Matt too has had some recent difficult developments so we are both trying to juggle the trama, keep the families (especially the wives) from cracking and move forward on the other stuff that we are doing.

I almost bailed out of Timefest just because of the amount of stuff that we have to do, but I love the Netherborn story and I really want to see that short completed and get it in this fest and some others afterwards. We are starting principal on PUSH (Matts entry) this weekend and we will also be filming all of the FX shots for NETHERBORN. I am very excited about both. Look for more comments on the Timefest threads and stay tuned for some VERY BASIC test shots that we did last night at BLAIRE MEDIA with the RED.:cheesy:
 
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UPDATE #8

Yesterday we got a call from Jen, our co-Producer and she informed us that our EP was meeting last night with someone that was interested in Funding a trailer for Stricken. Our goal is to create a high-end trailer using the actors that we currently have cast for the film. They have all agreed. Where we are at now is, getting the money in place and getting the SAG agreement together as well as the agreement with the actors and their agents. We have the SAG paperwork... as soon as we have a funding source, we move forward with the SAG agreement. That is were we are at.

The script on Fish Bomb is slow going, but it is going. I have yet to get all of the ducks in a row for Netherborn, my Timefest short. I am currently waiting to get PUSH photography done. I will hopefully shoot all of Netherborn by the end of April, that all depends on Stricken trailer and other potential stuff, but it should all come together on time. I do believe that Dark Pool script is moving forward, but like with Fish Bomb, we are distracted by other more immediate tasks, but I still hope to hit that 2nd to 3rd week in April for a finished 1st draft of Fish Bomb, I believe Matt is shooting for around the same time for Dark Pool. Hopefully we will hear something today in regards to the Stricken Trailer funding.

More soon! :thumbup:
 
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UPDATE #9

Well I don't know about you but I am getting a little tired of the updates that don't have the heading that suggests that we have funding... well this one does not have that heading, but we did have a very good meeting/interview with the local paper and staunch cynic. This reporter covers the local entertainment scene mostly and has a regular column. The good that came away is that he did seem interested in what we were doing with the slate and all of that. He said more than once, "I have heard this all before, but you really seem a lot further along than others that I have interviewed". After he viewed the demo that we used to pitch to investors, he seemed even more interested. He did say that it was much better than he had expected. So in short, it went well.

Some related news, Jen was a couple of minutes late to the meeting and she came with the news that our Hyperactive Studio trailer is going to show in front of some or one of the films screening at Cannes. Man our EP is awesome! One of her shorts will be there as well. We are trying to get Stricken (short) there, but it may not happen.

More soon!
 
Regarding the financing, it sounds like your investor is using "soft money." This means they're using a tax credit or tax rebate from a state or foreign country.

This isn't raising money...honestly, you could do it. Anyone can. I live in New Mexico and I'm using the 25% tax rebate for my film.

There are companies that will monetize the credit for wherever you shoot. If you shoot in Puerto Rico (which has a 40% tax rebate) and the investor is putting in some real cash (200K or so) the investor goes to the "monetizing company" and says "Hey, I'm spending money in Puerto Rico. I'll be owed about 100K at the end of the movie. Can I sell you my rebate so I have the cash now?"

The company says "Sure. It's a 5 grand fee and 5% of the total rebate." AND THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT.

If an investor is passing this off as raising money it ain't. Anyone can do this. You can do it yourself.

(please not this is only an example. All these numbers vary as states and companies compete with each other.)
 
Prodigi Pictures said:
Regarding the financing, it sounds like your investor is using "soft money." This means they're using a tax credit or tax rebate from a state or foreign country.

This isn't raising money...honestly, you could do it. Anyone can. I live in New Mexico and I'm using the 25% tax rebate for my film.

There are companies that will monetize the credit for wherever you shoot. If you shoot in Puerto Rico (which has a 40% tax rebate) and the investor is putting in some real cash (200K or so) the investor goes to the "monetizing company" and says "Hey, I'm spending money in Puerto Rico. I'll be owed about 100K at the end of the movie. Can I sell you my rebate so I have the cash now?"

The company says "Sure. It's a 5 grand fee and 5% of the total rebate." AND THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT.

If an investor is passing this off as raising money it ain't. Anyone can do this. You can do it yourself.

(please not this is only an example. All these numbers vary as states and companies compete with each other.)
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Yeah... the soft money thing was just an option for one film, to get things going, but it doesn't look like that is the way that it will go... Which is fine by me. I would prefer to have it all a little more straight forward and I would prefer to have more say and control over where I film.
 
UPDATE 10#

Well a lot has happened in the last few days. We are putting together budgets for Fish Bomb and Dark Pool and our EP and Financial Guy is getting them into a 5 movie slate. I believe that he is trying to get Stricken in as well. This changes daily. He is not in real support of Stricken becaues he doesn't watch that kind of movie and really doesn't get it, but that is okay, he doesn't have to fully get it or even like the genre.

Matt is putting together cast and story break-downs for DP and Jen and I are finishing budgets. We email electronic copies to the EP and $ Guy tomorrow and then we have a face to face on Tuesday. Our EP says that this should be the last one with them prior to funding. I am not holding my breath but there are some things (that I can't really talk about yet) that make this look like it is going to happen soon (30-90 days). We should have a much better update on Wednesday after our Tuesday meeting. More soon! Happy Film-making all!!!:D
 
UPDATE #11

We are heading down to Bakersfield today after work. We are meeting with our EP and our Financial guy (they are coming up to meet us). Supposedly this is the time to get a bunch of stuff finalized to submit Fish Bomb, Dark Pool and Stricken in a 5 movie slate that has funds available now.

Jens stuff is all done and funds should drop anytime for hers, which is AWESOME!!!

There will be more soon. I don't expect any earth shattering news to come from tonight, just that we will be geting final budgets and all of that nonsense together for submission to this guy.

More soon...
 
UPDATE # 12 - A SNAKE IN THE GRASS

Well it was bound to happen. We have discovered a snake in the grass. One of the people that WE (Matt, Jen and I) are dealing with is turning out to be shall we say, "LESS THAN TRUTHFUL". Right now we are playin the game of one persons word against another. Man I hate this NONSENSE! I just want to make films. I don't want to get into details, but we are treading VERY lightly. We have some minor protection through legal agreements and whatnot, but it is still very disheartening. The three of us (Matt, Jen and I) operate on a "What you see is what you get!" method unfortunately, that is not always the case with others, especially in this business. I have been in the entertainment business for a long time (through games mostly) and so I am not so naive that I would assume good and wholesome intentions from anyone that I didn't really know, but it is still hard not to feel a little taken advantage of and to some degree a little violated. It is good that money did not change hands, but it doesn't entirely take that feeling away.

So the course of action from here is to be patient, don't act to hastily and keep our cards close to our chest.

MORE SOON! The Saga continues!

:violin:
 
Hey man, give us an update. What was the outcome of all this? What was the nature of the false info? Give us some deets man!
 
Mark Johnson said:
Hey man, give us an update. What was the outcome of all this? What was the nature of the false info? Give us some deets man!
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UPDATE # 13
Hey Mark... sorry about the delays. I have been a bit overwhelmed with stuff!

Where to start. I don't want to be in the business of slamming any one so I will keep comments brief in that respect, but let's just say that one of the people representing us was less than truthful (RED FLAG) and once we dug a little more we found that there was A LOT that was very questionable about them and their resources/business etc.

Long story short, we are no longer dealing directly with this individual and we have had to backtrack a little to get back on top of things and recover. However, we did meet a couple of people/sources in the process and it looks like we are back on course.

One of the brokers that we have been dealing with is still in the mix and Jen (our co-Producer/Partner) is working directly with him to get funding in place.

Currently, the plan is to secure funding for Stricken and Fish Bomb. Stricken is the priority because it has been cast and we are ready to shoot. Fish Bomb is still in script stages, but it should be ready to seek casting in the next month or so.

That is all that is fit to print right now. Some updates on the team, Jen's film "Ray of Sunshine" ended up winning two awards at the Houston World Expo and Matt and I are nominated for an Emmy for a special / series that we did last year. The plus side is that all of those things help with the money process (sad but true).

This whole process is very eyeopening. Some of the experienced veterans that we are currently associated with are having similar issues so it is not uncommon for this drama to happen.

So we are going through a crash course in Film Finance 101. Apparently all of the Fingerpainting for Fun and Profit seats were filled.

Oh well! Hopefully we will have more soon. :)
 
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