I'm Thinking about Spending Real Folding Money on A Movie

ahalpert said:
An old Russian codger announces to his friends at their weekly poker game that he's planning to do a medically assisted suicide. After the jokes and laughter subside, they realize that he's deadly serious and won't be easily swayed. In subsequent scenes, his friends each individually try a different tack to dissuade him but to no avail.

While he's making preparations and saying his goodbyes, his best friend beats him to the punch and takes his own life without warning. Wracked by grief and guilt, the main character recommits to life and to being there for the people who need him, including the family of his deceased friend.

In the final scene, they're having their weekly poker game again and sharing happy stories about their departed friend.
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Ok, now that's not bad. I like it. That is right along the lines of what interests me. Very good. Thanks Abe. I'm going to chew on that one.
 
Doug Jensen said:
I have about 300 classic episodes of CBS Radio Mystery Theater saved as MP3s on my phone that I listen to sometimes when I'm driving cross country. There's a lot of episodes where I start envisioning how I'd shoot it for the screen. It would be easy to transcribe one of those old shows and use it as a jumping off point to turn it into a short film.
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Oh, that's a good idea. I'll look into that. That reminds me that I should also look at Twilight Zone for ideas.
 
Paul F said:
Oh, that's a good idea. I'll look into that. That reminds me that I should also look at Twilight Zone for ideas.
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The nice thing about a radio drama is that you have a good core story, characters, and plot -- but there are no visuals associated with it that might influence your own creative choices when it comes to filming it.
 
Making a film isn't the problem for you, selling is. Make sure you have a substantial part of your budget for marketing.
 
If money is an issue, he should just stop now. But it sounds like he's willing to write off the entire $100K budget for the pleasure and enjoyment of shooting and producing his personal project. Nothing wrong with that. If it happens to earns money later, then that is just gravy. It's kind of like going to Vegas and accepting you are going to lose every penny you spend gambling, but you'll have fund doing it as a source of entertainment. I do the exact same thing (but with far less investment of tiem or money) when shooting stock or other video projects that I will enjoy working on. Nothing wrong with that approach to film making if you have a passion for doing the work.

"Well ya know, for me, the action is the juice." Michael Cheritto, Heat
 
Doug Jensen said:
If money is an issue, he should just stop now. But it sounds like he's willing to write off the entire $100K budget for the pleasure and enjoyment of shooting and producing his personal project. .....

"Well ya know, for me, the action is the juice." Michael Cheritto, Heat
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Exactly. I'm willing to spend $100k to have some fun. I don't care about monetizing it. I've worked my butt off my whole life. The wife and I have been penny pinchers, lived below our means, paid cash for everything but our house, drove our cars for 20+ years. As a result, we have a very comfortable retirement. It's time I learned to go nuts and have some fun spending money.

If it turns out to be a decent movie, maybe I'll submit it here or there, but I care nothing about that.

Why do I want to spend up to $100k? I want to play with the toys the big boys use. Like I want to have a crew that is using a Chapman dolly. You know, instead of making due with my home-made Dana, have the right rig to get the shot I want. I want the good stuff. Yes, I will still be pinching pennies. That's just built into me, but it would be so nice to try to make something with a little bit better production value. Instead of me dinking around with my Protools keyboard and trying to make music, which I know dick about, hire a composer.
 
I hear you. And I hope your project is a great success. What's the pojnt of busting your hump your whole life if you don't spend some of those acorns you've been saving up? On a similar note, we just signed up last night to do a 3-month trip in our RV to Alaska and back in the summer of 2025 with 15 other rigs. Our friends are going for the third time, so we figured it's now or never. It's gonna cost around $30-40K, but its something we've been wanting to do for a long time. Should be some great opportunities for wildlife footage. I'm kind of sliding into retirement a little more every year and that will probably be the point of no return.
 
Paul F said:
Exactly. I'm willing to spend $100k to have some fun. I don't care about monetizing it.
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I am moving in this same direction, working now on a pivot that will take me out of the production life on a career level but I still want to engage in the filmmaking aspect of it. The perfect situation is that I can make my nut, build up the retirement coffers and then make films for the fun of it a couple times a year just to scratch my creative itch. It's an expensive hobby but if you can do it, why not?
 
Doug Jensen said:
I hear you. And I hope your project is a great success. What's the pojnt of busting your hump your whole life if you don't spend some of those acorns you've been saving up? On a similar note, we just signed up last night to do a 3-month trip in our RV to Alaska and back in the summer of 2025 with 15 other rigs. Our friends are going for the third time, so we figured it's now or never. It's gonna cost around $30-40K, but its something we've been wanting to do for a long time. Should be some great opportunities for wildlife footage. I'm kind of sliding into retirement a little more every year and that will probably be the point of no return.
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And then one morning after you cross through the rockies there's no cell service anywhere and every town you come across is abandoned. What happened to the rest of civilization? Lord of the flies, RV style. Could be a good movie. Who brought a gun?

There was a group of canoers on a long trip who went up the river before the pandemic hit and when they came back they were like, "where's all the toilet paper?"
 
ahalpert said:
And then one morning after you cross through the rockies there's no cell service anywhere and every town you come across is abandoned. What happened to the rest of civilization? Lord of the flies, RV style. Could be a good movie.
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I'd watch that.
 
Paul F, remember to send your film to Holland short Film Festival. I would love to screen it here. You know of course that there is a whole world of festivals (7000 wordlwide as far as I know) it is a wonderffull world with lots of enthousiasts.
 
I don't know anything about film festivals. I submitted a movie to my local Mill Valley Film Festival and Napa Valley Film Festival. The impression I get is that they aren't really looking for entertainment, but trendy subjects and messages. You know, if you make a movie about the sufferings and trials of a transgender teen then your film gets accepted.

So then I'm thinking the story Abe suggested. It makes me think of doing a messagy story of how dreams and goals fade into distant memories. How guys can end up emotionally broken and suicidal in their old age. A message that aligns with being aware of the high suicide rate of old men. Ahh, see, now that makes me submit to the 'message' agenda I perceive from film festivals. I don't want to succumb to that. Not that there is anything wrong with it. But I don't want the thought of festival entry influencing what I make.

But then I say to myself, "why not make something festival worthy?". Would that add to the fun? It probably would for the cast and crew and I need to think about them. They want their work to be shown off, not gather dust on Youtube. ......

Maybe I need to learn more about festivals.

By the way, Holland is an impressive country. Your weather sucks, you are all too tall. But the amount of accomplishments coming out of Holland always impressed me. I hired a guy from Holland. Absolutely the most brilliant and capable guy I've met in my career. But he gave me a neck ache looking up at him.
 
Well thanks, Paul, as a small Dutchie I share your neck ache. You have to pick your festivals, I suggest quick search on Filmfreeway.com. Ours is about comedy and short films (max 30 min.) Comedy is one of the most difficult genres I think. Anyway we only do the fun stuff. No dark documentaries for me :-).
 
Paul F said:
I don't know anything about film festivals. I submitted a movie to my local Mill Valley Film Festival and Napa Valley Film Festival. The impression I get is that they aren't really looking for entertainment, but trendy subjects and messages. You know, if you make a movie about the sufferings and trials of a transgender teen then your film gets accepted.

So then I'm thinking the story Abe suggested. It makes me think of doing a messagy story of how dreams and goals fade into distant memories. How guys can end up emotionally broken and suicidal in their old age. A message that aligns with being aware of the high suicide rate of old men. Ahh, see, now that makes me submit to the 'message' agenda I perceive from film festivals. I don't want to succumb to that. Not that there is anything wrong with it. But I don't want the thought of festival entry influencing what I make.

But then I say to myself, "why not make something festival worthy?". Would that add to the fun? It probably would for the cast and crew and I need to think about them. They want their work to be shown off, not gather dust on Youtube. ......

Maybe I need to learn more about festivals.

By the way, Holland is an impressive country. Your weather sucks, you are all too tall. But the amount of accomplishments coming out of Holland always impressed me. I hired a guy from Holland. Absolutely the most brilliant and capable guy I've met in my career. But he gave me a neck ache looking up at him.
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I think it's hard enough to make a good movie. I would focus on the story you want to tell and trying to realize that to its fullest potential. But I would also say that if you make a story about suicide that is essentially anti-suicide, then you're already touching a trendy hot topic/taboo and coming down on the right side of the issue as far as festivals are concerned. I don't think you need to write dialogue with festivals in mind.
 
Make a film about a working class family trying to make mends meet.

Hardly anyone has done that. Like make a film about the everyman. People whom nobody notices like for example the girl who does coffee at Starbucks or even the homeless or maybe in fact a guy in tradeschool trying to be a welder. You know? Ordinary people. A guy whose in his 50's and never married or had a girlfriend. A janitor. A teacher. A guy who delivers newspapers at 2 AM. You get what I'm saying?

I don't see a lot of ordinary people in films. I see superheroes and I see cops doing an action film.

having a great plot is one thing but in some ways a nicely put character driven story is another.
 
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