Here's an idea: what if we created a virtual studio where anyone who wants to participate can buy 'shares' of the company over the internet?
Check the end of this thread for former discussion:
http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX/YaBB.cgi?board=Clips;action=display;num=1071289500
For those who are impatient, or attention-span challenged, or just for my own editifaction, here's a summary of the concept:
Let's create a movie production company using straight capitalism. We form an LLC or corporation specifically for the purpose of making video productions, and sell 'shares' to anyone who wishes to be a voting member. Members get to decide on and participate in various projects.
We set up a web site that can collect monies for a given movie project. Anyone can buy shares, and shareholders then get voting rights in what the company does. The movie is made when a target financial amount is raised for it, and any proceeds from the project go back to the shareholders, on a percentage basis representing their total number of shares.
Full accounting will be "open", that is, available at all times to the membership, therefore everyone would know how monies were dispersed and could track the performance of any given project. Typically, a small seed fund would be needed to produce a trailer for a given movie project, which is then used to pitch the project to the world at large. All this is done via the web, which would entail some coding, which I or others who get involved could do.
While I outlined why I think 'movies by committee' is a bad idea in the previous thread, if this thing were structured properly, we'd be able to take advantage of the incentives built in to the more normal movie-making process, while hopefully enjoying a reduced level of administration and interpersonal politics. Maybe.
Anyway, it would be an interesting experiment, and I'm willing to kick in $100 to see what happens with it.
Therefore, if we have sufficient interest, I propose the following:
1) I'm willing to buy $100 worth of shares to get this beast going. If we get four other people who can kick in that amount, we'd have $500 to form an LLC, get a website and domain name (openmoviestudio.com, net, and org are available, for instance), and pay for the bookkeeper service to do the accounting for one year. I'd be willing to do all or most of the legwork to get an initial structure set up.
2) If we have a total of ten people join at $100 each, then we'd have $1000 and enough budget in my opinion to go ahead with an actual trailer for the first project. The details of what the scope of that project is would have to be decided by the membership.
3) We are not limited to feature-length movies, but probably want to only approve projects which have a likelihood of positive cash flow. Commercials are a viable alternative.
4) Much discussion would be required to fine-tune this new entity, to keep the administrivia to a minimum, and to keep it an effective tool for creating moviemaking opportunities. Any suggestions in this area are welcome!
5) I'd hope that this organisation would stay focused on a business-oriented approach to moviemaking, instead of simply becoming a vehicle for each of us to try our pet projects on someone else's dime.
Very well then, what say you?
Check the end of this thread for former discussion:
http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX/YaBB.cgi?board=Clips;action=display;num=1071289500
For those who are impatient, or attention-span challenged, or just for my own editifaction, here's a summary of the concept:
Let's create a movie production company using straight capitalism. We form an LLC or corporation specifically for the purpose of making video productions, and sell 'shares' to anyone who wishes to be a voting member. Members get to decide on and participate in various projects.
We set up a web site that can collect monies for a given movie project. Anyone can buy shares, and shareholders then get voting rights in what the company does. The movie is made when a target financial amount is raised for it, and any proceeds from the project go back to the shareholders, on a percentage basis representing their total number of shares.
Full accounting will be "open", that is, available at all times to the membership, therefore everyone would know how monies were dispersed and could track the performance of any given project. Typically, a small seed fund would be needed to produce a trailer for a given movie project, which is then used to pitch the project to the world at large. All this is done via the web, which would entail some coding, which I or others who get involved could do.
While I outlined why I think 'movies by committee' is a bad idea in the previous thread, if this thing were structured properly, we'd be able to take advantage of the incentives built in to the more normal movie-making process, while hopefully enjoying a reduced level of administration and interpersonal politics. Maybe.
Anyway, it would be an interesting experiment, and I'm willing to kick in $100 to see what happens with it.
Therefore, if we have sufficient interest, I propose the following:
1) I'm willing to buy $100 worth of shares to get this beast going. If we get four other people who can kick in that amount, we'd have $500 to form an LLC, get a website and domain name (openmoviestudio.com, net, and org are available, for instance), and pay for the bookkeeper service to do the accounting for one year. I'd be willing to do all or most of the legwork to get an initial structure set up.
2) If we have a total of ten people join at $100 each, then we'd have $1000 and enough budget in my opinion to go ahead with an actual trailer for the first project. The details of what the scope of that project is would have to be decided by the membership.
3) We are not limited to feature-length movies, but probably want to only approve projects which have a likelihood of positive cash flow. Commercials are a viable alternative.
4) Much discussion would be required to fine-tune this new entity, to keep the administrivia to a minimum, and to keep it an effective tool for creating moviemaking opportunities. Any suggestions in this area are welcome!
5) I'd hope that this organisation would stay focused on a business-oriented approach to moviemaking, instead of simply becoming a vehicle for each of us to try our pet projects on someone else's dime.
Very well then, what say you?
You've got a pile of cool hardware and an LLC already and are ready to get a soundstage going???
