FEATURE: Proof of Concept Trailer for The Ferret Squad

Ferret Lady

Ferret Lady

Well-known member
Hi guys, I have been working on this for awhile now but it's finally out. This summer I directed a proof of concept trailer for a feature film I want to make called The Ferret Squad. The trailer was funded by an IndieGoGo campaign. Shot on Red Epic. Edited by Skip Films.

So now I'm looking for an experienced producer and funding to make the feature. Fingers crossed this trailer combined with our script is enough to do it!

Please check it out here: http://youtu.be/ga58nL7MAX4

And our official website at: http://www.theferretsquad.com

Thanks,

Alison
 
Very slick, looks good. Cast are charismatic and whole presentation looked like a kids show ready-to-go in every way. It matches up to anything contemporary that I've seen in terms of production value, performance and delivery. Congrats.

I think the make or break here is going to be how heavy handed your ferret message is going to be. It is clearly a passion of yours, and the biggest threat to the project. It could be a great show with a political point as long as the agenda is secondary to the entertainment value. If the show is a vehicle for kids getting political, organising and taking a stand about an issue that happens to be cute ferrets, then it could work very very well. Don't present too many arguments, avoid too much repetition of your key political points (rife in the sound-byte media and detrimental to informed debate). Focus on the roles and relationships of kids to each other and the various authority figures. Focus on educating about the political process rather than on the political message. The key is it should present as a microcosm of the political system, with a general insight into the role of protest action and lobby interest in the democratic process, rather than a recruitment drive to a specific cause.

If you handle it right then an innocent link at the end to more information about the ferret issue will be appropriate. If it presents as propaganda first, entertainment second it could kill this project. Many parents in your target age group vet what they watch and kids themselves are pretty switched on these days. If they smell inappropriate manipulation of their kids, it won't be received well. Even if it is just about harmless ferrets. The preview seems to (just) be riding on the right side of the line but oh so very tightly. It was very slick but raised just one too many agenda points to go by unnoticed.

This has all the makings to be a fantastic show. It hit all the marks I would expect. Let your passion come through but keep it in check. The razor should be applied to the benefit of kids entertainment first (fun), about the political process second (educational), the actual agenda last (the cause). The less you push the more effective it will be on all fronts. Good luck, based on this preview you've definitely got the technical and creative skills to pull off quality children's entertainment.
 
Looks great! My one and only "critique" is that the font is hideous.
Quality like this is bound to be a successful crowdfunding project.
 
Egg Born Son said:
Very slick, looks good. Cast are charismatic and whole presentation looked like a kids show ready-to-go in every way. It matches up to anything contemporary that I've seen in terms of production value, performance and delivery. Congrats.

I think the make or break here is going to be how heavy handed your ferret message is going to be. It is clearly a passion of yours, and the biggest threat to the project. It could be a great show with a political point as long as the agenda is secondary to the entertainment value. If the show is a vehicle for kids getting political, organising and taking a stand about an issue that happens to be cute ferrets, then it could work very very well. Don't present too many arguments, avoid too much repetition of your key political points (rife in the sound-byte media and detrimental to informed debate). Focus on the roles and relationships of kids to each other and the various authority figures. Focus on educating about the political process rather than on the political message. The key is it should present as a microcosm of the political system, with a general insight into the role of protest action and lobby interest in the democratic process, rather than a recruitment drive to a specific cause.

If you handle it right then an innocent link at the end to more information about the ferret issue will be appropriate. If it presents as propaganda first, entertainment second it could kill this project. Many parents in your target age group vet what they watch and kids themselves are pretty switched on these days. If they smell inappropriate manipulation of their kids, it won't be received well. Even if it is just about harmless ferrets. The preview seems to (just) be riding on the right side of the line but oh so very tightly. It was very slick but raised just one too many agenda points to go by unnoticed.

This has all the makings to be a fantastic show. It hit all the marks I would expect. Let your passion come through but keep it in check. The razor should be applied to the benefit of kids entertainment first (fun), about the political process second (educational), the actual agenda last (the cause). The less you push the more effective it will be on all fronts. Good luck, based on this preview you've definitely got the technical and creative skills to pull off quality children's entertainment.
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Wow thank you very much! That really means a lot to me... and you are not the first to warn about the political side of things. It's not something I push as heavily when I am promoting the film as a result. It is a true situation - ferrets are really illegal in California - and I would love to see this film bring awareness to that, and maybe even help make a difference. But my main goal here to get a great family film made. It's a really fun story and my kids are great. I think of it as The Goonies meets Free Willy and I'm happy with focusing on that. Also have you heard of the film Hoot? It's about these kids that rescue endangered burrowing owls, same kinda thing. As far as I know that did very well... Frank Marshall did it.

I really feel confident this could be something special. Merchandise too. I just got off the phone with sales agency that reached out to me already. But they basically told me I need a producer to properly package this for me. Maybe we have some producers in the house? :) (as I wrote this, an exec producer from LA called me who saw this posting)

If you guys have any advice for me or know producers that would be interested, gimme a shout! I'm a lone wolf here! Thank you!
 
Ferret Lady said:
Wow thank you very much! That really means a lot to me... and you are not the first to warn about the political side of things. It's not something I push as heavily when I am promoting the film as a result. It is a true situation - ferrets are really illegal in California - and I would love to see this film bring awareness to that, and maybe even help make a difference. But my main goal here to get a great family film made. It's a really fun story and my kids are great. I think of it as The Goonies meets Free Willy and I'm happy with focusing on that. Also have you heard of the film Hoot? It's about these kids that rescue endangered burrowing owls, same kinda thing. As far as I know that did very well... Frank Marshall did it.

I really feel confident this could be something special. Merchandise too. I just got off the phone with sales agency that reached out to me already. But they basically told me I need a producer to properly package this for me. Maybe we have some producers in the house? :) (as I wrote this, an exec producer from LA called me who saw this posting)

If you guys have any advice for me or know producers that would be interested, gimme a shout! I'm a lone wolf here! Thank you!
Click to expand...


That's good to hear. Goonies is what came immediately to mind with a style that matches the contemporary kids tv shows I've seen. I would suggest pimping the issue a little less than in Free Willy and Hoot because we're not talking endangered animals here. The message will be plenty clear no matter how little you include. Just focus on selling the animals being cute and the children learning about themselves, each other and life; the bones of contention are going to drive the key plot points anyway so no need to hammer it home. It sounds like you are already well aware of this so I'll leave it there. Besides, the biggest impact this could have would not be converting people to the cause (people don't like being lectured) but driving kids to nag their parents for a pet ferret.

Good luck. I think with the right balance this is going to turn out great.
 
I hate movies like this. BUT on the flipside, you put this out and hit the children's market with it and you'll make tons of cash! I'm almost sure this will get funded. Try to hit Disney channel and Nick Jr. up for distribution. (This feels more Nick Jr. for some reason). If not find out whose distributing kid films. It's timely and a lot of kids, especially girls, will love it. It has cute written all over it. Disney may want to re-cast it, with their people, but over all it's looks like exactly what you're going for. When I was engaged for a short period of time my ex's youngest kids loved this kind of stuff. They were both girls, five and seven. For maximum exposure I would replace the boys with girls and vice-versa, but it's not a necessity. Since Ferrets actually are illegal in Cali, you may get some people to put some energy behind the movie. It could become something bigger than it is. Try that and see what happens.

Do a lot of cute videos with Ferrets in them to keep interest as well as update people about how the movie's coming. The trailer is good, but now you need a slick poster along the same lines to put out to the people. I think it'll be a hit if you follow through. By the way, good work with the RED. You actually made it worth shooting with. So many people shoot with the RED and it's underwhelming. You shot with it and made it actually look like a real movie.

-Nate
 
Nathyn said:
I hate movies like this. BUT on the flipside, you put this out and hit the children's market with it and you'll make tons of cash! I'm almost sure this will get funded. Try to hit Disney channel and Nick Jr. up for distribution. (This feels more Nick Jr. for some reason). If not find out whose distributing kid films. It's timely and a lot of kids, especially girls, will love it. It has cute written all over it. Disney may want to re-cast it, with their people, but over all it's looks like exactly what you're going for. When I was engaged for a short period of time my ex's youngest kids loved this kind of stuff. They were both girls, five and seven. For maximum exposure I would replace the boys with girls and vice-versa, but it's not a necessity. Since Ferrets actually are illegal in Cali, you may get some people to put some energy behind the movie. It could become something bigger than it is. Try that and see what happens.

Do a lot of cute videos with Ferrets in them to keep interest as well as update people about how the movie's coming. The trailer is good, but now you need a slick poster along the same lines to put out to the people. I think it'll be a hit if you follow through. By the way, good work with the RED. You actually made it worth shooting with. So many people shoot with the RED and it's underwhelming. You shot with it and made it actually look like a real movie.

-Nate
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Haha I love that you started with "I hate movies like this." Well I love family movies like this, they remind me of my youth and the type of movies I used to really love, like the Sandlot, Mighty Ducks, Goonies... that kinda thing. One of our kids is actually from the Sandlot 3.

Would certainly love to tap into that family film market and make some big cash... but right now I just really want to be able to make this movie. It has been a long road getting to this point. Hopefully I did the right thing in making this concept trailer and it will help take me the rest of the way.

Our DOP was amazing and also, the colorist, was incredible. Shot in Vancouver, BC but he really gave it that LA / Desert look.. except the shot with all the big trees of course :)

I will keep you guys posted here on it's progress!
 
I finally got around to making some screen captures!

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The trailer look really good! Looks exactly like something you would see on the Disney Channel, or a straight to DVD Disney production, very professional.

I see that you raised $25,000 on indiegogo for this, congratulations!

Did you spend it all on this trailer?

On your Indiegogo campaign page you were seeking $50,000 to film the entire movie, did you go after additional investors to raise the remaining half, or did you produce the trailer right away?

I'd say you have excellent chances at producing this if you can get additional investors with this trailer, or you can bring in an experienced producer or a production company and package it with some names, like Disney Channel child stars etc.

Have you approached any sales agents or distributors who distribute kids movies or TV movies with the trailer?

I could see this being made as a TV movie in the $200,000-$500,000 budget range for sure.

The only thing I would change is the Ferret Squad logo, to me it looks a bit too generic. That and a professional poster to go with it.
 
Definitely not my cup of tea, but I have no doubt you will get this produced. The trailer hits the genre and the market right on the bullseye. I could see this being played on Disney channel or Nick Jr. Good luck!
 
EuropeanDistributor said:
The trailer look really good! Looks exactly like something you would see on the Disney Channel, or a straight to DVD Disney production, very professional.

I see that you raised $25,000 on indiegogo for this, congratulations!

Did you spend it all on this trailer?

On your Indiegogo campaign page you were seeking $50,000 to film the entire movie, did you go after additional investors to raise the remaining half, or did you produce the trailer right away?

I'd say you have excellent chances at producing this if you can get additional investors with this trailer, or you can bring in an experienced producer or a production company and package it with some names, like Disney Channel child stars etc.

Have you approached any sales agents or distributors who distribute kids movies or TV movies with the trailer?

I could see this being made as a TV movie in the $200,000-$500,000 budget range for sure.

The only thing I would change is the Ferret Squad logo, to me it looks a bit too generic. That and a professional poster to go with it.
Click to expand...

Thank you! The Disney thing is definitely what I'm going for so that's always a great compliment to hear I have achieved that!

Yes I spent the majority of the money raised on the trailer. My original plan (foolishly) was to try to make this feature for $50K. As the cast started coming together and I started getting really great feedback on the script (thanks to Sally Meyer my amazing writer!) I began to realize I was short changing myself and should be thinking bigger. Of course I don't know the first thing about funding a feature film but I'm on the journey of finding out. I decided if I could just make this concept trailer, and show the world the idea and the quality I coud produce, I might have a better shot than trying to get people to read my script.

I'm not experienced with this leg of things but yes, I made a list of distributors and sales agencies from IMDBpro and started sending emails a few weeks ago. Actually not a lot of response from that. But the Youtube video has over 5 thousand views and two days after its release a few producers started calling me up (some who had seen this thread on DVXuser). Things died down a bit then for the holidays, and now I have scheduled a few meetings with a few local producers here in Vancouver. But I have continued to try and get the word out about the trailer in hopes that the right person / company will see it and contact me. I spent yesterday emailing just about every movie blog / news / website I could find asking them to post about it... fingers crossed I get a few bites.

I'm sure the logo will get a revamp (altho I do sell quite a few tshirts with it). We do have a poster but it's a teaser poster. Here it is.

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I was also thinking $200 - $500K. If you have any advice on how to reach / find the people that would be interested in this I am all ears. Please!
 
jghenderson said:
Definitely not my cup of tea, but I have no doubt you will get this produced. The trailer hits the genre and the market right on the bullseye. I could see this being played on Disney channel or Nick Jr. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! Yes, Disney or Nick Jr... how on earth do I reach these people?!
 
Ferret Lady said:
Thank you so much! Yes, Disney or Nick Jr... how on earth do I reach these people?!
Click to expand...

Call them up or email them.

Shouldn't be too hard to look up the numbers for Nickelodian or Disney and just ask for acquisitions department. Go from there.

-Martin
 
Martay said:
Call them up or email them.

Shouldn't be too hard to look up the numbers for Nickelodian or Disney and just ask for acquisitions department. Go from there.

-Martin
Click to expand...

I will try again. On IMDBPro I couldn't even find an email address for them (Disney).
 
You could reach out to the production companies that have produced content for Disney/Nick/Hallmark recently. Might be a bit easier to get in touch with them than the gigantic corporations.

Have you checked out Marvista yet? They deal with a lot of family content and TV movies. http://www.marvista.net/
 
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